Please turn your copies of God's Word to the Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Luke chapter 18, and we will read verses nine to 14. He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus, God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. So ends the reading of God's word. Let us pray and ask the Lord's blessing. Our Lord, in light of such a text, we can but cry for mercy, and we ask that your Holy Spirit would give us humble hearts, even as we now receive your word, for we long to be those justified in your sight, those who have the assurance of our salvation, who have let go of our own works and are trusting in Christ alone. So please help us all to receive your word now in a humble, childlike faith. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Well, Jesus presents a very striking contrast between two men. And at first glance, the difference between them seems obvious. One is highly respected in his community, the other one despised. One is morally upright, the other is a notorious sinner. And if we had to guess which of these men was in right standing before God, naturally, at least, we choose the Pharisee. He's the kind of man that people look up to. They admire him. They see him praying in the temple and in the marketplace. He's a disciplined man. He's a pillar of the community. But Jesus turns this whole thing upside down. He shatters our categories. He teaches us that before God, both of these men are sinners. And when it comes to sinners, there are only two kinds. Those who try to justify themselves, and those who are justified by God. That's the defining line. Not outward morality, not religious activity, not even how others perceive us. What matters is how we are perceived by God. And so the question that this parable confronts us with is, which kind of sinner are you? Do you approach God with confidence in your own goodness, confidence in your own religious devotion, confidence in your moral record? Do you think that you'll make it to heaven because you're not as bad as other people, because I go to church or because I live a respectable life, that therefore God accepts me? Or do you come before God? letting go of all of your own righteous works, bringing before him nothing but your need for mercy. And Jesus is teaching us something very important here about the kingdom. The kingdom of God shuts out those who exalt themselves, but the kingdom welcomes in those who humble themselves and recognize that they have nothing to offer and that they are needy people in need of the grace of God. And we need to hear this. Because even those of us who know that we're saved by grace, we still struggle with this sin of self-righteousness and pride and self-exaltation. As John Calvin said, no disease is more dangerous than pride and arrogance. And yet, all have it so deeply fixed in the marrow of their bones. This religious pride, this self-righteousness lingers still in all of our hearts. We see it, don't we, as we compare ourselves to others, as we look down on those who don't measure up to our standards of righteousness, or as we subtly rely on our own performance as we approach God, rather than coming pleading his mercy alone. And that's why this parable is not just for the self-righteous Pharisee. It's also for every one of us. For we never outgrow our need for grace. We never outgrow our need to be reminded that we are sinners, justified by grace alone, in Christ alone. And so as we look through this passage, we see how Jesus sets up three contrasts. Three contrasts. We see contrasting comparisons, contrasting confidence, and finally, contrasting conclusions. Well first Jesus sets before us contrasting comparisons. He begins with this comparison. Two men went up into the temple to pray. One, a Pharisee, and the other, a tax collector. Now, as we know by now from Luke's gospel, Jesus loves to set up these sharp contrasts between two figures. We've seen it so many times. We've seen it with the rich man and Lazarus, the prodigal son and his older brother, the widow and the judge, and there's more. Well, here again, he sets up for us two figures who couldn't be more different. Two men who, again, represent opposite ends of society. And yet, as we'll see, by the end of the parable, he'll completely flip everything upside down. Well, the first man Jesus mentions is the Pharisee. Now, we tend to think of the Pharisees as the bad guys. We think of the Pharisees as the mustache-twirling villains of every story. But we need to realize that for the people, the Jews living at that day, that's not how they thought of the Pharisees. They saw the Pharisees as upright, good men, devout, respected in the community. These were the religious conservatives. Remember, the Sadducees were kind of the theological liberals. These guys were the fundamentalists of their day. These guys really believed in upholding the law. They wanted to restore Israel. They were patriots. And they were viewed quite highly by their community. The historian Josephus describes the Pharisees as those who were more religious than others and seem to interpret the laws more accurately. So if you ask the average Jew who were the most righteous men in society, they'd say, oh yeah, the Pharisees, of course. They'd be top of the list. So when we read of a Pharisee going to the temple to pray, it's like, okay, well, no one's surprised by that. That's what Pharisees do. They're good, God-fearing men. That's