The Pharisee and the Tax Collector
Luke 18, 9-14, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. verse 9, to some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, God, I thank you that I am not like other people. robbers, evildoers, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and I give a tenth of all I get. But the tax collector stood at a distance. m He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Romans chapter 3 verses 20 to 28. Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law. Rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known to which the law and prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. He did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Where then is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. Dear God, we just thank you for this man. We thank you for his love for you. We just ask now that you will just bless him, Lord. Just speak through him. Just give him your words and let him speak your words only. We pray in your precious name. Touch the lives of each one of us today. We ask in your precious name. Amen. Last time the mic was a bit funny, but uh sounds like it's okay. I think, yes, okay. Good. Just getting to the passage in Luke 18. So this morning we'll be looking at righteousness, but righteousness based on faith rather than works of the law. And my goal is that you'll become re-amazed by that into forever. And maybe justification by faith is a bit like a mountain on the horizon. It's over there, sort of small to your view in a way. But this morning my goal is to drive right up to it. to see its grandeur and beauty and be praising God, all of us at the end. But at least that's my goal. We'll also look at sin and repentance and the mercies of God, obviously, in that parable. But also we'll touch base with how we're going with humility. Yet before we jump into the text of the parable in Luke 18, nine to 14, which thank you for reading it out before, I think it would be beneficial firstly to just set up two of the main characters. There's a Pharisee representing the pinnacle of someone righteous. Now our instinct is to have a poor view of Pharisees because they often oppose Jesus and our Lord exposed their hypocrisy. But the reason Jesus' rebukes to them were actually so confronting is that people actually in general thought of a Pharisee as a good and noble person. In the eyes of the Jews, well, I guess we might say according to the flesh, but they lived a righteous lifestyle, outwardly speaking, and went above and beyond to live holy. And the apostle Paul, speaking of his life before Christ, actually describes himself this way. He says in Philippians 3.5, he was, as to the law, a Pharisee. So Paul had the ambition of a Pharisee to follow God's commands, completely. Perfectly, if possible, I mean, I guess, still need a sacrifice here and there, but to be honest, can you fault the ambition to live holy? But also in the parable today, there's a tax collector representing the pinnacle of someone who's a sinner. I mean, you can get a hint at what they're famous for from John the Baptist in Luke 13 when he tells them what they should do to repent. Collect no more than what you've been ordered to. Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector and in his repentance he said, if I have defrauded anyone, I'll give back four times as much. So these people really had found a way to make their money as enforcers of Rome's taxation, but their cut of it was not exactly famous for being transparent. I guess you could count them as oppressors of the poor. Swindlers in a way. I can change mics if you want. Deceivers using the power of Rome to overcharge for their own gain and doing all that to the people of God. And in the story of Matthew the tax collector, Jesus dines with him and it says many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus that night. And Jesus acknowledged, he? I did not come to call the righteous but sinners. Tax collectors were basically treated as synonymous with sinners. Imagine drunkenness, harlotry, greed, adultery. Same things present today, I guess. But the point is the difference in moral behaviors between a Pharisee and a tax collector couldn't be more stark. And if given the choice, actually, I'm certain that everyone here would choose to live next to a Pharisee rather than... that party house down the road. Questioning with motorbikes coming and going. You get what I'm saying? Now there's one more piece of background information I should maybe jump before jumping in we'll give that. In the parable in verse 9 it uses the word righteous. In verse 14 it uses the word justified in most translations. In the Greek these are from the same root. The key difference is that righteous is an adjective which is δικαός and to justify is a verb which is δικαωό. So tikaos, tikao, you can hear, apart from the endings, they're the same. A little bit like we might do run and runner, same sort of root. In our specific passage, it's using the verb justify as a participle, so it might be unclear that it's a verb, but don't worry about that. The point is that although we translate the adjective as righteous and the verb as justify, because technically there's no verb for righteousness in our language, It can be a slight disservice sometimes, as you can miss their relationship as a word family. And look, it's not incorrect to translate these ways, and having the same root in one language isn't always a clean swap into another. But in our passage today, it will be beneficial for you just to have in the back of your mind when you're hearing these words that justify and righteous our related words. Just like faith and believe. although in moment I'll be clear in translation initially, are in fact a noun and a verb from the same root. But if none of that makes sense, that's on me and you'd be fine to forget that anyway. So we'll just keep moving on and we'll move on by reading the passage. Just the first half from verse nine. And he also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous. and viewed others with contempt. