Are You Bad Enough to Get Saved?

Luke 18:9-14: And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others. Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee and he other a publican. 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. I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift so much as his eyes toward heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Today I am here to ask you a question: "Are you bad enough to get saved?"

I mean, you have to know you are a filthy, wicked sinner in order to get saved. If you think you deserve to go to heaven, you do not understand your sinful nature. If you think you are holy enough to get into heaven by your own merits, or if you think you can get saved by doing good, you do not know God's standard of righteousness. If you think you will get to heaven if your good outweighs your evil on some mythical judgment scale, you are wrong. Your sins must be paid for.

Our text is a parable about two men praying in the temple at Jerusalem; a Pharisee, and a publican, a Jew who collected taxes for the Roman government. The one would have been thought to be a good man; the other, the worst of sinners. Yet Jesus said the Pharisee went down to his house as lost as he was before he went to the temple, and the publican returned to his home justified. This is a legal term meaning he was declared innocent. The word means God saw him "just as if he had never sinned." The "good man" was still on his way to hell, but the bad man was on his way to heaven. As we compare the two men, ask yourself the question, "Am I bad enough to go to heaven?"


I. First, let us consider the Pharisee. I want you to put away any misconceptions you may have about the Pharisees. They were the most religious of the Jewish sects. More than anyone else in Judaism, they desired to keep the law of God. They were what we call good men who were trying to do the right thing.

The Pharisee in the parable was like this: I see no reason to doubt that he was telling the truth according to his understanding of the Word of God.

But in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 23, we see Jesus that delivered the most searing indictment He ever spoke against any group of people, and it was against the scribes and Pharisees. In the blistering sermon, He called the Pharisees hypocrites (vs 13, 14 15, 23, 25, 27 and 29), blind guides (vs. 16 and 24), fools and blind (vs. 17, 19 and 26), and serpents and a generation of vipers (vs. 33). In verses 25-28, He said they were clean on the outside, but on the inside they were full of extortion and excess; full of hypocrisy and iniquity.


The Pharisee praying in the Temple claimed he was not an extortioner. But in verse 14, Jesus said, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye devour widow's houses, and for a pretense make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation." Pharisees used their religion and law to extort property from widows, and then pretended their long prayers put them above the love of money. They were not only scheming hypocrites, but also sanctimonious bullies. So this claim was bogus.

The Pharisee in this parable claimed he was not unjust. But in verse 23, Jesus said, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ye ought to have done, and not to leave the other undone." The tithe of the Pharisees masked neglect of the more important matters of judgment (or justice), mercy, and faith. The man's claim that he was not unjust was false.


The Pharisee bragged he was not an adulterer. But in verse 28, Jesus said, "Even so yo also outwardly appear to be righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity."

One shade of iniquity in his heart could have been adultery. "Relations" with a person other than one's spouse is not required for adultery to take place. Jesus said in Matthew 5:27 and 28, "Ye have heard it has been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto you, that whoso looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." The Pharisee was not as pure in his heart as his boast.


As the Apostle Paul said in Romans 2:23, "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." The Pharisee did not realize how much he was like the publican. By "devouring widows' houses," the Pharisee betrayed the most helpless people in the nation while enriching themselves at their expense. He was no better than the publican. His contempt for the tax collector was misplaced: If he was looking for a sinner, all he had to do was peer inside his own heart. He would have seen more wickedness than he could have handled.



II. Now let us turn to look at the publican. He, unlike the Pharisee, was bad enough to go to heaven. This man knew he was a sinner. Unlike the Pharisee, who proudly boasted to God that he was better than other people, the tax collector would not even lft up his eyes toward heaven as he prayed for mercy. "Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner" is, after all, the first prayer God will assuredly answer for anyone.

The publicans did not receive a set salary for collecting taxes. They collected the taxes the Roman government wanted, and then took anything they wanted for themselves above that. As long as the Romans got their cut, they didn't care what the publicans took beyond that. Under this system, abuse of power was rampant: As the ordinary Jews became poorer, the tax collectors became richer. It is no wonder the publicans were hated and despised as the worst of sinners.

Luke 19 tells the story of Jesus' encounter with a publican named Zacchaeus. This little man was the head tax collector for the city of Jericho. One day a crowd gathered as Jesus walked through the streets of that city. Zacchaeis wanted to see Jesus, but was too small to get through the crowd. So instead of fighting the crowd, verse 4 says, "He climbed up into a sycomore tree."

Jesus saw the little man when He passed by the tree. In verse 5, He said to him, "Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down, for today I must abide at thy house." According to verse 6, the tax collector instantly "came down, and received him joyfully," and Jesus was a welcome guest at his house.

Zacchaeus knew he was bad enough to get saved. "And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give unto the poor; and if I have taken from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold" (verse 8). Here was a sinner who knew he needed mercy, and gave to the poor. The thief returned the goods to the owners, multiplied by four, thus proving he repented of his sins.

In verse 9 we read, And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forasmuch as he is also a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." In Matthew 9:13, Jesus said it this way, "I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

The Pharisee could not meet God's standard to get into heaven. In the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:20, the Lord said, "For I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." The standard God requires is absolute perfection, and there has only been One Who has ever lived a life of perfect holiness, and He died on the cross for our sins. Jesus Christ has provided the perfection needed to save every sinner who has ever lived.

Jesus Christ paid the same price to save the Pharisee as He did to redeem the publican. It costed Christ just as much to provide salvation for you and me as it did for any other sinner. The price He paid was His life. It does not matter what you have done You can be justified, and God would view you as He did the publican; just as if you had never sinned.

Are you bad enough to get saved? Then the publican's prayer, "God be merciful to me, a sinner, is the prayer for you to pray. It is a prayer the Lord will surely answer.


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