How to Tap the Mercy of God | Lon Solomon

[Music] well hello everybody and welcome to live with lon i'm so glad that you're here to join me as we study the word of god today and today we have one of my very favorite passages uh in uh the gospels or in the whole bible for that matter uh it's the story of the parable of the uh the uh publican the tax collector and the pharisee uh and uh we'll get there in a moment uh but let's pray here we go lord jesus we thank you for the opportunity to study the word of god today and lord jesus speak to our hearts deeply forgive our sin from this week and this day fill our heart with your spirit and lord speak to us deeply and help us not to be like the pharisee the rabbi in this story we're about to read but lord help us be like the tax collector and forgive us for those areas of our life where every one of us sometime can be like the rabbi the pharisee and uh use your word lord to rebuke us in those areas and to cause us to change and we pray this in jesus name and everybody said amen and what amen and of course causes to change with the power of the holy spirit of course okay now as i said we're studying the gospel of luke we're studying the gospels but we're in the gospel of luke and we're uh in the portion where uh luke chapter 18 where jesus is approaching jerusalem for the very last time he's going to the cross to the grave and then uh out of the grave resurrected and back to heaven and he tells the parable here in this story right after telling the parable that we looked at last week about the unjust judge and how to never give up in prayer now he tells us another parable and uh as i said this is one of my favorite uh uh passages in all the bible and uh because it's powerful to me and i hope it'll be powerful to you okay without any further ado let's go we're in luke chapter 18 and we begin at verse 9 new king james version bible here we go and he spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others these were the pharisees uh par excellence uh the pharisees uh were self-righteous uh on steroids and not only that but they looked down on everybody who didn't meet up to in their opinion uh of their uh definition of righteous the bible tells us not to trust in ourselves as a way of earning god's mercy and love and acceptance and getting our way into heaven listen romans chapter 3. let's look at it verse 20 it says therefore by the deeds of the law by human works no flesh no human being will be justified in his that is god's sight and what about titus chapter 3 verse 5 which says that our salvation comes not by works of righteousness which we have done and then of course the bible also warns us about judging uh other people and looking down on them uh romans chapter 14 who are you to judge another man's servant and james chapter 4 verse 12 there is only one law giver and judge who are you to judge your fellow man so uh people who did this like this pharisee were about to see uh are out of step with god in both areas trusting in themselves that they're righteous that they can earn their own righteousness and looking down and judging other people so here comes the parable two men went up to the temple that is in jerusalem to pray one was a pharisee and the other a tax collector now uh these two people were all were polar opposites when it came to society in ancient israel the pharisee was a rabbi on steroids as we're going to see and the tax collector was a jewish person who worked for the roman occupation government he uh collected taxes obviously uh but the deal was uh the romans required a certain amount of taxes from each city or each neighborhood or however they did it but if the tax collector conducted more then it was his to keep and so uh these tax collectors became rich by basically extorting their own jewish people uh with the roman army to back them up so the jewish people couldn't do anything though jewish people at the time of jesus they hated these tax collectors and uh uh they were the the lowest thing on the food chain in the mind of of a jewish people at the time of christ but not only were these two guys polar opposites when it came to their standing in society but as we're about to see they were also polar opposites when it came to the way in which they approached the god of the universe let's look and see here we go and the pharisees stood and prayed thus with himself i like that because i don't think he was actually praying to god i don't think god uh hears a prayer like this and responds to it but anyway god i thank you the pharisee said that i am not like other men extortioners unjust adulterers or even like this tax collector can you hear the snobbery can you hear him looking down his nose at people around him can you hear the incredible arrogance of this man and his self-righteousness he goes on to say i fast twice a week and i give tithes of all that i possess now of course we know what the word tithe means most of us who are church goers but maybe you don't tithe is an old english word for one-tenth 10 and in the old testament uh jewish people were required to give 10 of their income whether that income be in money or in wheat or in uh a meat or whatever one tenth of their income milk products uh to uh the temple uh so that the levites and the priests who served at the temple could live off of those tithes tithing was not worshiping god tithing was income tax to operate the temple in jerusalem and all jews were required to give it if you wanted to really worship god you had to go above the tithe and do a thank offering or a worship offering or whatever so this guy said i give my tithes from everything i've got and i fast twice a week uh that's amazing to me uh no i i don't know about you but i don't fast twice a week under the lord uh i don't fast once a week unto the lord uh how many of you uh fast once a week unto the lord how many of you fast once a month unto the lord how many of you fast once a year