I have entitled this message,
The Sinner's Prayer. Now, in giving this message this
title, I'm not talking about what soul winners do when they
find somebody and get them to say, say this prayer after me.
That is an abomination. If someone is seeking the Lord,
they don't have to have somebody tell them what to say. The sinner's prayer. Now, like
I said, six weeks ago or so, I brought a message entitled,
A Definitive Parable. And it was a parable on the Pharisee
and the publican. And I think that that particular
parable can certainly be definitive of the entire message of scripture.
But what I thought about even then is the prayer of the publican
what he prayed. There are two prayers in that
parable. The first, the parable of the
Pharisee. God, I thank thee that I'm not
as other men are. And then there is the prayer
of the publican. God be merciful to me sinner
and in the original the definite article is used the sinner. God be merciful to me the sinner
and what is very important is that word merciful is propitious. Propitious. Now you can't pray
that prayer if you don't understand what that means. God be propitious
to me, the sinner. And I pray that God will give
us an understanding of that prayer through this message and that
every one of us might pray that prayer from our heart, inspired
by the spirit of God. God be propitious to me, the
sinner. Now, have I prayed that prayer
with understanding? God be propitious to me, the
sinner. Now, obviously I haven't prayed
that prayer if I don't have some understanding of the fact that
I'm a sinner. You know, the only person who
can teach me and you that we're sinners is the Lord himself.
If He teaches you, you'll know. Now, if there's no God, one could
argue, who's to say that there's sin in the first place? By what standard? But if there's
a God, and there is, there is sin. Sin is the transgression
of His law. Since there is a God, there is
sin. God be merciful, God be propitious
to me, the sinner. Now, I asked Siri what propitiation
means. What does it mean to propitiate?
Y'all ever ask Siri anything? Let me read her definition. To win or to gain favor, to gods
or persons by doing something that pleases them. Now that's serious definition.
To win favor by doing something that pleases them. And that really is the idea of
human religion. You got an angry God, do something
to propitiate him, to gain his favor. That is salvation by works. That is salvation by works, but
it's an accurate description of how the word is used everywhere
but in the Bible. The Bible never uses the word
like this, like Siri defined, but this is the way religion
would use the word. Siri described the religion of
the natural man, DO SOMETHING, DO SOMETHING THAT WILL MAKE GOD
FAVORABLE TOWARD YOU. DO SOMETHING TO GAIN HIS FAVOR. Now, let me show you an example
of that in Romans chapter 10. Verse 5, for Moses describeth the righteousness
which is of the law, that the man which doeth those things
shall live in them, or live by them. But the righteousness which
is of faith speaketh on this wise, say not in your heart,
don't even think this, who shall ascend into heaven Meaning, that
is to bring Christ down from above, what can we do that will
make Christ come down and do something for us? Same thing Sari said, what can
we do that'll make Christ come down and do something for us? Verse seven, or who shall descend
into the deep? That is to bring up Christ again
from the dead. What can we do? that will make
his death work for us? What can we do to cause him and
his work to be effectual to us? What can we do to propitiate
God? What can we do to get Christ
to look down with his favor upon us? Now that's the religion of
the natural man. What can we do to propitiate God? Propitiation is what God does
for Himself to enable Him to do something for me or you. The
Bible never speaks of man doing something to propitiate God.
The Bible only speaks of what God does for Himself. to enable him to do something
for me or for you. Would you turn with me to Hebrews
9? I'm going to ask you at the first of this message to turn
to several scriptures. I want to know what it means
to pray, God be propitious to me, the sinner. Now in this chapter, The writer
to the Hebrews is giving the furniture, the paraphernalia
of the tabernacle. And look what he says in verse
5. And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing
the mercy seat of which we cannot now speak particularly. There
the word is translated mercy seat. Now I want to understand
what propitiation is. I want you to understand it.
It's called here, the mercy seat turned to Romans chapter three.
I want us to see how the same word. Translated mercy seat. The exact same word is also translated
propitiation in Romans chapter three, verse 25, whom God has
set forth to be a propitiation at word mercy seat. It's the
same word, propitiation. Whom God has set forth to be
a propitiation. Whom God has foreordained is
what the word means. God has set his son forth. He's purposed
his son to be a propitiation. Now this mercy seat, turn to
Exodus chapter 25. Exodus 25. Verse 17, and thou shalt make a mercy seat
of pure gold. That's what the writer to the
Hebrews was talking about. That's that lid, that covering
that was to be put over the ark of the covenant. It's called
a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be
the length thereof and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.
