Parable of the Widow & the Judge; Parable of the Pharisee & Tax Collector

Welcome to Wednesday in the Word with Krisan Marotta. What the Bible means and how we know. For more talks and study materials, visit wednesdayintheword.com. Speaker 1: Well, good morning. We are in Luke chapter 18 today, and we are going to try to cover two parables in one. So you're getting two for the price of one today. We'll be looking at the parable of the widow and the unjust judge and the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Gatherer, which are back to back, both in Luke 18, and both of them deal with prayer. But underlying the theme of prayer is the theme of how justification is achieved. So what is justification and how do we achieve it? So the f in the first parable, the widow and the unjust judge, the contrast is between trusting God or turning to despair. And in the second parable, the Pharisee and the tax gatherer, the contrast is between trusting in yourself and trusting God. In the first parable, the widow knows that the judge is the only solution to her problem and she can turn to no one else. And in the second parable, the tax gatherer knows the same thing, that God is the only solution to his problem. But the Pharisee believes he has solved his problem himself. So we're going to take them one by one. Starting in Luke 18, we'll start with the parable of the widow and the unjust judge, and let's look at 18, 1 and 2. Now he was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect men. So judges were notoriously corrupt at the time. The Talmud writes of village judges who were willing to pervert justice for a dish of meat. So just a simple bribe as it as small and simple as a dish of meat, they would throw a court decision. In fact, the judges in Jerusalem during the time their official title, if you translate the Hebrew, was Judges of Prohibition. And if you take the Hebrew word and you change one letter, it gives you the phrase robber judges, and that's what they were called on the street. That slang term, probably because there were so many corrupt judges. So a corrupt judge would have been familiar to a familiar idea to the Jewish audience, and there were four levels of judges in Israel at the time, and this judge is probably the lowest level, which would have been the village court. Now notice what we're told about him in verse 2. This judge has no sense of right or wrong. So he tells us the judge did not fear God and did not respect man. And that English phrase did not respect man doesn't really capture the idea for us. Because the idea here is that he doesn't care what people think of him. He has no sense of shame. He has no regard. It doesn't matter to him what other people think about him. And that's important because shame and honor were very critical aspects of this of the culture at the time. Behavior was often regulated by appeals to shame or and losing faith or doing something shameful was a serious offense in the in the village or in the community. One of the deepest insults you could hurl at someone was to say they had no sense of shame. So when Jesus tells us this judge did not respect man, that's what he means. He has no sense of honor, no inner sense of right or wrong, or sense of shame about what was a good action or what was a shameful action. You add to that that he has no fear of God. So there's no way to reach him. You can't appeal to him on the basis of honor, right or wrong because he doesn't care, and you can't appeal to him on the basis of religious duty or divine judgment or some divine standard of behavior because he doesn't care what God thinks either. So there's no spark of honor left in him, there's no way to reach him. Then we bring in our our next character in 1803. There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him saying, Give me legal protection from my opponent. Now a widow was one of the mo was a member of the most powerless and the most oppressed social class. Widows were typically grouped with orphans and strangers as people who are in special need of protection because they are the most vulnerable in society. They're the ones who are most likely to be taken advantage of. And this woman must be truly alone. Because ordinarily women in Israel did not go to court alone. Her nearest male relative would be expected to go and speak for her or go in her place. And so the fact that she is going before the judge alone means she must have no male relative and she must be entirely alone. So she is completely helpless, she's powerless, and she's at the mercy of a judge who has no sense of right or wrong. She has no one to advocate for her and nowhere else to go. And now what she's asking for is protection or legal justice, and the language suggests that right is on her side. It's her adversary or her opponent who's in the wrong. So another translation of verse 3 would be, grant me justice with regard to my opponent. And this judge is unwilling to grant her justice for whatever reasons. Maybe she can't pay his bribe, or it's probably not important, but the she has the need, she has nowhere else to go, she's she is in the right to ask, and there's no way to reach this man. So let's look at 18, 4, and 5. For a while he was unwilling, but afterward he said to himself, Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out. So the unjust judge or the unrighteous judge gives in because of her persistence, and the language is very exaggerated. So the Greek word in verse 5 that's translated continually, it might be eventually in the NIV, it's a very strong phrase. It implies this is gonna go on forever and ever and ever. And then the