The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican — Haddon Robinson · Gordon-Conwell

What's in this sermon

The shape of the argument

39 units across exposition, application, illustration, theological claim, and conclusion. The pastor's argument is built from these moving parts.

Pastoral correction · unit #19

"Robinson applies the principle to everyday contexts—bridge games, locker rooms, church gossip. The function is the same: pulling others down to make ourselves feel taller. He names this as spiritual insanity."

Doctrinal loci· 9 surfaced

Hamartiology · 13 Sanctification · 12 Soteriology · 12 Theology Proper · 9 Ethics / Moral Theology · 5 Bibliology · 2 Ecclesiology · 2 Christology · 1 Pastoral Theology · 1

Bible citations· 17

Illustrations· 7

historical example · unit #8 — Robinson cites Tacitus to demonstrate just how rare honesty was among tax collectors—so rare that an honest one warranted a public monument. This reinforces the publican's depravity by contemporary standards.
hypothetical · unit #9 — Robinson uses two hypothetical scenarios—an election and a marriage proposal—to drive home the moral reversal. By every conventional standard, we would choose the Pharisee and reject the tax collector. This creates the sermon's central tension.
hypothetical · unit #14 — Robinson illustrates why conceit bothers us with a tennis match scenario. The winner's boasting is offensive not because it is false but because it puts the loser down. Conceit is a social crime, not a theological one.
hypothetical · unit #15 — A second illustration—a classroom scenario—reinforces the same point. Conceit offends us because it is socially humiliating, not because it is theologically serious. Robinson is preparing to distinguish conceit from pride.
analogy · unit #21 — Robinson cites Pope Gregory's metaphor—the Pharisee killed an elephant but was crushed by its fall. The image captures the self-destructive nature of self-righteousness: the very virtue that should save destroys.
cultural reference · unit #32 — Robinson tells H.G. Wells' story of the Episcopalian bishop who dispensed prayer advice but never prayed himself. When life forced him to his knees and he encountered God's actual presence, he was found dead from terror. The story illustrates the gap between talking about God and standing before him.
hypothetical · unit #35 — Robinson imagines the tax collector returning a year later after genuine sanctification. His prayer acknowledges real change—sexual purity, honesty in business, concern for others—but still ends with the same cry for mercy. This illustrates the sermon's thesis: growth in grace increases rather than decreases awareness of need.

Theological claims· 13

The original audience would have viewed the Pharisee as a religious and moral success, not as a villain. unit #3
The Pharisee was not a hypocrite—his religion was genuine, costly, and publicly admired, which makes Jesus' condemnation all the more shocking. unit #5
Jesus reverses our moral categories by commending the man we would condemn and condemning the man we would commend—and this is not simplistic caricature but profound reversal. unit #10
Conceit is a concern to us because it is at our expense, but conceit is not of much concern to God—the problem is something deeper. unit #13
Conceit is trivial in God's eyes—like a pimple on the skin—because God is concerned with the bloodstream, not surface-level social offenses. unit #16
The Pharisee's fatal sin was pride—standing in God's presence and assuming that the moral distinctions that mattered on earth gave him standing before God. unit #17
Self-righteousness operates by comparing our virtues to others' vices, allowing us to justify ourselves without ever acknowledging the serpents coiled on the floor of our own souls. unit #20
The Pharisee's sin is grace gone putrid—taking God's good gifts (heritage, knowledge, virtue) for granted and bringing them to God as grounds for merit rather than reasons for gratitude. unit #22
The Pharisee's prayer masquerades as thanksgiving but is actually self-advertisement—the subtext is that God had good material to work with, which turns grace sour. unit #24
The man who stands in God's presence is always more aware of his need of grace than his successes in grace—this is the consistent pattern of scripture, seen in Job and Isaiah. unit #27
Living before God and seeing yourself as a sinner in constant need of grace is not a stage to pass through—it is the essence of the entire Christian life. unit #30
Humility is not self-deprecation or comparison with others—it is standing as tall as you can next to God and seeing yourself truly in light of his holiness. unit #33
Humility comes not from comparing ourselves to others or from self-examination, but from looking up at God—and seeing him, we see ourselves truly and cry out for grace. unit #36

Quotations· 4

"once in one of his travels, he came to a town that had had an honest tax collector. And the people were so profoundly impressed that they erected a monument to his memory" — Tacitus (unit #8)

"of this Pharisee that he was like a man who had killed an elephant, and that he himself was killed when the elephant fell" — Pope Gregory the Great (unit #16)

"of this Pharisee that he was like a man who had killed an elephant, and that he himself was killed when the elephant fell" — Pope Gregory the Great (unit #21)

"When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, My richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride. Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the cross of Christ, my God, all the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to your blood" — Isaac Watts (implied) (unit #37)

Read it

Full transcript

29,577 characters 39 units ~33 min reading time

0 · Robinson opens with a childhood memory of predictable cowboy movies with cardboard characters—good guys in white, bad guys in gray

