True Meaning of The Law

Introduction: The Fundamental Question and the Parable's Context

0:02 Turn with me in your own Bibles to the 18th chapter of the Gospel according to Luke, Luke chapter 18, and I shall read verses 9 through 14. Luke 18, verses 9 through 14. And he, that is, of course, Jesus, spake also this parable unto certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and set all others at naught. Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I get. But the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes into heaven, but smote his breast, saying, God, be thou my God.

1:18 God, be thou merciful to me, the sinner. I say unto you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone that exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. We introduced the study of this passage last week by making the statement that perhaps the most fundamental religious question any man, any woman, any fellow or girl can ever ask is this, how can a sinful human being find acceptance and favor with a holy God?

2:04 There is no more profound religious question than that. How can a sinful creature find acceptance and favor with a holy God? The heart of the gospel of Christ is God's answer to that most profound question. The passage before us is one of the most crucial in all of the word of God as far as giving us clear, unmistakable teaching concerning the answer of the gospel to that vital question.

2:41 Last week, and I shall only spend about three or four minutes reviewing, we first of all looked at the historical occasion of this parable. Most of the parables grow out of circumstances. Most of the parables grow out of circumstances which arose in the ministry of our Lord. And so, he conceived these parables in order to speak to those specific circumstances.

3:02 And here, in verse 9, it is very clear what the circumstance was. Amongst some of his followers, our Lord began to detect a spirit of self-righteousness, a spirit of self-trust, a spirit in which people were looking to things within themselves as the ground, the ground of their acceptance before God. And consequently, they began to show a spirit of disdain for others whose attainments were not quite up to their own. And it was that situation which provoked this parable.

3:39 Then, we looked at the parable in a general way. We saw that the only things these two men had in common was that they were both concerned about the question, acceptance with God. Both went to a place appointed for worship. Both went to a place appointed for worship.

3:52 Both went to a place appointed for worship. And both were engaged in the religious exercise of prayer. But that's where the similarity stops. From that point on, everything is contrast.

4:02 And so, we began to look at these two specimen men who are a picture of every single person who is concerned about the question, how shall I find acceptance with God? In the outworking of that question, every one of us becomes Pharisee or publican. And so, our concern is not simply to analyze and understand the passage, but to see ourselves reflected in its teaching. So, we began to look at this Pharisee.

The Pharisee's Self-Congratulatory Prayer

4:34 We noted last week, first of all, the position of his prayer. The Pharisee stood, or better translated, he took a stand. Indication being that he put himself in some prominent place, indicating that his heart was far more occupied indicating that his heart was far more occupied with the eyes of men than with the eye of God. Then we spent some time looking at the terminal point of his prayer.

4:59 The Holy Ghost is very emphatic here. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus towards himself. His prayer was not directed to God. Though God was in his language, God was not in his heart.

5:12 And he was concerned with the approbation of men and not the approbation and approval of God. And then we closed our study And then we closed our study considering the essential elements of his prayer proper. And they are these. I thank thee I am not as other men.

5:30 I fast and I give tithes. His prayer was basically an expression of self-congratulation in two areas. He was congratulating himself as to his character and secondly as to his religious performance. And he says as to his character, I am not a sinner like the rest of men.

5:50 I am not like the publican. He must stand and say be merciful to me the sinner. But Lord I am not like other men. My character is such that I think it will find acceptance before you.

6:01 But if there are any areas where I don't quite measure up then Lord look upon my religious performances. They will make up for the lack of it. For God I go beyond even what you require. God required fasting once a year of the Jews.

6:15 God required the tithe of their material increase. This man says I fast. He says I fast twice in the week. So if you multiply that by fifty-two weeks that means he fasted a hundred and four times exactly a hundred and three more times than God had required.

6:31 Certainly that must impress God. That's quite a percentile over what God required is it not? If fasting twice was a hundred percent you mathematicians work this out. You talk about works of supererogation.

6:45 This man had it. This man was doing far beyond what God required. And he says that will make up for anything that lacks in my character and on that basis I expect to find acceptance. Well so much for our review.

