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 And do turn with me to Luke 18. Luke 18, 9-14, from page 877 in the Church Bible. Luke 18.

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 And again, it's a very, very familiar passage, isn't it? And people love the story of the Pharisee

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 and the tax collector. And I don't know whether you've ever heard a preacher try and retell

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 the story in modern garb. You know, the parable of the good viker, or the parable of the good.

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 And I tried to do that this week. I just thought it was slightly twee and slightly embarrassing.

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 And whenever you hear a preacher try and do that, I never think it really works. And the

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 reason for that is because in verse 10, we have lost the shock, haven't we, of the Pharisee

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 and the tax collector. We've lost the shock of it. If you know your Bible a little bit,

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 if you've been in church and all, you would know that the Pharisees have always got it

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 in for Jesus, haven't they? They've always got it in. They are the bad guys of the New Testament.

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 They wear black hats and they've got stubble. They shoot people in the back. You can't trust

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 them. While the tax collectors, they are the sort of bad made good, aren't they? The bad

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 lot made good. They are the tax collectors, the publicans, the New Testament heart warmers,

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 aren't they? They would appear, wouldn't they, in Disney films, where everything works out

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 in the end. There's Matthew, the bad guy, who ends up being one of Jesus' twelve first followers.

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 There's the vertically challenged Zacchaeus, who we'll see in the next life, who makes good

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 after his life of dodgy dealing. But for the audience of Jesus, who first heard this story,

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 he couldn't have chosen the most shocking contrast. You see, and you probably know that the Pharisees

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 were not just the respected leaders of the day, they were the Bible people of the day.

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 They were the conservative, reformed evangelicals of the day, in lots of ways. They were the group

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 that was most keen to stick to what God had said in his word. They were like the upstanding

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 vicar or pastor, the Bible-centred man, who wanted to see his flock develop high moral standards.

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 In the face of the world that was rejecting God. And the tax collectors, well they were the

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 equivalent, it's so hard to put it, isn't it? They were the equivalent of what? The 7-7 bombers?

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 The 9-11 bombers? They were traitors to their own people. They'd actually aligned themselves,

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 not with their own country, but with a foreign superpower, Rome. And they'd made their money,

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 they made their wealth by ripping off their own. They were universally hated. And you see,

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 Jesus could not have chosen a less likely candidate for friendship with God. Because that is where

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 the story ends. That is the line that causes the intake of breath from the people around Jesus.

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 Look at verse 14. I tell you, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather

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 than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself

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 will be exalted. The tax collector goes home justified, and to be justified is to be declared

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 innocent. It's a term that is taken from the law courts. It is not just to be acquitted.

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 It is not just to say, well you never committed the crime. To be justified is to say that God

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 is going to treat the tax collector as if he'd led a perfect life. As if he'd done nothing

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 wrong. As if he fulfilled every obligation to the law. Now I expect Jesus' listeners like

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 you. They might have been able to cope with that. The God of mercy. The forgiving God.

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 Well isn't that what God is supposed to do? God forgives the repentant sinner. Well that

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 is exactly what you'd expect. But what they wouldn't have expected are the four words in the middle

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 of that sentence. You see, that is the real shock. Rather than the other. That is the shock.

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 Rather than the other. The Pharisee for all his religious deeds, for all his good life, goes

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 home guilty. Before God. And he goes home not justified, but condemned. So let's look at

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 the attitude of these two men. And the first thing is this. Don't be self-confident. Don't

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 be self-confident. And that was the problem of the group of people Jesus was addressing.

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 Wasn't he? Look at verse 9. He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves.

