if you can find your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 18 verse 9. I'll give you a moment to find that and then I'll read our passage for us this morning. We're once again stealing from future Luke. We're back in the chapter 14 range, but the text today has much to say given our remembering the Reformation and justification by faith. So Luke chapter 18, verse 9, let me read for us from God's Word. He also told 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 up 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." This is God's word for us this morning. You may be seated. Lord, would you bless and add your understanding to the reading and now preaching of your holy Oh God, that we would see Jesus, we pray in His name. Amen. Amen. Well, think of Martin Luther is on our mind as we've been singing hymns in his tradition as we're celebrating tonight, the Reformation Day, you know, visions of him nailing those theses to the Wittenberg door in 1517. You know, think of this, you know, basically mythic character at this point. I mean, some stories get attributed. This happens, right, in history. More and more stories accumulate, and you have to sort of fact check as he's truly a hero for us, Protestants. Well, this Martin Luther said this in a sermon once, and I'm gonna leave something blank, because I want you to guess how he filled it in. I would let no man take this or blank away from me, and I would not give it up for all the treasure in the world. What did Martin Luther say? He would never give up for all the treasure in the world. Martin Luther who nailed the theses. Martin Luther who declared in 1521 in front of the authorities, here I stand, I could do no other. Heaven help me. Martin Luther who survived exile in a castle and translated the New Testament into German in 11 weeks. We'll find more about that tonight. Martin Luther, who gave needed leadership to a fledgling Reformation, who stood for biblical truth even at constant threat of his own life. Let me read the whole quote. I would let no man take confession away from me, and I would not give it up for all the treasure in the world, for I know what comfort and strength it has given me. This Martin Luther who once struggled with confession, struggled with the weight of his sin, discovering who Jesus is and the gospel, came to love confessing before his God and having assurance as he did. And I think you saw that in the words that we used for the confession this morning. Well, what do we see today in our text? Jesus presents us with two examples, and I think one example finds that same comfort that Luther found and that I pray that you find and continue in as well. In your bulletins, if it's helpful to you, there's an outline to follow along. as we look at this true sinner's prayer, as we'll see. And the main point of the message is simply this, humble yourself before the mercy of God. Humble yourself before the mercy of God. We'll take up two points, even as Jesus gives us two examples, and the first is this, exalt yourself and you will be condemned. Exalt yourself and you will be condemned. It says he also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. Luke, in this case, gives us sort of the reason for the parable. He's given us a behind-the-scenes look. Jesus knows the hearts of especially the Pharisees that he's been dealing with, but also others listening in. and the reason that Jesus gives the parable. This passage is sort of nestled in this part of Luke where if you went back to the beginning of chapter 18, we'll come to this again one day, but the persistent widow who prays and prays and God answers her prayer. And then we've looked at verse 15, let the children come to me, don't hinder them, and actually be like these children, receive a faith like theirs. And right in the middle here we have this example of true faith and true prayer. So think of the setup here. Jesus calls out, or Luke is calling out the heart here, and then verse 10, the parable sets up very simply. Two men went up to the temple, right? The temple was on the temple mount, so you would always go up to the temple, and then you would go back down elsewhere. And they went to the temple to pray. One, a Pharisee, and the other, a tax collector. What a setup. A Pharisee and a tax collector walk into the temple. What happens next? And if you think about Jesus' readers, we sort of graciously already lean toward the tax collector. We're primed. We know that Luke has already told us that Jesus came to save sinners. We know that Jesus often ate with tax collectors and sinners. So we kind of have insider knowledge, and so we're already sort of set up to be like, oh, what's this Pharisee going to do? But think about the people at the time. What would have been their tendency? A Pharisee, a respected religious leader, right? And not all Pharisees were sort of equally Pharisaic, even as we use the word. And a tax collector, one who is collecting money on behalf of Rome, the occupying force in Israel. It might be in modern day, if someone said, a pastor and a con man walk into a church, What would our tendency be? Who are we leaning toward? Who are we rooting for in the story? I think for Jesus, people that he's speaking to, they would already be leaning toward the Pharisee at this point, so we have to kind of keep that in mind. So they go into the temple, the Pharisee and the tax collector, and they come to pray. And there were certain hours of the day that anyone could come in and pray in the temple. There was corporate prayer. There was also space for private prayer. And it seems that these two men have come to do this. And again, he shows the heart behind the Pharisees, sort of from the very beginning. With both men, we're going to see their heart. We're going to look at their posture. We're going to look at their prayer. And we're going