Take your Bibles this morning and turn to Luke chapter 18. We'll be at Luke 18 this morning. Now you got an extra hour of sleep last night, right? I hear the nervous laugh, because we all know everybody stays up and watches an extra hour of college football on Saturday, the day before that happens. We'll read the passage, and then we'll go from there. You will all be beating the Methodists to the cafeteria since I'm preaching this morning. That tends to be how it goes, right? So come back tonight for Cameron and the longer sermon. Let's read Luke chapter 18. I'm going to pay for that later this week. Let's read Luke chapter 18, verses 9 through 14. And he told also this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus, God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. Let's pray. Father, again, we thank you for the privilege we have today to be in your house. We thank you for the time now that we have to look into your word, to read the very words that your son, Jesus Christ, spoke to those listening on this day. Now, we pray now that you would help us to have hearts that are open and ready to receive those words, to apply them to our lives, to know how we might better serve you or come to a knowledge of your son, Jesus Christ, in a saving relationship. I pray now that your spirit would be upon me, that you would give me the words to say, that say only the things that you have said today, that we could understand the truths that you have for us in this passage. In your name we pray. You know, when I think back to my time that I spent in elementary school and junior high, high school, on up through that, I think of these projects that I didn't like to do. I know every school has projects. You know, when you're homeschooled, you're the first in your class and the last in your class when you do those projects. And your mom grades them. But one of the things I never cared much for when it came to projects was English papers. And that's kind of funny coming from a guy who basically writes two research papers a week now. But in particular, I remember especially detesting writing these essays called comparing and contrasting essays. And I might find somebody out there today to commiserate with who just, man, I just hated those things. Because they just seemed like a lot of work. And you had to know the exact differences or the exact similarities between two subjects that you're writing about. But as much as I didn't like those papers, comparing or contrasting provides a lot of clarity on a topic. You compare two items side by side and it may show you there's not that much difference between these two things that you may have first thought. Or you contrast two things and find out that the difference that you thought was there is astounding. It's bigger than you may have ever thought. And comparing and contrasting can be very powerful teaching tools, and the Lord Jesus used them often in his parables. You know, we read parables that begin, the kingdom of heaven is like. And you have a comparison. Jesus is gonna paint a picture in those parables that helps you to better understand God, his kingdom, or his work. And in parables, we also find contrast. You may think of a parable of the wise man and the foolish man and their houses that they built and the contrast between those houses and the outcome of those houses. You may think of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus and the great contrast that's presented there or the one that we talked about a few weeks ago with the four soils and the contrast that you see between them. All parables are defined as this, an earthly story with a heavenly meaning given to reveal or conceal God and reveal the heart of man. The stories are relatable. They made sense to the everyday hearer. When Jesus told these stories to the listeners that were around him, they understood them. The pictures were there. And we can look at them today and see the relatable pictures. But the stories are also deep. You know, they're not just surface. They're not just these cute little stories that are told for fun. They reveal great truths about the great God. They reveal to the listener his true heart nature. And they feed the hungry and ward off the scorner. And some of these parables may contain both comparison and contrast. And it's the contrast which instructs to us what to avoid. And the parable Jesus told in Luke 18, nine through 14 is just that. It is a parable of great contrast. Two men, two prayers, two totally different outcomes. This is a tale of two prayers. And as we open today, I wanna look first of all at verse 10. And we see in verse 10 that we have presented to us two men. And Jesus opens this parable with a familiar scene to his audience. Here are two men heading up to the temple to pray. And one thing to know is that no matter where you lived, you always went up to the temple. You know, we live in South Carolina, and if we're going to go north, you know, we say we're going to go up, up to Yankee land, right? And some of us just get stuck on that. We've lived in the South all of our lives and say, I'm going up to Florida this week, and that doesn't really work. But you always went up to the temple, because the temple was on a hill. And it required