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 that they were righteous. He told this parable to some who were self-confident that they were

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 righteous. And they looked down on other people. And the people that he told this parable to

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 were in no doubt that they were righteous. That they were in the right. And that is that

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 they were good enough to have a right relationship with God. In fact, they were so pleased with

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 their own goodness. That they felt free to make judgments about others. Others who weren't

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 quite up to their standards. So you know, they'd say the kind of thing that I don't know what

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 the world is coming to today. Look at the number of people who just don't save. Look at the

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 number of people who've just got loads of credit cards and huge debt. Look at the people who

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 are just so irresponsible. Look at the kind of people that go to the bookies early in the

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 morning. And they're there. But this is actually a parable about church, isn't it? It's a place

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 where these people would have felt that they were on very, very safe ground. Look at verse

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 10. Two men went up to the temple to the place of worship to pray. One a Pharisee and the

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 other a tax collector. The Pharisee was a respectable pillar of the middle classes. And this Pharisee

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 is one of the best. He is not like those evildoers that he reads about in his Jewish newspaper.

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 You see, that is his first mistake, isn't it? He trusts in his relative goodness. Because

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 when the Pharisee compares himself to the people around him, well, he's quite confident, isn't

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 he? He's confident that he's better than them. He's certainly better than the tax collector

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 that he catches the eye of over there. So we watch our news, we read it on the internet,

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 and we see the murderer or the paedophile or the crazed maniac in wherever it is. And

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 we thank God, don't we, that we're not like them. Basically, we do operate as if there were

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 two types of people in the world, the good people and the bad people. And when push comes

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 to shove, we are pretty sure that we're in the good person category. Okay, we get things

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 wrong, we make mistakes. But we're certainly not in the evil person category. But that is

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 the wrong comparison, isn't it? We may be relatively good. You may be relatively good compared to

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 the other children in school. You may be relatively good compared to the people in your work. I'm

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 sure that this Pharisee had done many, many virtuous things. In fact, you've got to give

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 him credit, haven't you? Look at verse 11. Those are good things. He's not an extortioner.

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 He doesn't rip people off. He is not unjust, which means he is just. He's not an adulterer.

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 You've got to believe him. Those are good things. This Pharisee had done many virtuous things.

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 But the issue is this. We are not relatively good compared to God's standards, are we? Because

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 God's standards are perfect. His standards level the playing field for humanity wherever you

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 are from, however old you are. If you want to look at what God's standards are like, well

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 you've got to look primarily at the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you will not find,

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 will you? You will not find a more beautiful character than the person of the Lord Jesus.

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 The Apostle Peter spent three years hanging out with Jesus, didn't he? He saw everything

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 that Jesus did. He heard everything that Jesus said, and he could still say in 1 Peter 2

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 verse 22 of Jesus, he committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. Could someone

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 say that of you? You wouldn't have to hang around with me more than three hours to not be able

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 to say that. He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. You've got to make

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 the right comparisons this morning. If we are to have a realistic picture of ourselves,

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 and when we compare ourselves to Jesus Christ and his character, we suddenly see how far short

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 we've fallen, haven't we? Because Jesus was always patient. And Jesus was always kind. And

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 Jesus never got it. I mean, do I need to go on? That when we compare ourselves to Jesus,

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 we see our relative goodness is worth nothing at all, is it? Because we know that Jesus set

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 the standard of humanity. But when he was asked, what is the greatest commandment of all? He

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 said, love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind,

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 and all your strength. And he did that. Above all else, use everything you have, use it to

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 love God. And then all you've got to do is to treat your neighbour as yourself. Love your

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 neighbour as yourself. You see, relatively good is not good at all. But the Pharisee has

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 got another string to his bow, he's got a religious ritual. It's not just that he's better than other

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 people. No, he's got religious duty down to a T. And actually, he's going over and above.

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 What he has to do, look at verse 12, I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I

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 get. The Old Testament requirement was for fasting once on the annual day of atonement.

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 It's remarkable, isn't it? One day a year. That was the requirement for fasting on the

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 annual day of atonement, once a year. But this guy fasts twice a week. And although giving

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 a tenth of his earnings was a requirement, this man gives a tenth of all that he gets.

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 So he's given ten pairs of socks for Christmas. He gives one pair of socks to the Lord. He's

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 given ten potatoes. He gives one potato to the Lord. He buys his mint. He chops it up on

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 his dill and he gives ten percent to the Lord. Maybe he's finding his food. Lord, I'm doing

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 much more than you ask. I'm not just here on Sunday morning. I'm there on Sunday night.

