In the sermon 'Prayer That God Hears' by Peter Allison, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector is used to illustrate the type of prayer that is heard by God. The Pharisee, who prays with pride and self-righteousness, is contrasted with the tax collector, who approaches God with humility and a contrite heart. The Pharisee's prayer, full of self-praise and comparison to others, is not heard by God, while the tax collector's humble plea for mercy is justified. The sermon emphasizes the importance of acknowledging one's own unworthiness and relying on God's mercy rather than one's own deeds. The speaker also highlights the ongoing nature of humility in the Christian life and the need for continuous confession and trust in Christ's righteousness. This parable serves as a reminder that those who exalt themselves will be humbled, while those who humble themselves will be exalted by God.

Luke chapter 18. Read verses 9. Also he spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.

I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I possess, and the tax collector, standing afar off with not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. May each of us say with David, I will delight myself in your commandments which I love. Oh Heavenly Father, please give to us a love of Your Word, a love of Your commandments.

Speak to us, Lord, and open our hearts, our eyes, and our ears that we might behold and understand. For we know that these spiritual things are not perceived by our natural senses. And I ask also that you would sanctify my sinful lips to proclaim what is holy and true. In Jesus name, amen. It It was all the way back in.

Chapter 11 that Jesus gave to us the Lord's Prayer. But he's continued throughout this section to emphasize prayer. And he comes back to it again and again. And last week, we saw We looked at this parable of the widow who prayed persistently, not to tell us that if we pray persistently, God will hear us because we are persistent, but rather to remind us and encourage us that because God does hear us and because he is a just judge and because he will answer us that we ought to pray persistently and then he asks this question will he really find faith on the earth when the Son of Man comes. And the next three parables deal with what saving faith is.

They give us little views of saving faith. And the first view here in this section is the heart that has been humbled by God. And the second section or the next paragraph is the heart that is trusting in the Lord. And the next section then deals with saving faith that acknowledges that Jesus is the Lord of our life and submits to him. So this in this little section Jesus tells us what kind of prayer God hears and what kind of prayer God does not hear.

Jesus gives us a picture here of prayer, the prayer that Jesus hears. Jesus hears the prayer of those who come humbly. You know, prayer really review reveals. Our view. Of ourself, when we pray, we we express what we think of ourself.

We also express what we think of God. In the last section, this widow by her continual perseverance in prayer demonstrated that she believed God would answer her prayer, that God was just, And that God would give her what she was praying for because he was a God who kept his promises. We also reveal what we think of ourselves and how we view ourselves, whether we think of ourselves as basically good or whether we see ourselves as the scripture presents us as those who are not basically good, who are unworthy, who are not worthy of receiving the things that we are asking for. And so Jesus tells this parable and it tells us, the text tells us who he was speaking to. Sometimes he told parables, and he left it up to the hearers to figure out who he was speaking to.

Now it was usually clear. But in this case, it says that Jesus spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. That's who he's talking to here. Those who trust in themselves that they are righteous and despise others in their heart. He says that two men went up to the temple to pray, a Pharisee, and a tax collector.

The Pharisees, we might say, were the Puritans of their day. In one sense, they had a good start back in the previous century. They were the ones who resisted the assimilation of the pagan cultures into the Jewish life, into the Jewish culture. They were the ones who stood against the attempts to syncretize with pagans and and to practice, bring in pagan practices and put them alongside their Jewish practices. They they were.

And so you could say in one sense, they were like the reformers, the Puritans of their day, who wanted in the Church of England, who wanted to restore proper worship. They even carried the laws, the purity laws from the temple and wanted to observe those laws in all of their life. And so in some ways, they had some good and right ideas in the beginning. But at this point, these These have become known as what we call Pharisees, somebody who is self-righteous. They certainly had lost any love that they had for the Lord.

That's the same message that Jesus had for the Ephesian Church. They had great doctrinal orthodoxy, but they had left their first love. The Pharisees were very much like that. They thought they had great Doctrinal orthodoxy now Jesus showed that they didn't rightly understand the law But they had certainly left their first love They were not living out of a life that loved the Lord and desired to serve him. And so this Pharisee goes into the temple to pray.

