Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I want us to take a look at something
this morning that is so simple. It's so simple, yet so profound. Our subject is a prayer that
justifies, a prayer to God Almighty that justifies. We need to be
justified, don't we? Every man and woman on this earth
is a sinner. Surely we can acknowledge that
to be the truth. Every man and woman born into
this world is a sinner. There are no exceptions. All we have to do is just acknowledge
the truth of our heart, the truth of what's in our mind. If we think for just a minute
about our motive, we can acknowledge that we're sinners. And every sinner on this earth
tries to justify himself before God. Every sinner does, including
you and me. Every sinner wants God to look
at him or look at her and say, you're right. You're right. What you've done is right. I'm well pleased with you. But the truth of the matter is,
that's just not possible. That is just not possible. Now we know that the scripture
says, there is none that doeth good. We know that, don't we?
You and I, we've heard that. all our lives, we've heard the
scripture read, there is none that doeth good. We know that all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. We've heard that verse of
scripture, haven't we? We know that. But something in this flesh still
wants to justify itself before God. Even though it knows that
there's none that doeth good. Even though it knows that all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Still, this
flesh wants to justify itself before God. Something inside says, I have
to do better so God will be happy with me. That's the case for everybody. Well, I want us to see something
this morning that I hope will be a comfort, a real comfort
and an encouragement. I just want this to be a reminder
to us of how a sinner is justified before God. That's all I want
us to look at is how a sinner is justified before God. Our text this morning is Luke
chapter 18. If you want to turn with me there
in your Bible, we're going to look at Luke chapter 18. And
let's begin with verse nine. And he spake this parable unto
certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and
despised others. Our Lord spoke this parable to
a particular group of people. He said this, to those that trusted
in themselves. Do you see that right there?
Those that trusted in themselves. Trusted in themselves. Our Lord said this to those that
spent time looking at themselves, thinking on themselves, their
actions, weighing their actions, analyzing their actions. And in their own eyes, they found
them to be acceptable. They were happy with what they
saw, satisfied. with what they saw in themselves. Verse nine says, and he spake
this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they
were righteous and they despised others. Despised
those that they felt did not live up to their standards. And verse 10 says this is the
parable the Lord gave them. This is what our Lord said. He
said two men went up into the temple to pray. The one a Pharisee
and the other a publican. The Pharisee was the one that
on the outside everybody said, Surely that guy saved. That was
the Pharisee. Everybody who knew him, everybody
who talked to him, everybody who had dealings with him, he would be the one that everybody
said, surely that guy saved. He looks like it to me. From
everything I know about him, he acts like it. He acts like
a saved person. And the publican was the one
that on the outside, everybody who knew him and had dealings
with him and they said, surely that guy's
lost. He looks like it to me. He acts like it. He acts like
a lost man. Now here's the thing we need
to understand though. God does not look on the outside. Not when it comes to the subject
of being justified. Now he sees the outside, God
sees all. Nothing is hid from his eyes,
nothing. But God looks all the way into
the heart. All the way through a man. deep
into his heart. And no heart is justified in
his sight. No heart. Turn with me back a
couple of pages to Luke 16 and look with me at verse 14. It
says, and the Pharisees also who were covetous heard all these
things and they derided him. And he said unto them, you are
they which justify yourselves before men. But God knoweth your hearts.
God knows your hearts. For that which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination in the sight of God. What was he
talking about, that which is highly esteemed among men? He's
talking about certain men. He's talking about those Pharisees.
They were covetous on the inside. People couldn't see that on the
outside. But God saw it. He said, I know your hearts.
I know you have a covetous heart. And here these Pharisees, these
religious men, they were highly esteemed among the people. But
God said they were an abomination in his sight. An abomination. All of our good deeds, everything
that is highly esteemed among men, our God says they are an
abomination in His sight. Now, why are they an abomination?
Good deeds? Actual good deeds? An abomination
to God? Why? Let me show you two scriptures. Turn with me if you would to
Isaiah 64. Isaiah chapter 64, and this will answer that question
for us. Isaiah 64, our Lord says in verse six, but we are all
as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses Everything
good that could be said about us. Everything that other men
would see to be a good deed, a right deed, something that
they would think would be right in God's eyes. We are all as
an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags. filthy rags. And we all do fade
as a leaf. And our iniquities, like the
wind, have taken us away. We're all as an unclean thing.
