2 December 2012
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Luke 18:9-14
Luke 18:9-14 (NIV)
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:
10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
-- for the past several weeks we have been going over a series of messages on bringing revival and restoration to our nation based on God's promise in 2 Chronicles 7:14 -- but, as we pointed out through this series, the gift of God's promise is contingent upon us
-- as this verse says, it is our responsibility as God's people -- as the people called by His Name, Christ -- to take the initiative -- to humble ourselves -- to pray and intercede for our country -- to seek God's face and His presence -- and to turn from our wicked ways -- then, and only then, will God move and act and fulfill His promise to heal our land and forgive our sin
-- the reason we haven't seen revival in America -- the reason our country is in the spiritual state it is in -- is because God's people have been more concerned with themselves and with religion than they have been in truly doing what God has said
-- there's no ifs, ands or buts about it -- it's our fault America's spiritual condition is in a spiral of decay
-- it's kind of like we discussed in Bible study this week when we touched on the unpardonable sin -- the only sinner God cannot forgive is the sinner who refuses to come to the cross to receive God's free gift of salvation -- likewise, the only nation God will not revive is the nation whose Christians do not seek revival by humbling themselves, praying, seeking God's face, and turning from their wicked ways
-- that's not to say God is not active in present in our nation -- that's not to say revival is not occurring in hearts in our land -- certainly, any time a person returns to Christ -- anytime a church turns back from religious bondage to true belief in God is a true act of revival in response to God's grace
-- but national revival -- the healing and restoration of a nation -- can only occur when God's people lose their independence and join together as one church and one body under the headship of Christ Jesus to seek God's will and grace for their nation
-- in Ephesians 4:12-13, Paul prays that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God -- national revival depends on unity
-- unfortunately, all too often, our churches look more like this [show image of bad spellers untied]
-- so, what do we do about it? -- how do we -- this handful of people gathered here today -- start a movement that will affect the entire Christian church in America? -- how do we start bringing revival and restoration to our land?
-- we begin by taking a stand and saying, "No more" -- we begin by taking up the standard of Christ ourselves -- by humbling ourselves and praying and seeking God's face -- and then we bring it home by turning from our wicked ways -- by repenting of our sins
-- and as we see God move to revive us, we lead the revival in this nation by carrying His message of repentance to the church and to this nation -- repentance is the key to revival -- repentance -- turning from our wicked ways and trusting God to heal us and forgive us -- encompasses all the steps to revival that we see in 2 Chronicles 7:14
-- the one overarching theme of the Bible is the theme of repentance and redemption -- we see it here in 2 Chronicles 7:14 -- it was the cry of John the Baptist -- and it was the message that Jesus preached when He began His ministry -- "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near"
-- I heard a good story about repentance the other day -- a minister was speaking to a group of children -- in opening his talk he asked the question, "What is meant by the word repentance?"
-- a little boy raised his hand, "Well, it's being sorry for your sins" -- "That's good -- that's part of it"
-- a little girl on the back row raised her hand -- "What do you think repentance is?" the pastor asked -- "I think," said the child, "repentance is being sorry enough to quit."
-- that's it -- that's the heart of repentance -- we have to not only be sorry for our sins, we have to be sorry enough to quit -- we have to have a complete change of mind, and commit to not doing that sin again
-- when the explorer Hernando Cortex landed in California in the 16th century with several shiploads of Conquistadors, he unloaded his ships and sent his men across the beach and up the dunes towards the uplands -- when the men reached the top of the dunes, they looked back and were greeted with great plumes of smoke
-- Cortez had set fire to their ships -- he knew his men would face hardship -- he knew the path they were on would be difficult -- and he knew how easy it would be to just give up and quit -- so he made quitting impossible -- he made it so they couldn't turn back -- by burning their ships, he removed all opportunities to return to Spain before the job was done
-- that's the heart of repentance -- that's the attitude we need to carry with us when we look at turning from our wicked ways and leading America back to God
-- we need to burn the ships of sin in our lives -- we need to repent of our sins and leave them behind us, so that we can never pick them back up again -- if we do that, God promises healing and revival and restoration -- not just for us, but for our nation, as well
II. Repentance (Luke 18:9-14)
-- a couple of months ago we looked at repentance and talked about what repentance looked like in the life of a Christian -- this morning, as we finish up this sermon series on revival and look at what it means to turn from our wicked ways -- to repent of our sins -- both personal and national -- I want us to focus on what a heart of repentance looks like
-- too often we take God's word and try to make it into a list of "do this" and "don't do that" -- we try to take the dynamic, relational heart of Scripture and change it into X's and O's -- into black and white -- into legalism
-- and when we do that, we miss the mark -- we can do everything right -- we can try to live good and moral lives -- but, if our heart is not in it, it is all for naught -- it's like we read in 1 Corinthians 13 -- we can do good things -- we can speak in the tongues of men and angels and have the gift of prophecy and surrender our body to the flames and have a faith that moves mountains, but if we don't have love -- if our heart is not in it -- it does us no good
