WEBVTT 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:07.440 Hello everyone. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:08.880 This is Pastor Benjamin. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:12.000 You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City Orlando. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:15.439 At New City, we long to see our Father answer the Lord's Prayer. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:20.079 For more resources, visit our website at Newcity Orlando.com. 00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:23.760 Please join me in reading the Prayer of Illumination. 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:27.920 Heavenly Father, your word is truth. 00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:36.880 By your Spirit, give us ears to hear and hearts to believe your word with joy through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:00:36.880 --> 00:00:37.840 Amen. 00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:43.359 Our scripture today comes from Luke chapter 18, verses 9 through 14. 00:00:43.359 --> 00:00:52.240 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. 00:00:52.240 --> 00:01:00.079 Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:14.319 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. 00:01:14.319 --> 00:01:19.120 I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get. 00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:30.560 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. 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:36.799 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. 00:01:36.799 --> 00:01:43.680 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:45.040 This is God's word. 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:50.480 I think Luke thinks we're getting lazy. 00:01:50.480 --> 00:01:54.879 So towards the end of the gospel, he just starts telling you straight up why the parable's told, right? 00:01:54.879 --> 00:02:01.120 He says in verse 9, Jesus told this parable because some people are trusting in themselves that they're righteous. 00:02:01.120 --> 00:02:11.680 And we read that, we might go, yeah, there and then, ancient people, they were maybe a little bit too into all this whole rightness before God thing, but we are modern and sophisticated. 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:14.479 We don't struggle or wrestle with the same things that they did. 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:17.439 Well, Jesus goes on and gives us a diagnostic. 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:25.520 He actually says, those people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:38.879 So I think that there's a diagnostic here that if you trust in yourself that you're righteous, if you if you have a trust in you, the outcome, the natural outcome of that will be that you treat others with contempt. 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:41.280 And that word contempt sounds strong, but it's simple. 00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:44.560 In in Greek, it simply just means out of nothing. 00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:54.879 It means that you see other people as less than, as you're kind of got a little bit more of a superiority to them, and they are zero, maybe. 00:02:54.879 --> 00:02:56.400 So here's what I want to do. 00:02:56.400 --> 00:02:57.840 I want us to stand right here at the beginning. 00:02:57.840 --> 00:02:59.280 I want us to not literally stand. 00:02:59.280 --> 00:03:02.560 I want us to metaphorically stand before Dr. 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:09.680 Jesus, the great physician, and I want him to run us through a quick diagnostic and see if the symptoms don't point to a deeper disease. 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:11.199 All right, so here's the first thing. 00:03:11.199 --> 00:03:17.120 Do you have any self-made systems that you use to establish your own righteousness? 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:18.879 Let me just give you some examples. 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:22.560 The first one is what I like to call on-time righteousness. 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:26.800 This is when uh people who are late make you irate. 00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:34.800 Now, the irony here is I was late this morning and they applauded when I walked in because I was so late, but I don't have on-time righteousness. 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:38.000 I just stand rooted in the righteousness of Jesus. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:40.000 Just kidding, I'm getting ahead of myself. 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:43.759 So the second thing related is what I call wake up early righteousness. 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:48.159 The early gets the bird gets the worm and a little bit of superiority too, right? 00:03:48.159 --> 00:03:52.159 Or how about this eat healthy righteousness? 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:58.159 Uh your friend rang the bell and rolled up with a cheesy gordita crunch and a Baja Blast, and they are an adult. 00:03:58.159 --> 00:04:04.800 And your eat healthy righteousness gets stirred up in that moment as you look down at them. 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:06.479 Justifiably so, right? 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:10.800 Or how about political cause righteousness? 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:13.280 Uh-oh, I heard an audible. 