Dec 18
Andrew J. NicewanderEssays God's Love, Grace, Jesus, John Newton, Justification, Pharisee, Pride, Sin
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector, Part 1
The Pharisee, according to his own perception of righteousness, had every reason to expect that he was right before God. He followed all of the rules, He kept away from all of the sins, and he was absolutely more righteous than sinners like the tax collector. Everyone knew how moral the Pharisee was and how utterly wicked and depraved the Tax Collector was. This reality was not to be questioned.
Yet, the tax collector went home justified and the Pharisee did not. The Tax Collector understood something vital: that he was indeed a sinner! The Pharisee was right! There was nothing in the tax collector to commend him to God. There was nothing in his soul or in his heart that would make him in any way desirable or attractive to the Holy Lord. He was utterly without help and hope apart from God’s sovereign mercy. The Pharisee missed this key point: that he too was without hope apart from God’s Grace! No matter how righteous he was, no matter how holy he was, no matter how lovely his prayers were or how much he fasted or how much he prayed, all of those works were filthy menstrual rags in comparison to the holiness of God, the holiness that is required for salvation.
This was the hope that the Tax Collector had. That someway, somehow, God would overlook the blatantly obvious sin and still have mercy. The Pharisee did not need this mercy. God had already given it to him by making him so moral and upstanding that it inspired awe in those around him. He exalted himself above the Tax Collector and above the people around him and above even God himself and Christ states that he did not go away justified. Those who exalt themselves will be brought low. Without Christ’s mercy, the Pharisee was damned.
And why was the Tax Collector justified? Was it because of his righteous and holy repentance? Certainly not! He went home righteous because God heard his cry for mercy and loved and saved him. The Tax Collector knew that he was lost apart from God’s mercy. The Pharisee knew he was saved. Christ did not come to save the righteous, but He did come to save sinners. The Pharisee did not understand this reality.
How easy it would be to hate the Pharisee like the Pharisee hated the tax-collecting sinner! “Lord, thank you that I’m not like other religious men! I humbly pray three times a week, I give to the poor twice per year, I mourn over my sins every chance I get. I thank you that I’m not like self-righteous men who try to earn their own salvation or even like this Pharisee.” God forgive us for praying such prayers! May he grant the mercy to repent like the Tax Collector, praying simply “Lord have mercy on me, a sinner!”
Simply being a sinner is not enough to be saved. A man can know he’s a sinner and that he is completely unrighteous, but if he is not humbled enough to cry for mercy like the Tax Collector, he will not find salvation. There is really only one difference between the Pharisee and the Sinner. The Sinner knows he is lost, whereas the Pharisee thinks he is saved. Yet both are still lost. It is not until a man cries for mercy and believes that that man finds the salvation he so desperately seeks and needs.
Religion is a very dangerous thing. Having the understanding of salvation, or claiming to, can be an extremely powerful bargaining chip in the hands of wicked men. People engage in all sorts of insanity to find salvation. This is the beauty of Christ’s teachings, that only when one stops trying to be saved will he be in a position to attain it. Christ did not come to save the righteous. He came to save sinners. He came to save men like the Tax Collector, who had nothing with which to commend himself to God.
Yet pharisaical men are not without hope. The church’s greatest missionary, the Apostle Paul, described himself in his letter to the Philippians as being a man who had every reason to have confidence in and boast in his flesh by stating that he was “…circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” (Philippians 3:5-6) Paul put the Pharisee in Jesus’ story to absolute shame. If that man was a good Pharisee, Paul was better. According to the righteous under the law, Paul was blameless. What was the difference then between Paul and this Pharisee? The difference is found in verse 7 and 8, as Paul states: “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:7-8). Paul understood the lesson of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. He knew that his righteousness was not enough. If anyone had come close enough, it was Paul. Paul’s heart beat with that of the penitent Tax Collector, not the Pharisee. The self-proclaimed Chief of Sinners knew the wickedness of his heart and the hopelessness of trying to satisfy God’s righteousness apart from Jesus. And that same humbled chief of sinners also knew something of the riches of the exaltation of being a son of God in Christ.