Look down in verse 21, and thou shalt put the mercy seat upon
the ark. And in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that
I shall give thee and there will I meet with thee and I will commune
with thee from above the mercy seat. Now, if me and you are
going to have communion with God, if he's going to meet with
us and what a glorious thing. For God to meet with me and to
have communion with me and make Himself known to me. Here's where
it's going to take place. The mercy seat, the propitiatory
lid, the propitiation. Now this word is used to, it
comes from the word atonement. out of the Old Testament, or
COVERING. If you look in Leviticus chapter
16, that chapter on the great day of atonement, 16 times that
word is used, ATONEMENT, COVERING, to ATONE for SIN. Now, the perpetuatory lid shows
how God has made a way to show favor to sinners. You don't bring
this. You don't propitiate God. You
don't do anything to gain his favor. But thank God this glorious
God has propitiated himself. And he's made a way for him to
show me and you favor without any reference to us doing anything
to earn his favor. Now we're already in Romans chapter
three. Turn back to Romans chapter three, whom God, verse 25, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation, a mercy seat through faith in
his blood. Now in Romans chapter one, Paul had
declared the wickedness of the Gentile world. Look in verse
29, being filled with all unrighteousness,
fornication, sexual sin, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness,
full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers,
backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of
evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant
breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful, who knowing
the judgment of God that they which commit such things are
worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in
them that do them." What a wicked bunch of people. I don't know
of a more clear exposition of the sinfulness of man than right
there. Therefore thou art inexcusable,
old man. Chapter two, verse one. Did anybody
think, yes, those people are very wicked? I agree with that.
I give my amen to that. That's a wicked bunch of people. Therefore thou art inexcusable,
old man, whosoever thou art that judgest. That you look at those
people and judge them. Now wait a minute, what they
did is wrong. What they did is sinful. I mean, what a catalog
of sin that is. But yet Paul says to man, that
means me and you. That means everybody everywhere. Therefore thou art inexcusable,
O man, whosoever thou art that judges. For wherein thou judgest
another, you condemn yourself, for thou that judgest doest the
same things." With regard to that horrible catalog of sin,
God says, you set judgment on those people, you're playing
the hypocrite because you're doing the same things. And somebody says, I'm not doing
those things. You want me to believe you or God? I believe
God. I believe God. Now that's the
Gentile world. Now look in verse 17 of chapter
two. Now he turns to the Jew. Behold,
thou art called a Jew. and restest in the law. You're
not like those Gentiles. You make your boast of God, and
you know his will, and approve the things that are more excellent,
being instructed out of the law, and are confident that thou thyself
art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,
an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which has
the form of knowledge and truth in the law. Thou therefore which
teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest
a man should not steal, Dost thou steal? Thou that say'st
a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou
that abhor'st idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest
thy boast of the law through breaking the law, dishonorest
thou God? Now look in chapter three, verse
nine. What then? Are we Jews better
than those Sinful Gentiles, no and no wise for we have before
proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin. As it's written, Paul says, I'm
given what the scripture has always taught. as it is written. There's none that understand
us. There's none that seek after
God. They are all gone out of the
way. They are together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good. No, not one. Look down in verse 23. Verse 22, the last phrase, for
there is no difference for all have sinned and come short. That's me and you all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. And there's a definition
of sin for you. Is there anything that you've
done that's fallen short of the glory of God? I love the way Paul says, there's
no difference. Not before God. There's no difference. Well, at least I'm better than
so-and-so. No, you're not. There's no difference. All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. But here's the
gospel. Verse 24, being justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth
to be a propitiation. Propitiation is what God has
done. so he can be just and justify
somebody like me or you. The Bible never speaks of what
we do to propitiate God or gain God's favor, but what he has
done for himself in order to give folks like me and you his
favor. For God to do something for me
or you, he first had to do something for himself, that's the cross. I love when Isaac said, father,
here's the wood, here's the fire, where's the lamb for a burnt
offering? And Abraham said, my son, God shall provide himself
a lamb for a burnt offering. Now he's the one who does the
providing. You can't provide. Amen? You can't provide. God will provide
for himself a lamb for a burnt offering. The blood was first
for him. It's for him. God provides Himself. Christ Jesus is God. God provides
Himself as the Lamb for the burnt offering. Now, that's propitiation.
