Went To His House Justified

Luke 18

[45] He went also into the Temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought, [46] Saying unto them, It is written, Mine house is the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Luke 19:45-46 GNV

(See also Matthew 21, Mark 11)

[7] Them will I bring also to mine holy mountain, and make them ioyful in mine House of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar: for mine House shall be called an house of prayer for all people.

Isaiah 56:7 GNV

Oh the chaos in the temple when at the Passover, that use over time changed especially during the Passover that part of the temple from what God intended it to be to become a marketplace. But at other times people were able to come in prayer within the temple as the Lord originally meant it to be. It was used as a house of prayer.

Possibly only a week or two before Jesus entered into Jerusalem and cleansed the temple He taught about praying in His Father's house.

[9] He spake also this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were just, and despised other.

[10] Two men went up into the Temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican.

[11] The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, O God, I thank thee that I am not as other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican. [12] I fast twice in the week: I give tithe of all that ever I possess.

[13] But the Publican standing a far off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote his breast, saying, O God, be merciful to me a sinner.

[14] I tell you, this man departed to his house justified, rather then the other: for every man that exalteth himself, shall be brought low, and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted.

Luke 18:9-14 GNV

The certain man Jesus spoke of being a Pharisee recalls to my mind what Jesus taught earlier regarding the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees in His ministry:

[20] For I say unto you, except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:20 GNV

In his prayer that Jesus spoke of this certain Pharisee who went into the temple to pray actually unabashedly thought he was walking worthy of God in all that he was doing. One cannot walk worthy of God without doing something, without being something. Jesus said Himself that it is a matter of righteousness. And we know from his own mouth another Pharisee who once thought the way this certain Pharisee prayed. His testimony is written as such.

[4] Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, much more I, [5] Circumcised the eighth day, of the kindred of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews, by the Law a Pharisee. [6] Concerning zeal, I persecuted the Church: touching the righteousness which is in the Law, I was unrebukeable. [7] But the things that were vantage unto me, the same I counted loss for Christ's sake. [8] Yea, doubtless I think all things but loss for the excellent knowledge sake of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have counted all things loss, and do judge them to be dung, that I might win Christ, [9] And might be found in him, that is, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the Law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, even the righteousness which is of God through faith,

Philippians 3:4-9 GNV

What an amazing testimony in his final letter to an assembly of believers near the end of his life. And it wasn't but maybe five years earlier that he had stood in Jerusalem telling when and how he was changed from thinking he was walking worthy of the Lord.

[3] I am verily a man, which am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and instructed according to the perfect manner of the Law of the Fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. [4] And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prison both men and women. [5] As also the chief Priest doeth bear me witness, and all the company of the Elders: of whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring them which were there, bound unto Jerusalem, that they might be punished. [6] And so it was, as I journeyed and was come near unto Damascus about noon, that suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. [7] So I fell unto the earth, and heard a voice, saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? [8] Then I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

[10] Then I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus: and there it shall be told thee of all things, which are appointed for thee to do.

Acts 22:3-8, 10 GNV

He was zealous toward God, righteous in every way that Jesus had said that unless your righteousness exccees that kind of righteousness you will not enter the kingdom of heaven, but yet in what he saw as his righteousness Saul was persecuting God's Son, Jesus Christ. The only thing he was walking worthy of was being like that certain Pharisee Jesus described who went into the temple to pray. And it was through letters he would later write after coming to faith in Jesus Christ, his letters to Ephesus, Colosse, and Thessalonica that he would adminish them as both appropriate honor to their Lord who had saved them through faith and in testimony to the world around them to walk worthy of that calling by which they were called. For Paul when first known as Saul that his immediate change from seeking death and imprisonment for those who had faith in, trusted in, and were walking in that way, to his way of crying out for God to be merciful, he went further saying, What shall I do Lord? He went forward in his life justified.

But that faith doesn't remain alone. There is so much that faith reflects follows to the person who believes.

[1] Now faith is the grounds (substance, assurance) of things, which are hoped for, and the evidence (proving) of things which are not seen.

Hebrews 11:1 GNV

To walk worthy, walk in a manner worthy of that undeserved salvation also requires faith.

[6] But without faith it is unpossible to please him: for he that cometh to God, must believe that God is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek him.

Hebrews 11:6 GNV

It was that faith that the Publican had when he went in to the temple, he would not so much as lift up his face, but prayed a one sentence of prayer, God, be merciful to me a sinner. It was that simple prayer of faith through which he went to his house justified. The main difference was the Pharisee thinking he was walking worthy went to tell God all of who he was in his righteousness as a Pharisee. The Publican went into the temple to pray acknowledging in his prayer who God was, and declaring his own unworthiness. As Jesus said it was the Publican who went away justified.