“I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other:
for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased;
and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” (Luke 18:14)
The reason our LORD gave the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican was to show the contrast between the character of a self-righteous, unregenerate sinner and one who is truly righteous before God by the person and work of the LORD Jesus Christ alone. The self-righteous Pharisee, typical of those in works religion today, considered himself to be above others and even in his so-called ‘prayer,’ did nothing but glorify himself and his works. The publican, on the other hand, demonstrated a true Spirit-given humility before God, knowing himself a sinner and pleading only God‘s mercy, looking to Christ and His propitious sacrifice alone.
When our LORD said that this man went down to his house justified, was it based on his prayer? Many wrongly assume that the publican came into the temple unjustified and then left justified because he prayed a ‘sinner’s prayer.’ However, it is not the will, work, or way of a sinner that could ever justify him before God, Galatians 2:16. It is only by the work of the LORD Jesus alone, in His shed blood unto death that any sinner is justified. When the publican prayed, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner,’he was not looking within himself for his justification but to the work of the LORD Jesus that He would accomplish on His behalf at the cross. The word ‘merciful’ means to be propitious or reconciled. In the Old Testament, it refers to the mercy seat over the Ark of the Covenant on which the High Priest sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice on the Day of the Atonement, Leviticus 16. This was a foreshadowing of the bloodshed unto death of the LORD Jesus at the cross, not just to ‘atone’ (cover) for sin but to put it away, once and for all. The shed blood unto death of the LORD Jesus has therefore effectually taken away the sin of all of God’s elect at one time, in one place and one Sacrifice, Hebrews 10:14. To say that the publican went down to his house justified because of his prayer or even his ‘faith’ would make the justification of sinners to be based upon something other than the redemption, propitiation and reconciliation of Christ alone, Romans 5:10. That could not be!
The Truth is this: until Christ died to pay for the horrible sin debt of His elect, God the Father was forbearing with their sin, Romans 3:25, not imputing it to them, Romans 4:8. Those of the Old Testament, like this publican at this time, lived by God’s PROMISE that when Christ came He would put away their sin in His death on the cross, [Romans 4:13,Hebrews 11:13-14]. This is the ‘righteousness of faith’ of which Paul speaks. It is the righteousness that Christ earned, established and that the Father accepted and immediately imputed at the cross. This is ‘the law of faith’ in Romans 3:27, in contrast to ‘the law of works’. It is in this God revealed FAITH (Christ and Him crucified) that the publican went to his house justified rather than the Pharisee! He humbled himself because of the Spirit of Christ in him, therefore as a wretched sinner he was exalted when the LORD Jesus rose from the grave and ascended on high having paid his sin debt. What a Glorious Redeemer the LORD Jesus is and what a glorious salvation He has accomplished for PUBLICANS such as we are.