unto the lord uh not that many of us and i'll tell you why at least for me of all the spiritual disciplines reading my bible praying memorizing scripture whatever it may be uh tithing no problem uh but fasting that that's the toughest one waiting on the lord is for me is the second tough toughest one but fasting oh my gosh you know there's two kinds of people in the world there's people who eat to live uh that's my wife and people who live to eat that's me uh uh brenda will miss a meal and she'll say oh my gosh i completely forgot about lunch folks i may skip a meal but i never miss it because i forgot about it the minute i eat breakfast i'm thinking about what's for lunch minute i eat lunch i'm thinking about what's for supper minute i'd supper i'm thinking about what's for breakfast the next day uh uh i have a love relationship uh with food what can i tell you uh fasting for me is crazy ridiculously hard uh i tried uh fasting one time and by 6 p.m in the evening i was hallucinating yeah uh and i had a couple of girl scouts come to the door selling girl scouts cookies and you know they win the trip to new york if they sell the most and i opened the door and i looked at them and i said you two i think are gonna win the trip uh uh cause i'm about a lot of cookies listen uh this guy fasted twice a week uh who doesn't who can do that i gotta give the guy props i give him props man he had religious activity uh uh in an amazing way you know ins on steroids he did okay so we understand him now and now we turn to the other character in the parable the tax collector and the tax collector standing a far off would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven but beat on his breast saying god be merciful to me a sinner now uh our world today is full of people who are like the pharisee uh the religious and non-religious people uh they don't need god's help because they believe they can help themselves uh they don't need god's forgiveness because they don't feel like they've done anything wrong they don't need god's mercy because they believe that they can earn their way out of his judgment everything that you might mention they believe they can take care of themselves which is exactly what this uh parable says about uh the pharisee i have a quote here from a well-known pharisee uh named a rabbi simeon benjokai and here's what he said and i quote we'll put it up on the screen listen to this it's a quote if there are only two righteous men in the world i and my son are these two and if there is only one righteous man in the world i am he now look at this my worthiness is so great that during my lifetime no rainbow needs to shine to ensure immunity from another great flood end of quote now are you serious do you remember god made the rainbow to assure us he would never send another flood you remember this this guy said we don't need the rainbow in my day i'm so righteous my very presence in the world guarantees that immunity now we kind of chuckle because we're like is this guy he can't be serious he was and that's where these pharisees were they were serious about their self-righteousness now the other guy we meet uh who that we just met is the tax collector the tax collector doesn't come to god with any uh personal achievements to offer to god he doesn't come to god with any religious activity fasting tithing none of that to offer to god uh he doesn't come to god uh thinking that he is righteous and other people aren't no no he comes to god he won't even approach of the prayer altar uh he he won't even look up to heaven because he's so gripped by his sinfulness he's so gripped by his unworthiness he's so gripped by his uh degradation on the inside he's so gripped by his un holiness before a holy god that all he can do is stand and beat on his chest as a sign of humility and contrition and agony before a holy god for what he is and his prayer is not flowery like the pharisees pharisees prayer was no he just says oh god be merciful to me a sinner so these are the two gentlemen we have they approach god completely differently one self-righteously one humbly one confident in himself one pleading with god for mercy now watch what jesus says he says last verse verse 14 i tell you this man the tax collector went down to his house justified this word decay oh in the greek as i've told you before means acquitted pronounced non-guilty delivered from all charges he went down justified rather than the other watch for everyone who exalts himself who was that in in the parable well the pharisee everybody who exalts himself will be a base will be brought down uh made low and he who humbles himself who was that in the parable right uh the tax collector will be exalted okay now uh that is our um parable of the the pharisee didn't get any mercy from god because he didn't come asking for any mercy from god he didn't think he needed any mercy uh from god and the mercy of god went to the tax collector who came understanding that he needed it and humbling himself before god and asking for it now that's the end of our passage but we uh want to stop now and we want to ask our most important question so are you ready come on now here we go come on nice and loud ready one two three so what that's right and how sweet i know i i i i sprung that on you ready how sweet come on it is as old jackie gleason used to say to be here teaching the word of god together with you now so what say i it's a great story what difference it make for me oh my friend oh my friend this parable makes a massive difference to you and me as human beings listen i was a chemistry major uh in college i in fact i graduated from chapel hill university of north carolina with a bs degree in chemistry bachelor of science degree in chemistry and you know one thing about chemistry is in chemistry everything operates based on formulas uh and yeah you know you mix x with y and you'll get z uh and this is you know this is the way the world works