Sunday, June 14, 2026 · Resources · Luke 18:9-14

What About Hypocrisy?

When NASA launched the Hubble Space Telescope, its mirror had been ground with breathtaking precision — to the wrong specification. Every test came back flawless, because the test itself was calibrated against the same broken standard. The result was a billion-dollar telescope that was blind to its own blindness. Elder Rick Closius opens with that image because it is exactly what hypocrisy and self-righteousness do to the human heart. Working through Jesus' parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14) and Paul's verdict in Romans 3 — none is righteous, no, not one — this message exposes the trap of comparative righteousness: measuring ourselves against other people instead of the holiness of God, and quietly concluding that we're glad we're not like them. It is a trap that thrives even in sound, Bible-believing churches. But the parable ends in mercy. The tax collector who could only beat his chest and cry, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner,' went home justified — declared righteous as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

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Scripture

LUKE 18:9-14 (ESV)

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat 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 who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

ROMANS 3:10-12 (ESV)

As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

ROMANS 3:23-24 (ESV)

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

MARK 2:17 (ESV)

Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

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