Alright, we are continuing our study on the parables of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we’re into this for a number of weeks already. Those of you who are joining us for the first time, you’re welcome alright to join us in this series, and may the Lord instruct us. Now this morning, we are going to look at the gospel of Luke. The parable recorded in the gospel of Luke and chapter 18. Alright, Luke chapter 18. The parable is recorded in verse 19 right through verse 14 of this chapter (Mistakenly mentioned “verse 19”, supposedly “verse 9”). Verses 9 alright- verse 9 through verse 14 of this chapter. Alright, this is the Word of God.

“Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: “Now two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise 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, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”” Now let us look to the Lord for help. Let’s pray.

“Our dear Father in heaven, we come again to Your Word and we want to thank You for such a blessing and privilege. We know that it is no small blessing to hear Your truth in a world that’s filled with deceptions. And so we plead and pray that You would do good to our soul. Grant us understanding and grant us obedience, for we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Alright, so this morning we are looking at this parable called the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Now the reason again we want to look at the parable is because that it has something very important to teach us. I’m not sure how many of you have heard of this parable or read it yourself and ever wonder what is that important lesson. If you have heard or read, now surely you know in a sense you would have known that particular lesson that the Lord wants to impress upon His hearers and this morning to all of us. Alright so that’s the reason why we are coming here to listen to this parable, I said because there is an immensely important truth that we want to learn. And so as usual, that’s one of my favourite ways of approaching the parable.

So we look at the people to whom this parable was addressed, and then we look at the parable itself, and then we shall try to see with the Lord’s help the point of the parable. Alright, so the people, the parable, and the point. So let’s begin with the people. Verse 9: “Also He spoke this parable to some”. Now those were the people that the Lord were addressing. “To some”, who are these some alright- who are these some? Well, it tells us there the some are those who “trusted in themselves that they were righteous”. So these were the people that the Lord was speaking to, people who were proud of themselves, were very happy about themselves, who pat themselves on their own shoulders alright, who trusted in themselves, the Bible says.

Now let’s think of one or two examples of such a person alright or such people, people who are very happy about themselves. Actually, we don’t need to go very far alright to look for an example. In this chapter itself alright immediately after the parable, we see an example in verse 18, now that well-known incident. We are told in verse 18: “Now a certain ruler asked Him (that is asked Jesus), saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?””. Now, this is what is commonly known as the story of the rich young man because elsewhere we are told that this man was young and he was rich. And here we are told that he is a man of some you know, of high position, a certain ruler.

So this rich young man came to Jesus and he asked this question. He says: “(Teacher or) Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Now a lot of people get the impression that this man was broken you know. Maybe you know throughout this whole pandemic you know he’s suffering there and he’s wondering you know. He’s worried, anxious about his life, and what will happen to him after he dies. What if I contracted the virus and die? So how can I get into heaven? What must I do to get into heaven or to inherit eternal life? But that was not the tone of this question. alright- that was not the tone of this question.

The tone of this question is more like you know, he felt pretty good about himself. He felt pretty sure that he would get into heaven. In fact, his name is already there alright. He already booked his place in heaven alright, and he knew that he was going there. He was merely testing the Lord Jesus Christ. And so a guy like me, do you think I’ll go to heaven? What must I do, a guy like me? What else must I do? Instead that’s more like the question alright. What else must I do to get into heaven? Is it not enough? And so Jesus responded to this guy and He said: Oh, you want to go to heaven? You want to inherit eternal life? Well, this is what you must do.

Verse 20: “You know the commandments (the Laws of God): ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honour your mother.’”. Basically, He repeats the whole of the Ten Commandments alright to him. And this young man alright this rich young man heard the response of our Lord Jesus Christ and he was so very happy with the response alright, say: Oh Jesus, you are my kind alright. You gave me just the right answer. You might remember you know in chapter 10 alright of Luke alright that there was another man who asked Jesus the same question. Remember? A scribe, a lawyer who asked Jesus exactly the same question. What must I do to inherit eternal life?