that you climb that hill to go up into the temple. The temple was central to the Israelites' way of life. Remember the audience that Jesus is speaking to? He's speaking to these Israelites. It was here that sacrifices for atonement of sin were made. It was the representation of God's presence among his people. And it goes all the way back to the beginning when God commanded to Moses to build the tabernacle as they were making the trek from Egypt to the promised land. And they built this tabernacle, which is basically a temple on wheels almost, and they took it with them. That represented God's presence. And then they built the temple in Jerusalem. And we're on a later temple. This is not the original temple that was built when Jesus was speaking of. But this is central to their way of life. These men were on their way to the temple to participate in an activity that's not uncommon. They were going to the temple to pray. And there were two prayer times that were in any given day. The first would have been around 9 o'clock in the morning and the second would have been around 3 o'clock in the afternoon. And these were known as the morning and evening prayer times. And they coincided with the sacrifices, the morning and evening sacrifices. And once these atoning sacrifices had been made, prayer and worship could then commence in the temple and people would come in to pray. So the scene is normal. These men are doing nothing out of the ordinary. That's why it's a relatable story. They go to the same place at the same time to do the same thing. However, the two men couldn't be more different from each other. We find that these men, they're the ultimate example of contrast. They're black and white. They're up and down. These two men were as opposite as could be. So let's look at each man in turn. We see first, the first man who goes into the temple is a Pharisee. He is a religious leader in Israel. And when it comes to knowing and keeping God's law, well, all you had to do was go and find yourself a Pharisee. The Pharisees went above and beyond the call of duty. In fact, Pharisees were so obsessed with God's law that they added more and more to it, trying to become more holy. And we'll see this as we get into this man's prayer. But just as a groundwork, know that they're adding to God's law to try to make themselves more holy. Because on top of God's written law, or the Torah, they added oral law. This oral law contained many new extrapolations of the written law in order to help one make one holier, or so it seemed. And what the Pharisees had done in Jesus' day is they had created a class unto themselves. They were their own class. You know how you might have the rich or the poor? You had the Pharisees. They were the epitome of religion. They were the standard of righteous living. But by stark contrast to that, the second man that enters is a tax collector. This man, he's no example to be followed. And probably he had very few friends, if any, outside of his fellow tax collectors. In essence, tax collectors were traitors in the eyes of the fellow Israelites. Because during the time that Jesus was here on earth, Rome was occupying Israel. But as an occupying territory, they had to send their taxes to Rome. Everyone had to pay taxes to the Roman government, the body that oversaw them. But Rome didn't send all of their own people to collect the taxes. Instead, they contracted with locals to collect the taxes for them. And if we look back on it from our perspective today, we might say, well, that's a pretty good business move. Why send your own people down there when you get people who know the place, and they know the people in the town, and they can collect the taxes for you? But these individuals who contracted with Rome were not viewed kindly by their peers. They're seen as working with the enemy, taking up this money for this ruling force. But adding fuel to the fire was the reputation of these tax collectors. They were known as the most dishonest of men. In order to make a profit, they might overcharge the people that were paying the taxes, and they would keep the extra. We know that they often made a comfortable living off such overcharges. If you turn one chapter over to Luke chapter 19 and look at the first, just about the first 10 verses there, you find the account of probably perhaps the most famous tax collector and a man named Zacchaeus. And we find that he's a very rich man and he's stolen a lot of money from different people. And perhaps Jesus' audience, as he begins to tell this story, they've already begun to wonder, why on earth would such a wicked and vile man enter the temple? And to pray, the nerve of that man! This man would seem to have nothing to do with worshiping God. And the contrast between these two men would be like contrasting the character of today's politician and today's priest. One is overly devout, while the other is overwhelmingly crooked. And as these two men enter, we find recorded then their prayers, which also couldn't be more different. So we have seen two men, and now we'll see two prayers. And the first is the prayer in verse 11 and verse 12 of a self-righteous Pharisee. This man is righteous, and he knows it all too well. He's more than righteous, though. He's self-righteous. He enters the temple to pray, and the scripture records for us, Jesus says that he stands to do so. Go back to verse 11. