The Penitence of Prayer

So if you have your Bible, turn with me to Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18. We're going to look at a very familiar parable to most of us who have grown up in the church.

It's a parable about a Pharisee and a publican, a tax gatherer, and what God says about them. What God says about who is justified and who is not is shocking.

Let me read to you the parable and then we will spend some time talking about it. Verse number nine, Luke chapter 18. And he also told this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax gatherer. The Pharisee stood and was praying thus to himself. God, I thank thee that I am not like other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax gatherer. I fast twice a week.

I pay tithes of all that I get. But the tax gatherer standing some distance away was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself should be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted. Our Lord makes a statement that puts him at the opposite end of Judaism. In fact, the statement he makes about a tax gatherer being justified and the Pharisee not puts him at the opposite end of every other religion in the world.

Because this would be a jolting statement to those Jews who listened. In fact, he says in verse number nine, that he is speaking to an audience of people who have learned to trust in themselves, that somehow they can gain a righteous standing with God. In this parable is about true religion versus false religion. False religion is always based on something I believe I deserve. It's based on human achievement. The true religion is based on a divine accomplishment, a work only accomplished by the Lord God.

The world says that you can earn salvation. Judaism says you can earn salvation. Catholicism says you can earn salvation. Mormonism says you can earn salvation. Christianity says you cannot. That somehow I can earn God's acceptance. That somehow I can earn God's forgiveness. Christianity says you cannot. And that's the story of the Pharisee and the publican. In fact, what happens here is that the Pharisee was a very religious person. He wasn't a pagan worshiper. He was the worshiper of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

He was a law keeper, not a law breaker. He was one who believed in the revelation of God in the Old Testament. He was one who believed in the atonement. He is one who believed in the sacrifice portrayed in the Old Testament. He was one who was as orthodox as you can possibly become. He was the good person, but the good person was unjustified, and the wicked person instantaneously was justified, declared righteous, accepted by God. And so what Jesus says goes against every world religion, goes against every false religion, goes against everything that Judaism stood for.

He put him at the opposite end of the rabbis, put him at the opposite end of the priests, the Levites, the Pharisees, the Sadducees. This is why people hated Jesus, because he spoke against their religiosity. He spoke against what they held so dear. He absolutely obliterated it in everything he taught, and they could not stand the sight of him. Whenever you stand strong on the truth, people will hate you if they want to live opposite of that truth. And that was the Jewish nation. They had taught or been taught for so many years that the most religious people, the people that were accepted by God, were the Pharisees.

They were the law keepers. They were the ones who protected the law. They were as good as it gets. But as good as it gets doesn't get you heaven. The publican, the task gatherer, was as bad as it gets, and the bad guy got heaven. So that goes against the world standard. That goes against anything I believe I can earn by God's acceptance, earn God's acceptance. And so we look at the Pharisee, we look at the publican, and then we look at the proclamation that Christ makes as we prepare this morning for the Lord's table, as we prepare for what actually happens in this parable for the Lord's table, explains to us the uniqueness of the sacrifice of Christ.

Let's look first of all at the Pharisee. Two men went to the parable to pray. One a Pharisee, one a publican, one a tax gatherer. One came, and he came, the Pharisee came as customary to pray. Now if you know anything about Judaism, they came two times a day, 9 a.m., 3 p.m. It was customary for the morning sacrifice and the evening sacrifice to come at those time to offer your worship to God. They came to worship God. They came to pray and offer God themselves, supposedly. And they came, one a wicked man, one a presumed good man.

How do I like the church today? We have people who come to church who know they're sinners. They come in all of their wickedness. We have others who come with this facade of religiosity. They come thinking that they can earn their way to heaven. They come thinking that God will look down upon them and see their merit and say, wow, you must be somebody who should be a part of my kingdom because of all the good things you have done. And we find ourselves believing in that, Satan's biggest lie. And so we have the church filled with two kinds of people, people who believe they can earn their way to heaven because they've been good, and people who know they don't deserve heaven because they're so bad.

And so as was customary, the Pharisee would go and he would offer prayers to God. And yet his prayer was absolutely corrupt. It was corrupt simply because it was a self-centered prayer. It was always about himself. He came and he stood to prayer. Now some would think, well, because you're standing to pray, it's a bad thing. No, that's what they did. They stood to pray. It was customary. And so as he came and he stood to pray, it wasn't like the publican who stood to pray. This guy would stand because he would stand in a place where he would be most easily recognized.

