Be Merciful To Me, The Sinner

I often wonder what it would have been like to be there when Jesus was teaching, if you could have been with him. Have you ever been with someone in your life that at some measure you feel like they can just see inside of you? They know your thoughts. They know what your motivations are. They have your number. You can't fool them. I've had people in my life that way where I feel like I'm just laid bare before them. There's no sense even trying to... to spin it or to make excuse or to avoid. Because they know who I am. They know what I am. They know what I'm like. And it's really intimidating. And it would have been so much more so with Jesus. Because anyone that we're thinking about having this kind of knowledge, they have a limited knowledge of us. And there are some things we might be able to fool them on. But Jesus, you couldn't fool him. You couldn't mislead him. You couldn't distract him. You couldn't take him off of the trail. He knew everything.

And he knew everyone. And so this morning in our text, he teaches a parable to some people that he knew. And he knew what their problem was. And so he made a story, a parable up just for them to teach them a lesson. And if you know people in this life or in your life now who know you well, you have to also understand that Jesus knows you well. He knows you better than anyone else. And so as we read this text and as we study it, I want you to presume, and it will take humility for you and for me to put ourselves in the proper position. I want you to presume that you fit in the camp of the people he's teaching. That in the same way that he knew their heart, he knows your heart. And so I want us to come to the word this morning with humility. If we don't, we're going to be really frustrated by what he has to say. All right? Would you stand now for the reading of God's word?

from Luke 18, verses 9 through 14. This is the word of the Lord, and it is eternally true. And he also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself, God, I thank you that I'm not like other people, swindlers, unjust. adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I pay tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled. But he who humbles himself, will be exalted. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Now, Jesus is a good storyteller. And so everything about this parable, which is just another word for a story, a story with a principle or a moral or a lesson in it, everything that Jesus tells us in this parable has a point. It's meant to instruct us. It's meant to teach us something. Even the people that he picks.

the characters that he puts into it. You know, if you read Aesop's fables, you start to learn the character of different animals. And so if you run into a fox, what do you know about foxes? They're cunning, they're sly, you can't trust them. And whenever a fox shows up in a story, you go, you can't trust that guy because he's a bad guy. You just know it about foxes. And we could go through other characters, and you could say, here's what I know about a stallion. Whenever a horse or stag shows up, some big, magnificent animal shows up, I know something about him. I know he's the good guy. I know he's the one who's going to save things. I know he's not the idiot in the story. And Jesus is wise, and so in this parable, he gives us two characters. He gives us a Pharisee, and he gives us a tax collector. And the purpose of giving us these characters is to polarize his hearers from the very beginning.

Who are you going to identify with in this story? When you read your children's stories, you want them to learn something. You want them to identify with someone in the story and go, I want to be like them, or I don't want to be like them. And so in this story, as soon as Jesus says, there were two men who went up to the temple to pray, a Pharisee and a tax collector, you're faced with a choice. Who are you going to identify with? Who are you going to pull for? Who is the good guy? And who is the fox? And we sit here and go, well, the tax collector, we want to be the tax collector. And I say, only because you know how the story ends. But if you had lived in their time, you would never have chosen the tax collector to identify with. You would have chosen the Pharisee. Because the Pharisees were the well-respected, wealthy, put-together religious leaders of the day. And they looked good. They were popular. They were respected. They were trusted.

And so as soon as he said, there's two men in a story and one of them is a Pharisee, you go, there's the good one. He's the guy. And when you contrast him with a tax collector, there's no doubt anymore. The Pharisee is the one you want because the tax collectors were despised. A tax collector in that day would have been a Jew who worked for the Roman government and whose job it was to collect taxes from the Jews to give to the Romans. And so they were viewed as traitors to their people, and extortionists, because they took money from God's people and gave it to the pagans. And nobody liked that. So on the one hand, you've got well-respected preachers, and on the other hand, you have IRS agents. Who are you pulling for? It's not hard to figure out. Now, I want you to note from the beginning that Jesus...