When I was a boy, one of the nicest ways I knew to spend a Saturday afternoon was at the matinee of the neighborhood theater. A group of us would get there early and warm up on a series of cartoons. But what we really want to see were the cowboy movies. I think the reason that we liked those movies so much was that they were always so predictable. The good guys always wore white and rode white horses. And from time to time they stopped and sang to us with their guitars. And the bad guys always wore gray and rode dark horses. And whenever they spoke, they spoke with a snarl. And of course, bad guys never had any songs to sing. Then someday, when we went to Sunday school, it sometimes seemed that the same men who had been writing the screenplay for the movie had also been writing some of the Sunday school lessons. The lessons were never quite as interesting, but the characters were always very gray or very white. We knew, for example, that had we been there for the showdown in Egypt between Moses and Pharaoh, that Moses would have been dressed in white, Pharaoh would have been a dull gray. And it was no surprise to us to discover that David sang with a harp, because in our minds that was a kind of old fashioned guitar.

1 · Robinson pivots from childhood fatigue with predictable movies to adult fatigue with predictable readings of Jesus' parables

But as I grew older, I grew tired of those cowboy movies because they were always so predictable. They didn't deal with real people living in a real world, but instead they dealt with cardboard characters and a tissue paper plaque. And I'm afraid that in turning from some of those stories of our childhood, many of us have also turned from some of the ripping good stories Jesus told. For we've heard many of them many times before. And somehow we come to feel that Jesus, like the men who wrote the cowboy movies, is dealing with caricatures rather than real characters.

2 · Robinson locates the problem in Luke 18—we have been conditioned to read Pharisees as villains and tax collectors as heroes in disguise

And I'm afraid we do that with this story that is found here in Luke chapter 18. Just as soon as we get a line on the cast of characters, we've already made up our minds. We discover that one man is a Pharisee and the other man is a publican. And we know what to think about Pharisees. Like Pavlov's dogs. We've been conditioned to know that all Pharisees are evil. And so we color him gray. While we realize that the publican or the tax collector was not the best of men, we suspect that deep down inside he was a kind of good guy in disguise.

3 · Robinson makes the controlling claim that the original audience would have viewed the Pharisee as genuinely successful—morally and religiously

But I assure you that if you had stood there on that ancient morning when Jesus first told this story, you would not have come to any such naively simplistic Conclusions. Because in the eyes of good and decent men, this Pharisee was a religious and a moral success.

4 · Robinson conducts close exposition of the Pharisee's prayer, demonstrating that every claim was true

He could stand in the temple and say, God, I thank you that I am not, as other men are, extortioners, unjust adulterers. And I am sure that when he said that, he was speaking sober true. This man had not made his living by driving his neighbor to the wall. He was a man who was honest. His word was his bond. When he made a promise, you could count on it. And in a day that was as sexually loose as our own. This man had not sacrificed upon some wayside altar. And his religion wasn't all negative either. There were many positive things that would commend him. In fact, by any conventional standards, either ancient or modern, this man was a religious success. He says, I fast twice a week. Now, that was far more than the Old Testament had asked. Back in that ancient volume. God had required of his people that they fast once each year. And that on the day of atonement. But this man and his devotion would not be held to that. And so twice each week, on a Monday and a Thursday, he denied himself his necessary food. And in addition, he says, he gave a tithe of all that he possessed. And if we press those words to their full value, he may be telling us that he not only gave a tenth of what he took in, but that each week or each month or each year, he figured up his net worth. And he gave a tenth of that to God.

5 · Robinson drives the point home with a theological claim: the Pharisee was not a hypocrite

You see, here was a man who was in deep earnestness about his religion. You had to be earnest about religion to make yourself as miserable as he was willing to make himself. And God was at least as real to him as the shekels in his pocket. He was at least willing to lower his standard of living for God. And his religion had done him good. Everybody in the community knew that he was a moral leader. They looked up to him and respected him. Jesus is not putting this man down because he was a hypocrite. He was not the kind of a man who worshiped with his neighbor in the temple on the Sabbath. And then robbed his neighbor in the marketplace during the week. He was not the kind of man who would declare 10% in giving on his income tax. But really give only a twentieth to God. He was a man of moral integrity. And the people in the community admired him.

6 · Robinson notes that even the tax collector stood in awe of the Pharisee, choosing to stand far off

In fact, even this publican who came to services on that ancient Sabbath Stood in awe of the Pharisee. Jesus said, instead of standing next to him, he chose to stand afar Off.

7 · Robinson provides historical-cultural background on tax collectors in the first century

Now again, you may decide that this public and this tax collector was simply a good natured chap who understood his limitations. But if you had been there in that first century, you would not have come to that kind of conclusion. Decent and honorable men despised tax collectors. They thought of them as quislings and traitors. You see, when Rome wanted to tax a province, it sold the right to tax to the highest bidder. And once a man purchased the right to tax, he could take anything that the traffic would bear. He often found that it would bear a great deal. No newspaper told the people how much Rome wanted to collect. No board of examiners looked over the tax collector's shoulder to see what he was taking in. And so he took what he could get. And since you could not do business without doing business with him, since you could not travel from town to town without stopping at his desk, he found that he had people by the jugular vein. Extortion was just part of the game. Injustice was a way of life. And since he was despised by the good and decent people in the community, he lived his life with those who were immoral and sexually loose.

