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Luke's Gospel chapter 18. And
there's some verses we want to read here. We're going to read
from verse 9. Just a few verses here, 9 to
14. It's one of the parables that
the Lord Jesus spoke while he was here on earth. Luke's Gospel
chapter 18, and beginning to read from verse 9. and he spake
this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they
were righteous and despised others. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The
Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God I thank thee
that I am not, as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers,
or even as this Publican, I fast twice in the week, I give tithes
of all that I possess. And the Publican, standing afar
off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but
smote upon 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
that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted. Amen, we know the Lord will add
his blessing to that short reading from his holy and his inspired
word. It's those few words at the end
of verse 13 that we want to consider this evening. It's the prayer
of the publican. In just a few words, God be merciful
to me, a sinner. And if I could just change it
a little bit because it actually in the original says, God be
merciful to me, the sinner there's the definite article that is
in there that's what he said god be merciful to me the sinner
i want us to think about the first prayer that god ever hears
from an individual the first prayer that god ever hears from
an individual let's bow in prayer for a moment we need the lord's
help and let's ask him for that heavenly father we thank thee
that we are around thy word this evening, that we have read this
portion, and bless the word of God to us. And now as we come
to consider it and consider these few words, we pray that, Lord,
thou wilt open up our hearts to thy word. And may the word
of God enter with power and blessing, make it a saving word to some
heart and soul this night. We pray that they might pray
these words and be like this man that we have read of here,
when he uttered these words, God be merciful to me, a sinner. O Lord, hear us, we ask of thee,
give help in the preaching, now we pray. And may we know the
Lord closing us in with himself. May no other voice be heard,
save the Lord's. Close out every distracting thought,
Lord. Every other thought may be brought
into captivity. and that we'd have an ear to
hear what God the Lord would say unto us for these few moments
as we close this meeting. Hear us, we pray. Bless us now,
we ask. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. There are many people who
say their prayers. There are many people who pray
in one form or another. But I wonder, have you ever thought
upon the matter whether God actually hears the prayers that you offer.
And sometimes when you're speaking to people, witnessing to people,
when we're out on the outreach or whatever, somebody might say,
as when you're presenting the gospel to them, they might say,
oh, I say my prayers. Well, the most obvious question
surely is, well, does God ever hear your prayer? Does God ever
answer any of those prayers that are made to him? Surely that
would be important. Why would be the point of praying?
What would be the point of asking the Lord for anything if he never
hears and if he never answers any of those prayers that are
made to him? And the obvious question is,
well, does God hear prayer? And then following on from that,
what we want to think about this evening, what is the prayer that
God hears first? Well, the words of the public
in here that we want to consider this evening can be described
as the first prayer that God hears from the lips of an individual. Now the Lord often uses the most
unlikeliest of individuals to illustrate and to teach certain
truths. you think about him taking the
Samaritan who was so despised by the Jews but the Lord Jesus
took the Samaritan as an illustration of charity and kindness and he
illustrated to the Jews that that's how they ought to act
towards their neighbor and he took up the Samaritan. the least
individual that you would have thought among the Jews that the
Lord would ever have have chosen or used as an illustration and
yet an important illustration it was and a very pointed illustration
it was you read about it just a little back there in the gospel
of Luke well here's another unlikely individual that the Lord takes
up this publican Because the publican was as despised as much
as the Samaritan was. Because a publican in Bible times
is not like what we understand a publican today, somebody to
own a bar and serve alcohol. A publican in Bible times was
a tax collector. And being a tax collector, it
means that they had struck a deal with the Romans. that the Romans
had demanded a certain level of taxes for the people or whatever
area the tax collector, the publican, had responsibility for and then
it was up to the tax collector to collect that from the people
and pay it over to the Romans and he was at liberty to add
on his percentage as well. And many of them were given to
extortion. And again, we read that just
into the next chapter there in Luke chapter 19, because you
have the most famous publican of all in the Bible, that man,
Zacchaeus, who climbed up into the tree and wanted to see the
Lord Jesus. And it tells us that when the
Lord spoke to him, if you look at chapter 19 of Luke's gospel
and verse 8, This man was smitten in his heart, and it says, Zacchaeus
stood and said unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my
goods I give to the poor. And if I've taken anything from
any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. So immediately
the Lord deals with this man Zacchaeus and challenges him.