The Reason for the Pharisee's Prayer: Spiritual Ignorance and False Instruction

7:02 Now we want to address ourselves tonight to the fourth aspect of the Pharisee and his prayer and it is this. Having considered his position in which he prayed the terminal point of his prayer the substance of his prayer now we consider the reason why he prayed this way. Why did the Pharisee pray this way? And the answer to that question I shall state in a general way and expound that for a few minutes and then we will go into three subdivisions of the general answer.

7:42 So my purpose tonight I don't know if I'll get through. Again it's hard to judge how long it will take to flesh the answer. But this is where I propose to go. What we don't finish now the Lord willing will finish in our next study.

7:55 What would ever lead a man to pray this way? To come in apparently to the very presence of God and congratulate himself and tell God that what he is in his character and in his religious performances is adequate to gain acceptance with God. Well I would state the reason in general terms in this way. He prayed this way because he actually believed that he would find acceptance before God on the basis of what he was and what he did.

8:27 He says God I thank Thee I am not like other men and I do this and that because he actually believed that these things would be adequate to gain acceptance with God. Now you ask well why did he believe that? He believed it because of his native spiritual ignorance increased by false religious instruction. Now that's the heart of it.

8:56 If you get that you've got the heart of the answer. This man prayed the way he prayed because of his native spiritual ignorance augmented and increased by his false religious instruction. Jesus did not say a certain man went into the temple and prayed. If it had only said a certain man prayed this way the answer would be he prayed this way because of his native spiritual ignorance.

9:29 But our Lord was careful to say that it was a certain Pharisee. The man who was the epitome of all that religion stood for in that day. So we are warranted in assuming that he prayed this way not only because of his native spiritual ignorance that which is common to all men. But a spiritual ignorance that had been augmented and increased by this false religious instruction.

Native Spiritual Ignorance: Blindness and Darkness

9:57 Now let me enlarge upon that general answer for a while before we break it down into its particulars. In the case of all men the scripture teaches that we are by nature in a state of spiritual ignorance. And that ignorance is likened to darkness and to blindness. In the 26th chapter of the book of the Acts of the Apostles our Lord is here recorded as commissioning his servant Paul.

10:31 This is what he says to him. Acts 26 and verse 16. And with all the fans can you folk in the back row hear me alright? Can you hear me clearly?

10:41 You in the front if I seem a little loud it's because I do want to project for those folk as well. But arise and stand upon thy feet for to this end have I applied and appeared unto thee to appoint thee a minister and a witness both of the things wherein thou hast seen me and of the things wherein I will appear unto thee delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom I send thee. Now Paul this is your task. To open their eyes that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in me. Now you see assumed in this commission that wherever Paul would go he was preaching to men who were already in total darkness. He says my purpose in sending you is that you may be an instrument to open their eyes. Their eyes are shut.

11:45 Their eyes are blind. I'm sending you to be an instrument to turn them from darkness but they're already in the darkness and in the power of Satan. And no man ever receives forgiveness of sins and the inheritance of believers until first of all there is this miracle of the opening of his spiritual eyes this mighty work of God turning him from the realm of darkness and this powerful work of God delivering him from the grip of the devil himself. And so you see it is assumed that wherever Paul went both amongst Jews verse 17 delivering thee from the people that is the Jews and from the Gentiles even the Jew with all of his knowledge of the Old Testament even the Jew with all of his awareness of his tremendous history as part of the covenant nation he's in blindness he's in darkness. So Paul when you go to preach remember this men are not simply enlisted in their thinking and they just need a little reconstruction of their mental furniture. They are not simply turned out of the way and need a nudge on the shoulder Paul their blindness and he says your commission

13:14 is to be an instrument in my hands to have eyes opened darkness dispelled and bondage broken. You find a similar teaching there in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. All we're seeking to establish now is that the reason this Pharisee prayed the way he did was because of his native spiritual ignorance called in the Bible spiritual blindness and darkness. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 in this rich section concerning the Christian ministry 2 Corinthians chapters 1 through 6 are tremendous chapters on the whole subject of the Christian ministry and in the midst of that the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4 and verses 3 and 4 and if our gospel is veiled it is veiled in them that are perishing in whom the God of this world speaking of the devil hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God should not dawn upon them. He says when I preach my gospel and it seems like such a veiled thing he says it's not because I have veiled the gospel it's not because I've taken the gospel and put it behind curtains and said now only those who are the in people can come and take a peek

