Pharisee / Tax Collector (1996 Conf. in CA.)

The point: Honestly ask yourself, when the portrait turns into a mirror, in which portrait do I see myself reflected?

The parable is likened to a portrait gallery where Jesus is the guide, and the portraits become mirrors, forcing listeners to see themselves in either the Pharisee or the Tax Collector.

I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. But the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but beat upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful. I say unto you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other, for every one that exalts himself shall be humbled, but he that humbles himself shall be exalted. As we set this portion of the word of God before us this evening, I want us to think of our approach to this parable. I want us to think of the passage as though we were about to enter a portrait gallery together this ...

1:31 - 2:45 Read in full sermon

The point: Honestly ask yourself, when the portrait turns into a mirror, in which portrait do I see myself reflected?

Contrasts the parable's mirrors with funhouse trick mirrors that distort reality, emphasizing that the portraits in the sermon offer a perfect reflection of one's true spiritual state before God.

Jesus, described in the various features by the Lord Jesus, portraits of his own painting, of his own interpreting, but they become mirrors in which we see our very selves. And unlike the trickery of the Lord Jesus, we will see ourselves in either one or the other of the portraits painted by him. Trick mirrors in a funhouse. Some of you kids, perhaps, have been in a funhouse, an entertainment amusement park where you go in and they have these different shaped mirrors.

4:07 - 4:41 Read in full sermon

Driving home: They were not born innocent until they came to some so-called age of accountability, a doctrine not at all found in the Scriptures, for our age of accountability came and went in the Garden of Eden.

God 'piggybacked' the entire human race on Adam, illustrating how all humanity fell in Adam's sin.

But because they were both men, they were sinners who fell in Adam and were under the condemnation of God by nature. They were not born innocent until they came to some so-called age of accountability, a doctrine not at all found in the Scriptures, for our age of accountability came and went in the Garden of Eden. Romans chapter 5 and verse 12 says, Wherefore as through one man sin entered into the world, and death passed upon all men, for that all sinned. And when did they all sin? We all sinned when our first father sinned in eating the forbidden fruit. God, as it were, had piggybacked the e...

7:33 - 9:00 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It is accurate to say that there is perhaps nothing more fundamental to what you are as a man, woman, boy or girl than your conception of God.

Describes the Pharisee's despising of others as looking down the end of his 'long Jewish nose,' vividly portraying his pride and condescension.

Look and listen as we stand by the portrait of the Pharisee. Although exceedingly religious, even to the point, our text says, of despising others. If this man had a long Jewish nose, he looked down to the end of its very nose, he looked down to the end of its very nose, he looked down to the end of its very nose, he looked down to the end of its very nose, he looked down to the end of its very nose, he looked down to the end of its very nose, despising all others, considering himself elevated above all others. Yet this man, in spite of his religion that fed his pride, had a horribly distorted...

17:03 - 17:44 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It is accurate to say that there is perhaps nothing more fundamental to what you are as a man, woman, boy or girl than your conception of God.

The Pharisee's trivial view of God is described as a 'pathetically little God he had stuffed between his ears,' highlighting his distorted and self-serving conception of the divine.

He had a view of a God who was so small and so trivial that he actually thought the God of the universe would be impressed with his outwardly moral life and that his piddling little religious deeds would gain him some favor with God. What a pathetically little God he had stuffed between his ears. Listen to it. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself.

17:44 - 18:24 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It is accurate to say that there is perhaps nothing more fundamental to what you are as a man, woman, boy or girl than your conception of God.

The Pharisee's prayer is said to get 'no higher than his own cranium,' indicating its self-centeredness and lack of true communion with God.

There's a bit of a nuance there that his prayer got no higher than his own cranium. He stood and prayed thus with himself. God, thank you that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. And furthermore, God, I want to inform you of a few things that ought to impress you.

18:24 - 18:53 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It is accurate to say that there is perhaps nothing more fundamental to what you are as a man, woman, boy or girl than your conception of God.

The Pharisee's fasting twice a week from 9 AM to 3 PM is presented as a piddling religious deed he expects God to be impressed by, highlighting his self-righteousness.

And if that is not of sufficient impression to gain your full favor, God, let me inform you concerning what I do. I fast twice in the week, twice a week from nine in the morning till three in the afternoon. I forego a normal intake of food. God, doesn't that impress you tremendously that two times every week I don't open my mouth and ingest a normal amount of food?

