Ryan Kelly, "The Pharisee and Tax-Collector" - Luke 18:9-14

[Music] let us [Music] [Music] our help is in the name of the lord who made heaven and earth [Music] let all the people say if it had not [Music] if it [Music] the [Music] is [Music] earth who has not given us who has not given us [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] uh [Music] unless the lord builds the house those who build will work in vain unless the lord guards this place those who watch will wait in vain good morning let's stand hear from god's word as we begin our time our call to worship is psalm 148 this morning i'll begin and then we can read it all together it says praise the lord praise the lord from the heavens praise him in the heights praise him all his angels praise him all his host praise him sun and moon praise him all you shining stars praise him you highest heavens and you waters above the heavens now together let them praise the name of the lord for he commanded and they were created and he established them forever and ever he gave a decree and it shall not pass away praise the lord from the earth you great sea creatures and all deeps fire and hail snow and myths stormy wind fulfilling his word mountains and all hills fruit trees and all cedars beast and all livestock creeping things and flying birds kings of the earth and all peoples princes and all rulers of the earth young men and maidens together and old men and children let them praise the name of the lord for his name alone is exalted his majesty is above earth and heaven he has raised up a horn for his people praise for all his saints for the people of israel who are near to him praise the lord you ever wondered how exactly the sun and moon and stars praise the name of the lord well in part they praised by doing what they were created to do what god made them to do and that's what we're here to do this morning we're here to do what god created us for that is to worship him together and not just here in this room but we join heaven and earth we join saints of old in every age and saints across the globe is singing praise to our great god and king [Music] all creatures of our god and kings [Music] lift up your voice and with us sing o praise him hallelujah [Music] oh praise him oh praise him hallelujah [Music] let all things and worship him in humbleness [Music] three [Music] god [Music] is come and rejoice [Music] oh [Music] hallelujah [Music] he shall return in power to reign heaven and earth will join to save oh praise him hallelujah [Applause] [Music] all creatures [Music] oh [Music] [Music] amen we just sang all the redeemed washed by his blood come and rejoice at his great love and that's what we're here to do this morning is to worship our god who has sacrificial love for his people so as we sing as we pray this morning and as we study god's word let's worship the god who loves his people you may be seated well we are glad you've come this morning if you are a guest we're thankful you have come if you have any questions we're going to have pastors up front that would love to speak with you they just love to meet you so maybe just come by and say hello and introduce yourself or if you have any questions and can't come up front you can email us at info dscabq.com maybe you're just visiting churches well let us know and we'll pray for you and pray that god puts you in the place that he wants you to be in also if you're a guest or if you've been attending for a long time we have our membership class coming up this friday september 10th and saturday on friday at 6 30 p.m to 9 30 p.m and then on saturday it's 9 00 a.m to noon and we're going to be talking about what makes dsc unique and to be able to go through some of the teachings of dsc that we want you to know so that you can join our church so please come you can sign up we already have a good amount of people signed up so it'll be a great atmosphere and you can sign up on the website or on our app or you can just ask one of the pastors up front how do i sign up and they'll help you with that well i'd like to have the c cs come up they're going to mr c is going to be talking about this past summer and how we can be praying for them so yeah could you share with us yeah josiah thanks for having us this morning um church we just want to say thank you god has provided richly through the body here at desert springs we have been so encouraged we have felt so loved and so welcomed by your hospitality interacting with many of you on sunday mornings on the the missions seminar we had on saturday earlier this summer missions emphasis week coming to many of your homes and sharing during times of community groups and we just want to say thank you because it has been so rich for us and for our children to be able to reconnect with familiar faces and to meet new people and establish new relationships with many of you so we're thankful for that and because of that we're excited and we're ready to return to to our home to our field of service in north africa so we'll be heading out later this month we had asked for about the past month we've been making nota making known a prayer need for my passport which had been sent in earlier this summer to be renewed it had been delayed and we actually received that in the mail yesterday so we're really thankful for your prayers and to god for providing so i want to i want to go with one word of encouragement to you all um just to continue knowing christ continue pursuing him in light of what god has done for you in christ continue to to love him and seek him with all of your heart and continue to make him known in this community we are on partnership we are a mission together in north africa as you support us to do the work and we remember you and your prayers as you are here in albuquerque seeking to make christ known so be faithful with that three prayer requests we have as we prepare to leave later this month first practically um we're traveling during the time of covid pray that the borders would remain open that we'd have negative covet tests and just so we'd be able to return to our homes on the timetable that we have trusting god in that of course pray for god's word to go ahead of us that it would speed ahead of us that god would be opening