The Pharisee and the Tax Collector - Who is Justified Before God?

Well if you would take your Bible and turn to Luke chapter 18. We're going to be in Luke 18 starting in verse 19. Then later I'm going to ask you to turn to the book of Romans. We're going to look at verse 2 in Romans chapter 8. And then at the end of the message I'm going to ask you to turn to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. Now last week we finally did finish up those three parables in Luke chapter 15. In those parables we saw what Jesus was teaching, what Jesus was illustrating. It was really a lot but it was all about salvation or man's salvation.

And of course there were many things that we learned in the parables and we can continue to learn but the major theme or the major lesson in all three parables is the fact that God rejoices when one sinner repents and is saved. And the major truth that we must take away from those parables is the fact that God loves sinners. No matter who they are, no matter where they are, and no matter where they have gone and what they've done. And He desires for lost sinners to be saved and when they do come to faith in Christ He rejoices and we should rejoice. God in heaven celebrates and we should celebrate.

Now tonight we will continue in our study of the salvation parables taught by Jesus. Tonight we're going to study what is commonly called the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. But just like I did in Luke 15 with those three parables I will give this parable my own title. But let's go ahead and let's look at this parable. I want to go ahead and read the verses together and then we'll get started. We got quite a bit of ground to cover tonight and I look forward to it.

So Luke chapter 18 verse 9, "And He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt." And here comes the parable. "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector." Some translations may say a publican. "And the Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus," or like this, "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 or in the distance would not even lift up his eyes to heaven.

But he beat his breast or his chest saying, 'God be merciful to me, a sinner.'" Jesus says right here, "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." Now here we have another very well-known parable. The parable before us is probably as well known as the parable of the prodigal that we just finished and the parable of the Good Samaritan that we studied back in March. And just like with many of the other parables, this parable can be misunderstood as well.

We can make the mistake of thinking that the point of this parable is about prayer. This parable does come after the parable of the persistent widow, which is a parable about prayer. And within this parable right here, we do have two men praying. The entire parable is about two men praying at the particular time of prayer in the temple. So that makes some assume that the point of the parable has something to do with prayer. Of course, we can learn some things about prayer here. That is obvious. But prayer is not the main point. Salvation is the main point of the parable.

Man's salvation is the main point of the parable, but more specifically, how a man is justified or how a man comes into a right standing before God is the main point of the parable. Look back at verse 14. "I tell you, this man," the latter of the two, "went down to his house justified rather than the other." Now notice what Jesus did not say here. And notice what he did say. He did not say, "I tell you that this one man had his prayers answered." He did say, "I tell you this one man went home justified." That is what is clearly seen in verse 14. Well, that leaves me to ask an all-important question really before we can get into the parable.

What is justification? What does it mean for a person to be justified before God or to come into a right standing before God? And to me, we must ask that question because that is the main point of the parable, justification. And justification is basically this, how we as sinners who are doomed for a righteous eternal damnation may attain a right legal standing before God. See how we as sinners may be right with God or may be right before God. Now to properly understand justification, we need to see quite a few things. First there are numerous things that happen when a lost sinner is brought to faith in Christ.

These particular things are very much related, but they are distinct from each other. And then second, the order in which these things happen. Now I'm going to quickly go over the order in which certain things happen in salvation, and I will point out certain things that happen with justification being one of these things. In order for us to see the order of salvation, we must start with Romans chapter 8 verses 29 to 30. And here in Romans 8, Paul gives us the clearest explanation of the order of salvation that really is found in one place. So this is why I want us to look at these verses. Romans 8, 29 to 30.

And I want you to notice now, you're going to see some language here that we covered in Ephesians. For those whom he, this is God, for new, he also predestined to be conformed in the image of his son in order that he might be the first born among brothers, among many brothers. And to those whom he predestined, he also called, and to those who called, he also justified. There's our word. And to those whom he justified, he also glorified. And first, we see what God did in eternity past before time and before human history.