the first man. The second man Jesus mentioned is a tax collector. And in that culture, tax collectors were universally despised. They were seen as traitors, because remember who they're collecting taxes for. They're collecting taxes for the Romans. And of course, because they're collecting taxes for the Romans, they're able to take a little bit for themselves as well, for the trouble. And so they were known for extorting their own people. They were notorious for corruption. They were like mobsters, or maybe more likely, think of scam artists preying on the vulnerable, or maybe even closer to home, think of our own government and the recent corruption that's been exposed. Evil men do these things, and these were evil men of their day. And the Pharisees, of course, were disgusted by these tax collectors, that they wouldn't even eat with them or drink with them. In fact, you remember how in Luke chapter five, the Pharisees are outraged when they hear that Jesus is feasting with tax collectors and sinners. To the Pharisees, tax collectors were the worst of the worst. They weren't just bad people, they were beyond redemption. And so, if we're in the crowd listening to Jesus, We have no doubt at this point which man God accepts as righteous. It's the Pharisee, of course. The one man who's clearly righteous as opposed to the other who's clearly a moral failure, a blight on society. Or so it seems. But Jesus sets up this contrast knowing that people tend to judge by appearances, and knowing that people tend to misunderstand the high standard of God's law. Because the reality is that before God, one of these men is not better than the other. Both of these men are sinners. No matter how different they may be in society's eyes, they share this one fact in common. They are both guilty sinners before a holy God. As Romans 3.23 declares, For all have sinned and fall short the glory of God, without distinction. And this is true of you here today. Whether you see yourself as the most religious and law-abiding person in the room, or you see yourself as the biggest failure in the room, each of us, all of us, are sinners. And sin is our greatest problem. We don't like to think that way. Maybe instead of seeing our own sin, we'd rather compare ourselves to others. You know, it's always easy to find someone who we think is worse than us, and then to compare ourselves to that person, and to say to ourselves, well, sure, I have my issues, but at least I'm not like that guy. I don't do the things that he does, or I don't say the things she says. Of course, that's exactly what the Pharisee does. He thanks God that he's not like other men. And that's how self-justification works. You know, we find some tax collector to compare ourselves with, and of course, if that's the comparison, we always come out on top, feeling better about ourselves. But as Jesus highlights, that's the essence of self-exaltation. That is pride. Pride is a lie that tells us that we're better than other people, we're in a different category. And once we believe that lie, well then we start treating other people with contempt. Look at verse nine, where Jesus tells us exactly why he gave this parable. He says, Luke says, he also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. That word for contempt means to despise, disdain, look down on, make of no account. So they didn't just have an elevated view of self, but it's because they had that elevated view of self that they, from that elevated vantage point, looked down on other people and held them with contempt, those who didn't live up to their religious expectations. You see religious pride and contempt for other people go hand in hand. And you see it sadly even in some churches where it leads some to create tears even of Christians within churches where there were those who were the real Christians or the real church members who were welcomed into the inner circle. Then there's those who don't quite make the cuts. And maybe they're Christians, but they're a lower tier. because they don't quite fit the mold. That's nothing other than religious pride, the very pride that Jesus strikes against here. Now, it's easy for us to see this Pharisee and his pride and say, well, thank God I'm not like that Pharisee. Thank God we're not like him. But if that's our only response, we should condemn the pride of the Pharisee. But if that's our only response, then ironically, we've become the Pharisee and we've fallen into the same trap. If our religious practices lead us to despise others, well then something is deeply wrong in our hearts. And therefore we, each of us, need to receive Jesus' challenge here. We need to examine our own hearts for the same self-righteous religious pride. How do we know if we have a tinge of this pride in our own hearts? Well, do you ever find yourself measuring yourself and comparing yourself to other Christians? or maybe even non-Christians? Do you secretly feel superior to others, maybe because your sins are more respectable than theirs, more private than their public sins? Do you look down on other Christians who don't do things exactly the way you do? Obviously, things related to Christian liberty, where we have freedom. Their family doesn't do what our family does. Do you assume that some sins are beneath you and that God's grace is more for them than for me? Maybe even you grew up in a Christian home and maybe you didn't sin so scandalously. Are you ever tempted to