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 I'm not just there on Sunday night. I'm at a house group. I'm not there just at a house

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 group. I'm at prayer meeting. And I am serving in so many ways that you don't know about.

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 I read that Japanese job hunters, we can check with those from Japan later, Japanese job

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 hunters have to go to even greater lengths to improve their employability these days.

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 So applicants for the post of trader at image.net, do you know that company image.net, were

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 ordered to climb a mountain, as the initial interview, literally to meet their potential

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 employees, employers. The 24 hopefuls were told that they had to climb Mount Fuji, which

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 at 12,388 feet is the highest mountain in Japan. Only 11 of them made it to the top.

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 The rest of them were defeated by exhaustion and altitude sickness. But so many people think,

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 don't they, that is what God requires of us. That getting right with him is about religious

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 effort. That God sits on top of his mountain. And what he says is putting massive effort to

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 get to me. Put massive effort into your church going. Put massive effort into your praying,

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 into your giving your money. And if we do that, well then we'll make it through the interview.

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 We face when we die. And so many people say to me, I'm just not a good enough Christian.

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 I'm just not a good Christian. And that shows us, doesn't it, they're trusting in their efforts.

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 I've got to try to make it up that mountain. Try a bit harder. I used to find that, I didn't

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 used to like people, to tell people that I worked for a church, that I was a minister.

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 With non-Christians, you know, there's some that say, isn't it, oh I work for a carpenter.

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 All that sort of nonsense. But now actually I've changed my mind. So now as soon as I

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 possibly can, I introduce the subject. People say, what are you? I say, well I'm a minister.

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 Or I'm a preacher. Do you know what people say occasionally? They say, oh you make me feel

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 guilty. I'd only said that I'm a minister. A person said, oh I can remember, you make me

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 feel guilty. I haven't been to church for ages, she said. Perhaps I should go and make a confession.

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 Do you do that? At that point I said no. I said no. That's what people think God wants,

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 don't they? They think God wants that. Please come to my club. Please come to my special rituals

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 and then I will be pleased with you. And this is a danger that we have to daily avoid. The

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 danger of feeling secure in our relationship with God because of my efforts. Because of

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 what I've done. So I've read my Bible and I've said my prayers today so I'm rocking and

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 rolling with Jesus. On the other side of it, I haven't read my Bible or said my prayers

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 today so Jesus doesn't love me anymore. I always look at the church twice on a Sunday so many

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 people don't. It's such a privilege to give to the Lord's work secretly. Do you see, it's

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 the very nature of us. It's endemic in the human heart to place our confidence in the things

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 that we do. And in the end, whether it's our relative goodness or it's our religious ritual,

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 when it comes to my relationship with God, self-confidence is always misplaced.

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 So do you see the repeated word in the Pharisees' prayer in verse 11 and 12? Do you see it?

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 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed this. God, I thank you, but I am not like other

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 men. Extortioners and just adulterers or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week.

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 I give tithes of all that I get.

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 It's a bit of confusion by, not confusion, but the literal words in verse 11, standing by

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 himself, prayed thus, prayed to himself, prayed about himself, standing by himself, can be

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 interpreted in all those ways. God, I thank you that I, I, I, I, I, I. And that is where

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 the Pharisee trusts. And when it comes to a relationship with God, I've been good enough

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 and I've been to church enough. And that is why Jesus' verdict on this man, the man that

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 you would have thought was the one in a relationship with God, if you saw him walking down the street,

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 Jesus says, you are guilty. You are guilty, not justified.

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 And so let me speak to the children. It's lovely to have the children. We love having children

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 in church. I think it's one thing to remember, we are no better children. We are no better

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 because we are in church this morning. We are no better than our friends in school. And

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 to think, well, they're so much better than the naughty kids in my class. And there will

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 be very naughty kids in your class, won't they? But you are not. And do you know what?

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 In schools, very often we are taught, we have to be confident in ourselves. And there's

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 a part of that is right, but you need to talk to your mum and dad when you get home about

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 why, according to the Bible, we must never be self-confident in our relationship with God.