This man owns up to what he has been doing. He has been taking
far more of the people than he ought to have been taking. He
was taking certainly what the Romans were expecting to be paid
over, but he was adding on a far greater percentage than he ought
ever to have been adding on, even to the point of extortion.
And now he's going to pay it back, and he's going to pay it
back fourfold as well. So the publican was a notorious
individual, somebody that was shunned by society. They would
have little dealings. with an individual like this.
But this is the individual that the Lord Jesus chooses to illustrate
this important point about the matter of prayer and being heard
by God in heaven. And the Lord is highlighting
that it is this man's prayer, an individual that would have
been despised by many, if not all of those who were listening
to the Lord Jesus that day. They would have been looking
down their noses at the public and thinking, who is this individual?
And what could we ever learn from this individual? but it
was from this individual that the Lord was going to teach them
this matter. Something else that is striking
about the telling of this parable is the fact that the Lord Jesus
and his disciples and the crowd that are there to hear this parable
are all on their way up to Jerusalem. This whole section of Luke's
Gospel takes place on the journey up to Jerusalem, the final journey
of the Lord Jesus up to Jerusalem. That's often said when you go
into the next chapter there with regards to Bartimaeus at the
end of chapter 18 and then into chapter 19 with the man Zacchaeus. That was the Lord's last time
traveling through Jericho. Here was the last time that the
Lord was ever going to pass that way. And if you, just to give
you the verses, if you go back to chapter 9 and verse 51, here's
where this whole section starts. As I say, there's a whole section
of Luke's gospel that all takes place with this company traveling
up to Jerusalem. They're going up for the feast.
Luke chapter 9, it's verse 51. And it came to pass when the
time was come that he should be received up. This is referring
to the Lord going to the cross, and then his resurrection, and
then returning to heaven. So the time was coming near that
he should be received up. He steadfastly set his face to
go to Jerusalem. And there's the start of it.
And everything that comes after that happens on the Lord's last
journey up to Jerusalem. And for example, if you look
at chapter 18 of Luke, verse 31, you'll see this again that's
emphasized. It says, then he took unto him
the 12 and said unto them, behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all
things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of
Man shall be accomplished. So he's on his way up to Jerusalem. So that gives an importance to
this parable as well. Those individuals that the Lord
Jesus is speaking to here about this very matter of going up
to the temple and praying and what is the prayer that God hears,
they were actually on their way up to Jerusalem with the Lord
Jesus. They're traveling up to Jerusalem
because they're going to observe the Passover at this particular
time. This is going to be the last Passover. that the Lord
Jesus is going to be present at before he's going to be arrested
and put to death at this very time. And I wonder, did the Lord
Jesus tell this parable because there were some who were going
up to Jerusalem to offer prayer and this is exactly how they
were going to pray? Not according to the publican
but according to the Pharisee. Was this one of the reasons why
the Lord Jesus told this parable at this particular time? He gives
us the reason why he's telling it there in verse 9 where we
started our reading. He spake this parable unto certain
which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised
others. So he's directing this parable
to those who were of a self-righteous spirit, who thought they were
good enough as they were, that they didn't need salvation, they
didn't need to come to know Jesus Christ, didn't need to acknowledge
that they were sinners in any way, that they were righteous
in and of themselves. The Lord Jesus has them in mind
when he begins to tell this parable. But I want us this evening to
consider this Pharisee, and particularly the publican, and these words
that come from the lips of the publican at the end of verse
13. God be merciful to me, a sinner. The first prayer that God ever
hears. And maybe you're here this evening
on Sea. Maybe you would even say, oh,
I say my prayers. But have you ever thought, does
God hear my prayer? What is the first prayer God
will ever hear from my lips? Well, here's a prayer that we
can learn from. I want you, first of all, to
consider here the posture of this man before the Lord in the
temple. The two men come into the temple,
it tells us, and the posture of the publican is very different
to that of the Pharisee, because, you see, the Pharisee goes to
the temple to be seen of others. That's his purpose for going
to the temple. The Lord Jesus spoke about the Pharisees at
other times, how that they prayed out in the marketplace. And the
marketplace was a place where there's so many people coming