think that, yeah, I need a little bit of God's grace, but they need a lot more. All of us should feel the sting of at least one of these questions. How do we escape this pharisaical trap, this heart of the Pharisee? How do we fight the pride that creeps into every heart, the pride that John Calvin says is almost like in the very marrow of our bones? Well, the answer isn't by simply trying to appear more humble or trying to be more humble in our own strength. Rather, it's fixing our eyes upon Christ. It's foreseeing that the law is the standard that we're held against. Not unbelievers, not other people in the world, not even fellow Christians. The standard is God's law. And all of us have fallen short of that. When we see that standard and we see ourselves in comparison, we realize we're in no place to make comparisons. We see our moral bankruptcy. We see our true condition. And it's then that we look to Christ and there we see our standing. It's in Christ that we see the riches of his grace. And so as the hymn puts so perfectly, when I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss and poor contempt on all my pride. May God help us all to direct our contempt from other people and direct it towards our own pride. And find in Christ all our gain. That's the first contrast. The second contrast Jesus sets before us is the contrasting confidence of both of these men. You see, while both of these men are sinners before God, they both approach God from very different vantage points. One comes with a resume of his righteousness. The other comes with the empty hands of faith. One man comes boasting and bragging. The other man comes begging. One man trusts in himself, the other thrusts himself upon the mercy of God. We see the first man, the Pharisee, and his confidence is completely in himself and his own abilities. Notice first his posture. We read in verse 11 how the Pharisee stood far off by himself and he prayed aloud. And so he separates himself from the rest of the common folk of the temple. And that's not because he's unworthy to be with them. Rather, it's because they're unworthy to be with him. In his mind, he's a step up from the average churchgoer. And so he carves out his own space there in the temple. Then listen to his prayer. First, he compares himself to others in what he doesn't do. He says, God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. So the basis on which he approaches God is comparison. He looks at himself and he says, well, I may not be perfect, I'm pretty close, but I may not be perfect, but at least I'm not like them, I'm not like those people. Next, he compares himself to others in what he does do. So not only is he less sinful than others, he's also more law-abiding. or even goes beyond the law. As he says, I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. It's important to understand what the law required and where his boast is here. According to the law, fasting was required once a year on the day of atonement, Leviticus 16. The fact that this man fasts twice a week means that he fasts over 100 times more than what the law required in a year. Also, because they were an agrarian society and there was all kinds of things they produced, they tithed 10% on certain things and the law could get complex. But here he says, I don't even work that out, I tithe everything, or give a tithe of everything, not just what the law requires. So here's a man who not only keeps the law, he apparently far exceeds the law in his religiosity and his duty. And clearly, he wants God and everyone else in the room to know about it. But how do we evaluate his prayer? Well, at first glance, he seems to be like an upstanding man. He seems respectable. He's religious, he's moral, he's disciplined, he's dedicated. He avoids scandalous sins. He's never stolen anything from anybody. He's never cheated on his wife. And so surely this is the kind of man that God delights in. Surely this, if we have to pick one of the two, then this is the man who will leave the temple justified. But as we look closer, we notice some serious problems. First, notice who he's really thanking or praying to. Now he mentions God at the start of the prayer, but then manages to reference himself five times in the rest of the prayer. Really it's a kind of a pat on the back kind of prayer. He's congratulating himself. He's speaking of what he has accomplished. He is really just thanking himself for being a good person. So his confidence is entirely in himself. This is not true worship, it's self-worship. It's also worth noting what's absent in his prayer. There's no mention of grace or mercy. And that's because there's no confession of sin. Apparently, this man doesn't have any real sin. He doesn't seem to be in need of mercy, therefore. He's not like the tax collector. And so instead of coming in humility, he assumes he's already accepted because of his excellent pedigree, his excellent track record. But as Isaiah 64, six tells us, all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags. Now that verse doesn't mean that as believers, as we serve the Lord out of gratitude, that God is disgusted by those things. No, the point is that when we do good deeds and we present them to the Lord as the basis for our standing before him, then those things are as filthy rags. When we approach God exalting in ourself, confident in ourself, God hates this. He sees it the same way that you would see a filthy rag brought to the dinner table. As disgusting and uncomfortable as the image is, I mean, think of a rag that's used to clean the grimiest parts of a filthy toilet. And then imagine your cat or your dog or even a child bringing it into the dinner table and tossing it up on your dinner plate. Yeah, it's disgusting even to think about. And yet that is how God sees our attempts at self-righteousness. He's not pleased with them. He's not, well, okay, you know, it's better than nothing. No, he is outright disgusted by all of our attempts at self-righteousness. Disgusted. It's not how we think. That's how he thinks. The tax collector, on the other hand, knows that he has no resume to offer. He doesn't even try to offer a resume. He's fully aware of his sin. Notice his posture in verse 13. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast. Well, he and the tax collector had one thing in common. They're both standing off from the crowd, but for very different reasons. The tax collector was too good to be with those people. Sorry, the Pharisee was too good to be with those people. The tax collector knows he's not good enough to be with anybody. That's how he feels. He knows that he's a sinner, a wretch. Now in that culture, people typically prayed with their eyes lifted up towards heaven. You think of how Jesus, when he's, in multiple points, but I think especially of when he's multiplying the loaves and the fishes. He has his eyes open and he's looking up to heaven. I don't know how we got to the point where we close our eyes and look down, but at least in this culture, that's what they did. So the fact that this man is looking down and beating his breast, this is all a sign of his sorrow, his repentance. And then he prays one simple request. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Notice what he doesn't do. He doesn't say, yeah, I know I'm a sinner, but you should see this guy who's worse than me. He doesn't play the comparison game. He doesn't find a sinner who's worse than him, and I'm sure he could have found someone, and then go to God on that basis, which is what the Pharisee does. He doesn't say, God, I'm not like that Zacchaeus guy. Now, he's a bad guy. You don't want to meet him in a dark alley. No, he doesn't do that. He doesn't compare, he doesn't shift the blame, he doesn't offer excuses. He simply acknowledges the reality of his sin, and he pleads for mercy. In fact, in the Greek, there's a definite article before sinner. So in other words, he doesn't simply say, I'm a sinner, we're all sinners. No, he actually says, I'm the sinner, I'm the sinner. Kind of like the Apostle Paul, when he spoke of himself as the chief of sinners. a posture we should all take. So clearly his confidence is not in himself. Instead he knows he's a sinner and that's why he pleads for mercy. And what is mercy? Well, mercy is not getting what you deserve. What we all deserve, because we are all sinners according to God's law, is justice. That's what we deserve. Mercy means not getting that punishment that our sins deserve. This man knows that he deserves justice. He knows that every sin must be punished. And he knows that everything the Pharisee has said about him is true. He doesn't pray and say, well, those things weren't true about me. No, he knows he has lied. He has stolen. He probably has committed adultery. He knows what he is, and he's not hiding anything. He knows what he needs before God is mercy. And so he confesses his sins and begs for mercy. The common assumption that so many people make is that God grades on a curve, that his judgment is on a sliding scale, so that as long as I'm better than most people, or better than the worst of people, I'll be fine. God sees the good things I do, and as long as the good things outweigh the bad things, I'll work out fine. All that matters is that each of us try our best. That's all that matters at the end of the day, and it'll all work out. Well, this parable completely shatters that way of thinking. The Pharisee, externally at least, was considered the best of society, and yet Jesus says that his goodness was not good enough. The reality is that God does not compare you to others. You're not being weighed in the balance with Adolf Hitler. No, you are being weighed in the balance with God's perfect law. His standard is not better than the worst or better than average. His standard is perfection. And if you are trusting in your own righteousness, your own goodness, your own morality, your own acts of service, or your lack of terrible things, then hear this warning. Your goodness is not good enough. Your righteousness is not righteousness in God's standard. Even your best works are tainted with sin. But if you are aware of your sin, and if you know that you have no righteousness of your own to boast in, and if you feel the weight of your failures, then hear this comfort, that God is merciful to sinners. God is merciful to sinners. The tax collector's prayer is like an echo of Well, so many psalms, like Psalm 51, but also Psalm 130, where the psalmist says, out of the depths I cry to you. Not out of the heights I brag to you, but out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy. If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared. It's true, each one of us should feel that very same way. If God should treat us according to what our sins deserve, if we were held to that record, who could stand? Not you, not me, not the Pharisee despite his