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 Will you do that? Will you talk about that with your mums and dads? Why is self-confidence

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 with God never wrong? Secondly, this parable tells us, do not be self-confident, do be

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 sin-conscious. Look at verse 13. Here's the contrast. Verse 13 is the contrast.

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 But the tax collector, slamming far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat

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 his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Here, says Jesus, is the opposite

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 attitude. Here is somebody who's got no confidence in himself before God in himself. And you

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 can see that, can't you? You can see that in the verse, he stands at the back of the temple,

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 he's too ashamed to go in, to go further in. He can't even raise his head. He cries out,

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 he beats his breast in anguish, God have mercy on me, a sinner. The way he has lived actually

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 causes him physical pain. Velma Barfield was convicted of poisoning four people, including

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 her own mother. In 1996, she was executed by lethal injection in North Carolina. Shortly

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 before she died, she wrote this.

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 I want to make it clear, I am not blaming drugs for my crimes. I am not blaming my troubled

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 childhood or my marriage problems. I bear the responsibility for the wrongs I have done.

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 I know those things influence me, but they are my sins and my crimes. And that is the

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 attitude of the tax collector. He knows there are lots of circumstances. He knows there are

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 lots of things in his life which haven't been for him. He's had a difficult life, and yet

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 he knows he's ignored God. And he knows he's broken God's law. And he comes before God humbly,

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 and he cries out for rescue. And so he says, God have mercy upon me. Literally it means,

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 turn aside your anger from me. The tax collector knows he deserves God's righteous anger, and

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 he cries to him for mercy. And the Bible says that is the state of everyone who has ever lived.

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 Paul picks up those words of the psalmist, that's in Romans 3. He quotes Psalm 14 and Psalm 53.

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 And he says, there is no one who is righteous. No one who is righteous. So think about that.

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 Either God is lying this morning, or every single one of us in this room is a sinner today.

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 There is no one who is righteous. I expect you've not committed murder. But you look back at

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 your life, and you look back, and it will show that there are things that you regret. There

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 are moments, aren't there, in your life and in mine, that we would rather forget. And we

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 all know, or we should all know, that we stand guilty before a perfect God. If you rewound

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 the last 24 hours of my life, I would not let you watch it while I was in your presence.

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 And I expect if you rewound through the last week, or the last month, or the last year,

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 you would not want me to watch it. And if we are ashamed before each other, how much more

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 should we all be ashamed before God? We can all cry, God have mercy on me a sinner.

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 And it's the conclusion to the story that packs the real punch. The people listening

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 to Jesus would have expected the proud Pharisee to be better off in God's eyes. They might

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 have thought God will have mercy on the tax collector, but Jesus doesn't tell them that

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 both men lived happily ever after. There is only one man who goes home right with God.

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 Do you remember from verse 14? I tell you that this man, the tax collector, rather than the

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 other, went home justified before God. You see, he is there with his head bowed. And as

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 he prays, God acquits him of all that he's done. I love that. I love that. There is a school

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 of thought that I could bore you on for the next half an hour about justification for your

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 future. I think this is the passage that actually batters it. Look at it. I tell you that this

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 man went down to his house justified. There and then, at that moment, justified before

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 God. No further requirements. No further requirements after that initial cry for mercy. Isn't that

00:21:48.359 --> 00:21:57.379
 wonderful? He's justified, not pardoned. He's not pardoned with his criminal record for future

00:21:57.380 --> 00:22:01.600
 reference. That's how we deal with each other, isn't it? I say, I'm sorry. You say, it's

00:22:01.600 --> 00:22:05.500
 okay. I forgive you. I do it again in six weeks. You say, well, you did it. You did it before.