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus. Now, it's not uncommon to stand when he prays. That was one of the postures that people took there when they prayed to God in the temple. But the context suggests to us, though, that he stood at the front of the temple to pray. And this means that he found one of the most prominent positions that he could in order to pray. And as he stood there to pray, perhaps he even, a lot of people suggest that he stood there where people could see him, he looked up to heaven and spread his arms out, he had a lot to say. And he wanted people around him to hear what he had to say. He was unashamed of what he had to say because he knew everyone nearby would listen and marvel at the things he had to say. He takes this position by himself, but no doubt with onlookers, and begins his prayer. And from the outset of this man's prayer, it's clear who is the subject of his prayer. It is himself. It says, the Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus. It might be better translated, it said this man prayed about himself. And that's really the case, which we'll soon find out. The prayer's motive, as one writer put it, is purely self-promoting pride, intended to showcase his supposed spirituality. And the hypocrisy of this man begins in verse 11 with a thank you to God for what this man is not. And it is surely not sincere, because the Pharisee is thankful that he is not like other men. Because the Pharisee is in a class all by himself, and he knew it. And he liked it. He liked being looked upon as a spiritual leader. He liked being looked upon as the pinnacle of piety. He had a reputation as a religious expert, and he wanted to make sure that everyone knew that he had this reputation. It was not enough to stop at thanks, saying, thank you God that I'm not like other men. He had to make sure that everyone who heard him that day, and perhaps even God, knew exactly what he meant. And he begins to spout this list of those he is so happy that he is better than. He compares himself to the riffraff of Jewish society to show exactly what he is not. And the first thing he says, he thanks God that he is not an extortioner. Those who swindle or rob from others. He's surely not like them, but that's forbidden in the Decalogue itself. Very plainly, thou shalt not steal. He's not like the unjust. He is no dishonest person. He is no cheat. And even now, he's not lying or unjust because he's surely telling the truth about himself and his great things that he does. He's no adulterer. He's a moral man whose primary concern in life is to keep all the laws. He wouldn't break a law so horrifying as these. You can almost picture this man. Here he is praying. He's looking up to heaven. He's spouting all of these things about himself or what he is not. And his eyes come to rest on this tax collector who entered the temple with him. He says, I thank you. I'm not extortioner. I am not unjust. I'm not dishonest. I'm not an adulterer. And most of all, I thank you that I am not like this tax collector. In the bravado of the moment, this self-righteous Pharisee points this man out, and he is thankful to God that he's not that tax collector. But not only do we learn from this man what he is not like, he graces us with what he is instead. He says that he's a very righteous man, for he fasts twice a week. The Old Testament and the laws therein required only one fast per year, and this was in preparation for the Day of Atonement. But the Pharisees, however, they took that and said, well, we can fast twice a week. And usually that was done on Monday and Thursday. They gave up their sustenance twice weekly in order to make themselves more righteous than those around them. Also, this man states that he is very careful to tithe on everything that he gets. He doesn't tithe on the money received or what the law required to tithe on. He tithes on everything he took in. Money, crops, and even down to the smallest of herbs that he took in. He made sure that he tithed on that. This man missed no detail of the laws of God and man. And he's so proud of himself for missing none of those. This man is righteous. or so it seems. He has declared to God and all those who hear him of all the things that he has done that make him so righteous. He spent the entire prayer congratulating himself for being this righteous. The parabolic prayer of this man sounds so much like a prayer that we have recorded from the time of Jesus. And this is what it says, a real pharisaical prayer. I thank thee, Jehovah my God, that thou hast assigned my lot with those who sit in the house of learning, and not with those who sit in the street corners, such as money changers or traders. For I rise early, and they rise early. I rise early to study the words of the Torah, and they rise early to attend to things of no importance. I weary myself, and they weary themselves. I weary myself and gain thereby, while they weary themselves without gaining anything. I run, and they run. I run toward the life of the age to come, while they run toward the pit of destruction. And knowing that this prayer is an