Have Mercy on Me, A Sinner

Introduction

Theodore Roosevelt is one of my favorite presidents of all time. Roosevelt was an accomplished man, and he was very accomplished at a young age.

One of my favorite books about Roosevelt is “River of Doubt” by Candace Miller. After Roosevelt was defeated in the 1912 election, he went off on his “adventure as therapy” escapade to South America.

He had explored the Great Plains, the savannah of Africa, etc. He was always searching for the next big accomplishment. And because had been so successful so early in life, he was very, very confident.

He attempted to map the South American tributary called the “River of Death” that no one had yet charted. However, he ignored advice from local guides, and forged ahead using improper and incomplete planning.

As a result, many on his expedition died. Roosevelt, towards the end of the journey, contracted malaria and almost died - and eventually died two years later due to complications.

The expedition finished, but the casualty loss was devestating. Roosevelt’s over confidence and his inability to listen to locals had cost many people their lives - and ultimately had taken many years off of his.

Overconfidence can be deadly. Today, we are looking at spiritual over-confidence and the damaging nature of it in our lives.

Read Luke 18:9–14

Luke 18:9–14 ESV

9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Explanation

Luke 18:9–10“9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.”

We tend to quickly attach this statement to the Pharisees therefore moving quickly to religious people. I think that is a correct assumption, but I also believe there is another application.

You may be a Pharisee that uses religious works to earn approval before God.

You may also be here today and think that all of this religious stuff is crazy. You were invited by a friend… or maybe you are curious. Your base level reaction will be no different from a Pharisee.

If you have a moral standard or value that you uphold as a form of salvation - whether that is to a God or yourself or your neighbor - your attempting to uphold it is a form of self-righteousness.

We are by-nature self righteous creatures - convincing ourselves that we are right and we are good - all the while rebelling against the only God who alone is good.

Self-righteousness comes in tens of thousands of forms. It can stem from your political leanings to whether or not you feed your dog organic food to how often you mow your lawn compared to your neighbors.

John Maxwell tells the story of a grandfather who fell asleep while laying in his recliner. His grandkids decided that they wanted to prank him. So they put Limburger cheese in his mustache. When he woke up, he started sniffing and said, “This room stinks!” He walked through the rest of the house saying the same thing in every room until he walked outside only for the stink to follow him there. Such is the way of self-righteous people - they can smell it on everyone else around them, and they think everyone stinks but them. However, the truth is - the stink is on you too!

The Prayer that Does Not Save

Luke 18:11–12 “11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’”

Four components of self-righteous prayer:

The Pharisee’s prayer is centered around himself instead of God.

Notice how many times the word “I” is in this prayer. They prayer is about the Pharisee, but about God.

The contrast of the Pharisee and the tax collector who was far off gives context that he is standing in front of others. He wants to be seen by others.

The Greek rendering is best described, “with himself” as “to himself.” He uses God to then talk to Himself.

The Pharisee’s prayer is attempting to separate Himself from other men.

Individualism in our society has done this to us. I am not like anyone else.

However… you are! Now, you are uniquely made, but you will still struggle with the same things that every other human does.

We as humans are all broken and flawed.

The Pharisee’s prayer discusses the merits of the Pharisee.

When you stand before God, you will not be speaking of your own merits.

The Pharisee never asks God to save Him.

So many people know so much about God, but they don’t know God.

Knowing God is trusting in His Son, Jesus, the Perfect One.

For many of us, being so close to the things of God is dangerous, because we can mistake the things of God for God, Himself.

The Prayer that Saves

Luke 18:13 “13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’”

The tax collector’s prayer was his dealing with God.

It wasn’t show. He stood far away from everyone else.

It didn’t matter if everyone else knew he was a Christian. It didn’t matter whether or not he was on social media for following Jesus.

It was simply between Him and God.

Until your life gets serious in that way, you cannot know God.

The tax collector’s prayer was brought forward in humility.

Without humility, we will never know God.

Isaiah 66:2 “But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”

The tax collector’s prayer was brought forth with agony over his sin.

I preached at a revival once at a small church in Mississippi. I was preaching on the Isaiah text, “the bruised reed he will not break and the smoking flax he will not quench”

At the end of the sermon, I had a lady come up to me and say, “You know, that sermon would have been so much better if you hadn’t talked about sin.”

“There is no message if there is no sin.”

If there is no such thing as sin, then there are better places to be this morning. But there is such a thing as sin, and our God has saved us from it.

We want to remove any form of discomfort from churches these days - which means not talking about sin. But the way to eternal life is the acknowledgement of our sin - and a God who saves!

This tax collector says, “Have mercy on me, THE sinner.” Whatever they say about me, its worse.

Charles Spurgeon // “if any man thinks ill of you, do not be angry with him. For you are worse than he thinks you to be.”

The tax collector asks God to save Him. There is emotional agony in his request. Desperation. “Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner.”

This prayer is a simpler prayer than the Pharisees prayer. No self-justification, no grandstanding, and no parading in front of others.

But it was a more difficult prayer, because it was an acknowledgement of what was wrong in this man’s heart. But the Bible says, that the first man was not justified and the second man was.

Saving faith places trust in Jesus to save them.

Invitation

We need to replace spiritual self-confidence/self-righteousness with something else. We need to see ourselves the way God sees us - deeply flawed, yet even more deeply loved.

That is why Jesus is so important.

Romans 8:32–33 “32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.”