and going. It was one of the busiest places in all of the
city of Jerusalem or in any town or village. The marketplace,
there'd be so many coming and going. The Pharisee would go
out into the public place, out into the open place, and there
he would begin to engage in his acts of devotion to God. He did
it because he wanted others to see him. He's going up into the
temple because he wants others to see him. That's what brings
the Pharisee to the temple. But the publican comes to the
temple for another reason. The publican comes to the temple
to meet with God. there's a difference there's
a difference just in turning up in the temple as the pharisee
did to be seen of others and for others to notice him there's
another thing entirely as the publican is here illustrating
to come to this place to meet with god and the publican is
there to meet with god and you'll notice what it says about him
that the publican would not lift up his he was standing afar off
verse 13 is the first thing that is mentioned there about him
and the public and standing afar off so he just goes into the
precincts of the temple he doesn't go in very far he certainly doesn't
go as forward as far as others he he holds back he lingers back
There's something that keeps him from going right in and going
as far as the others. And the obvious question is,
well, why did he stand afar off? Why did he not act like the Pharisee
and like others as well and press in and get to the very front
and go as far forward in the temple as it was possible? Did
he feel himself to be an individual at a distance from God? Was there
already in his heart and in his soul a sense that he separated
from God? that there isn't the fellowship
with God that there ought to be? Is this man already conscious
of the gulf that there is between him and God? Because there is
a gulf between God and every sinner. Every sinner is at a
distance from God. Isaiah 59 and verse 2 tells us
that our sins have separated between us and our God. So there's
the cause of the gulf. Isaiah 59 verse 2, So it wouldn't
matter if somebody was praying or saying their prayers because
we're told here that God will not hear that individual who's
at a distance from Him, who's separated from Him because of
their sins. And was that the feeling of the
publican as he comes into the temple? He only comes in a little.
Oh he's drawn there and he senses his need to be in the temple
but he doesn't come in very far because he's conscious of this
gulf that there is between him and God. And he stands afar off
conscious that he is indeed separated from God because of his sins. Verse 13 tells us as well that
he would not lift up so much as his eyes on to heaven. He
would not. It's not that he could not, he
would not. He would not for he dare not.
There is such a sense of his own unworthiness and his own
sinfulness in the sight of God. Nobody has to tell him that he's
a sinner because from the words that he prays here, he knows
himself, he comes into the temple with this consciousness, I am
a sinner. So no one has to tell him that he's a sinner. He's
already coming with that consciousness in his own heart and in his own
soul and he won't even lift up his eyes to heaven. because he's
so conscious of the sins that he has committed, the shame of
those sins. The shame has overcome him. How
different he is to the Pharisee. The Pharisee comes in there as
bold as brass, and he's praying. His prayer is given first there
in verse 11, and it says, he stood and prayed thus with himself,
God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are. And then he
begins to list some sins and then he takes notice of the Pharisee
and he thanks the Lord that he's not even like the Pharisee. Or
sorry, he's not like the publican. He says, Lord, I thank you that
I'm not like this publican. What a difference there is in
the heart and spirit of this man who is the publican. He won't
even lift his eyes towards heaven because he's conscious of the
shame of his sin. How remarkably does the spirit
of the Lord take away the daring spirit out of men when under
the conviction of sin. You think of Saul of Tarsus and
what a bold man he was at a time. Bold against the Lord, opposing
the Lord for all his might, saying all the things that he could,
blaspheming the Lord's name, even causing others, forcing
others, arresting people, throwing them into prison, even putting
them to death. What a bold man Saul of Tarsus
was at a time. There in Acts 9, you read about
Saul of Tarsus brought to his knees in the dust. When there
was that voice from heaven that day and that light that shone,
and Saul fell off the horse that he was on, and he's down in the
dust. He's down in the dust. The Lord
has brought him down. And how the Lord can quench that
spirit that isn't in an individual and make them to sense their
sinfulness Has the Lord ever done that? Has the Lord ever
made you to feel your sinfulness? Has the Lord ever shown you your
sin? Because as I say, this publican is drawing into the temple. Nobody
has to tell him that he's a sinner. He's acknowledging it as we know
from his prayer. Have we ever had a sense of sin?