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:20.959 You know, people just don't care as much as you do about immigration or racial justice or the rights of the unborn or the theft of high taxes? 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:24.000 Some of us, it's parenting style righteousness. 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:28.879 You see a baby melting down, and you're just like, are those parents raising an animal? 00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:30.560 What is happening right now? 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:38.720 But if your three-year-old throws a tantrum, it's because they missed their nap, they lost their binky, and Orlando's really humid in May. 00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:40.639 Okay, it's not your fault. 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:45.600 How about non-self-righteous righteousness? 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:50.399 Does anybody else get easily triggered by self-righteous people? 00:04:50.399 --> 00:04:55.360 Your non-self-righteous self-righteousness is showing in that moment. 00:04:55.360 --> 00:04:58.000 So here's a few more quick questions. 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:01.439 Is there anyone that you feel subtly superior to? 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:04.240 Anyone whose lifestyle you sneer at? 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:09.920 Is there a type of person or behavior that your tongue so easily condescends to? 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:15.759 Are you deeply disappointed with anyone for their lack of follow-through? 00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:18.800 Maybe a child or spouse, a family member, a friend. 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:25.120 Do you ever meddle with others' minor minor failings but fail to deal with your more serious faults? 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:32.480 Anyone in here have a hard time uh asking for forgiveness from others or extending forgiveness to others? 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:38.639 Some of us, um, you might feel prickly or touchy or defensive. 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:40.240 Are you easily offended? 00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:41.519 I just go on record. 00:05:41.519 --> 00:05:46.240 One of the places I find myself like this is in TSA lines. 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:52.879 Because a TSA line is where it like, no matter what, good upstanding citizens are treated like criminals. 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:54.480 And I'm like, I'm not a criminal. 00:05:54.480 --> 00:05:59.199 But it's one of those places where sinners are treated like what they are sinners. 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:03.759 And it offends us, it makes us touchy a little bit. 00:06:03.759 --> 00:06:07.360 Finally, do you have a historical righteousness? 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:08.000 What C.S. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:10.079 Lewis called chronological snobbery. 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:17.040 One author put it like this: if we had lived in uh the south of Ohio in 1830, we would not have owned slaves. 00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:20.240 If we had lived on the frontier, we would not have killed Indians. 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:29.040 The probability is actually overwhelming that if we had belonged to the generations we deplore, we too would have behaved deplorably. 00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:39.680 In fact, to go further, the probability is overwhelming that we belong to a generation that will be found by its successors to have behaved deplorably. 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:51.279 So listen, is there a slim chance after that diagnosis is over, is there a slim chance that you maybe trust in yourself a little bit, or that you have a subtle sense of superiority to anybody else? 00:06:51.279 --> 00:06:58.800 Is it possible that you silently justify yourself and have contempt for other people? 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:02.639 If so, Jesus has a parable for you and for me. 00:07:02.639 --> 00:07:06.000 So if you have a Bible or device, get Luke 18 in front of you. 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:08.560 We're gonna look at it starting in verse 10. 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:13.279 I've got one question, which is what are you standing on before God? 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:15.920 What are you standing on before God? 00:07:15.920 --> 00:07:17.680 Look at verse 10 with me. 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:23.839 Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, and the other a tax collector. 00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:26.399 Now listen, like any good story, Jesus already starts. 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:29.279 He's got a setting, characters, and a plot. 00:07:29.279 --> 00:07:31.519 The setting is they're going up to the temple. 00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:34.959 This is the place where people go to meet with their God. 00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:38.319 And many cultures have temples because we know one thing. 00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:41.279 If there is a God, there is a gap. 00:07:41.279 --> 00:07:44.959 There's a gap between that God and us humans. 