Bibles to Luke 18 as we continue
being admonished by our Savior concerning the duty and the privilege
of prayer. In the account before us, once
again, our Lord has spoken marvelously about the things that take place
in the life of mankind. And this too is one of those
parables that we have heard many times before. As our Lord continues
to teach the importance of prayer in the life of the people of
God, He gives us insight here into the inner workings of the
heart. That's what this lesson is about,
the inner working of the heart. Now the title of our message
is, Two Men, Two Prayers. And the way our Lord crafts this,
it appears that we are dealing with two very similar and the
same acts, at least on the surface, at least in the form of religion,
by way of custom and practice, two men, both headed to the temple,
both praying. If you and I were a third party,
we would be observing what appeared to be the same thing. the same
actions. We also might fall prey to believe
that they were based upon the same motive. But that would be
pressing the issue way too far. When our Lord gives the parable
of two men and two praying in one grand temple, which was the
identity of the children of Israel, He gives it in the context of
a parable. And whenever he does that, whenever he gives you the
parable of two, always know this. The one is not like the other.
And in the parable of the two, as the Bible gives us this running
commentary on the twos, Abel and Cain and Isaac and Esau,
Isaac and Jacob and Esau and Ishmael and others throughout
the scripture. They both come from a similar
background, from a similar context, and by all external observance,
they appear to be alike. But in our account, our Lord
is teaching two radically different motives, two radically different
intents, two radically different realities, realities in the heart. that lead these two men who appear
to be so similar in their outward act, and yet their destinies
go in total opposite directions. One's destiny is damnation. The other's destiny is glory. And as such, we want to be highly
instructed. Here's what our Lord said over
in chapter 16, verse 15. You are they which justify yourselves before
men. You are they which justify yourselves
before men. And then he goes on to say, but
God knows your heart. Now, the first point in our outline
is what I call a direct hit. The politically incorrect approach
to dealing with your adversaries in the 21st century, of which
our Lord paid no attention to it whatsoever. We read Luke's
words over in verse nine, and he spake this parable unto certain
which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised
others. We call this a direct hit. In this hypersensitive culture,
it's called a confrontation. It's the kind of term that soft
people don't like to use because confrontation challenges you
on the premise of the person's argument. And we just don't like
being challenged today. We don't like to be told point
blank, we're wrong. And so in our politically correct
age, it is more polite to work around crass and direct terms
like you're wrong and say, well, you know, maybe you need to think
about that. But in Jewish culture, and our
Lord was very Jewish, they had a habit of basically telling
you like it was. And especially when you were
in a leadership position. Now this wasn't folk just grabbing
each other by the collar and acting unkind and rude in the
norm. This was leadership, this was
the rabbi, this was the master talking to other alleged masters.
When he says, he spoke this parable unto those who thought they themselves
were righteous and despised others, he was speaking directly to the
Pharisees. You remember what our Lord said
in Matthew chapter 15, He said, let the blind lead the blind.
And if the blind lead the blind, they both will fall into the
ditch. This was the Pharisees complaining about our Master
eating without washing His hands. How come you don't wash your
hands or your disciples don't wash their hands before they
eat? I mean, John, the Baptist disciples, they wash, they clean.
