The Sinner's Prayer

Q: What does the Bible say about the sinner's prayer?

The Bible illustrates the sinner's prayer through the humility of the publican in Luke 18, emphasizing repentance and a plea for God's mercy. The concept of the sinner's prayer is rooted in biblical accounts, most notably in Luke 18:13, where a publican cries out, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner.' This reflects a genuine approach to God that recognizes one's sinfulness and desperately seeks divine mercy. In Psalm 130, David exemplifies this same spirit, crying 'out of the depths' and acknowledging his need for forgiveness. The sinner's prayer is not a mere formula but a heartfelt expression of contrition and reliance on God's grace for forgiveness.

Q: How do we know God's mercy is available for sinners?

God's mercy is illustrated in Scripture, notably in Psalm 130, where it is declared that 'with the Lord there is mercy.' We can be assured of God's mercy for sinners through the testimony of Scripture. Psalm 130 emphasizes that there is forgiveness with God, that He may be feared. This acknowledgment of unforgivable sinfulness followed by the revelation of God's mercy illustrates His character as a compassionate Redeemer. The New Testament expands on this assurance, affirming in Ephesians 2:4-5 that 'God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.' This showcases that God's mercy is abundant and available for all who approach Him in humility and faith.

Q: Why is humility important in approaching God?

Humility is crucial when approaching God because it acknowledges our sinfulness and dependence on His grace. Humility is foundational in the believer's relationship with God. In Psalm 130, David expresses humility by crying out from the depths of his sin, recognizing that without God's mercy, he cannot stand. This mirrors the publican's approach in Luke 18, where he does not seek to justify himself but rather admits to his sinfulness while pleading for God's mercy. True humility aligns with a heart that understands the holiness of God and the gravity of sin, which allows for genuine repentance and the reception of grace. As Martin Luther said, while we may acknowledge our sin in this flesh, in Christ, we have a righteousness that stands before God.