And remember what Jesus said to him? Jesus said: Well, what do you think? What do you think? This morning, do you know what is the answer to that question: What must I do to inherit eternal life? And that guy in Luke 10, now he quite easily alright gave the answer to the Lord Jesus Christ. He basically again quoted the Ten Commandments alright. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbour as yourself. Well, this was the guy, same thing. So what else must I do? And Jesus says go ahead and do it. Go ahead and do it. And Jesus gave the story (the parable), told a story of the parable of the Good Samaritan, basically to prove the point that you can’t do it because who is my neighbour?

Now in this incident here in verse 18, it is exactly the same scenario, the same kind of context here. This guy came to Jesus and Jesus says to obey the Ten Commandments. And you know what was his response? Following verse alright, verse 21. And he said all these things I have kept from baby. I know youth means what you know. The moment I’m born then alright (Levi alright), already I obeyed the Ten Commandments. Now that is how snobbish you know, how proud this guy was. So he was not coming to Jesus in brokenness of heart and a contrite spirit. That was not the spirit. These are the people who felt so good about themselves. We are going to heaven. Is there anything else that I need to do to go to heaven? Everything has been done, what do I still lack?

Now Paul was one such guy. And that’s why when he wrote to the Philippians alright, he said the same thing alright. “A Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law”, blameless. All these people think that they have kept the law perfectly, nothing lacking in them. Now it is to this kind of people that Jesus is now telling this parable in verse 9, to some or to those people who trusted in themselves. Those people, like the Pharisees, like this rich young man, like the old Apostle Paul. Those people. Now let us not be too quick to think that Jesus is talking about those people. Maybe this morning Jesus is talking to us. Maybe some of us are like that. The some could be the some of us, who felt so good about ourselves, who trusted in our own righteousness.

Alright, those were the people that Jesus was speaking to. That’s why He’s telling this parable. So with that, now let’s come to the parable itself. The parable itself. So what did Jesus said, tell here? Well, He says: “Two men (verse 10) went up to the temple to pray”. So He told a parable about two men. One a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. Two men, and Jesus said let Me tell you this story about these two men. And these two men were going to the temple alright like people going to the church alright. They were going to the church, going to the place of worship. You see, two men were going to the temple, but there is a world of difference between these two men going to the temple.

And so that is the thing that Jesus wants the people to see as He tells this story. Yes, these people go to church, but they are not all alike. Now we think of all church people, all the same. We’re all the same. No, we are not. Two men went to the temple. One is like this, and the other is like that. Let Me tell you about the first one, Jesus says. What about the first one, the Pharisee? So let us now look at the Pharisee. What about the Pharisee? You mean the Pharisees goes to church? Now we think that you know Pharisees are the people who do not go to church, and you are dead wrong. That’s the reason why a lot of people hate church because there are so many Pharisees in the church alright.

And so the same in those days. You go to the temple, you’ll find a lot of these people, the Pharisees. But what about them? That’s what we want to know. So Jesus tells us here in verses 11 and 12. So verse 10 said I’m going to tell you a story about two men going to the temple- a Pharisee and a tax collector. And then in verses 11 and 12, He now draws our attention on this first guy who goes to the church. He says you know this guy (the Pharisee) when he went to the temple (he went to church), he “stood and prayed thus with himself”. He says: “God, I thank You that I am not like the other men”.

I know that in the church there are a lot of hypocrites, but I am not like one of these hypocrites alright. I’m not like the other men. I’m not an extortioner. I’m not unjust. I’m not a womaniser, an adulterer, or even as this tax collector. Okay, pause and think about what Jesus is saying about this man. You see, when we hear this man alright praying and we hear what Jesus says about this man, now we see that this is a guy alright this is a man that loves to make himself look good to other people. He is very proud of himself, and he wants to make sure that people know that he is good alright. I look good to myself, and I want other people to know that alright- want other people to know that.