19:10 - 19:40 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The first radical difference is their conception of God: the Pharisee has a trivial, small God impressed by his deeds, while the Tax Collector sees a holy, majestic God from whom…

Compares the God who spoke galaxies into being to the Pharisee's expectation that his not eating would impress Him, underscoring the absurdity of self-righteousness.

Now think of how ludicrous this is. The God of the universe, who spoke the galaxies into being by the word in his mouth, who upholds them by the word in his power, is supposed to be impressed because this guy doesn't throw something down his throat. He does it twice a week. That's what he's telling God, isn't it?

19:40 - 20:03 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The first radical difference is their conception of God: the Pharisee has a trivial, small God impressed by his deeds, while the Tax Collector sees a holy, majestic God from whom…

References Genesis 1's casual mention of God making the stars, contrasting it with the vastness discovered by the Hubble telescope, to emphasize God's immense power and the triviality of human offerings.

Think of it, God, one tenth of it I give back to you. You, the God who owns the cattle upon a thousand hills, the God of whom it is spoken in Genesis 1. I love this. After all of the account of creation, it says, Oh yes, and he made the stars also.

20:24 - 20:42 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The first radical difference is their conception of God: the Pharisee has a trivial, small God impressed by his deeds, while the Tax Collector sees a holy, majestic God from whom…

The Pharisee is depicted 'preening himself like a peacock spreading its tail feathers' in God's presence, illustrating his pride and self-exaltation.

Now do you see something of how ludicrous this situation is? Here's a man standing in the presence of a God like this, with such a low, trivial, trite view of God that he actually thinks that because he does not conduct himself in some of the grosser forms of ways, of the grosser forms of sin as other men, and because he does these little bits of religious things, these things will actually impress the high and the lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, who charges his very angels with folly, who rides upon the wings of the storm and the clouds of the dust at his feet, and here t...

21:02 - 22:30 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The first radical difference is their conception of God: the Pharisee has a trivial, small God impressed by his deeds, while the Tax Collector sees a holy, majestic God from whom…

Describes the seraphim and cherubim veiling their faces and crying 'Holy, Holy, Holy' before God, contrasting their reverence with the Pharisee's pride.

Now do you see something of how ludicrous this situation is? Here's a man standing in the presence of a God like this, with such a low, trivial, trite view of God that he actually thinks that because he does not conduct himself in some of the grosser forms of ways, of the grosser forms of sin as other men, and because he does these little bits of religious things, these things will actually impress the high and the lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, who charges his very angels with folly, who rides upon the wings of the storm and the clouds of the dust at his feet, and here t...

21:02 - 22:30 Read in full sermon

The point: Consider if you have a trivial, trite little God whom you think is impressed by your actions, or if you see Him as high and lofty, the Holy One of Israel.

Illustrates God's power by stating He can send mountains into oblivion and cause seas to break over their shores, further highlighting the Pharisee's trivial view of God.

The whole earth is full of his glory. The God in whom whose presence myriads of angels wait straining for their names to be named sent on an errand for the Almighty. This God who with a blink of his eye can send into oblivion massive mountains and cause the heaving seas to break over their shores. And here is this creature standing in the presence of this God actually thinking that the things he doesn't do and the piddling little religious things he does will earn him acceptance with God.

22:30 - 23:15 Read in full sermon

The point: Consider if you have a trivial, trite little God whom you think is impressed by your actions, or if you see Him as high and lofty, the Holy One of Israel.

Describes the different courts of the temple (Gentiles, women, males, priests, inner sanctuary) to explain the Tax Collector's 'standing afar off' as symbolic of his felt distance from God.

Look at the language. But the publican, the tax collector standing afar. Perhaps he came just a couple of inches inside the court of the Israelites where the males were able to come. There was the court of the Gentiles and the court of the women and the court of the males and then the court where only the priest could minister and then the inner sanctuary where only the high priest could go once a year.

23:48 - 24:20 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Now I know these are not popular words in modern evangelicalism. And even some so-called reformed theologians are telling us we should be self-loathing.

Recalls a childhood ditty, 'I love myself, I think I'm grand,' to illustrate the Pharisee's self-esteem and self-congratulation, contrasting it with the seriousness of such an attitude before God.

