As we look at this parable of Jesus today, we should remember that it comes in the context of Jesus’ teaching about the characteristics of the coming of the kingdom of God.  This is what Jesus is presenting here in chapter 18.   As I said last week, it’s not a couple of stories about how to get more results from our prayers.  Many people have taught this section that way.

But this whole chapter must be looked at in the context of chapter 17 vs. 20, when Jesus responds to a question about the coming of the kingdom of God.  So even though vs.1-8 mentions prayer, and this parable starting in vs.9 mentions prayer, that is not the main thrust of this teaching.  The main thrust is the coming of the kingdom of God and being prepared for it.  In last weeks parable, the teaching was that when the consummation of the kingdom is delayed, we are not to become disillusioned or discouraged, but we are to continue to keep praying for the return of the Lord.  In spite of all that is going on in the world, in spite of the fact that it looks like God isn’t paying attention, Jesus is encouraging us to not lose heart, but keep focused in prayer on the glory which is yet to be revealed.  Don’t give up.  Don’t lose heart. God is going to act in judgment, and we need to be looking for His return.

Now in today’s parable, the emphasis changes somewhat.  Jesus is still talking about the kingdom of God and will continue to do so through the end of the chapter.  But specifically in this parable He is indicating that righteousness is required to enter the kingdom, and  contrasting those who think they are righteous, with those that God declares are righteous.

Now that is a pretty significant distinction. What this parable is teaching is that it is entirely possible to be self satisfied in your definition of righteousness, and yet not satisfy God’s standard of righteousness.  And that would be a tragedy, would it not?  To go to the end of your life thinking you have obtained righteousness,  only to have the King of Heaven declare you unfit for the kingdom.

Now this is a very simple parable.  There are only two people in this illustration.  Two men come to worship God, and yet only one is justified.  The first person that Jesus talks about is a Pharisee.  I don’t want to take for granted that everyone here is familiar with a Pharisee.  So let me give you a quick definition.  A Pharisee literally means “separated ones”.  They were a sect of Judaism that strictly observed the law of God and consequently served as something of a public barometer of religious  fervor.  Jesus said about them at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount that unless your righteousness exceeded the righteousness of the Pharisees you could not enter the kingdom of heaven.  To borrow a quote from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, “they were pretty righteous dudes.”  They were known for a fastidious approach to keeping the law.   And that brings up another important aspect of the Pharisees.  They loved to be known for their religious fervor.  They paraded their righteousness in public and made sure that everyone knew just how religious they were.  Jesus called them hypocrites.  The word hypocrite literally means an actor on a stage.  They did their works for the applause of men.

In Matthew 6 Jesus says three times that the Pharisees did their good deeds to be seen of men. [Mat 6:2, 5, 16] 2 “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. … 5 “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. … 16 “Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.”

Now that is the negative aspects of the Pharisees, but to be fair let’s also consider the positives.  After all, no one is perfect, are they?  The good attributes of Pharisees were that first of all they worshipped the one true God.  They recognized and had faith in Jehovah God.  They revered Him.   Secondly, they believed the Scriptures.  They studied the Scriptures and memorized large portions of them.  Thirdly, they prayed regularly.  Fourthly, they were zealous for good works.  And fifthly, they were faithful in attending the religious festivals and Sabbaths associated with worship.

Now none of those things are bad in and of themselves.  It’s all good stuff; they believed in the one true God, they studied the Scriptures, they prayed a lot,  were zealous for good works, and were faithful in worship.  Sounds like they would have made a good Baptist, or a good Methodist, for that matter.  The point is, it sounds like your typical committed church member, doesn’t it?  Basically good people, church going, God fearing people.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that compared with the average church member today, they actually went much further.  The Pharisees were fastidious about worshipping God.  They took it to another level.  They were the kind of people that if you knew them, you would say “if anyone was going to get to heaven, then the Pharisees were.”

I can’t say that without remembering this lady in the church where I grew up down in eastern N.C.  Her name was Mrs. Brown.  She was the quintessential church lady.  She wore those cat eye glasses that they wore back in the 60’s, and she had a bee bonnet hairdo.  She kind of had a bad overbite too, which she was self conscious about so she kept her lips pursed all the time.  To a little 11 year old boy, Mrs. Brown seemed like the picture of what holiness was supposed to look like.

Back in those days, my dad who was the pastor, loved to preach on the rapture.  And I had developed a morbid fear that somehow Christ was going to come back and everyone was going to be taken, except for me.  Well, one day I thought it actually happened.  We lived next door to the church in the parsonage.  And I remember one summer afternoon, I couldn’t find my mother or my brother.  So I went over to the church to look for them.  And I didn’t see anyone at the church.  My dad’s study was empty.  My mother and brother were nowhere around.  And the really scary thing was there was a day care center in the back of the church.  And that was empty too.