picks a Pharisee, but the temptations or the foolishness, you know, when I read what the Pharisee said, some of you laughed. It's just laughable that someone would speak so grossly, so plainly in their pride, as we understand it. But that sort of behavior is not limited to Pharisees. You remember at the very beginning, Jesus says, he's going to tell a parable to who? To some people who trusted in themselves. that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt. Now, we understand that that ultimately is going to be the description of the Pharisee. But that description is not limited to the Pharisees. It's actually true of the people that he's listening to. He is telling the hearers what they are like. So think of it this way. When you go around and you get into a group of people, or you see a group of people, are you capable of making a judgment of the group and saying, This is what they are like. I think every one of us is capable of it. If you're sitting at a stoplight and the car next to you is rattling and all the windows and the trunks and everything's boom, boom, you know, you can make a judgment about what you think they're like. Well, we all do it. And it could be, or if you're up on the north side and you see all of the people out on the golf course with their, you know, all dressed all nice in the middle of the day out playing golf, you can make a judgment about them.

What are they like? Or what are the landscapers like that are mowing the grass? We see groups of people, and we don't have any trouble saying, this is what those people are like. And that's all Jesus is doing in here. He's got people that are in front of him that he's going to teach, and he knows what they're like. And so he teaches to them. And so when we come into this text, we have to begin, as I said earlier, from a state of humility, realizing the danger that we face to fit the description that Jesus gives. that there were some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and that they viewed others with contempt. If we're not willing to say that temptation, and not only that temptation, but the actual sin resides in my heart, if we aren't willing to go there, we can't go any further in this text. That is the entry gate. You have to be willing to say to yourself, I am like that. To some extent, somewhere, I am like that.

And so then you have this Pharisee's description. God, I thank you that I am not like other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and I pay tithes of all that I get. What's your impression of the Pharisee at this point? Is he honest or is he a liar? How many of you think he's a liar? How many of you think he's being honest? What he's saying is true. I got like one and a half hands for true. I got... Half a dozen hands for lying, and the rest of you are afraid. Okay, would you go up? Think for a minute. Put yourself in this man's shoes. He has gone to the temple to pray. At a time that is not required, this is just a matter of personal devotion. He has gone into the presence of God, walked right up to him, and is praying to himself. Silently is what that means. It's not audible. He's praying.

I'm glad I am not like other people. Is he telling God the truth or a lie? No. Why do you think he's lying? Okay, yeah, he doesn't know himself. Okay, so at some level, I grant to you, he's not telling the whole truth. At some place in his heart, at some place in his life, he has been unjust, and he has been a swindler, and he has been adulterous. In some way. So can anybody say that? Is there ever a time where anybody can say something to the effect of, I'm innocent of the blood of all men, because I have not shrunk back from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Can Paul say that to the Ephesian elders, or is he lying too? He can say it. And so if you think that this Pharisee is a liar, that what he's saying is just, patently a lie, that he actually has a harem of women, and he's gone into the presence of God and said, I'm not an adulterer. If you think he's a liar, you have to ask why, because there's nothing in the text that indicates that he has lied at all. And when Jesus describes him, he doesn't address this. He could have started this parable out and warned us not to be liars and hypocrites like the Pharisee, but he doesn't ever address that part.

He says, there was a Pharisee who went and said, God, I thank you that I'm not like other people. I'm not a swindler. I'm not unjust. I'm not an adulterer. And I'm not like this tax collector. And he's telling the truth. Think of it this way. Have you ever met someone that would fit this description? They're not a swindler. They're not unjust. They're not an adulterer. Sure you have. You've met people like that. And you wouldn't be lying to say he's faithful and he's humble and he loves his wife and kids and he's a hard worker and he doesn't take advantage of people and he's fair and just. You all know people you would describe that way. So is it wrong for this man to describe himself? Is he lying to describe himself that way? Or is he simply acknowledging that his life, to his knowledge, is righteous? Think of it this way.

