Well my pastor gave me another opportunity to preach the Sunday evening service at Auburndale Baptist. Last summer I preached Psalm 51 "True Repentance" as part of the Psalms series and it went great. It was the first time my family, friends, and church had ever heard me preach. I was truly honored to have that platform to share the gospel. Fast foward to March 21, 2010 & I'm back again preaching Luke 18:9-14 "Justification for the Humble & Broken." This time many more of my family & friends showed up and I was excited about the message God had given me.
In Luke 18 Jesus tells the parable of the tax collector & the pharisee. It is a story of the wicked vs. religious, the shameful vs. the proud yet the twist in the story is that the unrighteous tax collector was justified rather than the praying Pharisee. But why? Well the Pharisee trusted in his own flawed righteousness rather than the perfect righteous of Christ. But the tax collector was repentant and looked totally away from himself to God for mercy & jusitification. He made right with God by faith alone in Christ alone apart from any works. The tax collector may have had a sin filled past but by faith he was counted righteous (Rm 4:5) & his sinful record was nailed to the cross when Christ died for him. No matter how guilty or unworthy we may feel God promises justification to the Humble & broken. God resist the proud but gives grace to the humble.
No comments:
Post a Comment