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself, God, I thank you that I'm not like other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I pay times of all that I get. So the Pharisee says, I fast twice a week. This was a man going above and beyond to become righteous to God. He clearly desired righteousness so badly. Again, can you fault the ambition? Well, at the very least, we'll soon fault the pathway he was using to get there. But also let's consider this key phrase, I'm not like other people. Okay, we will find fault in this. Because Jesus told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt. Contempt being to put most basically looking down on others. And how confident would you be to trust in yourself to be righteous before God? I've done things I wish I didn't. So to me, trusting in myself is a terrifying prospect. So let's address trusting in our own righteousness and viewing others with contempt. Seeing yourself so far beyond that party house down the road. Thinking you aren't like other people. Well, you don't party like them, so why are you not like other people? Right? Well, there's a really good example in the Bible of a once Pharisee, and we brought him up briefly before. A former Pharisee named Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles. So what better person to help us flee this mindset than hearing the words and testimony of a former self-righteous man who turned away from using his own righteousness to get to God, to rely solely on the righteousness of God found through faith in Christ. And I'm sure many of will be familiar of his writing in Romans 323, but even if not, it's for all have sinned and foreshort of the glory of God. However less famous are the words right before it, there is no distinction. So putting it together, there is no distinction for all have sinned. And in the context leading up to these words, it's been talking about the Jews versus the Greeks. The Jews on the one hand, were given the law and had a clearer understanding of right and wrong. The Greeks representing everyone else on the other hand, were not given the law. There were a bit more in darkness about right or wrong except for conscience. But bringing in this context to Romans 3.23, it's saying that both Jews and Greeks have sinned. Whether God revealed more about sin to them or less, the fact is that there is no distinction for all have sinned. So whether you knew it by reading the law or not, everyone on earth. has sinned. In fact, knowing the law, the Jews should have known more of their condemnation because Romans 3.20 says that by the law is the knowledge of sin. So the Pharisee passionate about the law should have known his need of God's mercy in his reading of the law. For who can argue against its righteousness? It speaks of the restoration and compensation of what is stolen, judging everyone equally, not favoring on the basis of poverty or riches. Not to circulate false reports, not to follow a crowd in doing evil, not to have idols, not to covet, and that seems like it's starting to address our thoughts now too, isn't it? What about not to ignore the wandering donkey of the one who hates you? So even compassion to your enemies is encoded in the law. And what amazing standards of behavior God has written. Again, who can argue against its righteousness? What life and peace it should create? Imagine if everyone lived like that. But what a curse it brings to us. A written document from God, exposing all the points of our law breaking before him, so that we are doubly without excuse. So on the one hand, we delight in the law of God and its shining brightness of morality, but on the other hand, as Paul says, the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death, for sin by it killed me." So the reason you die when reading the law is because it proves your unrighteousness. And you actually need, yes, you actually need to be righteous before God to survive. So what should have been a source of great life and moral guidance, it also turns to condemn us. And we see clearly from the standard of God, the commandments of God, they sentence us as sinners before God. Both Jews and Greeks all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And our consciences condemn us all as lawbreakers. There is no distinction. There is none righteous, no not one. Sin is that great leveler of all mankind. We have it all in common. We've broken God's commands and we're all guilty. So we need another method of justification. We need that God not charge us with sin, even though in reality we do sin, which means our solution is basically we need to escape our justice, do we need to become righteous by means other than the law of God, because in its perfection, sin uses it to kill us with all sorts of wrongdoings made clear. So let's see afresh how this converted Pharisee Paul confronts the problem of his own unrighteousness and outlines God's solution. Well, Paul points to the historic example that the scriptures attest to, that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. So the path to righteousness for Abraham was believing God, not actually performing righteous deeds. as you might otherwise logically assume. Well, let's keep looking in the passage that was read out earlier in the service, thank you. But it's not our main passage today, so we'll just take some snapshots on the way through. But in verse 21, he writes, but now the righteousness of God, apart from