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0:53But what if we were doing it all wrong? Would you want to know? What if you thought you were a really holy Christian, but you really weren't? Would you want to know? Or if you thought you were really humble, but you really weren't, would you want to know? Or maybe you thought, I'm so glad I'm growing to be a mature Christian. I'm going down a great path of life. But what if you really weren't? Would you want to know? Or if you're not a Christian, But life is good right now. You think you're going down a sustainable path and things are going well. Would you want to know if this is not a sustainable path of life and living?

1:41Or maybe you don't fit in any of that. You're not optimistic about anything. And life is terrible, and I'm going down a dark path and I can't do anything about it. Would you want to be rescued out of that? Or do you want to stay in the darkness? Well, Jesus' goal in our passage today is to bring us out of that darkness, out of delusion, out of error in living, and into reality as he's teaching us the key to godly living. And this key goes out to anyone who wants to be holy or humble or a mature Christian or wants to be rescued out of a path of dark living. Jesus points us to this life-shaping reality that's going to remove our error and bring about our blessing. So, Luke chapter 18, I'll read verses 9 through 14. He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt.

2:43Two men went up to 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.

3:31So when Jesus originally told this parable, about within two weeks of his death, it says final journey up to Jerusalem. He's confronting anyone who trusted in themselves to please God. But I figured, since this is no longer an issue in our society, we'll just skip over this, go to the next parable. What do you think? Obviously, still a major sin issue today: trust in self to please God. Hopefully, you agree with that. Man is sinful by default, trusts in himself to please God, and epically fails continuously. But if you disagree, you think man's not sinful, can please God, then you're the exact audience that Jesus wanted to tell this parable to.

4:15Two men at the temple, a good place to be, praying, a good thing to do, but the Pharisees. Jesus did. Thought they were living really holy and humble lives, but they weren't. They thought they were increasing in spiritual maturity, but they weren't. Who's going to tell them? They trusted in themselves that they were righteous, but they weren't. Now, this person that thinks so highly of himself, you think God blesses that type of person? No. You know what Jesus actually does with that type of person? He chops them down.

4:58Cuts them right down. He used the Pharisees as an example for us to learn, pointing them out in the spotlight, prove they weren't righteous. Probably embarrassing. So as we apply this to our lives tonight, you feel the spotlight. You feel like these lights turn and everyone's looking at you. Any embarrassment. You need to trust that when Jesus' words are going to cut you down, he's also going to build you back up. So stay with them. And you really need to understand this parable to remove pride from your life so that you would live in a way that God blesses. There is a door of blessing to be walked through, but it's locked. So we're going to look at these two men, their two confessions, the two results, and the one lesson that unlocks the door. Okay? Let's look at the lock first, seen in the Pharisee and his confession. This figure, the Pharisee mentioned this morning, is basically a denomination of the Jews that took the law of God. Very seriously, and with the holy days and the feasts and the fasting and the sacrifices, they not only wanted to do those things, but they added on. We're supposed to fast for one day, let's fast for two.

6:12We're supposed to offer one cow, let's offer two, and so forth. And they added on. And because of their rigid discipline, it created this appearance among the public that they were very holy, they were very upright, very much respected. They are the people that really make God happy. But the person that this Pharisee is representing is really anyone focused more on external appearance than internal holiness. Let's put it this way: someone who's more interested in appearing to have a relationship with God than actually having a relationship with God.

6:54And the Pharisee has a lot of different motivation than the tax collector when he goes up to the temple to pray. You see it in his prayer, verse 11. 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. Now, how many times do you see the word I in those two verses?

7:26I counted five. I thank you that. I am not like other men. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. So, who's the center of his prayer? You know, himself. Some people want to call this parable the parable of the two prayers. Well, I say that doesn't even count as a prayer. Okay, so it'd be like a one and a half. The parable, you know. Some of you, even reading this, say, that is a horrible prayer. I would never pray that. God, thank you that you made me not like him.

8:06Pride's not so far from us, is it? Now, do you think God blesses this type of person? It's like thanking God, you made me so crafty and wise that I've been able to deceive my employer from detecting me from stealing millions of dollars, and I'm so thankful for that. It's foolish, a foolish prayer. And there's two parts: saying, Thank you that I'm not like these people, and thank you that I am in my standalone category. Now, it's not wrong to point out sin, extortion, injustice, adultery. The scriptures talk about all those things. The Proverbs talk about dishonest gain, treasures gained by a lying tongue. That's extortion, sinful. Psalm 89 tells us righteousness and justice. Are the foundation of God's throne?

