A Good Man Lost and a Bad Man Saved

Some of you may have seen a movie last summer called Reversal of Fortune. That would be a good subtitle for this passage because it contains the ultimate reversal of fortune. It’s about two men who were as different as they could be. One man had everything and appeared to be on his way to heaven … but he never made it. The other man appeared to have nothing to recommend himself to God … but he ended up saved. The man who looks so good ends up looking bad; the man who looks so bad ends up looking good. How can that be?

We’ll never fully grasp the answer to that question until we understand why Jesus told this story in the first place. Verse 9 says, “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable.” Here is the key to the passage–not in the story but in the audience. Jesus was speaking to people “who were confident in their own righteousness.” What kind of people are like that? They have two primary qualifications: 1. Because of their religiosity they think that they are better than everyone else. 2. Because they think they are better than everybody else, they look down their noses at everybody else. Evidently that was a major problem in Jesus day; it is certainly a major problem in our day.

That leads me to make a parenthetical comment. Please do not think this story is for someone else. It’s not. This story is for you. In fact, the more religious you are, the more you need to ponder this parable.

The Ultimate Reversal of Fortune

So Jesus told a short story about two men who came to the temple and prayed. One man was a Pharisee; the other was a tax collector.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure the story out. The Pharisee in this story is supposed to be the good guy; the tax collector in this story is supposed to be the bad guy. When you read the first part of this story, you’re supposed to cheer the Pharisee because he’s the one you’re supposed to want to be like. When you read the story about the tax collector you’re supposed to hiss and boo because you know that he’s the bad guy.

The amazing thing about this story is that Jesus starts with a good guy and a bad guy and by the time we get to the end of the story, the good guy has become the bad guy and the bad guy has become the good guy. The ultimate reversal of fortune.

The Nicest Pharisee in Town

I want to make two comments about this story. First, the good man in this story is genuinely good. He is a Pharisee. Now I know to us in the twentieth century, the word Pharisee is a dirty word. If somebody calls you a Pharisee you will probably be offended. It’s an insult to our way of thinking–”You pharisee!” We don’t like it when someone calls us that. But in Jesus’ day to be a pharisee was not an insult at all. In fact, to be a Pharisee was to be in the highest rank of religious people. Historians tell us that there were never very many Pharisees–a few thousand or so, but not more than that. They were a small group of men who were widely admired for their sincere devotion to the law of God. That’s why when you read this story and it says, “the Pharisee went to pray”, you’re not supposed to think–”Ugh! A Pharisee.” You’re supposed to say, “All right! A pharisee!”

When you read about the tax collector, you’re supposed to hiss and boo because they were men who got rich by ripping off other people. They cheated the common man and were considered spiritually unclean because they did business with the hated Romans.

How Good Can You Be?

When you read the story about the Pharisee, a number of specific statements are made about his piety. Please note this. Everything the man says about himself is true. For instance, when he says, “I thank you that I am not like other men,” indeed he wasn’t like other men. He had a standard of morality that was far above the standard of that day. When he said, “I fast twice a week”; it happens to be literally true. The Pharisees fasted on Monday and Thursday of every week. When he says, “I give tithes of all I possess,” he means he tithes on the gross and not on the net. He went beyond the law of Moses. That’s no big deal; all the Pharisees did that. And when he says, “I am not a crook,” he really isn’t a crook. When he says, “I am not like this filthy tax collector,” he’s really not like that guy. When he says, “I do not commit adultery,” he really doesn’t commit adultery. He is faithful to his wife. When he says, “I am honest, I am faithful, I am zealous for my religion,” he means it and every word of it is true. He truly is a genuinely good man.

What we are to understand is this. When he prayed he was telling the truth. When he said, “Lord, you’re lucky to have a guy like me, because I’m one of the best guys I know,” it was really true. He really was a wonderful guy.

While he prayed, people would be standing around watching. And they would say, “He’s a fine man.” While he prayed, they probably applauded. He was the kind of guy you’d want living next door to you. A good citizen. A law abiding man. A good, religious kind of person. If he were to come to this church today we’d love him because he would be faithful, loyal, and give us a lot of money. We’d probably make him an elder or a deacon. He’s just that kind of guy. He looks really good on the outside. Everything he says about himself is absolutely true.

Religious But Lost

That’s why this story is so shocking. Everything he says about himself is true. Yet Jesus said this man who looked so good on the outside was lost. This man who looked like what we think we’d like to look like–this man didn’t make it. Although he was a good man, Jesus said he was going to Hell.