Because as Christ condemned the Pharisees all throughout his ministry, they were the ones who loved to hear the term rabbi, rabbi. They loved to hear how important they were to others. In fact, in Luke chapter 16, verse number 15, Jesus says these words, you Pharisees are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.

And they would come and they would look for praise. They would look for recognition as they came to worship. Again, that's a lot like people in the church. People come to church to receive accolades. People come to receive affirmation. They come to minister hoping that someone will recognize what they have done and give them praise instead of give God praise. That's the way the Pharisees were. They wanted to be recognized for all of their labor, for all of their work, that someone would say, yes, you are a holy man.

You are a righteous man. The Christ from the outset of his ministry said that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of God. Well, that would be way beyond anything in normal Jew could think of because in their mind, the Pharisees were the most righteous people. And if they weren't righteous, then nobody could be righteous. And Christ says that your righteousness must exceed theirs because theirs was based on their own achievements that somehow they would gain God's acceptance.

But Christ's righteousness comes through his mercy and grace. He came, he stood, and he prayed, God, I thank thee. Now, if he would have stopped right there, probably would have been pretty good. But what he thanked God for was his own accolades, his own accomplishments, his own achievements. He says, I thank thee that I am not like this or like that, but I am this way. It was a prayer filled with eyes five times. He says, I, I, I, I. You know, you can tell a lot about people by just listening to them pray.

Did you know that? By listening to people pray, you can tell their heart's condition. You can tell a lot about their theology. You can tell a lot about what they believe about God just by listening to them pray. And this man who was supposed to be a religious man had a prayer that was so corrupt because it was so self-centered. It was all about him. He didn't ask God for anything because in his own mind, he lacked nothing. He had everything. And so he would rehearse to God all the things that he had accomplished.

He says very clearly, or the text says, Christ says he came and he prayed thus to himself. The Pharisee came and said a prayer. The tax gatherer came and he truly prayed. There's a difference between praying and saying a prayer. And the Pharisee was so into himself, all he could pray to was himself. The tax gatherer, he would come and he would truly pray to the living God of the universe. He said, the Pharisee did in his prayer, I thank thee that I am not like any other man. I thank thee that I'm not a swindler or an extortioner.

I thank thee that I'm not unjust. I thank thee that I'm not an adulterer. I thank thee that I am not a bad sinner. I'm a good sinner, but I'm not a bad sinner. But you know, the heart is so deceitful and desperately wicked. He would condemn those who were extortionists or swindlers, but that's exactly what the Pharisees did. For in Matthew's gospel, Christ tells, tells them that they would devour widow's houses. They were just as much a swindler as a tax gatherer was, but they did it under the guise of religion.

You see? And so while they were not as outwardly or they were not outwardly despised like the tax gatherers were, he could pass himself off as a righteous man, but in his heart, he was deceitful and he was wicked because they would devour widow's houses. They might not be an adulterer per se, but remember in the Sermon on the Mount, Christ condemned them. You have heard that it was said by the ancients of old that you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that if you lust after a woman in your heart, you have already committed adultery with her.

If you look upon a woman and lust after her, you've already committed adultery in your heart. And while they had not committed the physical act of adultery, they were just as much as an adulterer as those who committed the physical act, because in their hearts they were wicked. And in John 8, when they found that woman with another man, how do you think they found her? Did they set it up or did they go and peep in someone else's house? How do they get that woman and drag her before the Lord? You see, in their hearts, they were wicked people.

And so we could say this prayer outwardly, I'm not like that guy. I'm not like that individual. And you know what? Sometimes we pass ourselves off that way as well, don't we? Well, I don't do what they do. I'm better than them. I'm not a murderer. I'm not an adulterer. I'm not that bad. In the eyes of God, we're all bad. We're all the same, see. But he saw himself better than what he was. And then he said, or even as this tax gatherer, such contempt, such ridicule. I'm not like him over there. I mean, look at him.

How despicable can you possibly be? Instead of interceding for that man, instead of praying for that man, he condemned. He had no compassion for that man. And then not only did he glory in what he didn't do, he gloried in what he did do. He said, you know, I do fast twice a week. I do do that. Now there was no command by God to fast twice a week, but they did. And they did it on market days, Tuesdays and Thursday, Mondays and Thursdays. Why? Because those were the days where most people were in the city at the market.

