Luke 18:9-14
The Self-Righteous
What is self-righteousness? Preachers preach against. Some have been
labeled with it, but the term is not used a single time in the
entirety of the Bible. Most know it is something to be shunned,
something that God is displeased with; but what is it?
Self-righteousness is not mentioned in the Bible but it is
illustrated. In fact, Luke 18 has several illustrations of self
righteousness.
Let’s see if we can agree on some truths about the self-righteous by
the time we look at these texts.:
I. \\#9-14\\ The self-judging are self-righteous.
A. When we attempt to define self-righteous, this is what most of
us think about.
B. There are two sides to judging. Both are sinful.
1. Judging others to be unworthy.
a. \\#11\\ In the parable, the Pharisee judged others to
be unworthy of God, of salvation, or forgiveness.
Luke 18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus
with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not
as other men are, extortioners, unjust,
adulterers, or even as this publican.
b. The strange thing is that their reasoning for
condemning others often makes sense.
(1) Of course this is just a parable so the person is
not real; but you can rest assured, real self
righteous people have reasons why others are not
worthy.
(2) In this story, we can guess that a Pharisee might
think a publican (tax collector) unworthy of God
because he worked for Rome seemingly against the
Jews.
(3) I can understand that reasoning!
(a) If you turn against God, you are lost.
(b) If you turn against the people of God, you
turn against God.
(c) If you are helping the enemies of God’s
people, you have turned against the people
of God.
(4) \\#14\\ However, Jesus clearly explained that of
the two men praying that day, this one was NOT
the one with whom God was impressed.
2. \\#12\\ Judging ourselves to be worthy.
Luke 18:12 I fast twice in the week, I give
tithes of all that I possess.
a. This man deemed himself worthy of God, of salvation,
and of forgiveness because he thought his life was
better.
b. Again, there is human logic to that.
(1) God gives us commands.
(2) God wants us to do those commands.
(3) When we do those commands, God is pleased with
us.
c. The problem is that is only half the story.
(1) Stopping sin neither erases the sins already
committed nor removes the sinful element within
us that caused us to sin in the first place.
(2) Certainly God would rather us NOT sin than TO
sin, but not sinning does not mean God is
pleased with us.
d. Again, \\#14\\ Jesus was not impressed.
C. In reality, it is very hard to make one of these judgments
without making them both.
1. When you judge yourself worthy, you are judging others
unworthy; and when you judge others unworthy, you are
judging yourself worthy.
2. Why?
a. Because judging is comparing.
b. Judging is always comparing.
c. To judge yourself worthy, you must have someone to
judge against and vice-versa.
d. That kind of judging is judging people.
3. So what about when the Bible says we are to judge false
prophet’s by their works \\#Matt 7:16\\?
a. Though it may bend the mind of some people, that kind
of judging is not only accepted but commanded.
Matt 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits.
Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of
thistles?
Joh 7:24 Judge not according to the appearance,
but judge righteous judgment.
b. But there are some rules to follow:
(1) We are not to judge ourselves or people by other
people.
2Co 10:12 For we dare not make ourselves of the
number, or compare ourselves with some that
commend themselves: but they measuring themselves
by themselves, and comparing themselves among
themselves, are not wise.
(2) We must judge people’s actions to the Bible.
(a) Actions not motives. We never know why a
person does what they do so why guess?
(b) Actions not people.
i. God alone is the Judge of people.
ii. The permission He gave to us was to
judge WORKS, ACTIONS.
iii. The only way we can know if actions are
right or wrong is to compare them to
the Bible.
(c) To the Bible and not to our interpretation
of the Bible. (If the Bible does not
plainly say it, leave it to God.)
(3) We can only judge to help not to hurt.
(a) To pray or know what to say to a person
playing with sin, we may have to make a
judgment.
(b) To stop false teaching, we may have to make
a judgment.
(c) Some people judge to tear down, to vent
their anger, to make themselves look good.
(d) None of that is right.
II. \\#15-17\\ The self-appointed are self-righteous.
A. Here we learn that even the saved and well-meaning can be
self-righteous.
1. This is not a case with Pharisees but with disciples.
2. They probably meant only to keep the Lord from being over
worked.
3. The problem was that they appointed themselves to be God’s
gate keeper.
B. I see two problems. Both of which mark the self-righteous.
1. No human has the right to keep another from coming to
God. None.
a. Although it is baffling, God desires people to come to
Him.
Matt 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
b. This is God’s invitation to every person.
c. I pity the one who stands between God and anyone to
block their admittance.
2. People must be careful about appointing themselves to any
position for God.
a. God does want our service, but God burdens and calls
people to serve.
b. Many an Old Testament prophet will be judged for
calling Himself to a position when God did not call
him.
c. These disciples—despite their good intentions—
appointed themselves to a position that God had not
called them to fill.
C. After having looked at two illustrations of self-righteous, I
noticed some things are repeated.
1. In both cases, the self-righteous were making judgments.
2. In both cases, the judgments they made elevated them.
3. In both cases, the judgments they made were wrong.
III. \\#18-23\\ The selfish are self-righteous.
A. Here is an event that we refer to somewhat often, the rich
young ruler who would rather have his possessions that Jesus.
B. There is no guessing about what took place in this man’s
thinking for the Bible tells us.
1. \\#18\\ The man came wanting salvation.
2. \\#21\\ He described himself as a good person.
3. \\#22\\ Jesus gave him one more good deed to do, give
away everything.
a. No. Giving away your possessions does not produce
salvation.
b. Jesus only mentioned that because the man thought good
works would get him to heaven and Jesus wanted him to
see he was not all that good. Rather, he was
selfish.
4. \\#23\\ The man left sorrowful, the Bible says, "for he
was very rich."
C. The man should have learned two things about himself that day.
1. That he wasn’t as good as he thought.
a. He would rather he had his money and possessions than
the poor.
b. That is selfishness and it is not good!
c. If you are going to try to get to heaven on a "good
works" plan, you’ll have to be much better than that.
d. Like everyone else, he was NOT good enough to get to
heaven.
2. That he would rather he had his money and possession than
salvation.
D. This man was selfish and selfishness is a form of self-
righteousness.
1. He thought he was better with his money than without it.
2. That was his judgement, but He was WRONG.
a. This man was not comparing himself to another person.
b. He was comparing his life with money versus his life
with God.
c. His judgment was that having money was better than
having God!
d. Wrong!
3. By the way, so is every other human being who makes
that judgment.
4. We would all be infinitely better off with Jesus and
nothing than without Jesus with everything.
Having studied these three situations, it seems to be that we can
conclude some things about self-righteous.
1. The self-righteous make a judgment or a comparison between two
things or people or situations.
2. The self-righteous exalt themselves and their judgment higher
than God’s judgments.
3. They are always wrong!
Don’t be part of the self-righteous.
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