00:22:07.140 --> 00:22:14.800
 Now, justified, the slate wiped clean forever. Now, do you think Velma Barfield could be forgiven

00:22:14.800 --> 00:22:21.720
 by God? That is a real test, isn't it? It's a real test of whether you've realised how guilty

00:22:21.720 --> 00:22:27.940
 you are this morning. And how great God's grace is. Do you think Velma Barfield could be forgiven

00:22:27.940 --> 00:22:36.339
 by God after poisoning four people, including her own mother? Well, shortly after her arrest,

00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:42.200
 she became a committed Christian. Her sins, she firmly believed, were completely forgiven

00:22:42.200 --> 00:22:47.380
 by God. She believed that Jesus has died at the cross to take them. And all that was left

00:22:47.380 --> 00:22:53.780
 for her was to pay society's ultimate price. The warden of her prison said that on the night

00:22:53.780 --> 00:22:59.900
 of her execution, she was the happiest, most radiant human being I have ever met. You see,

00:22:59.980 --> 00:23:08.800
 Velma Barfield was convinced she was justified that God would treat her as innocent. Do you

00:23:08.800 --> 00:23:15.000
 believe that a woman who murdered her own mother can go to heaven? Because in the end, verse

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:21.440
 14, Jesus winds in the application, doesn't he? Verse 14, he says, for everyone, everyone,

00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:27.079
 everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

00:23:27.740 --> 00:23:32.420
 You see, this isn't a parable for two types of people in first century Palestine. It is for

00:23:32.420 --> 00:23:39.660
 all people for all time. And it is about the simplicity of the salvation that God offers.

00:23:39.660 --> 00:23:48.420
 And it is shattering. To come to be justified, to come to be declared right by God, there is no

00:23:48.420 --> 00:23:58.240
 complicated checklist of do's and don'ts before God can accept you. We are not told quite deliberately

00:23:58.240 --> 00:24:04.259
 what the tax collector does next. We are not told whether he joins a good local synagogue.

00:24:04.259 --> 00:24:13.440
 We are not told whether he joins a follow-up group. We are not told whether he has a firm grasp of the truth of the

00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:18.559
 gospel. We're not told that. We are just told that he throws himself on God's mercy.

00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:29.200
 For those of us who are here this morning, and we are not Christians, and if you are not a Christian here

00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:35.400
 this morning, if you don't think that you are trusting in Jesus, you've got to understand this.

00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:42.740
 You've got to understand that I and we are not trying to sell you some self-help course. We're not.

00:24:44.080 --> 00:24:49.420
 We are not even encouraging you to become a member of our club. We are not trying to get you to be a better person.

00:24:49.420 --> 00:24:57.140
 We don't want you to become more religious. We are trying to tell you that there is a God who loves you so much,

00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:01.320
 who is merciful, that if you were willing to admit that you've messed up your life,

00:25:02.600 --> 00:25:07.460
 and that you deserve his punishment, he will treat you as though you are innocent.

00:25:08.759 --> 00:25:14.220
 And he will give you a relationship with him through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, by his Holy Spirit.

00:25:14.220 --> 00:25:20.500
 And that starts now, and that stretches through death into eternity in paradise.

00:25:21.019 --> 00:25:22.779
 And that is what Christianity is all about.

00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:29.500
 And you see, they're not cheap words, are they? They are not cheap words from Jesus in Luke 18.

00:25:30.759 --> 00:25:34.180
 Because we know, where is Jesus going? Where is Jesus marching to?

00:25:34.259 --> 00:25:36.279
 From Luke 9, he's been marching to Jerusalem.

00:25:37.360 --> 00:25:39.259
 And towards a Roman cross.

00:25:39.259 --> 00:25:44.319
 So look at the words he's going to say to his disciples later on in the chapter.

00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:45.559
 Look at verse 31.

00:25:46.099 --> 00:25:49.059
 Taking the twelve aside of Luke 18, 31, he said to them,

00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:53.400
 See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.

00:25:53.500 --> 00:25:54.160
 Well, what is that?

00:25:55.559 --> 00:25:59.599
 For he will be delivered over the Gentiles, he will be mocked, and shamefully treated, and spat upon.

00:25:59.900 --> 00:26:02.119
 And after flogging him, they will kill him.

00:26:02.420 --> 00:26:04.200
 And on the third day he will rise.

00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:09.019
 And it will be fulfilled. Why? Because it's God's plan.

00:26:09.019 --> 00:26:10.319
 It's always been God's plan.

