Tuesday, January 23, 2006

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector, Part 16 of 44

TEXT: "Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 'Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, "God, I thank You that I am not like other men -- extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I possess." And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise 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, and he who humbles himself will be exalted' " (Luke 18:9-14).

IDEA: We are justified because of the fact that someone died to deal with our sin.

PURPOSE: To have listeners understand the basis by which they can stand righteous before God.

Let me tell you about a man who was involved in a prayer meeting some time ago. He might not have been noticed since he stood back in the corner where few would have noticed him. That was intentional because he didn’t feel welcome among the religious folks who had come together to worship and pray.

As he prayed, the man kept beating his chest with his fists. It was as though he were trying to beat back some unremitting pain and kept saying over and over again, “O God, be merciful to me, the sinner.”

Jesus said that man went home “justified” before God.

Do you think that Jesus is teaching that we have to behave like that and feel like that if we are to be justified (“declared righteous”) before God?

I. When the tax collector prayed, “God be merciful to me, a sinner,” he wasn’t simply asking for mercy. He wasn’t merely appealing to God’s good nature or His love.

There is a common word for mercy (eleeson me). It is a word used in Luke 18:38 where the blind man cries, “Have mercy on me.”

The word used in 18:13 is a less common word hiaskomai). It occurs as a verb here and in Hebrews 2:17. As a noun it appears four other times in the New Testament (Romans 3:25, Hebrews 9:5, 1 John 2:2 and 4:10). It clearly refers to the atonement sacrifice.

The tax collector is not praying a generalized prayer for mercy. He yearns that the benefits of the atonement be applied to him.

IL The tax collector and the Pharisee were in the temple praying. Thatissignificant.

What did that look like? What happened in the temple?

Someone coming to pray at the time of the evening sacrifice (at 3:00 in the afternoon) would see, first of all, the slaughtering and cutting up of the sacrificial lamb and would then notice that a priest would go to the Holy Place to burn incense (Luke 1:19). The tax collector is there. He stands afar off, anxious not to be seen, sensing how unworthy he was to be there with the others. In deep remorse he strikes his chest and cries out in repentance and hope: “O God, let it be for me! O God, let it be for me! Make an atonement for me, a sinner!”

There in the temple this humble man, aware of his own sin and complete unworthiness, with no merit of his own to commend him, longs that the great atoning sacrifice might apply to him.

What does that look like for someone who comes to see Jesus dying on the cross?

III. The position of the Pharisee and thetaxcollector have changed as aresultof that prayer.

When the two went up to the temple, the Pharisee was in the lead. Now as the two go down again after the service is over, the tax collector is mentioned first. He is justified in God’s presence.

There can be no assurance of pardon without an act of atonement that satisfies the just demands of a holy God.

For centuries the church debated whether or not the sacraments have an automatic effect on the worshipers, no matter what their spiritual state. Here in this parable the answer is “No.”

The Pharisee, for all his religion, wasted his time.

The sacrifice of the lamb for the sins of the people was made--but it is only those with the broken heart, who sense their total unworthiness, and who trust in God’s atonement--they alone are made right with God. They alone are declared righteous. They alone are justified.