God providing Himself. Now, what I would like to do
is give you five things the Bible teaches about propitiation. Now remember, we can't pray that
prayer, God be propitious to me the sinner, if we don't understand
what it means. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
2. We're going to look at five different
places this word is used in the Bible, other than the ones we've
already seen. Verse 16, for verily he, the Lord Jesus,
took not on him the nature of angels. You know, the Lord didn't
die for the sin of the angels. They're reserved to be destroyed. You know, I've never heard anybody
complain about that. Maybe some of the angels did, but I've never
heard a human. It's not fair. He didn't die
for the sins of the angels. He didn't. He took upon him, not the nature
of angels, but the seed of Abraham. Wherefore, in all things, verse
17, it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren. Who are
his brethren? Look in verse 11, for both he
that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one
for the witch cause. He's not ashamed to call them
brethren. Those are who his brothers are. Those he sanctifies, those
he sets apart. He's not ashamed to call them
his brethren. You know, the Lord, if you're
a believer, the Lord is not ashamed to identify you. This one of
my brethren. Isn't that amazing? Wherefore, in all things that
behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, he was made
sin. He's got to be made like his
brethren. 2 Corinthians 5, 21 says, for he hath made him to
be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Wherefore, in all things it behooved
him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a
merciful and a faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." Now,
that word reconciliation is the word propitiation. Same word. Here they translated reconciliation,
but it's the word propitiation. What he did on Calvary's tree,
propitiated God and made the way for him to freely give us
his favor. Listen to this scripture, Romans
8 32. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not freely give
us all things, there's nothing to prevent him from freely giving
you everything his person and work accomplished. And I love
the way the translators call propitiation here, reconciliation. Now listen to me, God is reconciled. That means there's nothing you
need to do to gain his favor. Christ accomplished it. God is
reconciled. Forget doing. God is reconciled
and we don't do anything to bring that about. This is the work
of Christ alone. He by Himself purged our sins. Now, His propitiation is God
being reconciled. Turn to Hebrews chapter 8. Verse 12, 4, I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. Now that's the same merciful
that is translated merciful in the prayer of the publican. I will be propitious. I will
be propitious. to their unrighteousness and
their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." Because of the perpetuatory sacrifice
of Christ, God making a way for him to have favor toward me,
because of the perpetuatory sacrifice of Christ, I will be propitious. Their sins, their iniquities,
will I remember no more." Now, I wish I could say this the way
it ought to be said. How can an omniscient, omnipotent,
omnipresent God forget and not remember my sins? Now, I said
this to the Sunday school class this morning. There's some kind of drug they
give you when you're having your throat stretched or having a
colonoscopy or any of those horrible things that people have to do.
Makes you forget it. You wake up and you don't remember
it happening. Now one time, I was having my throat stretched, and
the doctor said, I want to see how you react. He didn't give
me any of that stuff. That was horrible. I got my throat stretched
without having any of that stuff that made me forget it. But I would, generally speaking,
I wouldn't remember it, but I was aware of it. My throat was scratchy. I could feel that I had had that,
although I couldn't remember it taking place. God's forgetting is not like
that. The only reason he forgets sin
is because there's nothing there to remember because of the perpetuatory
sacrifice of Christ. When Christ died, my sin was
expunged from the universe. It's gone. It's gone. When he said to that
poor woman taken in adultery, hath no man condemned thee? She
said, no man, Lord. He said, neither do I condemn
thee. There's only one reason he can
say to that woman, neither do I condemn thee. Because there's
nothing to condemn her for because of the blood of Jesus Christ.
That's why those sins cannot be remembered. They're gone.
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect. It is God that
justifies. Who is he that can condemn? It's
Christ that died, yea, rather that's risen again, who's even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. 1 John 3, 5 says that he was manifested
to take away our sins. Take them away. Listen to this
scripture from Jeremiah 50 verse 20 in those days. And at that
time, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for. And there
shall be none. Do you hear that? There should
be none. God looks. He always finds what he's looking
for. And there shall be none. You see, when the believer's
judged, he's judged from the book of life. And beside my name
is sinlessness. There shall be none. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from A-double-L, all sin. That is why the Lord said with
regard to this publican who prayed this prayer, God be propitious
to me, the sinner. You know what the Lord said?