the law, is revealed. So this is it, a righteousness that's not gained through the law, it's apart from the law. So he explains how to gain this righteousness in the next verse, he says, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. So take these words in, a righteousness gained through faith, faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. And verse 28 reaffirms this where it says, for we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. So to justify you, to declare you with authority as righteous, to put you in the category of righteous, God puts the works of the law to one side, I guess onto Jesus' side of the fence, so to speak. Then God looks only to see whether you have faith in him. And this is the grace of God. For how is faith and righteousness even related to each other? Connected only. to each other by the middle man, Jesus, the gift, the Christ. This is the grace of God, friends. For in verse 24, he goes on to say, after saying that we're all sinners, that we are being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus by his blood, so God might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. So in clinging to Jesus in faith, God accredits you with righteousness you didn't achieve. And now God becomes our justifier, alone, the sole owner of the cleansing blood of Christ. He alone makes us right with him, the author of our salvation. We didn't draft up a blueprint for God or ask him to do it this way or that way. No, God gave Jesus according to his own plan and will. Free from our input or guidance, God made the way for our salvation, for our justification to be faith instead of works. And what a glorious pathway to life out of the death of our death, the way through Jesus. It's costly, it's fearful, and wonderful. And surely now no one can claim credit because God alone is righteous and the only justifier for all who have faith. in Jesus. And please let's ponder and marvel just a little more at the amazing grace of God about faith that can result in righteousness. Righteousness. Not based on being righteous, based on faith. So we have faith in Christ and He doesn't charge our sins against us because He found another to And you can see there's something in the negative taken from you. Your sins are removed from you in Christ, but also in a sense something positive is added to you that God's righteousness is added. Both obviously related through a righteous son of God who took sins to a cross. But all God's asked of you to achieve this benefit is to turn to him, the living God of all peace and joy, to his son revealed. But if we don't, if we trust in ourselves that we are righteous, This really is a rejection of God needing to send his son. For it's in the sending of his son where God proved that only he is righteous because it proved that no human could be good or clean without Jesus' covering. So we should praise God forever basically. If only one grace he shows, the grace that is justification by faith. And as we refresh ourselves in this Gospel, Romans in chapter 3 verse 27. says, where is boasting then? It is excluded. But we can now boast in not our works, but the works of God, since he fulfills his law even firstly to us. Because God didn't walk past the one who hated him when he saw you in need. For while you were his enemy, he died for you. Lying there, you were dead in your transgressions. But God brings you life by forgiveness through belief in the Christ. Where is boasting then? It is definitely excluded. But then boasting can give way to thankfulness because we're so unworthy of the Gospel. So let's be sincerely thankful, friends, because thankfulness will lead us to avoid the trap of the Pharisee in the parable, the trap of a self-righteous eye of contempt towards others. How far did God reach into the dark to pull you out of the water? Remember and be thankful with all joy and praise. The Pharisee in the parable could have been helped to forget the praise of others, to see how truly he was on the inside, see what God sees. Thoughts of sexual immorality, greed, selfishness, anger and cursing in your thoughts, a whitewashed tomb, a dead man inside a decorated casket before God. But the dead man inside of that Pharisee needed to be made alive. And that through faith in Jesus, the only righteous one. Believe and you will be saved. You can put your full weight onto this rock. And blessed are you if by God's kindness, the cross of Christ will grow more significant in your life and become larger to your view. In the joy of taking that log out of your eye and dwelling with God in peace and humility. and just be reinvigorated altogether with the grace of God and the gospel received by faith. Let's take a look at the tax collector, the other half. From verse 13 it says, but the tax collector standing some distance away was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. I tell you, this man went to his house just rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted. So the tax collector sincerely seeks mercy from God. And clearly the advantage the tax collector had in terms of coming to repentance is that he didn't have to be convinced that he was sinful. And Jesus can only call people who know they are sinners. Because remember he said, I did not come to call the righteous but sinners. But as discussed earlier, this tax collector was a bad dude. Truly, just look and see how he comes to God. He had known sins before God. Sins though, he was ready to confess. So standing some distance away, he didn't feel worthy to be close to God's Unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, he couldn't even bring himself to look at God. He was ashamed of his actions, regretful and sorrowful for them. And this is what being contrite in repentance looks