The Pharisees wash and they clean, but you and your disciples, you
guys don't follow the customs of the church. Our Master said,
Listen very carefully, disciples. It's not that which goes inside
of a man that corrupts a man. It's that which proceeds out
of the core of his being, out of his very heart, out of his
nature, which corrupts him. And this was diametrically opposed
to the thinking of the Pharisees. You see, the Pharisees very much
believed in outward righteousness. outward appearance of holiness,
outward appearance of being right with God. So when our Lord spoke,
and he spoke quite frequently, he spoke in such a manner as
to undo a lot of what they taught. He exposed them publicly. And
our disciples, the disciples said in Matthew chapter 15, Lord,
don't you know you just offended the rulers of the church? And our master said these words
as we work through our parable, blessed is he that is not offended
by me. Blessed is the man or the woman
whose heart God has prepared to receive the truth, because
only the truth will set you free. Lies will not liberate you. Quaint
phrases and soft speeches and ways of avoiding direct hit won't
deliver you from you. And so on this day, after having
given the parable of the widow woman and the principle of perseverance
in prayer, he now talks to the crowd about two types of people,
painting the picture of which our elder said, we can learn
something about both of these men. We got a mirror in front
of us, don't we? He did it in the form of a parable
and he lays out the parable with two men. So let us here be instructed. Point number one, a direct hit. Point number two, the prayer
of a proud Pharisee. That's fairly accurate, don't
you think? The prayer of a proud Pharisee. Verses 10 through 12
says, two men went up to the temple to pray. The one, a Pharisee,
the other, a publican. Now the Pharisee stood and he
prayed thus with himself, God, I thank you that I am not as
other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this miserable
wretch standing right next to me. I fast twice in the week. I pay my tithes. I give all that
I possess. And we have here the prayer of
a man who is self-reliant. He's self-righteous. And as our
Lord said, he despised others. Now the word despise, you need
to know this, it means to view a person as nothing. It's a word
that really, when you take it to the nth degree, means that
they don't even exist. Now you are something when you
look on somebody and you view them as not even worthy of existence. They have no reason to be on
the planet. The word is translated of not. Like when God destroys
a thing, he brings it to not. And Paul had to instruct the
church at Rome about this. In Romans chapter 14, he said
in Romans chapter 14, verse 10, why are you judging your brother? So you see, even the Christian
church had this problem. Why are you judging your brother?
Or why do you set your brother at not? Wisely our elder prayed,
Lord have mercy, because we are inclined to do just that. set
our brother at naught, set our sister at naught. Can you imagine
what kind of delusion is on this man who is headed to the temple
with this other fella standing by him or at least close enough
to him where he is aware of his presence that he would reject
him in the presence of God. So we have here the proud, proud
prayer of a self-righteous Pharisee. And someone said, Pharisee prayers
are peripheral prayers. And what that means is they're
not private prayers. They always have the public in
view. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew
chapter 23? The Pharisees loved to be seen
praying. They loved to be heard of men. They loved to be noticed for
their long prayers. and a peripheral prayer, a prayer
of periphery has in its purview, in its window, others around
it. It's always conscious of others, aware that others are
present. Have you ever met people like
that in prayer? They're so other conscious that
often they include people in their prayers. One of the reasons
why folks don't like to have public prayer too much is because
folk have a tendency to get out of their lane. What you mean, Pastor? Lord,
now you know we got somebody in our midst. Now I'm not gonna say who their
name is, but you know they got issues. And Lord, we love them,
but their problems are real bad. Would you please help them? Those are peripheral prayers.
They're prayers of gossip. You're gossiping. You're talking
about other people as if God needs that advice from you. You're
gossiping. Gossiping. So the prayers of
the Pharisee are the kind of prayers where you are not God-conscious,
you're man-conscious, and you're self-conscious, and you're other-conscious. And until you become God-conscious,
you haven't really entered into prayer. Because when you become
God-conscious, unless your prayers are designed to stand in the
gap for others. Prayer between a man or a woman
and God is just that. Prayer between two people and
no one else. But fallacies prayers are always
subscribed around others because they are they which justify theirselves
before men. This is the danger of taking
any gift from God and using it for your own grandisement, for
your own benefit, for your own blessing. I wanna share with
you five things to note, and they're in your outline, five
things about this man's prayer that's worth avoiding at all
costs. The first is, we may note that
the Pharisee was pleased with his praying. He was pleased with
his praying. The text tells us in verse 11,
and the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. He was pleased with his praying.
It appears that he was used to this practice. It appeared that
he would be at home, and he would stand in the mirror, and he would
work on his prayers. He would hone his prayers down
to a fine-tuned articulation and expression before he went
public with it. And at some point he got extremely
comfortable with praying to himself. Luke says he stood and prayed,
watch this now, with himself. Now I want you to understand
how it goes in the original. He prayed, watch this now, to
himself, about himself, and for himself. I want you to get all
those propositions now. He prayed to himself. Now, you
know, you have to be on the brink of absolute insanity to pray
to yourself. But it gets worse. The content
of this man's prayer was about himself. The sum total of his
prayers was a catalog of good deeds about himself. So he's
praying to himself and he's praying about himself. And he's praying
for himself on his own behalf with the advantage of that prayer
somehow benefiting him. Now, our Lord is speaking to
the rulers. And can you imagine the rulers
listening to our Lord give this vivid picture of this pharisaical
prayer that's being uttered? And those Pharisees are saying,
hmm, that sounds very familiar. Because the Pharisees prayed
like that as protocol. Watch this. It's in the writings
of the Pharisees, the rabbinical writings. They would go like
this, Lord, I thank you that I'm not a Gentile. I also thank
you that I'm not a woman. And here our Lord extrapolates
by saying, and I definitely thank you that I'm not like this miserable,
wretched publican standing next to me. Now what kind of mindset
would one have to pray to God like that? I want you to hear
this now. You can't know God from the man
on the moon to think you can come into God's presence and
talk like that. This is why the Lord said you're
talking to yourself. You're praying to yourself. Your
prayers are to you. You're not even, you're not even
concerned about God. Notice what it says. He prayed
to himself. He was pleased with his own prayers.