A consciousness that we're sinners in the eyes of God? Have we ever
been in the place where we wouldn't dare even to lift up our eyes
to heaven because we're so conscious of our sins and ashamed of them?
John Newton is well known for his hymn writing. Amazing Grace
is his most famous hymn, but he wrote many other hymns as
well. Olney hymns. He was the Church of England
minister in a little village of Olney and he wrote many hymns. William Cowper lived just a short
distance away from them, and many hymns they shared among
themselves, and they were great friends. But if you've ever read
anything of the life story of John Newton, you'll find a man
who was humbled by the Lord and brought to a place with a sense
of sin. It's said of John Newton, to
summarise his life before his conversion, he was a blaspheming
slave trader. Eventually he had his own ship
that he would sail to Africa and he would have a number of
men who would raid inland and take slaves and then take those
slaves to the Caribbean and then sell them. And then he would
sail home to England with the proceeds of what he had earned
from slavery. But God began to deal with John
Newton. And Newton tells the story himself.
And he acknowledged that in his unsaved state, even unsaved men
got out of his way when John Newton lost his temper because
he had such a foul tongue in his head. And the blasphemies
that could come from John Newton's tongue when he got into a bad
mood, even the ungodly didn't want to be around. But he was
coming back over the Atlantic in a storm. arose. And that little ship that he
was in that he had plied his trade back and forth from Africa
to the Caribbean and back to England a number of times was
buffeted in the storm. And Newton knew that God was
dealing with him. And Newton tells the story himself
how he cowered in the wheelhouse of that little vessel. He actually
got down in the corner of the wheelhouse afraid of God. Not just afraid of the storm.
afraid of God, afraid of God with a sense of his own sinfulness. And as a result of God's dealings
with Newton, the Lord saved him. The Lord saved him, turned him
around, and that's why he wrote the words of that hymn, Amazing
Grace. How sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me. Has God ever made you to feel
a sense of your own sinfulness, that you wouldn't even lift up
your eyes toward heaven? Do you notice as well here, verse
13, it says that he smote upon his breast, Not only has he a
sense of sin, but he's sorrow for sin. He realizes here's the
source of all of this sin, all of this trouble. It's in his
own heart. He's not blaming someone else.
He's not pointing the finger at someone else. He's pointing
it into his own heart. He's smote his own heart here,
knowing that here's the source of all of the trouble. It lies
within. It lies in my own breast. It
lies in that heart. that there is within all of us
a sinful heart, an unbelieving heart. That's the posture of
this man as he comes into the temple. You see, the Pharisee
isn't concerned with what's in his own heart. No, he's more
interested in his own pride and bolstering his own pride. But
the publican, he's concerned with what is in his heart. He
knows what is there. And he comes into the temple. I want you secondly to consider
here this man's prayer before God. And here we come to these
words itself, God be merciful to me a sinner. And again, you
have quite a contrast between the prayers of these two men.
The prayer of the Pharisee was for the benefit of others. The
prayer of the publican was for his own benefit. It was for the
good of his soul. It was for the eternal good of
his soul. He's there in the temple, not
for the good of others, not that others would take notice of him
or see him there, although they would. If there were others gathering
in as they would into the temple, certainly they would see this
man and maybe even notice him because, as I say, he would have
been notorious. If this incident had taken place
in real life, it's a parable, but it may well have taken place
in real life that the Lord Jesus was actually talking about two
individuals like this. But this man isn't interested
in what others think of him or the fact that others are seeing
him as he comes to the temple. That man is coming to the temple
for the eternal good of his own soul. That's what brings him.