Extortioners on Jews. Just adulterers, or even as this tax collector. Everything about him oozes with self-esteem, self-acceptance, self-confidence, self-congratulation. When I was a kid, you children listened to this little song we used to sing. I love myself. I think I'm grand. I go to the movie just to hold my hand. I put my arm around my waist. When I get fresh, I slap my face. Now that was a little innocent ditty. We used to laughingly quote one to another, but it's no laughing matter

27:41 - 28:29 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine if your native self-esteem and self-confidence have been devastated by God's holy law, showing you are a sinner deserving of wrath, or if you identify with the publican's self-loathing and reliance on God's mercy…

References Isaiah's vision of God in Isaiah 6, where Isaiah cries 'Woe is me! I am undone,' to demonstrate the proper response of self-loathing when confronted with God's holiness.

So the text says the publican would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven. Do you see that? The tax collector says, the publican standing afar off would not lift up so much heaven, let alone his countenance, and fill his lungs with air of self-importance and strut before God. He had a view of himself marked by self-loathing, self-abhorrence, and self-distrust. He had the same view Isaiah had. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up upon a throne. And when Isaiah envisioned, has this unveiling of God in his burning holiness and in his ineffable exaltedness, what...

30:45 - 31:44 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine if your native self-esteem and self-confidence have been devastated by God's holy law, showing you are a sinner deserving of wrath, or if you identify with the publican's self-loathing and reliance on God's mercy…

Critiques the practice of 'praying the prayer' in modern evangelicalism, contrasting it with the Tax Collector's prayer which was 'wrung out of the inner consciousness of his own spirit,' emphasizing genuine repentance.

accepted with God, it will be on the basis of something God does, not on the basis of what I am or what I have done. And you are in one of two of those portraits. And as the mirror reflects you, what do you see? Do you see not merely someone who coached in an inquiry room, prayed a prayer...No, no. Nobody was coaching him to pray the prayer. It is one of the most abominable and wretched practices ever foisted upon professing Christendom. Pray the prayer.

34:32 - 35:17 Read in full sermon

Driving home: This is what he prayed. Literally God be propitious to me, a sinner. And what is propitiation? It is the turning away of the wrath of God on the basis of an acceptable sacrifice.

Suggests the Tax Collector's downcast eyes were fixed on an altar where innocent victims were slain, foreshadowing Christ's sacrifice and illustrating his understanding of propitiation.

What he was saying is God turn away your wrath on the grounds of an acceptable sacrifice. When it says he would not so much as lift up his eyes, eyes to heaven. It's my own conviction that his eyes were fixed on an object there in the temple fixed upon an altar upon an altar where innocent victims were slaying their blood spilt their carcasses consumed in fire to constantly bear witness that the sinner's approach to God can only be grounded on the death of the innocent. God can only be grounded on the death of the innocent.

39:33 - 40:18 Read in full sermon

The point: Reflect on whether you believe something you are, are not, have done, or have not done gives you acceptance with God, or if you rely solely on God's activity in turning away His wrath through an innocent victim.

Connects the Old Testament sacrifices to Christ's cry 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' on the cross, explaining how God's wrath was funneled into His Son.

Innocent substitute. And we know that every land that pleaded when the knife slitted throat was a foreshadowing of that time when the lamb of God who would bear away the sin of the world would hang upon the cross and there immolated, forsaken, abandoned by God would cry with that mysterious, penetrating, awesome cry of dereliction. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And if an answer had ever come forth from heaven, we know what the answer would have been. My son, I have forsaken you because I am of pure eyes than to behold iniquity. And you have voluntarily engaged to take upon yourself...

40:18 - 41:37 Read in full sermon

The point: Reflect on whether you believe something you are, are not, have done, or have not done gives you acceptance with God, or if you rely solely on God's activity in turning away His wrath through an innocent victim.

Describes God's wrath as not 'jettisoned out into the black hole of the universe' but 'funneled down into the heart and soul of the son of God,' emphasizing the substitutionary nature of the atonement.

My son, as I treat you in pure justice in the court of heaven, I must consume you in the fire of my righteous anger. And the scripture tells us, Christ is our propitiation. The scriptures tell us he made a propitiation in his blood. The wrath of God is not somehow just jettisoned out into the black hole of the universe.

41:37 - 42:07 Read in full sermon

The point: Reflect on whether you believe something you are, are not, have done, or have not done gives you acceptance with God, or if you rely solely on God's activity in turning away His wrath through an innocent victim.

Uses the image of 'perfect attendance bars for Sunday school' as a metaphor for external religious deeds that people mistakenly believe give them standing with God.

