God Have Mercy on Me, a Sinner

Luke 18:9-17

Key Verse 18:13

"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'” 

The Bible teaches us that salvation consists of repentance to God and faith in Jesus Christ. In this regard Acts 20:21 says, “I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.” 

Jesus came to save people to God’s kingdom. While Jesus was serving people he met some who needed to turn to God in repentance. In his mercy Jesus taught them the need for sincere repentance before God. Then in helping the disciples not to rebuke children but let them come to him Jesus showed the disciples that in order to receive God’s kingdom and enter it, one must come to Jesus by simple faith in Jesus. 

I. The parable of the two men 

In verses 9-14 Jesus teaches us the importance of turning to God in repentance.  Look at verse 9. “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:” Those who are confident of their own righteousness do not find it necessary for them to repent. They think that they are so good morally or otherwise that they have nothing to repent before God.

But the Scriptures teach us that no man can say before God, “I am so good that I have nothing to repent of.” Look at verse 10. "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.” Here “the temple” refers to the temple which the Lord God commanded Moses to build and give to the people of Israel. The Old Testament Scriptures concerning the temple point to the truth that all men have so fallen that no man can approach God without the intercession of an intermediary. The obvious truth is that God is holy and all men are sinful. In God’s eyes sin is so heinous that God has to destroy immediately anyone who approaches him with any hint of sin. In order for God not to destroy man but accept him and thereby grant fellowship with Him, the Lord God provided the Israelites with the temple. And in the temple the priests worked 24/7 to offer atoning sacrifices to the Lord God atoning men for their sins. The way the Lord’s temple was designed then is a powerful reminder that all men are sinners, and no man can come to God without resolving the problem of sin before God. This is why the Bible continually preaches about repentance. 

What then is repentance? Look at verses 11-13. “The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'" But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'” In this parable Jesus shows us who is NOT repentant, and who IS. The Pharisee is not repentant. In the first place he is so confident of his own righteousness that he thinks that he has no sin to repent of. But it was not so with the tax collector. He plainly admits that he is a sinner. He beats his breast, because he is genuinely sorry for his sins. Then the tax collector prayed to God for the forgiveness of his sins saying, “God have mercy on me a sinner.” 

What was God’s response to their prayers? Look at verse 14a. "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God." God answered the prayer of the tax collector by forgiving him of his sins. But God did not answer the prayer request of the Pharisee. In the first place God had nothing to do, for the Pharisee did not ask God to do anything. The bottom line then is that the tax collector went home “justified” but the Pharisee went home “not justified.” In God’s eyes he still remains guilty of his sins. 

What then is the problem of the Pharisee? And what is the solution to his problem? Look at verse 14b. “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” The Pharisee’s problem was “self-exaltation.” He exalted himself. What is the solution then? The solution is simple: he must humble himself. 

How then can we humble ourselves? What Jesus says in verse 14 gives us a clue: “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified ‘before God’.” The Pharisee found himself “before men”, so he found himself as superior to people like robbers, murderers, adulterers, other evil doers, or the tax collector.  Had he found himself before God he could have found all kinds of sin problems within him. Then he could have humbled himself before God. 

In reality however it is not easy to find ourselves “before God.” In the first place God is not visible. But people are visible. So we so easily compare ourselves with men. As we compare ourselves with fellow human beings, we end up saying, “Look! Everyone is sinning! But at least I am trying to go to church services once a week.” 

Thankfully though God gave us the Bible which accurately represents who God is and what all men are like. When we study the Bible prayerfully eventually we meet God who is holy. Then we find all of our sin problems. We then can find repentance topics, and turn to God in repentance. St. Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430A.D.) had the same experience. Until the age of 32 he neglected reading the Bible. As a result, he had no sense of problem with his sinful lifestyle. But things changed drastically when one day he read Romans 13:12-14. “The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” Since that time he repented of his sinful lifestyle, turned himself to Christ, and began a monastery movement. 

As a Christian it is so easy for one to feel confident of one’s self-righteousness and look down on others. What one does as a Christian (such as regular Bible studies, or making offerings) as well as what he does not do (not getting divorced, not practicing homo-sexuality, saying no to drugs, alcohols, and pornography) can operate as grounds to make him feel superior to others. These things can so easily lead him to believe that he is all set that he has nothing to repent of. 

This is particularly true of a man in a leadership position, for being at the top politically or otherwise it is so easy for him to compare himself or herself with those who are under his leadership. But, from a God’s perspective all are flat equal. It is just like a man looking down on the surface of the earth and see how ants are crawling on the surface. Have you seen ants crawling? Some ants look big some small. But to your eyes, they are the same. The same is true with each individual in God’s eyes. More or less, we are either a forgiven sinner or un-forgiven sinner. 

Yet our journey to God’s perfection is limitless. Therefore each and every day, no matter how far we have come in our spiritual pilgrimage, we must daily repent and struggle to grow and thereby attain to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. And it is possible only through exposing ourselves to the living word of God fully each and every day. Then the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God will continue to mold a Christ-like character within us, making us justified, sanctified, and glorified.  

II. Let the little children come to me 

Look at verse 15a. “People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them.” This passage describes a beautiful picture of a man coming to Christ with simple faith. 

When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." 

I think Jesus’ remarks surprised the disciples. Yet I believe Jesus’ words made them think and learn about the way of receiving and entering God’s kingdom. So let us stop for a moment and think about the way to receive and enter God’s kingdom.