Now watch this. He was also pleased with himself. What do you mean, pastor? I'm
not as other men. Do you see that? He told God
he wasn't like other men. Now, he was so pleased with his
deeds, he was so pleased with his works that he was ready to
tell everybody around him, when you look at me, you're looking
at a special person. Ain't nobody in the world like
me. Listen, he was absolute. He said,
I'm not like other men. You can't find another brother
like me in the world. I am me all along. There's no
duplicate. He's pleased with himself. Have you ever met people like
that? Pleased with themselves. Stay with me for a moment now.
You start a conversation about houses and cars and it only takes
about a minute before they turn the conversation to themselves. and you try to steer the conversation
back somewhere else, and they find ways to return it again
to themselves. There are people in this world
that are really pleased with themselves. But you know, when
he said, I am not like other men, you know what he just did?
He lied on God. He lied on God. Do you know we
are all the same? No, we're not, pastor. Yes, you
are. Psalm 33 says that God has fashioned all our hearts alike. Our hearts are fashioned just
alike. Psalm 33 verse 15. God fashioned
all of our hearts alike. You know what that means? The
same vile iniquities that run through the vein of the man next
to me runs through my own veins. The same potential for wicked
thoughts and wicked deeds that run through the mind of a Jeffrey
Dahmer runs through my mind. The same evil passions that would
incline an individual to go out and commit gross evil and transgression
runs through my veins. You know what I've come to learn
according to the Word of God? All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. There's not a just man upon the
earth that doeth good and sinneth not. They all have turned away. They all have gone astray. We're
all sinners alike. All sinners alike. All corrupt,
vile sinners alike. That's why when our Lord gave
in Matthew 15, those characteristics of the heart, out of the heart
proceeded all manner of evil. This man said he wasn't like
God. He just lied. I mean, he wasn't like other
men. He just lied. And listen to what the text said. I'm not
an extortioner. But do you know Jesus said in
Matthew chapter 23, You devour widows' houses. You rip off the
poor. You take advantage of the downtrodden. You are greedy, ravenous wolves. But this Pharisee is standing
up in pretense before God, actually claiming that he's not an extortioner. He lied on God, and he lied on
Jesus. I'm not an extortionist. I'm
not unjust. And the word unjust there means
I don't do wickedness. You know what Jesus said concerning
the Pharisees? You are a wicked and perverse
generation. I want you to mark what's going
on as God reveals the heart of the rulers of the day. Christ
is making the rulers to appear what they really are. demonically
controlled, wicked, ungodly, unregenerate men who outwardly
look righteous. But as he said in verse 15 of
chapter 16, God knows your heart. And then he goes on to say, we're
not adulterers. I don't commit adultery. Oh,
you don't? Christ called you in chapter
12 of the Gospel of Matthew, an adulterous generation, a wicked
and adulterous generation. And we are still trying to catch
up with that fella in John chapter eight, who, who, who the woman
got caught in adultery. Remember that? And the rulers
dragged her before the Lord Jesus and tried to set him up and get
him to oppose Mosaic principles and Mosaic laws. And Jesus said,
well, why don't you go get the fella? Cause it takes two to
commit adultery. Go get the fella. And then once
he started dropping the word on them, remember what he did?
He stooped down on the ground and wrote twice. And the word
says, and every one of them began to be convicted in their conscience.
