He's Responsible • Luke 18:9-27

1:16:13 Teaching begins

Notes

Today’s teaching is for everyone that has ever felt vague foreboding, like, something isn’t right between me and God.

But it’s also for everyone who listens to that and says, “Who cares?”

Today is also for the hopeless. They’ve tried to do what’s right and they know they’re absolutely dead before God.

The good news is, your problem is not imaginary. It’s real, and so bad you can’t do anything about it,

and,

someone is willing to be responsible for you, so you will never die.

I’m reading in Luke 18, from verse nine (to fourteen).

1. Jesus’ parable shows us sin is much worse than we know.

A. He’s targeting people with a parable, a short story with a point, that’s like the punchline to a joke.

1. He usually tells parables to people that aren’t listening to Him so they hear but don’t get it. The key to parables is to submit to Jesus, then you get understanding.

2. It’s not for those targeted people’s benefit, because they don’t even think He’s talking to them.

3. It’s for the ones who are overhearing the parable. It’s for us to understand and take on board.

B. Two men are going up to the temple to pray, and we would consider them polar opposites.

1. One is a Pharisee, a member of a smaller group of Jews who are the dominant interpreters of the law of Moses. They know the law, they set themselves to do the law of Moses. Their mindset is, you do the law, you are righteous before God and He accepts you.

2. The other man is a tax collector. By definition he can’t be righteous before God. He is a traitor to his people, he oppresses and is greedy for wealth. There’s no way God could accept him.

C. The Pharisee prays and celebrates his success at being acceptable to God.

1. Remember that this parable is targeted at those who trust in themselves that they are righteous, and despised others.

2. Well! This guy thinks he’s fabulous! I’m not like others, I don’t commit sin. Like that tax collector. Brrr-rr-r! Not me! The tax collector is nothing.

3. If you know you’re righteous it’s because you have proof. His proof is that he doesn’t commit gross sin like others. He fasts twice a week and pays tithes of all he receives. The law only appointed one fast in the year, for the Day of Atonement. The Pharisees made up more fasts that aren’t in the Torah.

4. So this fellow can look at what he does and know that God accepts him. Of course God would accept a good person. I can prove that I’m good.

D. The tax collector prays in anguish.

1. He calls himself, “the sinner.” Of all the sinners in the world, I’m the worst. He’s crushed by the weight of his sins because they are beyond his ability to fix.

2. Sin against the eternal God is like Hamas breaking out into Israel, killing 1,200 people, taking men, women, and babies captive, firing thousands of rockets and missiles, celebrating the murders they committed on social media. There’s no excuse for sin. No justification. The tax collector realised his sins are grievous and offend God.

3. So he prays, “Be propitiated to me.” Propitiate means to remove all wrath and anger. He has offended, he’s guilty, he can’t make it up to God. It’s hopeless. So he prays for God to propitiate Himself. By Your divine love and power, please take away Your righteous wrath against me, the worst.

E. Jesus says, God listened to the sinner and He didn’t listen to the religious man.

1. God propitiated Himself and took away His wrath. He declared the tax collector righteous, “justified” because he depended on the goodness of God. Only God could save him, and he trusted God to do that. He committed himself into God’s responsibility.

2. The religious man went home not justified, still accounted by God as a sinner, and he didn’t know it.

3. He could know how bad his sin was if he read and understood the law of Moses. But he picks and chooses and isn’t listening to God. So in pride and ignorance he thinks everything is okay. He’s convinced that God accepts him, when God does not accept him.

4. This man thinks he can be acceptable to God if he fasts twice a week and pays God a tenth of his seeds from his garden. What if a Hamas terrorist says to Israel, “Okay, tell you what: how about I not eat twice a week and pay a tenth of everything I make? Does that make everything okay? Are we even?”

5. When is this religious person going to find out that God doesn’t accept him? When it’s too late, and he stands before God, and God condemns him to shame and everlasting contempt.

F. Therefore, says Jesus, the only way to be saved is to humble yourself before God and ask Him to take responsibility for your sins. If you exalt yourself, you think you can be responsible and make yourself acceptable to God, you will be humbled.

2. The only way to be saved is to ask God to take responsibility for you, vv. 15-17.

A. Mothers are bringing their young children or babies to Jesus for Him to touch them.

1. The kids didn’t suggest this to their mothers.

2. The mothers are looking out for their children. They want Jesus to bless them so that they grow up right and live right. That’s a responsibility that weighs heavy on a parent. You want your children to do better than you did. No parent enjoys seeing their children live badly.

