Today's encouragement comes from Luke 18:9, which says this:
“He [Jesus] told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: . . . ” (ESV)The Parable of the Publican and the Pharisee is the one that most infuriates unregenerate self-righteous people. The tax collector goes home “justified”; and the devoutly-religious guy goes home condemned.
. . . The spiritual chasm between these two human beings is not what they do, but what they say. The pharisee says, “I am better than the publican.” The tax collector says, “I am nothing but a vile sinner.” The sinner is justified unto glory; the religious hypocrite is condemned unto perdition.
[Puritan quote of the day: "We need to understand that when we come to hear the Word, we come to hear that which has so much life in it that every sermon we hear we must expect to be nearer heaven or nearer hell.” —Jere-miah Burroughs, in, "Gospel Fear"]