9:05Injustice, sinful, adultery, wrong from the beginning, set forth in the Ten Commandments, Exodus chapter 20, as being wrong. So he calls those things out, and he is right in pointing out those things as sin, but then he adds on, or even like this tax collector as a catch-all for miscellaneous sins, but where he really goes wrong is an unrealistic view that he himself is outside the bounds of those sins or sin in general. All the sin in the world is outside of himself.

9:41Thank you that I'm not like those sinners over there. And this is what a prideful heart does. We'll talk about these two things that a prideful heart does. Number one, it scrambles your priorities. It scrambles your priorities. His eyes turn horizontal. He's not worried about what God wants of him or his relationship with God. But he's looking at what other people do, and he wants to be better. He's living to the wrong standard. This is what pride inherently does: moves your focus from internal spiritual health, relationship with God, to external appearance and approval of man.

10:18Second thing, a prideful heart does is deceives you. It's probably true that he and we haven't committed every single sin in the book, but he's speaking like he's exactly. Exempt from the whole sin thing. But what does reality say? So if he's been deceived, what does reality say? That we're all under sin. We all need forgiveness. Prideful heart blocks knowledge of reality. And then in verse 12, he boasts of his deeds, all that he brings to God's table to be appreciated. Verse 12, I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. The Pharisee's saying, he's no longer, thank you that I'm not like them, but make sure you know that I am like this. But he's living a lie. A prideful heart does what two things? Scrambles, priorities. His eyes are now not horizontal looking at others. They're still not vertical looking at God. He's looking at himself, doing stuff other people can see so he will feel better about himself. Living with the wrong focus. It also deceives.

11:28He thinks what God really wants is his hunger pains and his money. Fasting and tithing. But I ask you, what does God really want from you? Maybe hard to answer as a one-liner or something, but we could go all over the scriptures answering that question, but I'll just stay here in the Gospel of Luke. Even from the beginning, with John the Baptist's ministry in Luke chapter 3. He comes preaching about this baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He said, The Messiah is coming. This is what his ministry is about. Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.

12:13All through Jesus' ministry, you get into Luke even 15. So most of his ministry has been recorded. If you like to write in your Bible, you could call it the repentance chapter. It's just three parables, and they're all about repentance in Luke chapter 15. The first one, the parable of the lost sheep, a shepherd with a hundred sheep, one goes astray, will not the shepherd leave the 99 to get the one, and when he finds him, he will rejoice. And it ends with this: There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance.

12:53Then the parable of the lost coin: a woman loses a coin, will she not light a lamp and sweep the house until she finds it? And when she does, she will rejoice. And it ends with this: There is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Lastly, in this chapter, the parable of the prodigal son. The son takes his inheritance, squanders it, comes back to his father. And it ends like this: It was fitting to celebrate and be glad. For this, your brother was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found.

13:32A very brief survey of the Gospel of Luke. But what does God want from you? What God really wants is for lost and sinful people to come to him in faith. In a repentant faith. And you can even look in Luke chapter 18. You have your Bibles open. The parable right before our text, the parable of the persistent widow. And what is the question at the very end of verse 8? Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?

14:12What comes right after our parable? Teaching about the children coming to him. It ends like this, verse 17: Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. He's talking about receiving the kingdom of God by faith. God wants people to call to him in repentant faith, and there's no indication of that in the Pharisees' prayer. Totally deceived, thinking he brought the best dishes to God's table. But he missed the point. Let's keep talking about pride. What is pride? How do you define pride? It's an attitude.

15:00It usually shows itself in two ways towards God and towards man. So it's an attitude of independence towards God and an attitude of superiority towards man. Pride towards God, an attitude of independence and self-sufficiency. So I'll help you diagnose. Here's what pride towards God might sound like in a prayer. God, thank you that I'm not like those bad people over here. God, if you would please just let me do what I do, I would have a really good day, a really good week, a really good life.

