Guide us, O God, by your word and spirit, so that in your light we may see light. In your truth, find wisdom, and in your will, discover peace. Add your blessing to the reading and the hearing and the preaching of your word, and grant us all the grace to trust and obey you. And all God's people said, amen. All right, kids, especially you teenagers, you do not have to raise your hands unless you want to. But how many of you think you get in trouble more than you deserve? Okay. Keep that in your minds. Now how many of you think you get in trouble less than you deserve? Oh, good, okay. Good job. Deacon Teddy, I knew it. Now maybe you don't like the way your parents discipline you, which you may or may not be right about, but if your heart raised its hand to the first question and not to the second question, well then you might have a serious problem. And your problem might be really, really serious if when you get disciplined for your sin, you respond by arguing or by pointing out how you're actually better than most kids your age. That response of self-justification has no place in the life of a Christian. I had a thankful dad moment this week when one of my kids came to me and said they should have gotten the same consequence as their sibling because they had actually been doing the same thing their sibling had just gotten in trouble for, only they didn't get caught. Even though they could have gotten away with it, this kid knew they were guilty too. And so even though they hadn't get caught, they came, they confessed their sin, and received the discipline that they deserved. That's the response to sin God's children must have. You see, the first response, the response that says, well, I'm a good kid and I only deserve good things, even though I do bad things, is the kind of response that Jesus says is a hell-bound one. But the second response, the one that agrees that you have done and do even more wrong than you actually get punished for, Well, that response is the one that will keep you humble and keep you safe all your days. Now understand, no one likes feeling like they're a bad kid who likes to get punished or deserves it. And most of y'all aren't bad kids. I say most because I won't name names. But that's actually what makes you need to pay even more attention to the second of Jesus's two parables today. It's in that parable that the one who thinks he's good that ends up damned, but the one who thinks he's bad ends up saved. But before we look at that parable, let's look at the first parable that we read. in that parable, the parable that your Bible probably calls the parable of the persistent widow or the parable of the woman and the judge. Just like every other time, we're trying to understand what's going on in a passage, we need to know who is speaking and who is being spoken to. Verse one says that Jesus told them a parable to the effect, or so that, or for this reason, so that they ought to always pray and not lose heart. Now, what I'm about to say doesn't mean we shouldn't also pray and not lose heart. Probably, in light of this parable, Paul tells the Thessalonians, do not repay evil for evil, but always seek to do good to everyone. Pray without ceasing, giving thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. But here in this specific instance, I think it can help us to keep in mind that the they here are the disciples who are walking with Jesus at a specific moment in time because at the end of this parable, Jesus promises something to them that may not necessarily happen to us, at least not in this life. Remember, Jesus has just explained to his disciples that a day was coming when they would long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but they would not see it. Last week, we explored how Jesus was preparing his disciples for the violent opposition that they would face from the Jewish leaders after he ascended to heaven. Well, this parable of the persistent widow is right on the heels of him explaining that. Now, most of the time, the story only talks about two characters, the widow and the judge. And then the application is about the believer and God. But if you notice, there are three characters in the story, a widow, a judge, and her adversary. Jesus says the judge is a pagan judge. A judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in a city who kept coming to him and saying, give me justice against my adversary. Another way this could be worded is that she is pleading with the judge to vindicate her from the one who is against her. At first, the unjust judge refuses to hear her cries, but day after day, she continues to beg this pagan ruler to deliver her from her enemy. And so eventually, not because he actually cares about what is good and right and just for this helpless woman who is being abused, but simply because he's getting beaten down by her constant nagging, the judge resolves to give this widow justice. The New King James nails it better than the ESV when it says, the judge resolves to avenge her. Not because he's a good man, but simply because he's tired of all the trouble she's causing. Jesus goes on to reason with his disciples that if an unjust pagan ruler is willing to punish the widow's enemy just because he's annoyed, Well then