That's what he said. All of us. You know, we look at this story
of the Pharisee and the Publican and we, even humanly speaking,
We side with the publican. I do. I do. The Pharisee, we haven't
read through the full story yet, but if you know this story, the
Pharisee was a little bit of a jerk. At least the publican was a nice
guy. A humble guy. And naturally, most people would
gravitate to the publican, kind of like we do with Jacob and
Esau. I'm not the biggest fan of Jacob. Are you? Seeing everything he
did, the way he tricked his father, lied to his father, I kind of
like Esau. Esau seems to be a kind man,
a good hard-working man. He seems to be a good hunter,
a good fisherman, a good provider. He seems to be a man who loves
his mother, loves his father. He made him venison all the time.
He was good to him. His dad loved that venison. He was just a good old kind-hearted
country boy. You know what God said about
him? God said, I hate him. Those are strong words. Those
are hard words, aren't they? But that's what God said. He
said, I hate him. Why would God say that? Here's
the reason. We are all Jacob, Esau, me, and
you. We are all as an unclean thing. And all our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags. That's why God said it. Now let
me show you a scripture in Proverbs 21. Turn with me back a few books
to Proverbs chapter 21. And let's look at verse four.
It says, an high look and a proud heart and the plowing of the
wicked is sin. Now did you catch that with me? He said a high look, that sounds
like sin, doesn't it? A high look and a proud heart,
that sounds like sin. Boy, I see sin in that. But then
he said, and the plowing of the wicked is sin. A wicked man just tilling the
ground is sin in God's eyes. You know what that means? It
means all our righteousnesses, all of them, It seems to me like
a man who's just out in the field plowing the ground, he's doing
a good thing. He's just doing a good, honest,
hardworking thing. Has children, providing for them.
But you know, this is what God said, all our righteousnesses
are filthy rags. They're all filthy rags. There
is nothing that the Pharisee or the publican, either one of
them, there is nothing that the Pharisee or the publican could
do to be justified in the sight of God, nothing. And I use this to comfort our
hearts. Because even though there's not something that can justify
us, there's someone who can. There is not some thing, but
there is someone, someone who can justify us. Now go with me
back to our text this morning, Luke 18, and look with me at
verse 10. This is the parable the Lord
gave. He said, two men went up into the temple to pray, the
one a Pharisee and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood
and prayed thus within himself, God, I thank thee that I am not
as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican. He said, I fast twice in the
week. I give tithes of all that I possess. I do all these things." He started
out and he said, God. And that is who he was talking
to. He was talking to God. But apparently he did not see
God for who he is. And the reason we know that is
because he started saying, I, I, I. I thank thee that I am not as
other men are. I'm not an extortioner. I'm not
unjust. I'm not an adulterer. I'm not
like this other man. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of everything that I have. I do all these things. Our Lord said over in Matthew
chapter seven, he said, none of that stuff means anything,
not for justifying yourselves before me. He said, it's all
iniquity. A man can stand there and tell
God that he's done all these wonderful things in his name,
prophesied, cast out devils. But the Lord God said, depart
from me ye that work iniquity. He said, it's all sin. It's all
sin. Well, let me ask you this. Does
that mean we ought to forget about trying to obey his commandments?
Just forget about that. Does that mean we ought to stop
doing what he says? It doesn't matter anyway. The
apostle Paul said, God forbid. God forbid. What we must realize
is there's a difference. There is a difference in looking
to Him and loving Him and desiring to be like Him and wanting to
do His will because it's His will, because we love Him and
it's His will. and being his follower and being
a willing servant and hoping to come more and more conformed
to his image, there's a difference in that. And trying to justify
myself before God, there's a difference in being his disciple, his follower,
because love draws me to it. There's a difference in that.
