Let us open God's Word as we turn to the Gospel of Luke and the chapter 18. Luke's Gospel, chapter 18. There's a prayer in the portion that we're going to read tonight. It has often been called the sinner's prayer, and that's just the subject that we want to speak on this evening. The sinner's prayer. Taking the reading up at verse 9, you will know that the Saviour is teaching on the subject of prayer in this chapter, that men ought always to pray and not to faint. And in the first parable that he relates, he is teaching the subject of importunity, to keep on coming on in prayer coming before the Lord and holding on until the answer is given. And then in this parable that we're going to read, he's teaching about the condition of our heart as we pray, how a man is accepted with the Lord on the basis of our acceptance with God. Verse 9 of Luke's Gospel, chapter 18. And he's faked 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 every one that exalted himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." Ending the reading at verse 14. Let's unite in prayer just for a moment as we come to our time of gospel preaching. Let us just still our hearts in God's presence, every Christian praying with the preacher that the Lord will bless the message now and that he will honour the Word, the Word of God. Our Father, we thank Thee for this meeting tonight, for the privilege that is ours to be in God's house, for the open Bible, the Word that God has given, and for this passage of scripture that we have read this evening, in the teachings of the Lord Jesus on the subject of prayer and how a man can find acceptance with Him. Lord, we pray for wisdom, guidance, understanding. The direction might be given in this meeting now in the preaching of the Word. We pray for enlightenment, that sinners who have come in the darkness of their sin might have the light of the glorious gospel shining in their heart, that they might see Christ the way, the truth, and the life, and find Him tonight as their Saviour. To this end, we give ourselves to thee, praying earnestly for a work of the Holy Ghost to be done, and for the might of God's Spirit to be with this preacher for Jesus' sake. Amen. I'm sure tonight you have guessed the text, the seven words, a very simple, short, direct prayer, God be merciful to me, a sinner. The most pointed and profound story is related by Jesus Christ to a most self-righteous religious audience. These Jews had a dependence upon their works of religious activity and observance. They were full of pride and conceit and had elevated themselves to such a high sanctimonious position that they looked down upon the rest of society. We know that because the Lord Jesus is speaking about this group of people that he is addressing. He says that he spake this parable to certain that trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. They look down upon society. This gives us the reason why the Lord Jesus related this parable. It was designed for the conviction of those who trusted in themselves. Jesus tells them about two men who went to the house of God to pray. It was not the hour of prayer. But these men went nonetheless to the temple to offer up their personal devotions. Notice that both the Pharisee and the Publican went to the house of God to pray, to worship God. Despite the fact that neither of them at this precise moment were true believers, they did not know the Lord as their Redeemer. There is everything commendable in one's attendance of God's house. And men and women, we ought to go to God's house and we ought to be worshippers of God. And there's everything commendable in the purpose of why these men went to God's house. They went there to pray. And the Bible certainly commends prayer to all men. All men ought to pray. Both of these men prayed. But in reality, one of these two men didn't pray at all, because we are told that he prayed thus with himself. He wasn't praying to God. He was really just talking to himself. Not every prayer is a true prayer. Not every prayer reaches the courts of heaven. Not every prayer is accepted by God and is successful with Him. The Pharisee went to the temple to pray, probably because it was a public place, more public than the corner of the streets where the Pharisees loved to pray to be seen of others, and therefore many eyes were upon him, and many would applaud him for his praying. Remember, Jesus tells us about the true motives of the Pharisees, why they pray. why they engaged in any other religious activity that they engaged in. In another passage, this is what the Lord says, all their works they did to be seen of men. That was the reason why the Pharisees prayed, why they did anything else to be seen of other people. This Pharisee possessed an awful pride in himself, in his own goodness, his own works, his own religious activity. He boasted to God about his honesty, he boasted about his purity, he boasted about his generosity, and he boasted about his superiority. He thought himself to be as holy as it was needed to find acceptance with God. He not only had a high opinion of his own righteousness, but he depended upon the merit of it when coming before God. It was his plea. That's all he's pleading before God, who I am, what I do, all this religious activity. That's the basis of his prayer. He looked down upon others with contempt as not worthy to be compared with them. In his own eyes, he was head and shoulders above other men. Jesus speaks about his folly and how he failed to find acceptance with God. On the other hand, the publican who attended the same house, who went there for the same purpose, to pray, was heard. His prayer was