fascinated and amazed at God's providence. Gary Shepherd and I were rooming
together down in Clinton, Tennessee this past, well, Thursday, Friday
and Saturday. We were in a Bible conference. And we were scheduled to preach
Saturday morning. We were sitting at a table in
the in the motel by the window. He was on one side with his books
and Bible and paper and I was over here. We were both on the
same program. He was to speak first and I was
to follow him. I didn't have any idea what he
was going to preach on. He didn't have any idea what
I was going to preach on. We were just sitting there studying,
working, Friday night. And Saturday morning we went
to the service and And he got up and preached on
the widow of Sarepta, to whom God sent Elijah. You remember? And I got up and preached on
Naaman, the leper, whom the Lord healed. And in Luke 4, when our
Lord came to Nazareth, and was dealing with God's sovereign
will and redemption. He used two illustrations, the
widow Serepta and Naaman the leper, and we had both of those
at the same service. I told him afterwards, I said,
that's just the marvelous providence of God that those two messages
were preached back to back. And tonight I plan to speak on
Psalm 130, and I called Dan Culver. this evening, I asked Kim to
read something for us tonight and lead us in prayer. And I'll
tell you, when he announced Jonah 2 and started reading it, I was
absolutely fascinated. That's exactly what I'm preaching
on. That's an illustration. I'm going to use it in a minute.
It never occurred to me you read it tonight. But it fits so beautifully
into what I'm preaching from here in Psalm 130. All right,
just hold Psalm 130 there a minute. But all my life, all my life
I have heard preachers exhort men to come to God, to come to
God, praying the sinner's prayer, the sinner's prayer. And invariably
they'll say to the sinner, pray thus and thus, God be merciful
to me, the sinner. And that is, that is indeed the
sinner's prayer, no question about it. It is a sinner's prayer. In fact, our Lord is the one
who told that story. He said a man, a publican, went
up to the temple, a publican and a Pharisee, and the Pharisee
was well acquainted with the temple. He served about the things
of God, taught the scriptures and so forth, and he came right
down to the front in great pride. and great spiritual arrogance,
and he raised his hands and lifted his eyes and said, I thank you,
God. Our Lord said he prayed thus
with himself. He prayed with himself. I wonder
how many prayers have prayed with ourselves. And he said,
God, I just thank you I'm not like other men. In other words,
I'm not a sinner. I tithe and I fast and I give
alms and I'm not an extortioner. I'm not unjust. And he spotted
that publican. The publican was way back in
the back. He wouldn't come down to the front. He stood afar off. He wouldn't lift his hands nor
his eyes to heaven but smote upon his breast back there. And the Pharisee said, I'm not
even like him. Well, our Lord condemned this
man and he said, the publican prayed thus. He addressed God
whom he had offended. He said, Lord, Lord, he had offended
God. He said, like David, he knew
my sins are against God and God only. You don't sin against a
man. I don't sin against you. I may
do you wrong. I may mistreat you. But sin is
against God. Sin is a transgression of God's
law. That's what a lot of people think.
They say confession is good for the soul. Make restitution and
you've been made whole. That ain't so. That's not so. Sin's against God. And this man
addressed God. He said, Lord. And he approached
God in a contrite manner. He smote upon his breast and
bowed his head. And I think not only his head,
but his heart. And listen. He looked to the mercy seat. Really, what he's saying, and
I don't know how well acquainted he was with the old Jewish teachers
and prophets, but he said, this is what he said when he said,
Lord, be merciful. That's the King James translation.
He said, Lord, be propitiated. Let thy blood be propitiation
for me. Let me meet you at the mercy
seat. That's what he said. Be propitiated. Let the blood be at my atonement. And then he said, The sinner. The sinner. Definite article.
That letter A is not in the original. It's The sinner. Let thy blood
be propitiation for me, The sinner. Now, if a fellow can get into
that man's spirit, attitude, approach to God, and his prayer,
fine. That is the sinner's prayer.
And I wouldn't try to improve on it at all. because our Master
used it as an illustration of humility before God, a genuine
plea for mercy. And he said the man went home
justified, whereas the other one did not.
And I wouldn't try to improve on the sinner's prayer at the
cross. When our Lord was hanging on the cross, one of the thieves,
well, both of them railed on Him, started railing on Him,
and finally one of them quit railing on Him. The Spirit of
God did something for him. And he said to the other one,
don't you fear God? He feared God. That's where he