00:07:44.959 --> 00:07:47.839 And so we need a place that mediates that gap. 00:07:47.839 --> 00:07:50.560 And so they're going up to the temple, and there's two characters here. 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:54.000 One is a Pharisee, the other is a tax collector. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:57.759 One author puts it like this: the Pharisee is a truly good guy. 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:05.839 He recycles his trash, pays his bills, mows his lawn, gives money to charities, coaches baseball, doesn't beat his wife, doesn't chase other women. 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:08.720 He's a good citizen at his best. 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:14.240 The tax collector has sold out to the Roman government for money. 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:24.399 He's the developer who puts in strip malls while ignoring the environment, the logger who clear cuts timber without receding, the stockbroker who advises you to sell just to make a commission. 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:30.240 He doesn't so much disobey the law as use the law to line his own pockets. 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:35.360 Every society has tax collectors and every society hates them. 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:37.919 So these are our two characters. 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:38.879 Now what are they doing? 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:43.519 He just simply says that they're going up the temple to the temple to pray. 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:44.960 To pray. 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:49.440 It's worth recognizing that prayer is the place of revelation. 00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:58.000 Prayer is the place where we find out who they really are, because who you are before God is who you are and nothing more. 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:02.000 Who you are before God is who you are and nothing more than that. 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:06.720 Not who you posture yourself before other people, anything like that. 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:11.200 And so the place of prayer is the place of revelation. 00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:12.320 Now, what do we find out? 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:13.600 What's revealed about these two? 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:15.519 Look at verse 11. 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:26.159 The Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus, God, I thank you that I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:30.320 I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get. 00:09:30.320 --> 00:09:37.440 Now, you those of you who're familiar with the Bible, you have to you have to kind of take something off of your lenses here, real quick. 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:40.399 The Pharisees are not cartoon villains. 00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:45.840 Like, this guy didn't walk around with a dark hood and a sunken face like Emperor Palpatine. 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:49.120 That's not that's not the picture in your mind's eye when you think of a Pharisee. 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:53.440 The Pharisees were deeply moral, devout, and admirable people. 00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:54.639 It's important. 00:09:54.639 --> 00:09:57.039 Like, just look at this, what we see here. 00:09:57.039 --> 00:09:58.080 He's moral. 00:09:58.080 --> 00:10:00.399 This man would have made a decent neighbor. 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:02.960 You want a neighbor who is not an extortioner. 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:07.360 In other words, they don't they earn their money, they've got integrity in business, they don't steal. 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:09.919 You want a neighbor who is not unjust. 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:12.639 In other words, he gives to each what each is due. 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:15.519 You want a neighbor who's not an adulterer. 00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:18.000 This man is faithful to his wife. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:21.759 But not only is he moral, he's actually devout too. 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:24.000 Look at this, he practices the common rhythm. 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:25.679 He fasts twice a week. 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:28.000 It's only once a week here for us. 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:29.759 Not only that, he's generous. 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:32.159 He gives 10% of quote all that I get. 00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:33.440 That's gross, not net. 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:34.799 I'm just gonna assume that. 00:10:34.799 --> 00:10:36.799 He's not tipping God after taxes. 00:10:36.799 --> 00:10:39.919 This guy is devoted in his generosity. 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:46.720 In Matthew 6 and the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus assumes that his disciples will give, pray, and fast. 00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:50.799 And this Pharisee does all three in an exemplary way. 00:10:50.799 --> 00:10:58.960 But most importantly, don't miss this, he actually believes that his righteousness is because of God. 00:10:58.960 --> 00:11:00.320 Look at the text. 