My second comment on this story is that if the Pharisee is genuinely good, the tax collector is genuinely bad. When it says he was a tax collector, we should read between the lines words like “dirty, rotten, no-good tax collector”. That’s what it means. He was no good. He would rob you blind. Give a little money to the Romans, keep the rest himself. I’ll bet there wasn’t anyone in all of Israel who was more hated than this tax collector. Probably nobody had done more people wrong than this man had. When I say he was a dirty, rotten sinner, I’m not saying anymore than he said himself in this prayer. What was his prayer? “God be merciful to me a sinner.”

Now, there’s something in the original text you ought to know. The Greek reads this way: “God be merciful to me the sinner.” As if he were saying, “I am the chief of all sinners. I am the worst of all sinners. I am as bad as bad can be.” And when he said, “God be merciful to me the sinner,” we are to understand that the people who heard him pray said, “Amen. That’s right, brother. You are the worst of all possible sinners.”

Here we have the paradox of this story: A man as good as you can be on a moral basis. A man as bad as you can be in terms of the morality of this world. It’s as if Jesus told a story and said, “Over here we have a Supreme Court Justice and over here we have a rapist. Over here we have the president and over here we have a prostitute.”

And the shock of this story is the good man ends up lost and the bad man ends up saved. The ultimate reversal of fortunes.

“Be Propitiated to Me”

Why was the bad man saved? The bad man was saved because of what he said when he prayed. He prayed “God be merciful to me a sinner.” God –he prayed to the right person. Be merciful–he made the right request. To me a sinner–he made the right confession.

Just notice that middle word. God be merciful to me. Literally, you could translate it, “God be propitiated to me.” Do you know what propitiation means? It means to turn away wrath by the offering of a gift. He was praying for the propitiatory mercy of God to be extended to him.

The word for “be merciful to me” is the verb form of the noun which means “mercy seat.” If you could say it this way, it is as if he is saying, “God, be mercy-seated to me.” What does that mean? It’s a picture from the Old Testament. In the tabernacle, inside the Holy of Holies, there was a small chest called the Ark of the Covenant. It was the most holy and sacred object in the Jewish religion. It was a box about a yard long and a foot and a half wide and inside this box were the tablets of the Ten Commandments–the Law of God, the standard by which God would judge humanity.

The Blood of Forgiveness

The lid of the Ark of the Covenant was called the Mercy Seat. Two golden cherubim were on top of the Mercy Seat and their wings spread over it and in the space where the wings almost met was where the presence of God would dwell with his people. Once a year, on the day of Atonement, the high priest would slaughter a goat and with the blood of the goat he would enter the Holy of Holies. There he would take the blood of the goat and sprinkle it on that golden lid called the Mercy Seat. When he sprinkled the blood on the Mercy Seat, the sins of the people were forgiven for another year.

What is the meaning of that act? When God in heaven looked down on his people what he saw was the Law of God by which he would judge his people. But his people had broken the Law of God. Whenever God looked down and saw inside the Ark of the Covenant the Ten Commandments, that was a sign to him that his people deserved judgment, penalty and punishment, and as long an nothing came between him and his law, his people would be punished. But when the blood was sprinkled on the Mercy Seat, God saw the blood of the sacrificial substitute, and by virtue of that blood and what it represented, he turned away his judgment and his anger and he forgave the sins of the people.

That’s what it means to be mercy-seated. The tax collector was praying, “God, be to me as you are when you look down and see the blood shed on the mercy seat.” He was praying, “O God, be merciful to me not on the basis of what I have done but on the basis of the blood shed by the substitute.”

A Scoundrel Saved By the Blood

What does that blood on the Mercy Seat point to in the New Testament? It points to our Lord Jesus Christ who died on the cross and who shed his blood so that the sins of the world could be forgiven. Do you want to know what the situation is now? God is in his heaven and we are on earth. If nothing comes between us and God, we are going to be judged and the whole human race will be damned. But something has come between God and the human race–something good. Do you know what it is? It is the sprinkling of the blood of God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And now, by virtue of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, you and I can have our sins forgiven. Not in our own merit but by virtue of what Jesus Christ has done for us. And that’s what that bad man was praying for.

