Will be in the book of Luke tonight,
Luke 18. Luke 18. Have a simple message
for us tonight. I've titled the message beggar
or bragger. There's not much difference in
spelling between beggar and bragger. You move the A and the E's around
and you add an R. Not much difference between a
beggar and a bragger if you look at the spelling. But everything
pertaining to God, everything pertaining to salvation, comes
down to us either being a beggar, a mercy beggar, or a self-righteous
bragger. We're one or the other. There
is no in-between. We're either bragging or we're
begging. And it is the Lord that maketh
us to differ. So let's read our text here, Luke chapter 18, verse
9 through 14. And he, the Lord, spake this
parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were
righteous and despised others. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a Republican. 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. 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 exalteth himself shall be abased. And he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted." Here we have two very clear, different
men, very descriptive in what their confession is, very descriptive
in who they are, a Pharisee and a publican. Pharisee's righteousness
was in and of that which they did. They believed that when
the Messiah came, that they would be resurrected from the dead
and rewarded for all of their good deeds after they had died.
That's what the Pharisees believed. Everything that they did was
based upon receiving a reward, physically speaking. Yet we see
another man. A publican, a publican by definition
is a tax collector. He would have been hated by the
Jews and by every nation for that. We don't care much for
the IRS, do we? I mean, that's just how it, a tax collector,
that's what they are. This guy would go from house to house
saying, you owe this much, you owe this much. And they use that
power and the authority that they had to gain for themselves,
being deceptive, being dishonest. They would gain, you owe 15%,
not just 10. Well, you couldn't argue with them. You had to give
it. What do you think they owe 10% really? Where'd that 5% go?
They just put it in their pocket. Zacchaeus was a publican. He
was a tax collector. He climbed up in a sycamore tree
because he knew the Lord was passing by. And the Lord in mercy
said unto him, Zacchaeus, come down. For today I'm going to
abide in your house. And Zacchaeus came down, he saw
the Lord Jesus Christ, not just as the person, but as Lord. And
what happened? He said, Lord, if I've done any
man wrong, I'm gonna repay it fourfold. I'm gonna return it.
Lord gave him a new heart, didn't he? It wasn't about the money
anymore. No, it was about seeing the Lord, about the same cry
as this publican that we see here in our text. Lord, have
mercy on me, the sinner. Now one is a bragger and one
is a beggar. On the face of this earth, everyone
is one of those two, without exception. Doesn't matter what
religion that they're in. Doesn't matter what denomination. Doesn't matter what creed, what
nationality, what language. Everyone is either a bragger
in what they do or they're a mercy beggar before God. It's that
simple. Now we know that the Lord only
saves through and by the preaching of his gospel. So I should have
prefaced with that, but everybody understands what I'm saying.
Either they're men and women, no matter who they are, are either
a beggar or they have a righteousness in and of themselves in some
way, shape or form. It's that simple. And before
we leave here tonight, my hope is that the Lord in mercy would
reveal to me and to each of you, which one we are, which one we
are. And then my hope is that the
Lord would cause us all if we never have been made to be a
mercy beggar, that tonight would be the night, the very first
night where we are made mercy beggars. Let's look in verse
nine again first. And I want you to notice the
congregation that he is speaking to, the individuals that he's
speaking this parable to. He says, he spake this parable
unto certain, certain individuals, which trusted in themselves that
they were righteous. And because they were righteous,
they despised others. They despised others. I want
you to notice the poor state of these individuals. What a
dire state that it is. They trusted in themselves. They trusted in their own righteousness. They trusted in what they did
or perhaps what they didn't do. These are the two ways that men
formulate in their mind that they have a righteousness. I
don't do that or I do this. Isn't that what the publican
prayed? Lord, I thank thee that I am not like this man or this
man or this woman, but I do this and I don't do that. This is
how men gather righteousness in their mind is based upon what
they do. And therefore it gives them some
kind of glory and causes every man and woman that does so to
be braggers, not bragging on their Lord, not bragging on the
Lord Jesus Christ, but yes, bragging on their Lord themselves, themselves. These men and women, that the
Lord speaking to trusted in themselves that they were righteous in so
much that they despised others. They had a self-righteousness.