phrase in verse 5 that's translated wear me out, it's a fighting term that refers to a blow to the head. So this is what they would use, for instance, in a boxing match if someone is knocked in the head and knocked out. That's that's the phrase that she's gonna knock me out. And it it's exaggerated to say the extent to which her persistence irritates the judge. One Arabic translator rendered it lest she give me a headache. So the judge gives in because he is convinced this widow will never give up and he grants her justice. So the question is, what's the point? Is the point or what's the point of comparison that Jesus tr is trying to make? Is the moral of the story just as the widow continued to pester the judge, so we too should pester God until we get what we want. So if God tells us no, we should just keep asking until we drive him crazy and he changes his mind. And that's the approach my kids liked when they were little. But I don't think that's the point. And the and the reason we know that is there are clues in the commentary. So let's look at 18, 6, and 7. And notice that Jesus contrasts the judge with God here. And the Lord said, Hear what the unrighteous judge said. Now will not God bring about justice for his elect who cried to him day and night, and will he delay long over them? So he starts his commentary on the parable by pointing out the difference between the judge and God. Hear what the unrighteous judge said. Now, or on the other hand, contrast that with God. Will not God bring about justice for his elect? So in his commentary, he points by saying there's not a direct one-to-one comparison, there's a different difference, we're contrasting them. So we don't want to look for a direct comparison in our analogy. And then he goes on to point out that they're um God's justice and his patience. And he concludes with this reassurance that God will bring about justice for them. The phrase in verse 7 that the New American Standard has, will he delay long over them? It's problematic. It's a difficult phrase to translate. And if you look at five different versions of the Bible, you'll probably find uh five different variations on the translation. I think the NIV has, will he keep putting them off? And if you have the New American Standard, you'll notice in the margin there's an alternate translation which says, and yet he is long suffering over them. And that's the translation that I think is closest to the mark. Let me explain why. The New Testament uses three words for patience, all of which are applied to God at various times. The first one typically has the nuance of forbearance, and it's used of God passing over our sins. So we find it in Romans 2.4 and Romans 3.26, with God having patience with our sins or look forbearing with our sins. The second one has the nuance of endurance, and it's the most common word. It's and it usually has the connotation of getting through something or patiently enduring suffering. For example, it's the word used about Christ enduring the cross. And the third word is the one we have here. It's most frequently translated long suffering, and the idea is to put aside your anger or to put aside your wrath, to set something aside. So this would be the patience of a victor who refuses to take vengeance, or the patience of someone who has been wronged and lets go of the wrong, refuses to seek retribution. So it's the word we looked at last week in the parable of the unforgiving servant, when the servant beseeches his master to have patience with me and I will repay all that I owe. It's the same word. The idea is set aside your anger, set aside your wrath. So coming back to verse 7 then, Jesus is saying, God will set aside his anger and show mercy. God will set aside the justice that or the anger over our sinfulness and grant us mercy and compassion. So it's not really a question of how quickly or how speedily God will bring about justice, which is cut implied by the delay aspect, the d using the word delay in the translation. I think it's more a statement that God is willing to put aside his anger over our sinfulness. He is willing to bring justice to his elect, he is willing to set those wrongs right and vindicate those who trust him. And it's because God is willing to set aside his wrath that he is able to show mercy. So the point is not that God will delay salvation, but that he is willing to grant justice, he is willing to put things right. So the point in verse 7 is don't you think that God will put aside his anger and vindicate the elect who cry to him day and night? Shall now God bring about justice for his elect who cry to him and won't he have patience with him? Of course he will. He will bring justice for them eagerly, abundantly, as opposed to reluctantly. So I think the idea behind that quickly is not so much temporal as in how many minutes or how many years until justice comes, but quickly as opposed to reluctantly. You won't have to badger him like you did the judge. You don't have to per persist and pester him. So the judge needed pestering to the point that he was driven crazy, but God will respond quickly, promptly. You don't need to pester him. Alright, let's bring in verse one and the rest of verse eight, because I think that'll help tie it all together. So in 1801, he sets the stage by saying, Now he was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not lose heart. And then in 188 he concludes with, and I tell you that he will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? So those are the bookends to our parable that that set the stage and conclude the point, and we want to make sure we bring them into our