answered. And he, the poor, lost, guilty sinner that he was, found grace and mercy in God's sight, and obtain salvation and run home right with God and ready for heaven. And by the way, that's always our prayer when men come to the house of God who know not Him as their Saviour, that they will meet with Him, that they will pray with genuineness of heart and go home saved, go home justified, freely in the sight of God. This publican came not to be seen, But because the temple was the appointed place of prayer, and he had important business upon his soul, a deep burden weighing heavily upon his heart, he prayed the sinner's prayer and was justified. What is the sinner's prayer, you might ask? Well, it is a person who takes his place as a sinner before God, looks to God alone, seeks acceptance on the grounds of his mercy alone. And this is how this publican prayed. He prayed to the right one. He prayed for the right thing. And he prayed for the right person. The right one was to pray to God. The right thing, what he needed, was mercy. And he prayed for himself. I wonder, have you ever prayed the sinner's prayer? Have you ever taken the position your place as a sinner? Have you ever sought for the mercy of God in your life? Are you like the Pharisee? Or are you like the publican? I don't know how you've come to the house of God this evening. Have you come like the religious hypocrite, full of pride and conceit, thinking yourself to be above others? Or have you come to this meeting like the seeking publican who felt and knew his sin and wanted to get rid of his sin and called upon God for his mercy? Irrespective of how you have come tonight, I want you to know that you can leave justified. If you come in honesty of heart to Jesus Christ and you call upon God tonight for mercy, you can go home justified freely in His sight. Isn't that a wonderful message? I want us to think about the sinner's prayer, about this man who prayed at this publican. I want you to notice, first of all, his character. What kind of a man was this individual that came to the temple on this occasion to pray? He was a publican. That doesn't mean he owned a public house. Many people, when they read this, they think that this man works in a bar and he owns a public house. That's not the case, as most of you will know. He was a tax collector. That's what the word means. In fact, when you read about the publican in Bible times, you could put the word in, tax collector. Such men in New Testament times were despised by the people. Of course, they're still despised today because nobody knows, even though they haven't met them, nobody likes the tax collector. But not for the same reasons. These people in New Testament times worked for the Roman authorities who were in occupation in Israel. They collected the taxes for the government. They were most unpopular. The unpopularity became all the more extreme if you were a Jew, and accepted the office of a publican, of a tax collector. And these men, many of them as we know, were in actual fact robbers. They extracted more money from the people than what was required by the law. They were guilty of extortion. Back in the third chapter of this gospel, when John the Baptist was preaching, preaching very pointedly and powerfully, there were those who heard him that day who wanted to get right with God and wanted to be baptised, and among that number there were publicans and there were soldiers. And we read in Luke's Gospel, chapter 3, verse 12, Then came also publicans to be baptised, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you. Do not take more taxes off the people than what is required. Do not be guilty of robbery, of extortion, because these men were just like that. You remember the conversion of Zacchaeus? We read about that in Luke's Gospel, chapter 19. Whenever this little fellow came to know the Lord, The Lord went home to his house and dined with him, and Zacchaeus got wonderfully converted. And Zacchaeus said to the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. I'll give him back four times the amount of that which I took from him illegally. This is the kind of men the publicans were. They were extortioners. And such people were shunned by society. They were treated as the lowest of humanity. You were frowned upon if you befriended or associated with such people. It was one of the charges brought against our Lord that He ate and drank with publicans and sinners. Imagine doing that. It was frowned upon, you see. or that he was a friend of the publicans. Christ had concern and he had compassion for such. He did not look down upon them the way that others did. Many of them were converted, like Levi, who was one of his apostles, and like Zacchaeus that we've mentioned, and others who came to really trust him and to know him as saviour. My friends, I want you to see this in the Word of God. The house of the Lord is a place for all people, irrespective of what their background is. Whether they come to church with a proud heart or whether they come to church with a penitent heart like the publican, they're welcome in the house of God, no matter what their background is. The sincere Christian will come to God's house. And of course, we know that we ought to be there We come to meet with the Lord, it's our duty, it's commanded in the scriptures. Israel was instructed, unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come, speaking about the place of worship. We're not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some ends, but there's more to attendance than mere duty. We desire to be in God's house. We love to be in the house of the Lord. We long for his courts. We