That bad man, that dissolute man, that man who had wasted his life, that scoundrel, that crook, that cheat, that truly bad man came to God and prayed, “O God be merciful to me on the basis of the sacrifice of your Son the Lord Jesus Christ. God be merciful to me a sinner. God forgive me, not because of what I have done, not because I deserve it, but by virtue of the sprinkled blood of your Son the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Why the Good Man Was Lost

Jesus gives us the shocking end of the story in verse 14: “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.” This man–this bad man, this sinful man, this scoundrel, this thief, this sinful tax collector went home justified. What about that other man–that good man, that Pharisee, that moral man, that law-abiding man? He went home still in his sin.

The bad man went home justified. He went home forgiven. He went home with his sins washed away. He went home in possession of eternal life.

And the Pharisee went home lost.

Why? Because when this man prayed all he did was boast about his goodness before God. Do you see what the text says? “Two men went to the temple. The Pharisee stood up and prayed to himself.” Did you get that? He prayed “to himself.” When the pharisee prayed, he was informing God about how good he was. It was spiritual self-congratulation. “God, I’m such a wonderful man. You’re lucky to have a guy like me.” This man who prayed that way went home lost and self-deceived.

And the tax collector went home justified on the basis of the mercy of God expressed in the bloody sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. That’s what I mean by “A good man lost and a bad man saved.”

Immediate Salvation

I want you to notice one other point. This is immediate salvation. He prays and he’s saved. Just like that. You say, “No, sir. It’s not that easy.” Yes it is. “I think you have to do something to be saved.” This man didn’t do anything. “You’ve got to promise something.” This man didn’t promise anything. “You’ve got to make a deal with God.” This man didn’t make a deal. He didn’t have a deal to make. Nothing to offer. He didn’t promise anything. He didn’t do anything. He didn’t offer anything. He cried out for the mercy of God and the mercy of God was given to him. He didn’t deserve it and yet it was given to him.

The Pharisee thought he deserved it and therefore he missed it. The tax collector knew he didn’t deserve it and because he knew he didn’t deserve it therefore he received it. Isn’t that amazing? The mercy of God comes to the people who seem to deserve it the least. The mercy of God misses the people who think they deserve it the most.

Four Abiding Principles

That’s the story. Let me draw the application by giving you four principles.

1. This story teaches us about the tremendous danger of religious self-deception.

What would be the modern day counterpart of the religion of the Pharisees? If you say liberal unbelief, you are mightily incorrect. If you say a church where the Bible is not believed, you are completely wrong. The Pharisees really believed the word of God. You know what the modern day counterpart is? Good, fundamental, evangelical, Bible believing Christianity. Like the kind we have here at Calvary Memorial Church. My brothers and sisters unless you have a life- changing encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ, good fundamental evangelical Christianity will send you to Hell. Unless you have a personal life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ, coming to this church will send you to Hell. Let me say that again. There will be multiplied hundreds and thousands of people in Hell who went to church, who read the Bible, who sang in the choir, who served as ushers, who led small groups, who had the religious routine down pat, who looked as good on the outside as this man looked. Why? Because they had the form but they didn’t have the reality of Jesus Christ within.

Please do not be deceived into thinking that because you come to a good church like Calvary you are going to heaven. You do not go to heaven because you go to a good church. You do not go to heaven because you go through the religious motions. The Pharisee went through all the religious motions and the motions he went through were good. Not a thing he claimed was untrue. And the things he was doing were actually good things. But because it was all outward, he walked away deceived and unjustified. Religion, even good religion, leads you to Hell instead of heaven if it is not accompanied by a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. Because, number one, it makes you focus on the external. Number two, it makes you feel spiritually superior. Number three, it makes you look down your nose at other people. Number four, it draws you away from a total dependence upon God. Religion, even good religion, without Jesus Christ will send you to Hell. Do you know what’s so dangerous about it? Without a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ, religion leads you to Hell while making you think you are going to heaven. That’s the shocking truth.

This is a story that ought to make us go home and look in the mirror. The question is not, Does my life show the fruits? That’s a good question but that’s not the question of this passage because this Pharisee had all the fruits. He didn’t have the root. He had all the right stuff on the outside. That’s not really the question. The question is, Do you have Jesus Christ on the inside or are you just playing church, just going through the motions? As your pastor, I cannot think of anything worse than to go to heaven someday and find some of you not there because you thought that going to church was your ticket to salvation when it is not. Beware the danger of religious self-deception even from good evangelical Christianity.