First, bringing oneself to Jesus 

In the passage we see people bringing babies to Jesus. The babies could not bring themselves to Jesus. So people brought babies to Jesus. The disciples rebuked the people. But Jesus called the children to him. We don’t know why the disciples rebuked the people. Most likely they might have thought that babies might give Jesus too many troubles. Yesterday I heard that Shepherd Neal Renzi ended up having to baby-sit Christyn for over four hours. In order to come to the 8 a.m. Bible studies, I and Rebekah needed a baby sitter. So we were considering bringing her to a baby sitter. We called the baby sitter, but she did not answer the phone. Then I suggested to bring Christyn to the center for she loves to play in the grass area. So we brought Christyn to the center. When we got there I saw Shepherd Neal playing basket ball. And he volunteered to baby-sit her. The Bible study lasted about two hours. When I came out I saw Christyn sleeping safe and sound in the arms of Shepherd Neal while he was seated in a swing chair. Thinking that Joseph would take over, I went to buy something at the Swap Meet, and Rebekah went in to another Bible study. Then Joseph had to go to the market to buy something. He said to Neal that he would come back quickly. But he did not come back as quickly as he said. It took him almost three hours to come back. So who took possession of the blessing of taking care of the baby? Shepherd Neal did. 

My point here is that children are no burden to Jesus. So they should not be a burden to any parents. More important than this is the kind of trust with which we need to bring ourselves to Jesus Christ. To Christyn, Shepherd Neal is a total stranger. Yet, as I brought her to Neal, he welcomed her. Then in total calm and tranquility, she fully trusted Neal, played with him, and when she grew tired fell asleep in his arms. And we must do this in bringing ourselves to Jesus Christ. 

Practically giving Jesus our full trust means trusting Jesus’ words and obeying them. The Apostle John says that Jesus is the Word which became flesh. So we cannot separate Jesus from Jesus’ words. Both Jesus and His words are one and the same. 

Practically most of the disciples found it difficult to fully trust in Jesus and his words. Of course by faith in Jesus they left “everything” behind and followed Jesus. But when the going got tough they started thinking twice about the idea of following Jesus all the way. By the time Jesus started talking about himself being rejected by the people and crucified on a tree, the disciples’ commitment to Jesus grew shaky. By that time, some of the disciples especially Judas Iscariot started entertaining the thought of leaving Jesus. Knowing their shaky hearts, Jesus gave them a lot of good promises about their future. But no matter what Jesus said, the disciples found it hard to believe Jesus. Yet in John 14:1 Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.” Still however most of the disciples lost faith in Jesus. In the case of Simon Peter his faith grew so shaky, that he ended up denying Jesus three times. Thanks to Jesus’ help, eventually Peter recovered his faith. Then he became a source of blessing for many. 

“Let the children come to me and do not hinder them.” On many occasions we find it harder to come to Jesus after making many failures. When we commit the same sin again and again, it is even more difficult to bring ourselves to Jesus. But still we must come to Jesus with simple faith that Jesus would welcome us and heal us. In this regard we the adult population have a lot to learn from little children. We all know what babies are. Babies are babies. Until they reach a certain age, they keep making the same mistakes again and again. And we are not talking about just having to change diapers again and again. Yet without a sense of shame little babies keep expecting you, a parent, to change their diapers all the time. 

When we think about it, it will not be difficult to understand that our relationship with Jesus Christ should be the same. In the first place had it not been for our sins, Jesus would not have needed to come. In fact it is for our sins that the Lord God sent Jesus that in and through Jesus Christ all of our sins would be forgiven. And we thank God that the Lord gave us more than 70 children growing under our care. May the Lord bless us to learn from them that we all would know and practice what it is to come to the Lord with simple trust.   

Second, receiving God’s kingdom like a little child 

Look at verse 17 again. “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." Each time Jesus shares with us an important message he adds the phrase, “I tell you the truth…” We know that Jesus himself is the Truth. All of his words are truthful. So it appears that he does not need to preface his message by saying, “I tell you the truth…” Yet he began to say, “I tell you the truth…” Why? The logical answer is that he knows that we might not believe what he said is true. But what he said is really true. It might sound unbelievable, but it is truth, so we must believe it. 

What should we believe? Simply this: anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. It has been said, “Never say never for you never know.” But, Jesus uses the word “never”. And not entering I mean “never” entering God’s kingdom is a serous problem. In fact after so many endeavors, if one is “never” able to enter God’s kingdom, how sad would it be? 

So it is absolutely necessary for us to “receive the kingdom of God like a little child.” Say to our neighbor: receive the kingdom of God like a little child. This time say again, “Receive the kingdom of God.” Say again, “Receive the kingdom.” Say once again, “Receive.” 

The key to remember is “receive”. Jesus Christ and God’s kingdom are one and the same. As we receive Jesus Christ, we also receive God’s kingdom, for Jesus came to bestow upon us God’s kingdom. 

John 1:12 explains the same concept: “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—“ Then in Rev. 3:20 Jesus says, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” 

In conclusion, we learn that we should not be like the Pharisee who tried to save himself through his own human efforts. Rather, like the tax collector we must admit our sinful condition, and ask God for mercy. Then like a little child we must bring ourselves to Jesus Christ with simple faith. Then we must open our hearts to Jesus, that he could come into our life, and do all the blessed work he has in mind. 

One word: God have mercy on me a sinner

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