ears and eyes of people to understand to hear and see and believe and that he would be building his church in size in north africa and finally pray for the three believers that we work with in north africa for kevin alice and nancy they suffer for the sake of the gospel and they are your brothers and sisters in christ so remember them frequently in your prayers please yeah yeah we want to join you in prayer and so we have these brand new prayer cards they've been updated so if you have one you can grab a new one they're in the on the south wall in the foyer on one of the tables you can grab these it gives some things we can be praying for some information about giving and uh how to get updates from them uh but i would encourage you grab a couple you know put one on a refrigerator on a wall in your bible uh have these in your kids rooms you want to encourage your children to be praying for our missionaries and that's just going to implicitly teach them the gospel is central and and sharing the gospel is central uh to the christian life so i would encourage you to do that now please join me as i pray for the seas our heavenly father we praise you for you have redeemed your church from the power of sin and death while we were dead in our sins you made us alive together in christ and lord we praise you for saving mr and mrs c and sustaining their faith we thank you for their faithful witness to muslims in north africa we are so encouraged by our partnership with them we now ask for even greater closeness we ask that we would be able to say that we share in their troubles like paul said about the philippian church god we pray that you would bless the seas children's time in north africa help them to grow in wisdom knowledge and stature but most of all give them saving faith god we want most of all that they would know the joy of your salvation and that they would become like your son jesus god we pray for the muslims that the seas love and have been sharing the gospel with we pray for richard matteo lisa faith and kevin's wife we pray that you would open their ears to your words of truth and and grant them the courage to leave everything behind no matter what the cost and put their hope solely on you we pray that you would bless the seas with boldness and sharing the gospel give them wisdom so that they can be wise as serpents and as innocent as doves in their gospel proclamation give them honor in their community as they serve the needy and raise children in the fear of the lord help the seas marriage to be a testimony of christ and his love for the church and may that lead to gospel conversations god we pray that you would bless this next term for the seas use them in our church to grow the church in north africa for the sake of north africans and for your glory and we pray all this in jesus name who rules at your right hand amen and let us stand now and continue in prayer through song [Music] each week we have an element of confession in our gatherings they can take various forms can be a reading could be a prayer and today we will sing our confession together and cry out for mercy [Music] we cry out lord here now our sins are too much to hold [Music] wash our tears we then leave help our unbelief [Music] lord have mercy lord have mercy on us [Music] jesus [Music] with your blood wash us wide [Music] your children transferred from death to life [Music] lord have mercy [Music] lord have mercy [Music] have mercy [Music] lord [Music] let your voice cry out for mercy [Music] see lord have mercy on [Music] i stand amazed in the presence of jesus i wonder how he could love me a sinner can live unclean [Music] he made them [Music] you believe it [Music] shall never be [Music] me [Music] his face [Music] my song shall ever be [Music] [Music] shall ever be how marvelous how [Music] if you believe that same amen amen paul writes this in first timothy i thank him who has given me strength christ jesus our lord because he judged me faithful appointing me to his service though formerly i was a blasphemer persecutor and insolent opponent but i received mercy because i had acted ignorantly in unbelief and the grace of our lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in christ jesus the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that christ jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom i am the foremost but i received mercy for this reason that in me as the foremost jesus might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life to to the king of the ages immortal invisible the only god be honor and glory forever and ever amen amazing mercy immense and free let us rejoice in the mercy we have found in christ [Music] for me [Music] amazing love how can it be that thou my god should die [Music] how can it be die for me [Music] is [Music] himself [Music] oh my god [Music] thou my god should die for [Music] and nature night thine i defuse a quick [Music] [Applause] [Music] my chains fell off my heart was free [Music] amazing love how can it be [Music] now i dread jesus and all in him is [Music] righteousness [Music] how can [Music] amazing [Music] that thou my god should die for me oh lord how good and sweet it is to gather with brothers and sisters in christ to recount in song what you have done for us how gracious you have been how you have worked on our behalf to redeem us from our sin and condemnation it's good to recount these things it's good for us to stand in awe together to marvel at them to ponder them afresh and now as we look into your word and gaze upon it with some patience we pray we would even see more how much we need a savior like we have and how great a savior you have given us in jesus we pray in his name amen you could be seated while we're in luke 18 today luke chapter 18 as we bring this series of parables in luke to a close as you're turning to luke 18 let me get us started by thinking about the fact that i think we all want to be accepted we all want to be approved in one way or another this is just part of life you apply to a college and hopefully a month or two later you get a letter in the mail and it says congratulations you've been accepted or you interview for a job and then hopefully you get an email sometime after that says we'd like