And so they would do that. So others would recognize that they were holy men. And God never commanded them to fast twice a week. That's just what he did because he wanted to be recognized by other people. In fact, the Bible says in Matthew's gospel, the sixth chapter, these words, when Christ condemned the Pharisees for their prayers, he says, and when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners in order to be seen by men.

Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full. They did what they did because they wanted to be seen by men. They wanted to be observed by others. They wanted others to think they were righteous and holy. And therefore they would love to hear what others said about them. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. Again, that wasn't commanded either. They were to give one 10th of what they had, but not of everything they had. And so what happens is that he over exaggerates all that he does because you see in his mind that earns him standing with God.

In his mind, he becomes acceptable to God. In his mind, he doesn't look as bad as the other people look to God. And so therefore he assumes that he is the righteous person. And then you have the tax gatherer. Who as a text says, but that great contrast, those, but all of Jesus scripture provide for us to great contrast between one person and the other one event and the other, but the tax gatherer standing a far off. Now it wasn't the fact that he was standing a far off from where the Pharisee was as much as he was standing a far off from the place where normal people would stand to pray.

Because you see the Pharisee, he would go and he would stand at the place closest to the Holy of Holies in the inner court, because there he would be close to the presence of God. And the reason he stood there is because he believed he deserved to be close to the presence of God, but the tax gatherer would stand a far off as far away as he possibly could from the presence of God, because he knew he didn't deserve to be in the presence of God. Big difference, big difference in his humility, big difference in his view of God.

One does believe he deserved to be there. The other knew he had no business being there. Boy, I tell you that's such a great contrast. So many times we come to church, we just come thinking we deserve to be here, that we, that God should be honored that we are here to worship him. Very few of us ever come trembling into the presence of God. Very few of us ever come with a broken and contrite heart. This Pharisee had a broken heart and this publican had a selfish, arrogant heart. To this man will I look, the Lord God says.

To him who is broken and of a contrite heart and who trembles at my word. The Pharisee trembled at nothing, but the publican, he was terrified to be in the presence of God. In fact, he didn't even, even utter a prayer that says, you know, at least, at least as a task gatherer, I'm here. The other ones aren't, but I am. He didn't do that because he was so humiliated. He was so guilt-ridden. He was so aware of his sinfulness. How do we tell that? Well, look at what the Bible says concerning this publican.

It says he would not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven. Now, when you stood and you prayed, you stood open-faced with your hands raised high into heaven. The raising of your hands symbolized that my life is yours. My hands are open to do whatever you want me to do. That's why Paul would say about lifting holy hands to God, because it recognizes our availability to God. But this individual would not even lift his eyes upward, because it accentuates his shame and his guilt. It accentuates the fact that he himself is a sinner, and he knows it.

He doesn't deserve to be there, and he comes, and he doesn't even lift his eyes upward toward heaven. And the text says, oh, this reminds me of Ezra. In Ezra 9, verse number 6, when Ezra said, Oh my God, I am ashamed and blushed to lift up my face to Thee, my God, for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespasses grown up into the heavens. That was Ezra. Lord, I can't even lift up my head. I can't even look to You, because our sins are so bad, they're as high as the heavens. You know, sometimes I think that, you know, we go to prayer, and we go with such an arrogant attitude, thinking that God is so honored to have us there before us.

But how many times do we go with our heads down, broken and contrite over our sin, coming and trembling before Him, beseeching Him as our God, because we truly live in the fear of God. This Pharisee had no fear of God before his eyes, but the publican, he was guilt-ridden. He was shamed. He was embarrassed so much so he wouldn't even lift his eyes. And then it tells us that he beat upon his breasts. Why would he do that? This is only recorded one other time in Scripture, and it happened at the cross at Calvary, when Christ died.

This is what the Bible says, Luke's Gospel, the 23rd chapter, the 48th verse, and all the multitudes who came together for the spectacle, when they observed what had happened, began to return, beating their breasts, beating their breasts.