They believed themselves over God. What does the Lord say?
What does the truth say? The Lord said there's none righteous. See, they believed themselves.
They believed the lie. They believed themselves. They
believed their deceitful heart. They believed our adversary,
the lie, who spread the first lie, the father of lies, over
God. God says there's none. Righteous,
no not one. There's none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are all together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no not one. That's Romans chapter three, verse 11 through 12. What
does none mean to us? Ask yourself that. What does
none, there's none righteous, no not one. What does none mean?
Does that mean that there's one righteous among men? that there's
some that's not as bad as others and therefore righteousness can
be established? What did the Lord say when the
man came to him? What must I do to inherit eternal
life? He said, good master, what must I do? He said, there's none
good but God, but God. So what does none mean? None
means that there's only one that is good. Not with Adam's blood
there's not, but the Lord Jesus Christ didn't have Adam's blood,
did he? Lord Jesus Christ had the father's blood. He had righteous
blood. He had perfect blood. And therefore
he was good by definition. God's truth reveals that in us,
in our flesh dwelleth no good thing. Not a little bit of good. You ever heard that saying, there's
a little bit of good in everybody? I've heard it said there's an
ounce of good in everybody. It's not true. Not by God's standard. By man's standard, sure, we can
look at each other and say, well, we're not as bad as this person,
and we're not as bad as, what does God say? There's none good,
no, not one. The bragger doesn't want this
truth. Do you know why? It strips him of his righteousness. strips him of his righteousness.
He has to become naked before the Lord completely without a
covering before God, not having anything good in and of himself
anymore. And by nature, we hate that.
I can give you an example. If we If I tell you that I believe,
and I do believe this, that every time I stand, there is no greater
time where I see myself the chief sinner than when I stand before
you to try to declare this glorious gospel, this impossible task,
and yet the Lord said that by these means it's to be done.
It's humbling to stand here. It's not exalting me at all.
It's all about him, and it abases It abases, and what is my point? Well, if I was to tell you I
feel like the chief sinner, and then after service, you start
agreeing with me, I might get a little frustrated. Isn't that
true? I believe I'm the chief sinner,
but now let's start talking about your sins. Let's see what happens,
and we get our feathers ruffled, don't we? That's the example
of it. We believe it in our heart, but
the flesh hates it. The flesh hates it. Don't tell
me I'm a sinner. Don't tell me there's nothing I can do for
salvation. I'm not as bad as so and so. That's the flesh by
nature. That's the bragger. Go for the mercy for the Lord
to cause us to be mercy beggars. The description of this other
man is very clear. He wouldn't even lift up his
eyes into heaven. Smote upon his breasts, Lord
have mercy, have mercy. Don't give me what I deserve.
That's what that is. Have mercy on me, the sinner. You know why God's people are
the only ones that want this truth? God must create the need
that only he can feel. And he always feels it the exact
same way with the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the truth. We, if I say accept the Lord,
that's the proper word because we didn't, I receive, I'm sorry,
not accept, we receive the Lord. How do we receive it? As completely
empty mercy beggars. Not because we've made a choice,
but because he's made us willing in the day of his power. You
ask the blind man, would you like to see? Would you like to
receive your sight? That's what the Lord said. No,
I'm okay, I think I'll just keep begging for the rest of my life
and never be able to see anything. Of course he wants to see, he
has a need. The Lord gave him that. They say, Lazarus, would
you like to come forth from the dead? You know, if it's not too
much trouble, I know you're enjoying being dead. Silly talk, isn't
it? It wasn't optional. Lazarus come forth. Lazarus had
a need. Then unless the Lord spoke, he's going to remain dead.