The text says that there were some that he, God, for new, and he, thus God, also predestined, and he predestined them to be conformed to the image of his son. That's verse 29. And again, we study this in Ephesians 1. But then second, we see that those whom he predestined, he called. And here God moves into time, into human history, even into human experience. In eternity past, he predestined some. But in time and in human history, he called those whom he predestined. Go back to the verse. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined. This is in eternity past, to be conformed to the image of his son.

And then verse 30, "And those whom he predestined, he also called." See steps into human history. And in those whom he called, he also justified. And in those who he justified, he also glorified. And then third, we see that those whom he called, he justified. Here we see that God moves out of time and out of human history. Here God moves into what God does in respect to us at salvation. The calling of God that Paul references here is an act of God that involves a man. And man does experience these things. The justification of God that God references here is an act of God that man does not experience but it is in respect to us.

So Paul gives us the order of salvation. In eternity past, God predestined those whom he foreknew. And he predestined them to, maybe they'll come to faith in Christ? No. He predestined them to be conformed to the image of his son. And in time and in human experience and history, he called those whom he predestined. And in respect to all of this, he justified those whom he predestined, those whom he called. And I think these things can be easy to see but they can also be difficult to grasp. Some of you, you've wrestled through these things so you grasp them. But some of you are still wrestling with these things.

And I've gone over it numerous times, it comes right out of the text. Now let me elaborate on this son. I'm going to fill in a little bit here. So just follow me. First, in eternity past, we see those whom God foreknew, he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. This is plain to see although it can be a struggle to grasp it and to reckon with it. But second in time, in human history, that which we experience, God called those whom he foreknew and those whom he predestined. And here is where I want to elaborate a little bit on this calling. Here in this calling we have several things.

And these things we are more familiar with because we can and we do experience these things. And that's why we can gravitate to these things a little more. But notice what's happening in this calling, this calling out of Romans chapter 8, 29 and 30. First we need to see what is commonly called the external call of the gospel or the general call of the gospel. And the general call of the gospel is that which so many hear and so many reject. Jesus said in Matthew 22, 14 that many are called but few are chosen. But that is not what's happening here in Romans 8. This is not a general call.

But we also need to see what is commonly called the internal call of the gospel or the effectual call of the gospel that certain ones do hear and experience. This call takes place at regeneration. This call takes place at the new birth. And we see this in John 3. And this is the call where a sovereign God calls the sinner out of their spiritual death into spiritual life, Ephesians chapter 2. And an interesting fact here in the New Testament every time this divine call, this divine calling is mentioned it is always referring to the internal call, the effectual call.

And this eternal call, this effectual call is what Paul is talking about here in Romans 8. 30. Those whom he foreknew and those whom he predestined. That's right out of the verse. He called. See? He called. Or by the power and the working of the Holy Spirit God effectually called them and he granted them repentance and faith. And when they heard the word of truth, the gospel of their salvation, Ephesians 1 verse 13, they believe. They trusted. They cried out in faith. Now what's my point at this point of the message? We see what God did in eternity past. And we see what God does in time and in human history.

The fact that God savingly calls sinners. And as those sinners experience that effective call, they repent and they trust in Christ and they believe in Him. But the next thing that God does is He justifies those whom He called, those whom He saves. And notice how these things are all connected. Regeneration or being born again is an act of God in us. But justification is different. Justification is the judgment of God in regards to us. Wayne Grudem, the Bible commentator, scholar, gives a great definition here. It comes out of his systematic work. And I'm just reading word for word his definition of justification. And notice what he says.

Justification is an instantaneous legal act of God in which He, thus God, thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ's righteousness as belonging to us and declares us to be righteous in His sight. I ran across something this week that the scholar John Murray said, I barred a little bit of this earlier. Notice what he says here. "Regeneration is an act of God in us. Justification is a judgment of God with respect to us." The distinction is like that of the distinction between the act of a surgeon and the act of a judge. The surgeon, when he removes an inward cancer, does something in us. That is not what a judge does.