understanding. So the first question we would need to ask is who is the them in verse one? He was telling them a parable. Who's them? So the context goes all the way back to chapter 17, verse 22. This parable follows a discussion between Jesus and the disciples that takes place a few weeks before Jesus is crucified. So 1722 tells us that Jesus is talking to the disciples. The rest of the chapter is their conversation up to this parable. And every scholar I looked at thought that this parable was part of that dialogue. So we're in a dialogue that's between Jesus and the disciples a few weeks before he enters Jerusalem to face the cross. Now, if you're looking at the end of chapter 17 in your Bibles, don't ask me to explain everything in there. I can't. We know he's talking about his uh impending crucifixion and the second coming, but I don't know all the details. I'm not sure what all that means. But in 1722 he said it says, and he said to his disciples, to the disciples, The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man and you will not see it. So I think he's saying there, the day is coming when you will wish that I was still physically present with you, and you will want to be back in these in these days, but I won't be there. In other words, the cross is coming. And then in twenty five, but first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. So he's referring to the cross, and he's trying to prepare his disciples for what's to come, what lies ahead. There are really dark, bleak days coming, and they've got to be ready, and he's encouraging them to remain strong in their faith, to persevere. So they expect the Messiah to restore the political kingdom of Israel and establish the kingdom of God on earth, which he will do, but not quite in the way they're expecting it. He's not going to overthrow the Roman government. Instead, they're going to see the day coming when they will he will be put to death on a cross, they will bury his body in a tomb, and it will seem like it's over. It will seem like it's all gone wrong, and they will be tempted to lose heart, tempted to despair. And the question that will immediately come to mind is, well, if if Jesus was really the Messiah, why did God let him suffer death on the cross? So I think when he says in verse one to pray at all times and not lose heart, and then in again in verse eight, he's he's encouraging them to pray because prayer is evidence of your trust in God. So the real point here is not to pray, like to set up a routine that that you have to get so many minutes in, but that you should continue to pray, continue to trust. And if you continue to trust in God, then you'll pray because where else are you going to go? So when it all looks bleak, when it all looks hopeless, when you feel like you're as helpless as the widow with nowhere else to turn and no one else to give you uh relief from your distress, turn to God, pray, don't give up. And the assurance is that God will answer, God will bring about justice and will set aside his wrath. Just as he vindicated the Messiah, he will vindicate us. Now, we know that vindication came by way of the cross and the empty tomb, but the path led through that suffering. So justice is coming, but before we can see the empty tomb, we have to see the cross. And I think he's encouraging them to remain strong in their faith. So when when these days come, not too many weeks from now or too many days from when he's talking to them, and you see the cross and it looks like it's all gone wrong, when it looks like God has abandoned even his own son, the answer is pray, don't lose heart. Have faith. If even a judge with no sense of right and wrong will do the right thing, don't you think that your loving father will do the right thing? You can trust him, don't give up. And if you trust him, you'll persevere in faith. And one evidence of faith is you will pray. Prayer is evidence of who you're turning to, who you're counting on to get you through. I think that helps explain the haunting question at the end of verse of verse eight, but will you have faith? It's interesting, questions in the Greek language often give you a clue as to whether they expect the answer yes or no. So there's a particular particle or a way it's phrased that suggests I'm expecting the answer yes or I'm expecting the answer no. And this question lacks that clue. There is no clue. We don't know with that question in verse 8 what is he expecting yes or no? And I I'm not exactly sure what that means, but I find it very interesting. So when the Messiah returns, will he find that you have persevered in the faith? The point being you have every reason to trust God to bring about justice. So trust and don't give up. You can either turn to God or you can turn to despair. And if you turn to God you will pray, if you turn to despair you will lose heart. So one so turn to God or yourself, pick one or the other. One leads to prayer, one leads to despair. This parable is often taught or seen as teaching the need for persistent prayer. That is, if we don't pray, it won't happen. And that somehow we have to pray in order to get God to respond to our our requests. So almost like he's up there going, Oh, I'd really, really like to help, if only she'd pray. My hand my hands are tied until she prays. Like it's some key that unlocks God's power. I don't think that's what's going on here, as you can probably tell by the way I described it. I think the idea is more that you should pray because your alternative is to give up. The idea is not persistence so much as it is perseverance. Remain strong, continue to pray, cling to what you know to be