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:02.480 God, I thank you. 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:04.639 Who gets the credit here? 00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:06.720 God gets the credit. 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:14.559 He trusts in God produced righteousness that's in his life, but he's giving God the due for this. 00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:18.240 So he doesn't think that he's produced this righteousness on his own. 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:20.080 That's a really significant thing. 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:21.600 So what's the big deal? 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:23.840 Well, let's look a little more closely. 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:30.320 Verse 11, it says, The Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus. 00:11:30.320 --> 00:11:35.120 Here's where the question, what are you standing on before God, comes from? 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:37.200 What are you standing on before God? 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:45.919 One translation words it like this The Pharisee stood and began praying this in regard to himself. 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:51.279 Another way to say that is the content of his prayer is self-focused. 00:11:51.279 --> 00:11:56.720 Like you notice here, the prayer begins with God, but every other sentence centers on I. 00:11:56.720 --> 00:11:58.320 Count the I statements. 00:11:58.320 --> 00:12:00.879 I fast, I tithe, I'm not like. 00:12:00.879 --> 00:12:05.360 The Pharisee uses God as an audience for self-admiration. 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:09.919 His prayer is functionally a spiritual resume, if you will. 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:13.120 And so the issue is not that the Pharisee's practices are fake. 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:15.919 They're impressive, they're disciplined. 00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:23.360 The Pharisee is actually a good example of the highest example of what man can do in his own strength. 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:25.440 That's what a Pharisee is. 00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:35.200 But the problem is, is he uses this God-wrought righteousness in him as the ground that he's standing on before God. 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:42.879 And the danger there is whenever we build ourselves up by our moral performance, we need someone beneath us to stand on. 00:12:42.879 --> 00:12:45.200 So look at verse 11. 00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:50.879 God, I thank you that I am not like other men, or even like this tax collector. 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:54.000 Like if I'm the tax collector and I hear that, I'm like, bro, step off. 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:56.879 Like, I'm just trying to pray, mind your own business. 00:12:56.879 --> 00:12:58.720 You don't have to throw shade. 00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:04.960 But here's the thing: sinners are useful to Pharisees because sinners remind Pharisees that they're okay. 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:11.120 In this case, it's kind of haunting because the Pharisee's not lying. 00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:16.000 In fact, he's he's not consciously self-righteous, he's just blind. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:17.519 He's blind to it. 00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:21.360 He can't see his pride, his lack of love, or his contempt. 00:13:21.360 --> 00:13:28.320 There's some research in a book called Mistakes Were Made, subtitle, but not by me. 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:35.279 And in that, this research, uh, they they researched, they asked wives, they said, Hey, what percentage of the housework do you do? 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:36.639 And they said, Are you kidding? 00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:38.480 I do almost everything, at least 90%. 00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:43.360 And when they ask the husbands the same question, the men say, I do a lot. 00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:44.720 It's actually about 40%. 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:55.840 Now, listen, the specific numbers vary, they differ between couples, but the total always exceeds 100% of the work done around the house. 00:13:55.840 --> 00:13:57.360 So, what do we see in this? 00:13:57.360 --> 00:13:59.519 It's not that either one of them's lying. 00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:03.919 They're both speaking what they believe to be true, and yet they are wrong. 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:06.480 That's the story of the Pharisee here. 00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:14.559 Because when you build your sense of self on your own rightness, you are highly susceptible to self-deception. 00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:18.879 Because your sense of self can't tolerate you being wrong. 00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:29.440 And so you begin to build walls of self-protection and self-promotion around you to protect you, because that's the only way that your sense of self will avoid crumbling. 