He gives a verdict regarding our judicial status. If we are innocent, he declares us accordingly. He declares us accordingly. And notice this. After we are regenerated of God, born of God, that which only God can do is mysterious and at regeneration we cry out in faith, God instantly declares us justified. He sees our sins as forgiven and Christ's righteousness as belonging to us, He declares us right in His sight. Now follow me here. I'm working my way to the parable. But why is this important? I mean, let's just be honest. We can't feel justification. We can't experience justification. We can experience all of that other.

So why don't we just focus on what we can feel and experience? That's the mistake many people make. We keep falling in that trap. Some people are like, "Oh, all that other is just too hard for me, pastor. I'll just focus on that which I can feel and sense and touch and grasp." But listen, listen close. We must study these things. It's because if we lose justification, we lose everything. We lose everything. If we lose justification, we lose the gospel, we lose salvation, we truly lose it all. The entire church stands or falls on the biblical view of justification. And let me show you two places where they failed.

That's what happened to the Jewish leaders and the entire Jewish religious system. They had a flawed view, a flawed understanding of justification. They were wrong in how they believed they could be justified before God. So they were all going over the cliff to hell as fast as they could go. And a biblical view of justification is what was at the heart of the fight during the Protestant Reformation. Just like in Jesus' day, the church before that great move of God in the Protestant Reformation had been affected by a flawed, a perverted view of justification. So just think about it like this.

If we lose justification, we might as well close the door and go home. We've lost it all. Now with all of that in our minds, and I know you've gotten it just right, you could just give it right back to me. Let's turn our attention to the parable. And I want us to look at several things here, and we will see that Jesus is simply revealing two things here. First, he's revealing how the religious leaders were all wrong. Their view of justification was way off. And then second, he's revealing what true justification looks like. So I want us to see, number one, the target audience. It's right there in verse 9, the target audience.

Of course, I'm back in Luke chapter 18. Verse 9, "He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt." That is a Jewish audience. Now just like with all of the other parables, Jesus had a target audience. Here in verse 9, we see that Jesus told this parable to those who trusted in themselves. They trusted in their righteousness. This was a Jewish audience. Now this word "some" here, the New American says "certain ones." This simply speaks of a group of people, and this particular group of people, they were not believers because they trusted in themselves.

And we know this because Jesus says that they did so. They trusted in themselves. They had a flawed view of justification. But the target audience is too, specifically the Pharisees. The Pharisees had constructed this giant religious system that was built on legalism and religious self-righteousness. All their religious system was supposed to ensure that they kept the Old Testament law or the Scriptures. But in fact, it was nothing but this giant man-made system of rules and pride for legalism, and it was all pregnant with self-righteousness and human achievement.

And because the Pharisees were the teachers of the day, and they were teachers in the synagogue system, their teaching had a tremendous influence on the people, the common people. And they truly were the pastors and the teachers of their day. And as a result of all of this, a system of works, rulekeeping, and true self-righteousness was the dominant view of the day. The religious leaders and the people really believed that their rulekeeping and their righteousness could gain them some kind of a right standing before God. So he was aiming straight at the Pharisees. But generally, he's aiming at any who were like the Pharisees.

Basically, Jesus was also aiming at any and all who were like this. I've already said that the people had bought into this religious system of legalism, rulekeeping, and personal self-righteousness. So Jesus was aiming at any and all who were in this camp, if I can use that language. But Jesus was aiming and is aiming at any who would read these passages, who were just like the Pharisees of the Jews. Jesus was aiming at even people today, people today who trusted themselves for a right standing before God.

Jesus was and is aiming at even people today who trust in external religion, rulekeeping, a system of personal self-righteousness other than the righteousness of God. And we see Jesus' audience, the Pharisees, the other religious leaders, all of those in the crowd, even people today, all of which are trusting in religion, in rules, and what a man can do, self-righteousness, all of that to be in right standing before God. You see, here's where the target audience applies to us. There could be someone in here tonight. You're really trusting in religion and what you can do.

There are always people around who are not truly converted to Christ and they're trusting in religion. They're trusting in what they can do. They're trusting in their performance. I could go on. So the Spirit of God will take this and apply that to you. Now I want us to also see, number two, the two men. We see this in verse 10. Notice the beginning of the parable. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. Here we have two. It's obvious. They're named. And both of these men would have been very well known to everyone there listening. Who these men were and how they lived, it was very obvious.