Well, when I found the day care empty it was the last straw. I started running around the church crying, sobbing, calling out for my mother, thinking that somehow God had decided that I wasn’t really saved and had left me behind.  I was so upset at the thought of having to go through the tribulation and see the anti Christ and all that, that I didn’t know what to do.  And then I thought of Mrs. Brown.  I said to myself that if anyone was saved, it would have to be Mrs. Brown.  And so in desperation I ran home and called her house.  And the phone rang and rang.  And just before I hung up the phone someone picked up the other end.  It was Mrs. Brown.  I was so relieved I couldn’t stop crying.  When I told her what had happened she said she had been leaving the house and forgotten something and came back inside just as the phone was ringing.  Thank God for Mrs. Brown.  I probably wouldn’t be here today if she didn’t answer that phone.

Now that doesn’t have much to do with my message, but the Pharisees were kind of like Mrs. Brown.  If anyone was saved, you would have to think it was the Pharisees. From all outward appearances these were good people, the best of people.  And yet Jesus says that they were not justified before God.  So as we look at this parable we need to figure out what was wrong about their worship. Something was missing. So Jesus reveals what the Pharisee is missing  by means of his prayer. Prayer is one element of worship. And so Jesus examines his prayer, because his prayer reveals his heart.  Now in the parable Jesus says that this Pharisee comes to the temple to pray.  There were morning and evening prayers that were offered at the times of daily sacrifices.  And I am sure that as a good Pharisee regular attendance at the temple sacrifices was his daily practice.

Now it’s interesting how Jesus describes his prayer.  He says in vs. 11, “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’”

Now let’s examine his prayer.  First of all, notice that he is standing.  We have already looked at Matthew 6:5 where Jesus describes a Pharisee praying and standing in a synagogue or on a street corner.   Now there was nothing wrong about standing to pray, in and of itself.  You can stand, you can sit, you can kneel, or you can fall down prostrate; all of those may be appropriate postures of prayer.  But the implication here and in Matt. 6:5 is that the Pharisee was standing in a place and in such a way so as to be seen of men.  So that is the first indication of something wrong.  This person loves the spotlight. They have to be up front, on stage.  Their attitude reveals a lack of humility.

You know, I always feel uncomfortable when some one wants to pray over me in public.  Maybe it’s a lack of humility on my part, I don’t know.  I try to be accommodating.  But sometimes I have to be just a little suspicious of these people that will pray over you in a public place, laying one hand on your shoulder and raising the other hand in the air.  And they go off on this long prayer, supposedly for your benefit.  Maybe I’m too cynical, but I can’t help but wonder sometimes if it is because they want to be seen to be praying over you, to be in the position of the one doing the blessing, and you end up feeling like you’re being used for their benefit.

Jesus says in Matt. 6:5 that they pray standing in synagogues or on the street to be seen of men, and consequently they have their reward right here on earth.  Jesus gave instruction in Matt. 6:6 how to pray; He said pray in your closet, pray in secret, and your Father who sees the secret things will reward you.  The point is not whether you are standing or sitting or in private or public, the point is your attitude and your motivation for praying.  The point is that you reveal your secrets to God, knowing that God knows the secrets of your heart.

Secondly, notice Jesus says this Pharisee was praying to himself.  That almost seems like Jesus misspoke.  And yet I think it is deliberate.  The Pharisee may have been addressing God, but he was speaking to himself.  He was praying for everyone else’s benefit, but not God’s.  He was not praying for God’s will to be done, for God’s kingdom to come, but he was praying to be heard by men, to be seen by men.

I often have people say that they don’t know how to pray in public.  Listen, the way to pray in public is not to rehearse, not to listen to how others do it and then try to mimic their style or way of delivery.  It’s not to show how great you are at oratory or prose.  The way to pray is to humble yourself before God.  Open your heart to God and just talk to Him in sincerity and humbleness as if you were the only person in the world.  Empty yourself of your pride.  I’d rather listen to 20 seconds of prayer like that than 30 minutes of prayer from someone that wants to show everyone all the scripture that he knows and all the doctrine that he thinks he knows.  God doesn’t like to be used either.  He won’t accept worship which uses Him to show off.

Thirdly, his prayer reveals his pride and self righteousness.  He prayed, “God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.”  Notice that this guy manages to mention himself five times in two sentences.  That is an indication of where his heart is at.  He is prideful.  He is comparing himself to others, and those that do so tend to magnify others shortfalls while minimizing there own.