That was a good thing. Even the apostles went to the temple to pray. The temple was where God's glory was, and that's where people went to worship. We don't go to a place anymore because God has worked, we are the temple of God's, of God and where God has worshiped wherever he puts his name and he puts his name on his people. But in this time they went to the temple to worship because that's where God had put his name.

And he, you notice the first thing that's said of him is that he prays with himself. He prays with himself. He didn't pray to God, but he prayed with himself. His prayer was not heard at the throne of grace because he was just talking to himself. He was talking out loud, but the Bible says he was talking to himself.

The Holy Spirit was not making intercession for him. The Holy Spirit wasn't carrying his request to the throne of grace. Christ, our mediator, was not mediating at the throne of grace for this man as he prayed. He wasn't praying in Jesus name. He wasn't praying to God.

He was praying with himself. He thought he was praying to God, but he wasn't. He was just having a conversation about himself. Of course, even though he wasn't praying to God, and even though he wasn't at the throne of grace, God still heard him praying with himself. And in his prayer with himself, he praised himself.

He said, I thank you that I am not like other people. And we might not say that. Out loud, We certainly wouldn't say that out loud to another Christian, but we often may think that way. His giving thanks is really a way of commending himself because in his giving of thanks he is reciting all of the things that he has done. It's a backhanded way of praising Himself.

Sometimes you may have heard prayer requests where there is a backhanded way of recounting the things that someone has done in the name of praising God. That is what this Pharisee was doing, praising himself in the name of thanking God but everything he thanked God for was about himself know so many times he says I I this and I that so so he was saying, I thank you, Lord, but he was really praising himself. And in his praise of himself, he compared himself with other people. And in doing that, the Bible says we're not wise when we do that. And again, we probably don't do that out loud, but how many times have we done something and then justified it to ourselves by thinking, well, it's not as bad as this other person.

Or it could have been worse, or other people would have been worse, or something like that. Or we compare ourselves in our practice, in our prayers, or in our reading of the Word of God by what other people do, and what other people would think of us if they saw what we were doing. Paul told the Corinthians that he said, we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves, but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise. For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends. So this Pharisee compares himself to other people, and he thinks, I'm not like them.

And he wasn't like them. He says, I'm not an extortioner. I'm not a swindler, a con man who preys on naive people. I'm not a thief. I don't steal.

I don't take things. I'm not like that. And he probably didn't do those things. He says, I'm not like the unjust man. I'm not a crook.

I'm not a businessman who cheats his customers. I'm not someone who has no regard for upright living. An unjust or unrighteous person. He said, I'm not an adulterer. I'm not somebody who's not faithful to their wife.

I don't have mistress on the side. I don't do those things. I haven't left my wife or another woman. And then of course, I'm especially not like this tax collector. A tax collector was like a collaborator with the enemy.

The Jews were living under Roman occupation And the tax collectors were people who worked daily with the Romans. They may not have had the primary contracts to collect the taxes, but they worked with those who did and in that sense they were like the French or the Dutch who sold themselves out to the Nazis in order to have bread and food. They could get more ration cards if they cooperated with the Nazis. And there were people that did that and they were despised by the people who were resisting their occupation. And so these tax collectors were in the eyes of some just like Nazi collaborators.

People who had compromised in order for their own gain. And he's saying, I'm not like all those other people. He's comparing himself to them. But he's not measuring himself according to the Word of God. He had no sense of the holiness of God and the sinfulness of his own condition.

See whenever people have a right understanding, when we have a right understanding of our condition before the Lord. We cry out, woe, woe is me. I am undone. I am an unclean man. I have unclean lips.

My heart is corrupt. But he wasn't measuring himself according to the Word of God. And he wasn't in the presence of God, because all those who are truly in the presence of God are overwhelmed with God's holiness, God's holy being separate and holy other. He had no sense, absolutely no sense of being in the presence of a holy God. Of a holy God.

He actually believed that he exceeded the requirements of the law. He had a very high view of himself. He said, I give ties of all that I possess. I fast twice a week. Well, the Bible never commanded fasting twice a week.