When you stand before that Pharisee, do you see yourself? Thinking that something you are, something you are not, something you have done or have not done is that which gives you acceptance with God? Do you believe that because you have not abandoned yourself to an openly immoral life, you've known no man or woman but your legitimate husband or wife, you guard your mind from lustful thoughts, you have never consciously stolen, you've known the property of another, you're honest and upright in the paying of your taxes, you've got a string of perfect attendance bars for Sunday school that's long...

43:21 - 44:11 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Finally, they differ radically in their true position before God: the Pharisee leaves condemned, while the Tax Collector leaves justified, declared righteous through God's grace…

Describes the Pharisee as 'dressed in nothing but the rags of his own righteousness,' echoing Isaiah 64:6 to emphasize the inadequacy of human efforts for salvation.

He says in Luke chapter 18 and verse 14, I say unto you, he who is truth incarnate speaks with gracious magisterial authority. I say unto you, this man, that is the tax collector, went down to his house justified rather than the other. You see, they differed radically in their true position before God. The Pharisee came up to the temple lost, condemned, dead in trespasses and sins, dressed in nothing but the rags of his own righteousness, which are, scripture says, as polluted garments. And he left exactly as he came. In spite of his prayer, in spite of his sense of self-satisfaction, no doubt...

47:42 - 49:06 Read in full sermon

The point: To have Christ, you must abandon your self-esteem, self-sufficiency, and self-congratulation, taking the posture of a sinner.

States that 'Christ is nearer to you, in the preaching of the Gospel than your own breath,' emphasizing the immediate availability and accessibility of Christ through the preached word.

And you cast yourself upon Him. You cry to Him for mercy, as we heard in our Scripture reading, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. This word of faith we preach is nigh, it's near to you in your mouth and in your heart. As I said last night and I say again tonight with joy, Christ is nearer to you, in the preaching of the Gospel than your own breath.

55:28 - 55:56 Read in full sermon

The point: Choose to humble yourself now and flee to Christ, or maintain your dignity and be forced to take the posture of moral nakedness in the day of judgment.

Quotes the hymn 'Rock of Ages' ('Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling') to illustrate the humbling posture of faith and reliance on Christ alone.

Such a one, Jesus said, shall be exalted. Exalted with what? The very righteousness of Christ put to our account and eventually exalted to the glory, the glorified state of the sons and daughters of God, having glorified bodies and perfected spirits. My friends, nothing is more humbling, pride-withering, than to stand spiritually naked and empty-handed before a crucified Savior and say from the depths of your heart, nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross.

59:51 - 60:35 Read in full sermon

The point: Choose to humble yourself now and flee to Christ, or maintain your dignity and be forced to take the posture of moral nakedness in the day of judgment.

Quotes another hymn ('Foul, foul I to the fountain fly, wash me, Savior, or I die') to further illustrate the sinner's desperate need for Christ's cleansing.

I cling. Foul, foul I to the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die. Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly.

60:36 - 60:52 Read in full sermon

The point: Choose to humble yourself now and flee to Christ, or maintain your dignity and be forced to take the posture of moral nakedness in the day of judgment.

Quotes the hymn 'Jesus, Lover of My Soul' ('Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly') to express the desire for refuge and intimacy with Christ.

I cling. Foul, foul I to the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die. Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly.

60:36 - 60:52 Read in full sermon

The point: Choose to humble yourself now and flee to Christ, or maintain your dignity and be forced to take the posture of moral nakedness in the day of judgment.

Quotes a hymn ('Vile and full of sin I am, Thou art full of truth and grace') to articulate the contrast between human sinfulness and God's grace, and the self-loathing of the repentant sinner.

False and full of sin I am. Thou art full of truth and grace.

60:54 - 61:03 Read in full sermon

The point: You can go away from preaching that calls you vile and wretched, but it won't change the reality you will face in the day of judgment. Face it tonight while the door of mercy is open.

Martin recounts an encounter with Jehovah's Witnesses, where he challenged them on their understanding of human sinfulness, illustrating the resistance to acknowledging one's 'vile, filthy, hell-deserving' state.

I close with a simple, honest, true anecdote. Some years ago, two Jehovah's Witnesses showed up. At our front door and I had begun to learn that if you were going to have any hope of reaching them with the truth, you had to get them derailed from their speech and from their own text and their own approach. And once I showed enough courtesy to gain the attention of the woman who was the chief speaker.

62:42 - 63:10 Read in full sermon