actual recorded prayer from the time of Jesus doesn't really make the prayer in the parable seem unbelievable. The Pharisee looked good to everyone around him because he compared himself to all those that were near him. You know, he didn't bother to compare himself with saints of old such as Samuel or Elijah. But he only compared himself to those that he knew were not his equals, that he knew would make him look good. The Pharisee was the standard of Jewish religion, for he made himself that way. The Pharisaical class exalted themselves above all others and gained their social status for it. This man has prayed his prayer, and he's made his greatness known. And in two verses alone, we see him refer to himself five times. But let's look at the second prayer. This prayer of great contrast to that, it's not the prayer of someone great, but it's the prayer of a sinner. And it's completely different from the Pharisee. This is the prayer of the tax collector. And the difference between the two begins with the very position and posture that they took for prayer. Well, the Pharisee stood in plain view, probably near the front or the main part of the sanctuary, looked up into heaven, probably spread his arms to pray. The tax collector stands far off, the Bible says. Go back to verse 13. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven. This tax collector, he stands towards the back. He doesn't want to stand towards where anyone might see him. He doesn't want to stand near the front of the sanctuary, maybe even towards the middle. He doesn't want to be noticed. And it's also pointed out, he does not even lift his eyes toward heaven. Now, it's not uncommon to look to heaven when praying. We have little doubt that the Pharisee probably spread, as we said, spread his arms and looked up there before repeating his prayer. But the tax collector does no such thing. He looks down. And we get the sense that he finds himself unworthy to even look toward heaven where his God resides. And then we see that as he prays, he looks down and begins to beat his breast as he prays his prayer. And one may pray with their head bowed and their hands on their chest in Jesus' day, but this man looks down in shame and performs this action of sorrow and anguish. And only one other time is this action recorded in the scriptures, and that is in Luke after Christ's death on the cross. By the very way this man stands, he is communicating contrition, guilt, and grief. And his prayer matches his posture with the words that he prays to God. For the tax collector asked for one thing, and one thing only, God's mercy on a sinner. Verse 13 says, put beat on his breast saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. in crying out for mercy from his God. The tax collector is literally asking for propitiation for his sin, propitiation of God's wrath. He recognizes God's justified anger on his sin and calls out to God for an appeasement of that wrath. He is recognized that he cannot appease God's anger. He is a sinner. And more than that, perhaps it's best to translate the word a in this sentence with the word the. Instead it would read, this man, this plea, be merciful to me, the sinner. It's not one in the pack. It's not just any other sinner. It's the primary sinner. This man has seen his guilt and has owned his sin before God. Perhaps he even responds, he even says, be merciful to me, the sinner, in response to the Pharisee pointing him out in his prayer, saying, yes, I am the sinner. He didn't cover it up as sin. He didn't try to make himself acceptable. He came to God just as he is. The tax collector was looked down on society for good reason. And we already observed many of them were cheats and thieves. He had no merit to claim, and so he didn't claim it. But instead, he threw himself at the feet of God and his mercy. He asked for God to appease God's wrath, for he recognized that he could not appease it. His sinfulness could not be turned into his own salvation. He would need God's intervention. As we look at these two men and their two prayers, I want to take some time now to look at the application of this parable. We have the self-righteous prayer and the crying out of the sinner, but Jesus now wants to make the point of his parable. And looking at these two men and their prayers as we've looked at them, it may seem obvious to us who walked away with mercy from God that day. and who walked away no better than when he walked in. But as we turn to the application, I want to go back and recover the audience of Jesus' parable. Christ spoke to these people that are mentioned in verse 9. Go back to 9, verse 9. He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. And as Luke does on more than one occasion, he kind of gives the purpose for the parable and the audience that Jesus spoke to before he even gives the parable itself. And we save this, though, for last because it couples well with the application at the end of the parable. And it helps us to understand the shock that Jesus' readers may have experienced or displayed when they heard the end of the parable. As Jesus was speaking, we learn that there are those who are listening who are trusting in themselves for righteousness. I think it's not outside the realm of possibility