So the question is: How does he do that? Do you know how people do that, how people try to impress other people and make themselves feel very good? Now, these two are very, very destructive forces as far as the Scripture is concerned. When there is a technique of making yourself feel good and that is a technique, a way to make other people feel good about you. And that is what this Pharisee is all about, and this is what a lot of people are about. So how does he make himself and make other people you know perceive him as good and make himself feel good? Now three ways alright if you look at here. Now first of all, you see this person is an expert in this alright. He is in complete commitment to what we call a negative obedience.

Let’s think about what is negative obedience alright. Now negative obedience is this, that this guy is very committed to not be something or not do certain things. And that’s why he begins this way: I’m not an extortioner. I’m not unjust. I’m not a womaniser. Now, this is how he makes himself feel good. Here, I’m not the kind of people. I don’t do that kind of thing. I don’t smoke. You know I don’t go play mahjong. When I see people playing mahjong, eh, eh, eh. You’re Christian ah, go to church or not? Why you play mahjong? No money one la, it’s okay. Ah, cannot. Huh, you play cards ah? What kind of cards? Poker, oh cannot. You see the person in Genting, oh you know he got scared. How can you Christians go up to Genting? He forgot he’s also there alright.

Now you see, negative obedience. So he will make sure that he will not do certain things alright so that you know, people can say oh, this is a very clean guy you know. He has a reputation for that. Don’t do this, don’t do that. Don’t smoke. Don’t do this, don’t go there, don’t go there. Now that is a Pharisee. That is what people like him do- very committed to negative obedience. But there is a second way in which this person makes him look good and make him feel good alright and look good to others, and that is through what might be called a legalistic obedience alright. A legalistic obedience.

Now, what is legalistic obedience? Look at verse 12. He said: “I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.”. Now, this is a legalistic obedience. In other words, he’s very scrupulous when it comes to all these little, little things over here. He’s going to be very exact. He will argue with people about this kind of thing, but he himself will make sure. In fact, Jesus talked about them before in the gospel of Matthew. If you would flip over to Matthew 23 alright, Jesus refers to these people who are religiously scrupulous. Matthew 23, He said these are the people. They just like to show off. They just like to impress people alright. These are the Pharisees. And so in Matthew 23:14, now Jesus condemns them.

And Jesus said: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.”. Legalistic obedience. You see, they are very particular about these things, and they will want to ask: How long do you pray? Five minutes. Oh, then when his turn to pray, he will make sure he prays fifteen minutes. Then here’s another person fifteen minutes, I think I must pray for twenty minutes. See, he thinks that by his long prayers are the Pharisees. You know he asked the Pharisees to pray, he does this: Hmm, hmm. Alright he’ll clear his throat, and maybe he will make sure that people are watching him. They love to stand at a certain place of prominent up, a stage somewhere.

And then in those days no mic. If they were using mic, he would be doing something like hello, hello, listen. So he makes sure that people are watching and listening to him, then he begins to pray. And his sound also change. When he talks, talk nicely. When he prays, then ohhh my God you know. Now sometimes he changed you know so that he sounded alright, he would sound very holy you know very godly. Now you see, they are religious scruples. They’re paying legalistic attention to all these things. And so Jesus goes on in Matthew 23:23. He said: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin”. You see when it comes to tithing, they are I say they’re scrupulous in this alright and they want to pay all this attention to the details.

And they were thinking to themselves: Oh we must tithe one tenth. One tenth of all that we possess. And then they look around them alright. Oh in my garden got ten chilies alright. So they plucked the ten chilies, and one goes to church. I mean know that these days they’re a lot of farmers alright. You know Stephen is a farmer now alright. He got a plot of I don’t know what you call that, planters plot. A pot. And then you know imagine he is a Pharisee. We were thinking he’ll plant his vegetables. After that, he will collect and he will weigh it. Ten percent goes to church. I know that Kian Ming is also going into farming alright, and Mike is also into farming. Very soon we have a lot of vegetables in church alright (if there are religious scruples).