-- let's look at this passage from Luke 18 again and see what we can learn about the heart of repentance as we seek to lead our nation back to Christ
-- look with me at Luke 18:9
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:
-- Luke tells us here that this is a parable of Jesus -- a parable is nothing more than a story told to illustrate a spiritual truth -- some parables are what we call allegories, which are stories where every character represents real people or symbolize spiritual truth -- other parables are just stories told to make a point, like this one
-- Jesus told this parable to a group of people who were convinced of their own righteousness, in other words, the Pharisees
-- when it comes to the Pharisees, we tend to look down on them today -- we paint them with black strokes when we read about them and talk about them -- if the New Testament was a western, the Pharisees would be the ones we would put in black hats
-- but, in reality, we all strive to live like the Pharisees in our daily lives -- these were good men -- they knew the word of God -- they followed the word of God -- they were disciplined in their spiritual lives -- and they tried to follow God's law to the letter -- if they were in our churches today, we would look at them as examples -- as the epitome of what a good Christian should be -- we would look at them as our leaders in spirituality
-- their problem was their heart -- they followed the letter of the law but missed the heart of the law -- they sought righteousness from themselves and their actions rather than from God -- they thought that what was important was what they did, when in reality, what is important is your heart and your relationship with Christ
-- we see a clear example of a heart problem in a Pharisee in this parable as Jesus contrasts it with what a truly repentant heart looks like
-- verse 10
10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
-- Jesus is contrasting here two people on the opposite extremes of the spectrum -- one was a Pharisee -- a leader in the church -- the other, a tax collector -- or, as the King James says, a publican -- a sinner -- someone who was despised by the church and by the whole Jewish community because of the life that he was living -- because of the job he had
-- we tend to think of these tax collectors like ancient IRS workers, but they were actually more like customs agents -- they worked in booths at the border between two regions which kind of served as toll booths -- to move from one region to another, you had to pay a tax -- and you also had to pay a tax based on what you had with you -- if you were carrying a lot of goods, you were taxed based on the value of the goods you carried
-- the problem was that the tax collectors weren't paid by the Romans that they worked for -- their salary was basically whatever they could collect above and beyond the set Roman tax -- in other words, the Romans would tell a tax collector how much he had to charge for each person to cross the border -- but, if the tax collector charged more than that, he got to keep the difference -- and some of these tax collectors charged exorbitant fees which hurt the common people in Jesus' day -- so they were hated by the Jews, not only because worked for the Romans, but because they cheated their own people
-- so, get the picture here -- Jesus says these two men went up to pray -- one was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector -- if you put this in modern day terms: two men went to church to pray -- one was a deacon in the local Baptist church -- the other was a guy who spent all his time in the bars drinking and gambling
-- verse 11
11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
-- the practice of prayer in Jesus' day was a little different from our own -- in our day, most people bow their head and close their eyes -- used to be we would kneel, but you see that less and less now -- but it's pretty much standard practice to bow your head and close your eyes -- how many times have you heard that in church? -- "With every head bowed and every eye closed..."
-- well, in Jesus' day, people didn't kneel or bow their heads or close their eyes -- they would actually stand to pray with their eyes open -- they would raise their heads and lift their hands to heaven, kind of like a lot of people do when they worship God in song
-- that's probably what Jesus means here when He says the Pharisee stood up to pray -- however, given the context, Jesus may be saying the Pharisee took it one step farther and actually stood up and moved away from all of the others in the temple and prayed in the open by himself so his piety and holiness could be seen by all
-- and if you look at his prayer, it appears this Pharisee was really a good man -- this was a man who didn't have obvious sin in his life -- he wasn't a hypocrite -- proclaiming to be holy and then going out sinning in the eyes of the world -- no, he says here he wasn't a robber or an evildoer or an adulterer
-- in fact, he fasted twice a week -- the law only required him to fast once a year -- this man fasted probably fasted every Monday and Thursday -- twice what God required
-- and he says he gave a tithe -- a tenth of everything that he received -- the law didn't demand that -- God didn't demand that -- the law only required that this man give a tithe from the corn and wine and oil and cattle, but this Pharisee gave a tenth of everything -- even the herbs of his garden
-- but look how he approached God -- Jesus tells us that he came and prayed about himself -- his prayer is more a boast than an expression of worship -- he gave thanks to God, but really didn't give God the credit for the goodness in his life -- he doesn't say "by the grace of God I am what I am" like Paul does -- he just talks about himself and his works
-- and he seems to want to show God just how righteous he is by comparing himself to the lowly tax collector standing there with him
-- we don't ever do that, do we? -- we don't ever look down on somebody -- we don't ever see someone with an obvious sin problem -- maybe alcoholism or drug use or adultery -- and think to ourselves, "at least I'm better than them" -- we don't ever compare ourselves with others, do we? -- we don't compare our church to other churches, do we?