8 · Robinson cites Tacitus to demonstrate just how rare honesty was among tax collectors—so rare that an honest one warranted a public monument

Tacitus, a Roman historian, tells us that once in one of his travels, he came to a town that had had an honest tax collector. And the people were so profoundly impressed that they erected a monument to his memory.

9 · Robinson uses two hypothetical scenarios—an election and a marriage proposal—to drive home the moral reversal

If both of these men, the Pharisee and the publican, had been running in the election last Tuesday, we would have gotten out to campaign for the Pharisee. We would have been delighted if he had received the votes to get in. And if, on the other hand, the tax collector was the one who got the votes, we would feel it was a sign of the corruption of our nation. If both of these men came to ask for the hand of your sister in marriage, you'd be delighted to have the Pharisee as a brother in law. But you'd have some uneasy questions about this tax collector. You'd be sure that he was going to defame the family name.

10 · Robinson names the interpretive problem directly: Jesus commends the man we would condemn and condemns the man we would commend

You see, it's not quite so easy, is it? It's not quite so easy to see why Jesus turns our values upside down. And why in this story he commends the man that you and I would normally condemn. And he condemns the man that you and I might easily commend. Now, we're not dealing with caricatures. We're dealing with real people. That means that you've got to go beyond the cast of characters. You've got to look at the story even more closely.

11 · Robinson eliminates false solutions

You Discover as you read the story, that both of the men are in the temple, and certainly Jesus is not condemning them for that. There is a kind of religion abroad today that tells us that we can worship God just as well out on the golf course as we can in church on Sunday morning. And that's the religion of the walk in the park theology. That God's convenient on a sunny day makes no demands on you, but really is of no use to you. But these men were in the temple and they were praying. And Jesus is not faulting them for that. In fact, in the previous parable, he told them a story to the end that men ought always to pray and not defamed.

12 · Robinson begins to narrow in on the problem by examining the Pharisee's prayer

But we are getting closer. It's as you listen to the prayer of this Pharisee that you begin to get uneasy, don't you? He says, God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, immoral. I fast twice each week. I give a tithe of all that I take in. The thing that makes us uneasy about that prayer is that we feel that this Pharisee is conceited. We don't like the way he is praying.

13 · Robinson makes a critical theological distinction: conceit bothers us, not God

In fact, I suspect that if he came to us for a bit of spiritual counsel, we might tell him that what he needs to do is to learn to be more modest. You ought to be careful praying that way in public because people will misunderstand and it upsets folks to hear a man pray that way. No, what bothers us about the Pharisee is that we feel that he is conceited. But conceit is of concern to us. I'm sure it's not of much concern to God.

14 · Robinson illustrates why conceit bothers us with a tennis match scenario

We do not like conceit because conceit is at our expense. The man or woman who is conceited is conceited. And in doing so puts us down in order to build themselves up. And we don't like that. For example, you and I go out to play some tennis and you beat me in three straight sets and then come bounding across the net and say to me, look, Robinson, when I play you, my score goes up, but my game goes down. Few more games like this and I'll be back to ping pong. I don't like that. I mean, I'm willing to admit that you're a better tennis player than I am. And everyone else is willing to admit it. But I don't like you to admit it. I like you to tell me that you got in a Few lucky shots or that the sun was in my eyes. But you see, conceit puts me down. It's at my expense.

15 · A second illustration—a classroom scenario—reinforces the same point

Or you get your exam back after you've taken a tough test and there's a big fat C. And you turn to somebody next to you and you say, what'd you get? Then that person says, well, I got an A. You didn't find that hard, did you? Man, I didn't even crack a book and I got an A. I never studied for this course. Now, you're willing to admit that the other person is smarter than you are. And obviously the teacher is willing to admit it. What you don't like is to have him admit it. That's at your expense, and it puts you down.

16 · Robinson delivers a theological verdict: conceit ranks about 101st on the list of heinous sins

Now, we do not like the Pharisee because he sounds conceited. But I assure you of a hundred heinous sins. Conceit is about 101st. Conceit is often just a way of talking. In fact, there are a great many people who talk big because deep inside they feel small. And big talk is a way of covering up this feeling of smallness. Or conceit can be just a wrong way of looking at life, a wrong way of talking, or a wrong way of handling things. It can often be just wrong judgments about things. Like the young lady who came to her pastor and was deeply troubled. She said about a sin that she had. She said, pastor, I've come to you because I have a besetting sin. And it happens on Sunday morning. She said, I sit there in church and I look around me and I realize that I'm the prettiest girl in the congregation. And I know I ought not be thinking that, but I just can't get it out of my mind. It's a. It's a sin, and I want you to help me. The pastor said to her, mary, listen, don't you worry about it at all. In your case. It's not a sin. It's just a horrible mistake. And that's. That's often the way it is with conceit. It is something that is a wrong judgment about life. And it really doesn't concern God. You see, conceit, as far as God is concerned, is like a pimple on the skin. And God is always concerned about the bloodstream.