You see, they will be paying attention to this. Of course you have heard people like that. They’ll argue about tithing. They will ask. Oh in fact, people have come to me before and ask questions like this you know. He said: Pastor, you know. So, ten percent. Is it gross or net income, or is it after income tax or before income tax? Well, after paying all my bills or before paying more my bills? See, scruples. They want to calculate. Oh and then they use the calculator and finally okay, my giving to church this month is one hundred and eleven dollars and five cents alright. You go to the treasurer, the treasurer ask why five cents. Exact. Now, this is what Jesus is saying about these people.

Legalistic obedience because by doing so, they feel good. They feel that they have done exactly what you know I need to do. What do I still lack? That is the point. Nothing like even five cents also I won’t owe alright to the church. I will give. And that’s why in Luke chapter 18 Jesus says about these people. So these are the men who goes up alright and prayed and say I fast twice a week. Nobody asked them to fast twice a week. In fact in Judaism in the Old Testament, there was only one commanded fast, and that is once a year during the day of atonement. But no for them you see, they create a lot of other extra laws or regulations you know, church rules that we must all obey so that we look very pious and religious and holy.

And therefore, nobody can fault us. Even God cannot fault me. Even God cannot find anything wrong with me, so what do I still lack? Now that is the spirit. And that is the first guy here, the Pharisee. So you see, they make themselves to justify themselves. You remember in chapter 16 of Luke, Jesus already talked about, Luke already talked about these people alright in verse 15: “And Jesus said to these people, “You are those who justify yourselves before men.””. You are that kind of people. All your life, all your actions as it were, all your behaviours. Why you come to church? Why you give to church? Why you serve in church alright or serve the church? It’s all about impressing other people and make yourself feel good. That is all. It’s not about God.

And you know you do it, it’s all very showy, very outward. That’s why in Matthew 23 Jesus said you are like whitewashed tombs. Outside look very good, but inside dead men’s bones. Now these are these people, justify themselves before men alright. And then you see the third way alright that they make themselves feel good alright and try to impress other people is this. It’s by comparative obedience. Comparative obedience. So negative obedience, legalistic obedience, and comparative obedience. What is comparative obedience? Again look at Luke chapter 18 here and see what Jesus says about this man. And He says you know when this guy prayed, he stood alright so that people can see him, and he prayed not to God but to himself and he praised himself like this. And then he says that “I am not like the other man”.

That is comparative obedience. You know me, I’m good. Why are you good? Look at the guy over there. Heh, that one. No, no, no, no, no. So you see, there are people who come to church, they begin to make this judgement alright and put people into different categories. All those people. You find that this Pharisee would not mix with the other people. I’m not like the other guy. I’m not like the other guy. And because you are not like the other guy, that guy, seldom see him in church. Now I’m not the other guy. I’m always the first to arrive and the last go alright. I’m not like the others. Comparative obedience. Now you see, Jesus says that this is the guy.

You see when we are experts in this negative obedience or legalistic obedience or comparative obedience like these people, then you can feel really good about yourself because your standard you see is not the standard of God. You compare yourself with other people. If they are not like you, you are above them and you are good enough. Alright, that is the first person that Jesus tells us in this story, the Pharisee. And that is what Jesus wants these people to hear. This guy, he’s like that. That’s what He wants us to know about people like this who are also found in the church and whom we must not be like alright like the Pharisee.

Now then there is the other guy. There is the other guy, the tax collector. So what about the other guy, the other person who comes to church? Two men went to the temple to pray. Verse 13 about the other guy, the tax collector: “And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’”. Let’s think about this guy. Now, this is a totally different guy in church. For what reason he comes to church, nobody understands. Maybe when the tax collector went to the temple to pray, everybody was surprised. Huh, who is this guy ah? Never seen him in church because he is not a church-goer. And for some reason on that Sunday as it were, he appears.