What about the lame, the leper? If you're a leper, you're an
outcast from society. You weren't permitted into the
camp. You couldn't go around the people. And yet, You had to announce
yourself from a distance, unclean, unclean, stay away. I was sick
Sunday and actually announced everybody come walking in, unclean,
don't come near me. And that was just a virus. Can
you imagine a flesh eating disease that would kill you? Literally,
your body parts will fall off from leprosy. That's what we
are by nature. And when the Lord reveals that, there's nothing
to brag in and of ourself about any longer. I don't see this
leprosy as good anymore. I'm completely covered. There's
not an ounce of good flesh on me. And by Levitical law, the
priest says clean. Who is that priest? The Lord
Jesus Christ. Only a leper from head to toe
becomes a beggar. Those who have a little bit,
of that good flesh left on the skin, they're not considered
clean. But only the one that completely
comes, mercy begging, the leopard that's completely covered that
comes mercy begging, the Lord says clean. He's the doer of
it. Only the Lord's people love this
truth. Because of this, unlike the bragger, God's elect don't
trust in themselves. My daughter asked me recently,
and don't ask me the conversation, I can't even remember, but I
remember the answer the Lord gave me. She said, don't you trust
me, Dad? And I said, well, I trust you about as much as I trust
myself. And that ain't much. I know what we are. I know what
we are, but left to ourself, you know it's true. What about
David? He was a man after God's own heart, yet he committed adultery,
he committed murder. Think about the mercy and grace
shown to him in spite of him, despite of him. He's a trophy
of the Lord's mercy and grace. And that's what the Lord does,
is he saves sinners. Mercy-begging sinners, all by
his grace. All by his grace. No, we don't
trust in ourself anymore, do we? We don't wake up each morning
looking in the mirror saying, we got this. No. If anything,
we look in the mirror and say, Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. That's what we pray constantly.
Lord, have mercy. I'm so glad that he delights
in showing mercy to his people. Paul said it best. Oh, wretched
man that I am. Not that I was. Oh, wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? You
ever feel like you're carrying a dead corpse on your back? You're
just carrying around dead weight. Yes, yes I do. Well, it's true. We are, but death, dead men walking. That's what we are. That's why
Paul said, I've counted everything, everything I've ever learned,
all my creed, my bloodline, everything that I know, but dung, that I
may win Christ. That's the cry of the mercy beggar.
That's the cry of the mercy beggar. He was a Pharisee to begin with.
He was a bragger. He said, if anybody would have
had reason to brag, it'd have been me. Circumcised the eighth
day of the house of Benjamin, the Pharisee of Pharisees. He
said, I had it all. He said, I was the man, if you
could put it that way. But he said, I counted all that
but dung. I'm not a bragger anymore. I'm a beggar, a mercy beggar.
Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. This is the confession that all
believers have. Paul said, I have no confidence
in the flesh. That's your confession too, isn't
it? I have no confidence in this flesh. Braggers, on the other hand,
they're confident in themselves. They're confident in their work.
They're confident in their lifestyle. I heard somebody recently tell
a family member of mine, she said, if you get in church, the
Lord will give you a man. The Lord will give you a husband.
If you'll just get in church and be faithful, if you would
really dedicate yourself to God, the Lord will give you a husband.
Show me that in the scripture. That's obligating God, isn't
it? That's something to brag about. Look what I've done, and
look what God has rewarded me with. Most believe that in salvation,
and it's not true. They're just bragging on themselves.
What happens to those poor souls that do that in the presence
of God with no righteousness? They say, look what we've done.
We've done this in your name, obligated you. We did this for
you, in your name. Cast out demons. Did not Judas
cast out demons? Cast out demons and many wonderful
works in your name. What does the Lord say? Depart
from me. I never knew you. I never knew you. You're bragging.
You're not begging. But the good news of the gospel is the Lord
says, come unto me, all you that are labored and are heavy laden,
I'll give you rest. Are you a beggar, a mercy beggar?
