In chapter 18, verses 9 - 14, Christ turns His attention to the demanding Pharisees and speaks this parable to them.
Luke 18:9-14
9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others;
10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
When studying a portion of scripture, it is always helpful to know who is speaking, who is being spoken to, and what is being said. This is what we call the context of the passage.
In this passage, Christ is speaking. He is speaking to a group of Pharisees. Who were the Pharisees? They were the lawyers...the ones who studied the law of God. They knew Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy very well. They read it often and studied it. Their academic knowledge of the law of God caused them to be a prideful bunch.
When studying the word of God, one must always be aware lest, like the Pharisees he becomes filled with pride. 1 Corinthians 8:1 tells us that "...knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth." The academic knowledge these men had attained caused them to swell with pride. The Bible says they trusted in themselves that they were righteous. They believed that by keeping the law, they were in right standing before God. They trusted in their own ability to keep the law.
Notice what verse 9 has to say about those who trust in themselves. It says they despised others. When a person is puffed up with pride there is an inseparable quality that accompanies it. It is a despising of others. A person full of pride looks around at others as being inferior to them.
The book of Proverbs has much to say regarding pride in the heart and God's hatred for it.
Proverbs 21:4 An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.
An high look, or a proud look is what the Pharisee in the parable had. His looking down on others indicated that he had sin in his heart.
Proverbs 6:16-19
16 These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
Notice that the sin of a proud look or pride tops the list of those things the Lord hates.
Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
Had the Pharisee in the parable really revered God, really respected and held God in awe, then he would have hated pride as God does. Rather, he puffed himself up as he looked down on others. This revealed a problem with his heart.
Pride indicates a total flaw in the foundation of a person's character. The high look or haughty eyes relates to pride which looks down on others as if they were of inferior value. The prideful person looks over other men and thinks to himself, "mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest one of all?" He comes to the conclusion he is it, and he goes around letting everyone know.
Jesus was revealing this truth to the Pharisees he was speaking to. It was easy to detect pride on the part of the Pharisee in the parable. Now let me ask some questions...
Did the Pharisee in the parable perform some religious deed? Was he externally, morally different from others in society? Yes he was. He went up to the temple. He fasted twice a week. He gave tithes of all he possessed. Those things were part of the commands of God, so what was wrong with him? Why didn't he go down to his house justified? He was not justified because his heart was filled with pride and he didn't see that. He had a high look which caused him to have a vain opinion of himself as he compared himself with others.
The source of his high look was his proud heart. A proud heart is blind because it cannot see its own true image. A person with a proud heart can look in the mirror and become so engrossed with what he sees, yet he is totally blinded as to his true image as God defines him.
The Bible says that all human beings who have descended from Adam are born dead in trespasses and sins. They are not born neutral, not innocent, not sinless, rather they are born dead is sins and trespasses.
Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.
All humans are born dead in sins. Yes, they have physical life and can move and perform all the things of the natural senses, but they are born dead spiritually. They do not respond to the stimulus that comes from the things of the Spirit of God.
1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
All a person born dead in sins can do is respond to the things of the natural order. Therefore, they do not know who they really are. They are self-centered and taken up with their own interests. That is the understanding of the natural person who is born into the human race. There is not a single exception.
The proud person, by his pride, proclaims his moral blindness. His pride indicates that the light within him is darkness. Whatever he possesses is inferior in the sight of God and is under the curse of God, so that every action and every thought and every understanding is polluted and defiled in the presence of a Holy God.
He is ruined throughout all his faculties. This is expressed in the scriptures as the sinfulness of man. In theological language we call this the depravity of man. More accurately it is expressed as the total depravity of man. When I speak of the total depravity of man, I am saying that his whole nature has been affected my sin. I do not mean that he is as evil as he could be. I mean that all his faculties throughout his total nature have been warped and ruined by sin. His mind has been darkened. His heart is warped and stubborn. His will, yes even his will has been affected by sin.
The "will" follows the affections of the heart. And the affections of the heart follow the understanding of the mind. Since sin has darkened the mind, then the heart is darkened and the affections of the heart are wrong. Because the affections of the heart are wrong, then the will is wrong...selfish and prideful.
The Pharisee in the parable, with his prideful heart, had never seen himself as he was. He was morally wrong at the core of his moral being. Jeremiah chapter 17 points this out.
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
The heart is desperately wicked. No man can really understand himself and it is not until God opens the eyes of his understanding and exposes the sinfulness of his heart, that a man will ever begin to seek out a remedy for his sin.
Man's moral nature is attracted to that which is perverted and not pleasing in the sight of God. Even if he tries to use religion, as the Pharisee in our text did, and he tries to do what we would normally think of as good, he is still sinning in the sight of God. How can that be so?
Consider this…when God created man, He made man responsible to work and earn his livelihood. God gave him the responsibility to manage and produce his livelihood from his environment.
Genesis 1:28-29
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you is shall be for meat.
Genesis 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
Even after man sinned and his task became difficult to perform, nevertheless, it remained his God ordained responsibility to work. God did not remove the command because man fell into sin.