Oh, the other guy (the Pharisee), every Sunday you will see him there alright. No issue. He’s like a furniture, fixed in the church alright. You know where he sits alright. But the other guy, he comes and he dare not even enter the church to start off. You know he said should I, should I not? Do I belong here or not? And then when he enters the church, you know he finds a corner where to hide you know. He says maybe that room or maybe that corner alright. So he will be as Jesus tells here. He would be standing afar off, somewhere in the corner. He’ll be alone by himself.

Now, this guy is a well-known crook. A tax collector is the most hated kind of people alright in those days by the Jews because they are considered as traitors. They betray their own people to the enemy, and they are often corrupt people, make a lot of money for themselves through this trade of collecting taxes for the Roman alright authority. And so this guy is one of the most despised guys. In this chapter, actually Jesus mentioned two of these guys. Alright one like the Pharisee, and then He gives the example of the rich young man in verse 18. And then the following chapter alright immediately after that, now Luke gives us another example and that of the tax collector because in chapter 19 and verse 1 when “Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus”.

And who was he? The chief tax collector. He’s not just a tax collector; he’s the chief alright. It’s a gang you know. He’s not just the gangster but the gang leader kind of thing. Now so you see, this guy, this man (the tax collector), he is a notorious figure in their society. And it is kind of a, would be a big surprise even Jesus mentioned that the other guy who went to the temple is a tax collector. Maybe I might be looking and say is there a guy like a tax collector, a gangster here, a robber here? Someone who just robbed a bank and then come to church? A rapist, any? But he’s here in the church, in the temple. And so you know the surprise element here when Jesus tells this story, okay about this guy alright.

Maybe this guy comes to a church on this modern-day will be, will look something like this. He’ll have green hair alright, his body full of tattoos, and one big ring over this side alright. And then you see a guy that comes here, the others would just move away from him. They say: Who is this guy coming to church? Never seen him alright. Now that is the picture that Jesus has painted here. Now so that is the parable. Now, let me tell you this, that this parable is about two men going to the temple to pray. But this parable is not about prayer because in this parable Jesus did not say look you see, two men went to the temple to pray. And let me tell you. You know we saw here, we learned what?

So what is the lesson here? I say there’s a precious lesson. There’s an immensely important truth that is taught here. So what is that truth? It is not about prayer. Jesus is not using these two men to illustrate to us, to help us understand the posture of prayer. You know when you pray, you should be like the Pharisee standing there looking up the heaven, raising up your hand. He’s not talking about the posture. And therefore, that posture is wrong. In this parable, He is not teaching us about what to pray. He is not teaching about how to pray because it is not about prayer. Then what is this story about? That is what we want to find out.

That leads us to the third major point alright or sub-point of this morning’s sermon here, and that is the point. So what is the point or the truth that Jesus wants to impress upon us in this parable? Well, the point is this. Verse 14: “I tell you alright”. Jesus said I tell you. When Jesus said I tell you, you better listen alright because when He said I tell you means He said I have something important to say to you, that this is what you need to learn. This is the truth that you must grasp. I tell you, Jesus says, “this man went down to his house justified rather than the other”. That is the point of this parable that this man rather than the other men will go home justified.

Now, what is justified? That this man rather than that man will go home accepted by God. This man is accepted by God rather than that man. This man, in other words, is going to heaven rather than that man. Now you see, the hearers perhaps in those days will listen to Jesus and say, what? Now as you listen, as they listened to Jesus, they were already forming their own conclusion. Of course it will be this guy, the Pharisee. Look at him. Every Sunday I see him in church. Oh, he’s such a good and godly man. You know when he prays, I feel so touched by his prayer. Even the tone of his prayer you know feels so nice about it.