He says, come, take of the water of life freely. That's who it's
for is the beggars, the mercy beggars. Now understand something,
a beggar doesn't come bragging about his sin or bragging that
they're a sinner. We don't come to the Lord saying,
look how bad I stink. Look how filthy my clothes are.
No, we come completely without covering whatsoever with nothing
in our hands to offer, not obligating God. I remember Think about it
this way, I saw, you go around town and no matter what city
you live in, there's some, the bigger the population usually,
the more beggars you'll have on the side. Some people, you
know what I'm talking about, sit on the corner, they're begging
for change, you go through a red light, people have their hand
out, they have signs holding up, I have, this is my need,
have mercy on me. Understand something. That's
not how we approach God. We don't come to him before with
a sign saying I have to make him feel guilty or to make him
feel obligated. No, it's all of grace. It's all
of grace. We don't come bearing a sign
saying this is my part of my righteousness is how bad I am.
No, that's that's not what the Lord's people do. They come unable
to lift up their head before God. Unable to lift up their
head. That's how we come to him. Completely
empty, empty handed, bringing no prize, nothing to give. Lord says, why should I help
you? We say, Lord, truthfully, you
shouldn't. You shouldn't. I'm not worthy.
I'm not worthy of any grace or any mercy. By definition, that's
what grace and mercy is. And yet the Lord, in mercy, chooses
to show grace and mercy to sinners, to his begging for mercy sinners. That's who he chose to save,
those that come to him begging. Now, do they come to him so that
he'll save them or do they come to him because they've been saved? That's the answer. He saved us
and then he calls us. Saved us first, then he calls.
When he calls us, he reveals that we're nothing but a dead
dog sinner. That woman, that Seraphim woman
that approached the Lord, she didn't come to him and say, Lord,
I'm a dead dog sinner, and I'm an outcast among the Jew, so
you should have mercy on me. That's not what happened. She
had a need. She came to the Lord with her
need, not confessing how bad she was. And we do confess unto
the Lord, but we don't confess it as our righteousness saying,
get what I'm saying here. We can come unto the Lord saying,
Lord, I'm this bad. So now have mercy on me. That's
not what we do. We come to Christ needing Christ
because we've seen how bad we are. That's repentance in faith. That's what it does. Beggars just beg. Beggars just
beg. That's all we do, we beg. Lord,
I can't obligate you. I can't constrain you. I can't
restrain you. I'm just begging for one more crumb from your
table. Begging for one more morsel of the one more glimpse. Tell
me more about Isaac. Tell me more about Isaac. You
remember that message? Lord, I need to see Christ. Lord,
I see I can't come to you. I can't come to you telling you
how bad I am to obligate you to save me, but I see how bad
I am and I can't approach you. It's going to be up to your mercy.
It's going to be up to your grace alone. Braggers are confident in themselves.
Beggars are not. Do you know what being confident
in yourself, spiritually speaking, makes? Well, look what it says,
verse nine again. He spake a parable unto certain
which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised
other. And the only thing that that can create is self-righteous
false piety. That's it. That's it, being confident
in yourself, spiritually speaking. If we have any confidence in
the flesh, that's all that it can create. Keeping the law creates
a Pharisee or a rebel. And if it's our righteousness,
it's a Pharisee. That's all that it can create. You know what
the gospel creates? Mercy beggars, according to the
Lord's will. It completely abases man. We've read twice now in the book
of Luke. He that exalted himself shall be abased. He that humbled
himself shall be exalted. The gospel reveals, Lord, I don't
know how to humble myself not to please you. Even my ability
to humble myself isn't good enough to approach you. Lord, give me
the humility in Christ that you demand. Everything that you require,
you're gonna have to provide. You're gonna have to provide. No, the call goes forth. The
call goes forth of the gospel is if you see yourself as a sinner,
come to Christ. Don't examine yourself to see
how bad you are. Don't determine whether you're
qualified because you're a sinner. If you have a need, come to Christ.