And they bathed away from the greatest to the least. Because
we know one of those fellows that was among them was probably
the cat that got caught. I'm exposed now. No, the point
is, is that as our Lord shares with us the proud prayer of the
Pharisee, it's important for you and I to know, ladies and
gentlemen, please hear me now, you can be deceived by your own
heart. You can be deceived by your own
assessment of yourself. You can be pleased with yourself,
but to be pleased with yourself is to lie against God. You and
I are rotten to the core by nature. Am I telling the truth? Rotten
to the core by nature and especially these religious rulers of whom
Jesus said you are whitewashed Supper curse you are graves over
which men walk that cannot be seen just Desperately lost this
man is in trouble because he has made an assessment of himself
and he's made an assessment of his works He's pleased with his
praying and I don't know about you, but I'm not pleased with
my praying. I My prayers for me always seem to fall short
of what I want them to be. And my prayers for me always
fall short of what the God of glory deserves. When I pray to this infinite
being called God and the person of his son, Jesus Christ, my
mediator, my prayers seem so impotent, so weak, so limited
that I almost feel as if I am also being hypocritical. Can
I get a witness? I only got one or two people
telling the truth in the house. Listen, let me help you understand
something. God is such a glorious being, so perfect in his ways,
so impeccable in his being, that your prayers and minds have to
be interpreted by the Holy Ghost before they even get to Jesus,
before they get to the Father. That's how much they need to
be straightened out. So if you ever think your prayers are satisfactory,
think again, think again. This Pharisee, however, had been
under such delusional works religion that he thought he was all right.
And here I would have you to understand it's possible for
you and I to be deluded by our good works. He's pleased with
his works. He was blinded by that superficial
understanding of Mosaic obedience. He says, I fast twice in the
week and I give tithes of all that I have. Now, you know, he'd
work well in most of your prosperity churches where they tell you,
you're going to be blessed if you get your tithes. If you don't,
you're going to be cursed. Poor people don't stand a chance
in those churches. Am I telling the truth? Don't
stand a chance. Don't miss one bill because you
got to pay your time. You know, make sure God get his
because he got to live large. Do you know my God owns the cattle
on a thousand hills? Do you know if he were hungry,
he wouldn't tell you. But do you know my God is never hungry,
never thirsty. He doesn't need anything from
you. Be very careful to understand that whatever you do for God
never merits anything in terms of righteousness or justification. It doesn't add to God's glory.
It doesn't cause Him to be more than He is. Whenever we do what
God calls us to do out of obedience to Him, it's for our good, not
for His. I fast twice in the week, like
He got to let God know. God, I tip you twice. We ain't
got to do it but once, but I tip you twice. He's pleased with
his praying, he's pleased with himself, he's pleased with his
works, he's deceived. Do you know what the Bible says
about our works? All of our works, all of our righteousnesses, watch
this, all of them are like a minstrel claw, filthy rags. all of our works together, not
just mine, ours together. If they were to be gathered up
and heaped up and put before God, our works would be our sin
by which we would go to hell. Do you hear what I'm saying?
It's not by works of righteousness which we have done, not before
Calvary, nor after Calvary. Works can never merit God's favor. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
and especially for you to bring your raggedy, nasty, filthy works
to God in prayer. Like God doesn't know the content
of your works. He knows your works are mixed
with selfishness. They're mixed with evil, mixed
with bad motives, mixed with a bad day. You know how you serve
God on bad days? You know the bad days we serve
God? That's most of them, right? Come on now, tell it through.
The bad days we serve God? Complaining and arguing when
we get up? Like this morning, y'all were complaining and arguing
on the way to church? I was with you. And now you're here enjoying
the Word, but come on now, tell the truth. If you had to commend
your good works from the time God in His mercy opened your
eyes this morning to the moment you sat in this chair, your works
would condemn you, wouldn't they? You got to be delusional to hand
God your works. And then to talk about coming
to God in prayer with that dong heap, commending yourself before
God. He's pleased with his praying,
he's pleased with himself, he's pleased with his works, he's
pleased with his own discernment. This is the thing that needs
to be comprehended here as God unfolds and reveals to us the
heart of this blinded Pharisee, pleased with one's own discernment
or one's assessment of himself. Proverbs chapter 20, verse six
says this, part A, every man will proclaim his own goodness. Are you guys hearing me? So I
want you to mark this now, even though you and I can stand back
objectively and observe this Pharisee and say, whoo, that
brother is in bad shape. Don't make the mistake that he
just made and say, I'm not like him. Because in many ways, we're
just like him. We will quickly proclaim our
own goodness. See the the need to justify ourselves
before men. the need to appear secure, the
need to appear dignified, the need to appear even as a child.