17 · Robinson delivers the sermon's theological payoff: the Pharisee's problem was not conceit but pride

And the problem with this Pharisee was not that he was conceited. The problem with the Pharisee was that he was proud. For the point of the parable is that these two men were standing in the temple, which was the Place of the presence of God and standing in the presence of God. They thought or he thought. This Pharisee thought that the distinctions that mattered among men mattered with the Almighty. That the differences that mattered on earth somehow mattered in heaven. The tax collector stood there and felt that he had no right to approach God. But the Pharisee was sure that he had. It was in the presence of God that the Pharisee thought that the differences that took place on earth made some difference in heaven. And that, of course, is the essence of pride.

18 · Robinson returns to Luke 18:9 to establish the interpretive frame Jesus himself provided: self-righteousness is marked by trusting in oneself and despising others

You will notice that Luke introduces the story in verse 9 by saying that Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous and despised others. And that is always the mark of self righteous people. That is, in order to increase their self, their sense of righteousness, they put other people down.

19 · Robinson applies the principle to everyday contexts—bridge games, locker rooms, church gossip

That's why when you're playing bridge, the sport is really gossip. That's why at the locker room, people put each other down or put other people down. That's why that can often take place in church as a kind of sanctified gossip session. We often criticize other people because we feel somehow in our spiritual insanity, that if we can pull other people down, that somehow that will make our house stand taller. That if I can cut someone else down and stand on his carcass, then somehow I am taller than I really am.

20 · Robinson connects self-righteousness to comparative morality—comparing our virtues to others' vices

And so we go around looking at other people, comparing ourselves to them, looking at their vices and comparing them to our virtues. Cutting them off at the knees and putting ourselves up on stilts. Because somehow in doing that, we think we pass muster with God. It is the essence of self righteousness that a man tears other people down. And you would never guess, listening to this Pharisee, that there were any serpents coiled on the floor of his soul. You would never guess that there were any wolves howling at the door of his life. In order to justify himself, he points out the sins of other men.

21 · Robinson cites Pope Gregory's metaphor—the Pharisee killed an elephant but was crushed by its fall

It was Pope Gregory the Great who said of this Pharisee that he was like a man who had killed an elephant, and that he himself was killed when the elephant fell.

22 · Robinson names the theological horror at the heart of the parable: grace gone putrid

And as I read this story, the stench that comes from the pages of scripture, this awful smell that seems to come like sulfur from the heart of hell, is the smell of grace gone putrid. It is the stench of grace gone sour. Certainly this man was better than other men in his community. But he had decided advantages. Look at his background, look at his knowledge of the scripture, look at his religious heritage. But he took all of those things for granted. And somehow taking for granted these good gifts of God. And he then prayed it into the courts of heaven thinking he was a better man and that that should matter to God. And that is the stench of grace gone putri.

23 · Robinson applies the principle to Christian testimonies where the speaker contrasts a dark past with a perfect present

Whenever you smell it, almost makes you nauseous sometimes. You get it in testimonies. You get it in folks who have been saved out of a a past life that was anything but commendable when they give the testimony. As it goes on, the past keeps getting blacker and blacker and the future gets brighter and brighter and their lives seem to take on an almost perfect hue. In the past I was a depraved person, but now I've got it all together. In the past I have problems, but now all I've got is solutions. In the past I had all kinds of hang ups, but now I am free of them all. And when you listen to it, you sense that there is grace gone putrid.

24 · Robinson unpacks the psychology of the Pharisee's prayer—it masquerades as thanksgiving but is actually self-advertisement

When you listen to this Pharisee pray, God I thank you that I am not as other men are. You sense that it's not all praise to God. There's quite a bit of self advertisement. There he is saying, yes, Lord, it's true, you cut a pretty good suit, but you couldn't have cut it if you didn't have good material to work with. May be true that you have done a lot in my life, but you had a lot to work with. And that's the essence of sour grapes.

25 · Robinson applies grace-gone-putrid to theological seminaries

You could see it in many ways. You could see it at a theological seminary. A school can stay true to God for half a century and true to its word. And there can come a subtle temptation, and that is to take that great gift of God, that goodness of God, and somehow think that it gives you special merit. And then you begin to look at other schools, schools that have not stayed true to truth. And you point out all of their heresies because by pointing them out and showing their faults, you think you have shown that you are better. And in the criticism there are no tears in your eyes, there's no sob in your throat for what has happened. I thank you that I am not as other schools are. I'm a cut above the average.