Come to the fountain and drink. It's that simple. Don't examine
and say, well, I don't know if I'm bad enough to come. No, that's
not even relevant. If the Lord's shown you that
you need Christ Jesus, the substitute lamb, come to him. There's nothing
stopping you but pride. The Lord said, if you come, it's
because I'm allowing you to, I've caused you to, I've made
you to. And the call is come, come. I wanna examine our Pharisee
just for a moment. Look with me in verse 11. The
Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. Notice those words, he prayed
thus with himself. He was by himself praying with
himself, about himself, and then putting God at the end of it,
wasn't he? Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. God,
I thank thee that I, and you can, there's a bunch of I's here.
I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican. I fast twice in a week. I give
tithes of all that I possess." But understand the difference.
The publican standing afar off, he didn't approach. Pharisee
was up front and center, wasn't he? He was right there at the
the very front of where they prayed. He was wanting to be
seen. He was wanting to be heard. And the Lord told the Pharisees,
you like to go about with your garments and your public prayers,
drawing attention to yourself. He said, you have your reward.
That is literally your reward. Whatever men say, whatever praise
they may give you. This publican didn't even approach.
He was too, he knew he was unworthy and it was a miracle of grace.
If we see ourself as that unworthy where we cannot approach and
yet we beg God for mercy, it is a miracle of grace. It's so
contrary, so contrary to the flesh. Self-righteousness, brethren,
in its simplicity is to declare yourself righteous before God.
It's that simple. And men do that, not even meaning
to. They cling to something, some
law that they've kept, some ceremony that they've kept, some prayer
that they've prayed, some work of some kind, and it's just self-righteousness. That's all that it is. Mercy
beggar must come empty, not clinging to any memory of something that
they have done or something that they have not done, but having
one thing needful, the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those that don't come are deceived
to deceive. The scripture says evil men and
seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived.
And I wrote down the question, who did the deceiving? Well,
the scripture says our hearts deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked. We don't need any help deceiving ourself,
do we? But a lot of people say the devil made me do it. You
ever heard that before? The devil made me do it. They blame the
devil for their for their sin or being deceived or whatever
else. And I can understand their logic to some degree. It's contrary
to what the scripture says. We stand before the Lord outside
of Christ. We can't say the devil made me
do it. No, we're guilty. We're guilty for what we are.
The devil's been in the deceiving game a very long time, hasn't
he? From the very beginning, Genesis chapter 3, where he appears
before Eve and he changes the word of God, adding one word,
not. You shall not surely die, Eve.
You shall not surely die. He just added one word. And that's
the simplicity of the message tonight is beggar and bragger.
It's just mixing two letters up and then putting an R in there.
It's the same thing. Men believe that they're saved,
but all they're doing is bragging. No, the truth is we must come
as mercy beggars. We must come as mercy beggars. What about another word that's
used often that men have close, but it's not entirely accurate,
and it would be the words Jesus saves. Jesus saves. We acquired this building by
the Lord's providence, and the first thing I noticed was a sign
over there, first time I came into the building. It said, big
letters, maybe some of you remember, it said, Jesus saves. I said,
well, all I've got to do is change that last letter and we're good.
Jesus saved. Jesus saved. Men believe Jesus
saves if you do something. That's what men say, mean by
that. That's what they mean by that. That's just another little
change from the truth, isn't it? Makes a man a bragger. I
have decided, there's a song we used to sing in religion.
I have decided to follow Jesus. I've decided to follow, that's
bragging, isn't it? No, that's only words it's gonna
hear by professing that before the Lord has depart from me.
Depart from me. What about the mercy-begging
sinner that comes to Christ, having a need? Lord, have mercy
on me, the sinner. It's an acknowledgement of what
we are and who he is. Lord, you're gonna have to be
the one that gives the mercy. Have mercy upon me, the sinner. He
said, I will in no wise cast you out. Come unto me. I will
in no wise cast you out. The truth of the gospel is good
news to the mercy begging center when he by himself purged our
sin. Not when he made an attempt.