00:14:29.440 --> 00:14:36.879 Now, here's a little test, fill in the blanks here, using the Pharisee's prayer, if you want to get in touch with your inner Pharisee, okay? 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:47.039 God, I thank you that I am not like fill in the names of a group of people that maybe that drives you crazy, or even like maybe one particular person who drives you crazy. 00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:50.559 I, you know, something good that you do that other people don't do. 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:54.480 And you begin to see that there's something of this in each of us. 00:14:54.480 --> 00:15:00.559 And the real problem in this is that the better we think we are, the less we can love others. 00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:05.840 Let's look at that other as we transition in the text to verse 13. 00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:10.720 But the tax collector standing far off. 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:17.200 You notice this, both men are described as standing in verse 11 and verse 13. 00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:21.440 This is why I asked the question: what are you standing on before God? 00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:28.000 The Pharisee stands by himself or on his own, the tax collector stands far off. 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:33.840 If this posture is theological, then the distance is actually metaphorical. 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:35.120 It's telling us something. 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:41.600 If righteousness is right standing before God, then you learn something about the tax collector here. 00:15:41.600 --> 00:15:47.200 In Psalm 130, verse 3, it says this, if you, O Lord, should mark iniquities. 00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:52.399 In other words, if you just kept track of the things we do wrong, O Lord, who could stand? 00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:57.519 So listen, what are you standing on before God? 00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:01.440 The tax collector feels unworthy to even approach. 00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:12.639 That's why in verse 13 it says, 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. 00:16:12.639 --> 00:16:19.360 If you notice, both the Pharisee and the tax collector begin their prayer in the exact same way. 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:20.159 God. 00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:22.720 And that's the end of the comparison. 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:28.240 This is a contrast with the Pharisee's prayer. 00:16:28.240 --> 00:16:34.480 The Pharisee's prayer contains no confession, no petition, no dependence, only self-reference. 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:38.559 The tax collector asks for nothing but mercy. 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:41.840 God be merciful to me. 00:16:41.840 --> 00:16:45.919 Now there's something technical happening here which I think is important. 00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:49.039 This is not the normal word for mercy. 00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:54.799 In Luke 16 and in Luke 18, we find the word mercy used. 00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:57.039 It's a different word than what we find here. 00:16:57.039 --> 00:17:03.600 You see, in Luke 18, 38, there's a man that says, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. 00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:09.519 Here, the tax collector is not asking for compassion or pity or kindness. 00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:14.240 Instead, the word mercy that he uses here only shows up two times in the New Testament. 00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:14.960 Just twice. 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:16.000 Once is here. 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:25.119 Be merciful to me through sacrifice. 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:30.799 The word here is actually related to an Old Testament concept for called the mercy seat. 00:17:30.799 --> 00:17:32.240 Remember the setting. 00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:37.119 In verse 10, Jesus tells us that they've gone up into the temple, right? 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:50.799 Well, something you gotta know about the temple in the Old Testament is that there was deep inside in the innermost sanctuary, there was this box, a golden box called the Ark of the Covenant. 00:17:50.799 --> 00:17:53.599 And inside that box were two tablets. 00:17:53.599 --> 00:17:58.640 On the tablets were written the commands of God, the Ten Commandments. 00:17:58.640 --> 00:18:06.799 And the reason why that's important is because that is God's standard of righteousness, his law communicated very clearly. 00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:09.359 And the tax collector knows this. 00:18:09.359 --> 00:18:14.960 And then above the law, this is important because mercy triumphs over judgment. 00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:25.519 Above the law is the mercy seat, the very throne of God where God is seated, enthroned over the universe, from this seat in the temple. 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:38.480 And that mercy seat is the place where once a year blood would be sprinkled from a sacrificial animal in order to atone at one between God and sinners. 