to offer you the position or a young man proposes to a woman that he'd like to marry and hopefully she says yes and a few years later that couple may apply for a home mortgage and there's some sigh of relief when they hear you have been approved and it's not just the big things in life someone in the family makes a new recipe of brownies and that person wants everyone in the family to try them try it what do you think do you like them doesn't have to be the best brownie ever but hopefully it's good enough for us all to enjoy this evening now some would abandon that path thinking that it's a fool's errand to get approval from anyone so they say they don't care anymore what anyone thinks of them but inevitably the new path thereon their new project is one of self-justification it's now according to their own rules their criteria their own self-assessment and their own approval of themselves as stuart smalley said i'm good enough i'm smart enough and dog on it people like me we may have different metrics for measuring success we may have different areas of life that we want to have approved we might have different audiences who we would like to get approval from but it's within us to long for approval and acceptance and being justified of course the most important assessment that we'll ever face is the one not before mom and dad not before our kids not before our bosses not before teachers but one we face before god what does god think of me where do i stand before god that's the most important and really most sobering matter we saw it last week in the parable of the rich man in lazarus this is a sobering important matter because it's permanent final forever eternal and it's serious and sobering because well god knows us he knows us from the inside out he knows us better than we know ourselves so there's no deceiving him there's no winging it there's no fudging on the resume there's no use trying to show him only the good and holding back the bad he knows it all so what will he say when we appear before him in eternity and can we know that now can we know it now i'd like to know it now i don't like waiting for the verdict i don't like waiting for the news that could be good or could be bad i want it now can we know now before god says depart for me i never knew you or well done my servant welcome into the joy of your master or can we at least learn of the kind of person that god approves that god will accept again we saw something of that in last week's parable but we see it this week with crystal clarity without any bit of ambiguity today we come to the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector in luke 18 verses 9 to 14 and in many ways this parable summarizes and puts a finer point on many things that we've been learning in the series and really it's an excellent summary of luke's whole message about jesus in the gospel so let's read it luke 18 starting in verse 9. he also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt two men went up into the temple to pray one a pharisee and the other a tax collector the pharisee standing by himself prayed thus god i thank you that i am not like other men extortioners unjust adulterers or even like this tax collector i fast twice a week i give tithes of all that i get but the tax collector standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven but he beat his breasts saying god be merciful to me a sinner i tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled but the one who humbles himself will be exalted well verse 9 introduces the parable to us let's start there introducing the parable luke the author tells us who this parable is for why jesus told it and what it's about it's for those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt not all parables begin with such a an explicit stated purpose actually only a few do but this is one of them and so we learn from it that the issue at stake and what the parable will paint in vivid colors is an issue of trust what does one trust in do you trust in yourself to get you to god can you trust in your own righteousness to stand before the lord what will you claim and lean upon on that day and what inevitably goes hand in hand with trusting in your own righteousness according to this is treating others with contempt comparing yourself with others and looking down on those who seem to be lesser now we have to be careful with a preface to the parable like we have in verse 9 that some of us don't think that this doesn't apply to me i know there's a double negative there don't think this doesn't apply to you let me spell this out on the one hand this parable paints a stark picture a black and white picture we know from our first read of the parable that it ends with two men in two different conditions two different standings before god like the parable last week it's bleak it's heaven or hell nothing in between so this week these guys are not yet in heaven or hell but it's a matter of heaven and hell one is heaven bound the other is hell bound and so we need to ask which one am i because you're not in between you're not a third category on the other hand this is a parable for those who trust in themselves that they are righteous and we all do that to an extent even christians who got hold of the biblical gospel every christian struggles to live in the full light of our finished settled justification that's by grace alone every christian is tempted to and sometimes gives in to commending our own good deeds to god as if he should do something because we have done something every christian at times mistakenly feels more or less loved by god in accordance with how i've done yesterday or this last week how am i doing with my bible study in prayer how am i doing with witnessing how am i doing with my tongue we feel like the lord's countenance frowns and smiles according to our own obedience that's all of us as martin luther taught us we are all hopelessly meritorious hopelessly meritorious trusting in our merit our work our good deeds and we will spend the rest of our lives rooting out that meritoriousness so here's my point this is a parable for all of us a special designation but we all need it it's a parable for those who need to get saved to become a christian to get grace