14:42 only those who are the initiates can come and see no, no he says we proclaim Christ verse 5 we preach Christ Jesus as Lord he had earlier said that unlike Moses who had his face veiled because he had seen the glory of God and he was the only one in Israel who had seen it he says now in the new covenant we all with open face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are transformed into that image so every Christian becomes a living epistle of the work of the Spirit he had just said that in chapter 3 but he says the fact is that a lot of men go on living as though the gospel were veiled he says because of their own blindness the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not lest the light of this gospel that we preach openly and freely this glorious message should break in upon their hearts Paul realized that when he preached he was looking into the face of men who were blind to the glory of Christ spiritual darkness hence conversion the work of grace in calling sinners unto God is often likened to being brought out of the realm of darkness into the realm of light look at verse 6 in this same chapter 2 Corinthians 4 seeing it is God that said light shall shine out of darkness who shined in our hearts

16:09 to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ he likens the work of conversion to that of creation Genesis 1 says darkness was upon the face of the deep nothing but darkness and then the scripture says and God said let there be light and there was nothing to work with but his own creative work God brought light out of the midst of darkness and Paul says that's what he did to us we were as that primation was darkness upon the face of the deep nothing but darkness hopefully eternal darkness unless God would speak light and he says God spoke light Colossians 1.13 delivered us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear son 1 Peter 2 9 show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into marvelous light now what is the characteristic problem of a man or woman in darkness what happens to you kids when you go in the room and the light blows and all of a sudden everything becomes dark well you get scared why because you can't see things as they are and there might be things there that you don't want to be there

17:37 and you're afraid because you can't see them that's the characteristic problem of darkness and I'm reminded of every time I have to sleep somewhere where I'm not used to the surroundings and if I have to get up at all in the night and stub my toe and bang my head I'm reminded of this principle I know where everything is in my own house and I can go with eyes closed and black is midnight and doesn't trouble me but you see the characteristic problem of a man or woman in darkness you can't see things for what they really are is a person just plain heart changed as far as good looks is concerned but all she or he just wants to think of himself as being quite attractive so the only recourse he or she has is to do what go in front of the mirror and then turn the light out and now just dream think of oh yes as I look into that mirror no lights of course everything's pitch black I see a beautifully shaped nose and face and long full flowing hair and all the rest and that person can go on in that kind of mental reverie with no light on and if they happen to be looking at the mirror then suddenly they're jarred back to the world the ugly world of reality you see as long as they're in the dark they can kid themselves about what they really are

19:06 as a sloppy housekeeper she's just plain lazy doesn't like to do the nitty gritty of housework and it's the only comfort she can have is to go out in the middle of the night when everything's dark and she finds a little space where she parts all the junk until her husband comes stumbling out of bed and flips the light on and says what in the world are you doing out here at midnight and then suddenly she sees all the ugly symbols of her inefficiency as a housekeeper now you see what I'm driving at the characteristic problem of darkness is you can't see things for what they are and the bible says all men by nature are in darkness and that darkness brings them to the condition that they don't see themselves for what the Pharisee could say I thought I'd never be justified but the blessedness of that publican was the Holy Ghost had flipped the switch and he had seen what was upon his breast

False Religious Instruction: Intensifying Blindness

20:35 and he has nothing to bring to God but his sinnerhood sent through and wonder of wonders he goes down to his house justified and Jesus said whoever humbles himself shall be exalted whoever exalts himself shall be humbled and you'll go right on exalting yourself God gives you light as to what you really are all men by nature have minds darkened to their true condition and the first rays of saving light bring a shocking self-discovery and every person who is born of the spirit knows what that shocking self-discovery is when God flipped the switch and you were jarred out of that dream that you were beautiful and God showed you your ugliness in his own holy sight now in the case of this Pharisee this darkness common to all men was increased and intensified by false religious instruction because that's the second half of my general answer you see the Pharisees were the religionists par excellence in their day they were orthodox as far as orthodoxy in those days was concerned they believed in the supernatural the authority of the word of God