true, trust and go don't give up. So the the object lesson of the parable is not to encourage a habit of prayer, but to encourage the faith that produces prayer. And if you don't have the faith behind it, prayer is just a formality, it's just going through the motions. All right, let's look at the next parable, the Pharisee and the Tax Gatherer. We switch from, I think, an emphasis on private prayer to more of an emphasis on corporate prayer, and then we're gonna at the end we'll try to tie these two together. So, going on in Luke 18, 9 and 10, and he also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. Now, the most every scholar I looked at agreed that this parable is now being told to a larger crowd. So in 9 when it says he told this parable to some people, that that's a clue that we've the audience has shifted, and that this is a wider, larger audience that would certainly include the disciples, but also probably includes the multitudes of the crowds who gather around him, and given the subject matter, most likely includes Pharisees who would think themselves righteous. So two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. Now we tend to assume that this is a private, that they're going to the temple to pray privately, but Jesus' audience would probably have assumed that this is a public worship service. We assume it's private because we tend to use the verb to pray almost exclusively for private devotion. And when we want to talk about corporate devotion or public prayer, we use the term worship. But in biblical literature, the verb to pray can mean either public or private. And there are clues in the setting of the parable that lead us to believe that it's corporate. First, two people go to a public place of worship, they arrive at the same time and they leave at the same time. They go to the temple, which of course is public, and we are told how they stand in relation to other worshipers. So we there must be other people present. And most likely the service he's referring to would be the morning and evening service to ask for the atoning sacrifice. So the Jews held this service at dawn and again at three in the afternoon at the temple each day to ask for an atoning sacrifice. The public came to these services and they would sacrifice a lamb and then they would burn incense, and when during the time of burning incense, that was symbolic of the prayers of God going up to him, people would offer personal prayer out loud. And that's most likely the setting of this parable. The rabbinic literature that discusses it uh all assumes that this is the daily atonement service. And it would have been expected. So let's look at how they pray. In eighteen, eleven and twelve, then the Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself God, I thank you that I'm not like the other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I pay tithes of all I get. So he stands by himself, I think, to keep himself clean. Now there is a a small translation issue. The Greek test text is ambiguous. The to himself can refer to either verb. So it can refer to standing by himself or it can refer to praying to himself. And it's a little ambiguous which one. And so can you is it are we being told he's standing by himself and praying, or is he standing and praying to himself? Either one's a legitimate translation. I lead towards standing by himself for a couple of reasons. First, it's most likely this is a public service, and we're told how the tax gatherer stood in relation to others, so it seems natural that we would be told how the Pharisee stands in relation to others. Some of the early translations of the Greek into other languages unambiguously choose standing by himself. And then finally, and this one's the most compelling to me, if we read the Pharisee's speech as a soliloquy, so one he would be saying quietly to himself, it doesn't really add much to the parable. But if we read it as him standing apart and kind of apart from the others who are gathered to pray, it reveals more about his character and his mindset. And I think it makes the parable more dramatic. So the Pharisee considers himself justified before God and despises others. And for the Pharisees, there were two kinds of people. There were those who strictly observed the law and were clean, and then there was everybody else. And to even brush against the clothing of part of the everyone else was to become unclean. So he could become unclean by sitting where an unclean person had sat, by riding an animal an unclean person had ridden, or even leaning against something that that person had touched. So to keep clean, he has to keep himself apart. So he stands off by himself so as not to endanger his personal cleanliness. So we have this picture of a proud man standing aloof in worship and then praying this prayer of religious superiority. So he's the enlightened one, he's the one who's doing it right, and he's instructing the less fortunate, the unenlightened in the ways of God. You know, after all, from his point of view, they have little opportunity to see a truly righteous man such as himself. So he graciously offers a few words of instruction in how to be, how to keep the law. So his opening follows the norm. Jewish prayer typically began by thanking and praising God for his gifts and then would follow with petitions for any needs. So the Pharisee starts by thanking God that he, the Pharisee, is so great. He's not like those other men. Um he's not, you know, he's doing it all right, and he's attained to this standard of righteousness and and law keeping that's enviable, and thank God he's such a good a great guy. Unless