that perhaps standing in the crowd that day were many Pharisees whom Jesus has just spoken of. They may have even prayed prayers similar to the one in Jesus' parable. In their eyes and the eyes of those around them, they are righteous. And the target audience of Jesus' parable are the ones no different from the Pharisee in the parable. Luke records that they trusted in themselves that they were righteous. They saw no need for outside help from anyone. When it came to righteousness, in their own minds, they were the definition of righteousness. They had kept the law. They had even added on to the law for good measure. They had to be righteous. More than just in self-righteousness, though, Jesus' audience fit the bill of the parable in that they looked down on those around them. The end of verse 13 says, "...and treated others with contempt." They considered others around them worthless, of no value. They despised them. And this inflated view of themselves always, always, always leads to a deflated view of others. And by the way, a deflated view of God. Those who do not hold the same standard of living as these self-righteous individuals were nothing more than a mere stepping stone for them to gain more status in society. Another rung on the ladder beneath them that they were better than. They are fuel for the self-righteous's fire of self-worth. Knowing the audience then helps us understand more the application when Jesus presents to us then the outcomes in verse 14. And Jesus makes a bold declaration to lead off verse 14 that no doubt shocked the self-righteous individuals as he stated that the tax collector went away from the temple that day as the one justified, righteous in God's eyes. The word justified here literally means having been permanently justified. This sinful tax collector went away with permanent righteousness on his account before God. And I can only imagine the smug faces of the Pharisees standing in the crowd that day, turning to utter confusion and even anger as they realize they have just been called out by Jesus. This is a plot twist for them. No doubt they, and maybe even those around them, not of their class, expected the complete opposite. There's no way that this sinner should be accepted by God in their system. He's done nothing. And that was Jesus' point. The tax collector did nothing to make himself acceptable to God. He knew that he could not be accepted by God because of his sin, so he humbled himself before God. Jesus gives the lesson of the parable in the brief statement at the end of verse 14 where he says, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. The one who exalts himself will be humbled by God. and the one who humbles himself before the creator of the universe will be exalted by God." The Pharisee had his reward. He had status and self-righteousness. In returning home from the temple that day, he gained nothing with God, and he only gained status for himself. He had not communed with God, but instead he'd praise upon himself. This was his reward. He still stands guilty before a holy God and will face eternal punishment. But the tax collector receives life everlasting from God, for he has done the only thing acceptable to receive such from God. He has given up all hope in himself. He sees his sinfulness when comparing himself to God's law. The Pharisee, who is an expert on God's law, missed the point of that law completely. The point of God's law was to show one's own sinfulness before a sinless God. That's why when you read the book of Exodus, and the children of Israel are heading out of the land of Egypt, and they get to Mount Sinai, And Moses, God says to Moses, I'm going to give the people my standards, my laws. And Moses tells the people. And what do the people say in return? They say, everything that God tells us, we're going to do. And if you're thinking about it, when you read that, you think, well, that's not going to happen. OK? I mean, we're talking about the people of Israel here, all right? We're talking about the people who just barely made it out of Egypt, got to the Red Sea, and said, see, Moses, you brought us out here to kill us. But what does God do? He brings them to the Red Sea. But not long after the Red Sea, they don't have any water. They don't have any food. And they say, oh, God brought us out here in the wilderness to kill us. Do you really think they're going to keep God's law? And so that leads one to question, if God knew that, if God knew that they would break his law, then why would he give God that law if they couldn't keep it? Well, if that's the question you ask, then you misunderstand the purpose of the law. The purpose of the law is not so that one can keep it, but it's to show us that we can't keep God's law. To show us that we will never be able to make ourselves acceptable to God. So let's turn to the present day and talk about what does this parable mean for us? There are many things it teaches us in 2014. And the first is that there's only one way to be accepted by God. No amount of good works, no amount of good deeds done will ever make one acceptable to God. God demands absolute perfection. And that is a standard that no mere human can ever live up to. No matter how hard we try, we'll never be able to