26 · Robinson extends the application to churches where sound Bible teaching becomes the basis for spiritual superiority over other Christians

You find it in churches. You could find folks who go to a church where they are taught the word of God and they've not been taught it before. And there are other folks they know who do not have that benefit, that blessing. And as a result, it's very easy to get a kind of spiritual superiority. Thank you. I'm not like all the other ignorant Christians, thank you that you've delivered me from all of the heresies they fall into. Thank you that I know the book of Revelation and they don't. When you do that, when that becomes the essence of the prayer, that is grace gone putrid. That is the spirit of the self righteous person. For it is the mark of self righteousness to tear other people down in order to build yourself up. And this Pharisee stood in the presence of God. And in the presence of God he had a good eye on himself and a bad eye on his neighbor and no eye on God at all.

27 · Robinson prevents a false reading of the tax collector's humility—it is not self-deprecation or groveling, and the tax collector could have become a left-wing Pharisee by boasting of his honesty about sin

The other man who came was a tax collector. Jesus said he stood afar off and kept beating on his breast and kept saying, oh God, be merciful to me, the sinner. I know how you feel when you first read that, say, well, sure he's humble, but after all he's got a lot to be humble about. He had a great advantage on other men. Look at what he was. Humility came easy to him. But you know as well as I do that you can have left wing Pharisees and right wing Pharisees, like the Sunday school teacher who said to her children after teaching this lesson, now boys and girls, let's all thank God that we're not like the nasty Pharisees. This man could have prayed that way. He could have said, oh God, I thank you that I am not like the Pharisee, a religious humbug, a man who prays long prayers in the temple. I thank you. I meant that way. I am an extortioner and I am unjust and I am immoral. But at least I am honest about it. I don't pretend. I am certainly no hypocrite. Always amazed me that the folks out there think that hypocrisy is the worst of all sins. And that somehow by prating their sins in front of people, they can turn those sins into virtues. By unwrapping all of the bandages and showing us the running sores of their lives, that somehow that gives them a measure of health. And that man is as stupid as he is rotten. Who thinks that somehow by prating his vices he can turn them into virtues. While ago two men went into one of the banks downtown. They robbed it. One of the men wore a mask, the other didn't. I don't know why he didn't wear a mask, but he didn't. And after they ran out of the bank in 20 minutes they were captured. But I couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if at the trial, one of those men had stood before the judge and said, you, Honor, I would appreciate it if you would give me special consideration. Now, it's true I robbed the bank just like my friend here. But what I think you need to keep in mind was that at least I wasn't a hypocrite. I mean, I didn't wear a mask. I just went in there with my face naked so that everybody could see who I was. And I think you ought to give me a special kind of sentence that might go well with a judge up in the Northeast, but I don't know if it would go too well down here in Texas. And yet how often people who are tax collector types can easily become Pharisees, too. But this man didn't do that. Instead, he stood there in the presence of God and kept beating his breast and kept saying, oh, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Now, notice, Jesus is not commending the beating of the breast. Jesus is not commending the use of the words, be merciful to me, a sinner. You meet that type, too. People are always going around telling you how awful they are and how weak they are and how decrepit they are. It's often a pious way of getting a compliment. You say you're not as decrepit as you think you are, you know, so you get credit for being humble. And plus, you get a compliment. No, Jesus is commending this man because he stood in the presence of God, and that's what he knew about himself. That in the presence of God, he saw his sin. And that's always true. The man who stands in God's presence is always more aware of his need of grace than his successes in grace. The man who knows what it is to live before God is always more aware of how far he has to go than he is about how far he came. The man who stands in the presence of God is always more aware of his sin than of his virtue. The man who lives in the presence of God constantly cries out for mercy and grace and forgiveness. In the Old Testament, Job was declared by the sacred writer to be the most righteous man of his day. And you remember he had his friends who came to comfort him, and they kept insisting that the reason that he suffered superlatively was that he must have sinned superlatively. And Job continually denies that that's not true. But then at the end of the book, Job catches a vision of God. And when he catches a vision of God, Job says, I have heard of you with the hearing of my ear. But now my eyes see of you by repent in sackcloth and ashes. Whenever a man knows or a woman knows what it means to stand in God's presence, that person always becomes aware of themselves and of their sin and their need of grace and the forgiveness of God. Isaiah was the cream of the young manhood of his day. A noble young man. And in Isaiah chapter six, we're told that he came into the temple and saw a vision of God high and lifted up and his train filled the temple. And when Isaiah saw God, he cried and said, woe is me, for I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips, and I live in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Seeing God, he saw himself and he saw his sin. He cried out for cleansing and forgiveness. That's always true. When a man really lives before God. He sees himself for what he is and sees his need of grace.