Not whenever he did his part. But when he by himself purged
our sin sat down, that's good news. That's good news. If you
have no righteousness and you see that you have no ability.
That's good news that he purged your sin. There's no work to
be done anymore. It is finished. Now, either we approach God bragging
on ourself or we come begging, begging for that precious blood,
the only remission of sin. My question this evening is,
are you a beggar or a bragger? Well, we've looked at the bragger
a bit. I want to look at the beggar
just briefly. In verse 13, it says, the publican
standing afar off would not lift up so much his eyes into heaven,
but smote upon his breast saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner.
Look at our Lord's words here. I tell you, this man went down
to his house justified rather than the other. He went down
to his house justified. Was he justified because of his
confession? Or was his confession because
he was justified? Well, if he had not received
understanding of who God was and is, and had not received
mercy and grace already, to confess he was a sinner, he never would
have confessed it, would he? Aren't you glad that the simplicity
of the gospel is everything God requires, he provides in the
Lord Jesus Christ. This man was justified, therefore
he confessed. Only a sinner comes begging Only a sinner comes to Christ
because he has made to see, I have no other hope. There is no other
way. I have no other justification.
I'm not progressively getting better. I'm progressively getting
worse and worse. Only the sinner, only the mercy-begging
sinner comes to Christ. And only the mercy-begging sinner
is what Christ received because he's made them thus. So how do I know if I'm a beggar
or a bragger? Do you have any pride in what you are? Do you
have any pride in what you are? That's the question. There is
no pride in being a beggar, is there? If you're starving, I'm
talking physically speaking, if you're starving, and you have
no means of acquiring funds to purchase money or to purchase
food, if you're literally starving, how much pride are you gonna
have in asking somebody for money? Much pride. You're gonna die
if you don't eat soon. You're starving. I'm not talking,
you understand what I'm saying. I'm talking you're absolutely,
maybe you're thirsting to death. Let's use that as an example.
You can go a lot longer without food than water, they say. None
of us has had to really experience much of that, have we? It's all
by grace and mercy. But what if we're about to literally
thirst, we're in a desert? and we come across a city and
we're going through that city and we have no money to acquire
any water and all the water is owned and possessed by the governor
of that city and nobody can have the water unless you pay the
price. Nobody can have it unless you pay the price, but you don't
have any money to pay the price. How much pride are you gonna
have in begging for what that governor requires? Zero. Zero. We're gonna beg. Can't
have any pride in being a beggar. There's no, but look at how bad
I am though. Have mercy on me. Look at how
my life has been so hard. Have mercy on me. That's not
what a beggar does. The beggar doesn't ask the Lord
to look at themselves in any way. Lord, I'm qualified because
I can see this in myself. No, the beggar says have mercy
on me, the sinner. sinner. If we understood what
sinner meant in the eyes of God we would never brag about being
one. It's the worst thing on the face of the earth according
to Scripture because without Christ intervening we deserve
eternal hell for being thus a sinner. Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. I'm thirsting to death. I'm going
to die unless you give me the fountain of living water. I don't
have any money. In my hand, no price I bring.
Simply to Christ I cling. I can't earn it by anything that
I do. I don't have the ability to work
in order to get this, to purchase anything that would be pleasing
unto you. I can't merit it. I can't merit it. You know what
the Lord says? He that has come by. You that are without money,
come by without money and without price. Why? It's already been
paid for. It's already been paid for by the precious blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything he required, he purchased
for his mercy begging sinners. We come to the city in the desert
where God himself is the governor. We come begging before him and
he says, everything's already been purchased for you. It's
all storehouses of plenty of mercy and grace. Come, buy. Lord, I don't have anything to
buy with. It's already been bought. All of my people have already
been purchased by my own blood and everything required for them
has been provided in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. What
are you gonna brag on then? What are we gonna brag on then?