22:00 but were laid the word of God with man made tradition that they were in actuality nullifying the authority of that word turn to the 15th chapter of Matthew for the inspired commentary on the characteristic attitudes of a Pharisee for Jesus says in the parable this was a Pharisee who stood thus with himself and prayed Matthew chapter 15 beginning with verse 1 there was a Pharisee who stood thus with himself and said why did you transgress the tradition of the elders for they wash not their hands when they eat bread the answer then said unto them why do ye also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition for God said honor thy father and thy mother and he that speaketh evil of father or mother let him die the death whosoever shall say to his father or mother that wherewith thou mightest have been profited by me is given to God he shall not honor his father ye have made void the word of God because of your tradition ye hypocrites well did Isaiah prophesy of you saying this people honoreth me with their lips but their heart

23:29 is far from me but in vain do they worship me teaching the people the multitudes and speaks to them and then he comes to his disciples and then opens up to them some of the significance of what he said but now you notice verse 14 let them alone they are blind guides and if the blind guide the blind both shall fall into a pit see what he say their spiritual blinds come into all men by night nature had been intensified by their religious instruction, which though it came within the apparent framework of the Word of God, was in practice an actual negation of the Word of God. You see it? Sadducees, the liberals of their day, had they been the pagans, it would have been relatively easy to show the folly of their way. But these were people who held all substance of the Word of God, but they held it in such a way that they negated and canceled its authority in their own lives and in the lives of their followers. Now what

24:49 was the practical result of their teaching and their influence? Well, when you have time, you read through carefully the 23rd chapter of Matthew, where Jesus issues seven woes upon them. And some of the outstanding characteristics of their influence was this. They were more concerned with the external than the internal. Jesus said, you're like whitewashed sepulchres.

25:12 You slap some whitewash on them and they look beautiful, but open up the mouth of the sepulcher and look within and see the rotting flesh and the bleached bones. He says, that's you Pharisees. You go around tithing every little bit of mint anise and cumin, but the great and weighty issues of the law you forget. You strain it and actually swallow camels.

25:34 You bind burdens on people's backs, weary and heavy to be borne. Nothing is so damning and so delusive. As native spiritual blindness joined to false religious teaching. May I repeat that? Nothing is so damning and so delusive as native spiritual blindness joined to false religious teaching. This is why Jesus said, and I refer you to one text there in Matthew 23, verse 15, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Where ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is become so, ye make him what? Twofold more a son of hell than yourselves. He says, when you get done with

26:28 them, twice native spiritual blindness, which makes a man worthy of hell, when it is now joined to false religious teaching, makes him twofold more a son of hell. That's why Jesus could say, as he did in the 21st chapter and the 31st verse, Which of the two did the will of his father? They say the first. Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, The publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. He said, The kingdom of God is pressed into by men whose moral state is obviously wretched and debauched. But you people, who have your native blindness wedded to false spiritual teaching, are much harder to reach than the moral proselytes. Now, if that is true, some of us should be doing some serious thinking tonight, we should be doing some honest heart searching. For this prayer of the Pharisee was prayed because the switch had never been flipped, he had never seen himself as he really was in the sight of God.

Ignorance of Involvement in the Fall of Mankind

27:48 Having stated the thing in general, let me enlarge upon several aspects. Tonight we will touch on the first one, possibly the second. I doubt we'll get through three. I want to show three distinct now and particular ways in which this man's spiritual blindness resulted in this prayer. First of all, this Pharisee was ignorant of his own involvement in the fall of mankind. Look at his prayer. He says, O God, O God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men. That's not true. What he should have said was this, O God, I thank Thee that

28:35 though by nature I am as other men, Thou hast rescued me and made a difference. That's a prayer that grace can teach us to pray. Grace can teach us to pray. But his spiritual blindness taught him to pray a prayer in which he shows his total ignorance of the fact that he is not as other men. That's not true. That's not true. That's not true. That's not true.