Jesus did not need to explain that. But we need to see that everyone listening viewed these men completely different than we do. Now I want to quickly look at who they are and who they were. First the Pharisee. Now we have a negative view of the Pharisees, which is correct. But that's because our view of the Pharisee has come through the lens of Jesus and what the Scriptures say about the Pharisees. That was not the case in their day. The Pharisees were the most respected of all of the religious leaders in the day. There were not many of the Pharisees in that day, about 3,000 as opposed to some of the other Jewish sects.

But they were not in the business of politics. So in many ways it protected them. But they did have great political power because they were so respected by the common people. And it was their task to keep the law even the most minute points of the law. And they were mostly occupied with ministry there in the synagogues all throughout the countryside. And in that synagogue system they taught the people, so they were always with the people. But second the tax collector. Now we have a more positive view of the tax collectors. Again it's because we viewed the tax collectors through the lens of what Jesus has said and the Gospels.

But that was not the case in their day. The tax collectors were seen as greedy, cheating, swindling, extortionists, and they were in cahoots with the Romans. Tax collectors were Jews who had been given authority by the Romans to take up taxes for the Romans. But they were also given authority to collect more if they could. That's where the extortion came in. They truly were thugs who had around them all kinds of men and groups of men who would make sure those taxes were paid. They were hated by the Jews so much so that scholars and historians tell us that the Jews would literally walk the other way when they saw a tax collector coming.

They had no association with them. They were even unclean. So when Jesus was telling this parable and he spoke about the Pharisee and the tax collector, those listening would have immediately had opinions about these men. They would have honored and revered the Pharisee and they would have despised and hated the tax collector. A good example. This is pretty accurate. If I mention Queen Elizabeth, we know she just passed away. She's a topic of conversation today. But if I mention Queen Elizabeth, most would esteem her. Most respect her and honor her.

But if I mention someone like Jeffrey Dahmer, those of you who know what he did, you'll be disgusted. Most even despise and hate the name. Well that's how the Jews felt about the Pharisees and the tax collectors. The people honored and esteemed the Pharisees while they viewed the tax collectors as the scum of the earth, it was as bad as it could get. Now what's the lesson here? What's the lesson here? The way men see other men is not always the way God sees other men. The way men and others see a particular person is not always the way God sees them. And that's a tremendous lesson that we need to hold on to.

And then I also want us to see, number three, the two prayers. We're finally getting into the prayers. Verse 10 to 13. "Two men went up to the temple." The reason it says up is Jerusalem was up on a plain. It was up on a mountain. So go into Jerusalem, you go up. They're in the parable, they're going down, going back home. "Two men went up to the temple to pray. One a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee standing by himself prayed, 'Thus, God, I thank you that I am not like other men.' And he lists group, 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 or at a distance, he would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but he beat his breast saying, 'God be merciful to me, a sinner.'" Well, here we see that both of these men were at the temple praying. And we need to see that this was in fact a public time of prayer. They had three daily times of prayer at the temple, 9 a.m., 12 noon, and 3 p.m. And in the eyes of the Jews, prayer at the temple was extremely important. They were seen as effective, and many prayed at the temple in the temple courts during the time. So this was a public time of prayer. But let's examine these prayers.

First, the prayer of the Pharisee. Jesus said that the Pharisee was standing by himself praying. Now this was not an unusual way for them to pray. Standing was normal. But the point is this, for this Pharisee to pray standing was not wrong. It wasn't sinful. But praying and pride and religious self-promotion certainly was sinful. And we will see that that's what he does. But notice that he does two things in his prayer. First he compares himself to the tax collector. And this comparison did express the very essence of what it meant to be a Pharisee. And that was separation, separation, and especially separation from sinners.

The Pharisee said that they separated from other people because they were seeking to maintain holiness in contrast to the worldliness and the sin that was all around them. But this comparison was not from a pure heart of separation to maintain purity and holiness. His comparison was from pride and self-righteousness. He looked and he saw an example of what they saw as the scum of the earth. And this Pharisee did not compare himself and the tax collector to God, but he compared himself to the tax collector in such a way so as to exalt himself and to exalt his supposed righteousness.