00:26:11.599 --> 00:26:16.259
 It's always been God's plan from all eternity that his Son should die in our place.

00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:23.599
 It is at the cross that Jesus makes it possible for you to know God's mercy.

00:26:24.680 --> 00:26:28.599
 We sang it earlier, Jesus disarms the wrath of God.

00:26:31.019 --> 00:26:34.900
 It is at the cross he takes his perfect, innocent life and he dies in our place.

00:26:34.900 --> 00:26:40.220
 He takes upon himself all of our guilt and the punishment that it deserves.

00:26:40.320 --> 00:26:43.860
 So Jesus can, just so that God can justify us.

00:26:45.300 --> 00:26:46.980
 That God can declare us innocent.

00:26:47.300 --> 00:26:49.500
 And that is what God is offering you here today.

00:26:49.500 --> 00:26:56.339
 If you don't know the Lord Jesus, mercy, love, forgiveness at the cross of his dear Son.

00:26:56.339 --> 00:27:06.659
 And for those of us who are Christians, who do follow Jesus, we must remember there is nothing.

00:27:08.019 --> 00:27:15.359
 There is nothing about you and there is nothing about me that deserves a relationship with God and a home in heaven.

00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:24.359
 There is nothing about you or nothing about me that makes us better than the drug addict or the thief or the murderer.

00:27:27.779 --> 00:27:32.159
 One commentator says there are only actually two places to look in the Christian life.

00:27:33.919 --> 00:27:36.139
 There are only two places to look in the Christian life.

00:27:36.219 --> 00:27:38.419
 Your feet and the cross.

00:27:38.420 --> 00:27:41.800
 Your feet and the cross.

00:27:41.900 --> 00:27:43.660
 And that is what you've got to do today.

00:27:45.240 --> 00:27:47.080
 You look at your feet because you're ashamed.

00:27:49.539 --> 00:27:51.019
 You look at your feet because you're ashamed.

00:27:51.100 --> 00:27:52.840
 But make sure that you look to the cross.

00:27:54.080 --> 00:27:55.200
 And see that you're forgiven.

00:27:57.220 --> 00:27:59.380
 It's so easy, isn't it, to look down on others.

00:28:00.539 --> 00:28:01.820
 It happens to us so quickly.

00:28:01.819 --> 00:28:08.579
 That when we start to follow Jesus, we find ourselves talking about the problems of the world as if they've got nothing to do with us.

00:28:09.919 --> 00:28:15.159
 And there are problems out there and the problems about standards being lowered as though we've never broken them ourselves.

00:28:17.439 --> 00:28:20.960
 To think that there are people beyond the gospel and there's no point in helping them.

00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:25.399
 And they would just be a waste of space in Christian service.

00:28:25.500 --> 00:28:26.379
 So what's the point?

00:28:26.380 --> 00:28:30.260
 And we must remember, mustn't we?

00:28:30.280 --> 00:28:33.180
 We must remember that we have only been saved because God is merciful.

00:28:34.980 --> 00:28:37.560
 That we have been shown mercy when we did not deserve it.

00:28:39.520 --> 00:28:41.200
 And so what is the answer for us as Christians?

00:28:41.320 --> 00:28:43.780
 What should the Pharisee and the tax collector teach us?

00:28:44.180 --> 00:28:47.940
 Well it should teach us that we should be people who will welcome anybody in the name of Jesus.

00:28:48.840 --> 00:28:49.760
 Because God does.

00:28:50.900 --> 00:28:53.840
 And we should be people who will tell everyone about the love of Jesus.

00:28:53.839 --> 00:28:57.639
 And we should be a church ready to admit that we need God's mercy.

00:28:58.779 --> 00:29:00.119
 As much as anybody else.

00:29:02.240 --> 00:29:06.599
 I want to close by two of the greatest statements that you will ever read.

00:29:06.679 --> 00:29:09.779
 So pick up the white sheet in the middle which says more on justification.

00:29:13.259 --> 00:29:16.099
 And I printed this out because I think there's lots.

00:29:16.439 --> 00:29:19.619
 And it's been a great help to me in studying this doctrine over the years.