make ourselves acceptable to God. And the cry of the tax collector is one that's very difficult to make, because it is an admittance that one cannot make himself acceptable to God, and that one is incapable of saving himself. We want to be able to save ourselves. We want to be able to make God like us, or make God save us, or say, man, I can't send him to hell because he's been too good. We want that. We want to think that we're good people, but the truth is, though, we're not good. We're sinful. We break God's law regularly. And even the good things that we do are tainted by pride and sin. The Pharisee in the parable failed to realize that the law that he strove so hard to keep was the very thing that would keep him out of God's kingdom. He was so proud of himself for being better than anyone else that he failed to realize that everyone else isn't the standard. If you think getting into heaven is a matter of being better than someone else, then you're severely misguided. You'll always be able to find someone else in this world that you're better than. The measure of whether or not you will enter heaven is God's holy word. The standard is God's righteousness. And the question is, can you live up to that? You can't. I can't. Nobody can. And that's why God sent Jesus Christ, the one who spoke this parable. He was 100% God, he was 100% man, and he lived on this earth in perfect accordance to God's law, and died for the sins of all those who accept his sacrifice. The setting of this parable was still before the sacrifice of Christ, because he's still walking on this earth, he's making his way towards Jerusalem, where he will be crucified. But the message is still the same. You have to throw yourself on the mercy of God for salvation. You must relinquish all trust in yourself for salvation and eternal life and must trust completely in God to save you from your sin. And when you do so, He will declare you righteous, justified, not guilty on the basis of Christ's atoning death. But only if you humble yourself before Him and declare yourself unable to gain eternal life for yourself. No amount of religious actions will ever save you, only God alone. Nothing you can even offer will appease God's wrath. Christ died to appease that wrath for you. He died to become your propitiation, the appeasement of God's wrath. Have you trusted in Him? Have you thrown yourself completely on His mercy for eternal life? Have you come to Him for forgiveness of sin and eternal life and new life in Him? And that is why the message of the cross is so offensive. because the message of the cross says I can't save myself. The message of the cross says I must depend on someone else. That's not what our world likes to hear today. That's not what the people, the preachers and the spiritual leaders that people listen to or turn on TV or go and flock to these great meetings, that's not what they go to hear. They don't go hear the message of the cross. They go to hear what they want to hear. The message of the cross is admitting and humbling yourself before God saying, I can't save myself. Most of you here today would probably say that you have done that. You might say, I have humbled myself before God. So what does this parable say to the Christian? What does this parable say to the one who has new life in God? This parable is a reminder to you of the attitude you must maintain to keep growing in Christ. Because the pride of the Pharisee can creep into the hearts of believers and make them ineffective for God and stagnant in their spiritual growth. God saves those who trust in Him and calls them to new life in Him. He calls them to constantly be growing and change to become more like His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our example because he was man He could be the example for man because he was God. He could keep God's law perfectly as We've been talking about in Hebrews Of Christ being our high priest. He has been through these things that we have been through he understands and That is why he is the example to be followed Don't let your focus shift from growing to coasting spiritually. The measure of your spiritual growth is the same as the measure for salvation is still God and his word. You know, you'll always be able to look around in the world or even in your very own church and find someone, another Christian who's not as spiritually mature as you are. Someone that you're better than. But that's not the measure of your spiritual growth. The true measure of your spiritual growth is how you look compared to God and His Word. How do you do at obeying what God's Word says? How do you do at keeping God's commandments? The purpose of the life of a Christian is to bring glory to God, and God's glory is most prevalent in the life of believers who follow God's commands. And they're not following God's commands out of fear, or that God may strike them, or out of keeping God happy. But as Jesus said in John, if you love me, keep my commandments. They're out of love for God. The standard of godly living is the living God and his living word. It's not whether or not you had more devotions than the person sitting across from the pew. It's not whether or not you spent more minutes praying than the person next to you. Spiritual