religious performance, not the tax collector who knows his sin, not any of us. The psalm reminds us of the impossibility of standing before God's judgment. But this psalm and also Jesus' parable serves to reveal to us the gospel. The good news for every sinner, no matter how great your sin, is that you can be forgiven. Yes, even if you've stolen, even if you have been guilty of adultery and cheating on your spouse, there is forgiveness. Even if you have failed in ways that you never thought you could have imagined, there is cleansing to be found in Jesus Christ. But only if you come like the tax collector, not boasting, but broken. Not exalting yourself, but humbling yourself. Not trusting in what you've done, but in trusting what Christ has done. Because Christ alone is our righteousness. Christ alone is our confidence before God. So we've seen contrasting comparisons. We've seen contrasting confidence. Now finally we see contrasting conclusions. Having seen their posture and having heard their prayers, having an insight into their past, again, which of these men went home justified? The one man who fasted twice a week and gave generously? Or the other man who had a reputation for dishonesty and sin? Well, again, since we're familiar with the text, it's no surprise to us. For the Jews of the day, this is a major twist that's coming. They're not expecting this. When Jesus says in verse 14, referring to the tax collector, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. So the Pharisee, the man everyone in the community would have considered godly and upright, left the temple unjustified, remaining under the wrath of God. Even though his track record for church attendance was perfect, he was even a leader in his community, how could this be? Well, Jesus explains it next when he says, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. Again, both men were sinners in need of mercy, but they approached God very differently. The Pharisee exalted himself. And so ultimately he will be humbled on the last day. He thought that he could base his standing before God on his own religious works. But as Paul says, no one is justified by works of the law. Again, God is never impressed by our outward performance. That is not the outflow of a heart that's trusting in Christ and a position of justification. And so the Pharisee's heart was one that was proud and self-sufficient and void of faith and repentance. And so he left the temple, remaining under the wrath of God. But surely if God doesn't accept the Pharisee, who at least has some religious works to boast of perhaps, how can he accept and receive a sinner like this tax collector? What hope does he have? Well, again, this tax collector approached God with nothing in his hands, no merits to claim. He simply humbled himself before the Lord, confessed his sin, and this is why he left justified. And the doctrine of justification is such a precious doctrine. It's a doctrine that should be fresh to our minds. It's a doctrine we should think about often. To be justified means to stand before God as righteous. In other words, as if we had never sinned. Question 36 of our catechism speaks this way about justification. It defines it as so. Justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein he pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ, imputed to us and received by faith alone. So it's a standing before God, as if we had never sinned. And it's a gift of grace. It's not of works. It's something we receive through faith, through trusting in what Christ has done. But how can God justify the wicked? How can God forgive someone like the tax collector? Again, a man who was wicked, a man who had enriched himself by robbing other people. How can a just God who punishes the sin of one man pardon the sin of another man? Just imagine if you will, again, not a nice illustration, not a nice thing to think about. But imagine if a loved one or a relative of yours was murdered. And imagine the murderer goes before the judge, and the judge says, well, I'm going to let you off. I'm going to show you mercy so that you don't have to pay for that crime that you've committed. How would you feel? You'd be outraged. You'd say, that's not mercy. That's injustice. So how then can God escape the charge of injustice if he lets us guilty sinners go free? How can God forgive sinners and remain just? Of course, the answer is only by that same debt of sin, being satisfied by another, only by another coming in and saying, put that blame on me. I take the guilt of being an adulterer. I take the guilt of being a thief and a liar. I take that upon myself. Treat me that way. Punish me as if I had done those things. And that is what Jesus has done for sinners. is the only truly righteous man who never had to pray the sinner's prayer. He is the only one that could pray of his own righteousness because he alone is the righteous one. He is the blessed man of Psalm 1 who never walked or stood in the paths of unrighteousness. He is the only man who can truly pray Psalm 24 as one who has clean hands and a pure heart. He lived in perfect obedience to the Father and never sinned. And yet, the sinless one went to the cross and he bore our sins upon himself and he was treated as we ought to have been treated. He took the punishment we deserved. And in exchange, he loathes us in our righteousness and in a standing not our own, his perfect righteousness. And so this is what it means