to see what that says to us. But he starts with the heart. This Pharisee in particular and others, they trusted in themselves that they were righteous. Trusted in themselves that they were righteous. The word righteous for Luke can mean a few different things, very similar meaning. At the very end of Luke, someone declares about Jesus being crucified, certainly this man was innocent. And that's the same word, righteous, innocent before God. Or at the beginning of Luke, you know, Elizabeth and Zechariah or Simeon in Luke 1 and 6, they're described as being righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. Now, does that mean that Elizabeth and Zechariah were perfect morally? They never broke the law. No. They still offered sacrifices and found forgiveness, so righteous there means a right standing before God. They were living by faith, as it were. Righteous, then, is used by Jesus in Luke 5. but sinners to repentance, right? And we've talked about it. It's almost as if Jesus is putting quotes. He's using it ironically. I haven't come to call the people who trust in themselves that they are righteous. I've come to call sinners who know that they need Repentance. And so righteous has to do with innocence. It has to do with a right standing before God. It has to do with living out His commandments. And these Pharisees and others, they were trusting in themselves that they were righteous. You know, they said, I got this. I got it covered. Right? And this leads to treating others with contempt. Treating others with contempt. If you're going to exalt yourself and build yourself up, it's inevitable that you also treat others with contempt, right? And you might think that you're immune to this, but I doubt it. You've probably driven this week, maybe at some point, and That's one of the few places where if you're in the driver's seat, you become righteous pretty quickly, and everyone else becomes the wicked of the world. They don't know how to drive, right? And maybe you keep it in in other areas, but man, when you're in that car seat, not the car seat, the front seat, Maybe your kids are doing it too and then you really have a problem. You're just, all other drivers don't even, you know, if they would just come to you, you would teach them, right, how to drive. But the Pharisee is doing this not in driving but in all of life. And we start to see it in his very posture, right? He comes into the temple and he stands to pray. Now, standing was just the posture of the time. If you said, let us pray, everyone would stand. So there's nothing dubious here, but he's standing by himself and he prayed thus. Listen to the, when I say posture, I mean, listen to the tone. He starts off really good, God, good, address your prayer to God. And we'll see that the tax collector too says God, comma, but what's the next word for the Pharisee? I. God, comma, I thank you, we're pretty good so far still, right? You come before God, you thank him for what? That I am not like other men. Are we starting to go off the rails here? God, I thank you that I am not like other men. And he starts to list the other men, extortioners, and those who would take from others, the unjust or the wicked, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. And so he sees the tax collector and sort of in his prayer, maybe you've experienced what I like to call prey preaching. where someone's praying and it's sort of a veiled, passive something toward you. You know, God, I just pray, I just pray for Dustin that you'd give him wisdom and maturity to just start making some good decisions in his life, right? Maybe you've experienced that, hopefully not, but maybe all of us have had some point where someone sort of pray-preaches, we're right there, You can't really interrupt because it's a prayer. And the Pharisee's doing this a bit. I mean, the tax collector's right there, but even more important is his heart. He's starting with this negative comparison. I am not like other men. And it's veiled in a thankfulness to God. Right? God, I thank you that look who I'm not like. So sort of negative comparison. And then a positive quantifying, right? It might be enough to say, well, I'm not like them, but let me tell you what I am like. And look at all the I's, right? I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. And lest we think these are small things, fasting twice a week, the Jews at the time, the Day of Atonement in particular, there were a few festivals where fasting was called upon by the people of God, required. Fasting was a practice that Jews could do at other times. But look at this, I fast not twice a year, twice a week. I mean, two days without food per week. This is no small task, for me at least. I give tithes of all that I get." Again, he's not just saying, I do what's required, he's saying, I go above and beyond. Because if you look in the Old Testament, the tithes would have to do with produce especially. And the language here is a little bit tricky. He's either saying, I give tithes of all the income that I get, which is already above and beyond. There were only certain income in the Old Testament that would be, the 10th would be taken out for the temple. Or he might be saying even more, I give tithes of all, not only my income, but what I purchase. So if I purchased fruit, I'm gonna tithe from that fruit and give back to the Lord. Either way, listen to what he's saying. I go above and beyond. And it seems to me, this is subjective, but I think he kept going. If you look at the tone, I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get, I think we have a fade-out, I, da-da-da, I, da-da-da, and camera pans over to the tax collector as the man continues on. And we'll look at the tax collector in just a moment. And so we see the heart of the Pharisee, righteous in his own eyes. We see his posture and tone as he comes celebrating himself to God. And we see then the answer. So if this is his prayer, prayers are answered by God, what's the answer given in verse 14? I tell you, this man, the tax collector, went down to his house justified, declared righteous before God, we'll talk more about that in a minute, rather than the other. The one who trusted that he was righteous in himself, and he prays thus, is condemned, found wanting. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. We saw that last week in chapter 14. This is a favorite saying of Jesus. It speaks of this great reversal. Those who would exalt themselves will be humbled, will one day be condemned before the judge. and the others exalted, the humble exalted. Exalt yourself, friend, and you will be condemned. Trust in yourself that you are righteous and you will find condemnation at the end, as Jesus warns us here. But as we said, the camera pans over, right? to the tax collector. And so we go to the second point. Humble yourself and you will be justified. Humble yourself and you will be justified. So we've been given this example of the Pharisee. Cameron pans over to the tax collector in verse 13. Look at the change in posture. But the tax collector is standing far off. He doesn't even want to draw near, knowing the holiness of God. knowing the reality of his sin, he wouldn't even lift up his eyes to heaven. But he beat his breast, which was a sign of lament. And the language there is he was continually beating his breast, eyes lowered, and he praised us. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And we see this is the true sinner's prayer, as it were. Compared to the 34 words of the Pharisee's prayer, in the Greek we have six words. In this prayer, Luther, as we keep thinking of Luther, he said this once, when you pray, rather let your heart, let your heart be without words than words without heart. We saw the Pharisee whose heart was not right and had many words. Now we see the tax collector whose heart is right and has very few words. Whereas the Pharisee said, God, comma, I, and then continued on about how great he was, the tax collector says, God, comma, desperate need. Desperate need of forgiveness for his own sin. And so his posture is different. His prayer is different. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. In the Greek, it's very interesting, it's actually the sinner. And the New American Standard Bible actually translates it that way. Be merciful to me, the sinner. And we hear an echo of our assurance of pardon earlier from the lips of Paul, that Jesus came to save sinners of whom I am the foremost. This isn't sort of a false humility. Oh yes, God saves everyone, and I'm just the worst of sinners. No, no, no. When Paul says that, he means it, because he knows his own heart more than others. And if Jesus saved me, what Paul would say, he can save you. If his mercy was enough for me, then it's enough for you. And here, in this great six-word sinner's prayer, be merciful to me, the sinner, the chief sinner, the sinner of sinners, before a holy God. We see his posture and his tone, we see his prayer. How is his prayer answered as compared to the first? Again, verse 14. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified. He went down to his house justified. What does justified mean? That's the key question, isn't it? And thinking of Reformation Day tomorrow, this is that key article of faith of which the Reformers indeed lived and even died for, because it speaks of the mercy of God, as taught in Scripture. Justify here. It comes from the same word used earlier, they trusted in themselves that they were righteous, right? That they were innocent before God. And so justified here means to be declared righteous. To be declared righteous. By whom? By God. And of course we think of a courtroom setting, right? And you come and you plead guilty because you know you're guilty. Because you know you have sinned against a holy God. That you don't even know the depths of your sin that brought Jesus to the cross. But Jesus, having paid the penalty of your sin, which was more than consecutive life sentences, but an eternity in hell, you come in the courtroom, and that having been paid, you were declared righteous before God. You were given a new standing. You were given a standing before God as if you had never sinned. And from then on, God treats you as such. Through Jesus, he treats you as one who is righteous, innocent before him. Our Shorter Catechism puts it this way, our Shorter Catechism written in the 1600s to help us summarize the faith. What is justification? Justification is an act of God's free grace wherein he pardons all our sins. I love that. and accepts us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. Look at the different parts here. We are pardoned of all of our sins, all of it, paid for. Jesus said at the cross, it is finished. Not it's mostly finished. Not it's finished, but they better work hard to keep it. No, it is finished. And then we are accepted as righteous in his sight, in God's sight, through Jesus Christ, so that when God looks on us, think of Jesus' baptism, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. If you are in Christ, he looks at you and says, this is my child with whom I am well pleased. because the sin has been paid for and we have a new standing with him. All because of the righteousness of Christ imputed to us. He took the sin and then he gave us his perfect righteousness. The only human who could have on his own his very works have standing before God in perfection. And we receive this by faith. Second Corinthians 5.21 puts this succinctly, and if you would memorize a verse, this would be a verse to memorize. For our sake he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. We speak of this as the great exchange. Jesus, the perfect, spotless lamb, the