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:50.319 And the reason why I spend time on all of that is because when the tax collector says, God, let there be mercy for a sinner like me, he's appealing to that sacrifice. 00:18:50.319 --> 00:18:56.720 He's appealing to something outside of himself as the basis of God's mercy for himself. 00:18:56.720 --> 00:19:02.000 So he's not saying, God, be lenient. 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:09.359 God have sympathy, but God deal with my sin through mercy that satisfies justice. 00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:20.559 And so while the Pharisee appeals to his resume for acceptance, the tax collector appeals to sacrifice for sin. 00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:26.319 Look again, verse 13, God be merciful to me, a sinner. 00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:32.640 The Pharisee is able to compare himself to those around him, and that gives him a sense of standing before God. 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:41.680 The tax collector compares himself only to God, and he simply owns his identity as a sinner with no standing before God. 00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:46.319 No comparison, no mitigation, no spin put on this. 00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:49.839 Just here I am, Lord, a sinner. 00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:52.400 Would you be merciful to me? 00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:55.200 And look at the result, verse 14. 00:19:55.200 --> 00:20:02.960 I tell you, this tax collector went down to his house justified. 00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:07.039 That word justified is the whole point of the parable. 00:20:07.039 --> 00:20:09.119 Everything hinges on that word. 00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:14.480 You see, Jesus told this parable in verse 9 to those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous. 00:20:14.480 --> 00:20:18.559 And now he talks about how this man goes down justified. 00:20:18.559 --> 00:20:20.640 How is this man justified? 00:20:20.640 --> 00:20:22.160 Here it is, simple. 00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:25.039 Jesus declared it so. 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:26.240 Full stop. 00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:30.480 I tell you, justified. 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:32.160 That's how it happened. 00:20:32.160 --> 00:20:45.039 Now, this is significant because it means that to be justified or to have righteousness before God, to have a standing before God is simply to be declared right in God's sight. 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:51.759 Now, the the church has had terminology around some of these things. 00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:58.720 Um, and and one of the ways that people will talk about justified, being justified is just as if I'd never sinned. 00:20:58.720 --> 00:20:59.839 That's good. 00:20:59.839 --> 00:21:01.039 That's the truth. 00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:02.880 It's just half of a truth. 00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:10.400 Because that's a good thing, but it's like if you owed a million dollars of debt and somebody paid your debt, awesome, amazing day. 00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:13.119 You're still zero in your bank account. 00:21:13.119 --> 00:21:20.720 In a similar way, to have it be just as if I'd never sinned is like you are morally zero. 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:24.319 But that's not God's standard. 00:21:24.319 --> 00:21:32.799 The standard that God has for us is not only that we would be sinless, but also that we would have lawfulness. 00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:40.319 Said differently, it's not just a life with no evil, you avoid bad things, it's actually a life where you do great good. 00:21:40.319 --> 00:21:48.880 It's not just a life that's emptied of hate, but a life that's full of love, flowing over to God and neighbor and enemies. 00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:54.319 To be right in God's sight, you must be both acquitted and righteous. 00:21:54.319 --> 00:21:56.559 Nothing less will suffice. 00:21:56.559 --> 00:21:59.039 So, how does this happen? 00:21:59.039 --> 00:22:05.039 Well, I skipped the four most unsettling words in this entire text. 00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:07.279 Look with me again at verse 14. 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:14.640 I tell you, this man, that is the tax collector, went down to his house justified. 00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:18.559 Here they are, rather than the other. 00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:21.039 Rather than the other. 00:22:21.039 --> 00:22:24.000 Jesus could have stopped after justified. 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:25.359 We'd all be happy. 00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:27.839 But he wanted to make something really clear. 00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:31.039 He's contrasting the Pharisee and the tax collector. 00:22:31.039 --> 00:22:36.559 The Pharisee had a righteous life, but he received a non-righteous verdict. 00:22:36.559 --> 00:22:40.960 The tax collector had a sinful life, but he received a righteous verdict. 