Why? Why is that so significant? Because it symbolized something very unique. It symbolized the fact that he knew and understood where evil came from. It came from his heart. He knew his heart was wicked, and it just wasn't a one-time beating. It was a continual beating of his breasts, because in Mark 7, Christ said it's from within the man that could come defilements, that come adulteries, murders, thefts, fornications, all those sinful attitudes that we have, all that sinful behavior, it comes from the heart.

Well, this man knew that. This tax gatherer knew that. He was so broken over his sin, he would beat on his breasts because he knew that all the evil that he committed came from within inside of him. It was all because his heart was wicked. It was deceitful. He knew that. He understood that. And so he beat upon his breast, looking down, so ashamed not even to look up to the heavens. And then he says, God, be merciful to me, the sinner, not a sinner, the sinner. He saw himself as the worst of all sinners, as Paul would see himself as the chief of sinners.

In 1 Timothy 1, verse number 15, he said he was the chief of all sinners. This man saw himself as the sinner. He was the example of all sinners. He was the one who had committed the sins. He saw himself as the sinner. And now look what he says. He says, God, be merciful unto me, the sinner. Listen carefully. That word merciful is only used one other time in the New Testament. And it's not the normal word for mercy. It's the word to propitiate, to appease. It's used in Hebrews chapter two, verse number 17, which says these words, Hebrews two, I believe it's Hebrews two 17.

Yes, it is. Therefore, he had to be made like his brethren, all things that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. Do you understand what he's saying? As he stands a far off from the holy place, as he stands as far away as he can get from where the sacrifices are offered, he is asking God, he is asking God that that sacrifice might atone for his sins. He is asking God, he's pleading with God that somehow the sacrifice being offered would appease God's anger toward him.

God, will you take that sacrifice and will you pacify your anger? Will you appease your anger toward me? Will you apply that sacrifice toward me that I might escape your wrath? This man knew about the atonement. Now listen, it wasn't the sacrifice of that animal that would atone for his sins. It was what the sacrifice of the animal symbolized that atoned for his sins, because he knew Genesis chapter 22, that there'd one day come a substitute that would erase man's sins. He knew Isaiah chapter 53, that there'd be some individual that would bear our iniquities.

He understood substitutionary atonement. He got it. He, as wicked as he was, he knew he was unacceptable to God. As wicked as he was, he knew there was no way he could earn his way to heaven. He needed God to do something on his behalf. So he would go to God. He would plead to God. He would ask that somehow the sacrifice happening at that time would atone for his sins, would propitiate, satisfy God's anger, God's wrath toward him at that moment that he might escape the judgment of God. He understood that.

He got it because he knew that was the only way heaven would be possible. Romans 3 says, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins. Every sacrifice that was offered was offered symbolically to foreshadow that ultimate sacrifice that would come, the Messiah himself. And this tax gatherer understood that. He realized that he was the sinner.

And Christ makes this proclamation when he says these words, I tell you. Why does he say it that way? Because he couldn't quote a rabbi because they all said it wrong. They didn't say it right. He says, I'm telling you, this is the way it is. This man, this individual went down to his house justified. This man was declared righteous. Here was one who came and had a self-confessed righteousness. Here was another man who came and had a self-confessed unrighteousness. And the one who had a self-confessed unrighteousness was the one who now had become righteous.

The one who thought he was righteous was now even more unrighteous, if that could possibly be. Because God had intervened on behalf of one and not the other. Because one came with a broken and contrite heart and the other did not. I tell you, this man went down to his house, justified, declared righteous, declared guiltless. The one who was the most wicked was now guiltless in the eyes of God. The one who thought he was guiltless was completely guilty. This man went down to his house, justified, and not the other.

You see, that would just go against the grain of everything the Jewish people taught. That was so foreign to them because they believed in their minds they could earn God's forgiveness. It's not that they didn't see themselves as people who committed sins. They knew that. They just believed that in spite of committing sins, they could do enough good to outweigh all the bad and therefore be acceptable in the eyes of God. Both of these men came with the proper revelation of the Old Testament. Both of these men came with an understanding of the law of God.

Both of these men came with an understanding of the atonement. Both of these men came as men who were sons of Abraham. Both of these men came believing the same thing. Both of these men came, listen, with the same kind of faith, but only one was repented and the other was not. And the repentant one was justified and the unrepentant was not. You see, repentance is the bottom line in salvation. See, this is all pre-cross stuff, right? This guy is an Old Testament saint. There has been no cross, there has been no resurrection, there has been no ascension.