28 · Robinson conducts close exposition of 1 Timothy 1:15, emphasizing the present-tense verb: Paul says 'I am' chief of sinners, not 'I was

In 1 Timothy, chapter 1, verse 15, the apostle Paul says, this is a saying that is sure and worthy of acceptance. That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Notice the verb. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Not that I was the chief of sinners back on the Damascus road when I was persecuting the church. Not that I was the chief of sinners when I put men in dungeons. No, I am the chief of sinners. After 30 years of preaching the Gospel and establishing churches across the Roman Empire and introducing thousands of people to Jesus Christ and writing sacred literature, after all of that, I am the chief of sinners. Why? Because in the next verse, the apostle Paul says to the king of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God be honor and glory forever and ever. When a man lives before God, he is always aware that he is a sinner and the chief of sinners. Always aware of his need of grace and forgiveness.

29 · Robinson turns from exposition to direct pastoral address, identifying himself as a fellow sinner standing before the elders

Hear me, the elders in Believers Chapel. This man was allowed to speak to you this morning. Needs the grace of God today as much as the prostitute or the drug addict who may be coming to Jesus Christ in some other part of the city. There is never a time that you outgrow your need of God. There is never a time that you need him less. There is never a time that you reach some spiritual plateau where you can go alone.

30 · Robinson delivers the theological synthesis: living before God produces self-awareness as a sinner and recognition of dependence on grace

Whenever a man lives before God, he sees himself for what he really is. And he comes to recognize that he is a sinner and that he must have the grace of God and the forgiveness of God and That, in simple statement is the essence of the entire Christian life.

31 · Robinson applies the thesis to conversion and ongoing Christian life

A man will never really come to know God personally as long as he keeps comparing himself with other people. A girl will never really come to grips with Jesus Christ as long as she keeps looking at people in the church and figuring she scars better than they do. It's only when you find yourself in loneliness before God and look up and see that he is holiness itself, you come to realize that you are a sinner and that you must have the grace of God. From the depths of your soul you cry out, o God, be merciful to me, the sinner. And it never stops. You never get over it. If a man walks in faith before God, he is always more aware of his need of God than his victories in God.

32 · Robinson tells H

H.G. wells was a critic of the church, and in his own way, I think, was one of our good friends. In one of the stories that he wrote for New Yorker magazine several years ago, he imagined that an Episcopalian bishop in a church in New York, he picked on the Episcopalians, but he could have picked on Presbyterians or Methodists or people in Believers chapel. But he imagined this Episcopalian bishop. He was a man who had folks come to him for counsel, and he had some platitudes he used that he thought were especially effective. If you said them in just the right way, they could sound very pious and religious. And one that he liked especially was to say to somebody who had come to him with a problem, have you prayed about it? He found that if he said it in just the right tone, it seemed like spiritual counsel. The trouble was that the bishop never prayed very much himself. Life was in a nice neat package for him, all wrapped up in his back pocket, and he didn't have much need of prayer. And then one day, Wells imagined that life tumbled in on this good bishop, and he decided that maybe it would be good to try his own advice. And one Saturday afternoon when the cathedral was empty, he walked down to the front and knelt on the crimson carpet and looked up and folded his hands and thought how childlike and simple he was. Then he said, oh, God. And there was a voice, crisp and businesslike, and the voice said, well, what is it? The next day when the worshippers came to church, they found the bishop sprawled face down in the front of the cathedral. When they turned them over, they saw that there were lines of terror etched upon his face. What H.G. wells was saying was simply this, that there are a great many folks talking about God, and perhaps in some way praying to him would Be scared to death if they discovered that they were really in his presence.

33 · Robinson defines humility theologically: not groveling or comparing yourself unfavorably to others, but standing straight and tall next to God and seeing yourself truly in light of his holiness

And yet that's where humility begins. To live your life before God in comparison with him, not in comparison with others. Humility is not groveling in the dust, telling people that you are worse than they are. Humility is standing as straight and tall as you can stand. But to stand next to God and to see yourself for what you really are.

34 · Robinson returns to the text's conclusion: Jesus declares the tax collector justified

I cannot help but point out to you that Jesus said of those two men, it was the tax collector who went down to his house, justified, declared righteous.

35 · Robinson imagines the tax collector returning a year later after genuine sanctification

I can also imagine that a year would pass and again this tax collector would be in the temple praying. And you can hear his prayer, can't you? He might have prayed. Dear God, it's been a year now. And I thank you that in that year I have not fallen into sexual immorality. Thank you for your grace. In that year there's been a lot of difference down at the tax table. You know that I am an extortioner by heart, but in your grace you've begun to work in me, and that's going. And I thank you for that grace. And Lord, you know I'm an unjust man. That's what I am by nature. But you put truth in my inner being. And. And I thank you for that grace. And Lord, there's my friend over here who's come today. He's not been here in a long time and he's as sinful as I am, Lord, but I really want to pray for him. He'll come to know your grace and his life as well. And Lord, I've come a long way, but I've got so far to go. There's so many things you've got to undo. I'm a long way from home. Oh, dear God, be merciful to me, the sinner.