That's what draws him. He's not there for any other
reason. He's not there like the Pharisee. who is there for his
own good, bolstering his own pride. This man is there for
the good of his soul, for the eternal good of his own soul.
He wants to settle the eternal question. That's what brings
him to the temple. He wants to put this matter right
before God. And that's why he utters these
words, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Notice the character
of his prayer. It's characterized by one simple
thing, confession. He confesses himself to be a
sinner in need of God's mercy. He confesses himself to be a
sinner in need of God's mercy. And if we are going to pray in
such a fashion that it will do us eternal good, here is how
we must pray. We must pray with confession,
seeking the mercy of God. That's the prayer that God will
hear. That's the first prayer that God will hear from us. When
we cry to him in confession, seeking his mercy. And that's
what this man is doing, conscious of his own sinfulness, As I say,
he's there acknowledging that he is the sinner. It's as if
nobody else was there. It's as if nobody else matters
in this matter. He's not concerned about others.
He's not there pointing the finger at others, pointing out the faults
of someone, or even trying to bolster his own pride. He is
not there like the Pharisee at all. This man comes into the
temple and he is convinced of his own sinfulness. And it doesn't
matter about another individual. He is there to sort out this
matter once and for all with regards to himself. And here
he is, uttering these words, God be merciful to me, a sinner,
or God be merciful to me, the sinner. There's confession. That's
the first prayer God hears. Have you ever prayed a prayer
of confession? Have you ever prayed before God,
Lord, I am a sinner. I have broken your law. I am
guilty in your sight. I have committed many sins."
Have you ever prayed like that? Because you need to pray like
that. If it's going to be well with your soul, if your soul
is ever going to be saved, then you need to pray like this. This
is the prayer that God hears where there is a confession of
our sinfulness and where there is a looking for mercy. This
man is coming looking for mercy. You see, you have the object
of his prayer as well. He's praying to God. Because
it's God's law that he is broken. It is against God that he has
sinned. And therefore it is to God that
he needs to direct his prayer. And that's how he prefaces his
prayer. He says, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Isn't it interesting
the contrast there with the Pharisee in the previous verse? Because
it says in the previous verse, the Pharisee prayed with himself. He prayed with himself. He didn't
pray to God. Although he uttered those words, God, I thank thee,
that's how he started off. He wasn't praying to God. God
wasn't interested in his prayer. God wasn't listening to that
man's prayer. He was just praying with himself
for the benefit of others around him. He wanted others to see
him. He was doing it in public so that people would praise him
and think that he was a very great individual. But the publican,
the publican just says, God be merciful to me, a sinner. He
directs his prayer to God for mercy. He's looking for forgiveness.
He's looking for forgiveness. That's another feature of the
prayer that God will hear. The prayer that seeks God for
forgiveness. And again, I asked you tonight,
have you ever prayed for forgiveness? Have you ever come to the Lord
acknowledging that you're a sinner? Praying for his mercy, knowing
that you don't deserve any good thing from God. You don't deserve
any blessing. None of us do. None of us do. There's not an individual in
all the world who can lay claim to any blessing from God. We
are all cast upon his mercy. And have you ever come conscious
of that? I am a sinner. I need, I need
his mercy. I need his forgiveness. The word
merciful there indicates to us the grounds upon which he was
seeking forgiveness. That's a very interesting word
that he uses and it indicates to us that this man knows something
of what goes on in the temple. This is what brings him to the
temple because the obvious question is, well, why does he not pray
this somewhere else? Why does he not pray this in
his own home? Why does he not pray it somewhere else? Maybe
he's out collecting his taxes wherever. Why can he not just
find a quiet spot and utter these words, God be merciful to me,
a sinner, will the Lord not hear him? Well, there's a significance
in him coming to the temple because of the word that he employs.
You see that word merciful is a word that is connected with
the sacrifice that is offered in the temple. It's a very interesting
word. in the New Testament and that
explains why he is in the temple and why he is praying the way
that he is praying. Because you see there has to
be grounds upon which God will forgive us. God just doesn't
forgive sin arbitrarily. God forgives sins upon the grounds
of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Somebody has to pay for sin.