know that a day in his courts is better than a thousand. But church attendance is not only for the sincere Christian. All men ought to be in attendance at the house of the Lord. And so you will find the hypocrite there, just like this Pharisee, those that are filled with their own importance, their own self-righteousness, pride and conceit. You will find the socializer there, those who come to church just merely to meet with their friends. They wouldn't be here if their friends were not here. There are those who will come to church because they are musical, and they love the singing, and that's the appeal, that's the attraction. The habitual attender will be there, and it's good to have such a habit. They come to church because they've got into the habit, oh, that more were like them. And the ungodly will be there. Those who know not Christ, who are far away from the Lord, like this publican, and we want them to be there. We long for that day when every pew is filled, when there's a hungering and a thirsting in the hearts of people in Bellarmine to come unto the sound of the word of God and to hear the gospel. And so we want the ungodly to be here underneath the power and the influence of God's word. How shall they hear without a preacher? This is the kind of character that he was, but nonetheless, he went to God's house. I want you to see, secondly, his contrition To have contrition means to be crushed in spirit by a sense of sin. It is to show a spirit of humility and honesty and sorrow. There is a concern, and this man had a concern. It is evidenced in various ways as you read the passage before us. One way that his contrition is observed or manifested is where he stood. The Lord Jesus said he stood afar off. The Pharisees stood, no doubt, as far up to the upper end of the court as it was possible for him to be, right up to the front where he could be seen, because that's what the Pharisees were like. But the publican, in a sense of his worthlessness and his undone condition, he kept at a distance. He felt so inadequate, so insufficient, so inferior that he dared not approach the front or go near that place where it was identified with the immediate presence of God. We stood afar off when we see his contrition in the fact of where he stood. But also where he looked or where he didn't look, perhaps we need to put it into the negative. We're told that he would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, much less his hands, as the custom was. You would find in Bible times when men came to pray, they would lift their hands unto God. It was a reaching forth unto God. It was an appeal unto God. This man wouldn't even lift up his head towards God. He just hung his head in shame and disgrace. He felt his sin. He felt his guilt, his condemnation. Doesn't this remind you of what the psalmist David wrote in Psalm 40? And in this psalm he's speaking in verse 12 about sin and the effect that sin ought to have upon us. He says, For innumerable evils have compassed me about, My iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up." Do you see that? Not able to look up. My sin, my iniquities have gripped me, have taken hold upon me that I can't look up. I just have to hang my head in shame. And that is how this publican stood before the Lord. where he stood far off, where he looked, he wouldn't look to heaven, and also what he did. The Bible says that he smote upon his breast. This, of course, was an expression or a sign of grief. Later on, in the Gospel of Luke, we come to the scene of the cross in chapter 23. Before the Lord Jesus died, you will know those things that took place. People mocked Him. They laughed at Him. They scorned Him. They ridiculed Him. It really was an awful scene of great humiliation. And the soldiers, of course, they had no thought of Christ either. They didn't recognize who He was when they crucified Him. They didn't know that they were crucifying the Lord of glory. They didn't know who it was that they were kneeling to that cross, that He was indeed the eternal Son of God manifested in human flesh. They were just carrying out their duty. And as far as they were concerned, He was an ordinary man. But when Jesus died, there's a change in the atmosphere. There's a darkness comes over the land in those final hours. It's a great earthquake that takes place that the Bible speaks about. And the Word of the Lord tells us in Luke's Gospel, chapter 23, in verse 48, that all the people that came together to that site, beholding the things which were done, smoked their breasts and returned home. all the people. There was a change in the heart of the soldiers. The one who carried out the crucifixion, or who was responsible for the carrying out of the crucifixion, the man in charge, the centurion, we are told, As he stood there in the presence of Christ and the Lord has died, he makes the statement, certainly this was a righteous man. There's a change in his heart. I believe personally that the centurion got saved. I believe that the soldiers got saved. I base that upon the prayer that Jesus offered when he said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. And that prayer was offered by the Lord as soon as he was crucified. The soldiers sit down, we're told, and they watch him there, and they observe all that goes on. And there's a change of heart, I believe, but that's a subject for another time. And the Jews, many of them who had been engaged, no doubt in this mockery and ridicule, they also are brought to a solemnization of hearts. And when they saw this scene of Christ crucified in the darkness and the earthquake, that was felt. The Bible tells us that when they