36 · Robinson delivers the final theological synthesis: humility comes from looking up at God, not around at others or inward at self

Humility does not come from looking at other people. It does not come by looking inward at some inferiority complex. It comes by looking up into the face of him with whom we have to do. And seeing him, we see ourselves and we see our sin, and we cry out for grace and forgiveness in time of need.

37 · Robinson concludes with Isaac Watts' hymn

When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, My richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride. Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the cross of Christ, my God, all the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to your blood.

38 · Robinson prays for two audiences: those who have been comparing themselves to others and need to see themselves as sinners before God, and longtime believers who think they can walk alone and need to confess they are still chief of sinners

Let's pray. Our Father, it occurs to us that there may be friends here this morning who have been playing the old religious game for quite some time they've been looking at Christians and people in the church and they've been looking at their failures and at their own supposed virtues and feeling that they pass muster with you. They've never really understood that all that really matters is your holiness and we must deal with you. We pray, Lord, that somehow in the quietness of this moment you would speak to those folks and break through to them that they may really understand that they are sinners before a righteous God and cry out for grace and forgiveness. And for those of you, for those of us who have walked with you for a long time, how easily we think we can walk alone. And we come again to confess that we are sinful people. The chief of sinners, Lord, when we know our hearts. But we thank you that there is grace greater than all our sin and forgiveness and restoration and cleansing. Dismiss us now with the sense of your presence and your blessing resting upon us. In Jesus name, amen. You are dismissed.

Where this fits

More from Haddon Robinson

The other sermons stewarded in this Haddon Robinson set.

The Problem of Prosperity of the Wicked

Only by seeing life from the eternal perspective gained in God's presence can believers triumph over the tormenting problem of the wicked's prosperity and recognize that possessing God is infinitely greater wealth than any earthly advantage.

Psalm 73

Who Is My Neighbor?

Your neighbor is anyone whose need you see and are in a position to meet, and what you are — transformed by the love of God through the Holy Spirit — will determine what you see and how you respond.

Luke 10:25-37

January 3 · This sermon

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican

True humility comes not from comparing ourselves to other people but from standing in the presence of a holy God, where we see ourselves as we truly are and cry out for grace.

Luke 18:9-14

Take it further

Discuss · apply · pray

Small groups

6 discussion questions

When you first read the parable, what makes the Pharisee's prayer sound religious and reasonable? What does he actually say he's doing, and…

Daily readings

5-day reading plan

This week we move from the Pharisee's fatal assumption about God's values to the publican's liberating discovery that humility means standing before a holy God and seeing ourselves truly.

Family table

Standing Before God

This prompt invites your family to wrestle with what it means to truly see ourselves—not by looking at other people, but by standing in God'…

Couples

Standing Before God Together

What comparison or judgment toward others did the sermon expose in your own heart—and how did Robinson's vision of standing before God shift…

Memorize

Luke 18:14

This is Jesus' explicit verdict on the parable and the sermon's controlling claim: true humility—standing in God's presence and seeing ourselves as we truly are—is what secures us before God, not moral comparison with others. The verse crystallizes Robinson's central reversal: the publican's awareness of his need for grace justifies him, while the Pharisee's self-righteousness condemns him.

Small-group discussion

6 questions for your group this week

When you first read the parable, what makes the Pharisee's prayer sound religious and reasonable? What does he actually say he's doing, and why would the original audience have viewed him as a moral and religious success?

Luke 18:11-12

→ How does understanding that the Pharisee was genuinely virtuous—not a hypocrite or caricature—change the way you hear Jesus' harsh judgment against him?
What is the difference between the Pharisee comparing himself to the publican and the publican standing in God's presence? What does each man actually 'see' when he prays?

Luke 18:10-14
Robinson argues that the Pharisee's fatal sin is not conceit (which is merely a social offense) but pride—assuming that earthly moral distinctions give him standing before God. Why does God care about the second but not the first?

→ Can you think of an area in your own life where you might be confusing moral success with standing before God?
The sermon calls the Pharisee's condition 'grace gone putrid'—he has received good gifts from God (heritage, knowledge, virtue) but brought them to God as grounds for merit rather than reasons for gratitude. Where do you see this pattern in Christian life today?

→ How does recognizing this danger in others help you examine your own heart for the same trap?
According to the sermon, what is the consistent pattern we see in Scripture—in Job and Isaiah—about what happens when a person truly stands in God's presence? What does such a person become more aware of, not less?

Job (end of book); Isaiah 6

→ If growing in Christ means becoming more aware of your need for grace, not less, how should that reshape the way you measure spiritual maturity in yourself and others?
Robinson defines humility not as self-deprecation or comparison with others, but as standing in God's presence and seeing yourself truly in light of His holiness. How does the publican's prayer—'God, have mercy on me, a sinner'—demonstrate this kind of humility?

Luke 18:13

→ What would it mean this week to orient your prayer life toward standing before God rather than measuring yourself against others?

