Sermon for Oct. 27, 2019

This morning I’ll be reading Luke chapter 18 verses 9 through 14.

I’ll be reading the Holman Christian Standard Bible.

Luke 18:

Luke 18:9–14 HCSB

9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else: 10 “Two men went up to the temple complex to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee took his stand and was praying like this: ‘God, I thank You that I’m not like other people —greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, turn Your wrath from me —a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Luke 18:9–14 HCSB

9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else: 10 “Two men went up to the temple complex to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee took his stand and was praying like this: ‘God, I thank You that I’m not like other people —greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, turn Your wrath from me —a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Luke 18:

In these verses, Jesus is saying that we should not compare ourselves to others,,, only to God.

9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else: 10 “Two men went up to the temple complex to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee took his stand and was praying like this: ‘God, I thank You that I’m not like other people —greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’

13 “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, turn Your wrath from me —a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning.

Let us pray:

Dear Lord, as we begin this morning, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen.

-----------------------------------------------------------

This parable that Jesus told,,, as I told you at the beginning,,, was to bring attention to the fact that we should not compare ourselves to others,,, only to God.

The reason is that when we compare our lives to others,,, we can sometimes become too proud of ourselves and think that we are better than they are.

When we make our comparison to God,,, then we see where we immediately come up short and know that we need God's grace to help us.

This morning,,, we can hopefully study these verses and see where they can be helpful to our daily walk with God.

-----------------------------------------------------------

In verse 9 it says: 9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else:

My Faithlife Study Bible says that Jesus is still working His way toward Jerusalem for Passover.

This journey began in chapter 9 verse 51 and goes to chapter 19 verse 44.

And it says that he could be speaking to Pharisees or other religious leaders who were making the same pilgrimage and were walking with Jesus’ followers.

Jesus’ parable reveals that humility is critical to obtaining true righteousness.

Jesus could have been speaking of many that are attending churches today.

People that are looking down at everyone that they think are sinning so much more than they are and how bad it is for them,,, when they should be worried about themselves and not others.

Granted,,, we must worry about the sins of others,,, that's how we can make them aware of their sins and hopefully turn away from them,,, but we don't want them to feel like we don't want to have anything to do with them anymore.

It must be done in love,,, truly through the love of Jesus,,, that should guide us in our every day life!

(2:55)

-----------------------------------------------------------

Verse 10 says: 10 “Two men went up to the temple complex to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

Here we have two men that enter the temple to pray.

The first one is a Pharisee.

This man would be seen as an upstanding person in the community.

Someone that everyone looked up to.

He would have been someone that you would think that because of his outward actions,,, he was a great man of God.

But,,, as we see in this parable,,, God knows us personally.

He knows what's in our hearts.

We can fool most people here on earth but we can't fool God,,, He knows what's going on when no-one else can see!

You see,,, the Pharisee,,, apparently,,, was only interested in his appearance before others.

-----------------------------------------------------------

The second man was a tax collector.

If you remember from earlier in Luke,,, in chapter 15,,, the scribes and Pharisees were complaining because Jesus was spending time with the tax collectors and sinners.

Luke could have just used the term sinners but he wanted to bring out the fact that Jesus was really spending time with those that weren't part of the popular society.

Jesus also knew that the Pharisees and scribes were complaining and used them as examples in this parable.

So just like earlier in Luke,,, the tax collector is being used as someone that a lot of people didn't like or associate with.

-----------------------------------------------------------

But look at the different way that each of them prayed.

(4:13)

Beginning in verse 10 it says: 11 The Pharisee took his stand and was praying like this: ‘God, I thank You that I’m not like other people —greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’

Immediately he is telling God about how good he is.

How much better he is than so many others,,, especially this tax collector.

Verse 12,,, actually,,, talks about some good things that he is doing,,, above and beyond what is required.

When the Pharisee talks about fasting twice a week,,, a lot of people during that time would only fast once a year,,, so this was way above what most people would do.

His tithes were given on everything that he received that apparently went above what was required by law according to my JFB Bible Commentary.

But that's not all that God wants!

The things that we do should come from the heart,,, not just be things that we do to look good.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Verse 13 says: 13 “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, turn Your wrath from me —a sinner!’

The tax collector had a totally different attitude from the Pharisee.

He wouldn't even raise his eyes to look toward heaven as he was praying.

He knew that he was a sinner and the only way that he could be helped was through the mercy and grace of God.

What he was feeling was honest and he truly felt that way because he measured himself by God's standards not man.

He knew that the only chance that he had was if God would forgive him and not give him what he really deserved.

(5:48)

You see,,, that's what we need to do as well.

We cannot come before God unless we have our heart in the right place.