started. He said, fearing God. Don't you fear God? Seeing we're
in the same condemnation, in other words, this man's God.
This is the God man. And we indeed justly, he said,
we're getting exactly what we deserve. See there, he's taking
his place as a sinner, acknowledging it's God against whom he's sinning,
He's getting what he deserved, and then he said, Lord, Lord,
you're not going to stay dead. Here's a man dying on the cross.
You're coming into a kingdom. Think on me. Think of me. It's not just remember I died
on one side of you when you died on the cross. He's not just saying
remember me, but he's saying it in a way that He's actually
being remembered by him thinking upon Him and receiving Him. That's certainly a sinner's prayer. But here in Psalm 130, look at
this. When I read Psalm 130, and I
determined to preach on it tonight, when I was preparing my message
last week, I just determined I'm going to preach on Psalm
130. And I thought, well, what do
I call it? And I read it over and over and looked at it, and
I can't come up with but one title. The Sinner's Prayer. This is indeed the Sinner's Prayer. I can't give it but one title,
The Sinner's Prayer. But you say, someone may say,
but Preacher David wrote this. David wrote this psalm. David
was not a sinner. John, you're up in little older
than I am. When did they start this business,
Christians and sinners? Where did that originate? He's
a sinner man. Well, what are you? One of our young men who's now
a pastor said he came to this church and heard me preach. And
he said, I was amazed you called yourself a sinner. And I'd never
heard a preacher call himself a sinner. But my friends, that's
what I am. And that's what you are. We're
sinners saved by grace. We're sinners redeemed by the
blood of God. David was a believer. Oh, if
I could get this across, if I could get across tonight what I'm trying
to say. David was a believer. David was
a man at the God's own heart. Said that twice in the Scripture.
David was a man anointed by Samuel the prophet to lead Israel. David
was the sweet psalmist of Israel. David wrote under divine inspiration,
but David was a sinner. You call him what you want to.
You can call him David the king, David the psalmist, David the
saint, David the believer, whatever you want to, but before God,
he knew what he was, David the sinner. Let me just read you
something he said over here in Psalm 51. He said, Lord, wash
me thoroughly from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin. I acknowledge
my transgressions, my sin is ever before me. Against thee
and thee only have I sinned, my sin, my sin, my sin, my sin,
my sin. Here's David, he's the sinner,
pleading for mercy. If you read the book of Psalms,
you'll find many of his psalms to be just that, please for mercy,
please for mercy, before the throne of God. And I'll tell you this, get this
now, if we're going to find mercy, you and me, we're going to have
to come down off our high horse, we're going to have to cease
from our presumptuous ways, And we're going to have to approach
the mercy seat where God dwells. He said, I'll meet you at the
mercy seat and nowhere else. And he said, when I meet you
at the mercy seat, I'll meet you in affection. That's what
that word is. I'll commune with you. I'll meet you not in wrath,
but I'll meet you in affection. And we're going to have to approach
the mercy seat in humility, in contrition, confessing our sins,
meet God where He dwells, where the blood's been sprinkled, and
there find whatever sinner in the pulpit, in the pew, and in
the world needs mercy. Mercy. You say, I sought mercy
once. Better seek it again. And again. And again. And again. And again. Don't ever leave the mercy. In
fact, hold Psalm 130 and turn to Hebrews 4. Listen to Hebrews
4, and listen to the Apostle Paul, if Paul wrote Hebrews,
I kind of think he did. But Hebrews 4, listen to this,
talking about our Lord Jesus Christ, the great high priest,
and he says in verse 14, seeing then we have a great high priest
that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. Let's hold
fast our profession, our confidence in Him. For we have not an high
priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet he was without
sin. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace." Now to whom is he speaking? He's
speaking to believers. Let's come to the throne of grace.
Let's come to the throne of God. Let's come to the throne of Christ.
Let's come because we have a high priest. Let's come. But look
at the next line, that we may obtain mercy. Mercy. Cecil uses this all the time.
I love this. We're mercy seekers and mercy
beggars. And don't you ever graduate.
Don't you ever get above being a mercy beggar. All right, let's
look at it. Here's the sinner's prayer. I
don't care if he's in the pulpit or the pew of the world, where
he is. If a sinner wants to come to God, this is the way to come.
He says in Psalm 130, verse 1, out of the depths. Out of the