I'm a child of God. I'm not going to tell them the
truth. I'm not going to tell them that I'm coming unraveled at the seams.
I'm not going to tell them that I'm just about to lose my mind.
I'm not going to tell them that I'm walking around so steep in
unbelief that I might not even be a believer. I'm not going
to tell them that. I'm going to tell them I'm a child of God. I'm
standing on a rock. I'm fine with God. No, you're
not. You're all jacked up. You're just afraid to tell the
truth. Every man will proclaim his own
goodness, but a faithful man who can find an honest woman,
an honest child, an honest sinner, hurting, struggling, toiling. That's what God is looking for.
He unravels this Pharisee before us to let us know we are dangerously
inclined every day to proclaim our own goodness. Child of God,
never do it. Never do it. Not only will we
do that, Jeremiah 17 9 tells us that the heart is what? Deceitful. It's desperately wicked above
all things. What? Who can know it? The heart
is deceitful and desperately wicked. Vile is the heart of
mankind. And vile is my own heart. And
vile is your own heart as well. One more thing, I want you to
mark one more thing before we go to the next fellow. He only
had four words for God. Look at how he opens up verse
11. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. God, that's
how religious folk do it. God. Avoid religion like the plague,
okay? God, like God needs you to put
those accents on his name. Then he goes, I thank you. And from that point on, the whole
rest of the prayer is filled with ego. The next word is I,
I, I, I, I, I. He got hiatus. That's all he had for God. And
our Lord lets this run itself through so that we can juxtapose
the proud prayer of the Pharisaical heart over against the next fellow
that we need to consider now. I call your attention to the
prayer of a penitent. publican, the prayer of a penitent
publican. And what's interesting about
the Pharisee and the publican is they both at the temple. And
you would think that based on Jewish culture, the Pharisee
and the publican, they wouldn't come a mile within each other.
Because outwardly, you couldn't get two radically opposed types
of people in the culture of Judaism as a proud Pharisee who boasts
himself in his purity and righteousness. The word Pharisee means separated. Separated. He separates himself
from other people because he's not like other people. In fact,
the Pharisee has scathing words for the publican way over there.
Now you know who the publican is. He's the tax collector. He's
the IRS. That'll bring it home to you.
He's that institution we don't like that keep raising our taxes. Only it's worse because in Jewish
culture at that time, it was personalized. They had tax booths
like 7-Elevens on every corner. and they would come extract taxes
from you, even to the point of it hurting. And the publican
lived high on the hall. He was wealthy and opulent most
of the time. He lived much better than everybody else. Among the
Jewish people, the sentiment was that if you became a publican,
you traded your people in. You are a trader to your people.
And our Lord is taking both of these characters, who in the
eyes of the people appeared to be totally opposite. Totally
opposite. One of them shouldn't have even
been thinking about the temple. Lest the heavens open up and
thunderbolts come down and blow him up right where he is. That's
the mindset of the Jewish people over against the publican. Now
watch this now, but the publican has made it to the house of God. The publican has made it to the
house of God. The dope fiend. the alcoholic,
the drug addict, the vile, wicked person, the person that you would
never expect to show up at the temple of God is in the temple
right along with this Pharisee. But my, we have to learn some
things about the difference between the Pharisee and the public and
I told you point number four the prayer of a penitent Public
Look at what it says verse 13 and the publican Standing afar
off Would not lift up so much as his eyes under heaven Our
Lord is giving us this detail concerning the publican and because
he would have you to know that the display and oration of the
Pharisee, this vivid open oriculation or oracle of the Pharisee, where
everybody can hear it, everybody focused on the Pharisee, is immensely
different than this man who probably is out in the temple court, afar
with his head down, with his head down. Wouldn't even lift
his eyes to heaven. Wouldn't even lift his eyes to
heaven. We call that reverence. Reverence. Now certainly a person
can go through a form of prayer where they appear reverent with
their head down. But this publican was reverent. First he stood
afar off. You know what that means? He
was conscious of the holiness of God. Can I tell you something? You are never going to meet God
in his true nature and character and not be inclined to run. You're
never going to meet the true and the living God in his holiness,
in his glory. I'm talking about the true God
and not be inclined to run. Do you know why? Because you
are not fit, none of us, to be in the presence of God. You're
not fit in your nature. You're not fit in your mind.