00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:42.559 How can this be? 00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:49.440 Well, listen, this is the point of the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s, right here. 00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:50.960 This is how it started. 00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:53.039 It was fundamentally about this question. 00:22:53.039 --> 00:22:54.640 How are we justified? 00:22:54.640 --> 00:22:56.960 How are we made right in God's sight? 00:22:56.960 --> 00:23:08.720 And over time in the church's history, many Christians began to think that justification or or being right in God's sight meant that God makes you righteous from the inside out. 00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:15.279 He pours his love into your heart, and then you become a more loving person over time, and then he goes, righteous. 00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:17.519 Sounds good, right? 00:23:17.519 --> 00:23:20.960 The reformer said, absolutely not. 00:23:20.960 --> 00:23:22.640 No way. 00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:27.200 There's no way that this is the source of our righteousness, God working in us. 00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:31.440 You remember the Pharisee said, I thank you, God, for my righteousness. 00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:34.240 The reformer said that we will not tolerate that. 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:37.839 That's not what it means to be justified in God's sight. 00:23:37.839 --> 00:23:47.200 Because our righteousness before God is not found inside of us in our transformed life, it is found outside of us in Jesus Christ. 00:23:47.200 --> 00:23:48.799 No other way. 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:52.799 Now, the reformers use the Latin phrase, bear with me here. 00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:55.279 The Latin phrase was extra nos. 00:23:55.279 --> 00:23:57.119 Somebody say extra nos. 00:23:57.119 --> 00:23:59.359 Great, well done. 00:23:59.359 --> 00:24:03.839 Extra nos means outside of ourselves versus intranos. 00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:05.200 Somebody say intranos. 00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:07.039 Awesome. 00:24:07.039 --> 00:24:10.319 This is for my classical students in here who know Latin. 00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:11.680 I don't, I just make it up. 00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:14.480 Um intranos means inside of ourselves. 00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:16.799 And this was their dividing line right here. 00:24:16.799 --> 00:24:20.640 Where is your righteous acceptance before God located? 00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:24.240 Intranos inside yourself, extraneous outside yourself. 00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:28.000 It is outside of you in Jesus Christ and nowhere else. 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:39.039 In fact, if you trust for the righteousness that's inside of you, intranos, you will have the words rather than the other spoken over you. 00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:42.319 Wow, this is high stakes. 00:24:42.319 --> 00:24:44.400 This is a big deal. 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:47.759 You see, how is the tax collector justified? 00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:51.920 By a total looking away from himself to God for mercy. 00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:55.119 And Jesus declared him justified. 00:24:55.119 --> 00:25:03.599 Justification comes before transformation, before moral repair, before you get your act together, before spiritual achievement. 00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:06.960 The verdict precedes the performance. 00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:13.279 The Pharisee stands on his performance, the tax collector stands on mercy and mercy alone. 00:25:13.279 --> 00:25:19.279 You see, the Pharisee still has a case to make, the tax collector abandons his defense. 00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:24.000 That's the doorway to being justified, right in God's sight. 00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:29.119 It's not moral success, it's the total collapse of your self-justification. 00:25:29.119 --> 00:25:36.640 And when that happens, the greatest barrier to being made right in God's sight is being right in your own sight. 00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:44.240 You see, in the Christian life, we must give up first our unrighteousness, but then also our self-righteousness. 00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:49.759 Because unrighteousness and self-righteousness are two sides of the same coin called self-reliance. 00:25:49.759 --> 00:25:54.720 A commitment to you determining your own way in the world. 00:25:54.720 --> 00:25:58.480 And Jesus is trying to cut the nerve of our self-reliance. 00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:02.880 But listen, when you start talking like I am, people raise a legitimate concern. 00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:09.839 They think, listen, if you start justifying sinners, what if they keep behaving like sinners? 00:26:09.839 --> 00:26:11.759 Well, look at verse 14 again. 00:26:11.759 --> 00:26:16.480 It says, This man went down to his house justified. 00:26:16.480 --> 00:26:17.759 What does he mean by this? 00:26:17.759 --> 00:26:18.799 Down to his house. 00:26:18.799 --> 00:26:25.440 Well, the house was the place of family, but also the place of business, the place of where the rest of life occurred. 