beheld these things, they smote upon their breasts and they went home. The smiting of the breast, you see, is an expression of sorrow and grief. It was an outward sign of an inward emotion and experience. This man's heart was smitten by sin. And here is just the outward manifestation of it. Here is a prayer that came from the heart. He was deeply moved in uttering it. He smote upon his breast like one who felt more than he could express with his words. I wonder, have you ever shown contrition over your sin? Have you ever hung your head in shame and bowed your head before God, feeling the guilt of your sin? Have you ever smite upon your breast Have you felt true godly sorrow over your sin? This man did. And I want you to notice his confession. He confesses himself to be a sinner. God be merciful to me. A sinner. In fact, the definite article is employed. If you were to take the Greek text and look it up, you will observe that the definite article precedes the word sinner in the Greek. So it literally means THE sinner. In fact, it has the signification of the great sinner as far as he was concerned. There was no greater sinner in the whole wide world than he himself. He was the worst. Here's a man who was brought to see himself as he really is in the sight of a holy God. The Pharisee could not see himself like this. In fact, the Pharisee denied Such a reality, because what he says really is, I'm not a sinner. I'm not like these publicans. I'm not like these sinners around me. No, he was filled with his own self-righteousness. Oh, the Pharisees were pure in their own eyes. But the publican owns up to his true state before God, his sinnership. This is the very ABC of true Christianity. As Bishop Riles said, we never begin to be good till we can feel and say we are bad, that we are sinners. There can be no salvation until a man realizes and recognizes his sin. I am a sinner before God to grasp that truth which is declared in the Scriptures. But all has sinned and come short of the glory of God. And we need to get to that place of confession Where we say, I am a sinner. Where we say, like David, I've sinned against the Lord. Or like Peter, I'm a sinful man, O Lord. Or like the prodigal, Father, I've sinned against heaven and before Thee. The trouble with many is that they are more like the Pharisee. God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are. He measured himself against his neighbours. He prided himself that he had never committed the great heaviest sins that his fellow human beings had committed. But all the while his heart was rotten to the core, dark and defiled, deprived and obese. We must not compare ourselves with others. We don't look out there into society And we look at that man or that man or the other person and we say, well, I'm so much better than they. I've never committed the sins that they have committed. Yes, I am higher. I am holier than they are. We must stand in full light of God's holiness and truth and righteousness. And then and then only will we be brought to see ourselves as we really are. I'm a sinner before God. That's how this man felt when he makes the confession, oh, that you would confess your sinnership tonight. You'll notice in the fourth place his cry. What does he pray for? What does he plead for? He says, God be merciful to me, the sinner. It was short, sincere, simple, and straight to the point. The one thing that he desperately needed more than anything else was the mercy of God. God's mercy is part of His goodness. It's that part of God's character that deals in love with the sinner. Mercy, we are told, is the outward manifestation of pity. It assumes need on the part of Him who receives it, and resources adequate to meet the need on the part of Him who shows it. And you put that into the context. The sinner before God. It's the sinner who has the great need. It is God who has the great resources to meet the sinner at the point of his need. God is rich in mercy. I love to read the story of the Good Samaritan. We read there that the Samaritan had compassion. That word compassion is a wonderful word that fits in here with the word mercy, the grace of God, the love of God, the goodness of God. He had compassion Upon that poor soul that fell among the thieves. The robbers had stripped him, wounded him, forsaken him, left him to die. And that's just the picture of what a sinner is. Satan and sin has stripped us and made us naked before God and we're left to die in our sins and to perish forevermore. And that is you and I in our own converted state. But Jesus has compassion. And Jesus Christ shows mercy. And thank God Jesus Christ is able to meet you at the point of your need. Our need is great. Think of our sin, our guilt, our misery, our undoneness, our weakness, our condemnation. We need the mercy of God. We need God out of love for the sinner to intervene and lift us from the degradation and the depravity of sin, from the very dunghill of sin itself, and to pardon all our transgressions. This was the very thing that David cried for when he committed his awful sin, his inexcusable, shameful sin with Bathsheba. And the prayer is recorded for us in the Psalm 51. Read it. Have mercy upon me, O God. The word that this publican uses, the word merciful, is actually the Greek word that means propitious, meaning to appease or to reconcile. The same word is used in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 17, referring to Christ, where we are told that he was made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God. To make reconciliation. That's the same word. To make propitiation for the sins of his people. The term propitiation leads us