Paul said in 2Cor. 10:12 about such people that “when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding.”  Such people measure themselves by others, compare themselves to others, and think that they are more righteous, more zealous, and view others with contempt.  But the problem is that they are using the wrong standard of measure.  They are measuring fallen men against fallen men, and not against the standard of holiness that God requires.

God’s standard of holiness is found in the OT and the NT, and it is the same standard in both.  It says in Leviticus chapter 11 and 19 and in 1 Peter 1, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”  I quoted RC Sproul a couple of weeks ago as saying that the holiness of God is the only attribute of God that is repeated in triplicate.  Both Isaiah and Revelation declare that God is holy, holy, holy.   The scriptures do not say God is love, love, love.  But it does say that God is holy, holy, holy.  And when you measure yourself by the standard of God’s holiness, then everyone comes short of the kingdom of God.  There is none righteous, no not one.  The Pharisee only measures himself against other men. He measures outward manifestations, and doesn’t examine his heart.

So the Pharisee’s prayer reveals that he is self righteous.  Not holy in the sight of God, but only appearing holy to himself and to men.  And to bolster that self righteousness, he gives a list of what he does which he think constitutes righteousness.  He says, “I fast twice a week.”  The law only required that one fast once a year, and that was on the day of atonement.  There were other times someone could fast if they wished, but there was only one day required.

The problem though isn’t his fasting, it’s that he did so to be seen of men.  That’s what Jesus said in Matt. 6.  Jesus said that rather when you fast, you should wash your face and put on normal clothes so that people won’t notice that you’re fasting.  And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.  Jesus says if you’re noticed fasting by men, then you already have your reward.  I can’t help but wonder if those people that fast at Lent and mark a cross on their forehead in ashes, I can’t help but wonder if they take these instructions by Jesus seriously.  They must not.

And the other thing this guy offers as an indication of his righteousness is that he tithes of everything that he receives.  Under the old covenant, they had a theocratic style of government that required ten percent of what you got went to fund the national government, ten percent went to fund the national festivals and feasts on high holy days, and ten percent every third year for the poor. So altogether there was about a 23 and a third percent tax, that’s what funded the theocratic kingdom of Israel.

But again in Matt. 6, Jesus says the problem with the Pharisees tithing was that they sounded a trumpet before they gave to draw attention to themselves.  And so Jesus said that rather than tithing producing righteousness, they received an earthly reward, they got the praise of men.  Jesus said in Matt. 6 that the way to give alms was not to let your right hand know what your left hand was doing.  Now I think that had a double meaning.  It meant don’t broadcast to your neighbor know what you are giving, first of all.  But I think secondly it meant don’t calculate your giving.  There was a sort of ancient calculator that was called a abacus.  It required two hands to use it.  And so I think that Jesus means don’t worry about figuring out exactly what your ten percent would be.  But the Lord loves a cheerful giver.  Give according to need, recognizing that Jesus is Lord even of your pocketbook.

Now remember, this is a parable. It’s fictitious account designed to illustrate a spiritual principle.  So this isn’t an exhaustive list of what kinds of things contributed to this Pharisee’s self righteousness.  But these would have been exemplary things of a self righteous, prideful spirit that was not justified before God.

The second character in the story was called a tax collector.  And there really aren’t too many positive things you could say about a tax collector.  They were on the bottom of the social ladder.  These guys had sold out to the Roman government in order to get a tax collection franchise.  So in the eyes of the Jews, they were traitors of the lowest order.  But not only were they traitors, they were looked at as crooks.  Because they had the authority of the Roman government to charge any amount that they deemed obtainable as long as the government got their share.  So the tax collector would add exorbitant fees on top of the taxes and everything over and above the tax he would pocket.  And he had the government to help him extract these taxes by use of force if necessary.  So pretty much everything the Pharisee said he was glad he was not in the earlier prayer was attributed to tax collectors.  The Pharisee said I’m glad I’m not a swindler, unjust or an adulterer, like this tax collector over here.  See, the only people that would hang out with tax collectors was prostitutes who were also outcasts from proper society.

But for some reason, this tax collector has come under conviction.  He knows that he is a sinner of the worst order.  He knows that technically they could run him out of the temple.  But he comes to the temple, under conviction of his sins, and he too offers a prayer.  So let’s look at his prayer and what it reveals about this man.

Vs. 13, “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’  This guy is standing as well.  So there is nothing wrong with standing to pray.  But this guy’s attitude is completely different.  He is not standing up front, hoping to be noticed by everyone.  But he is in the back, unwilling to even lift his eyes to heaven.  And Jesus says he is beating his breast.  Now that was something that was associated with mourning.  Mourners, especially women, would wail and beat their fists upon their breasts as they cried out in anguish over the dead.