we mistake who everyone else is, he gives us the list of people who were, you know, commonly considered unclean, and some of these names were names that would have been called the tax gatherer might have been called. And just in case we still don't get it, he specifically points to the tax gatherer and says, I'm not like that poor schmuck over there. So he tells us unenlightened, you know, he gives a few examples of how he's different. So in Leviticus 25.29 and Numbers 39.7, they were commanded to fast for the Day of Atonement. And that's really the only actual commandment we have for fasting. So the Pharisee is going beyond the requirement of the law, and he's fasting twice a week, every week. And as far as we can tell, that practice was confined to the Pharisees. The general population only fasted uh before the Day of Atonement. But the Pharisees said, okay, if the law requires one day, then I'm going to go twice a week because then I know I'm really keeping it. Similarly, in Leviticus 27, Numbers 18, Deuteronomy 12, there were tithes levying on grain, wine, and oil. So they were supposed to tie on their food, tithe on their food products, but by this time the Pharisees had extended that tithe to everything that could possibly be considered food and everything else as well. So they were very strict on tithing about everything. In fact, we have Jesus uh chastising them for tithing even the herb from their mint gardens, but neglecting things like compassion and justice and mercy. So again, he's taken what the law requires and expanded it out and say, well, if the law requires this much, then I'll do this great big huge thing, and then I know I'm keeping the law. So we have this picture of a man who prides himself on his kind of perfect observance of the law, in fact, maybe even above and beyond the call of duty. Now we contrast him with our tax collector. Look at 1813. But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Now you'll remember that tax collectors were Jews whose job it was to collect taxes from their fellow Jews and hand them over to the Romans. And these were taxes that the Romans were levying on them because they were a vassal state of Rome. Tax collectors were despised because they were seen as turning against their fellow Jews and aiding and abetting this hated government that was over top of them. And also they had because they had daily contact with Gentiles, with the Romans, they were unclean. So the tax collector stands apart, not only from the other worshippers, but also from God. The word suggests that not as that he's not aloof, he's afar because he's not worthy. He doesn't think he's he knows he's not clean, and he doesn't think he's worthy to stand with God's people. Now the accepted posture for prayer at the time was to stand with your hands crossed over your chest and to keep your eyes downcast. So this gesture of beating his breast and is was only used in it in times of extreme anguish. And it's a the really unusual feature of the parable is that it is a man using this gesture. Beating the chest was a gesture characteristic of women at funerals typically, and not men. Men were cons were supposed to remain more dignified and unemotional. So for a man to use it, this gesture of beating his breast is almost unheard of. It would be reserved for extreme anguish. In fact, in biblical literature, the only other place we see this gesture used by men is at the foot of the cross, and that's in Luke 23, 48. But the gesture is to give you this intense picture of the depths of the tax collector's remorse. And then his prayer is very specific. He asks specifically for his sins to be covered. The phrase that's translated, be merciful to me, the sinner, or have mercy on me, is a very particular word for mercy. It's not the general word for mercy, it's the particular word for atoning sacrifice or propitiation to use the theological term. So he's not asking for general mercy, but specifically for atonement. He wants his sins to be covered, which is very appropriate if the setting is indeed the morning and evening sacrifice of the lamb, because the lamb has been sacrificed, the blood has been paid for the sins of Israel, so their sins are covered, the incense is burning, symbolizing that their debt has been paid and the way to God is open. And here stands this tax collector in extreme remorse, pleading with God, let that cover my sins. Please, let this lamb that was just sacrificed be for me. So he's a broken, humble man saying, Please, God, let it be for me. Let the blood of the lamb cover me. So the sacrifice of the lamb has just been made for the sins of the people, but who is justified? Not everyone. The Pharisee went home as empty as he came. But the man with the broken heart who came in unworthiness, grieving over his sin, he's the one who went home right with God. Okay, so let's look bring in our commentary verses. Again we've got bookends on this parable. In eighteen nine, he told them this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt, and then 1814, I tell you this, this man went home went 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 the word translated righteous in verse 9 and the word justified in verse 14 are the same word. One's the adjective form and one's the adverb form, but they are forms of the same word. So we want to make sure we understand what they mean. So we want to review what is justification, because I think that's the best translation here. It's they were righteous in this in the sense of right before God, or justified in the sense of right before God. So we talked about this last week a little bit, but we're going