to be justified. It means to be counted as righteous, not because we have been righteous, but because we have Christ's righteousness credited to our accounts, imputed to us. And this is how a tax collector can be justified. This is how you can be justified. This is how the prayer of the tax collector was answered. He left justified in the sight of God because he trusted in what Christ has done, while the Pharisee who trusted in himself left condemned. And so let me ask you, is this your hope? Will you leave here today being justified? Whether you identify more with the kind of straight-laced Pharisee who was brought up going to church, or whether you have the checkered past of the tax collector, all of us have the same sin condition. All of us have a need to be justified. Maybe you've wondered. Could God really forgive someone like me? Maybe you've wondered and you've thought, well, maybe I need to make myself fit before coming to Christ. Or maybe even as you've come to Christ, those thoughts come to your mind, as if your sin is too great and your failure is too many. Well, again, here are the good news. The good news that Jesus justifies sinners. God justifies the ungodly. He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And so the only thing you need to bring to Jesus is your need. The only thing required is to come before him in humility, crying out like the tax collector. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And so will you walk away today clinging to your own filthy unrighteousness, deceived into thinking that you're right with God when you're not? Or will you humble yourself before the Lord, confessing your sins to him and receiving the gift of justification through Christ? And let me tell you what a gift justification is, what a gift it is to be freed from the bondage of sin and from the spiritual bondage of so many evil, tyrannical things. When we truly grasp that we're a justified people, it brings such a rich spiritual freedom. In closing, let me highlight a couple of things. Knowing, Christian, that you are justified frees you from having a slavish fear of God. You know, many people live with a deep fear of where they stand before God. You know, they wonder, have I done enough? Have I read my Bible enough this week? Have I prayed enough this week? Am I good enough? Have I made the cut? Well, what if I fail? But loved ones, justified in Christ, The answer is clear. You do not have to fear judgment. As Paul writes in Romans 8, 1, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. This means that you don't have to fear death. This means that you don't have to lie in your bed at night, anxious about eternity and what that looks like and where you will be. It means you don't have to worry about how you'll fare on the day of judgment. Why? because the judge has already ruled in your favor when he condemned Christ to the cross and justified you. Knowing you're justified frees you from the burden of comparison. Can we live in a world obsessed with status and performance and the validation of others that we crave? Like the Pharisees' prayer, people measure themselves by their career success, their moral achievements, their bank accounts, their religious devotion. that when you know that you're justified by Christ, you're freed from all of that. You're freed from the exhausting anxiety that comes with living for and longing for the approval of others. Dear Christian, when you're tempted to give in to the fear of man and living for the approval of what other people think about you, rest in your standing before God. Rest in your justification that you are accepted in the beloved. Knowing you're justified, finally, frees you to serve God with humility and joy. Now you are free to serve God, not in an attempt to earn favor or accumulate enough good works to get in God's good books. No, now you serve him out of gratitude and joy for your salvation. We're often tempted, as we serve, to hope that we'll be seen by others. Or maybe we even serve out of the fear that we need to earn our standing before God. And so we need to serve a certain amount. But again, now in Christ you are free to serve purely out of joy and gratitude, not to get anything or not to appease a wrathful God. No, now you serve as a son, serve as a father, as a daughter serves in the kitchen alongside her mother. You're free to serve out of a childlike joy and humility to your heavenly father, knowing that although it doesn't justify you, it's never in vain. And it brings delight to the Lord as it serves to glorify him. So loved ones, Let us humble ourselves before God. Let us confess our sins to him. Let us plead for his mercy. And then let us live out the realities of our justification and gratitude throughout all of our lives. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for Christ. We thank you that we can come here even this morning, even as those who have been justified, and we can confess our sins to you again and again, and your mercy and your grace is new each and every Lord's Day that we come, and that we can leave this place knowing that as we have confessed our sins to you, as we have not exalted ourselves but humbled ourselves and received with the empty hand of faith your grace, we can have the assurance that we have left this place justified. And so, Lord, even as we leave today, cause us to live out the rich salvation that is ours through Christ alone. In whose name we pray, amen.