| The Sinner's Prayer, Part 3 |
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| Written by David Lawrence |
| Monday, August 08 2005 00:00 |
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The most obvious scriptural basis for the sinner's prayer is found in Luke 18:9-14. Jesus addressed this parable to those who were "confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else." He contrasted two men. The first was the Pharisee who went up to pray boasting before God that he was not sinful like other men, and boasting of how he fasted twice a week and gave tithes of all he received. The second was the publican, the tax collector, who was conscious, not of his own personal righteousness, but of the fact that he was a sinner. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat on his breast and said "God, have mercy on me, a sinner." The words of Jesus are clear: "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God." It is important that we notice the Pharisee was not justified. There is a clear and present danger existing for anyone who trusts in his own righteous obedience for salvation. He shall not be pardoned of sin. Woe to the person who trusts in his works to save him. Because all of our works are flawed with sin, no one has the moral ability to perform with the perfection demanded for being right with God. On the other hand, the publican begged for mercy. His heart was filled with an awareness of God's holiness, of God's righteous demands on his life, and of his own sins and failures. He had no basis for boasting, only for pleading for mercy. Certainly, when he asked God for mercy, he was not saved because he did so. He was saved because of the mercy of God based on the as-yet not performed death of Christ. We would understand that he trusted in God who had the power to be merciful to him and to save him. His heart was broken, and his soul was open to God. He came with no spiritual resources, with nothing in which to trust. He had only God to whom he could look for relief. He prayed to God for mercy, and he received mercy. He went down to his house justified. Here, then, is the Biblical basis for the sinner's prayer. |
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