In God Alone I Will Trust
By
Rev. John C. Orlando, Jr.
Luke 18:9 - 14
Date: July 2002
Background: The parable is at a place in Luke’s Gospel that is sometimes referred to as the Travelogue or Travel narrative, which begins in Luke Chapter 9:51 and runs through Luke 19:27, right before Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, and then later His death, burial and resurrection. The parable is apparently addressed to some who had been following Jesus.
Intro
Madalyn
Murray O’Hair. She was probably
the best known Atheist in the United States, if not in the world.
It was due to her efforts that prayer and Bible reading were banned from
the Public Schools in 1963. She was
by all accounts profane and aggressive, devoting herself to attacking all
religion, especially Christianity. Then
in 1995 at the age of 76, she mysteriously disappeared.
Before it was discovered that she was in fact murdered, the IRS seized
her personal belongings to pay delinquent taxes and personal debt. Included in the IRS auction of her valuables was a penny with
the words, “In God We Trust” scratched out.
That penny sold for $10.
We may find Ms. O’Hair’s actions of scratching out the words “In God We Trust” as shocking. How could anyone be so callous, so crass, so blasphemous as to actually do something like that! But she knew full well that she didn’t trust in God. Ms. O’Hair didn’t trust in God for a simple reason…she didn’t believe in God!
There
is a bit of irony here though, because at least Ms. O’Hair was honest.
She was just being consistent with what she professed she believed.
Yet, within the Church, the very place where we profess and proclaim that
it is in God we trust, we nevertheless find ways of scratching out
those words, if you will, in our personal lives, and inscribe in their place,
“In myself I trust.”
In this parable, Jesus is, in essence, challenging us at the most foundational and fundamental point…who are we trusting in for our right standing before God? The truth of the matter is that to be in a right relationship with God we must trust in God alone and not in ourselves. You see, trust is at the heart of our faith. It is one thing to believe, but an entirely different matter to trust. But what is trust? Simply stated, trust is having confidence in and reliance or dependence upon someone or something; or to commit to a person’s care. True biblical faith is nothing without trust. And the title of this sermon is “In God Alone I Will Trust.”
To get the full impact of this parable, I want us to analyze the actions of the Pharisee and the tax collector, and then offer 3 points of application for us.
But before doing that, we have to make some initial insights regarding the text…
I.
Initial Insights
A. Verse 9:
1. Apparently addressed to those who had been following Jesus
2. Some trusted in themselves that they were righteous….
3. They despised others as result…looked down on everyone
B. Verse 10: The
setting
1. Both went to the Temple… “Religion” was important to both, but…
2. Verse 14: Only one leaves justified in the sight of God!
Let us now move to our…
II.
Analysis of The Pharisee
A. Who were they?
-- The name means “the separated ones.” They were known as being loyal
and dedicated followers of God, and experts in interpreting the Scriptures. They were the teachers in the synagogues, religious examples in the eyes of the people and self-appointed guardians of the law and its proper observance.
B. V 11a - Self Absorbed (all of his attention fixed on himself
)–“prayed thus…”
Glances at God, but contemplates himself…thanks God for what he is, not for who God is.
C. V 11b - Self Righteous (Feeling good about our own religious performance and
looking
down on others) - “I am not like other men…I fast…”
1. Looks down on others in 2 ways:
a. Not committing certain sins
b. Performance good works
2. He likes his comparison
When we compare ourselves to others, especially those we consider to be the most wretched among us, it is easy to feel “justified” before God.
We, like the Pharisee, become self-righteous. We look at our outward display and think we’re justified before God on that basis. We even formulate our own lists of what we think makes a person truly righteous or unrighteous, and we condemn them by our self-righteousness. The problem with self-righteousness is that it is almost impossible to recognize in ourselves…
D. Self Deceived
1. Thought he was right before God on the basis of who he was: “I thank God that I’m not like other men…”
2. Thought he was right before God on the basis of his works: “I fast…”
a. He conformed to outwardly to the laws of God…
b. It was all outward appearance without inward reality
-- Mark 7:6, 20 - 23—it’s what is on the inside that defiles us!
E. What about us in the
Church!!!
1. Christian Pharisee’s - Quote Jerry Bridges pages 30, 32
2. Refined sins: Page 35, 37
3. God’s love for the believer isn’t dependent of the believer’s works, rather, the believers works are an indicator that he loves God.