His comparison was simply filled with pride and self-righteousness and hypocrisy all while he's standing there in front of everyone. So simply he was standing in pride and religion and self-promotion and he used this tax collector as a footstool. And then second he congratulates himself to himself and to God. Notice that? He congratulates himself to himself and to God. Notice in his hypocritical comparison here. He congratulates himself to himself and to God. He says something just like this to himself and to God. I am not like other men or men like that tax collector over there.

It's almost as if he is looking up and pointing at the tax collector all while congratulating himself to himself and to God. And get this. This can hardly be called a prayer because he is congratulating himself to himself and to God about who he was and what he does. And notice he uses the personal pronoun "I" all throughout this supposed prayer. He says, "I am not like other men." Again it's like he's pointing.

"I'm not like even this guy." And he says, "I fast, I tithe." Simply he bragged about how he fasted according to the writings of their sacred laws which were on top of the Old Testament law and he also bragged that he tithed even more than the Old Testament law required. And notice what this tells us about the Pharisee. I'm borrowing some language here from Warren Wiersby. I love this.

"Warren Wiersby calls him the deluded Pharisee." Wiersby says, "He was deluded about prayer for he prayed with himself and told God and anybody else that were listening how good he was." Wiersby says, "He was deluded about himself for he thought he was accepted by God because of what he did or what he did not do." He says he was deluded about the tax collector who was praying as well. He thought that the tax collector was a great sinner but the tax collector was the one who went home justified before God.

And I've added to it by saying this, he was deluded about his own spiritual condition and that he thought he was the one going home justified before God. So look at what his prayer reveals. He was steeped in pride. He was steeped in self-righteousness and hypocrisy. He actually uses the tax collector to boost himself up, up to himself and up to God. But then second, the prayer of the tax collector. Now in looking at the tax collector in his prayer, I want to look at how he prayed and what he prayed and this will tell us who and what he was. First how he prayed. We see that he prayed standing as well.

But the text says he prayed standing far off, not looking up but looking down, beating his chest. And all of these things communicate a lot, mostly great humility. The New American says he was standing some distance away. That speaks of humility. He prayed out of the way, away from the crowd, understanding his unworthiness before men and before God. Also, he would not look up to heaven but he looked down. Again, this says that he was communicating his unworthiness before God and he understood that and he was praying beating his chest which was an expression of great sorrow and grief in the culture. And all of these things tell us one thing.

You can boil it down to one word, humility. He wasn't delusional about how he saw himself. He was humble before men and before God. He saw himself as unworthy and he was grieved at his sin and his unworthiness. Again, great humility. But then second, what he prayed. We see that he only prayed one thing. God be merciful to me, a sinner. The King James, the New American, the English Standard says the same thing. Like what the Amplified says here. Again, the Amplified is a paraphrase and it piles up words.

The Amplified says, "Oh God, be favorable, be gracious, be merciful to me, the especially wicked sinner that I am." The Amplified piles up words but it's accurate. He needed mercy. He needed grace. He needed the favor of God, especially considering how wicked he was. Now understanding what he prayed is key to understanding who he was. He prayed, "Be merciful to me." But notice, in the original language, this phrase is the verb form of the word or phrase mercy seat. This mercy seat was actually the lid on the top of the Ark of the Covenant, which was in the temple.

The scholars tell us that this phrase can actually be translated in the original, "Be mercy seated towards me." Now that's odd. It doesn't make sense. Let me explain what that means. Some of you will know this. But the mercy seat was on the covering of the Ark of the Covenant. In one time a year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would sprinkle blood from an innocent animal sacrifice on the mercy seat. That animal sacrifice was truly a substitute. It was an innocent animal dying in the place of sinful people who did in fact deserve to die.