depths. And I'll tell you, Jonah is a
picture of the depths out of which we cry. He was at the bottom
of the sea. He said, from the deep, I cry
to God, from the depths. The seaweed about his head, the
iron bars closed about him in the darkness of the fish's belly.
Down there hopeless, helpless in darkness and death. And he
said, I'll cry unto the Lord. I cried unto the Lord. David
said, out of the depths. Out of the depths. I cried to
God from where I am. Out of the depths. That's where
I am. I got there by birth. In sin my mother conceived me.
As in Adam, all die. I cry unto God out of the depths
from where I am. I cry unto God from where I am
not only by birth, but by nature. The Apostle Paul said, I love
the law of God, but I find in me another law warring against
that righteous nature and bringing me into captivity, into the depths
of sin. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from these depths? I thank God I have a deliverer.
But I cry out of the depths, out of the depths of death and
darkness and depravity, out of where I am by birth and where
I am by nature, and let's confess it, where we are in thought. Boy, I wish I could say tonight
that I only think upon that which is holy and that which is pure
and that which is high and that which is holy, don't you? Wouldn't
that be something? But too often my thoughts are
not high, they're low. Too often they're not holy, they're
sinful. Old Brother Barnard used to preach
a sermon on honest people don't wind up in hell. You say, what's he talking about?
Well, there's nobody by nature honest, there's none righteous,
there's none that understand it, there's none that seek it
after God. I'll tell you what he's talking about. People who
will come before God as they are, not as they claim to be.
As they really are, not what they think they are. As they
really are, not what they profess to be. As they really are, and
not what they want others to believe they are. Come to God
as you are, and he'll receive you. Let's don't play games with God. We're not going to be heard.
My friends, we're not going to be heard. We might as well talk
to the ceiling like the old Pharisee prayed with himself, I thank
you God I'm not like other men. That's a low down lie. And we're not going to be heard
and we're not going to receive mercy until we can truthfully
before God acknowledge where we are and what we are and where
we're coming from. Isn't that right? And that's
what David says here. Not from the mountain, but out
of the depths. Not from the high and holy perch,
but out of the depths. I cry unto thee. I cry unto thee. And I'll tell you, whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. But let's
call on him from where we are, okay? Mercy beggars. Where we
don't. Now here, what says? Lord, hear
my voice. Hear my voice. Let thine ears
be attentive to the voice of my supplication. Do you know
before David asks anything of God, the first request is this? He prays to be heard. Well, you
see, God hears all prayer. Don't fool yourself. Don't fool
yourself. Whatever gave you the idea that
God is obligated to hear a creature? Now whatever gave us the idea
that God is obligated to hear us, let alone bless us? David
says, I cry out of the depths, shall murderers of the king's
son be heard? Who murdered the king's son?
We did. Our hands are dripping with the blood of the Son of
God. Shall murderers of the king's son be heard? Shall blasphemers
and rebels be admitted to the court of the Most High? Come
on now. Shall evil bargain with holiness? Who are you? Who is
this to treadeth my courts? Whose voice is this? Who asked
you to come in here?" He said, you're casting a different
light on prayer. I'm trying to. David said, when
I consider the heavens, the work of thy hands, the sun, the moon,
the stars, the things you've ordained, what is man that thou
art even mindful of him, let alone hearing? Lord, first thing He said, out
of the depths, out of the depths I cry. Would you hear my voice? He doesn't have to. He's not
obligated to. Why should He? He's holy and
you're sinful. He's life and you're death. He's
light and you're darkness. He's truth and you're a liar.
Why should He hear your voice? Most of our asking is that we
may consume it on our own lust. That's most of our asking. Most
of our praying is either bragging or lusting for something else.
Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme. Lord, gimme. Lord, bless me.
Lord, do this. Lord, do that. Lord, do the other.
Do we know how holy He is? Let me show you an example of
prayer over here. Turn to Genesis 18. Now, my brethren,
here's a man I know knew God. Here's a man of whom God said,
He's my friend. Here's a man that God heard. I know He heard him. I want you
to listen to how he talks to God. In Genesis 18, verse 23, And
Abraham drew near. Well, verse 22, And the men turned
their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom. These are
the angels of the Lord who are going down there and talked a