29:06 He is not as other men. That's not true. That's not true. That's not true. The fact that he was involved equally with all men in the apostasy of our first father, Adam. You see, there are three great levelers of all humanity right here tonight, the three common denominators that bring us all down to the same plane. We may have great difference in terms of our economic, sociological, educational backgrounds, things that may split us, pulls

29:38 national tendencies, all the rest. But there are three great levelers, and here they are. The doctrine of creation, the doctrine of the fall, and the doctrine of redemption by Jesus Christ.

29:53 Scripture tells us in Acts 17, God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell upon the face of the earth. One blood. That's why racial pride is the most stupid, ignorant thing imaginable. The same blood that flows through the white man, flows through the black man, and through the yellow man, and through every single race of mankind.

30:22 Racial pride is the most stupid, asinine thing imaginable. He hath made of one blood. We are all image bearers by creation. Then the scripture teaches that we have all without exception fallen in Adam.

30:38 And it was this aspect that this poor, poor Pharisee had never been brought to see. He was part of Israel's race, the covenant people of God. And though suited blood flows through the veins of the circumcised, we don't see our connection with Abraham's chromosomes.

31:08 That was their folly. Read about it in the eighth chapter of the Gospel of John. What is the teaching of the word of God? Oh, listen to it.

31:17 It's so clear that the youngest child here tonight can understand it. In Romans chapter 5 and verse 12 we read, Therefore as through one man, Adam, sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all sinned. When did all proof death has come to all men? Even to them Paul says that have not sinned after the likeness, of Adam's sin.

31:57 Little babies who die were never placed on probation as was Adam, and yet death touches infants. Death touches those in the farthest recesses of heathendom. Why? The universality of death is a living monument of the universality of the fall of man.

32:17 Though men sneer and scoff in some grind their teeth at the biblical doctrine that Adam stood for the entire human race, and we're going to see that in the next chapter. And we're going to see that in the next chapter. And we're going to see that in the next chapter. And we're going to see that in the next chapter.

32:27 And we're going to see that in the next chapter. And we all stood in the position of rising with Him or in Him. This doctrine is taught by the Word of the living God. Through one man sin entered and death came upon all.

32:43 1 Corinthians 15, verses 21 and 22, the same teaching of the Word of God. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam, who is the son of Adam, who is the son of Adam, who is the son of Adam, who is the son of Adam, vitally united to Adam, Adam as their federal representative in head. When he died through sin, we died in him.

33:18 And what were the results of that death, that fall? Two profound reasons. All are born in a state of condemnation. That's their legal position.

33:31 And all are born in a state of pollution. That's their moral condition. Look back to Romans 5.18.

33:41 So then as through one trespass the judgment came upon all men. Two, the fall of condemnation. Secondly, all are born in a state of condemnation. The 51st Psalm.

34:05 David says in verse 6, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. This is why Paul can say in Ephesians chapter 2, We were by nature the children of wrath. What we were was deserving of wrath, made us liable to the wrath upon this. And as long as he's made of native ignorance, aided by the false teaching of the false religion of the Pharisees, he'll go right on thinking his character to commend him to God.

34:50 He's not one of these defiled murderers or unjust people. He's a separated one. The acts of religious devotion certainly must be pleasing to God. What was his problem?

35:05 He did not see himself as under condemnation by virtue of being part of a race. He did not see himself as a man who had a pollution that stemmed not from without, but that was our Lord's controversy with the Pharisees. They were concerned.

35:38 The problem, Jesus said, is not external. He told his, It's not that which comes from without and enters a man's body. It's not that which defiles him, but that which cometh in out of the heart,

35:52 that is made up and polluted, deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. May I say by way of application, there are some of you who are going to go on being Pharisees and end up in the Pharisees' hell unless God is pleased to send light upon your soul as to what you really are. Let me press some questions upon your conscience. When?

36:20 Where? In what circumstances? What angel?

36:26 What observer of the moral conduct of men could stand tonight and bear witness to the truth of your response to my question? Where? In what place? At what time?

36:37 Under what circumstances? Were you found alone and in the sin of Adam? Did you save it before God? Oh, acknowledge, though I understand the mystery of it, how one could act for all and act in one, I see it in the witness of the justice of your ways.