I was talking to someone. He’s probably listening somewhere online, but I spoke to him and don’t think he minds me sharing this. And he said that he loves to listen to Joel Osteen’s preaching because his voice is so soothing. You see when we were in the Bible college, now we may have this joke alright. So when we’re trained to be a pastor, you know one of those things that you know they will kind of, we were joking among ourselves, especially the Chinese-speaking department, now those Chinese-speaking pastors. They said one of the things we must learn how to be a good pastor is the tone of voice. That is what I called pastor’s voice.

Now you’re going to go counselling. Ni hao ma? You have to practice how to say it man. Alright not everyone knows how to say it, only the pastor knows how to say that. Now you see, this guy alright. So Jesus is saying that this guy alright (the Pharisee), actually he’s well-respected. Even to hear him you know, you feel you respect him alright. Everything about him is so clean, clean cut. This won’t do, that doesn’t do. He doesn’t go to that place and things like that. This guy is going to heaven. You see, that is a big surprise. Would you be surprised if Jesus told you that such and such a person is made right with God and that he will go to heaven?

Now I will tell you that one day- one day, we will all be in for a huge surprise. I said guarantee. For some, I believe that all of us one day will be in for a huge surprise because one day when the world has ended and that all the world is standing before the judgement seat of Christ and then the Lord will be dividing the people into two groups- the sheep and the goats, we will be in for a huge surprise when we see who are the sheep and who are the goats. Those we think are the sheep, and now they are the goats, and now they are going to hell. Oh, but that is the right reverend. You see, even the names. We are so awe. But he’s the pope. He’s the bishop. You mean the pastor is going to hell? Yes. Yes.

One day we’ll all be in for a big surprise. And those people who are going to heaven are the people we least expect. We think that those other people will not go to heaven, but they are going. You think that these are the people who are not going to hell. They’re going. That’s what Jesus is saying here. These people who heard Jesus, they were surprised. This man rather than the other man will go home accepted by God or justified or made right with God. Now that begs the question: Why? Why this man rather than that man would go home justified? You see, that is the important question. That should be the question that we should ask. How can I be made right with God? How can I be justified? How can I be accepted by God? How can I go to heaven?

Now you see why this parable is such an important parable because it answers this immensely important question, which we might say this is the ultimate question. Finally speaking, there is no more question more important than this, whether you would be accepted by God or not, whether you’ll be justified. So let’s look at the answer to this question. So why? Why is this man, this tax collector justified rather than the Pharisees? Answer? The answer lies in his prayer. In verse 13, listen again to his prayer here. In verse 13: “The tax collector, standing afar off, not so much as” looking to heaven, but looking down and “beating his breast, and cries out, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’”.

That is why he is justified. The answer lies in his prayer. You see, the prayers of these two men in a sense illustrate or show two contrasting attitudes and two contrasting approaches towards God. One is acceptable, the other is not. A self-justifying type of approach to God is not. Now look at again the prayer of the tax collector. You see if you look at this prayer carefully, this is what I would call the sinner’s prayer alright. We always talk about the sinner’s prayer. This is the only sinner’s prayer in the Bible. Now if you look at this prayer, now observe these two things here. First of all, look at the beginning and the end of this prayer. The beginning and the end of this prayer. The beginning is God; the end is sinner.

You see as the tax collector for some reason came to church that day or went to the temple that day, and he prayed he saw God. He saw God. You see, there can be no way you can be saved or you could humble yourself without seeing God as He really is. That is what the prophet Isaiah saw when he saw the throne that was empty and then he saw the Lord God on the throne. And when he saw God as He truly was, he said woe to me. You see, the tax collector came and in his prayer tells us that he, first of all, sees God. He said God. And then at the end, he sees himself a sinner. A sinner. In fact, the article there ‘a’ is believed that it’s best translated as ‘the’. I’m the sinner.