lot. God is going to destroy Sodom. And Abraham stood yet
before the Lord. Abraham stood before the Lord.
And Abraham drew near unto God, and he said, Wilt thou also destroy
the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous
men in the city of Sodom. Will you destroy and not spare
the place for fifty righteous that are therein? that be far
from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the
wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that
be far from thee, shall not the judge of all the earth do right?"
And the Lord said, Abraham, this man is talking to God, if I find
in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, I'll spare all the
place for their sake. And Abraham answered and said,
Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which
am but dust and ashes. I know where I am. I know what
I am, he said, and I'm scared. Do you ever pray scared? Well, we ought to. We ought to. Pray scared. I've heard of people
running scared. Well, pray scared. Because I
tell you, we're before an awesome, awesome, awesome king. And Abraham
said, Ooh, I'm but dust and ashes. Peradventure, verse 28, there
shall lack five of the righteous, the fifty righteous. Would you
destroy the city for lack of five? And God said, if I find
forty and five, I'll not destroy it. And he spake yet again and
said, Peradventure, there be forty. God said, I'll not do
it for forty's sake. Verse 30, and he said to him,
Oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I'll speak again. Don't be
angry with me now, Lord. Don't be angry. But peradventure
you find thirty men there. And God said, I'll not do it
if I find thirty. And he said, behold now, I've
taken upon me, this man's interceding for some friends down there.
But he's interceding with the fear of God in his soul. Compare
this with that television praying. Now you compare this. This man
knew. You compare it with this putting
a hand on the head. Jesus! We command Jesus! We command! Compare. That's all I ask you to do. One more time. One more time. I wish I could
learn to pray like that, Jim. Talk to God with awe and reverence
and fear and some kind of understanding of who's speaking to whom. Fear of God. There's no fear
of God before the eyes of this generation. Well, I know why.
They've never seen him or heard him. Don't know the living God. Yeah, out of the depth. Let's
go back here. Lord, hear my voice. Let your
ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. For verse
3, watch this now. If thy Lord shouldest mark iniquities,
charge it, really hold a man responsible and accountable,
who's going to stand? And boy, I tell you, if God Almighty
actually marked and charged all iniquity, you just think back
over the sins you know about. We have sins of ignorance that
we don't even know about. We sinned against God when we
didn't even know we were sinning against God. ignorance, presumption,
omission, commission, thoughts, words, deeds, sins in our imagination,
all these things. If thou, Lord, shouldst charge
and mark and hold men accountable for all iniquity, who's going
to stand? Who shall ascend unto the hill
of the Lord? Who shall stand in His holy place? Can you? Can
I? Turn over here to Luke chapter
5. Here's another illustration of a man. This is a man who always
had something to say. Luke chapter 5. This was a fellow
that sometimes we label him impulsive or presumptuous or whatever.
This is the Apostle Peter. He's the one that stood on the
mountain and said, let's build three tabernacles. He's the one
that drew his sword and cut off the fellow there. He's the one
that always had something to say. But here, Peter. Didn't have
much to say. If you read this fifth chapter,
the early verses, you will find that the Lord demonstrated His
power, His glory, His power, His absolute dominion over even
the fish of the sea. And when Peter saw the power
of Christ, look at verse 8, when Peter saw it, when he saw the
power of Christ, the glory of Christ, he fell down at Jesus'
feet and said, Lord, leave me. I'm a sinful man. Leave me. You won't find what a statement. You won't find that very often. I don't have any right to be
in your presence. You don't have any obligation
to be near me. Just leave me because I'm a sinful
man. Verse 9, For he was astonished. That's what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about the holiness of God. The power of God. If I've accomplished anything
tonight for myself or for you, it's to strengthen our understanding
of the holiness and the glory of God and of our own sinfulness. Alright, verse 4, but. You know,
I often say I love the shalls and the wills of God's Word. He that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out. My sheep hear my voice, I give
them eternal life and they shall never perish. But I love the
word but, B-U-T, but. All of what I've said is true,
out of the depths, out of the depths have I cried to Thee.
May it please Thee Lord, may You find it in Your compassion