like. In a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalm 51. And so the beautiful phrase comes out but it's made beautiful because it comes from true repentance which is so sweet a humility. says, God be merciful to me the sinner. I don't know if you can really even become a Christian until you call on God like this man did. feeling ashamed, unworthy of God's attention. Because you are, you are unworthy of God's attention. But there, at what seems like the furthest distance from God, you call out, just close enough that God might hear a faint, desperate, ashamed and hopeless cry. Expecting nothing but anger, you say, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. The one thing you did right. You turn to face God while still alive and salvation will come to you faster than you can even imagine as an unpayable debt is forgiven and what seems like the furthest distance from God the Father runs to you as the weight of your sins ease and you walk away at peace with God now close to God, renewed, recreated, justified. and what bliss and grace God shows to sinners. It is truly amazing. The apostle Paul prior to Christ used to find and drag Christians out of their homes and put them in prison. Paul used to hate Christ until he met him. You think God can't show mercy on you? You need to meet him. Truth, life, forgiveness, salvation. And also let me just add one word of fear too, that God might not give you all the time in the world to repent. So as long as it's called today, this is the time to turn away from sins and find grace. Well maybe, maybe you've been a Christian for a while. You're clean. But you've walked in the world and have dirty feet, so to speak. So it's okay. It's normal if you need to shed tears for sin over and over again. and it didn't all come out at your conversion. I bet you still had sins to come out in your flesh afterwards though, didn't you? And just a peculiar note about the story of the woman caught in adultery that Jesus saved, and this sin does destroy lives and families, so please don't do it. That's why God did give it a penalty in the law, yet Jesus came to earth from God to reveal mercy to mankind. So there were those who picked up stones. ready to throw out the adulteress. But Jesus famously says, he who is without sin, let him be the first to cast the stone. And they all drop their stones and walk away. But interestingly, it says that happened, beginning with the older ones. And as you get older, doesn't the knowledge of your sinfulness only grow too? Mistakes seem to pile up more and more. So it's okay. It is normal if repentance for sins needs to happen over and over again. Because does sin not move us after Christ? It should even more. So friends, let's be refreshed in the washing of repentance for your feet today and see what grace God can give to undeserving lawbreakers like us. As John the Baptist said, bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And if you keep repentance as a constant in your life, see how much you will only increase in your love of God. Because remember, there was also a woman who loved Jesus a lot and had tears in repentance. rightly described by the others, they said, she is a sinner. But who was weeping at the feet of Jesus on the way to the cross, kissing his feet, crying on them, wiping the tears off with her hair. And she probably didn't plan to do that, by the way. But she was a mess before God, because she knew she'd messed up and still managed to come and do what she probably wanted to do. She covered his feet with the gift of a very expensive perfume. And Jesus basically called out the others in the room for the horror that this woman was touching Jesus. But in a way Jesus actually came that sinners could touch him. And she was coming to Jesus in much repentance and sin and thankfulness. In fact this sinner showed more love to Jesus than anyone else there. So the weighty words of the Son of God softly fall on her, he says. Her sins, which are many. have been forgiven, forgiven for she loved much. And he who's forgiven little loves little. So be aware of your sinfulness in keeping with repentance and you will keep with the love of God. So friends, we can come before our God and admit it. In 1 John 1,9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins. Even a tax collector confessed. No regrets is a bad life motto, I have to say. Confess regrets. That's a better one. If you feel like I'm starting to dampen your want to boldly approach the throne of grace this morning, that's not my intention. In fact, the verses people are quoting to boldly approach God's throne is from Hebrews 4.16, which says, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace. So note firstly that it's a throne of grace. A throne not of merit but of mercy. And it says immediately afterwards that the purpose of drawing near to God is so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So it's a throne of grace where you receive mercy and grace. And that seems like very humble language when describing how you come before God with confidence. So what's the confidence or boldness based on? leads up to this verse a few back in verse 14. says, since we have a great high priest, Jesus, so we're not to be bold in self pride like the Pharisee. We approach God always humbly aware of our need of his mercy and our confidence is really our confidence in the ability of Jesus to cleanse us so that we can be before God at all. Are you confident in Jesus ability to be the mediator between you and God? Can you seriously trust in any? Other thing, where else will you go? To yourself? Certainly and definitely not. And I urge you to trust in him forever. For God doesn't lie. His word about his son is trustworthy. His priestly sacrifice is sufficient and