You're not fit in your heart to stand in the presence of holiness.
Am I telling the truth? Our first parents, when they
realized that God had separated himself from them because of
their rebellion of eating the tree, as soon as God called,
what did they do? Ran, hid behind the tree. And from that point on, every
servant of God that ever found themselves in the presence of
God, whether it was Abraham, or whether it was Jacob, or whether
it was Moses, whenever these holy men came into the presence
of God, or God came into their presence, what did they do? They
fell to the ground in abject terror of the glory of God. I tell religious folk all the
time, you're not going to have a revelation of the glory of
God in your heart and start jumping up around and running through
the church. That's not the true and the living God. I'm sorry,
you're not doing backflips in the presence of God. You're not
acting out in the presence of God, not the true God, maybe
a false God, maybe a demon, but not the God of glory. Can I help
you? The Lord Jesus Christ is every
bit God. He is God of God. He is glorious
in his being, full of the attributes of God. In fact, the fullness
of the divinity deity dwells in him. He is the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. Now watch this. And everyone
that ever saw a peep of his glory hit the dust, hit the dust. And when he comes again, we go
all hit the dust. Every knee's gonna bow. Every
tongue gonna confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God. Everyone. Ain't gonna be no jumping
up and tearing up the church. You tear up the church when demons
run the church. You don't tear up the church when God's in control.
Do you hear me? If God would even speak with
His Word, let alone His presence, you would start to come apart
in the essence of your being. Daniel said, when I saw Him,
I melted. I became so uncomely, even my
beautiful parts to me became obnoxious. I fell down and I
couldn't even open my mouth. And that was just the angel of
God. You're not gonna meet God in
your pride. You're not gonna meet God in
your heartiness. You're not gonna meet God lifted up. Well, when
I meet God, I got something to say to him. Well, you better
get that fixed now. You better get that fixed now,
because when you meet God, God's gonna do all the talking. I guarantee
you God's gonna do all the talking. Uh-oh, I'm in the presence of
God? Well God, you can talk. I have
nothing to say to God. All I have to do is hope that
when I come into his presence, I'm not immediately annihilated. Annihilated! No man can see God
and live. We're talking about the true
God that sits on the circuits of heaven, that fills heaven
and earth, that inhabits eternity. that is perfect in all His ways.
This is the high and the lofty God. This is the eternal God. This is the God with whom no
man can dwell. This is the God who is like a
burning fire. This is the God of glory. Nobody's
coming into the presence of this God. This God. But when God touches
a sinner, and you know what the Bible says, I, the high and the
lofty God that inhabits eternity, I dwell with Him. I dwell with
Him. I dwell with the lowly. I dwell
with the lowly, with the broken and the contrite. That's what
I do. I like hanging out with lowly people. That's the God
of the Bible. And I'm here telling you that
this publican that our Lord is talking to us about has been
prepared to come to God. He comes in and his eyes won't
even ascend to heaven. But what does he do? He smotes
on his breast. Do you see that? He smotes on
his breast. And in the original language
it means he does it like this. What's happening? What's happening? He's conscious of the glory of
God and he's also conscious that every heartbeat equals rebellion
against God. It equals corruption. It equals
vileness. It equals sin. against the glory
of God. He's conscious of God's glory
and he's conscious of his sinfulness. Can I find a real sinner? The
only way you will is if God reveals his glory to him. He's beating
on his breast. Now in Hebrew culture, to beat
on your breast is to be filled with remorse, filled with grief. filled with remorse. Jeremiah
said it like this in the 31st chapter of Jeremiah, when God
was giving the promise of the new covenant. It says, I was
like the yoke. I was like the ox rather unaccustomed
to the yoke. When God would put his yoke on
me and try to lead me and guide me, I would resist and rebel
against God's word, against his law, against his spirit until
God turned my heart. And when God turned my heart,
watch this, I was chastised and I slapped upon my thighs. And
I said, I've rebelled against God. In other words, God has
to reveal to you by a powerful work of his spirit, how sinful
you are, how sinful you are before you say, this is my problem.