Perhaps one of the most poignant examples of Christ’s mercy to a man like the Tax Collector is the life of John Newton. The author of the hymn “Amazing Grace” was a man who spent a great deal of time and exerted a great deal of effort to, like Jonah, run away from God. After many years of fighting, this man was used of God in great and mighty ways (and through his hymns and his story, is still being used). The inscription on his tombstone reads: “John Newton, Clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy.” This is the mercy that God has for sinners. This grace is initially unlooked for, subsequently begged for and finally granted to the sinner; unearned, unexpected and above and beyond all hope. Amazing grace, indeed!
Nov 29
Andrew J. NicewanderSermon Poems God's Grace, Love, Rebellion, Sin, Thanksgiving, The Church
Sermon Title – “Thankfulness for the Great Power of God”
Sermon Text – Revelation 11:15-19
Preacher – Jarrett Downs
I’m saved by grace, through faith in Christ
A sinner, now a saint
A rebel once, in Christ a son
All thanks to God, I’m saved
Although I’m saved, this life gets dark
God’s Hand is heavy still
When I despair of life and love
I thank His gracious will
God’s promises are sure and good
He loves His rebel own
When we are beat by lords and kings
Our God is on His Throne
The Church is beat and raped and killed
But still she marshals on
She’s kept by God, sustained by Grace
And loved by Christ the Son
The rule of God is over all
In times of love and strife
The Spirit keeps the Saints of God
In Christ the dead have life
The Church is made of sinners all
Of every kind and tribe
All sinners we in Christ are free
And loved by Him on high
All thanks to God who saves by grace
Through faith in Christ the Son
The Spirit moves and keeps the Church
Whose freedom has been won
Nov 22
Andrew J. NicewanderSermon Poems Jesus, Poetry, Preaching, Salvation, Sermons, Sin, The Fall, the Garden
Sermon Poetry , November 15, 2009
Sermon Title – “God and Adam in the Garden”
Sermon Text – Genesis 2:15-17
Preacher – Dr. Jim Renihan
In all of Creation was beauty to see
More lovely than can be designed
The Garden of Eden was perfectly made
Both lovely and wildly refined
The crowning achievement of all that was made
Was Adam in image of God
‘Twas beauty in Adam, in form and in heart
And lovely morality strong
Yet there in the Garden lived two comely trees
From one Adam never could eat
Consumption of one eternality gave
To eat of the other gave death
Required of Adam to perfectly live
Submission to Yahweh as Lord
With foul disobedience Adam would die
To follow or not Yahweh’s Word
With nasty rebellion, pure Adam chose death
And sin entered into the Earth
And sad separation between God and man
Brought death and much sorrow to birth
But even in sorrow a blessing proclaimed
A promise of Jesus the Lord
The Savior of many, the Ultimate Man
Who gave us salvation by works
In Adam humanity failed in the Fall
We shattered the promise of works
But now in our Adam, our Savior, our Christ
We’re saved by His grace in His works
Praise Father from whom all our blessings do flow
Praise Him all you Creatures below
Praise Him now you angels, the heavenly host
Praise Father, the Son and the Ghost
In Christ our salvation is won on the Cross
Through death do we sinners find love
In Christ we are chosen, foul worms are we all
In Christ we are made into sons!
And now in our Savior, we’ve life to obey
His righteousness covers our sins
Once sinners of darkness, now children of light
In Jesus, salvation is won
Nov 19
Andrew J. NicewanderSermon Poems God's Grace, Jesus, Love, Sin, The Gospel
Sermon Poetry, 1 November 2009
Sermon Text – 2 Cor. 2:14-16
A fragrance of Jesus, a sweet smelling life
Lord, give me the mercy to be
A vessel to witness of Jesus’ great love
This mercy be showered on me
I’m planting the Gospel, I’m watering dirt
But haven’t the power to grow
The growing is given through Jesus’ shed blood
The Spirit enlivening stones
Although we aren’t many, Your mercy is large
You save how You will when You want
Lord, help us to trust You, though fearful we be
To suffer as Jesus above
Please keep us encouraged, to keep running on
To run further up, further in
Lord give perseverance, dear Father we pray
To stay in the race you have giv’n
Dear Father, this sinner is weak and is frail
With nary the strength to obey
Enable this sinner to love as I’m loved
The love of my Savior e’er sweet
Nov 11
Andrew J. NicewanderMeditations on the Scriptures Christ, Righteousness, Sin, The Cross
I am not a righteous man. tells me this. I don’t truly fear the LORD, nor do I greatly delight in His commandments. In fact, I seem to sin more than do good. I am prideful in my sin against God. Although I want to do good, I often don’t. I’m rarely ever gracious and merciful. I hate men in my heart and I covet what other people have. I’m not a grace giver, and my pride keeps me from being a humble grace receiver.