Somebody has to pay for sin. You and I either will pay for
our own sins lost in hell forever, or Jesus Christ will pay for
it. But we will pay for sin. Sin will be paid for one way
or another. And don't ever forget that. Never think that sin is
a light thing that's thin. Sin is something God doesn't
take notice of. The Bible tells us he knows the
very thoughts, the sinful thoughts that you think. And somebody
has to pay for that sin. And either it will be you, lost
in hell forever, with eternal punishment, or it will be Jesus
Christ. It's going to be one or the other. But sin is going
to be paid for. And this man is conscious of
that. In these few words that he utters as he comes into the
temple and he prays in the way that he did, he is realizing,
if I am going to be forgiven, if I am going to have mercy from
God, if God is going to forgive my sin and put away my sin, he's
only going to do it on the grounds of the sacrifice. that was being
offered in that temple, maybe even at that very moment, but
certainly that very day, he's only going to forgive this man
on the grounds of that sacrifice that points to Jesus Christ.
You see, that word merciful means to be propitiated. And what does
that mean? Well, it's a word that has to
do with reconciliation. But turn over to 1 John chapter
4. and verse 10. And here's the explanation of
it. And as I say, this is the key
to understanding why he came to the temple to pray. Because
he's looking for forgiveness and he's looking for forgiveness
on the right grounds. He's just not saying, oh Lord,
no, forgive me. Turn a blind eye, pretend it
didn't happen. That's not the type of praying
that the publican is engaged in. The publican is praying. Yes, he's praying for forgiveness
and for mercy, but he's doing it on the grounds of Christ's
atoning work. 1 John 4, verse 10 is the verse. It says, Herein
is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us, and sent
his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And here's this
similar word. that is merciful in the prayer
of the Pharisee. That's the English word that
appears there in the prayer. God be merciful to me a sinner. Or we could put in the word that
is here in 1 John 4 and 10. God be propitious. God look upon
the sacrifice and forgive me. That's what he's literally praying.
God look upon the sacrifice and forgive me my sin. That's what
that man prayed that day. that sacrifice it had been offered
in the morning and there was going to be offered in the evening
as I say he might even have been there at the very time when the
sacrifice was being offered but that's what he's praying lord
look on that sacrifice and forgive this sinner now have we ever
prayed like that Not some, as I say, airy-fairy idea, Oh Lord,
forgive me my sins. Have we ever said, Lord, on the
grounds of Jesus Christ, forgive this sinner. Take away the sins
of this sinner. Cleanse me from my sins on the
grounds of what Jesus Christ has done at the cross. Because
that's what this man prayed. That's the prayer that the Lord
hears. So while it is good to pray,
And while it's good to have a habit of saying prayers, let's make
sure that when you ask God for forgiveness, you're doing it
the way that you'll find forgiveness. Very quickly, I want you to notice
here as well, his position before God. We've thought of his posture,
we've thought of his prayer. Look at verse 14. It says, I tell you, this man
went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone
that exalteth himself shall be abased and he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted. Here's the evidence you see that
God heard this man's prayer and the Lord emphasizes it with those
words there at the beginning of verse 14. I tell you. Oh,
let there be no doubt about it, the Lord is saying. I want you
to know this. So the Lord has spoken about these two men, the
Pharisee and how he has prayed, the publican, and how he has
prayed. And now the Lord Jesus says, I want you to know, I want
to tell you, I want to tell you, here's the man that went down
to his house justified. The word justified there has
to do with being absolved from his sins. He went down a forgiven
man. The word justified is a legal
term. It means to declare someone righteous before the law. There's
no charges. There's no condemnation. There's
no guilt before the law. Before the law, someone stands
without any condemnation. That's what it is to be justified
in God's sight. And this man, this is what happened
to him. He prays this prayer. God hears his prayer. God forgives
him on the grounds of the sacrifice. the work of Jesus Christ, and
this man goes down to his house justified, the Lord says. And
the Lord says, I want you to know it. I want you to know that
this man goes down to his house justified. If you're unsaved
in this meeting this evening, the Lord wants you to know you
can go down to your house justified tonight. You can go out those
doors and down those stairs, and you can go home justified
tonight with your sins forgiven. If you come to know Jesus Christ,
if you seek forgiveness, through the work of Christ upon the cross. This man had peace with God.