At most it was one day of fasting and the day of atonement, to afflict yourself, it says. But certainly not twice a week. So when he's saying, I fast twice a week, He's saying, I do way more than what God requires. I am that good. God should be pleased.

And if I've failed somewhere else, if I have done something, Well, my excess righteousness in fasting more than God wants, well that should make up for that. That's His view. That by His own works, He can do what God requires and he can even do a little bit more in case there's any areas that he missed, any things that he did wrong. Well, yes, everybody makes mistakes from now and then, it's his view. Well, I'm exceeding God's requirements, so I'll be alright.

My good deeds outweigh any bad things I might have done. He said, I give tithes of all that I possess. God never required us to give tithes of all that we possess. The tithe is the increase. It's not what you possess.

We don't come each week and give a tithe of everything that we have. It's a tithe of the increase that we have received, the gain. If there's a loss, if we have a loss, then we don't tithe. There's no tithe that is required, Although we may bring an offering. And so he's even here, he's saying, I do way more than what I have to do, than what God requires of me.

Shouldn't God be very pleased with me? You see, he wasn't at the throne of grace. He wasn't in the presence of the living God. Now we may not openly say any of these things out loud, but how easy it is, isn't it, for us to think some of these things? And when we do, we're not wise.

It's so easy for us to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. And when we do fail, we tend to believe that our failure is not as great as someone else's failure. And so we're very, we're probably easily, can easily point out to ourself that we're, even where we have failed, well we didn't do this or that or the other thing. Instead of recognizing that our failure. Is is is a failure.

And it's a great failure. And that every sin deserves God's wrath and curse. Now on the other hand, Jesus said, Jesus spoke about the tax collector. He came very differently. He came humbly.

And what did that look like? Well, he stood a far off. He didn't even dare to come near. He didn't see himself worthy enough. Didn't see himself worthy enough to come near.

Have you ever approached a circle of people or a couple people and wondered whether you are worthy to fit into their company. That's the way he approached this. He didn't he didn't dare to even come near. He didn't even lift up his eyes. He couldn't lift up his eyes to heaven.

He was not able to do that. He compared him, he saw himself as a great sinner. He came with a deeply broken and a contrite heart. There was a there's an intensity to his unworthiness. He beat his own breast.

Out of out of the urgency out of the intensity of his unworthiness. You see, that's grace that enables us to know our guilt in a way that we seek God's grace and look to his promise for forgiveness. There are some that might think of themselves as and know that they are very wicked, but they don't come and seek the Lord's forgiveness. It's grace that enables us to see our unworthiness and our sin as God sees it. The Pharisee was guilty, but he felt righteous.

That's a deadly combination. To be guilty but to feel righteous. It's like having a gauge on your car, a temperature gauge, and your motor is overheating and ruining itself but the gauge says everything is okay. Or you have a, or you, you know, that's why we have fevers, so that we know that we are not well and our body is not well and that we need to rest. And if we suppress the fever without fixing the cause, then we're really hurting ourselves.

The Pharisee was guilty, but he thought he was righteous. This sinner, this tax collector, is just the opposite. He was in the presence of a holy God, and he responded like Isaiah did. Woe is me, I am undone, because I have a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. My eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

He expresses, he not just senses that, he doesn't just have this broken and contrite heart but he expresses the sense of his own unworthiness. He identifies himself as a sinner. Me, me I'm a sinner. The sinner. It's very easy to say nobody's perfect.

I'm not perfect and I sin. But it's so much harder to say, I am the sinner. This is my sin. I sinned when I did this. That's so much harder.

But That's what he said. And that's what we need to be saying. Not just, oh, you know, I've sinned today, or I think, I know I've sinned today, but where have we sinned? To be able to say, I am that sinner. I have done this sin.

And lastly, not only does he come humbly, the he comes with a broken and a contrite heart, he expresses. His unworthiness, but he then asks for mercy. See, the Pharisee never asked for mercy because he didn't think he needed any. You notice there is no request there. It's simply a prayer of self-praise.

Thanking God. But this man, this tax collector, this collaborator, this person who is in some ways despicable he asks for mercy. It's actually in the imperative God be merciful to me. He's asking for God to pardon him. That word means to pardon, to be propitious, and to propitiate is to appease or to turn away the wrath of God.