how much more would God avenge his chosen ones that cry out to him day and night? And so even though it will seem long, they can trust that God will avenge them. to put all the pieces together, then Jesus, who has already referred to himself as the bridegroom in Luke 5, is now teaching his disciples on the heels of the days when they would long to see the Son of Man judge their enemies, that if and when they feel like widows who are being unjustly persecuted, well then they should just keep praying and not give up. to link this parable with Paul's exhortation to the Thessalonians, they should not repay evil for evil, but do good even to their enemies and pray without ceasing, giving thanks to God in all circumstances. Now for those of us looking for how that applies to us, Well then we need not look further than how Jesus treated his enemies when he was persecuted or how Paul himself lived out this very parable in his own life. Volume two of Luke acts closes with the Apostle Paul having been unjustly accused and imprisoned by his enemies. going through an arduous appeal process from one pagan judge to another, eventually bringing him to Rome where he would stand before a Caesar that neither feared God nor respected man. Now, we'll look at those events in more detail next year, but church history tells us that Paul, who some believe was a widower himself, was eventually beheaded not long after the events in act by the pagan Caesar Nero. And there is little doubt that like with Jesus, Paul's blood was on the hands of the Jews. If the timeline fits then, and I think it does, it's reasonable to conclude that Paul's blood was some of the last to fill the bowls of the wrath of God, causing him to bring down vengeance on the enemies of Christ's widowed bride. Because verse eight says that God would avenge his elect speedily. The same word with which Jesus opens and closes the book of Revelation. So you see in telling this parable, Jesus is still preparing his disciples for his departure, promising that he would not leave their prayers for vengeance unanswered. He would avenge his bride. And so until that day, they need not be tempted to despair. They should pray and not give up. Now again, the principle that we should continue in prayer and not lose heart, even in the face of our persecutors, is true because God will avenge us. But it's in light of this immediate context then that Jesus' next question becomes clearer. One that thinks our view of the end times with the knowledge of the Lord filling the earth like waters cover the sea is undone by this next verse doesn't read it in its context. If, as we've seen, Jesus is preparing his disciples for the impending judgment on Jerusalem, he isn't necessarily speaking of the last day in all of history and saying that the state of the world will be so bad at that time that there won't be any Christians left. Rather, he's asking a rhetorical question. question to that generation about what he would find, not on the earth, but in the land of Israel, which is a better translation of the word here. On that day, on the day when the Son of Man was coming back to judge the harlot city Jerusalem and avenge his faithful bride, Jesus is asking, what will I find on the land in that day? Will I find the kind of faith that is relying on and crying out to God for mercy and vindication or the kind of faith that professes godliness while at the same time living like hypocritical devils? On that day when I visit the temple, will I find a bunch of hypocritical Pharisees or penitent tax collectors? One of the early church fathers, Augustine, saw these parables intertwined and linked by that statement, writing, does it not strike you when the Lord says in the gospel, when the son of man comes, do you think you will find faith on the land? That he immediately says to some who seemed to themselves to be just and despise others, he spoke this parable. Two men went up to the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. Augustine was pointing out what most modern interpreters miss. This parable must be read in its context. And I'm afraid because we've ripped it out of the context, we've created the very kind of Pharisees that Jesus is condemning. Most of you have probably heard a sermon on this passage. A typical sermon on this passage points out how bad tax collectors are and how God is in the business of saving bad, broken people, but he doesn't save religious Pharisees who are only concerned with good theology and following the rules. We're told our God doesn't care about theology and that our works don't matter at all, said one preacher I heard this week. God just cares about the posture of our hearts. And then after being unknowingly convinced of the virtues of theological and moral relativism, the closing prayer is something along the lines of thank you God that we're not like those Pharisees anymore. Now, instead of trusting in theology and living for righteousness, which obviously isn't good, the American version of Phariseeism simply replaces one kind of self-righteousness for another. Instead of preaching salvation by guarding our life and doctrine closely, like Paul actually says, our churches are increasingly preaching salvation by right feeling. which the Bible