And when God looked down from heaven and he saw not the broken law of Moses because of the sin of the people, but when he looked down from heaven he saw the blood, the blood of the innocent lamb that was in fact a substitute for the sin of the people. And in using this language, the tax collector was truly, accurately saying something like this to God, and I'm putting it in my words, "Please God, please God, look at me and treat me as one coming on the basis of blood, shed blood on the mercy seat as an offering for my sins." He was saying, "Please treat me as one coming on the basis of shed blood on the mercy seat as a substitutionary offering for my sin." And in using this language, the tax collector was truly saying, "Please put me under the blood." Now, would he have understood the blood of Christ?

No, but he definitely understood that Old Testament sacrificial system. Obviously it's pointing towards Christ. So look what this prayer reveals. He possessed true humility before God and man, and he wasn't deluded about anything. He saw his sin just as God did. He saw himself exactly as God did, and he understood that his great need was the grace and mercy of God. So we see two things in the prayer, or the prayers. The prayer of the Pharisee shows us that he was trusting in self and self-righteousness.

He was trusting in his religious performance, and the prayer of the tax collector shows us that he was trusting in mercy and grace, the mercy and grace of God. He was trusting in the mercy seat, actually the blood. And we must see that there are only two kinds of people, those who trust in some sort of a religion or some sort of a works, some kind of a human performance, and all religions are about performance, but not biblical Christianity. We have another group of people, those who trust in mercy and grace and the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross.

And you know, if you're here and you're not born again, you're trusting in human achievement. Some type of goodness, some kind of self-righteousness, something that you think you can do to earn God's favor. But oh, if you're the latter, if you're the other, this is who you are. You're those that God foreknew that he predestined. And in time he called you, whether you were eight or 18, it doesn't matter when, he called you and when he called you, you were born of the Spirit of God, you had the ability to cry out in faith, you were born again, you became a new creation in Christ. And guess what? You were justified. Why?

Because of how good you were? No, only because of his grace and mercy. Well then number four, the declaration. It's the last verse. It's what I call the declaration. It's the climax of the parable, folks. He says, "I tell you, this man," the latter, the tax collector, "this man went down from the temple, home, justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted." Now here we see that Christ made a declaration to every one of those listening. He clearly stated which one went home justified and what Jesus said would have, it would have sent shockwaves.

They would have been mortified. They would have been angered. They would have been furious. Not a tax collector. He plainly declares that the tax collector went down from the temple justified and we know what justified means. We know what that means. He was in right standing before God and the tax collector went away having been forgiven, but he was also justified by God and before God he went in right standing before God. And again, this would have angered all of the crowd.

It's because they truly believed that they were right with God and their heroes, the Pharisees, they were right with God because of their own efforts and self-righteousness. I like how Warren Wiersby compares the two here. He says, and I'm quoting, "The tax collector knew the enormity of his sins, but the Pharisee was blissfully ignorant of his own heart. The Pharisee's pride condemned him, but the tax collector's humble faith saved him." Wiersby goes on to say, "Notice this. It's the prodigal son and the elder brother all over again." See it? It's the prodigal son and the elder brother all over again.

Now look what we have in this particular salvation parable. Jesus did all of this for one truth, folks. He is illustrating true faith-based justification and he was illustrating false work-based justification. You see? Faith-based or works-based? And we either have a faith-based or a works-based. Now here I want to turn to that Romans passage, Romans chapter 3. I'm going to read you a few verses here and this will lead me to the title of the message and then we'll finish up for the night. Romans chapter 3 starting in verse 21. Notice how this all fits together.

"But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. The righteousness of God through faith in Christ Jesus for all who believe." See believe? There's what happens in our human experience, time, history. "For there is no distinction," in other words, no distinction between Jew and Gentile. We know this verse. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified," there you go, "being made right with God in a legal standing right with God before God and are justified how?

By his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God put forth as a propitiation, a substitute by his blood." See how it all comes together? Now what's the title of the message? The Pharisee and the tax collector. Who is right with God? Form of a question. Now here's how I want to conclude. We must understand the importance of justification. If we miss it, we ruin the gospel, we ruin conversion, salvation, and we ruin the church. We close with the question. Pharisee and tax collector, who's right with God? You're either just like the Pharisee or just like the tax collector. I'll pray you the latter.