F. His critical Failure:
1. He failed to understand who God was, who he was, and what was required
to make a person right before God.
2. He lacked true faith. The Pharisee believed in God, but did He trust in God?
Example:
Paul (Phil 3:2 – 9)
II.
Analysis of The Tax Collector
A. Who they were: Local Jewish men employed by the Roman Empire to collect taxes from the people. They were noted for imposing more taxes than required, and hated for being instruments through which the subjection of Jews to the Roman emperor was perpetuated. They were regarded as traitors and apostate and classed with sinners, harlots and pagans.
B. Self conscious (ill at ease with himself) - Felt shame before his peers (stood afar off)
C. Self condemned - Felt shame before God (would not raise his eyes to heaven)
D. Self Discerning - Realized his desperate need before a holy God
1. Have mercy on me! Mercy: Mercy is related to the word compassion. Compassion has to do with recognizing the poor, helpless state of a person and stooping to help that person. Mercy does the same, but its unique quality is that is shown to people who in fact deserve the opposite.
2. Broken (shattered, break into pieces) and contrite (collapse, crush, bruise): We
are crushed beneath the weight of sin and are shattered into pieces.
3. Matt 5:3 – Poor in spirit – When we know our own spiritual poverty
The justified are those whose heart is broken before God, because they understand the depth of the sin that still remains in their flesh, and their greatest desire is that God would cleanse them!
Notice, the tax collector went home already justified! It doesn’t say that he was now free from all sin, and on that basis he was justified. No. He went home justified before God because he came to the place in his life where he understood who he was, that he had sinned against heaven and earth, and that the greatest need in his life was the mercy of Holy God. He understood what true Biblical faith really was…that it is trusting in God alone.
III.
Jesus’ Analysis – Verse 14
Jesus challenges the religious thinking of His day and ours:
A. The “religious” person was not justified before God!
B. The one who is most clearly identified as a sinner in that culture attained justification
C. The “self-righteous” will be humbled (brought down)
1. It is one thing to be humble, it is quite another to be humbled. The former is a state of being; the latter is a state of punishment
D. The humbled will be exalted
1. The humble person is the one who is aware of his shortcomings or defects,
comes to the end of himself, realizes his utter moral bankruptcy before a Holy and Just God, and cries out to the Judge of the universe for mercy
2. This one will be exalted in that he will be raised to the highest pinnacle
possible for men…the newness of life that is found in Christ alone!
Three
Points of Application
Biblically, trusting in God alone entails the idea of complete abandonment to Christ alone. We rest upon Christ not just for our salvation, but also in the daily living out of our lives. But how do we keep from “scratching” out the words “In God Alone I will Trust?” I believe we must keep continually keep before us the knowledge of
1.
Who God Is
A. Illustrate:
Isaiah 6
B. The Pharisee’s misconception: Resulted in his self-righteousness
C. The Tax collectors right conception: Resulted in his being declared righteous.
2.
Who We Are
A. The tax collector
understood his desperate need
B. The corruption of our flesh…that sin nature is still with us
C. We are both saints and sinners at the same time. Quote Jerry Bridges, page 40
1. We fall down, BUT get up…we don’t live in the sin
3.
Who are right standing before God depends on
A. The Finished Work of
Christ Alone
1. For my justification
2. For my sanctification
3. For my glorification
Christ has perfectly accomplished the whole of our salvation!
B. On Christ the Solid
Rock I Stand
Conclusion
William Carey was a famous missionary in the 1700’s. He was a remarkable man of faith, and so profound was the impact of his ministry that he is often called the father of modern missions. His vast labors for Christ included translation of all or parts of the Bible into more than 40 languages and dialects. On his 70th birthday, Carey wrote to one of his sons these words (pg 29):
We say we trust in God, but is our proclamation and confession legitimate? Do we say on the one hand that we rely solely on the finished work of Christ in order to have a right relationship with God, but then ignore Christ and the work He did on our behalf as the only sufficient ground upon which we can even approach God?
May the Lord grip us with His presence, that we not be like the Pharisee: self-centered, self righteous, and self deceived, but that we might be like the tax collector: self conscious of who we are in our flesh, and self condemned in that we feel remorse for our sin and cast ourselves upon God’s mercy seat daily. Let us continually remind ourselves of who God is, who we are, and in whom our right standing before a Holy God depends. In God Alone I Will Trust! Amen.