for the very first time and it's a parable for every christian who needs to keep fighting off any confidence that they would put in the flesh that's introducing the parable on to the parable itself and there we see three groups of contrasts three groups of contrast three p words will help us think about it first there are two different people two different people were introduced to them in verse 10 a pharisee and a tax collector and if you've been in church for any length of time you know what a pharisee and a tax collector are but let me shake that up a little bit you see because if you're used to reading the bible and used to being in church services like this and hearing the bible taught your first instinct is that pharisees are bad guys they're the bad guys they're the ones who are against jesus they're the ones that eventually hand him over to rome to be crucified we know that there's a reason we have this word in the english language pharisaical doesn't even have to be religious people who are pharisaical they're they're self-righteous they're law keepers they're legalistic they're hypocritical now there's good reason for the reputation that the pharisees have gotten we've gotten that understanding of the pharisees in no small part from jesus's critique of the pharisees but here's the thing the street level perception of the pharisees in jesus's day was not that they were the bad guys they were the good guys they were admirable they were respectable they were considered the real deal they are the ones who treated their faith with the kind of seriousness that it deserves they're the ones we all should be like we're the hypocrites not them they're actually doing it they were the real adults in the room so who is right with god for dealing with that kind of question who is good with god most people in jerusalem in the first century would have had pharisees atop of their list above any other class or kind of people keep that in mind and keep in mind when we hear tax collector this is not just an irs agent none of us like to pay taxes all of us would get a little nervous to get a letter in the mail from the irs saying we're about to be audited but tax collecting as a system in first century rome was something other worldly it was an inherently corrupt system you see a tax collector had agreed with rome to collect the taxes in a certain geographic district and all rome cared about was that the tax collecting got done that the tax collector brought the agreed amount to rome as for the personal compensation of the tax collector that's whatever they took in extra other than what rome required and they could take as much as they could get away with so the word for this is extortion they were extortionist imagine a traffic cop of the albuquerque police department getting his salary or her salary from not only writing tickets as many tickets as they want to give but writing tickets for any amount they choose to write them for i mean you just give up driving you wouldn't even bother on the streets with that kind of system and that's what it was like in rome taxes would vary widely from one area to another from one tax man to another and rome didn't care about any any of it as long as there was generally some peace and as long as rome got its money these were bad guys they were hated they were corrupt they were famously untrustworthy tax collectors were not permitted to be witnesses in a court of law their testimony was just considered surely false untrustworthy now if you're jewish in these days in your promised land technically but rome is the government right rome has occupied your promised land then rome is bad and tax collectors are the means through which rome is funded they're funding your enemies they're funding a plan that's against the promises of god they might say and add one more layer of complexity imagine a tax collector who is jewish like this tax collector probably was he went to the temple to pray so this is not just a guy who's sided with rome he's a a brother a jew who should know better he's a traitor and he has gone against and betrayed and stolen from his brothers and sisters well a pharisee and a tax collector go to the temple to pray a good guy and a bad guy go to the temple to pray which one should feel confident about their approach to god which one will god listen to which one has a right standing before god again the perception on the street would have been clear and unanimous the pharisee is good with god doing what he's supposed to be doing and the tax collector shouldn't even be there what gives him the right to show up now i mean after all doesn't psalm 24 say who shall ascend the hill of the lord who will climb up jerusalem and go to the temple who can enter into god's presence he who has clean hands in a pure heart who does not lift up his soul to what is false he will receive the blessing of the lord sounds like psalm 24 sides with the pharisee and condemns the tax collector and yet if you've been hearing jesus teach in recent days in the context of luke 18 and what came before well you should be wondering where this parable is going he's done some theological jujitsu to shock people out of their socks a few times already with this kind of thing he might be up to it again and he is but that will only further shock those first listeners he's been doing it the rich man and lazarus you'd expect this one's in with god and he's out and you expect this one's not good with god but he's in the parable of the prodigal sons in chapter 15 sons plural yeah there was the wayward son who left and squandered his father's inheritance with wild living remember he came back home the father welcomed him and threw a big party but it was the older brother that at the end of the story was outside the party you throw a party for him i've never squandered your money i've never done this i've been good i've been here and he's outside while the younger son is brought in on and on it goes i can give you example after example in either direction from our parable and the pharisee and the tax collector is just another one of these that we suspect even from the beginning will likely follow suit it'll be a surprise there'll be a reversal but that should be shocking to the first