37:04 I acknowledge, O God, that in us went doubt, and, O God, I am a part of that race under just condemnation. I ask you, where, when, in what words, what were the circumstances when you all, what you saw, flipped the light on, so that you can no longer pray or think, I frankly am not his other man. You know that the only difference between you and any other person in terms of your life is that you are not his other man. The difference between you and any other person in terms of your moral experience is that if they've gone deeper into sin externally simply because they had their opportunities,

37:52 but left to yourself, you have to say, Oh, if I am not as the worst extortioner tonight, if I am not as the worst unjust man, the worst adulterer, the worst publican, it is grace, grace.

38:12 Write down, the kids say, at the gut level, Can you say that? What's your reaction when you see the morally profligate, those who, who have obviously abandoned themselves to sin?

38:27 Is there disgust in your little friend's prayer? I'm not his other man. Or is there a sigh that says, Oh God, as a fallen member of Adam's race, I could have gone unless you rescued me. What's the breathings of your heart?

38:52 Come on now. The honest preacher's rhetoric, conscience, the honest in the presence of God, which of your heart?

39:08 In the condemnation of Adam's race, have you seen yourself in that state of pollution? Pollution that touches the deepest springs of your being. I ask you, have you seen yourself as God knows you to be? Has he put the light on?

39:31 If he hasn't, oh, I pray he will tonight. That's the mystery and the glory and the true lofty, pure romance of preaching. I say that reverently. That God may be pleased tonight to do what I can't.

39:46 I can proclaim to you what God says. That through one man, sin entered. In Adam, all died. I can proclaim to you what the word of God says.

39:56 We are by nature the children of wrath. I can tell you what God says. In sin you were conceived. But only God can flip the switch and give you eyes to see.

Ignorance of the Spiritual Demands of God's Law

40:08 And if you value your soul, you better pray that he show you what you really are. Or you'll go right on. Mouthing is the self-congratulatory prayers of the Pharisee. But in the second place, this poor Pharisee was not only ignorant of his involvement in the fall of mankind, he was ignorant in the second place of the spiritual demands of the law of God.

40:33 Ignorant of the spiritual demands of the law of God. Look at his prayer again.

40:41 When he said, I thank thee that I am not as other men, extortioners, that is, those who force money from people by unlawful means, unjust, adulterers, those who take other people's wives or husbands and have illicit intercourse with them, or even a publican. When he said that, what did he show? He showed an abysmal ignorance of the spiritual demands of the law of God. You see, the Pharisee,

41:18 sternal,

41:22 there were no women that could point the finger at him and say, that man took me into an illicit sexual relationship, he thought, I've not broken the seventh commandment. If there were no man who could say, look, that guy did a job on my bank account over here and he put me under unjust, as long as nobody could point the finger and take him to a court of law and convict him of the sin of extortion, he thought he was free from the commandment, thou shalt not steal.

41:50 Why did he think this way? Because he was ignorant of the spiritual demands of the law of God.

41:59 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes, of all that I... Why did he think those religious deeds would be acceptable to God?

42:08 Because he was ignorant of the extent of the demands of the law. He thought that all the law demanded in terms of worship was the performance of your hand from me in the morals,

42:33 in the religious realm. And if we want an excellent biblical commentary on this kind of ignorance, look at the Apostle Paul for an example. We turn to Philippians chapter 3, and here was a man who was a Pharisee. And so we are warranted, to use his example in the exposition of this parable.

42:52 In Philippians chapter 3, the Apostle Paul says in verse 3, For we are the true circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, Philippians 3, 3, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If any other man thinketh to have confidence in the flesh, I yet more. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamite, in the Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee, as touching zeal, persecuting the church, as touching the righteousness which is in the law, found.

43:38 So what does he say?

43:40 He says, If you regard my conduct in terms of the external demands of the law,

43:46 finger blame at me, Saul of Tarsus. Everything a good Jew was supposed to do, I did it, and even more. I outstripped.

43:59 So Paul, for the early part of his life, could have taken, this as his prayer book, and found it very much to his liking. I thank thee, I am not his other man. I fast.

44:12 I welcome this, as a written prayer, that he could enter into hearts.

44:18 So what in the world ever happened to him to change him? Well, turn back to Romans 7, and you'll see what happened.