00:29:19.619 --> 00:29:24.619
 And we're going to read the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

00:29:24.779 --> 00:29:26.399
 Which is the one on the front page.

00:29:27.279 --> 00:29:27.939
 We'll read that.

00:29:28.939 --> 00:29:30.899
 And then I want us to read the Heidelberg Catechism together.

00:29:32.259 --> 00:29:33.659
 But just read through those words.

00:29:33.719 --> 00:29:34.379
 What is justification?

00:29:34.659 --> 00:29:35.759
 Just read through those words.

00:29:35.759 --> 00:29:46.920
 So it's Westminster Shorter Catechism.

00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:47.799
 Question 33.

00:29:48.119 --> 00:29:49.839
 What is justification?

00:29:50.039 --> 00:29:50.779
 Let's read the answer.

00:29:51.960 --> 00:29:52.319
 Justification.

00:29:53.480 --> 00:29:53.839
 Together.

00:29:54.140 --> 00:29:54.940
 We'll read together.

00:29:55.140 --> 00:29:55.160
 Alright.

00:29:56.160 --> 00:29:56.779
 You haven't got it.

00:29:57.140 --> 00:29:57.819
 Well some of you haven't got it.

00:29:57.879 --> 00:29:58.220
 Oh well.

00:29:59.140 --> 00:30:00.200
 I'll read it for you.

00:30:00.440 --> 00:30:01.980
 And then those of you, it should be at the back.

00:30:03.039 --> 00:30:03.640
 Very sorry.

00:30:03.640 --> 00:30:05.960
 Well let me listen.

00:30:06.040 --> 00:30:06.860
 You've got to listen to this.

00:30:06.920 --> 00:30:07.440
 It's great stuff.

00:30:07.520 --> 00:30:08.180
 What is justification?

00:30:08.480 --> 00:30:11.140
 Justification is the act of God's free grace.

00:30:12.080 --> 00:30:15.000
 By which he pardons all our sins.

00:30:16.240 --> 00:30:18.920
 And accepts us as righteous in his sight.

00:30:20.120 --> 00:30:24.280
 He does so only because he counts the righteousness of Christ as ours.

00:30:25.880 --> 00:30:27.640
 Justification is received by faith alone.

00:30:29.340 --> 00:30:31.020
 And let me read to you from the Heidelberg Catechism.

00:30:31.020 --> 00:30:32.860
 How are you righteous before God?

00:30:33.640 --> 00:30:36.960
 Only by true faith in Jesus Christ.

00:30:38.420 --> 00:30:43.520
 Although my conscience accuses me that I have grievously sinned against all God's commandments.

00:30:44.600 --> 00:30:46.600
 I've never kept any of them.

00:30:47.740 --> 00:30:49.840
 And I'm still inclined to all evil.

00:30:51.480 --> 00:30:53.759
 Yet God without any merit of my own.

00:30:53.880 --> 00:30:55.080
 Out of mere grace.

00:30:56.620 --> 00:30:59.040
 Imputes to me the perfect satisfaction.

00:30:59.039 --> 00:31:00.359
 Righteousness.

00:31:00.359 --> 00:31:02.680
 And holiness of Christ.

00:31:03.960 --> 00:31:05.440
 He grants these to me.

00:31:05.819 --> 00:31:10.019
 As if I had never had nor committed any sin.

00:31:11.259 --> 00:31:15.920
 And as if I myself had accomplished all the obedience which Christ has rendered for me.

00:31:15.920 --> 00:31:18.840
 If only I accept this gift.

00:31:18.840 --> 00:31:20.640
 With a believing heart.

00:31:22.039 --> 00:31:28.720
 I tell you that this man went down to his house justified.

00:31:28.720 --> 00:31:31.660
 Rather than the other.

00:31:33.100 --> 00:31:35.160
 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.

00:31:36.299 --> 00:31:38.140
 But the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

00:31:38.279 --> 00:31:38.640
 Let's pray.

00:31:39.080 --> 00:31:39.220
 Let's pray.

00:31:39.220 --> 00:31:39.220


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