to review again, so bear with me. Because it's key to knowing what we're talking about. So what is justification? You'll remember that when we fell or when we sin, we are born saying to God, I'd rather do it myself. I'm I don't want you to be Lord of my life, I want to be Lord of my life. Thanks, but no thanks. I'll I'll go out on my own, and we rebel against God. And when we rebel, there are two consequences. So we refuse to accept or acknowledge God as the source of holiness, goodness, life, blessings, and we say, no thanks, I'll find all that life and holiness and goodness on my own, and we come up empty because it's not there. So the first consequence of our rebellion is now we experience sin and death. So we all, and I mean death in all its forms, not just the physical end of life, but the brokenness, bitterness, um hurt, sinfulness, selfishness, thoughtlessness, neglect, war, office politics, all the things that make this world fallen and broken, that's sin, and that's a result of our rebellion. So that's the first result. That when we sin we will experience death. So that's like the law of gravity. If you drop a book, it will fall. If you rebel against God, you are stuck with sin and death. So that's the first consequence of our rebellion. But the second consequence is that the rebellion itself was wrong and deserves punishment. So it's not just that it was tragic, it's that it was legally, ethically wrong. So now there is a judicial penalty to our rebellion. That's what Paul talks about in Romans 1 and when he says God gave them over to their sin and death. He handed us over into the custody of sin. So the first consequence of our rebellion is that we experience sin and death, but the second consequence is that God now essentially turns his back on us. He hands us over into the custody of sin and death, because now there is a debt to justice that must be paid. And that consequence is devastating. Because in that state, if I could, and I don't believe we can apart from the grace of God, but if I could turn myself around and repent, it would do no good because God's back is still turned to me. He's no longer there with open arms, he's no longer available. There's still this problem of the debt to justice that I owe. So that's it's a different consequence. While my back is turned, I experience sin and death and all that bitterness and rebellion and brokenness. My life is falling apart because I lack righteousness. That's the natural consequence of my rebellion. But the wrath of God is that second graver consequence that if I could turn back to God and beg for righteousness, the answer is no, because my debt to justice must be paid. So God's wrath is the judicial decree against us that not just so that we will experience sin and death, but we will be slaves of sin and death, and we have no way to get out until that debt is paid. So justification is the forgiveness of our debt to justice. So justification is what solves the problem of God's wrath or solves that judicial penalty such that my debt to justice has been paid and God will once again grant me life and goodness and blessing. So it's clear we have to solve that problem of God's wrath. The question is how? How do you get there? How do you get from a point where your justice, your debt to justice is is paid and you are free and clear. So the law requires you to be holy, and the Jews thought you could be justified by obeying the law. That's what we see in the Pharisee. Um and as we've seen in the other parables, and again here the the only that that doesn't work. The only way to meet the requirement of the law is if God makes you righteous, and he's not doing that anymore because we have this debt to justice. So left to ourselves, we are unable to keep the law in the way it must be kept. We just don't have it in us. Only God can impart what's necessary to keep the law, and he's not doing it anymore because there's this problem of this debt to justice. So how do we get it? Justification is a gift from God, and it's based on his mercy and the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. So in Romans 3, 23 and 24 it tells us, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified is a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. We don't earn it, we don't achieve it, we can't work it up. Um we have justification only as a gift from God, and it's based on his mercy and made possible by the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. So because God is not only just and righteous, but also profoundly compassionate and merciful and generous, he does for us what we can never do for ourselves, what we do not deserve, sends his own son to pay the price for our sin and death, so that his death substitutes he dies the death we should die in our place, and God accepts his payment on our behalf. And then our debt to justice has been paid. So justification is granted as a gift of God to those who trust in Jesus Christ, who tr who have placed their faith in his death and his resurrection. So that's the point of the parable. The one who went home justified, the one who went home right before God, having the judicial penalty paid for his sin, is the tax collector, not the Pharisee. The Pharisee trusted in himself that he was justified by his own efforts at lawkeeping, but the tax collector pleaded that the blood of the Lamb cover him. Okay, so let's come back to the parable. In verse 9, the Pharisee's trusting in himself that he is justified, but in verse 14, only the tax collector is justified. Now both are still sinful, but one has had the penalty paid for his sins. So justification is not granted to the