century hearers so two different people secondly two different prayers two different prayers we have the pharisees prayer where he was standing by himself it says in verse 11. that's the esv standing by himself now if you have a new american standard you'll see there that it says he prayed to himself if you have an niv you'll see there that it says he prayed about himself well what's the deal with these different prepositions well in the greek there's a purposely vague preposition that can be translated variously and i suspect it's d all of the above it's a word play this guy prayed apart from everyone else there over there he's here he's better he's different but this guy prayed as we'll see about himself and it's as it were that he was practically praying to himself since it was so self-congratulatory he begins with just a brief word of thanks to god but immediately pulls out his religious resume and begins running through it he looks in the mirror god i thank you that i'm not like other men extortioners unjust adulterers even like this tax collector i fast twice a week i give tithes of all that i get the theme was himself after only a brief word of thanks to god the emphasis is i i i i five times he says i the focus was on externals he's focusing on what he did or didn't do he's not focusing on heart issues motives he's focusing on externals his strategy notice was comparative he compares himself to others of course this is luke's introduction to the parable this is for those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt here it is in action thank god i'm not like that guy and his standard was in some ways above and beyond what god actually commanded in the bible he is literally holier than thou holier than god because the mosaic law required just one fast per year in this man he does a hundred times more than that the mosaic law required tithing giving a tenth yes but it didn't require tithing on your tithing it didn't require tithing on every single little thing this guy if someone gives him an apple he'd cut it into ten sections and give one of those to the poor or as jesus put it in luke 11. they tithe on their mint in rue and herb while they neglect justice and love j.c rile the old bishop of liverpool he said of this man's prayer that it exhibits no sense of sin or need it contains no confession and no petition no acknowledgement of guilt or emptiness no supplication for mercy and grace it is a mere boasting recital of fancied merits in short it hardly to be deserves to be called a prayer at all let me tell you a little story a self-incriminating story and self-incriminating on multiple levels many years ago we did a small vacation in durango and at some point i got pulled over and got a speeding ticket which wasn't the worst of it even worse than getting the speeding ticket was that this was one of those deals where you couldn't mail it in you couldn't email it you couldn't send it in electronically i had to show up i had to go to court back in durango later on so i thought well make the most of it i brought autumn our oldest daughter she was homeschooled back then yeah this is school right bring him to court they'll see court how about that we're the only ones that did that kind of thing i thought we'd make a day of it all right we went to durango i'm in the courtroom waiting my slot and watching others go before the judge and really botch it i mean really get it wrong i mean these people are are they're short of they're not dealing with a whole enchilada they're stuff like that i mean you know you're just thinking why would you have a wad of gum when you're talking to the judge and why would you show up late and why would you wear your pants like that and your hats on backwards i mean lose the hat or at least turn it frontward it just i was just laughing i was just thinking boy boy these people these people and here i am i showed up in khakis i know how to do this you're nice to the judge you know you'll probably have to pay a fine maybe a reduced fine but that's it so i was kind of doing this with my daughter watch this you see what they're doing don't do that watch this and it was going well until the judge said wait were you driving up venice when you got this ticket isn't that uphill and he started laying into me he started laying into me he started laying into me in front of my daughter i felt smaller and smaller and smaller and i was reminded yeah those who exalt themselves will be humbled right the lord is good every now and then just show us little bits like that like oh you think you're something you think you're better than you're not notice the tax collector's prayer he also was standing far off verse 13. they're both standing at a distance but for very different reasons the pharisee stands far off because he's better than everyone else and the tax collector stands far off because of his sense of unworth he would not even lift up his eyes to heaven but beat his breast what's usually reserved for the deepest of grief like when family died he beat his breast and he said god be merciful to me a sinner in fact he said be merciful to me the sinner that's what we find in the greek there's a definite article not a sinner the sinner because as far as he's concerned he's the only sinner the only sinner that matters before god the tax collector asked for mercy because that's that's what he needed that's all he could ask for he pleaded on the basis of god's mercy because that that's that's his one thing to plea he doesn't have anything else he doesn't have anything to commend he referred to none of his good deeds if he had any at all to offer because he knew he had nothing to bring to the table maybe he knew of isaiah 64 6 that all of our righteous deeds righteous deeds are as filthy rags before god we bring nothing to the table and we have to come to the end of ourselves before we'll ever see our need for mercy and ask for it like this but when we come to the end of ourselves when we realize that we have nothing good to commend to god when we have nothing to stand on that's our own doing then we are prime candidates for his grace jesus came to call sinners to repentance not the righteous those who think themselves righteous no he's like a physician and physicians