Latest / The Five Minute Bible Podcast / Luke 18 - Devotion

Transcript

Luke 18 - Devotion · The Five Minute Bible Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to Five Minute Bible in our journey through the New
• 0:02
  Testament. In each episode, we take just a
• 0:05
  few minutes to focus on one chapter of the New Testament,
• 0:08
  exploring the truths God is teaching us through His Word and
• 0:12
  expanding our view of who He is. Before you listen, make sure
• 0:16
  you've gone straight to the source, either by reading
• 0:19
  today's chapter of the Bible yourself or listening to today's
• 0:22
  read along episode in this podcast feed.
• 0:25
  If you haven't done that yet, feel free to pause and do that
• 0:27
  now. When you're ready, let's dive
• 0:30
  into God's Word together. In Luke chapter 18, Jesus
• 0:45
  delivers another parable. Specifically, he told this
• 0:48
  parable to, as the text says, some people who trusted in
• 0:51
  themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with
• 0:55
  contempt. Listen to that parable in the
• 0:57
  next few verses. Two men went up into the temple
• 1:01
  to pray. 1A Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
• 1:05
  The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself.
• 1:08
  God, I thank you that I am not like other people, swindlers,
• 1:12
  unjust adulterers or even like this tax collector.
• 1:17
  I fast twice a week. I pay tithes of all I get.
• 1:21
  But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even
• 1:25
  unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his
• 1:28
  breast, saying, God be merciful to me, the Sinner.
• 1:33
  I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the
• 1:36
  other. For everyone who exalts himself
• 1:38
  will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.
• 1:43
  Jesus contrasts these two men as they pray.
• 1:46
  On the surface, what we see in the Pharisee is a religious
• 1:49
  leader, a pillar of the community, a man respected by
• 1:53
  all and recognized as a man of God.
• 1:56
  And in the publican, or tax collector, we see a sellout, a
• 2:00
  man who would take advantage of others for his own gain, a
• 2:03
  Sinner. But then they come to the Lord
• 2:06
  in prayer, and the parable takes a radical turn.
• 2:10
  The Pharisee thanks God that he is not like other men, that he
• 2:13
  is not a cheat or an adulterer, or more specifically, that he's
• 2:17
  not like this tax collector. Meanwhile, the tax collector,
• 2:20
  standing far off, begs God for mercy.
• 2:24
  He is under no illusion. He knows that he is a Sinner and
• 2:28
  he, even as he beats his chest in anguish, pleads with God that
• 2:32
  he would show him grace. The Pharisee came to God in an
• 2:36
  attempt to justify himself. He came not in humility before
• 2:39
  Almighty God, but in arrogance, believing that he deserved God's
• 2:43
  favour based on his own merit. He refused to recognize his own
• 2:47
  sin. He refused to recognize the
• 2:50
  distance that existed between himself and God.
• 2:53
  He refused to recognize his need for mercy, and as a result, he
• 2:57
  went away without receiving God's mercy.
• 3:00
  Meanwhile, the tax collector came to God earnestly, in real
• 3:04
  repentance, in physical pain over his sin.
• 3:08
  He knew his need, and he knew that though he didn't deserve
• 3:10
  it, his only hope was the mercy of God.
• 3:15
  And listen, this Sinner received mercy from God that day.
• 3:19
  God was pleased to pour out his grace and forgiveness and love
• 3:22
  on this man who came in repentance and faith.
• 3:26
  And so the question comes to you and to me, Do we come to God in
• 3:30
  an attempt to justify ourselves, or do we come to God to receive
• 3:34
  His grace? Do we recognize our sin and our
• 3:37
  desperate need for God? Do we understand that it is only
• 3:41
  the mercy of God through the blood of Jesus that can make us
• 3:45
  right with Him, Not our good works or the appearance of them.
• 3:50
  It's the humble who will receive grace, the humble who will be
• 3:53
  exalted. And the proud will never be
• 3:56
  vindicated in the sight of the Lord.
• 3:58
  Rather, they will be humbled and exposed.
• 4:02
  So come to the Lord in humility today, bring your sin to Him and
• 4:06
  call on Him for mercy and grace. And you, like the tax collector,
• 4:11
  will be forgiven and justified in God's sight.