The Parable of The Pharisee and the Tax Collector - Part 2

Luke 18:14

“I tell you that this man [tax collector], rather than the other [Pharisee], went home justified before God.”

Justified before God is standing before God one-hundred percent innocent of all sins and one-hundred percent righteous – just as if one has never sinned.

• Because the tax collector went home justified, he stood before God just as if he had never sinned.

• Because the Pharisee was not justified, he stood before God in his sins…though he thought he had no sin.

• The tax collector went home righteous before God.

• The Pharisee went home unrighteous before God.

• The tax collector went home innocent before God.

• The Pharisee went home guilty before God.

• The tax collector went home sinless before God.

• The Pharisee went home a sinner before God.

• The tax collector went home having received eternal life.

• The Pharisee went home outside of eternal life.

Luke 18:14

“For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

• The Pharisees exalted themselves above others as if they were morally and religiously/spiritually superior to them.

• Most Pharisees never saw their need for grace.

• The Pharisees would be humbled by God when he judged them.

• The Pharisees would be judged as guilty sinners and would not escape judgment and would not experience eternal life.

• Like the tax collector, those who humbled themselves by recognizing and admitting their sinful condition would be exalted.

• Like the tax collector, those who humbled themselves would be given grace and lifted up to a righteous standing before God.

• Like the tax collector, those who humbled themselves would escape judgment and experience eternal life.

In Romans and Galatians, Paul explains that:

• Righteousness cannot be achieved through the works of the law or through any works.

• The Ten Commandments have been broken by everyone and all are sinners and no amount of works can justify a person before God.

• The result of sin is death.

• Jesus took the judgment of death upon himself for our sins when he died on the cross.

• Jesus rose from the dead so that we could have eternal life.

• Jesus took our sinfulness upon himself at the cross and offers us righteousness which is needed for eternal life.

• Righteousness and eternal life are gifts of God received through faith in Jesus.

Luke illustrates faith in Luke 18:15-17.

People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God [eternal life] belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child [simple faith] will never enter it.”

The children possessed simple faith in Jesus.

Faith in Jesus is how a person receives the gifts of righteousness and eternal life.

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