You get the picture?  This guy is mourning over his sin.  He is in anguish over his sin.  He has been confronted with the holiness and righteousness that God requires and he knows that he is far, far from righteous.  He knows he is a sinner.  He cries out, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

This guy is exemplifying the kind of attitude that Jesus spoke of in the Sermon on the Mount; the attitude of mourning over your sin.  That’s what Jesus was talking about in Matt. 5:4 when He said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”   Listen, folks, mourning over your sin is what is required in repentance.  Repentance is not just saying I’m sorry.  Repentance is not just wishing it hadn’t happened.  Repentance is not just having a relationship to God.  Repentance is considering your sin as dead.  Mourning.  Repentance is a desire to turn from your sin.  To renounce your sin.  To run from your sin.  To hate your sin.  That is repentance.  And repentance is absolutely necessary for salvation, for justification, for righteousness.

There are a lot of people trying to force their way into the kingdom of heaven today on the basis of their self righteousness.  “God is my friend, Jesus loves me and I’m special so I’m in the kingdom of heaven.  I worship God.  I do this and I do that.  I’m a good person. I turned over a new leaf.”  But they have never repented of their sin.  And that is a problem.  That was the difference between the Pharisee and the tax collector.  Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no not one.  The Pharisee was a sinner.  And the tax collector was a sinner.  Both were excluded from the kingdom of God.  But Jesus says only one left that day that was justified before God.  Two people go to worship God.  Two people pray to God.  Yet only one is justified before God. Justified means made righteous, declared not guilty before God.  Only one.  And that was the sinner.  Those that come to Christ must come as a sinner, confessing their sins, repenting of their sins, turning away from their sins.  And for that person, God will justify them.  He will declare them righteous on behalf of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross.

The word for merciful that the tax collector uses there is significant.  He says, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner.”  The word merciful comes from the Greek word  “hilaskomai” which  means propitious.  That word is used only one other time in the NT, in Heb. 2:17  which says, “Therefore,  [Jesus] had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”  Propitious means to make atonement.

See, this tax collector knew something that the Pharisee should have known but did not; that is he could never achieve the righteous standard of God.  But he knew that the sacrificial system taught that the lamb was slain as a substitute for his sins.  That was why he came there to worship at the time of the evening sacrifice.  He came asking for God to make propitiation for his sins.  That God would in His grace and mercy provide a substitute like He did for Isaac on the altar, when God provided a ram caught in a thicket.  And we know that Jesus Himself was the sacrificial lamb that was offered for the sins of the world.  Jesus was the substitute that could and did live the perfect sinless life that we can never live.

David the Psalmist said, “A broken and contrite heart, O Lord, you will not despise.”  David knew repentance even after he sinned with Bathsheba.  He mourned over his sin, and God restored him and forgave him.  On Wednesday night we are studying Genesis and we saw last week how the Word says that Noah found grace with God.  He found it.  In other words, he didn’t earn it.  God granted to him righteousness on the basis of faith.  And we are saved the same way today that Noah and Abraham and David and all the saints were saved, through faith and repentance.

Jesus declares in vs. 14, “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Listen, pride is the reason this Pharisee left still in his sins.  And repentance, resulting in humility, was the reason that the tax collector was forgiven for his sins.  There are a lot of people today that want to be religious, that want the recognition that comes from being religious, they like the attention that self righteousness brings, they like the way it feels, but they have refused to acknowledge they are a sinner.  They refuse to repent, to turn away from their sins.  They want to continue in their secret sins while keeping an exterior façade of righteousness for everyone else to see.  I hope and pray that no one here today is like that Pharisee.  Justification, righteousness, holiness according to God’s standard can’t be earned, it can’t be faked.  Because God knows the heart.  There is only one way to justification, and that is through the grace of God extended to repentant sinners.

The tax collector went away justified.  Now there is a lot implied in that statement that isn’t stated outright.  And I don’t have time to go into all of it today.  But let me say this much;  if that man truly repented as Jesus said he did, then it drastically changed his way of life.  He would have had to change the way he did business, wouldn’t he?  He couldn’t claim repentance and continue to cheat people, to rob from people, could he?  He might even have had to quit his job.

Listen folks, let’s be honest with ourselves first of all.  If we truly mourn over our sin, then we must consider our bodies as dead to sin.  We must die to sin.  If you haven’t really done that, you can say you’re sorry all you want.  You can do religious things.  But it won’t produce justification.  God knows your heart.  I urge you to truly examine yourself today in the light of God’s word and ask yourself if you have ever repented of your sins and asked for God’s forgiveness.  He is willing to forgive you.  He will justify you through the righteousness of Jesus Christ’s atonement for your sins if you will just humble yourselves today.  Let’s pray.