B. The disciples think, absolutely not. Do not waste Jesus’ time with insignificant kids.

C. Jesus wants those children to come to Him.

1. Children are valuable to Him. Each one is created in His image, with His breath of life in them. They are sacred, valuable beyond value.

2. Kids understand Jesus. They understand they can’t do anything about their sin. They understand Jesus takes responsibility for them, and they can trust Him like they trust their parents to take care of them.

D. The kingdom of God belongs to people who understand their sin is so bad they can’t fix it. Who understand that only God can fix it. Who ask God to fix it by receiving Jesus. They entrust the responsibility of their lives to Jesus.

3. A person who thinks obedience is not a big problem finds out it really is. He realises he can’t fix his sin, vv. 18-27.

A.  The ruler thinks it’s possible all kinds of people can be good. He’s pretty sure he’s good.

B. Jesus calls him first on this idea of calling Him, “Good Teacher.” Jesus says, “No one is good except God.”

1. The Bible is clear that all people everywhere are sinners, rebels against God, not glorifying Him. The Pharisee should have read that. Everyone should know that. Not one person is good.

2. Jesus is asking the ruler, “Do you understand what you’re saying? You are contradicting the written word of God, unless you understand who I am, that is, God manifest in flesh. Then you can call Me, ‘Good Teacher’”

3. But this is the start of learning for this man. There’s more to come.

C. He asks, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Tell me what I should do, and I’ll do it.

D. Jesus points him to the commandments and the man is just like the Pharisee. I’m not like other people who do these things. I’ve done these since I was a kid.

E. Jesus listens, and says, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

1. Jesus is not making helpful suggestions. These are commands.

2. You can imagine the man’s reaction. “I have to make myself poor and dependent in order to be saved? I have to give up comfort and affluence and my favourite foods, and my chariots, my authority as a ruler? I have to destroy my whole life? I don’t know if I can do that.”

3. Both the ruler and the Pharisee see righteousness as something you don’t do. As long as you don’t do certain things, you’re righteous.

4. Jesus shows that righteousness is what you do positively. Of course you don’t commit sin, but you do what pleases God, and that’s looking out for others, reaching out beyond yourself. You shall love your neighbour as yourself.

F. When Jesus sees the ruler’s face get sad, He turns up the difficulty. And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

1. Not one shred of encouragement from Jesus. He doesn’t say, “You can do it if you try, c’mon! Do your best and I’ll do the rest.” Nowhere in Scripture does it say, “Do your best.”

2. Jesus gives him nothing but discouragement. There’s no way in the world you’re ever going to get to heaven. A camel is going to go through the eye of a needle before you ever get there.

G. This ruler becomes aware of his sinfulness.

1. Jesus commanded him directly and he is not able to obey him.

2. There is another god who controls his obedience. He doesn’t want to obey Jesus because he wants the wealth more than eternal life, at least for right now. Maybe for the first time in his life he realises he is breaking the first commandment: You shall have no other gods before Me.

3. This young man has never obeyed the law of Moses in his life. He’s broken it left, right, and centre without even knowing it.

H. And the tension is driving people crazy! “Who then can be saved?” As if to say, “What about me? Are You really trying to save people? You’re practically barring the door! What are You talking about?”

I. The things that are impossible for men are possible with God.

1. The Son of God Himself came to be born as a man and humbled Himself to obey the Father in everything. This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

2. Jesus propitiated the Father by putting Himself in our place. He suffered the full wrath of God against all sin and offence against Him. God the Son took away the wrath of God the Father perfectly.

3. For everyone who realises how bad their sin is, that they could never make it up, He takes responsibility. He pays your debts. He gives you new life. He becomes your Lord and Saviour. You say, “Thank You, Lord.”

4. So what?

A. Settle this in your mind: your sin is worse than you know. You need to hit the wall of your own goodness and realise you can’t fix yourself.

B. It’s such a relief to turn to Jesus and ask Him to take responsibility for your life.

1. To rest in the truth that Jesus completely paid all your sins against God, and He will keep paying them.

2. You find He enables you to do what He wants because He lives in you to will and work for His own pleasure. You obey Him because you have surrendered to Him. You’re not trying to get to heaven. You’re loving Him who laid down His life for you. and brought heaven to you.

C. You might feel nameless dread, like something’s not right between you and God. Your sins might crush you. They feel fresh because they are fresh. But you deal with this through the gospel. Go back to Jesus and ask Him to keep taking responsibility for you. And He will.

Let’s pray.