How will you live if you can never believe that your life, that you could ever say something like this, that I have been righteous? What's going to happen is the floodgates of your sin are going to open up because you go, this is what people do. They just lie. Nobody's actually righteous. No one actually is faithful to their wives. No one's actually honest and fair and just. Everyone's just out to do whatever it is that pleases them all of the time. Therefore, I have to do the same thing because that's what everyone else is doing, so I've got to play the game. And it becomes a justification. If we accuse this man of lying, it becomes a justification for us being unrighteous. But nothing here indicates that he's lying to us or lying to God. To all appearances, he is a righteous man. Thank you. Do you remember when in the Sermon on the Mount, what did Jesus say about the righteousness of the Pharisees? He says, for I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and the Pharisees,

you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. So was Jesus just being allegorical and theoretical, or did he actually mean that there's a level of righteousness that the Pharisees possess that you have to surpass? Did he mean that, or did he mean, well, actually, when I called them righteous, I actually meant that they're really unrighteous and that you shouldn't be anything like them. What he means is there is an outward, moral way of living that the Pharisees owned. This fasting twice a week in here that he does, that's not required in the law. That's simply a matter of his devotion. That's not required of him that he do that. He's gone above and beyond and he said, I'm devout. I want to serve God and here's a way. And so I'm doing it.

And we're told that our righteousness has to surpass them if we want to have hope of entering into the kingdom of heaven. And so I don't want you coming to this text and seeing this man describing himself as righteous and going, liar. Because the fruit of that, Satan will take that in you and he will turn it into a justification for you to do whatever it is that you want because no one's righteous. And that's not the case. And it fits in that a Pharisee would be the one to say he's righteous. They were the ones that were respected. They were the religious leaders. They were the ones of all the people in that society that should be emulated, that should be copied. It was them because they lived like this. They were the ones you were supposed to behave like and aspire to be like. It's very intimidating to be around people who seem perfect. All you have to do is open your eyes and you can see people that you think, my family doesn't look like that.

My car doesn't look like that. My house doesn't look like that. My clothes don't look like that. My life doesn't look like that. They're perfect. They got it all put together. They got it all figured out. They never fight. Their kids don't ever disobey. They make lots of money and have lots of money, therefore. It's very intimidating to get around people that we admire. And you remember at the beginning, I said, who do you identify with? Who do you want to be like? The people, they wanted to be like the Pharisees, and it's for this very reason. They were impressive. Their external righteousness, the way they lived, was something to behold. And that really is the danger that Jesus is addressing, is that the things that we see and that we perceive really are tempting to us. You look at other people's marriages, their families, their finances, their homes, their jobs, their cars, their food, their clothes, whatever it is, their tools, what is it? Oh, they've got it. They've got it all figured out. They got the good stuff.

I need to be like them. So let's assume for a minute that the Pharisee is telling the truth because we don't have any reason to disbelieve what he says. There are a couple of questions that arise when we see that if we walk down the path that he's telling the truth. The first question is, how is he able to do all of this? How is he able to present so well? And the answer is, outward conformity is easy. It's actually really easy. It's easy to take on a form. and project it. You know how on your phone, every time you get an update, you get new filters and new washes or whatever they're called, you can put on your pictures? You know how easy it is to dress up what reality looks like and make it look awesome? You brighten the colors, you sharpen the lines, you can do all kinds of stuff on your phone and just start clicking the buttons. And you can make, say, look, that's real life. Except that you know it's not real life. You more and more look like cartoons when you guys do that to your pictures.

That's not what real people look like. That's not what real life looks like. But it's really easy to do it, isn't it? It doesn't change the substance of the picture at all. All it does is dress it up. It puts a filter on it that says, look at how awesome. And from what we can see, we go, it really is awesome. And if you're like me, you go, I want their camera. Their camera's cooler than my camera. It can dress things up prettier than mine. I need my external to look like theirs. I need pictures of my kids to look like their pictures of their kids or my food or whatever it is you take pictures of. This Pharisee was very concerned about looking holy. And so you know what? He did. He looked holy. He looked righteous. Everyone wanted to emulate him. But outward conformity is easy. Putting filters on your pictures is easy. Putting the pretty pictures up on Facebook is easy or Snapchat or Instagram or whatever it is you do. It's really easy to lie about the reality.

