Happy Lord’s Day!

This past Sunday, I had the joy and privilege of preaching on Luke 18:9-14, which tells the story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.

In this passage, we see two of the most common places we look to justify ourselves—both of which don’t work. Then, we see the one path to the approval and justification we all long for.

Here’s a little excerpt. 🙂

Perhaps you’ve had a picture frame in your home that always tilts to one side or the other, and needs to be regularly realigned. Every morning when you wake up, it’s tilted again, and you have to realign it again.

Our hearts work similarly to this picture frame. Every morning when we wake up, our hearts naturally tilt in one of two directions—either looking inward to justify ourselves, or outward to others to justify and validate us. But every day, we must realign our hearts by fixing our gaze on Jesus for our justification and approval.

I love the way one commentator put it: “Every day, we must stack up all of our good works into one pile, and all of our bad works into another pile—then run away from both of them unto Jesus for our salvation and justification.” (paraphrased)

You can watch the sermon here or at the link below.

May the Lord bless you through His Word!

~Blake

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Blake Glosson (MDiv, Reformed Theological Seminary) is a pastoral resident at Chapelstreet Church in Geneva, Illinois. He has been published and/or republished or referred by:

• The Gospel Coalition
• Life Bible
• Crosswalk
• Eternal Perspective Ministries (Randy Alcorn)
• Challies.com/Tim Challies (here, here, and here)
• DashHouse (Darryl Dash)
• Moody Radio (here, here, and here)
• The JOY FM (here and here)
• ChurchLeaders.com
• Monergism.com
• The Aquila Report (here, here, and here)

Previously, Blake served as the director of young adults at New Covenant Bible Church in St. Charles, Illinois.

Read “10 Ways the Sunrise Reflects Jesus” here.

Watch or listen to more of Blake’s sermons here.

Feel free to drop a comment below with thoughts or questions!