and Your affection to hear me, hear my voice and let Your ear
be attentive to my words. If you should charge iniquity,
there's enough against me, and upon me, and in me, and around
me, and of me, that I could never stand. But, but, thank God for
that. But, I'm guilty with nothing
to pay. I'm guilty with nothing to plead.
But, there's forgiveness with thee. Isn't that good news? But there's forgiveness. But
God who is rich in mercy, Paul describes us, what we are, what
we were, but God who is rich in mercy, for his great love
wherewith he loved us, but God commended his love for us in
that why were we yet sinners Christ died for us. Name your
sin. Now you say I wouldn't want to
name it out loud. under your breath, name it to yourself,
look back over your life, find the deepest, darkest, blackest,
raunchiest, filthiest thought, word, or deed you've ever committed,
and remember His blood is able to make it as white as snow.
But, but, He is able to save to the uttermost them that come
to God by Him. But it's sinners He saves, not
good people. There are no good people. Well,
they think they are. Our Lord went down to Samaria
and He came out with a woman who had been married five times
and was shacking up with a fellow that wasn't her husband. And
He went down there and came out with her soul. He chose her,
loved her, called her, saved her, and forgave her. Wiped her
clean. As holy as an angel. Our Lord
went down to Jericho and found the sneakiest A guy he could find, Zacchaeus,
a tax collector. A guy who was a Jew appointed
by the Romans to steal from his own people. That's when he said
he'd restore fourfold. That's about his average take,
fourfold. But our Lord called him. He said,
I'm going to your house. And they were shocked and amazed
that he'd go to the house of a man that was a sinner. The
worst thing they could say about my Lord was the best news I ever
heard. He's a friend of sinners. They say, he's a friend of sinners.
Thank God. Thank God. He went down to the
gatherings and came back with a demoniac. He went to the Pharisee's
house and didn't save but one person in that whole outfit,
and she was a harlot. Am I telling the truth? He went
to the cross, and of all the people there at that cross, he
called one. He was a thief. He was an outcast
that the outcast had cast out. But my Lord took him in. He went
to Damascus and came back with solid Tarsus, the meanest religious
devil on the face of the earth. That's right. And boy, if you want to read
something, you like that song Amazing Grace, you ought to read
the life of the author, John Newton. Wasn't it Newton who
wrote that? Newton was such a lowlife. Newton was a slave trader. He
worked for a slave trader and an ivory hunter in Africa. And
he was such a, people had such disregard for him. The man he worked for, the master
he worked for, had a black girlfriend in Africa, mistress. She hated John Newton so bad,
not for his gospel, but for his ornery ways. Back when her His
master and her boyfriend went back to England. She made Newton
her slave. Put a chain around his neck and
made him crawl on all fours like a dog and lap up his food and
water like a dog. She said, you're a dog, you're
going to act like one and eat like one. He was a blasphemer. He was wicked. He's the one that
fell off the ship, wasn't he? and was down there drowning and
a fella threw a boat hook down there and hooked him like a fish
and brought him back up on the boat. Got so drunk he fell over
the side. That John Newton, amazing grace,
how sweet the sound, that saved a dog, a wretch like me. I once was plum lost, but now
I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. And
you won't read any writer in that bookstore as powerful as
John Luke. But God saved him. God loved
him. But, that's what I'm saying,
if our Lord should have marked the nicotine, who's going to
stand? But there's forgiveness with God. But that's not all
David said. He said there's forgiveness with
God, that thou mayest be feared. I tell you better pray scared. Suppose, now you let me ask you
a question, suppose in this town of Ashland there was one man,
one powerful, powerful, powerful man who controlled all food,
all water, all medical supplies, all houses, all jobs, all children,
all education, all life and all death. How would you approach
it? Carefully. Wouldn't you? They're Catholic. And that's my God. He controls
all things. And he said, I'll be merciful
to whom I will. I'll be gracious to whom I will.
So he said, but there's forgiveness. I'm what I am, and where I am,
and I have the depths I cry, and the dunghill. And if you
should mark iniquity, I couldn't stand. But Lord, there's mercy
with you. that you may be feared. Am I
handling this alright? This way it is, that you may
be feared. Held in reverence. Holy and reverent
is His name. Most people got more respect
for their mothers than they do God. They speak more highly of