And it's really easy to believe that lie or that misrepresentation when we see it. Here's another question. What did all of his righteousness profit him? What did all of his righteousness profit him? What did him not being like other people, not being a swindler, not being unjust, not being an adulterer, not being like the tax collector, what did it benefit him? The answer is nothing. It didn't benefit him at all. At the end of the text, we're told, I tell you, this man, speaking of the tax collector, that he went to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and that's the Pharisee. He's exalting himself, and he will be humbled. But he who humbles himself, he will be exalted. Nothing that this man listed off counted for anything in God's sight. God was not impressed. Matthew Henry comments on this. He says, the Pharisee is not accepted as righteous in God's sight because he is so righteous in his own sight.

He is so sure that he is so good that he doesn't need God's approval because he is confident in who he is. He knows that he's a righteous man. Could you imagine for a second approaching God the way he approached God? You have to believe something about God to be able to, in his character and his nature, to go to him and to speak in the way that this man spoke. You have to believe that the things you say matter to him. That if you come to him and you say, look at me, I'm not like all these other people. I'm righteous like you. You've got to believe that that's what he wants out of you, that he wants you to be just and fair and faithful. Now, does he want you to be those things? Yes. But to what end? So that he'll accept you? So that you'll be saved? Are those the things that make up salvation? From hell? From death? You know, when I became a Christian, I was talking to someone recently, and...

They said, when did you figure out you wanted to be a pastor? Because I didn't grow up in the church or anything like that. And I said, well, basically as soon as I became a Christian. But even before I became a Christian, I knew a couple of things about myself. I knew that I like people. I care about them. I know that I like to teach. I like to talk. And I knew that I did not want to go to college because I did not like school. And so I thought for a while, I'll be a teacher of some sort. But I didn't want to go to college to get a degree to become a teacher, so I just started climbing trees. But the very rudimentary elements of what a pastor, some of the stuff a pastor is, were in me long before I was even a Christian in terms of desire. I wanted to talk to people. I wanted to teach them. I wanted to help them. And so then as soon as I became a Christian and my life went from a mess

and confusion. I didn't even understand it. And then finally it's like, oh, okay, it makes sense now. I understand why I've had this pain and I've had this struggle and I understand the way out of it now through Jesus Christ. Immediately, I wanted to be able to tell other people about it. And so then was born my desire to become a pastor. Now, I had not led this man's life. I could not say what he had said. And so the question arose in my mind, can I be a pastor? Because I am not a righteous person. I've done all kinds of terrible things. And I don't know that I can be a pastor. This is a question I had because I didn't grow up in the church and I didn't know what it meant to be a pastor. I just knew that this was the best news I'd ever heard and it's what I wanted to spend my life telling people. But I didn't know if I was allowed to, at least in that capacity.

I didn't know at that time who God was to the extent that I do now, or who I was, or what any of this stuff looked like. But I did know that I wasn't righteous. And I had learned through the previous year or so that I didn't deserve anything good. And I certainly didn't deserve God's kindness or his mercy. Not in my life. Not good things. Maybe... Maybe salvation, but not because of anything in me. Hopefully salvation. And yet this Pharisee comes into God's presence and boasts of his righteousness because he thinks that's what's pleasing to God. Well, what's that mean to those of us who don't have righteousness to boast of? Is there any place for you in the kingdom? If that's what's important to God, is there any place for you? Can you approach God? The answer most of us are sitting here thinking is, nope, nope.