15:42Or maybe these more subtle thoughts. I sure have a lot going on today. I don't think I have time to pray. I feel like I'm doing pretty good spiritually right now. Let's see how far I can ride this wave. I'll stop and pray again when I start to feel bad. Is that independent or dependent on God? I don't have to pray today. I'm already a Christian. God's not going to take away my salvation. But when we try to act independently and self-sufficiently of God and His influence on our life, we're really Living in a fantasy because God's hand goes before us and after us every day, whether we acknowledge Him or not, and feeding this pride in our hearts only leads to destruction.

16:45Let's talk about pride towards man. I'll help you. Here's what it might sound like in prayer: God, did you know that I fast twice a week and give tithes of all that I get? Or God, please look at what good I've done around here for my family. Can you reward me already? Here's some more subtle thoughts. If there were more people like me in the world, we'd be a lot better off. That co-worker isn't half as productive as me.

17:20I can't believe that guy is so immature for his age. Are any of these your thoughts? Your prayers ever sound like that? Well, pride is the lock on the door to godly living. That's the Pharisee and his confession. Now we're going to look at the key to this lock seen in the tax collector and his confession. And this figure, the tax collector, is representative of a dirty sinner, works for Rome, takes money from people consistently associated with the worst. Of sinners, bringing nothing to the table.

18:04He goes up to the temple to pray, but a much different motivation. You see, verse 13. 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. So, who's the center of the tax collector's prayer? God. And the irony is that the tax collector, who has nothing to offer God, no presumed religious education, no influence on the population, but he seems to know God better than the Pharisee who does have the religious education, who does have a heavy influence on the people, who is well-respected in public.

18:51Let's talk about the priorities of his heart. His focus is vertical. He cares more about pleasing God than pleasing man. He knows how to communicate with God. Deception in his life. Is he deceived? He is not deceived as he has knowledge of his own sin problem. Living in reality, not blinded to it, not suppressing reality of his own sin. But he's calling out to God for mercy. Now, out of all things you can ask God for, why mercy?

19:29Well, maybe forgive. Or maybe wisdom or anything, but did you know that God's first introduction to us in Scripture, when he shows up and says, This is who I am, and this is what I'm like, this is what it sounds like, in Exodus 34, 6. God shows up to Moses and introduces himself as the Lord, the Lord, a God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. So, really, the first attribute that God gives himself is that he's merciful. So, it makes sense the tax collector would call out for mercy. And if you don't know where to start, that's a great place to start, asking God for mercy.

20:13The tax collector knows God and what he's like, but further, he seems to know himself as a sinner, acknowledging I am in the domain of sin. It's not just people over there far away. I do need God to rescue me, and I can't get out of my own. Please, God, help me. Is this the type of person God blesses? Yes. Now, what happens when you walk through this door of the godly living? It's seen in these two results. The two confessions lead to much different outcomes. First part of verse 14: I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.

21:00Justified. People debate if this is talking about, well, God just heard his prayer this time and he didn't hear the Pharisees' prayer. Some say that justification has to do with salvation. A tax collector is now saved, forgiven of his sin. And I tend to think it's about salvation because of other themes in the Bible that are developed more fully in other New Testament books, but even the intro verse in verse 9 indicates that it's addressed to people who believe something entirely opposed to the Christian faith, that they were righteous.

21:47So if he's justified, what does it mean to be justified? You have a definition? To be justified. I have a two-word definition. Declared righteous. To be justified is to be declared righteous before God, if you want to add those. The spiritual reality of salvation, to be justified. A person moves from being in sin and under the wrath of God to a place of God's blessing and favor. And what has to happen? The person that is in sin must acknowledge he's there, ask for God's forgiveness, call for God's mercy, and God wipes him clean of sin.

22:30Moves him from that domain of darkness to the kingdom of his beloved Son, and he is justified. And that is a core tenet of the Christian faith. You've heard justification by faith alone, right? It's to be declared righteous by faith alone. And that's actually the wonderful truth that awakened my heart coming out of a Roman Catholic background: that we need God's forgiveness a lot more than he needs our good deeds. We're not going to work our way to God's approval. But we need His forgiveness by faith, not by works. And it's the same truth that can save anyone out of any false religion or even unbelievers in our own church.