one who approaches God based on his own merit and says, Look how great I am, look well, look what I have done for you, or how how good I am. Instead, it is granted to the one who approaches God with a humble and broken spirit and a remorseful heart, one who knows I am sinful. I cannot change the fact that I'm sinful left to myself. God is not required to bless me or save me, but I trust in the blood of Jesus to cover my sins and that God will make me righteous because of his death. So in verse 14, when it says to be exalted, the idea there is to draw close to God. So the idea is the one who tries to draw close to God based on his own merit or through his own effort shall be put in his place. He won't reach it. But the one who draws close to God with a broken spirit and a remorseful heart, he will be brought close to God, he will be exalted, he will be redeemed. Now that sounds trite to our ears, but for Jesus to tell a uh you know, a an ancient Jewish audience that justification is a gift of God made possible by the atoning sacrifice of the Lamb and given to those who humbly approach God as sinners, trusting only in his grace and not their own works, that was pretty radical. Because they thought that the point of the law was do this and live, and that's what they were trying to do, and Jesus is telling them, No, the point of the law was to teach you that you need to look for a savior, someone other than yourself, and that it's a gift. You can't get it on your own, but God will give it to you, and all you have to do is ask. That was a that was unheard of. And then to claim that the tax collector, the person who in their society would have been considered one of the lowest of the low, the epitome of a sinner, that he was righteous when the religious leader of his day, who's outwardly moral and upright, wasn't? I mean, that's just unheard of. So from the widow, let's put try to put these two parables together and then we'll apply them. So from the widow we learn to stand firm in our faith, to persevere no matter what, no matter how dark it seems, that the mercy of God is our only hope for justification, and there's nowhere else to turn. And unlike, and what we learn from her is the persistence, the perseverance, I should say, in trusting, in turning to the only one who could help her, and that's what we are to do, to continually turn to the only one who can save us and grant us justification. Then from the Pharisee and the tax collector, we learn that we cannot earn our justification, but that God in his mercy grants it to those who approach him with a humble heart based on the blood of Jesus. So he is we should continually turn to him, he's the only one who can save us, and we don't have to earn it, we don't have to prove to him we're worthy in any way, we simply have to trust in his character, his promises, and the life and death of his son Jesus Christ. Okay, so how do we apply this? What can we take away from this to try to make this real in our own lives? Um, the these are the ones I thought of. First, beware of your pride in your moral standing. I mean, think about, well, who are today's Pharisees? And it's really easy to get complacent. It's really easy to start thinking, hey, I'm doing okay. I'm not a drug addict addict, I don't beat my kids, you know, I tithe, I attend church, I'm on a million committees, I pray, I I evangelize all the people I meet on airlines. You know, I'm doing okay. And it's easy to fool ourselves into thinking we're okay because we're gradually lowering the standard of what it means to be okay. You know, we we have this outwardly middle class kind of morality, and we can manage that. And it's easy to overlook the times we're thoughtless or selfish or we neglect to do the right thing, or we just don't want to do the right thing, or whatever it is. So beware of of taking pride in your own moral standing. The second application, I think, is to realize that we are justified, we are not holy. What has changed about us now is our standing before God, not our ability to be perfectly obedient. So God has through the death of his son on the cross, has clear paid our debt to justice so that he can once again bless us and give us life and make us righteous. But that process is ongoing. The complete freedom from sin is yet to come. That's what we hope for. As Paul talks about in Romans 5, we hope for the glory of God. We hope for that righteous character, but we don't yet have it. We have a down payment of it, we have an installment, but we do not yet have the full inheritance. So any like the Victoria's Christian life movement or any theology which says you can choose never to sin again if only you use the right formula, it's just wrong. God has not yet freed us from sin and death. That's the promise of the age to come, not yet here. Now we will grow in maturity and wisdom and we will make progress, but we are not going to be perfectly obedient in this life. So, third, what's the third application? Personally, I another kind of personal application is to remember that even our darkest hours are in God's control. The cross was from God's hand. I mean, uh imagine what it must have been like for the disciples who had enjoyed all these years of personal, face to face, tangible physical relationship with Jesus, and then to look at the cross. I mean, for us, we look back With, you know, 2,000 years of hindsight, and we think, well, of course, it was only three days. It was, you know, that we know it was coming, but for them it must have been a devastating test of faith. And I think Jesus knew his death was going to be hard on the disciples. So part of at least the