righteous one, was made to be sin. He was treated as the sinner, the chief sinner, the sinner of sinners before a holy God and paid the penalty due to those sinners. He gives us then His perfect righteousness so that we might become the righteousness of God. We come into this new standing with God our Father. That describes this man that Jesus gives, and that describes every one of you if Jesus is your savior. Martin Luther again said, if the article of justification is once lost, then all true Christian doctrine is lost. Because it's the heart of the gospel that does away with all self-trust, all self-exertion, that somehow we could earn his love, and brings us straight to the cross to find forgiveness of sins. And so we see this man's heart then. It is humble, it is trusting, and it's assured. He went down to his house assured. The Pharisee didn't go home assured, you know? The Pharisee thought, well, maybe I should have listed this or that, or maybe I should do that this week. The other man went home assured of his father's love. That's what awaits you if you would just humble yourself before the mercy of God. Whether for the first time, Jesus hasn't been your savior up to today, or for the hundredth time, this is the Christian life, constantly humbling ourselves before the mercy of God. And this needs to challenge our hearts. Because it's so easy, we could read this, And we could say, God, I thank you that I am not like this Pharisee. Who could be like that? Who could walk in the temple and pray like that? Oh, God, I thank you that I'm not like this Pharisee. But it goes further. God, I thank you that I am not like the wickedness that surrounds me in this culture. Oh, thank you, God. How could people think that way? How could they be so foolish and think they can get away with it? Oh, I'm not like them, and I thank you, God. It's you. I thank you that I'm not like them. I thank you that I am not like other men. I thank you that I am not like You know, as you scroll your newsfeed, right, it's so easy for this to be the prayer. Not a prayer for change or a prayer for change of heart, but God, I just thank you that I'm not like them and I'm not like them. I'm not like those that would watch that news channel. I'm not like those that would vote that way. God, I thank you. or maybe closer to home, being in our denomination of which I am thankful for. But in our reformed circles, God, I thank you that I'm not like those Christians that don't even go deep. I thank you that I'm not like those sort of broadly sort of evangelical Christians, but I thank you that I read so much more than that. God, I read your word. I pray to you multiple times a day. I give in the normal offering and the thank offering and the pregnancy center. I thank you that I am not like other men. Let me just challenge you, if that is your focus, if that is your hope, That's what it rides on, that as you look through your news feed, as you see the chaos around us and sort of the hope is, I just thank you that I'm not like them. Let me challenge you that if that's where the road ends, it's a dead end. Right? A blind person who receives sight, doesn't then look down upon other blind people, but prays that they would receive their sight, right? We should actually be the most humble people in the world because God came to save us, the sinner, the chief of sinners, so that instead of contempt, we would have compassion, and instead of praising ourselves, we would pray for those around us, that they too would come to see the goodness of the gospel. When we do that, just like the man in the story, when we humble ourselves before his mercy, we could be assured of our salvation. We could know that the very same voice that said, let there be light at the very beginning, declares us righteous through Jesus Christ. You know, Martin Luther, before he came to this understanding of justification by faith, he truly did struggle with assurance, and indeed after as well. By his own accounts and others, we believe he was also plagued with depression and anxiety and words that didn't exist then. But this manifested in some spiritual wrestlings of his own. And he would have so much trouble, he would confess over and over and over and over and over again, thinking, if I could just confess all the sins, then I might have assurance. And even those Catholic priests and others in his life would say, Martin Luther, it's too much. Right? And so you would think that when he came to this understanding of justification by faith and what it means to confess our sins, that maybe he would just do away with the practice. But no, as we saw at the beginning, it was a great treasure to him once he found true confession, true acceptance before the Father. This story is told, a man was greatly disturbed about his sin, and so he wrote to Martin Luther. The reformer who had agonized much over his own shortcomings replied this way, learn to know Christ and him crucified. Learn to sing to him and say, Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness. You took on you what was mine. You set on me what was yours. You became what you were not that I might become what I am not. And that's the great prayer that we can pray and the answer that we could be given, declared righteous before God through Jesus Christ. Let's then humble ourselves before the mercy of God every day. Let's pray. God, we thank you for your word, Lord, that it reveals truth, it reveals our hearts. I pray, Lord, where the Spirit has brought conviction this morning, that the Spirit would lead to change and true repentance and the assurance of forgiveness that comes with it. Lord, I pray that you would help us to be a humble people, ready to pray and to serve and to see your gospel come to more and more who would find this kind of assurance that only you give. I pray this in Jesus' name, amen.