I don't know exactly how this works, but I sense that something's wrong with what that guy said. And Jesus tells us at the end, God was not pleased and did not accept this man. And the reason he did not accept him is because God is opposed to the proud. And so one way of thinking about it is, in one way, to get depressed or discouraged and thinking, God would not have anything to do with me because I'm bad. But at the same time, we're willing to look at other people and go, I'm really glad I'm not like you. Is there anyone here who would say, I haven't looked down my nose at someone and went, I'm glad your life is not my life. I'm glad your station in life is not mine. I don't think there's any of us who can say that. I'm glad that I'm not like you. And so we're like the Pharisee. Then we come to the tax collector. And it's reasonable to presume that this Pharisee and this tax collector went up to the temple together.

because the Pharisee in his prayer makes mention of the tax collector. He was aware that he was there, and it's not because the tax collector was standing with him up in the temple. And so you can presume that they came up together, they had some knowledge of it, and that as they were coming up, the Pharisee was thinking to himself, man, I'm glad I'm not like you. Then he goes up and he prays. And at some point, he leaves the tax collector behind, because the tax collector, he stood some distance away. He was not willing. to come in and draw near to God. He was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven. So have you been around people or have you ever been in a situation where you don't want to be near someone? And it's not because you don't like them. You actually really do want to be around them. Think about in high school when you weren't the cool kid, but you wanted to be with the cool kids. And you watched them from a distance and you got as close as you felt like you could get without being noticed. You wanted to hear what they were saying.

You wanted to be in the in crowd, but you knew that if you went out, you felt like if I go over too close, they're not going to have me. So I'll sit the next table over at lunch. Maybe I'll hear. I'll pay attention to where they sit on the bus, and I'll sit near where they sit, and maybe they'll talk to me. But you had this sense that you didn't belong. You knew you weren't like them. There was some level of shame in your understanding of yourself. Now, if we're willing to do that, excuse me. In high school, with the cool kids, if you have some knowledge of God and his holiness and his righteousness, doesn't it follow that you would be, have some level of concern about drawing near to him? That that would be intimidating and scary. Hebrews encourages us to draw near to the throne of grace because God's people each have this temptation in them or this reticence.

This hesitation. Because they know who they are. They know what they've done. They know they're not like the Pharisee. And so they stay off a ways back. And I want to note to you that this man staying off, this tax collector staying off, was different than him staying home. His conception of God was not such that he had no hope. And he just went, well, I'll just stay home and woe is me. He actually came up to the temple. He did draw near to God in some level. He drew as near as he felt like he could get. He wanted to be around God. But he knew that there was a problem. He knew that God was holy. He knew that he was a sinner. And he wasn't confident to come right up. And so he stands a ways off. And he won't lift up his eyes to heaven. And he stands there looking down, beating his chest, asking for mercy. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. So on the one hand, if you were to compare these prayers,

The Pharisee's prayer, God, I thank you that I'm not like others. And God, be merciful to me, the sinner. You have very clear contrast of humility in the tax collector and pride in the Pharisee. This tax collector knows something about himself that each one of us needs to know about ourselves. And the thing that he knows about himself, he will never outgrow. He will never mature past. The fact that he's a sinner. And this man is not without hope. And he's not without peace. He doesn't boast of anything. He doesn't come to God to negotiate with him or to bargain or to make excuse. He simply comes and begs that God would be merciful to him. To the extent that he knows he's a sinner and he knows that God is holy, he asks God to reconcile what he can't. That's his prayer. Be merciful to me, the sinner.

simply a prayer of confession, and it's a sufficient prayer of confession. So is it sufficient simply to parrot back the words that this man has prayed? Will that make us like him? Because in the end, you remember, he was justified. He went away justified, which means that he went away as one of God's children. He went away pleasing to God. Whatever love and affection that you have for family in your life, God's love is better than that. And this man went away an object of God's love, a recipient of it. So he had a good thing. He had what we all should want. If that's not what we want, if the goal of our lives is not to be justified and to live in eternity with God, then why are we here?