But he knows, he knows that what is happening in the Holy of Holies is happening symbolically as to what is ultimately going to happen with the one who's going to come and be a substitute to die for his sins. He knows that. And so he is pleading with God that somehow that sacrifice would be applied to his sinful life because he was so unworthy. One came believing he was worthy, the other came believing or knowing he was unworthy. You know, it's like a lot of people in the church today. They come believing in Jesus.

They come believing in the cross of Jesus. They come believing in the resurrection of Jesus. They come believing in the ascension of Jesus. They come believing in the New Testament. They come believing everything that you and I believe, but the difference is, is that there's been no turning from sin. There's been no repentance. There's been no recognition of my sinful behavior. It's not what you believe. It's how you respond to what you know God's word says, that you come with a repentant heart, believing that only Christ himself can save you from your sin.

And that's what the Pharisee did not do. And that's what the publican did do. And the Pharisee was the most religious person of the day. Everybody knew they were going to heaven. They had to be going to heaven. Look at all they did, but they weren't going.

That's why Christ says, this man went down justified. The other did not. And then he says, everyone who seeks to exalt himself as the Pharisees do, they'll be humbled. And they might not be humbled in this life, but the great humility comes in Matthew chapter seven, when they will say, but did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not cast out demons in your name? Did we not do many marvelous deeds in your name? And Christ says, I'm sorry, depart from me.

I never knew you folks. The church is filled with people in that category, more so than any other category. There is people who are deceived in the thinking that because they believe everything, the Bible says they're on their way to heaven.

Just simply because they have an understanding of what the Bible says. They're on their way to heaven just because they've done great things for God in the church. They're on their way to heaven. And God says, I'm sorry.

I never, ever knew you folks. That is the ultimate in humiliation. Those who exalt themselves, they will be humbled. But those who humble themselves, those who are broken and have a contract heart who tremble at my word, they will be exalted. They will experience heaven's glory. They will experience my presence for all eternity. Folks, where are you? We are going to partake of the Lord's table. And unlike the tax gatherer who looked in anticipation as to what was going to happen, we look back and we celebrate what has already taken place.

Because we know that Jesus was that Messiah. We know that Jesus was the one who died in our place. We know that Jesus bore in his body our sins. He became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. We now are declared righteous because we have bowed in submission to his lordship. We have bowed in submission to his kingship. We have bowed in submission to his saviorship. We understand who he is, what he did. And we say, take my life. Let it be wholly consecrated to thee. My life, Lord, is your life.

I give it to you. Lord, I pray that that sacrifice you made on my behalf will be applied to my life because I can't earn salvation. I can't make it to heaven. I can't get there. The good never outweighs the bad because the good is never good enough. Why? Because what's God's standard? His standard is perfection. His standard is absolute perfection. Be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect. Be holy as I am holy. That's the standard. We can't meet the standard. And when you can't meet the standard, what do you do?

You fall down on your face before him. You can't even lift your eyes to heaven. You say, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Wow. A recognition of your sinfulness is an absolute requirement for salvation. A recognition that you can't do anything to erase your sin, that only God himself through his shed blood on Calvary's cross can take away your sins. And that leads us to the Lord's table this morning, that we might be able to celebrate what Christ has done. That there's nothing you can do, nothing you can do to earn God's forgiveness.

You see? And that's the dividing line. It's not that people aren't sinners or not aware that they sin. They just believe that they can earn God's acceptance through enough good things that they do. We know we can't do that. And so we come and we, we beg God for mercy. We pray and plead that what Christ did on Calvary as a substitute, taking my place would be applied to my life. And we look back and we celebrate the salvation of God. That man, that wicked man was instantaneously justified at that moment over his brokenness, over sinfulness, crying out to God.

That man was declared righteous at that moment, instantaneously, because he believed and applied what God's word said to his life. Have you done that? I would trust that that's the case. Let me pray with you.

Father, we thank you for today, the opportunity we have to study your word. A great reminder, Lord, that you are the only one who saves. And that Lord, you want us to come to you with a broken and contrite heart, trembling before you, begging your forgiveness as sinners. Today, we come to celebrate, Lord, at the Lord's table, the forgiveness of our sins. And for that, Lord, we will be forever grateful. In Jesus' name, Amen.