I tell you. This man went down to his house
justified, cleared, declared not guilty, sinless, because
of the perpetuatory sacrifice of Christ. Now turn to 1 John
chapter 4. I want you to look at these with
me. 1 John chapter 4, verse 9. In this, 1 John chapter 4 verse
9, in this was manifested the love of God toward us because
that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might
live through him here in his love, not that we love God, but
that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation of
our sins. Now, the religion of the natural
man is do something to propitiate an angry God. The gospel says it's the love
of God that sent his son. There's the reason behind propitiation.
The love of God. God didn't send his son to make
a way for him to love. God sent His Son because He did
love. God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish. but have eternal life. What's behind God providing this
propitiation? The love of God. There's nothing that can prevent
Him from giving you all the things of salvation because His love
sent His Son to be the propitiation of our sins. Now you're in 1
John, turn to 1 John 2. The propitiation Christ accomplished
is the ground of His intercession and His advocacy on our behalf. Look in verse 1, my little children,
term of endearment, these things write I unto you that you sin
not. People say, well, what you all
believe will lead people to sin. This thing of salvation being
utterly and completely by grace, that your personal conduct doesn't
have anything to do with you gaining God's acceptance. It's,
it's utterly by grace. Why that'll lead you to sin. Not a believer. Somebody that has that attitude
just doesn't understand. They've never known God. They've
never seen God. They've never been saved by his
grace. I love what John says. These
things write I unto you that you personally sin not. Weren't you thankful for that
admonition? Everything in the Bible says
sin not when you do. If any man sin, we have an advocate with the
father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and he is the propitiation for
our sins. and not for ours only, but also
the sins of the whole world." Now, the propitiation of Christ
is the ground of His advocacy and His intercession. Now, I
love talking about the Lord being our lawyer. And this is what's
being said, this kind of language, the advocate. I need to have
someone as my advocate. Now, our lawyer is Jesus Christ
the righteous. He's the son of the judge. Everyone he's ever been an advocate
for has been saved. He's never failed. He's incapable
of failure. What an advocate! You know, there
won't be anybody in hell that he represented. There won't be
anybody in hell that God loved. What an advocate, incapable of
failure. And here's another thing about
our advocate. He makes all of his clients plead guilty, and
yet they're all justified. What an advocate. And who is
he? What's his ground? Jesus Christ
the righteous, He is the propitiation for our sins. Now there's the
ground of His advocacy. Because He is the propitiation,
He has removed the sin and made the way for God to give His favor. That's the ground. He doesn't,
listen, His intercessions, it's not like this. I say mournfully, how many sins
have you committed over and over and over again, at least in your
mind, in your heart, sins of repetition? Now, does the Lord
say, please forgive him again? Please get him off the hook again.
I know he's done it a thousand times, but go ahead and excuse
him for the thousandth time. The grand of his advocacy is
the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ, where he removed the
sin by his sacrifice. Now let's go back to our text
and closing Luke 18. The propitiatory sacrifice of
Christ. made God reconcile to me. It
makes my sin to be forgotten. The reason behind the propitiatory
sacrifice is the love of God. The propitiation Christ accomplished
is the ground of His intercession. And now back to our text in Luke
chapter 18. Let's look at this prayer. Verse 13 in the Publican, standing afar off would not lift
up so much as his eyes unto heaven. But he smote upon his breast.
He knew that's where his problem was. He smote upon his breast,
saying, God be propitious to me, the sinner. I can't do anything about my
sin. I can't make it go away. I can't cause it not to be. My
only hope is for you to be propitious to me, the sinner. Now, let me give you some real
good news. Everyone, without exception,
in the history of the universe who has prayed that prayer, the
sinner's prayer, was heard by God. And if you, by His grace, in
your heart, Pray that prayer. God, be propitious to me, the
sinner. Look what the Lord says in verse
14. I tell you, there's the authority. I tell you, this man went down
to his house justified, not merely forgiven,
Not merely shown mercy, but justified. You see, that's because of the
propitiation of Christ. The sin was removed, righteousness
given. That man went down to his justified
rather than the other for everyone that exalts himself shall be
abased and he that humble of himself. Oh, my God, give me
the grace to do that even now to humble myself. And the only
way you really humble yourself is when you cry, God, be propitious
to me, the sinner. Let's pray. Lord, enable us by your grace to say with understanding, to
say with desire, to say because we don't have
anything else we can say, God be propitious to me, the sinner,
to us, the sinners, for Christ's sake. In His name we pray. Amen.