It’s like Paul seeing himself and say I’m the chief of sinners. You see, this man sees God and he sees himself, and he sees that there is a huge gap between God and man, between God who is holy, holy, holy, and between man with unclean lips and unclean hands and unclean minds and hearts. Everything about me is unclean, and I’m not fit to be near God. There is a huge distance, a huge gap between the holy God and a sinful man. And that’s the reason why when Adam and Eve sinned against God in Genesis 3 and when God came in the cool of the evening and called out Adam, Adam, what did they do? They ran and hide because they suddenly realised that He’s a holy God and we have broken His Law.

We are sinful beings, and there is this distance between God and man. That’s the reason why when Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes, in Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 he said when you draw near to God, he said let your word be few. He said let your words be few. Why? Because “God is in heaven, and you’re on earth”. You see, the thing that we need to see is that great difference between God and us. He is absolutely holy and we are filthy and we are sinful. We are wicked. And so this tax collector realises that, and that’s why he dare not even look up into heaven. He dare not. He’s just too pure, too holy. And he beat his breast and cried out. Now that’s the beginning and the end.

And then we look at the centre part of his prayer here. So what is it that can bridge this gap? I say God who is holy and man who is sinful, and there is this huge gap. So what is it that can fill this gap between God and man? It’s in his prayer. He said: “God, (in the centre) be merciful”. That is what can bridge this gap between God and man- the mercy of God. Be merciful to me a sinner. And note that the word ‘mercy’ here, there are two words for mercy. And the word ‘mercy’ here is not that word which in English is translated as pity. No, that is not what the prayer is about. It is not saying God, have pity upon me. That is not the prayer. The word ‘mercy’ is the word where it is translated as atonement or propitiation.

Now that is the word ‘mercy’ here. The word ‘mercy’ is the word form of the word in the Old Testament translated into English as the mercy seat. So we know that in the Old Testament, there was an ark which is kind of a box. And inside the ark was the Torah, the Law of God. And the whole ark is laid with gold. And on top of the ark is the mercy seat. And then there are two angels alright beside the ark. The angel was constructed in such a way as to be looking into the ark with the wind alright drawn backward, and the angels will look into the ark. Now, it’s full of significance in that ark. What is it there? What does it signify?

Now it signifies this, that the ark with the Law of God inside, God expect His creature to be fully obedient to His Law, to keep His Law perfectly. And the angels are looking into His Law as guardians, but His Law is broken. Humans, as creatures, man and woman have broken His Law, and God is going to judge. But there is a mercy seat. There is a mercy seat. The looking in is as God looking into His Law being broken with anger, but on top of the mercy seat every year they will sprinkle on the mercy seat the blood of a sacrifice that points to the cross of Jesus Christ. Now that is the picture. It is as it were this tax collector came to the temple that day and he prayed.

He understood his condition. He realised that he’s far from God who is holy, and he understands that the only way whereby he could be justified, make right with God is the mercy seat, that is he’s coming to God on the basis of the blood sacrifice that is sprinkled on that mercy seat. And when God sees that blood on the mercy seat, His wrath is being satisfied as it were. That is propitiation. So in other words, what the tax collector is praying is this. He is coming not on the basis that he is good enough. Now he is not good enough. His hope is not in his righteousness, for he has none. It is not on his track record, for it is bad.

His hope is on the mercy, and that refers to the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. His hope is upon the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. He looks to Christ to bridge the gap. I want to ask you this morning: What is your basis? On what basis do you come to God? Do you think you would be accepted by God? Is it your character, your achievement, your morals, your baptism, your church attendance? You see, there’s so many who got it wrong. It should be “God, be merciful to me a sinner”. Let us pray.

“Our dear Father in heaven, we know that You are holy, holy, holy and that we are sinful beings and there is no way that a sinner can come back to You except through Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ and the price that He paid for our sin on the cross. And we know that this has been accomplished and we want to praise You and thank You for it. And we only pray that the world may come to see. They may come to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ, come to see there is no way we can be justified except by the blood, for we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.