in fact a god made has made our whole world work based upon the logic and the framework of formulas and uh you might say well i'm not sure i agree with that because there are things that happen in my life that look random no there's no random not in god's world where there are things that happen in my life that i don't understand that's okay that doesn't mean that they're not happening according to a formula they're happening according to god's formula for your life whether you and i understand it at a given point or not everything in the universe happens based on formulas that god the creator of the universe has set up now he can suspend those formulas whenever he chooses that's how he wrote raise lazarus from the dead that's how we walked on water okay but unless god chooses to suspend those formulas for the whole world is grounded on them now that's true when it comes to getting mercy from god there is a formula for how we get mercy from god and this passage tells us that formula listen don't you need mercy from god i hope you understand that you do i do i always meet these people who say i want what i deserve no you don't no you don't you do not want from a holy god what you deserve oh my gosh if you got what you deserve from a holy god friends it would be a tragic tragic situation i don't want what i deserve i want god's mercy which i don't deserve but that's what i want that's what i need that's my only hope uh is god's mercy and i hope you understand that and believe that too so there's a formula as to how to tap into the mercy of god and what's the formula but jesus just told us to it told us what it is listen verse 14 luke 18 for everyone who exalts himself will be abased brought low humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted oh god please have mercy on me a sinner what did this guy get he got mercy the pharisee i fast twice a week and paid tithes and what did he get he didn't get mercy it's just that simple folks the formula is this humility before god equals mercy from god let's put that up on the screen humility before god equals mercy from god you got it that is the formula that the bible gives us and let me show you this in several other places in the bible god says this exact same thing matthew 23 verse 12 he who exalts himself will be humbled luke 14 11. jesus says this very same thing he exalts himself will be humbled of first peter chapter five yes all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility for god resists the proud but gives grace to the humble look verse 6 therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of god that he may exalt you in due time and this goes along with james chapter 4 verse 6 where james says therefore he says god of course god resists the proud but gives grace to the humble and we could go on if you want to study go to a bible gateway or something and google humility humble humbles and uh and just look and see how much god says in the bible about humility it's clear the formula humility before god equals mercy from god now before we close we ought to define humility because there's probably no single commodity in the whole world that that gets misdefined more than humility humility is not self-degradation self-deprecation uh uh self-hatred this is not humility you know i'm so bad i'm terrible you've heard me say this i'm just a worm everybody step on me i'm no good see folks that is not true humility that is mental illness true humility is not trying to humble yourself in the flesh to cover up the true state of your heart which is arrogance you understand what i'm saying it's not trying to cover up the true state of your heart it's like oh it was no i no thank you for no i didn't really do it it was a team effort when really in your heart you believe absolutely you did it and you're just waiting for somebody to insist no you did it okay well yeah i no this is not humility uh uh no this is playing games uh true humility folks is an attitude it is a way of seeing yourself and myself in light of the holy god of our universe humility is an understanding brought to us brought to our heart by the holy spirit of who we really are in the flesh what we are really made of and what really lives inside of us that is ugly and arrogant and and offensive to god and depraved and sinful yes uh this is so that when we come to god we don't come to god like the pharisee saying i i can do it myself no we come like the tax collector we understand how sinful we are the holy spirit has made us understand that we understand in our flesh how depraved we are we understand how unholy we are and we understand how undeserving we are in our flesh of god's mercy of the plan of salvation of every good and perfect gift he's ever given us of every time he's ever been forgiving towards us and merciful towards us we understand that none of that uh do we deserve and so we come beating our hearts and lowering ourselves prostrating ourselves not just on the outside on our knees but in our heart we prostrate ourselves before the living god as an unholy creature this is what isaiah said isaiah chapter 6 he was probably the holiest guy on the face of the earth but he said whoa am i i'm undone i'm coming apart at the seams he says for i am a man of unclean lips and i live among a people of unclean lips now i don't think isaiah was a man of unclean lips when compared to the people around him but here talking to a holy god you're not comparing yourself to people he's in the presence of the holiness of almighty god and it absolutely rocks him to the core peter said depart from me lord i am a sinful man the apostle paul said i am the chiefest of sinners when we really get a glimpse of the holiness of god we suddenly understand about the unholiness of us and the more we're in the bible and the more we're in prayer and the more the lord shows us who he is the more it should take us down in our in uh in our estimation of who we are and holiness