Certainly not self. I mean, do you see how good of
a job I bragged and got what I got? You see people that are
wearing, I won't go into too much detail, there's a man I
know that supposedly homeless. He lives out of his van and he
got a new pair of shoes and he was showing them off today when I
went to the gym. Look what I got. Somebody gave
these to me. tell him how bad my shoes were
and they got me some new shoes. That was, he begged enough to
get that. Do you see what I'm saying? I'm
not picking on anybody here, but I'm saying we can't approach
the Lord that way. Can't say, Lord, look, I have tattered garments.
No, we have to come with nothing before him. Completely nothing.
With head bowed. Because we can't look up. We
see that he's holy. We see that he's sovereign. We
can't look up. We know that he will kill us
if we look up to him. I would have mercy on me, the
sinner. And he says, come by. Without money, without price.
At the cross of Calvary, it's all been paid for. Ransom in
full. You've been ransomed, redeemed,
bought with the price. Now, if somebody says I deserve
mercy, by definition, they're disqualified. But if you know
that you don't deserve it, the Lord's made you the chief sinner.
If all you see is blackness whenever you look inside yourself, don't
approach the Lord declaring that you deserve mercy. Come to the
Lord begging, Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner, knowing that
you don't deserve it. He said, I'll in no wise cast you out.
I'll in no wise cast out. Not one of my elect that come
to me with that. And every single one of God's elect will come
to him that exact way. Not bragging on themselves, but
begging for the Lord. God's made us a dead dog, mercy-begging
sinner. We'll come to the Lord Jesus
Christ empty-handed, crying unclean, unclean. Hear the most precious
words of our Lord when he said, wilt thou be made whole? Lord, you're gonna make me whole?
You're gonna make me whole? I'm unclean. No, you're not. You've been washed in the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You're perfectly righteous. You're
completely whole. You're completely whole. That's
what he did. We come to him just like that
blind man. Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And
boy, there's nobody that can stop you. Whenever the Lord shows
you you're a sinner and you need a savior, they kept telling that
blind man, be quiet. You're bothering the Lord. Be
quiet. You ever, you ever heard anybody
say, would you just quit talking, quit, stop talking about that.
Let's talk about anything else but that. I don't wanna hear
about election. I don't wanna hear about the Lord choosing a people and only dying
for those people. I don't wanna hear about redemption. I don't wanna hear
about any of that. And I wanna hear about the blood of Christ.
People's told me that before. I can't help but talk, I wanna
talk about that. That's the, that's my only hope. That's my
only hope that he saves sinners. He saves sinners. Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy on me. And who got the, Who was shown
mercy that day? The one crying out. Did he cry
out and therefore receive mercy because of his really good crying? Or did the Lord put a need in
his heart? make him to show forth his glory. Aren't you glad that
you see? We see that he put the cry in
our heart, don't we? We don't get any glory for that.
Lord, if you'd have left me to myself, I would have been dead in trespasses
and in sin. You've given me the cry to cry
out. You're going to have to give me the cry. You're going
to have to give me the need. You're going to have to give me everything. And he says,
I will. I already have. It's finished. It's finished. Everything we need is in Christ
and we come begging nothing to offer no other plea but his precious
blood alone. We do not look to our self and
confess anything of our self that is good. We confess that
he is truth. He is grace. The beggars long to have one
thing the Lord Jesus Christ as their righteousness before God.
Isn't that true? That's that's the one thing we
need. I've got to have his righteousness. If you have that desire, you're
a beggar. If you need His righteousness, that's exactly what you are,
is a beggar. If you have some righteousness of yourself, you're
a bragger. It's that simple. Aren't you glad He makes us?
Makes us mercy beggars. Let's pray. Father, if we've
never begged, calls us to beg for Christ. Please give us him
in your mercy, in your grace. Lord, you've made a need in our
heart that only you can fill. We ask that you would give us
that need, the Lord Jesus Christ, in his name, amen.