are for the sick the well don't go to physicians they're well jesus came for those who know that they're sick and sore and desperate and needy those who are ready to pray god be merciful to me the sinner be merciful here's another interesting thing about what's going on in the greek this isn't the usual word for mercy and just a little bit later from this we'll read of a blind bartimaeus who says son of david be merciful to me that's the typical word for mercy help me fix me but this word be merciful to me in the parable it literally means make atonement for sin it means make propitiation for me of course that looks back to the old testament sacrifices where the priest poured out the blood of the sacrificed animal on the mercy seat as a symbol of covering sin and of course it also points ahead to what's coming later on in luke the culmination of the story the death and resurrection of jesus for the forgiveness of sins we're supposed to read luke 18 and every other chapter in luke knowing where it's going reading this spot with the end in mind and we know what jesus is going to do on that cross is indeed a propitiation it is the covering of sin hebrews 2 verse 17 says that jesus made propitiation for the sins of the people same word he had mercy on them he covered their sins his blood didn't symbolize a covering it covered forever which leads me back to psalm 24. remember that pesky psalm 24 which sounded like it cited more with the approach of the pharisee and seemed like the tax collector's approach was presumptuous who gets to enter into god's presence psalm 24 says clean hands pure heart no lying but if you read on in psalm 24 it gets messianic we read the very words that handle took and applied to his famous messiah lift up your heads o gates be lifted up o ancient doors that the king of glory may come in may enter the temple jesus alone then was the one who could ascend that holy hill with clean hands pure heart no lying he was perfect and blameless and he made sacrifice and he will bring us in if we believe in him which leads thirdly to two different positions two different positions two different positions before god two different standings before him verse 14 jesus says i tell you this man the tax collector went down to his house justified rather than the other again another surprise to many listening another reversal story jesus sounds like he's doing something new but he wasn't it's always the way god has worked god has always humbled the exalted and exalted the humble and here it says that this man was justified another technical word it's a legal term it's the judge declaring a sentence in this case it's a sentence a declaration of approval it literally means declared righteous this man the tax collector went down to his house declared righteous by god what apparently he was justified declared to be righteous by god not because he was righteous he didn't improve he didn't change things just yet no he was declared to be righteous on account of god's mercy and grace which was received through faith which was expressed in this humble little prayer maybe later you'd want to go back and read romans 3. romans 3 is a passage that expounds many of these themes at a greater level it takes that word justified and unpacks it even more paul there argues that no one is justified by doing the law by obeying by keeping you can no instead the law was given so that we would know we need a different kind of justification in the law no one will be justified but we are justified by grace paul says as a gift paul says it's through the redemption that's in christ jesus he says whom god put forth as a propitiation as a mercy seat as a covering to be received by faith and this is how by the way god is just and the justifier how does he justify sinners how does he declare sinners to be righteous well it's because he is just and jesus was righteous on our behalf now you don't have to understand all those nuances to become a christian but you do have to understand the most basic concept behind all that again expressed in those simple but profound words god be merciful to me a sinner there's nothing magical in those words some people treat prayer that way say this prayer and something will happen the prayer of jabez maybe if i say the prayer of jesus every morning when i wake up there'll be some power in prayer is there power in prayer well there's power in praying to a powerful god our prayers aren't powerful i mean we're just tapping into god's power it's it's it's his power to dispense according to his will and some also talk of the lord's i'm sorry the sinner's prayer have you heard of that the sinner's prayer this is in some church circles this is how you get someone to become a christian you say let me tell you about the sinner's prayer repeat this after me i know i'm a sinner i know i'm a sinner i know that jesus died in the cross for my sins i know jesus died on the cross for my sins i grew up in that kind of tradition and it wasn't easy because i i knew growing up as a teenager that i wasn't a christian i just knew it i knew that christians were supposed to be different and i lived and and acted like and felt like all my lost friends only difference was that i went to church on sunday mornings and this difference i just kept praying this sinner's prayer apparently it didn't click it didn't work for me so i prayed again and prayed again if i came across a different version of it i thought well maybe that one is the one that works and i've gotten some bad ones before i'll pray that one if i was about to take off in a plane pray the prayer right before just in case i don't know for years i was under that kind of torment and then one day my junior year of high school i was reading first john again a book of the bible which describes what christians look like how they're changed and began to see again i'm not this that's not me and i was desperate and i actually cried out god you're just gonna have to save me i don't know i don't i'm throwing myself at your mercy just save me i think that's when the lord saved me i think that was the real sinner's prayer i think every attempt before that was me trusting in a formula putting my faith in certain words that's not how it works we're putting our