-- I think it's interesting to note that in the original Greek, verse 11 can be translated as, "The Pharisee stood up and prayed to himself..." -- his prayers weren't to God -- his prayers were all about himself and all for himself
-- look at how different the tax collector was -- vs. 13
13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
-- Jesus tells us that this tax collector stood at a distance -- he stood far off -- he wouldn't look up at heaven -- he just stood there, head bowed -- eyes down -- beating himself on his chest -- too sinful to approach God -- too sinful to even stand next to the Pharisee
-- he had no deeds to express -- he had no good works to put up -- he had nothing -- no righteousness in his life at all -- all he could do was stand before the holiness of God and cry out with the heart of a sinner, "God, have mercy on me"
-- when was the last time you approached God like this tax collector? -- when was the last time that you were made aware of the sin in your life to the point where you just stood before God and cried out, "God, have mercy on me?" -- when was the last time you looked at the holiness of God and the sinfulness of your life and cried out to Him in brokenness for forgiveness?
-- every one of us here this morning is a sinner -- nobody here is better than that tax collector -- don't forget the words of 2 Chronicles 7:14 -- who is that God tells to turn from their wicked ways? -- His people, who are called by His Name -- us
-- the Pharisee was deceived -- he was a sinner -- and when he approached the throne of grace he should have done it just like the tax collector -- with humbleness of spirit and with true repentance in his heart -- seeking God's face and God's grace in light of his own unrighteousness
-- verse 14
14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
-- both men entered the presence of God -- but only one man went home justified -- only one man went home with his sins forgiven -- renewed and restored and purified from all unrighteousness
-- this was the man who sought a revival in his own heart -- who did what 2 Chronicles 7:14 commands -- he humbled himself -- in body and in spirit -- he sought the face of God through prayer -- and he turned from all his wicked ways -- he repented of his sin and cried out to God for mercy and grace -- and God brought revival -- God brought healing -- God brought restoration
-- this man walked into the temple broken and went home whole while the Pharisee left just as he came
-- it all comes down to the heart -- that's why so many of the revivals we schedule in our churches result in nothing more than getting us to church for multiple nights in a row -- that's why so many ministry movements result in absolutely not spiritual fruit -- our heart isn't in it
-- we like to talk about revival -- we like to point our fingers at America and pray, "God, send revival" -- but we do nothing about it -- our heart really isn't into it
-- all too often, our churches act more like the Pharisee than the tax collector and our nation suffers as a result
-- we really need to ask ourselves a pointed question this morning -- do we really want to see revival in this nation or are we too wrapped up in ourselves to care about what's happening here in America?
III. Closing
-- we didn't go through this sermon series simply because I wanted us to learn more about revival -- if all we got out of this was a few notes in the margin of our Bible or a little more understanding about God's word, then we have missed the point
-- it's not about hearing -- it's about doing -- there's probably not a single person in here who hasn't heard 2 Chronicles 7:14 preached or taught at some time in the past -- if not in church, then on TV or on the radio
-- but nothing has changed because we've not done anything about it -- revival comes when a person's heart is ready to make a change -- revival comes when God's people unite and come together as one to call on the name of the Lord for healing and renewal and restoration
-- we've heard a lot about the fiscal cliff lately that our country is facing on January 1st -- people are worried about what's going to happen to their finances -- what's going to happen to the economy
-- I think we should be more concerned about the spiritual cliff that our country is facing today -- we are at the precipice of a decision -- either our nation turns back to God or we go past the point of no return and suffer the consequences of our actions
-- but it all comes down to us -- God's people, who are called by His Name -- He makes a great promise to us that He will hear us -- He will forgive our sin -- He will restore our land -- if we simply turn back to Him with all our hearts and minds and souls
-- and we do this by humbling ourselves and praying and seeking His face and turning from our own wicked ways -- it's that simple
-- so, as we close in prayer, I want to encourage you to search your heart -- to see where you are
-- have we been so like the Pharisee that we've been looking at this country and saying, "At least I'm not like them?" -- concerned only about ourselves and not those around us who are racing headlong towards Hell?
-- where's our heart? -- do we care about those around us enough to do what God tells us to do in 2 Chronicles 7:14? -- that's what this series was all about -- that's what God is calling us to do today -- His grace awaits -- His healing and forgiveness await -- now, it's up to us
-- let us pray
No comments:
Post a Comment