Luke 18:9-14 ESV
Jesus 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 beat his breast, 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.”
What does that look like if some people trust in themselves that they are righteous? Well, first of all this is not talking about the righteousness of God in people’s lives who are following the Lord with their lives. This is talking about the self-righteous who believe they are superior to others who they deem to be less than them. But sometimes they are also people, like the Pharisees, who looked down on others for their sins while they themselves were full of wicked deeds, greed, hypocrisy, and self-indulgence.
So they can be those who are living wicked and immoral lives in rebellion against the Lord all the while they are professing faith in Jesus Christ and they are giving off an image that they are righteous because of certain forms of religion which they practice. And these forms of religious practice can be reading and studying the Scriptures, even memorizing Scriptures, and even teaching the Scriptures, and singing hymns and songs of worship of God, and even attending weekly gatherings of what are called “churches.”
And even though they know they are living wickedly, and they know they are doing evil in the eyes of God, still they will look down on and will criticize and condemn others who are doing the same as them or whose crime is far less in gravity. Or they will condemn and reject the truly righteous in the eyes of the Lord because they, perhaps, don’t follow all the same outward forms of religious practice as what they do. But it is not forms of religion that make one righteous. It is, by faith in Jesus, living righteously.
Now I want to share something current that is perhaps a different twist on this. It is very popular today to condemn the truly righteous in God’s sight by comparing them to this Pharisee, while they will raise up the truly wicked who confess their sins, even if they confess their sins with the lips but then go right back and continue living in deliberate and habitual sin. So, it is as though the truly wicked are being honored for admitting their sin while they condemn those who are walking in obedience to the Lord.
And that is just backwards of the what the Scriptures teach. But there is this all-out effort today to paint those who are walking in obedience to the Lord as the self-righteous while they appear to honor the adulterer, the thief, the pervert, the liar, the unfaithful and the disobedient if they happen to admit any of their sins. But that is not what this passage is referring to. For the Pharisee was self-righteous, not living in obedience to the Lord, and the tax collector was truly humble and repentant and didn’t fake his repentance.
So, just saying that we must be careful that we don’t misinterpret this Scripture and end up doing the opposite of what it is teaching to where we condemn the truly righteous and while we exonerate the truly sinful who may own up to their sin but then who continue in their sin, in deliberate and in habitual sin against God and against other humans who they are supposed to love. For the humble are those who are truly repentant and who are living righteously, and it is the selfish who are still living for the sinful pleasures of the flesh without regard for who they hurt in the process.
So, please know that the Scriptures teach that genuine faith in Jesus Christ results in lives which have died with Christ to sin and which have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. They are the righteous in God’s sight who are now living in obedience to the Lord in living holy and godly lives to the glory and praise of God and who are no longer walking (in conduct, in practice) in sinful rebellion against the Lord.
And the wicked are all who are living wickedly, who are practicing evil, who even plot out the evil they are going to do in advance and who do not respond to correction, and who have no conscience and no compassion for who they are hurting in the process. For it is all about their sinful and selfish desires. And admitting their sin is not true repentance if it does not result in genuine change of heart, mind, and behavior. And even if they profess to be Christians, if sin is what they practice, they will not go to heaven.
So, we need to understand here that Jesus didn’t die on that cross just to forgive us our sins so that we can go to heaven when we die. He died to free us from our addiction (slavery) to sin so we would now live holy, godly, morally pure, upright, honest, and faithful lives to the praise and glory of God and in walks of surrender and in obedience to the Lord Jesus. For he shed his blood for us to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our lives of sin so we will now honor God with our bodies (with our lives).
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
The Lord’s Anointed
An Original Work / December 16, 2011
Based off Isaiah 61
The Spirit of the Sov’reign Lord on me;
Anointed to preach the Good News;
Sent me to bind up the brokenhearted;
Proclaim freedom for the captives.
He sent me to preach release for pris’ners
Who are walking in sin’s darkness;
Proclaim God’s grace to all men who’ll listen;
And tell them about God’s judgments;
Comfort all who mourn;
Give crowns of beauty;
Oil of gladness and thanksgiving.
They will be called oaks of God’s righteousness,
A planting of our Savior, God,
For the display of our Lord’s splendor, and
They will rebuild God’s holy church.
God will renew them, and will restore them,
And you’ll be called priests of the Lord.
You will be ministers of our God, and
You will rejoice in salvation.
The Lord loves justice;
He is faithful to
Reward those who are seeking Him.
I delight greatly in the Lord;
My soul rejoices in my Savior, God.
He has clothed me with His salvation,
And in a robe of His righteousness.
He has given me priestly garments to wear,
As the bride of Jesus Christ.
As the garden of our Lord and Savior,
He causes us to grow in Him.
He makes righteousness,
Praise, and thanksgiving
Spring up before all the nations.
https://vimeo.com/114836524
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