Listen, not my money, not my spouse, not the country I live
in. My heart is the problem. My heart is the problem. This
is what's going on. In Luke chapter 23 verse 48,
you don't have to go there, but our Lord was being put on trial
by the rulers and Herod had taken our master and Herod wanted our
master to do a rabid trick. You know how religion, you know
how folks are. They want the master to do something like a
healing or some kind of magic trick. And our Lord didn't even
talk to him like a lamb led to the slaughter. So open not he
his mouth. And Herod kept talking to him,
won't you do this? Are you this? And he wouldn't
say anything to Herod. And Herod, the text says, started mocking
Christ and beating Christ. And the people were watching
as he was stripped and beaten and crucified. And as they walked
past our savior, who looked like the worst thing on planet earth,
this is what they did when they walked past him. All the people. You know what
they were saying? something deep down in their
soul was saying, this man did not deserve this kind of treatment. They were remorseful. They were
grieving over the mystery of the atonement, not comprehending
that he was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world,
but they were gripped by the conflict that a man could stand
there and endure all that evil by men. It caused him to smite
upon their breasts. The publican is smiting upon
his breast because he sees himself for what he really is. See, I
want you to understand that the publican is radically different
than the Pharisee, isn't he? The publican wasn't pleased with
his prayers. The publican wasn't pleased with
himself. The publican wasn't pleased with
his works. Listen to the prayer. And the
publican standing afar off, Would not lift up so much as his eyes
unto heaven But he smote upon him his breast now watch this
be instructed by this saying here We are now here is the essence
of the prayer of the penitent publican God be merciful to me The sinner Do you see it? God be merciful to me the sinner
That was it, to his prayer. But how rich were these few words? You know what David learned?
I'm talking the sweet psalmist, one of God's choice servants.
You know what David learned? He learned as vile as you and
I are as sinners, if you come to God, are you hearing me? If
you come to God, watch this, in the multitude of his tender
mercies, God will hear you. If you come to the true and the
living God in the multitude, David said in Psalm chapter five,
I will come unto God in the multitude, the bounty, the fullness of his
what? Tender mercies. He knew that
that was the only chance he had. The tender mercies of God, the
fullness and abyss of a God who by nature is merciful. That's how this publican is coming.
He's coming on one ground. I want you to hear this now.
The undeserved mercy of God. You know, mercy is something
you don't merit. Mercy is something you don't
earn. Mercy is not a right. Mercy is
not a privilege. Mercy is not something that you
are awarded. Mercy is the counterintuitive
act of God that flows from his nature because God by nature
is merciful. Where he should destroy us, God
shows mercy. He shows mercy. And there's some
wisdom in this that you and I need to learn. And that's this. Yes, at all times, I think it
is good for us to realize that we are publicans. It appears
to me publicans are closer to the kingdom of God than Pharisees.
It appears to me that when God does a work in the heart of a
penitent publican, he reveals his glory to a publican in the
way he doesn't reveal it to a Pharisee. See, God gives grace to the what?
Humble. God resists the what? God abases
the proud and he exalts the humble. I want you to understand that
what God is doing with this man is bringing him near to God.
The text says that he stood afar off, isn't that right? And from
where he stood with his head down, he calls on God to be merciful
to him. Be merciful to me. Be merciful
to me. You know what that means? He
didn't trust his prayer. He didn't trust himself. He didn't
trust his words. He didn't commend himself. He
didn't talk about himself. He didn't boast in his words.
I mean, he could have been like Levi. You know what Levi said?
Levi said, Lord, you know, when I took from people, I gave them
back fourfold. I gave them back fivefold. A
penitent sinner does not come to God on but one ground, the
mercy of God. Stay with me now, the mercy of
God. And how does he do that? How does he call upon this God
of mercy? He only calls upon this God of
mercy, saints, by grace. See, what the proud Pharisee
did not pray, this publican prays for. Now, the proud Pharisee
should have prayed for the same thing. He should ask God for
more mercy than the publican. But he didn't. Why? Because the
proud Pharisee was praying in order to justify himself. This Pharisee was asking God
to justify him. God be merciful to me. God be
a mercy seat for me. God be a propitiation for me. Fascinating. Here he is, somebody
doesn't even know theology. He's standing in the back of
the temple. Now, you know how the temple goes. Technically,
there should only have been one way in. But in Herod's temple,
you could get into the outer courts anyway. Once you get in,
the main thing everybody is looking at is the Holy of Holies. That's
what we're all looking at. The Pharisee is way up front,
and the publican is way in the back. The text says the publican
from afar off, watch this now, is asking God for mercy. Do you know even though physically
in proximity the Pharisee was in the back, I mean the publican
was in the back of the temple, his heart was in the holy of
holies? His heart was in the holy of
holies. He was in the holy place. where
God meets sinners. He was appalled physically, but
his heart was in the presence of God, where God meets sinners. The term he is using for mercy
is the term for the mercy seat. He said, God, be my propitiation,
be my mercy seat, be the means by which my sins are forgiven.