words to work expressing what we believe and trust to be true about ourselves and about jesus you can word it however you want this one will be just fine god be merciful to me a sinner j.c rile again he said true faith is but laying hold of a savior's hand it brings with it nothing to christ but a sinful man's soul it gives nothing contributes nothing pays nothing performs nothing it only receives takes accepts grasps and embraces the glorious gift of justification which christ bestows any sinner can get in on that no one in this room is too far gone to be reached by god's grace the tax collector was saved he went home justified that day any sinner can get in on this and get this even a pharisee can get in on this now the pharisee in our parable didn't seem to but another pharisee in the bible named saul or paul he was a legit pharisee i mean he was a full-blown pharisee he would have been the kind to say i thank you god that i am not like them in fact in philippians 3 he tells the story he says if anyone had reason to boast or have confidence in their religious resume it was me and he goes through his credentials and he says but i had to throw that away i had to treat that as rubbish he says and i had to instead think of a righteousness that is not my own that's what he says i want to be found in him not having a righteousness of my own which comes from the law but that which comes through faith in christ the righteousness which comes from god on the basis of faith rule keepers moral people those of you who would have come in saying i think i'm okay with god because i'm pretty good i'm better than others at least i'm better than them there is room for you to come in today you like the apostle paul a former pharisee can come to see that you have nothing to stand on you have no leg to stand on before god you must rest in what christ has done alone two different people two different prayers two different positions before god which one are you i hope today it becomes a day of salvation for you it can be settled today this man went to the temple hellbound and he left justified settled forever the verdict in now you see how is that i mean the report card's not done he's got more life to live how can god say righteous settled because it settled not on what the man did it settled on who jesus is and what jesus did and remember jesus said from the cross it is finished and he rose on the third day so today your account before god can forever be settled and you can live in that light christian we are to live in that light we are to never get over this we're to never tire about this theme we're to never graduate from the gospel king david prayed restore unto me the joy of my salvation and many of us today christians we should be praying the same thing maybe even paraphrasing david and saying lord restore unto me the aw of my salvation restore unto me the wonder of salvation the disbelief maybe you think that you used to be tax collector material and you're not any longer so i mean yeah it's a given you're forgiven it's settled that's great what are we having for lunch this isn't the kind of thing we can yawn at if we get it this is why we sing week in and week out what can wash away my sins nothing but the blood of jesus this is all my hope and peace this is all my righteousness nothing but the blood of jesus and can it be that i would have an interest in the savior's blood died he for me who caused his pain you've got to be kidding me that should be a chorus that we inserted and charles wesley's him you got to be kidding me i love to tell the story it'll be my theme in glory to tell the old old story of jesus and his love this will be the theme of heaven's worship for all eternity and will never tire this is the message that every christian has been tasked to bring to a lost and confused world we don't hold out to the world a message of improvement of bits of wisdom and observation about you know growth and self-esteem we've got something way better than that we got something eternal we got something for sinners we got something that will declare them righteous on account of what jesus did why do we hold that back why are we ashamed of that why are we shy about that this is why every sunday as drew mentioned earlier that we always have a confession of sin as part of what we do in our worship service whether it's song or a prayer or a reading we confess together because we need to just keep reviewing the same facts the gospel facts we keep preaching to ourselves we keep praying confession of our sin remember a-c-t-s adoration confession thanksgiving supplication four different kinds of prayers don't be a one-trick pony pray confession you say well i'm not sure if i if i covered everything that i did wrong yesterday i assure you you didn't so just summarize it today just summarize it today lord i thank you that me a sinner can be forgiven by your amazing grace now i have some things to ask for your help for that principle that was stated in the second half of verse 14 is one for becoming a christian and it's one for living out the christian life everyone who exalts himself will be humbled but the one who humbles himself will be exalted see what that means it means that god demands humility for us to embrace the gospel but then that gospel produces more humility this amazing grace changes us changes us from the inside out not not the outside in as tim keller unpacks in his helpful message on the same passage as christians we grow right we know that we're supposed to grow in christ's likeness but that is not a growth that feels like success it is actually growing low the more we actually see more of our savior's grace and glory the more we will understand our need and it just feeds into itself and we just keep growing in grace and growing in grace wouldn't it be horribly ironic if any of us here today would come away from a passage like this saying yeah god i thank you that i'm not like one of those pharisees i'm not one of the pharisees i'm more like the tax leader thank god i am not like those rule-following legalistic hypocritical self-righteous pharisees we never come to that point you don't get it if that's what you'd say god be merciful to me the sinner and for those who have said that and