and proudly, arrogantly trying to justify myself before God. I have a heart to physically
obey every law he has put in this book. I do. I want to. Even though I don't and even
though I can't perfectly, I have a heart to. I wish I could. And one day in his sinless eternity,
When I'm finally freed from the presence of sin, I hope to obey
everything he has written in this word perfectly and believe
with every fiber of my being that I will obey it perfectly. So I have a heart to try to do
these things now. But I know that I could never
justify myself before him. in doing these things and the
reason is because I could never keep them perfectly, not like
he demands. I could never keep them with
a pure mind, with a pure heart, with a pure motive, never. This
Pharisee, he didn't realize that. He just did not realize that
and he listed all these things that he did and he didn't do. And he ended up not being justified. And the reason is because he
was clinging to the wrong things. It's not something that justifies
us. It's someone. It's not something. It's someone. And verse 13 says,
right here in Luke chapter 18, the publican, now we saw what
the Pharisee did, here's the publican, he said, 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. He would not walk straight up
to the throne of God. He would not walk straight into
the presence of God. He stood afar off. He was afraid. He knew something of what he
was. He knew the truth of what he was. He acknowledged it. And
he would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven. He knew,
I'm not worthy to even look on him. I'm not worthy. And he smote upon his breast,
he condemned himself, saying, and what he said here is a seven-word prayer. He said
seven words. And this is a seven-word prayer,
and this is the perfect prayer. This is the perfect prayer. And we've already established
that every man's heart, including this publican, every man's heart
is nothing but wicked. Nothing but wicked. So if a man
truly prays this in sincerity from the depths of his heart,
then it means God has already had mercy on him. That's what
it means, because God had to put this here. This is what the
publican prayed. He said, God, oh God, I acknowledge you to
be the thrice holy God, the all-knowing, all-powerful, almighty, all-seeing
God. The God who punishes iniquity. David said in Psalm 130, If thou,
Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Who shall stand? This publican said, God, be merciful. Oh, be merciful. Lord, would
you show mercy? Would you show mercy? I don't
deserve it. Everything I've done is wrong.
My entire life is wrong. Everything I am is wrong. I'm nothing but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. But David said back in Psalm
130, there is forgiveness with thee. There's forgiveness with you.
I can't earn it. I know that. I can't buy it. I don't have
anything to buy it with. I'm a bankrupt man. I might have
all the money in the world, but I'm still a bankrupt man when
it comes to purchasing back my own justification. I can't do
it. All I can do is beg. That's all
I can do is beg. God be merciful to me. A sinner. A sinner. I recognize what I am. I know
you see all. I know you know the truth. I
know you see men's hearts. I can't hide from you. So I recognize what I am. Verse 14, the Lord said, I tell
you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the
other. For every one that exalteth himself
shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. John wrote in 1 John 1, verse
9, he said, if we confess our sins to Christ himself, And I'll tell you, if we do confess
our sins, it's only because God opened our eyes to them. It's
only because God first revealed to us what we truly were. So John wrote, if we confess
our sins, He is faithful. That's what it means. He is faithful. And just to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Do you know what our hope is?
Our hope is the faithfulness of Christ. That's our hope. Our hope is in his mercy. Our
hope is in the fact that he delights to show mercy. Our hope is in
the fact that if we come to Him crying and begging for mercy,
then it means He is drawing us. No man can come to Him except
the Father which sent Him draw that man. And every soul that
God the Father gave to Christ shall come. every one of them. All that the Father hath given
me shall come to me." That's what he said. So if we come crying,
God be merciful to me a sinner, then that gives us hope that
he has been merciful to me a sinner. That Pharisee justified himself
and God condemned him. And that publican condemned himself
and God justified him. And he said in verse 14, everyone
that exalteth himself shall be abased and he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted. Peter wrote in first Peter chapter
five, verse six, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand
of God that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your
care upon him for he careth for you. That's all we can do. That's
the wise thing to do, the only wise thing to do, because He's
the only one who can justify us. He's the only one. May the
Lord sincerely put that in all of our hearts. God be merciful
to me, a sinner. Until next Sunday morning, may
the Lord bless His Word. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, you can write
to our physical mailing address at 905 Yadkin Street, Kingsport,
Tennessee 37660 or log on to our website at kingsportsovereigngracechurch.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next Sunday morning
at 8.30 for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.