44:24 That very law that he thought was a stepping stone into the presence of God, he realized that he never had understood it. He looked upon the law as that which touched merely the externals, until God turned the light on. And now he tells us what happens. Verse 7 of Romans 7.

44:42 Having demonstrated that in our justification, the law has no part in terms of the ground of our acceptance before God, he then anticipates an objection. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid.

44:59 Now he's going to tell us what the right function of the law is. Howbeit I had not known sin except through the law. Now, wait a minute. A Pharisee who had not known sin, wasn't that the basis of all his Pharisaic activity?

45:18 To be clean from sin. Isn't that why you were circumcised? To show that you weren't a part of the sinful nations of the Gentiles. You were part of the separated, holy people of Israel.

45:31 Isn't this why you went up to the temple at the appointed times of sacrifice? Isn't this why there was a day of atonement? ...offerings and all the rest of it?

45:45 And yet Paul said, I had never... Because until your spiritual demands of the law, you don't see sin.

45:57 You're still... You're beautiful.

46:02 What happened to him? Well, let's read on. I had not known sin except through the law and coveting, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet, but sin-finding occasion wrought in me through the commandment, all manner of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead.

46:27 You see, sin is not a living principle. It's just a word. And as a Pharisee, I had that word in my vocabulary. And I had much activity that seemed to relate to the problem of sin.

46:36 But sin was not a living issue. And I was alive apart from the law once. But when the commandment came, sin revived. And the commandment which was unto life, I found to be unto death.

46:50 For sin-finding occasion through the commandment beguiled me and through it slew me, so that the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good. Did then that which is good become death to me? God forbid. But sin, that it might be shown to be sin by working death in me through that which is good, that through the commandment sin might become exceeding sinful.

47:17 What happened? The Holy Ghost began to show Paul the real meaning of the law. And the commandment which is most spiritual in its very framing is the tenth commandment. You see, as long as you look at the first commandment, the first nine, no other gods before me.

47:33 Paul could reason, I never bow down to a heathen idol. I check off fine on that one. Don't make any idols and bow down and worship or serve them. Paul could say, no, I worship at God's appointed place.

47:44 And the only accoutrements of worship that are there are the ones God ordained should be there by the revelation He gave through Moses. I check out positive there. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. No, siree, I won't even mention Jehovah's name.

48:00 No, siree. I never even take His name upon my lips, lest I should take it in vain. And so I use the other name for God. I don't use His sacred name.

48:09 Fourth commandment, remember this. You see, Paul could check out pretty good with all those because, as he viewed them, they only taught his external conduct. Now the Holy Ghost began to shed some light on that tenth commandment. Thou shalt not covet.

48:23 And so he begins to ask himself now, with what do you covet? With your hands? No. With your feet?

48:29 No. Covet with? Coveting with some attitude. With some attitude of the heart.

48:36 You fix your affections on objects that are either forbidden by God or are not provided by God for you in your present circumstances. And he says, I saw that that commandment pulled the touches, and then what probably happened, and if not it should have happened, and certainly did later according to his teaching, he then got the key to all the others. The key. And Paul saw then that though he had never reached his hand in a man's pocket and taken his wallet, he had been a thief in that there had been a covetous desire after other men's possessions. He saw, thought he had never murdered.

49:44 He later on says, I was a murdered blasphemer. And saw that when he allowed his eyes to rest upon the form of a woman, so as to provoke lust and desire since searchable relations, he had the seventh commandment. And when as a little boy he had allowed anger and resentment to rise up to the directions of his parents' commandment, and when he had come to Sabbath days with no delight in the God of the Sabbath, but simply going through the rounds in the fourth commandment, and so down to the first, he says the law is, and its demands are spiritual, and its demands touch the heart. Poor, poor Pharisee. He didn't have a clue of this. Because my friend, when you begin to understand the law of God, and its demands upon the heart, you'll never brag about your character being better than anybody else's.