00:26:25.440 --> 00:26:31.599 And in the rest of life, justification ought to make a difference. 00:26:31.599 --> 00:26:36.720 It ought to begin to shape the kind of person you are in your family, your work, your friendships, your neighboring. 00:26:36.720 --> 00:26:54.960 And so if the righteousness by which we are justified is not inherent, not native, not even produced within us by God's grace, but rather it's Christ's righteousness outside of us, credited to us by faith alone, then who are we to look down on those around us? 00:26:54.960 --> 00:26:57.440 We're going to show up into our house. 00:26:57.440 --> 00:27:03.759 We're going to go down to our house in a different way than if we had to depend on ourselves for our standing before God. 00:27:03.759 --> 00:27:05.599 So let me just make that plain. 00:27:05.599 --> 00:27:16.559 How you are in your house is probably the best way to discern whether or not you stand on God's righteousness given to you as a free gift in Jesus Christ or on your own righteousness. 00:27:16.559 --> 00:27:19.680 Let me put up an image behind me here. 00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:22.799 This slide, I think, just boils this down super well. 00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:23.920 Okay. 00:27:23.920 --> 00:27:26.319 This is how this works. 00:27:26.319 --> 00:27:27.039 This is your life. 00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:31.519 You come to know Jesus at that little fork in the road where it says conversion, okay? 00:27:31.519 --> 00:27:42.640 And what happens is when you, when God opens your eyes to see his holiness and your sinfulness, you have no response other than to say, God be merciful to me, a sinner. 00:27:42.640 --> 00:27:47.599 And Jesus declares you, God declares you right in his sight because of Jesus Christ. 00:27:47.599 --> 00:27:49.680 But here's the thing, Christian. 00:27:49.680 --> 00:28:01.839 Many of us, starting on that foundation, standing as right before God in his sight, on Jesus Christ alone, we begin to slip over time into standing on our own sense of righteousness. 00:28:01.839 --> 00:28:08.960 And the only way we can do that is either by minimizing God's holiness or minimizing our sinfulness. 00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:20.079 And what happens when we do that is we begin to become the kind of people who have a low grade impulse of adding just a little contribution to our standing before God. 00:28:20.079 --> 00:28:29.920 And if we do that and we succeed, we end up with a low grade irritation because the people around us just are not getting their act together. 00:28:29.920 --> 00:28:31.440 That's called pride. 00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:34.000 It's the pride of self-justification. 00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:43.759 Or let's say you do this, but you start failing a lot, and then you end up with a sense of a low mood because you are constantly unacceptable. 00:28:43.759 --> 00:28:46.720 That's the despair of self-justification. 00:28:46.720 --> 00:28:56.000 You see, but if you look outside of yourself to Christ, then your life will increasingly be characterized by a radical gratitude. 00:28:56.000 --> 00:29:03.119 It will be characterized by a sense of awe of all that God is for you in Jesus Christ. 00:29:03.119 --> 00:29:08.960 And when that happens, nothing else can free us up to be gentle with other people and their failures. 00:29:08.960 --> 00:29:19.440 Nothing else can give us a sense of deep security with God that results in compassion, not contempt, towards people who can't get it together. 00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:24.079 Nothing else can sever the nerve of our self-promotion. 00:29:24.079 --> 00:29:26.400 That's exactly where Jesus ends. 00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:27.839 Look at verse 14. 00:29:27.839 --> 00:29:36.720 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. 00:29:36.720 --> 00:29:38.079 It's important. 00:29:38.079 --> 00:29:40.640 Humility here is not worm theology. 00:29:40.640 --> 00:29:43.200 It's not walking around like a dirty, rotten sinner everywhere you go. 00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:44.559 That's not what he's talking about. 00:29:44.559 --> 00:29:52.160 What he means by humbling yourself here is renouncing your own righteousness as you're standing before God. 00:29:52.160 --> 00:29:54.720 That's what he means by humbling yourself. 00:29:54.720 --> 00:29:57.519 Notice these are reflexive verbs. 00:29:57.519 --> 00:30:04.319 You can actively exalt yourself, like the Pharisee, but you will be passively humbled by God. 00:30:04.319 --> 00:30:10.319 Or you can actively humble yourself and then you will be passively exalted by God. 00:30:10.319 --> 00:30:14.559 I want to close with a story to kind of help make this plain. 00:30:14.559 --> 00:30:19.359 Martin Luther used this illustration of a king marrying a prostitute. 00:30:19.359 --> 00:30:25.839 And he says, You imagine a woman whose life has been marked by shame and regret and debt and sin. 00:30:25.839 --> 00:30:30.640 And then one day a king sets his love on her and marries her. 00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:40.240 And on that wedding day, when they exchange their vow, she says to him, All that I am and all that I have, I give to you. 00:30:40.240 --> 00:30:42.799 And what does she have to give? 00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:48.240 Shame, debt, guilt, poverty, sin. 00:30:48.240 --> 00:30:54.720 But the king stands and looks at her and says, All that I am and all that I have, I give to you. 00:30:54.720 --> 00:30:56.640 What does he have to give? 00:30:56.640 --> 00:31:01.200