for those for whom it is true that you are justified then hear this from ecclesiastes 9 verse 7 go your way eat your bread drink your wine with a merry heart for god has already approved of what you do he's approved it in jesus because of him as a gift let's pray oh lord how freeing this glorious gospel is it frees us from guilt and it frees us from doubt and frees us from wondering and frees us from hand ringing and striving it frees us from a self-focus it frees us from trying to justify ourselves it frees us from comparisons with others and treating others with contempt and looking down on others this gospel frees us to speak and to celebrate in worship it frees us to grow low so free us grow us in the freedom of the gospel even now as we confess that there is no hope but in the blood in nothing but the blood of jesus we pray in his name amen let's stand to respond [Music] [Music] what can wash away my sin nothing but the blood of jesus what can make me hold again nothing but the part of jesus no precious is the flow that makes me white as snow [Music] nothing but the blood of jesus [Music] for my part and this i see nothing but the blood of jesus for my cleanse in this my plea nothing but the blood of jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] nothing can force in a tongue nothing but the blood of [Music] of jesus oh precious [Music] of jesus this is our hope this is all my hope and peace nothing but the plot of jesus this is all my righteousness nothing but the blood of jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] that makes me white as snow no [Music] that is your hope and peace say amen you can be seated well this will feel a bit like an addendum to our service but we want to end the service today with an important update by now hopefully you've all heard or read of pastor ron's announcement that he and carla will be moving to michigan sometime next month and of course as it's already been said that's sad for us here but a blessing for that church in michigan and of course very understandable considering the health of ron's daughter danielle and the desire to be closer to to her family so we've been asking you to pray not only for the geezeys and their transition to michigan but also for the elders as we seek to fulfill or seek to fill those rather large shoes that ron will leave behind and so that leads to the update we now have an official candidate for that position that we want to put before you it's someone you already know it is chase jacobs chase jacobs is a candidate for that position we interviewed him a week ago again we want to put them before you this week and we hope to come to a decision in another week or so now let me anticipate some questions that you might have about chase as possibly our next executive pastor so number one this would be a long term move you probably know that with some staff positions at desert springs we're okay with them being three to five year assignments before someone moves on to do something else somewhere else but the executive passer position is not one of those so this would be a more long-term commitment for the jacobs and for desert springs just to get a little biographical here chase had originally thought that he would one day be a preaching pastor and in the last couple of years his desires and gifting have really evolved in a way that he thinks that the executive pastor role might be a better fit for him and yet there's no denying that he has gifts of preaching which we benefit from and so secondly we would keep chase preaching a significant amount of sunday mornings as he has been he's what we call around here the number two preacher he gets the second most ups and we'd like to continue that even if he took on this new role so third there would be some small tweaks to the current executive pastor job description to allow for some more preaching than pastor ron was able to do over the years but but as the elders begin to lay this out and think of the job description and the pie chart involved we think we think it's doable and so fourth we would hire another minister of theological training which chase currently occupies and we've had a number of those over the years and it's actually more common for us to have some turnover there than in our executive pasture position so we would hire someone else to focus on adult education and the administration of projects like our our conference one benefit of considering someone like chase is that he's a known commodity to us he's been at desert springs for just two years but in two years he's got our dna coursing through his veins i should also mention that pastor ron recommends this it was ron's recommendation to the elders that we look at chase and we've done that and that means a lot because we think much of ron and i think much of the job he's done here for so many years so what's next well since chase is here already since he's one of us since you've likely heard him preach many times there won't be a candidating weekend per se like we would often have for someone who is coming from out of state and we're considering him for a job here now this announcement is it at least as chase's candidate for the position so we'd ask for your prayers specifically in view of the elders considering chase and pray for the jacobs and we'd also welcome any input any input that you have on our consideration of chase for the executive pastor role if you have any concerns or anchor any questions about anything i'm mentioning today feel free to drop a note in one of the offering boxes in here or even better you can email the elders directly elders at dscabq.com that goes to us and we'll see it and we would thank you for it so let us let us hear from you if you'd like to share that especially sometime in the next week as we seek to come to a decision soon so good things let's stand and let's hear the benediction from numbers 6 may the lord bless us and keep us may the lord make his face to shine upon us and be gracious to us may the lord lift up his countenance upon us and give us peace amen you're dismissed you

Channel: DESERT SPRINGS CHURCH

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Length: 89min 4sec (5344 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021