Genesis 3:17-19
17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Man’s work is now burdensome. Every effort he puts forth seems to find that creation is working against him. Yet, he is still responsible to produce food, and earn his livelihood. God did not change.
The principle is established. Man is responsible and obeying God is a good thing. Then how could the Pharisee in our text be sinning if he attempted to do what God required of him in the law? The Pharisee in the parable attempted to obey the law. He fasted twice a week. He gave tithes of all he had. He didn’t participate in sinful activities and yet, God says, You are sinning in my sight while you are doing those things. Why? The reason is the motive of the heart determines the morality of the act. He wasn’t doing it to please God. He was doing it to puff himself up with pride.
1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
The natural man is not going to church and giving his tithes for the glory of God. He doesn’t do one act for the glory of God. Even a good act of obedience is a sinful act in the sight of God, because he is not doing it for the glory of God.
Colossians 3:17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
Was that Pharisee going to the temple, tithing, fasting and living a clean moral life for God’s glory? No! Even the good action is ruined because he is not doing it for the right reason. If the motive is good, the action becomes good. But if the motive is bad, the action is bad. Since the fleshly, unregenerate heart (the natural man) never does a single thing for God’s glory, then every single act the unsaved person does is sinful.
The Pharisee in our text was under the wrath of God who looked upon him with scorn at everything he attempted to do. Everything he did was polluted and could not be accepted in God’s sight. That is why he did not go down to his house justified.
Titus 1:15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but to them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
Romans 8:7-8
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Pleasing God is impossible as long as a person is in an unregenerate, lost condition. Every act he attempts to do is sinful in the sight of God. If the lost person doesn’t pray, he is sinning. But if he does pray, he is sinning.
I know what you are thinking… “Oh, wait a minute, now you are going too far in that!” Consider the following verse and look at the principle.
Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
In the Old Testament, those of Israel
The Pharisee, who did all those religious things, was in a mess. If he didn’t go to the temple, he was sinning. If he did go to the temple, he was sinning. What was he to do? Go or stay? Boys, girls, teenagers, adults if you are reading this and you are in a lost condition you are in the same boat as this Pharisee. If you don’t obey God, you are sinning. If you try to obey God you are sinning. You think, “What in the world are you trying to do?” I am trying to stop your mouth so you become guilty before God and see that all of your doing is cursed by God. That’s what I am trying to do.
Romans 3:19-20
19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
20 Therefore, by the deeds of the law there shall not flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
What a terrible, terrible condition to be in as a lost person. You need something before you start doing all those things and you need to see that you are responsible to do them. However, you cannot do them in a way that is pleasing to God. The lost person can do nothing but sin and yet he is fully responsible for his sinning. Every day a lost person lives, he is just treasuring up more of God’s wrath upon himself.
Romans 2:5-6
5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds.
Every day that Pharisee lived...every day the lost person lives in a lost condition, he is treasuring up more and more of God’s wrath upon him. Everything you are trying to do is not helping. So what can the lost person do? In Numbers 21 when the people realized the fatal condition flowing through their bodies they were told what to do.
Numbers 21:4-9
4 And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom
5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt
6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel
7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
8 And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it on a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
When those people who had been bitten by the snakes realized what a desperate, fatal condition was flowing through their blood, Moses told them to look…look at the serpent. There is some unique, mysterious way that when looking into the understanding of an uplifted Jesus Christ, God opens the eyes of the lost and they see themselves as they really are before a Holy God.
John 3:14-15
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
As Moses lifted the serpent up on a pole in the wilderness, so was Jesus Christ lifted up on a cross. Whosoever believes in Him and what He accomplished at Calvary , will not perish, but have eternal life. When you realize your sin has affected every part of you and you have a fatal condition flowing through your entire being, do as the publican did. He recognized his condition before a Holy God. He confessed that he was a sinner and he cried out to God to have mercy on him. He didn’t try to do anything. He realized there was nothing he could do but to rely on God for his salvation.
It was not in something the publican could do, but rather it was in something that someone else had done…and that someone was the Lord Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 55:6-7
6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Jesus welcomes such as the publican. He doesn’t say, “stay back and try to do better,” or “when you get your life straightened up, then you can go to church and start pleasing God.” No! It’s not through trying to get everything right so God will accept you. It is in God bringing you to the place where you cannot be accepted in and of yourself, but only through the finished work of Jesus Christ who came to save sinners.
Confess, or agree with God that you are a sinner. Repent or have godly sorrow for your sins. Ask the Lord to forgive you of your sins, and forsake or turn from your sinful ways.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Philippian jailer asked…
Acts 16:30-31
…Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…
The publican in our text believed God’s assessment of his true condition. He trusted in God for his salvation and went down to his house justified or in right standing with God. Only then was he able to obey God and please Him. The same is true for you…only when you see your sinfulness and need of a savior, turn from your wicked ways, cry out for mercy, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ will you be able to obey God and please Him.
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