-----------------------------------------------------------

In verse 14 Jesus says: 14 I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

I imagine that the Pharisees and scribes were madder than ever when Jesus said this.

This would be totally backward from the way that they thought.

The way that they lived was so far above everyone else,,, or so they thought,,, that they had become blind to everything that they were doing wrong.

The scribes and the Pharisees had spent so much time making sure that everything that they did looked like they were living their life perfectly,,, that they had forgotten that their love of God was what was important.

Looking better than everyone else and looking down on others had become very important to them.

They wanted to be the best and being first in everything was what they set their sights on,,, regardless of the consequences.

But as we can see from this verse and others,,, Jesus lets them know that they are wrong.

(9:03)

-----------------------------------------------------------

This parable is important because it shows us how our attitude should change as we realize that we aren't living our life the way that we should.

And the first thing that we must do is to stop comparing our sins to others and trying to justify ourselves as we go.

If I'm sitting there looking down on others and thinking that their sin is much worse than anything that I've ever done,,, I'm setting myself up to act like the Pharisees and the scribes.

Then I might begin to think that I'm so good and so much better than others,,, that I will continue living the way that I am,,, and I won't see the times when God tries to direct my steps and get me back on the right path.

(9:42)

-----------------------------------------------------------

When we are in a position where we need God's help,,, it is impossible to hear God speaking to us unless we are humble enough to truly realize that we "do" need help.

That's why Jesus used this example for the Pharisees and scribes.

I'm sure that He was hoping that they would come to their senses and realize the mistakes they were making.

But as we know,,, they never realized that they were in need of help because they thought so highly of themselves.

-----------------------------------------------------------

That might be why it seems like we have to hit bottom sometimes before we realize that we need God.

When everything is going great,,, health is fine,,, bills are paid every month,,, food is on the table,,, car is fine,,, etc.,,, etc.,,, we have a tendency to forget God or maybe not go to Him as much in prayer as during times of struggle or doubt.

But when we get sick,,, money becomes tight,,, we need groceries,,, automobile isn't running right,,, any or all of these problems,,, then we immediately go to God in prayer.

It's during these times that we realize that we truly need God and we can't make it without Him.

Like the Pharisees and the scribes,,, when everything is fine in our life,,, we can make it on our own

But it's during the hard times that we can really see that we aren't as good on our own as we think we are.

That's why sometimes we can look back over our life and see where God helped us through a time when we were struggling and we made it through it,,, simply because we finally gave up struggling,,, and then,,, relied on God's strength,,, instead of our own strength.

(11:30)

You see,,, our lives would be so much better,,, if we lived each day like we truly needed God to get through that day!

If we knew beyond a shadow of a doubt,,, that our health depended on God,,, our financial situation depended on God,,, our daily need for food,,, everything that we needed was only going to come from God,,, how much better would our prayer life be?

But do we really live this way?

That's what Jesus is trying to warn the Pharisees and the scribes about,,, it's what He warns us about,,,

Jesus doesn't want us to live out our life in trials and struggles.

Jesus said in John chapter 10 verse 10: The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Our life can be so much more than it is,,, if we truly humble ourselves and put God first in our life.

That doesn't mean that we won't have any more trials or hard times if we put God first,,, but if God is truly first in our life,,, then they become so much easier to live through!

When we know that God is truly walking with us as we go through whatever life throws at us,,, it is so much easier if God is with us from the beginning.

So much easier than trying to handle it ourselves first,,, then finally giving up and then relying on God,,,

(13:06)

-----------------------------------------------------------

So what does this mean for us as we go through this next week?

Hopefully we can remember that we need to be aware of our need for God in our life each and every day.

Remember to humble ourselves and rely on God as our guide to the way to live our life,,, not using others as a comparison to our way of life so that we remain dependent on Him instead of thinking like the Pharisees and the scribes that we are better than we are!

And if you don't know Christ as your personal Savior,,, let me urge you today,,, to take that step,,,

God is speaking to you today because He doesn't want anyone to be left behind,,, but tomorrow isn't promised!

We don't know the hour or the day when we will be called home and we don't know the hour or the day when Jesus will come back!

Either one can happen at any time,,, we are told over and over to be ready and waiting,,,

And the only way to be ready,,, is to answer His call today.

(14:10)

-----------------------------------------------------------

So as we sing our final hymn,,, let me remind you that the alter is always open,,,

If you feel God speaking to you,,, don't hesitate to come,,, maybe you just have questions,,, God will answer,,, you just have to ask Him,,, whatever the need may be,,,

As we sing the final hymn,,, come if needed!

Oakdale - Hymn Page - 338

Seminary - Hymn Page - 357

-----------------------------------------------------------