growth is not based on how many ministries at church you're involved in. Sometimes we like to equate busyness, spiritual busyness, with spiritual growth. Or we distract ourselves from spiritual growth with busyness. You know, ministry is good. Involvement in church is good. But it can be merely actions. Staying busy in ministry and equating it with growth or comparing yourselves to others to measure spiritual growth will put you in the same line of thinking as the Pharisee. You'll be proud. You'll be self-righteous. And you'll think that your actions make God happy and make God have to accept you. The same contrite spirit that you needed to come to God for salvation is the same spirit you must have to grow in God. Because Christians are just sinners saved by grace who grow in grace. So how are you measuring your spiritual growth, Christian? If you're going to measure it by God's Word, then guess what? You're going to need to know what God's Word says. You need to be in God's Word. You need to be under the preaching of God's Word. You need to be more than just listening, but applying God's Word to your life. What does this mean for me today? And if you will grow by grace in God, take the words of James 4, 6 to heart that we read this morning, but he gives more grace. Therefore it says, God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. Lay down your spiritual pride and grow in God today. Pray for your fellow believers. You know, it's really, really hard to compare yourself to others, to find someone that you're better than, if you genuinely, out of genuine concern and love, pray for your fellow believers. And not just, not a prayer of self-righteous of the Pharisee, oh, I'm better than them, or a token prayer, but to take to heart their needs, to take to heart their battles, to take to heart their spiritual well-being. Praying for that person, for any of your fellow believers, it helps to guard against that heart of comparison and pride. Because Christians are called by God to fight together, to run together, to grow together in God. The New Testament is just peppered with these things that we call the one and others, right? All of these things that the apostles wrote and that were written down to love one another, to edify one another, all of these things, these are the things that we're to do with fellow believers. This parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, the tale of two prayers, it's a parable of contrast, and it's very clear. The only way to God is through humility. The only way to find forgiveness of sin is recognizing that you can't gain it on your own. And then the only way to grow in Christ after salvation is to continue to rely on God's grace. As we get ready to close today, I just ask that of you today. Have you come to God? Are you trusting in yourself? Are you trusting in that you grew up going to church, that you're there all the time, that you give money, that maybe you do these good works, you pick up the Bible and read it every once in a while? That won't get you to heaven. That won't get you to heaven any more than the Pharisee and his religious actions that he went through would get him to heaven. Have you come as the tax collector comes saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Because God will hear your prayer. He will hear your cry. And he will give you new life. And how's your spiritual growth, Christian? How are you growing in God? What's the attitude of your growth? You know, it's good to have victory in your life over things that God gives. But it's so easy for that victory to turn into something that we just go back to and say, yeah, well, I did that. And whenever something else comes up, we say to God, well, I just did that. And instead of putting those things, as Paul says, he says, forgetting those things that are behind, we have to forget the bad and the good and just keep pressing on in God's grace to continue to grow and not get caught up in the pride of our spirituality. So let's make that commitment today to grow in the grace of our God. Let's pray. Thank you for your work. Thank you for its clarity. Thank you for its simplicity, for the chance that we have to read it now. Thank you for preserving it for these years for us. Thank you for speaking to our hearts and for telling us the way to live. And I pray today that you would help us to come to you as the tax collector came, not in pride, not in self-righteousness, but in humility and recognition that we can do nothing to gain your acceptance, but must fully trust in your grace. I pray if there's one here today, Lord, that you would help them to understand the message of salvation, to understand the message of new life in you, to seek someone out. to learn more about it and to become your child. I pray for believers here today, Lord, that you would help us to examine our hearts, to see where it is that we may have pride lurking in our spiritual growth, that where we have begun to compare ourselves to others instead of to your word, to become more and more like your son, Jesus Christ. We pray as we go out today that you would Help us to honor and glorify you and all that said and done And that we would come back tonight to learn more from your word and then we pray Amen