Be my atonement. Lord, justify me. Put away my
sins. Take away my iniquities. Take
away my transgressions. I think that's a pretty wise
prayer, don't you? Lord, I'm a sinner. I have no reason to
be in your presence. I have no grounds by which to
call upon your name. But something has been revealed
to me. I have seen by the word of the
Lord and by the preaching of the gospel that there is a place
in God. where sinners can come. And it's
called the Ark of the Covenant, where God has placed His law,
placed the manna, placed the testimony. And He said, I will
commune with you right there. And I've been taught by the Gospel
that that Ark is Christ, that that mercy seat is Christ, that
Christ is the God-man, the mediator between me and God. I've been
taught that the only way I can get to God is through Christ,
who stands for me. as a merciful and great high
priest to God. See, the two prayers are radically
different. The one is a prayer that is born
out of self-righteousness. The other is a prayer that is
born out of a work of the Spirit of God. Point number five, a
work of the Spirit of God in the justification of a sinner.
What do you mean? The Spirit of God has convinced
this publican that he's a sinner. Isn't that the work of the gospel? Doesn't John 16, 8 say, when
he, the spirit of truth has come, he'll convince you of what? Sin. We're still working on trying
to get that back into our vocabulary, aren't we? Because folks don't
believe they're sinners today. You don't see that in the dictionary
no more. It's not terminology that's used in the secular world,
nor in the church. But let me help us one more time
as we deal with the ABCs of the gospel You and I are born and
conceived in sin. We not only do sin We are seeing
that everything that we do is tainted by sin now we've been
convinced by the Spirit of God and the Word of God that that's
true and Because we are sinners we are in need of a mercy seed
We are in need of a justification. We are in need of a righteousness
outside of ourselves. We need God to act in our behalf. Now, the Holy Ghost has taught
us this. The Spirit of God has taught us that not only are we
sinners, but there's only one place in the universe where righteousness
can be found. And now, the righteousness of
God, apart from works, has been made manifest and has been witnessed
to by the law and the prophets. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God, but being freely justified by His
grace through the propitiation that is in Jesus Christ and by
His blood can a sinner be made right with God. Can a sinner
be made right with God, by the mercy seat of God, in the person
of Jesus Christ, apart from human words? Simply abandon yourself
to this glorious God and say, Lord, there's not a place in
the universe that can fix my problem. There's not a place
in the universe that can fix my problem. There's not a place
in this vast universe that I can go to fix my evil heart. There's not a place in the galaxies
that I can go to to find relief for my soul But the holy of holies
The holy place of God and today that holy place is a person I
am the way I am the truth. I am the life. No one comes unto
the father but by me See the public and knew some things didn't
he? He knew watch this now that God was holy He knew that he
was sinful. He knew that his works doesn't
merit before God. He knew that he was without a
righteousness before God. He also knew that God had offered
the only sacrifice that's acceptable with sinners. He knew that that
sacrifice is to be found in God's holy place. He knew the gospel
and he's appealing to God on the grounds of the good news
of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. as the basis
of God accepting him. And you know what our master
tells us in this text, ladies and gentlemen? Watch this now
as we close. Listen to it. This is verse 14.
I tell you. Now, when the Lord tell you something,
you better listen to it. I might tell you something that might
be wrong, but when the Lord say, I tell you, you better listen.
Watch it now. This man went down to his house
justified rather than the other. He went down to his house clothed
in the righteousness of Christ. And can you imagine the peace
that he did not have as he headed to the temple that was his when
he left. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have what? Peace. We have what? Peace. the peace of God which passeth
understanding. It passes knowledge. It passes
comprehension. It's the free gift of God. It's
the essence of the kingdom of God. It's being made right with
God on the grounds of His darling Son, Jesus Christ. It is a peace
that we cannot describe where the soul is accepted before God
by the witness of the Holy Ghost. You're mine. I'm yours because
of Him. Give God all the glory, all the
time, everywhere in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.