first parable is him encouraging them to stay strong in their faith, cling to what they know to be true when the trials come. Now I don't know what trials you're facing, but the encouragement is the same. I mean, in a room this size, probably two-thirds of you at least are facing some really difficult situation. And the encouragement is you have a heavenly father who loves you, who's willing to put aside his judgment, who delights in showing grace and mercy, who has promised to make it all right in the end, to wipe away every tear, to right every wrong, and to bring justice to those who trust him. And you can trust him. If even a judge who has no sense of right or wrong can be counted on to do the right thing, don't you think you can count on your heavenly father? Now it may look bleak, it may look out of control, it may look helpless, it may feel like God has abandoned you, but he hasn't. So the encouragement is to turn to him in prayer and not to lose heart. I don't mean to make light of trials or suffering. Christians are called to face some really tragic and painful situations sometimes. And I'm not trying to minimize the pain involved, but to encourage you that no matter how hard it gets, and it does get hard not to give up, that there is nothing outside of God's control, nothing outside his handling or his sovereignty that he cannot ultimately turn into good or redeem for a for a better cause. So he has promised to make us to conform us to the image of Christ, to make us people who are more and more holy and righteous, and the suffering is frequently part of the plan, part of the tools that he is using to get us there. And finally, how do I I think one more application is how do I know if I'm a Christian? I think we all we all reach those moments, you know, those dark corners where we think, what if I'm fooling myself? Or what if I really don't believe and one day I'm gonna wake up and I'm just gonna give it all up or walk away? Or what if deep down inside me I'm trusting myself and I'm not trusting God? How do I know that I'm not fooling myself? And one of the assurances we have is that if we're Christians, we will continue to pray and not lose heart. That when those trials come, it's a test of do I have real faith or not? Do I have genuine saving faith or am I fooling myself? And those when we come out the other end of those trials with our faith intact, and yea, even stronger, it's tangible evidence that I am, in fact, a believer, that my faith is real. And if I have faith, then I have everything, that I know that the justification covers I am justified and that I will enter the kingdom of of heaven. So the sense in which faith leads to prayer is not that I have my fifteen minutes every day or I have some structured routine. You may have that, and that's okay. But the real test is when I face decisions or crisis or or stress or choices, whatever situation, do I turn to God or do I turn to myself? Do I cast myself on him or do I start counting on myself? And real faith turns to God. So looking back over my life, I can look at those dark tunnels and those hard times and say, you know what? I came out of that with my faith intact. I was tempted to give up, I was tempted to think God abandoned me, and I didn't. I'm still here. And that perseverance is concrete evidence that your faith is real. Saving faith perseveres through trials, imposter faith will fall apart. So whenever you're tempted to worry or get anxious or to uh fall into despair, pray. Prayer is not claiming rights you have before God, it's realizing God owes you nothing, that you deserve nothing from him, but because of the cross of Christ and his generous, gracious nature, he has promised to save us. So prayer is not some key that unlocks God's power. Instead, it is evidence of our faith and trust in him. It's not spiritual arm twisting, it's casting yourself upon God, turning back to the only one who can save you, the only one who's in control, the only one who can redeem all the wrongs and make it all right. So prayer is casting your worries and your anxieties and your requests on him and trusting that he will do what's best, no matter what that best is. And sometimes we're in situations where we don't understand it or it looks bleak, but the encouragement is to pray and not lose heart. Oh great, we're right on time. Let me um pray for us, close us, and then I'll give you a chance to ask some questions. Father, thank you that you are a God who loves us, that you are a God who cares for us, and that even though you are holy and perfectly righteous and good, you are loving and compassionate as well, and you did for us what we could never do for ourselves, that you sent your son to die in our place, to solve the problem of our sin and to pay the d j the deep debt to justice that we owed and could never pay ourselves. And we pray that you would take these truths and write them on our hearts, that you would make us people who not just know them intellectually, but who live and act on them, who trust them, who let them let these truths change our lives and our and our nature and our being. And if anyone here does not know you, I pray that um you would open her eyes to see you and that you would help us have the words to say to maybe get her to that point of understanding. Thank you again, and we just um praise you for all that you've done for us in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for listening to Wednesday in the Word with Krisan Marotta. What the Bible means and how we know. For notes and study questions, visit wednesdayintheword.com. We hope you'll join us again, and may God richly bless you.