50:52 You will feel, without any attempt of forcing the language, that you indeed are the chiefest of sinners. For that law will discover in your heart forms of evil, and you'll never think about bragging about your religious performances, because you know that in your holiest performances, there is something of spiritual. And that spiritual, even as a believer, who amongst us today would like to say, God want the measure of my zeal in praying, the measure of my warmth, of my holy in respond, to be the basis upon which you accept me into your presence. Is that what you want? God have mercy on you. There's not a one of us who is truly born of the Spirit of God who does not say reflexively, I dare not.

51:56 Trust my sweetest frame, but holy in Jesus' name. What was wrong with this Pharisee? Why could he pray such a prayer? Because he was totally ignorant of the spiritual demands of the law of God.

Ignorance of God's Appointed Way of Accepting Sinners

52:16 And if I'm speaking tonight to anyone, man, woman, fellow, or girl, who thinks that your character is sufficient with making up some of its lacks by your religious performance, to find acceptance with God, I pray that God will flip the switch. Show you your heart. ...to comply with the directives of Scripture, that under God may be blessed to do that. Let me urge upon you a prayerful, careful reading of the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus takes the Pharisaic limitations on the law and strips them away, and shows that anger is breach of the commandment against murder. Lust is breach of the commandment against murder. Preach against the commandment relative to adultery, and so on down the line.

53:06 What is he doing? Showing the Pharisee that the law of God touches the intents and the thoughts of the heart. If you think God is pleased with religious performances that do not flow from a heart that has owned its sin and its uncleanness, read the first chapter of Isaiah, where God says to his people, What unto me is the multitude of your sacrifices, your new moons, your feasts, your holy days? ...sick of them, God says.

53:41 He said, I'm concerned about the heart, not the external religious form. And then I'll just give you the head that I hope to flesh out next week. The third thing that was the problem of this poor man, that he was ignorant of God's appointed way of accepting sinners. He was ignorant of God's appointed way of accepting sinners.

54:05 His prayer is a plea for acceptance on the grounds of personal, moral character and personal religious performances. And on that basis he condemns himself, because the teaching of the word of God from Genesis to Revelation is that God has always had but one ground of accepting sinners. And it's the righteousness which he performs and he imputes, and it is received by faith and by faith alone. The publican went down to his house, it says, justified.

54:42 He had no time to build up anything in the bank of merit. All he had done was own his place as a sinner. Looked to God and Jesus said he went down with him. He found God's way of accepting guilty sinners.

55:02 And that way is the way of pure grace, the way of faith alone, the way of the merit and righteousness of Christ alone. Oh, may God, be pleased to turn the light off. Why did this Pharisee pray the way he prayed? He prayed that way generally because of his native spiritual ignorance, augmented and intensified by false religious teaching.

Call to Self-Examination and Repentance

55:30 Specifically, he prayed that way because he was ignorant of the doctrine of the fall of man, ignorant of the spiritual demands of the law, ignorant of God's way. Ignorant of God's way of accepting sinners. Has this been a description of you tonight? If it has, I know that some of you have been in a state of intense spiritual pain, just as real as if someone with a ham hand had taken your wrist and given you a good Indian burn.

56:05 You felt pain tonight because it's never pleasant to have God flip the light switch on and show the native deformity that you thought was beauty. This idea of people getting happy-fied to Jesus is downright foolishness and spiritual quackery. God will wound you before he ever heals you. But thank God he wounds you in order to heal you.

56:28 He says through the prophet, I am the Lord, I wound and I heal. I kill and I make alive. Paul said, The law slew me. That's the same Paul who could say, Nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me.

56:44 And you'll never be able to say, Christ liveth in me, until you can say the law slew me. And I died. Oh, may God help some of you who've been tripping through evangelical professions of faith and evangelical forms, ceremony, and you've never seen your heart. I call upon you tonight to stop playing games with God.

57:07 Plead with him for mercy. Cast yourself upon his grace. And you who know what it is to have had the light go on, will you not pray that the remains of the Pharisee within may be proven? All of us have some of him yet with us.

57:25 And we look disgustingly upon certain segments of our society and say, Don't we? I thank thee I am not as they. Rather we should say, Lord, I thank thee, though I am as they, I am now what I am, by the grace of God and by grace alone. May God then use this word in our lives as his people as well.

57:49 Let us pray together.