never teaches. So as a result, like the man who is never more proud than when he tells everyone how proud he used to be, so too is the most judgmental, self-righteous person, the one who wants to tell you how self-righteous and judgmental they used to be. Beloved, that version of Phariseeism that's being lauded as a virtue in our churches is just as damnable as the actual Pharisee in our parable. Both versions are just variations of someone who trusts in themselves that they are righteous, which is why Jesus told the parable in the first place. For us to actually understand this parable, we can't read it like a Gospel Coalition article. We have to read this parable of Jesus in the light of the things we already know about the Pharisees and tax collectors in Luke's gospel. So try to put what you've heard about this parable aside and let's look a little closer and see what actually separates these men, not just in time, but in eternity. First, we must point out that both men are believers and faithful churchgoers. So, unbelievers and people who refuse to go to church are already out of the equation. On the surface, this first guy, the Pharisee, would make a great church member if everything he says is true. Now, the careful reader of Luke's gospel knows it isn't, but that's getting ahead of ourselves. This Pharisee, this believer, appears to be thankful that God has prevented him from heinous sin. He thanks God that he isn't abusing his power and stealing from people. He calls injustice bad and thanks God that he's not unjust. And he thanks God that he's not an adulterer or a traitor like this tax collector. And it's not just that he thanks God that he doesn't do bad things. He points out that he does good things too. Even though he was only required to fast one day a year, this guy fasts twice a week. Probably is organic. He tithes of everything he gets. So if all this is true, well then there's not much to condemn about this man. He's at church, he's praying, he's thankful to God that his life isn't as bad as it could be. I mean, if you aren't an extortioner and if you aren't an unjust adulterer working for the IRS, should you not thank God? You should thank God. And what's more, you should be devoted to the Lord and you should tithe of everything you have. Heaven forbid you take God's name lightly or rob him of what belongs to him. So on the surface, nothing this guy is saying is inherently bad. It's just not true. He isn't a God-fearing Jew who only cares about obeying God and so misses the heartbeat of God. The entire Gospel of Luke has been Jesus rebuking the Pharisees outright and in parable form as being and doing the exact same things this guy claims he's not doing. It's been a few weeks for us, so we might not remember it, but for the people with Jesus, it hasn't even been a few days since Jesus told the parable of the unjust manager who had literally been price gouging. After that parable, Luke tells us that when the Pharisees, who Luke says were lovers of money, heard the things Jesus was saying about them, they scoffed and sneered at him. And Jesus responded, you are those who justify and vindicate yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. Whatever is high and mighty among y'all is an abomination in the sight of God. And then he continues to rebuke them. He tells them the law of God still applies and they're guilty of being a bunch of adulterers who are creating loopholes for getting in and out of marriage at will for money. So it's not that this guy is praying these things and they're true. He's praying them as if they're true and they're not. The Pharisee then is not only committing these sins, he's got the arrogance to come to worship and not confess and repent of those sins because he thinks he's righteous and doesn't need to. Sure, he fasts and goes to church, but he does it because that's just what you do. And sure, he tithes of his mint and cumin, but he's neglecting the weightier matters of the law. So you see, the Pharisee is not being damned for loving theology and always trying to obey the rules. Jesus is telling this parable so that people will have better theology and respond with more faith. The Pharisee is damned. because he looks at the people around him who are doing the same things as he is, and he thanks God that he's not like those people, even though he is. He's damned because he's an unrepentant hypocrite. He may not be a dirty Gentile or a traitorous tax collector, but he acts just like them and thinks that just because he's a circumcised, ceremonial, clean, temple-worshipping Jew, he's righteous. This is the exact same thing we heard Paul condemn in our epistle reading from Romans 3. The Jews had the very real privilege in that they had the law. But while they were condemning everyone else for being lawbreakers, Paul says they're doing the exact same things. No one is righteous, no not one. No one understands, no one seeks for God. Everyone has turned aside. Together they've become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Their throats are an open grave. They use their tongues to lie. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouths are full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. In their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. The constant message of Jesus and the apostles was that if these Pharisees kept doing this, kept professing godliness while living like devils, if they kept letting the leaven of hypocrisy go unchecked and unrepented of, then when the Son of Man returned, oh, they would be humbled. everyone who exalted themselves would be humbled, but everyone who humbles themselves would be exalted. The good news of the gospel was that the King of Jubilee had come to lift up those who had been laid low, which brings us to our other man, the publican or the tax collector. This man too is by himself at worship, but for different reasons. Like the evangelical, the Pharisee was content to skip the confession of sin element of worship and go straight to practicing his me, myself, and I praises and prayers, but the tax collector wouldn't dare draw near to a holy God without confessing his sins. He's not even willing to lift up his head without lamenting his sinfulness and crying out for God to be merciful to him. He's not just going through the motions and saying, I'm just one sinner, and a host of sinners, which your translation might seem to imply. He's actually feeling the weight of God's holiness and confessing, I am the sinner. God, have mercy on me, the sinner. Now it is right to recognize that most tax collectors had a terrible reputation for engaging in all the same sins the Pharisee had just listed. As a collective profession, they were known to be greedy, sexually immoral, and swindlers. So it may be that the tax collector is lamenting over the very same sins that the Pharisee refuses to acknowledge in himself, But in Luke's gospel, when compared to the Pharisees, it's the tax collectors that are faithful because they want to trust and obey the Lord. Even way back in Luke 3, John the Baptist had harsh words for the Pharisees, calling them vipers, but simple instructions for tax collectors. When he was approached and asked by tax collectors and soldiers what they should do to prepare for the coming Messiah, probably wondering if they should just quit their jobs working for the Romans, all John says to them is no. Just collect no more than you're authorized to do and don't extort money by threats or false accusations. So, maybe, This tax collector is a first-time repenter of all those wicked, high-handed sins that go unmentioned by Jesus here. Or maybe he's simply a humble, hardworking, faithful-to-Jesus tax collector who believes that even though he trusts God, he is always a sinner in desperate need of God's infinite mercy to cleanse him from his sins every single time he comes to worship. After all, that's the context in which this parable is told. When the Son of Man comes to a regular, ordinary, unsuspecting people that are going about their day-to-day lives, what kind of faith will he find? Will the land be filled with hard-hearted and unrepentant Pharisees who are continuing to go through the motions of worship while treating others with contempt or Will he find honest, hardworking, repenting sinners who were always dependent on and crying out for God's mercy? If this is how the parable is to be understood then, we are not being forced to choose between some salvation by right doctrine and living or by salvation by right feelings. We're being warned against looking to anything other than God's mercy to sinners in the person and work of Jesus. The theology wonk tempted to thank God that he's not like those dispensationalists while committing the same sins and needing the same mercy as they do should be careful. The same mature believer who is constantly coming alongside people whose lives are a mess should be careful not to look down on the people they're helping and thank God that his or her life isn't a mess like that. And the believer with a heart for the things of God should take heed not to look down with contempt on people who fastidiously guard their life and teaching. Beloved, we are not righteous because we have a better theology than other Christians. We are not righteous because we live better lives than most bad people out there. And we are not righteous because we know how to feel about things better than others. The tax collector was not vindicated because of how he felt about God on the inside any more than the Pharisee was damned because of his merely external obedience. Jesus told this parable to any who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on others while refusing to trust and obey Jesus themselves. Refusing to humble themselves, refusing to continually call out to God for mercy. And so we must all be on guard against any and every form of self-righteousness because we're all prone to it in various ways. Whether it's in the form of a therapeutic self-esteem-driven self-righteousness or a puritanical self-flagellation self-righteousness, you are never good enough and you will never feel bad enough to be righteous in yourself. They're both merely ways to self-atone for what only Jesus can do. And that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to constantly return to the scriptures to learn how to think, where God would have you repent and obey his law, or that you should constantly seek to have your affections more and more sanctified by grace through faith to love what God loves more and hate what he hates more as well. It simply means that you are only and ever righteous because God answers your constant prayer. God, have mercy on me, the sinner. Beloved, that's great news. That's the only good news that can save anyone, the mercy of God. So let us all sinners saved by grace through faith in the mercy of God never fall into the trap of thinking or feeling righteous in ourselves. But let us always and only look to and cry out to God to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness as we grow in faith and love and obedience now and forever. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. comes full circle. As Paul both warns and encourages the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 with the promise that if even some of them were guilty of the same sins the Pharisee lists, in mercy, And by the Spirit of God, He has washed, sanctified, and justified them in the name of the Lord Jesus. And so as we prepare to come to communion, hear God's word from 1 Corinthians 6. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor swindlers, nor drunkards, nor revilers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of God. During the sermon, we skipped over a very important phrase uttered by the tax collector's plea, God be merciful to me, the sinner. The word for mercy is not the normal word for mercy. In fact, this word is only used one other time, and that's in Hebrews chapter two, verse 17. There, we are told that Jesus had to be made like his brothers in all things, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest to make propitiation for the sins of the people. And it's not the adjective used to describe Jesus as merciful. Rather, the word is the word to make propitiation for. So when the tax collector prays, God, be merciful to me, the sinner, he's actually praying something more like, God, be propitiated toward me, or make propitiation for me. Now that's a really big word with a lot packed into it, but the most basic idea is for God to accept a sacrificial substitute in his place for his sins. In the Old Covenant, that substitute and on that day of those prayers would have been in the form of the blood of a bull or a goat. But again, the writer to the Hebrews makes clear that every faithful Jew, something they should have known, the blood of a bull or a goat cannot take away sins. So when the tax collector is praying for God to provide a sacrifice, he's praying the faithful prayer of Abraham and all the faithful prayers of the saints before and since. God, do for me and my children what only you can. God, provide a sacrifice for me and my children because nothing we can do will ever be sufficient to pay for our sins. Beloved, at this table we have the answer to all those prayers. The sins that the Pharisee listed as not being guilty of, even though he was, are the same sins listed here in 1 Corinthians, and the same sins that many of you committed in some form or fashion, not just before you were saved, but this week. Now, you are no longer identified by your sins, which is one of the main points Paul is making in 1 Corinthians, but make no mistake. Even though you were washed once in your baptism, you still today and all your days must continually bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Because there will never be a day when you are not wholly and utterly dependent on the sacrifice of Christ to save you from your sins. You can never get the perfect balance of theology and life and affections to finally attain righteousness that doesn't come by grace through faith in the life, death, resurrection, ascension, and constant intercession of the Christ who gave himself for you. From the first breath you took after the Spirit of God was poured into your hearts to the last breath you will take on this earth, you and I are wholly dependent on the mercy of God to save us. And that's what he's done. That's what he's doing. That's what he promises to do for all sinners who humble themselves and call to him for grace. As the waters of baptism showered down on you from above was a sign and seal of the grace poured out on you from heaven. So now let this true bread of heaven and this true wine be sign and seal to strengthen your faith so that you might come at last unto eternal glory, not trusting in anything in yourself for righteousness, but only and always in the righteousness of Christ, the only vindicator for his glory and your good. Amen. Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the same night that he was betrayed, took bread. Let us give thanks for the bread. We do not presume to come to your table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your many and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather crumbs under your table, but you are the same Lord whose character is to have mercy. Thank you, gracious Lord, that our sinful bodies are made clean by Christ's bodies and our soul washed through his most precious blood so that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us, amen. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat. This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. These are the gifts of God for the people of God.