2. God looks at things differently than we do.

When we get to heaven we’re going to discover two things that will startle us. First, we’re going to be startled to find many people there we didn’t expect to see there. We’re going to find God let some people in we wouldn’t let in. We’re going to find that he had grace that we didn’t have. We’re going to find that he reached out in forgiveness to people that we wouldn’t have anything to do with. That’s good. Second, when we get to heaven we’re going to discover that some people we would have bet anything would be there aren’t going to be there . They were like the good Pharisee. They had it all on the outside but they did not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. All I can say to you is please make sure that you do not fall into that second category.

3. The worse sinners often make the best candidates for salvation.

Why? Because they know they need to be saved. The tax collector knew he didn’t have a chance. The Pharisee thought he was doing God a favor by showing up and praying. The worst sinners often make the best candidate for salvation. Anybody here been sleeping around? You could be saved today. Anybody here who used drugs this week? You could be saved today. Anybody here who has killed a person with your own hands? You could be saved today. Anybody here far away from God and you feel like you don’t belong in this beautiful sanctuary? Good news, brother. Good news, sister. I have good news for you. The worst sinners often make the best candidates for salvation and if you fit into the general category of sinner this morning, I bid you run to the cross of Christ and embrace the cross of Jesus Christ as your only hope for salvation. The worst sinners can be saved.

4. Your only hope of going to heaven is to do what this bad man did.

Cry out to God for his mercy on the basis of the blood of Jesus Christ. That’s as plain as I can say it. That’s a prayer God delights to answer.

In one of his books, John Warwick Montgomery has a little fable. It’s a scene at the entrance to heaven where Saint Peter is manning the entrance desk by the pearly gates. Up comes a fine looking man, all dressed up. When he rings the bell St. Peter says, “Can I help you?” And the man says, “I would like to have entrance into heaven.” And St. Peter said, “Excellent. We’re certainly glad to have you. We always want more people in heaven.

Then St. Peter says, “In order to enter heaven you have to earn 1000 points. The man said, “That shouldn’t be any problem. I have been a very good man all my life. I’ve been very involved in civic things. I have always given a lot of money to charitable causes. For 25 years I was the chairman of the Community Chest fund drive.” As St. Peter wrote it all down he said, “That’s a marvelous record. That’s one point.”

Taken aback, the man added, “I was married to my wife for 45 years. I was always faithful. We had five children–three boys and two girls. I always loved them and spent a lot of time with them and made sure they got a good education. I always took good care of them and they turned out so well. I’m a real family man.” St. Peter said, “I’m very impressed. We don’t get too many people up here like you. That’s another point.”

Sweating freely by now, the man started shaking. “You don’t understand. I was active in my church. I went every Sunday. I gave money every time they passed the plate. I was a deacon and an elder. I taught Sunday school for 20 years.” And St. Peter said, “Your record is certainly admirable. That’s another point.” Then he add, “Let me add this up. That’s one. That’s two. That’s three points. Only 997 to go.”

Trembling, the man fell to his knees. In desperation he cried out, “But for the grace of God nobody could get in here!” St. Peter looked at him and smiled, “Congratulations, you’ve just received 1000 points.” (From How Do We Know There is a God?, pp. 60-61)

For Sinners Only

Do you want to go to heaven? You’ve got to get there by the grace of God or you won’t get there at all. Salvation begins when a person understands that he cannot save himself. The door to heaven has a sign over the top and the sign says FOR SINNERS ONLY. If you qualify, come on in.

Jesus died for sinners and for no one else. That’s why the Pharisee was lost although he was good and the tax collector was saved although he was bad. One man held on to his good works while the other clung to the mercy of God.

Saved Here and Now

It’s such a simple prayer. “God be merciful to me a sinner.” If you would say that prayer and understand it in its fullest meaning, you could make sure of heaven right now. What is the full meaning? “God be merciful to me on the basis of what Jesus Christ did on the cross.” If you would say it and pray it and mean it you could be sure of heaven right now.

Would you like a simple pray you could pray?

Dear God, I know that I am a sinner. I know that I cannot save myself. Have mercy on me on the basis of what Jesus did on the cross for me. I am a sinner who desperately needs a Savior. Lord Jesus, come into my heart and save me now. Amen.

If you prayed that prayer, and if you meant it from the bottom of your heart, you can be sure that God has heard and answered you. In the space below, write you name and today’s date as a reminder of the important decision you have just made.

My Decision

Today I confessed my sins and asked Jesus Christ to come into my heart and be my Savior. I do believe that God has answered my prayer and that Jesus Christ is living in my heart. From this day forward I am trusting in Jesus Christ alone for my eternal salvation.

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Date