Couples · three questions over coffee

Standing Before God Together

What comparison or judgment toward others did the sermon expose in your own heart—and how did Robinson's vision of standing before God shift the way you see that?
In what ways do we as a couple tempt each other toward grace-gone-putrid—taking God's gifts to us (stability, knowledge, virtue) and using them to justify ourselves rather than worship Him together?
What would it mean for us to pray like the publican this week—to stand before God together, see ourselves truly in His holiness, and cry out for the grace we constantly need?

Daily readings · Monday–Friday

5-day reading plan

This week we move from the Pharisee's fatal assumption about God's values to the publican's liberating discovery that humility means standing before a holy God and seeing ourselves truly.

Monday Isaiah 6

When Isaiah entered the throne room and beheld the all-glorious, triune God, his immediate response was not gratitude for his prophetic calling or recitation of his moral accomplishments. Rather, he cried out, 'Woe is me! I am ruined' (Isaiah 6:5). This is the pattern of Scripture: proximity to God's holiness strips away every earthly distinction and leaves us aware only of our desperate need for cleansing. We learn from Isaiah that spiritual maturity does not graduate us from grace—it deepens our hunger for it.

Tuesday Job (end of book)

Job had defended his righteousness relentlessly, and by earthly standards his case was strong. Yet when God finally answered him not with arguments but with a vision of divine power and wisdom, Job's response was immediate: 'I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes' (Job 42:6). Job did not become aware of hidden sins through God's interrogation; rather, he was transformed by seeing God's magnitude and recognizing that all his earthly vindications were trivial in light of it. The Pharisee made Job's initial error—he believed his virtue mattered in heaven because it mattered on earth.

Wednesday Luke 18:1-8

The parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8) precedes our text and establishes a crucial contrast: the widow comes to God with nothing but her need, while the Pharisee comes with his achievements. Jesus teaches that God honors the widow's tenacity in crying out for justice, not because she deserves it, but because she knows she cannot secure it herself. The Pharisee, by contrast, has confused God's patience with his own righteousness, turning the very gifts of God into accusations against others. Where the widow's emptiness draws her to God, the Pharisee's fullness pushes him away.

Thursday 1 Timothy 1:15-16

Paul calls himself 'the worst of sinners' (1 Timothy 1:15)—not because he was objectively worse than murderers or adulterers in his present state, but because standing in God's presence had given him an acute awareness of his own capacity for rebellion and his perpetual need for mercy. His boast, paradoxically, becomes Christ's patience extended to him as 'an example to those who would come to believe in him' (1 Timothy 1:16). Paul's humility is not a comparison downward to others but a comparison upward to God—and it makes him grateful rather than despairing. This is the posture we are called to cultivate: not self-examination that produces shame, but vision of God that produces gratitude.

Friday Luke 18:1-8

The widow does not pray once and then graduate from prayer; she persists, knowing that her need is not temporary but permanent. Similarly, the publican's cry for mercy is not a moment of conversion to be left behind but the defining posture of a life lived before God. We too must resist the spiritual illusion that maturity means needing grace less—it means needing grace more consciously, more constantly, and therefore more gratefully. When we gather together in corporate worship, we gather not as those who have moved beyond the cross but as those who stand perpetually beneath it, crying out together: 'God, have mercy on us sinners.'

Memory verse this week

Luke 18:14

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

Why this verse: This is Jesus' explicit verdict on the parable and the sermon's controlling claim: true humility—standing in God's presence and seeing ourselves as we truly are—is what secures us before God, not moral comparison with others. The verse crystallizes Robinson's central reversal: the publican's awareness of his need for grace justifies him, while the Pharisee's self-righteousness condemns him.

Sunday-evening family table

Standing Before God

For the parent

This prompt invites your family to wrestle with what it means to truly see ourselves—not by looking at other people, but by standing in God's presence. It's concrete enough for younger kids to grasp through story, rich enough for teens and adults to sit with the real challenge of humility.

In the sermon, the preacher said that the Pharisee kept looking at other people to feel good about himself, but the tax collector just looked up at God and saw how much he needed help. If you stood right in front of God right now—not comparing yourself to your brother or sister or your friend—what would you see that you need His help with?

works for ages 7+ — younger children may need a parent to help them think through the question; older kids and adults will engage at their own depth

Where this was preached

About the preacher

Haddon Robinson

Gordon-Conwell · Biblical Preaching
Read the Guild Hall profile · All three stewarded sermons

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# Gordon-Conwell · Biblical Preaching

Significant sermons by Haddon Robinson, stewarded by Sermon Steward as a sample.

## Sermons
- [The Problem of Prosperity of the Wicked (Psalm 73)](/SignificantSermons/robinson/sermons/the-problem-of-prosperity-of-the-wicked-1973-01-03)
- [Who Is My Neighbor? (Luke 10:25-37)](/SignificantSermons/robinson/sermons/who-is-my-neighbor-1973-01-03)
- [The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican (Luke 18:9-14, 1973-01-03)](/SignificantSermons/robinson/sermons/the-parable-of-the-pharisee-and-the-publican-1973-01-03)

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