One reason why many of us are humbled is because we are afraid to be humble.
Our fear of humiliation, our shame, creates a lot of energy to cover up the real us.

This morning I will ask any Pharisees among us to become the sinner and pray. For God wants us to pray.

It takes so much work to keep secrets. How much energy we can use to hide shameful acts. The Pharisee was a sinful man. But he had too much pride to admit it. Perhaps he knew of his own sin, but in promoting to others how right he was, he felt he could cover up the secret sins.

God knows.

“8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.” Psalms 90:8, NIV.

Today might be the day that you pray from the heart, “God be merciful to me a sinner.”

For some, your sin might be pride. You have been spending a lot of energy justifying your actions in your own mind. You do think you are smarter, better, higher on the scale than other people. You may secretly enjoy seeing others fall, especially if you end up looking good in the end. You have had other people come to you asking for forgiveness. You have had former friends try to contact you or try to make things up for you. You may even have had friends tell you that you are wrong, but you have so much invested in your pride bank, that you feel you can’t afford to give in. You haven’t spoken to someone, maybe a wife, a child, a parent, a friend. Your pride is causing you a lot of grief. Today you need to come to God and pray the prayer, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.”

One of the hardest places for people to speak up who have had an abortion is in conservative leaning churches like ours. We stand for human life from conception. We are not bearing fetus’, we have living children growing inside the womb.

But it is possible in a church like ours that someone here has had an abortion. Often the news of pregnancy is met with joy, but sometimes there is anger, bitterness and depression. The pressure you may have felt was tremendous. No one twisted your arm, but you knew what they wanted and it influenced your decision. It may be that when you were considering the abortion you heard conflicting advice saying “keep the child” or “abort the child.” And you chose abortion. There are many people who face depression, sadness, a sense of loss after an abortion. Accompanying that is often a sense of guilt.

Today you may need to come to God and pray the prayer, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.”

Adultery is a risky business. On the one hand, a person who is not happy at home can justify finding satisfaction outside the home. The person seemed so good and nice. And your spouse did not understand or relate or show love or, or, or… Now you may be out of that situation. You might even be remarried. But you know in your heart that what you did was not right.

Today you may need to come to God and prayer the prayer, “God be merciful to me a sinner.”

Adultery is a risky business. Your spouse might not even know that you had the fling, the one-night stand, the whatever name you might give it. It eats you up. You feel guilty for the betrayal and you live in fear that somehow the news might get out. We have heard enough cases of people who have to face a wife or husband about a secret affair done years ago. You might identify with the prayer of David.

“1 For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. 5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. 6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. 7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. 10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Psalms 51:1-10, NIV.

If I was to sum up David’s prayer and the prayer you should pray I would say it this way, “God be merciful to me a sinner.”

But the above prayer is only believable if you know God. “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” Some people would say, “God be merciful to me? A sinner?” My friend, if you say that, you are not far from the kingdom of heaven. The Pharisee did not know he was a sinner. If you don’t do anything wrong, you don’t need mercy. The man who prayed, “God be merciful to me a sinner” knew he was a sinner. So you are closer to God than the person who thinks they are ok.

A mother once approached Napoleon seeking a pardon for her son. The emperor replied that the young man had committed a certain offense twice and justice demanded death. "But I don't ask for justice,? the mother explained. "I plead for mercy.? "But your son does not deserve mercy,? Napoleon replied. "Sir,? the woman cried, "it would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask for.? "Well, then,? the emperor said, "I will have mercy.? And he spared the woman's son.
(Luis Palau, "Experiencing God's Forgiveness,? Multnomah Press, 1984)

As long as you look at yourself, you will never look up. The tax collector didn’t. He couldn’t even look God in the eye. He had betrayed his country and his God. He had cheated more people out of money than he could even count. And when it came to him what he did, he beat his breast. When we feel bad, we feel bad. But have you seen anyone who feels awful? They have to use their body. Some pace, some pull their hair and some beat their breast. This man beat his breast.

I don’t know if he knew if God was merciful or not, but he threw himself on God. And you may be a breast-beater. You may feel unworthy and undeserving. So throw yourself on the mercy of God.

Before the cross, a person might have had some question as to the mercifulness of God, but after the cross, there is no question. God is merciful to sinners!

Christ died and took on the sin that makes you a sinner. He took on himself the sins of adultery, greed, lying, cheating, disobedience, abuse, and every other sin you could name. When God looked down from heaven and saw our sin placed on Jesus, something happened. Jesus said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The reason that God forsook him was so that we would not be forsaken. When we pray and say to God, “God, be merciful to me a sinner,” God says, I will show mercy on all who believe on my son. Whosoever will call on the name of the Lord will receive mercy and be saved from sin.

It may be today that you need to pray, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.”
The song writer said, “Would you be free from your burden of sin?” Both Christians and non-Christians carry a burden of sin. I ask you this, “Would you be free from your burden of sin? Do you want it gone?”
I cannot promise that God will erase your memory of sin. I cannot promise that God will force those you sinned against to forgive you. I can tell you that God is merciful to sinners, he is merciful to you and he is merciful to me.

Verse 14 tells us the man went home, justified before God. Think about this. He was not justified because he did everything right. He was a sinner. The Pharisee thought he did everything right. He did not go home justified before God. But the sinner did.
You will soon go home. My prayer is that you would go home justified before God. That you would pray for God’s mercy and walk out of here knowing that God gave you mercy.

What does it look like, to be given mercy? In the case of this tax collector, I would say:
First, he knew God was not going to condemn him, was not going to hold his sin against him. Those who receive mercy realized that they have missed the bullet, they have been granted reprieve, they are not going to get what they deserve.

Second, the idea of “justify” includes being right with God. When we sin, we sin against God. When we are aware of how hideous our sin is, we, like Adam and Eve, try to hide. But God comes seeking us. He gives us mercy through Jesus, and we now know that we are not God’s enemies, but we can walk hand in hand with him again. Things are right between us and God.

Third, the sense of appreciation will cause us to be merciful to others. There are several parables and teachings on this in the Bible. I won’t take the time to go over them all right now. If we have received mercy, we give mercy to others.
My daughter, Esther, sent me a story this past week. I want to give you the gist if it right now. This is about a woman named Mukantabana. She had seen family members raped, tortured, placed in graves still alive and killed. This is the story from CNN.
Mukantabana admits it was difficult to forgive. She said she did not speak to Bizimana or his wife for four years after the killings. What put her on the road to healing, she said, was the “gacaca” process.

"It has not just helped me, it has helped all Rwandans because someone comes and accepts what he did and he asks for forgiveness from the whole community, from all Rwandans," she said.

Bizimana said he did just that.

"You go in front of the people like we are standing here and ask for forgiveness," he said.

But despite his confession and apology, Iphigenia said reconciliation would not have happened unless she had decided to open her heart and accept his pleas. [mercy]

"I am a Christian and I pray a lot," she said, the pain etched in the lines on her face and around her sad eyes.

God also has the pain. He doesn’t like our sin. But he also has the mercy. He is ready to forgive and to reconcile.

It’s time to pray. Has something I have said today brought up from your past that is burdening you? Is it time for you to pray, “God, be merciful to me a sinner?”