so confident in Jesus' work as your priest, our middleman, we approach God to receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And so I invite you, standing confidently on the rock. Jesus to approach God by all means. Now in the parable in verse 14 at the end the summary lesson says for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled but he who humbles himself will be exalted. So let pride fall away friends. Let self-importance be nothing to us because the parable of the Pharisee in Tat-Kirk begs this overall question. Who are we when we come before God? On a quick read, most of you might move on from this parable. Since you don't pray about how much better you are than other people, so are we in the clear? Well, are we fundamentally humble when we pray to God? Or are our attitudes as if ascending a type of rightful place as the chosen of God's right hand? I hope you're a bit more humble than that. The sad thing is that although you almost can't fault the holiness, ambition of the Pharisee, he is the one who has filled himself with more sin than the tax collector after it all, the father of all sins, pride. And let's not underestimate it. Look deeply inside for where it dwells in us, because it doesn't always end up in a prayer. Can I just highlight a few glimpses of humility in the scriptures? Peter. When Jesus filled two boats with fish and it clicks for Peter. and seeing the fish and hearing him teach. Peter says this to Jesus, go away from me Lord, for I'm a sinful man, Lord. There's Amos, maybe a less famous one. But Amos, when he was being told to stop prophesying, he responded, I'm not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, for I am a herdsman and a grower. But the Lord said to me, go prophesy. So being a prophet was not in his history, and with no name or fame for it, he does as God says. What about Moses? from a powerful 40 year old reaching out his own hand to try and deliver Israel, being rejected by them as their ruler at that time. He became a man humbled, having fled, leaving out his days as a no one really, Midian, nowhere really. But when the time was right, 40 years later, God came to him in a burning bush and he shook with fear when God started speaking for it says, Moses hid his face. for he was afraid to look at God. Mises didn't even think he was good enough at speaking to carry out the task, but God said, I will be with your mouth. So see who God uses for his glory. So friends, let's humble ourselves. What about the humility of the son of God being made in the likeness of men, walking in flesh, not much more than the dust he created at the beginning and burn off at the end. And after he completed the father's work, then God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name. So let's look upon our prime example, our humble King who examples everything first to us. And shall we not follow our Lord and humble ourselves before the Father because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted. And God has a history of fulfilling this. Let me suggest we take this proverb to heart. Try to imagine the scene as I read it. It says, not claim honor in the presence of the king and do not stand in the place of great men for it's better that it's said to you, come up here, than for you to be placed lower in the presence of the prince. What about another proverb? Let another praise you and not your own mouth. And let's be encouraged by the book of James, where it tells us to pray for wisdom. And let's not assume it. Let's always be humble before God and men. And if you're here today convicted in exalting yourself a little too much before God or men, here's how simple your response needs to be. Just remember how the tax collector came before God, and do likewise. Another proverb says, you've been foolish in exalting yourself, put your hand on your mouth. In other words, just stop it from here on out. Go and sin no more. In genuine repentance, stop yourself from further damage. I guess, and thirdly though, still sometimes we have to make right with humans too. All in all, everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted. And God heard the prayer of the tax collector, who humbled himself before God. And this man went to his house justified. Or as the CJB puts it, this man went down to his home right with God. So I hope you've been refreshed in the truths of the gospel today. I hope you've been encouraged to become a no one of no significance. I hope your prayers will be filled with the attitude of humility as you humble yourself before God and remove all boasting except in the cross of Christ. I just hope maybe you feel smaller before God this morning and in a good way, less capable before him. Maybe some of you just needed a repentance reset before the King today. And in your heart, friend, you can lighten your load and do what you need to do. Let's all be amazed truly by his grace taking us in on the basis of faith, not our works. And trust me, my faith must be the smallest of mustard seeds here. and he took me in by his grace, I was linked to Jesus. And through him, through faith, you can be linked to righteousness too. So I really, really hope you're just overflowing with thanksgivings towards God for reaching down to wretched people like us. And in the quiet of your own room and closed door, I just hope we can all keep with repentance in honesty and tears before Saviour. that we love. In the quiet of a lonely drive, just to sit there and marvel at faith resulting in righteousness. What a beneficial drive that would be in glorifying God in your heart. And in waiting for the day we are finally set free in final form from our bodies of flesh of sin and death, in closing, let me just pray a small prayer. Please God, be merciful to us sinners.