Mom than they do God. Pay her a lot more attention. Verse 5, I wait for the Lord
then, I'm not going to make my decision. I'm going to wait for
the Lord. My generation is deciding, dedicating, rededicating, making
professions, coming to the front. There's not many waiting on God.
But old David said, this all being true, I'm what I am. I'm where I am. I call on Thee. And there's forgiveness with
Thee. There's forgiveness with Thee. That's the only place it
is. So I tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to wait at His
feet with Mary. I'm going to wait at His throne
of mercy. I'm going to wait at His cross.
I'm going to wait at His table. My soul doth wait. I wish we'd
learn the meaning of that wait on the Lord. You know, I've been trying to
preach the gospel for a long time, and I've just discovered
that God's not in any hurry. He's just not in any hurry. He
does things when He will in the fullness of time. And David said
this, wait I say on the Lord, wait again I say on the Lord. My soul doth wait. Now watch
this, in his word do I hope. This was the foundation of Abraham's
faith. He believed the word of God.
He believed that God would do what he said. And that's where
I'm to wait. It's not, you see, this is not
This is not a hope, a hope, a hope. This is not a wish. This is a
waiting with expectation. I have come from where I am.
I have come as I am. I have come to Him who commanded
me to come. I have come to Him who holds
all mercy in His hand. And I have come reverently and
expectantly and will wait on Him. I have come where there
is forgiveness. I have come where there is water.
And I'm going to trust Him. I believe what He said. Verse 6, how are you going to
wait? Well, my soul waiteth on the Lord as those who wait and
watch for the morning. I say more than they that watch
for the morning. I thought about a mother with a sick child. You
know, I don't know why it is. Why do they always get sicker
at night? Isn't that amazing? But at night, I guess it's the
night air, the dampness, the darkness, but everybody seems
to get sicker at night. And boy, you just wait for the
sun to come up. I wish the sun would come up. I wish this night
would end. And you watch for the morning.
And I thought also about a soldier, a young 18-year-old boy shipped
over to Vietnam or the Near East or somewhere, and they put him
on guard duty at night. And he's plump scared. And he's
standing there with his rifle, you know, on guard, on watch.
He's waiting for one thing. Morning. You been there, Charlie? Morning. To see the sun come
up. And David said, I camp at His
feet, at His cross, trusting His Word, and I'm waiting on
the Lord. And I'm watching. I say more than those that wait
for the morning. One old writer said, I'll go
to Jesus, though my sin hath like a mountain raised, and I'll
say to Him, I'm a wretch undone without His sovereign grace.
I can but perish if I go, I am resolved to try. For if I stay
away, I know I must forever die. And I'll to the gracious King
approach, whose scepter mercy gives. Perhaps He'll receive
my touch, and then the sinner lives. But, but, if I die with
mercy sought when I the Lord have tried, that were to die,
what a thought, as a sinner never die. Ain't nobody ever sought
Him in humility and contrition and faith and died. Never. A lot of presumptuous people
have, but not those come like David did. He said, let, verse
7, and I'll move it to a close, David said, let Israel hope in
the Lord. My friends, don't seek the gift,
seek the giver. If I have Him, I have. Let Israel
hope in the Lord. With the Lord, there's mercy.
Don't seek mercy per se, seek Him. If you have Him, you have
mercy. For with him there is plenty
of redemption. And he will redeem Israel from
all their iniquities. Listen to what Martin Luther
said about that. Although I am a sinner, yet I
despair not. For Jesus Christ, who is my Redeemer
and my Righteousness, liveth. In Him I have no sin, I have
no fear, no sting of conscience, no dread of eternal wrath, for
in Him there is no condemnation. I am indeed a sinner as touching
this flesh in this present life, but before God in Jesus Christ
I have a righteousness. I am accepted in the Beloved.
And that righteousness is the righteousness of God Almighty,
which is above this flesh and above this life. It is in Christ
my Lord, in Him I trust and I rejoice. And He shall forgive Israel of
all their iniquities. That's the sinner's prayer. Teach
me to pray. All right, might come lead us
in a closing hymn.

The Sinner's Prayer

What does the Bible say about the sinner's prayer?

How do we know God's mercy is available for sinners?

Why is humility important in approaching God?

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The Sinner's Prayer

What does the Bible say about the sinner's prayer?

How do we know God's mercy is available for sinners?

Why is humility important in approaching God?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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