The going down to his house suggests that the matter is settled. As
we've looked at, he has come into the temple for a purpose.
He came into the temple to sort out this matter with regards
to his soul. And it's sorted. And he's going
down to his house. We've explained why he has come
particularly to the temple and why he didn't pray in his house.
He's there because he's looking to the sacrifice that was being
offered in the temple. he has done all of that and his
sins are forgiven now and he can go down to his house and
he has got a peace with God because Romans 5 and verse 1 says therefore
being justified by faith and the Lord Jesus has said this
man is justified therefore being justified by faith we have peace
with God this man has peace with God do you have a peace in your
heart tonight can you go home and lay your head on the pillow
and say, I have peace with God. And no matter what happens tonight,
whether I never see the light of another day, I know it's well
with my soul. I have a peace in my heart. Can
you say that? Because this man went home without peace. He went
home forgiven because he took the sinner's place. That's the
significance of those words at the end of verse 14 there. Everyone
that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted. This man took the sinner's place.
He humbled himself. He wasn't too proud to take the
sinner's place. He wasn't like the Pharisee. who boasted of
the things that he wasn't. The Pharisee never confessed
what he was. He just boasted of the things that he wasn't.
I thank thee that I'm not this and I'm not that and I'm not
even like that publican either. The Pharisee, that's all he was
taken up with, the things that he wasn't. The publican was taken
up with the things that he was. I'm a sinner and I need forgiveness.
And he went home justified. He went home with the peace,
the peace of God reigning in his heart because he was not
too proud. to take the sinner's place. And
my friend, if you do not take the sinner's place, you will
never find forgiveness, and you'll be lost in hell forever. If you
do not take the sinner's place, if in your pride you go on as
you are, you will never have forgiveness, because they'll
never bring you to Christ. Your pride will keep you back
from coming to Christ. Is it not time to be like the
publican, even to pray these very words tonight? Is it not
time you were saved? Is it not time you were saved?
I say it again, is it not time you were saved? Is it not time
you took the sinner's place and uttered these words, God be merciful
to me, a sinner. There's many in this room who
have done that. And we thank the Lord for his grace. And we
discovered that when we did that, took the sinner's place and sought
the Lord for mercy, he forgave us. He took away our sins and
he gave us the peace of God. The Lord can do that for you
tonight and he will. He will. Now may you come to
Christ. It's time you were saved. It's
time you prayed these words. May you pray them even tonight.
Let's bow together in prayer. If you're unsaved, you can pray
those words where you're sitting now. You can just be like that
publican. That publican that doesn't tell
you that he needed a priest, or he didn't need a Levite in
the temple. He didn't need any individual like that to help
him. He just comes into that temple because he came to look
to the sacrifice, and he just simply prayed. Maybe he didn't
even pray out loud. It may be he just prayed in his
heart, just those few words, God be merciful to me, a sinner.
Is it not time you prayed those words? Is it not time you prayed
those words? Even now where you are, in the
quietness as we finish this meeting, may you pray those words. If
I can help you, I'm happy to talk to you, but you don't need
to talk to me. You just need to talk to the
Lord. And take those simple words, and make them your prayer tonight.
Our Father, we pray that each one of us will have prayed these
words. O Lord, deliver us from whatever would hold us back,
from taking the sinner's place, and acknowledge that we need
your mercy, and we need forgiveness in Jesus Christ. We pray tonight,
O Lord, that thou wilt have mercy upon our souls. May there be
someone who will pray, God be merciful to me a sinner. Bless
thy word, we pray. Speak on, we ask of thee. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
God be Merciful to me a sinner - The First Prayer God Hears
Series Rathcoole Gospel Mission
| Sermon ID | 511191424576853 |
| Duration | 38:48 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - PM |
| Bible Text | Luke 18:13 |
| Language | English |
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