means we understand that every honor every achievement every success uh every mercy god's ever given us we don't deserve it it was just the kindness of god and humility means we don't get too big for our britches folks and it's an attitude towards god it's also an attitude towards people remember the pharisee here didn't just have a problem with his attitude towards god in that he was righteous in himself he had a problem with his attitude towards people he looked down his nose down at them he he was a snob he was self-righteous he judged them harshly uh a truly humble person doesn't do that you can tell how humble you are about how you view your fellow man as well you know remember jesus said why do you worry about the speck that's in your brother's eye oh in light of the beam in your own eye we'll see humble people understand that they got a beam and because they they understand what they are before god and and a humble man understands uh that uh these folks who might be struggling uh that he's just like them and if you're trying as hard as you can this is what helps me if i'm trying as hard as i can to live for the lord and to and to live a a life of personal holiness and this is the best i could do having to come in every night and confess sin after sin to the lord i did that day if this is the best i can do uh then i have no business judging these other people who are out there trying to do the best they can do in many cases you with me so humility shows not only in how we approach god and see god it it also is how we approach people and see people we we don't look down our noses at them if anything we put our arms around them and we pray for them and we we sympathize with them because we're just as bad as they are if we understand what we are it doesn't matter whether you got a doctor in front of your name or an esquire after your name you know or what you got it's only god's mercy that you got what you got around and behind your name uh listen to me uh that addict uh on on meth or that attic on coke or or whatever it may be on prescription pills you know what if it hadn't been for god's mercy you'd have been right where they are don't you tell yourself different this is how a humble person understands the world around her or him now this is the kind of person who comes to god and beats on their breasts honestly legitimately they're not just trying to fake god out they sincerely understand how unholy and how sinful they are and they beat on their best and say oh god i'm so sorry what i did today lord i'm so sorry what i thought today about others lord i'm so sorry for my lust today uh in looking and thinking about people uh that the opposite sex that i have no business doing that lord i'm so sorry about the unkind things i said today about people lord i'm so sorry for the gossip today lord i'm so sorry for how harshly i judged other people and the malicious things i said about other lord i'm so sorry i i i'm just a sinful man i'm a sinful woman and i try it as hard as i can lord but this you know i i'm so sorry lord please forgive me please i'm sorry and when you mean it and this is the person that gets mercy from god and forgiveness from god and you say well lon if i lived like that i would not be depressed no no no no see i see if you say that you've never experienced the mercy and the forgiveness of god when god shows mercy he picks you up and he cleans you off and he forgives you fully and he um uh gives you a brand new start and says okay tomorrow long we're gonna go out we're gonna try better okay but his mercy is unconditional his love is unconditional no no no you don't you don't you don't feel terrible about yourself god's mercy keeps that from happening you just feel like you've been honest with the lord okay well this is the end of our passage humility before god equals mercy from god and friends this is why david said search my heart and show me if there's any wicked way in me it's a good prayer because the more we understand what's the wicked ways inside of us are the more we're able to come in real humility before the holy god of the universe so i urge you be in the scripture i urge you to be in prayer i urge you say lord jesus show me my heart show me what's really there humble me lord because god resists the proud but he gives grace to the humble let's pray dear lord jesus i pray today that you might convict and convince us how often every one of us as followers of christ is like the pharisee yes we are lord we don't like to admit that but if we really look at our life we have to admit yes we are we take pride in in in our service for you we look down our nose and judge other people that they're not as spiritual as we are we look down our nose and judge other people uh for behavior that we pride ourselves that we never do whether it's drinking or smoking or cussing or chewing or whatever we can be so self-righteous sometimes lord and so unaware of the beam in our own eye lord jesus forgive us bring us low that you might exalt us bring us low that you might show us mercy bring us low that we might walk with you in true intimacy and humility and we pray this in jesus name and everyone said amen well thanks for joining us i want to close with two verses today we're going to put them up on the screen first of all isaiah 57 15 here we go for thus says the high and lofty one the one who inhabits eternity whose name is holy i dwell in a high and holy place now watch and also with him who has a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and the heart of the contrite and second psalm 51 david said the sacrifices of god are a broken spirit a broken and a humble heart o god you will not despise god bless you hope you have a great week see you next week lord willing on live [Music] you

Channel: Lon Solomon Ministries

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Length: 35min 26sec (2126 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 01 2021