to the atonement of Christ. The word means the appeasement or turning away God's wrath against sinners by the means of an atoning sacrifice. Christ is said to be a propitiation. Paul uses that word in Romans chapter 3 and verse 25. It is the Greek term helisterion, which is translated mercy seat, in Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 5. And so the mercy seat is in mind when we speak about propitiation. The mercy seat was sprinkled with the blood of atonement. When the blood was sprinkled, God's wrath was turned away. And this was all pointing down through the generations, the centuries of time, to the work of Jesus Christ upon the cross. And Christ, by the shedding of His blood, He turned away the wrath of God from sinners. That's what mercy is. That's what propitiation is. John Owen, the prince of the Puritan divines, lists four essential elements in any propitiation. One, an offence to be taken away. Two, a person offended who needs to be pacified. Three, an offending person, one guilty of the offence. And four, a sacrifice or some other means of making atonement for the offence. Now, when you put that into the context, applied to the Lord Jesus Christ, and applied to the sinner, that's what we're speaking about tonight, there is an offence to be taken away. And that is our sin. Our sin. is offense to God. And there is a person who is offended who needs to be pacified. We have offended the Lord and the Lord needs to be appeased. He needs to be pacified. And there is an offending person who is guilty of the offense. And that's the sinner. That's you and me. And there is a sacrifice that needs to be made as far as an atonement is concerned. And that's the cross. That's what the Lord did there upon Calvary. The publican was crying, Oh God, be merciful, be propitious to me, forgive my sins, be reconciled to me, take me into favour, receive me graciously, love me freely. That's all in the word merciful. It's a short prayer, but I tell you, there's a depth to this prayer. He comes as a beggar for an alms when he's ready to perish for hunger. He stands before God burdened with the consciousness of his own personal guilt and sin, and he cried to God for mercy. Mercy wholly undeserved to be granted by grace alone. We need mercy. We need a propitiation. We need a sacrifice that will turn away the wrath of God from us. We need to pacify an offended God. We need reconciliation to God whom we have offended. Never is God said to be reconciled. God is never reconciled to the sinner. It's the sinner who is reconciled to God. And it's only through Christ that we can have such reconciliation. Through the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ, He who believes in him is by God's own act delivered from justly deserved wrath and comes unto the covenant of grace. My friend, here is a prayer that you need to make if you have never made it before. If you have never prayed this prayer, you need to cry to God tonight, O God, be merciful to me, the sinner. And just as we close, I want you to see his conversion. Here's the outcome. This man who prayed the sinner's prayer, and we have it in verse 14 of the passage that we read. Jesus says, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. What man? The man that prayed, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Justified. It's a lovely word. The word justified means to be accepted by God as righteous. Here's a man who found acceptance with the Lord. We have seen how differently these two men prayed. We see how different the outcome is. The Pharisee, he doesn't go home justified. He remains in his sin. But the publican who cried for mercy, he goes home right with God. Some would applaud the old Pharisee for his self-righteous, proud prayer, and at the same time look down with contempt upon the whining publican. But how did Jesus view it? That's the all-important consideration. He who knows all hearts, He who knows our innermost desires, our true motives, our genuineness, or our falsehood. All things are open and naked before God. There's no secret that is hid from his all-seeing eye. Jesus tells us that this publican went down to his house justified rather than the other. Here's the divine verdict. Here is the true assessment. The Pharisee thought If any of the two men that went to pray that day were justified, it was he, certainly not the publican. No, says Christ, I tell you, I affirm it with the utmost assurance that it is the publican, not the Pharisee, whom at home justified. The proud Pharisee goes away rejected by God, his prayer shallow, insincere, boastful, proud and conceited and unaccepted. He's not justified. His sins are not pardoned. He's not forgiven. He's not accepted in God's sight, nor is he delivered from condemnation. But the publican obtains mercy and forgiveness and pardon. And he goes home justified. He goes home saved. My friends, tonight in this meeting, what about you? How do you stand with God tonight? Have you ever prayed this prayer? Have you ever taken your place as a sinner? Have you ever cried out for the mercy of God? For that's exactly what you need. And if you haven't, And you can admit that in the honesty of your heart tonight. I'm still in my sin. I'm unjustified. I'm still under the condemnation of God. I'm still bound for hell. Well then, my friend, if you can get to that place where you recognize I'm a sinner before God, pray this prayer with sincerity, with honesty of heart. Call out to God tonight for the mercy of God. And He will hear your prayer. And you'll go home like this man. Justified. Right with God. Ready for heaven. May it be so. May you call upon Him tonight for Jesus' sake.