It's sort of the aim. It's sort of the goal of everything that we're here to do. If we don't intend and desire to spend all of eternity with God, then we shouldn't be here because that's the point of being here, is that we would become like this man justified in God's sight. And so if we're to be justified in his sight, we have to be humble like him. And we have to be willing to acknowledge our sin. Now, could he have approached closer up into the temple? He could have. Hebrews tells us that we can, we should. We're encouraged to do so. Because Jesus lived and died and was raised again. We're actually told, you have access now. Not to come in flippantly, but to come in. And so we're to be like the tax collector. He was not a popular guy. He was not an impressive man. He probably lived a pretty simple life. But he loved God. And he knew he was a sinner. And he wasn't afraid to admit it.

Actually, he was kind of afraid to admit it, but he wasn't so afraid that he didn't admit it. He was a humble man. He who humbles himself will be exalted. So the application is simple. You have before you two men. Who are you going to be? Who do you want to be? Are you willing to confess your sins and plead with God simply to be merciful with you because it's in his nature and character to be merciful to sinners? Or will you spend your life trying to impress him and other people, thinking that that's going to benefit you somehow? Humility is essential to the Christian faith. The temptation to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to is constant. And it goes hand in glove with looking down on other people. You ever heard people talk about, when they're talking about someone else, well, she has her on a pedestal. You ever hear people talk this way? They have such and such on, and it can be a family member, it can be some,

author, some blogger, some actress, whoever. She's got them on a pedestal. You ever been the person that's on the pedestal? Where you know people look up to you and they think you're great and you know the temptation that you face to try to just really make them think you're just the best there is? If you face that temptation, I want to reframe it and tell you that when you want to impress other people, it is you looking down on them. You're willing for them to think more highly of you than they ought. And it strokes your ego. It scratches your ears. Someone finally agrees with me about how great I am. I'll show them all the more. And so if you find yourself looking down on other people, I'm glad I'm not like you. I'm glad I don't have your burdens or your life. You're behaving as a Pharisee. And I want to note to you that you probably don't do this outwardly. The Pharisee did pray to himself, after all. He kept quiet. It was in his heart. We don't generally...

Tell other people we think we're better than them. Do you? I don't. I don't normally go around and tell people, you know what, I think you're pathetic, and I'm really glad that I don't have your life. Do I think it sometimes? Oh, yeah, just like you do. But we don't say it. In God's eyes, it makes no difference whether we say it or whether we keep silent about it. If that's what's in our heart, there it is. If you look down on other people, you'll never be able to be compassionate or merciful. toward them. And that's what people need. That's what this tax collector needed. He needed mercy. You need mercy. And other people need mercy. You say, mercy doesn't work. I say, you're smarter than God then, and you have a better plan. We're to love other people the way that we've been loved. And we have the same need that this man needs. And God's provided it to us through his son, Jesus.

And so it's our privilege to be able to be ambassadors of this love and this mercy to other people. And that starts in your house. I'm not simply talking about people outside. I'm saying if you won't love the people in your own house, your own spouse, your own children, your own parents, if you will not be merciful with them, don't waste your time trying to impress people by being merciful with your neighbors because it's a lie. Start with the people of your own house. Be merciful to your wife. Be merciful to your husband. Be merciful to your children. One of my kids bought a notepad on it. Amos, where are you at? You're sitting here somewhere. There you are. Are you the one that bought the notepad, right? What did it say on it? Do you remember? You don't remember? Oh, it's funny. It says, mistakes are proof that we're trying. And it was like, it's really simple. And it was...

From Meyer or whatever. And it's really a helpful thing to have notes left on. Because there's all kinds of mistakes in our house regularly. Mistakes are proof that we're trying. And so be merciful. That's what I took away. That's the part that wasn't written. That's the conclusion. So give what you've received. If you know you need mercy and you've received mercy, give it to other people. If you need mercy and you haven't received it, Do what the tax collector did. I'm happy to talk with you about that. I can tell you that this man went home much less burdened than the Pharisee did. The Pharisee went home impressed with himself but condemned. The tax collector went home free and relieved and at peace. And you can't buy that. And you don't need a fancy filter on your phone to convince people that that's the truth. Let's pray.