I do not deal generously. When I do give it’s always with the taint of grumbling and selfishness. The idea of lending without expecting a return is a hard concept for me. Bad news scares me. Hard times frighten me. My heart quakes and my soul shakes when faced with the unknown. I’m scared about the future and I have a hard time trusting the Lord when I am forced to deal with things outside of my control. I’m stingy with my possessions. I don’t give to the poor. When I see the poor man, I am repulsed and I shy away from him.
I’m a wicked man. In my soul no real righteousness dwells. My offspring won’t be mighty in the land, and if left to me, my generation would not be blessed. My righteousness does not endure forever because I have no righteousness within me. My heart is moved and I will not be remembered forever. I will be forgotten. I will not triumph over my adversaries in my righteousness. I will not endure forever and I will not be exalted in honor.
But God sent His Son for me. Christ, the Righteous One, died for me. Christ kept the Law for me. Christ suffered for me.
In Christ my sins are forgiven. In Christ my heart is made new. In Christ my affections are changed. In Christ my desires and will are completely remade. In Christ I am covered by His Blood. In Christ I am clothed with His Righteousness
In Christ we will endure forever. In Christ the Light dawns for us. In Christ we are truly blessed. In Christ we are remembered forevermore, by God and for God. In Christ our hearts are held firm by His Pierced and Steady Hands. In Christ death is defeated and bad news has no power over us. In Christ our Enemies are defeated.
He’s the Savior of the poor, broken and downtrodden. He’s the Salvation of Sinners and the Hope for the Lost. His Righteousness endures forever and He is forever exalted.
I once saw Christ and I was angry. I gnashed my teeth at Him and hated Him. Yet, my desire perished. My heart was remade. Christ defeated me and made me new. I am born again, in Christ, and I am forgiven.
Oct 06
Andrew J. NicewanderMy Writings, Poetry, Sermon Poems Ephesians, God's Grace, Love, Mercy, Patience, Poetry, Preaching, Sin
Sermon Poetry, 4 October 2009
Sermon Title – “A Review of the Advantages and Difficulties of the Christian Life from Ephesians”
Sermon Text – Ephesians 4:17-32
Preacher – Pastor Larry Vincent
Good God, I’m a sinner
I love myself more than my neighbors around
My love is for me more than the Father, my God
Lord, save me by slaying my heart
Sweet Jesus, I’m helpless
I haven’t the strength to obey your commands
Your Salvation can’t come from keeping Your Law
Lord, save me by Jesus Your Son
Holy Spirit, I’m failing
Without Your good work, I will not become holy
I can’t and I won’t grow by myself in this world
Lord, save me and bring me to glory
I’m a Husband, a Father, Employee and Churchman
I’m called to obey in the paths that I tread
Without Jesus’ love and His Grace I will falter
Lord help me to love and to live for Your Name
Lord, bring me repentance
To honor Your name
So I’ll be like Jesus
Your mercies proclaim
Sep 26
Andrew J. NicewanderSBFCSW 2009, Sermon Poems God's Grace, Gospel, Grace, Preaching, Salvation, Sin, Tom Ascol
Sermon Poetry – “Lord, Help Me”
Sermon Title – “Preaching Christ to the Natural Man”
Preacher – Dr. Tom Ascol
We live in a time where there’s gods all about
We’re proud of our pluralist ways
The people don’t know of the God of the Word
Ignoring the Ancient of Days
Lord help me when walking in markets and ways
When working among fellow men
Lord help me to preach Jesus Christ to the lost
To sinners, the lost and the damned
Lord help me be faithful to rightly engage
The culture in which I am pleased
To study and know it and judge it by truth
Lord help and show me Your Grace
Lord help me remember the sin of my heart
The sin that enslaves these around
Lord help me to love You and love neighbors too
A sinner was lost, now I’m found
In me light a fire that burns for Your Name
Your honor and glory proclaim
In culture around me, your honor to seek
Proclaiming Your glorious fame
Lord help me to study Your Scripture of Truth
And study the culture around
Respecting the sinner and loving the lost
In Christ, make the lost sinner found
And finally, Father, Your Truth will I tell
I haven’t the strength on my own
Please make me committed, Your glory to seek
Save sinners in Jesus the Son
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