23:21So the Pharisee shows us that his position in the temple means nothing. The tax collector shows us that the position of the heart means everything. The tax collector is instantly justified. The Pharisee is not. So we have a paradox. A man shows up with nothing to offer and he receives everything. And another man shows up with seemingly a lot to offer and receives nothing. Jesus gives us the lesson, second half of verse 14: for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

24:00How many times does Jesus have to say something for it to be important? How many times does the Bible have to say something for us to pay close attention? Once, twice, five times, ten times? I don't know. I think once is good. But what if I told you each of the New Testament writers mentioned this topic of humility at least once in their writings? Would that awaken you to its importance? Matthew 23:12 uses the same phrase as Luke in teaching: whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Mark chapter 9, speaking of the lowly heart that comes with humility, says, If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.

25:02John chapter 3, words of John the Baptist, speaking of Jesus, he must increase, but I must decrease. Paul in Romans 12:3, for by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. So remove your Clouded thinking. Think with sober judgment. Don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. See yourself as you are. James in chapter 4, verse 6, but he gives more grace. Therefore it says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Verse 10, humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. Peter in 1 Peter 5, 6, humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you. And even little Jude in verse 21, speaking about loud-mouthed boasters getting the wrath of God, then says to pray and keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. The point that Jesus is trying to make here is that God honors humility. God honors humility.

26:46The key to godly living. Let me ask you a few more important questions. Do you want God to appreciate what you have to offer? Or do you realize that it's you? Who should appreciate what God has to offer in his Son? Or do you think to yourself, who cares who's appreciating who? God does His thing, I do mine, you do yours, doesn't even matter. Two things wrong with that. Looking back at verse 9, He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. We'll call this collateral damage.

27:43You ever heard the phrase, my secret sins don't affect anybody. If I do this all alone and no one knows, you can stay out of my business. Probably deserves its own sermon titled, The Effects of Unrepentant Sin on Practical Living. When we sin, it affects the way we treat other people. And the real danger of pride, more than human-to-human interaction, is that it blinds us to how we actually relate to God. We lose sight of how we really stand before Him. What restores our vision? Humility.

28:31So, what is humility? And how do I get it? Humility is embracing God as good and myself as needy. Embracing God as big and good, and myself as small and needy. And the key here is embracing of reality. Someone could hate God or view him as not big or not good or not wise, but what you think about God isn't as important as what is true. The truth is, God is overall. He is all-good, he is all-powerful, he is all-wise. So, humility is really just a call to wake up and smell the coffee. Live in reality.

29:30Now, would you describe yourself as needy? Or are you above that? Not talking about money and clothes and things, but I'm talking about spiritually needy. Do you need God's intervention in your life daily to keep you from sin? God, I'll take it from here. Thanks. Do you need God's help to be a loving husband, or to be a submissive wife, or to be an obedient son or daughter, to be a hard-working employee, to a hard-working student, to be a gracious boss, to be a good church member? Do you need God's help for these things?

30:34God's help that you would walk worthy, that you'd be quick to forgive, that you would be quick to overlook an offense. Do you rely on God's grace to do all these things? Because you realize your fulfillment of these responsibilities is directly tied to your spiritual state. I'll add another word to my definition. Humility is joyfully embracing God as big and good, and myself as small and needy. So, how do I move from the sour attitude of pride to this joyful embrace?

31:30J.C. Ryle says, the true cure for self-righteousness is self-knowledge. Study the doctrine of sin and apply it to your life. You must know yourself as the tax collector did. And just because you heard the word doctrine doesn't mean you need a textbook. I'll give you the shortcut to understanding humility. Never stray from the cross. When you encounter Jesus crucified, you have to ask, why is he up there? And why is that not me? You answer those questions.

32:24You'll start to understand yourself a lot better. The battle for humility is fought first in the mind. And if we think of ourselves the most, we're going to live centered around ourselves. But if we think about Jesus the most, we'll live a life centered around him. So I'll put it like this. Humility is not so much about self-esteem, it's really just about thinking of yourself less. Do you joyfully embrace God as your Creator? And sustainer and savior? If so, get comfy and stay awhile. Justification is here and exaltation is near.

33:15If you've rejected God as your creator, sustainer, savior, the invitation is to confess your sin to God, just like the tax collector, receive his mercy, and live joyfully in his family. So I asked you at the beginning, do you want to be blessed? I got a lot of yeses. I just encourage you to walk humbly with your God. Okay, let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this evening and for your word that endures forever and the way you teach us and guide us. And you have loved us perfectly. Lord, I pray you work in our hearts as we go forward tonight and this week that you make your face shine on us and help us walk faithfully with you. Amen.

34:11Have a good night.