He asks God to be merciful to him, to pardon his iniquity, and he asks that the wrath of God against him for his despicable things that he has done would be turned away. You can't ask that unless you believe that God's wrath is upon us, and that we have done despicable things for which God is rightly and justly angry. And then God gives His verdict on those prayers. Jesus says, I tell you, I tell you. This man went down to his house justified.

God heard the prayer of that despicable person, That person who did who did despicable things. Cowardly things, wicked things. God heard his prayer. He received what he asked for. He asked for mercy.

He asked for his sins to be pardoned and God declared that he was justified. That his sins have been forgiven and in place of his filthy righteousness, God's imputed to him the perfect righteousness of Christ. And God looked upon him with that righteousness. That's what it is to be justified. You remember Judah in the passage that we read last week.

Judah was a wicked nation. They had committed great abominations. And Josiah, this young king, humbled himself and he sent to inquire of the Lord. Do you remember what we read last week? And the message, the answer to him was, thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning the words which you have heard, those words of judgment for the despicable things that Judah had done because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and against his inhabitants and you humbled yourself before me and you tore your clothes and you wept before me not out of a show but because his heart was truly broken for the wickedness of the land and of himself because you humbled yourself before Me and tore your clothes and wept before you, I have heard you, God said.

I have heard you. And you will be gathered to your grave in peace." See, that's what God said of this tax collector. It didn't really matter how despicable he had been. It didn't matter all of the things that he had done. It didn't matter really what people thought of him.

It didn't matter that this Pharisee thought he was a lowdown, a collaborator, a Nazi collaborator. What matters is God's view of him. That's all that matters. And God said he was justified. The debt of his iniquity was wiped away.

It was paid. It was pardoned. It was forgiven. This debt that he couldn't pay and he knew he couldn't pay it and he knew he was guilty and he knew it was owed. That debt was wiped away.

He was given the grace that he sought for at the throne of grace. And Jesus contrasts him on the other hand with the Pharisee who did not go home justified. Jesus says This one went home justified rather than the other. He never asked for mercy because he didn't think he needed any. He wasn't broken by any sin because he didn't think he'd really done anything.

He thought he had plenty of good deeds that would certainly cover any sins he had committed. And so God will judge him according to what he has done. He will get the judgment that he asked for according to all that he had done. What he didn't realize is all that he had done was wicked. And then having done all the things that he, even if he had been able to do all the things perfectly that he was supposed to, he would still have been an unprofitable servant as Jesus Related earlier in the last chapter.

Then Jesus gives the principle here. This is he gives the moral of this little parable. This wasn't just about two people in the time of Israel. This is about us. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.

Everyone who is full of himself, who thinks that he is okay, doing pretty well, doing as well as anybody else is, as good as anybody else is, no worse than anybody else around them. God says they will learn who they really are and what their works really are. And God will judge them according to those works. Paul told the Philippians in Philippians 3, yet indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness. Not having my own righteousness which is from the law.

Because it's not, that righteousness isn't good enough. That's the righteousness that this Pharisee had. His own righteousness according to the law. But he didn't know the law. And he didn't realize that he had fallen far short of what God's law required.

Jesus said, he who hates his brother has committed murder in his heart. He's despising his brother, this tax collector. He who looks at a woman to desire her has committed adultery in his heart. He who looks at his neighbor's house and wants it has stolen it in his heart. He who thinks evil of his neighbor in his heart has broken the law.

We don't want to be found in that day having our own righteousness which is of the law. But that which is through faith in Christ. The righteousness which is from God by faith. This public, this tax collector had a righteousness that wasn't his own, it was from God and he had it by faith. He believed that God could justify Him, and He asked God to justify Him.

So the others, Jesus says, He who exalts Himself will be humbled. He will come under, they will come under the just judgment of God and condemnation of God for all of their sins. But he who humbles himself. Will be exalted. How do we humble ourselves?

We humble ourselves when we uncover our sin And then the Lord covers it. Therefore, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that you may be exalted in due time, Peter said. We humble ourself when we uncover our sin, when we confess our sin, when we acknowledge our transgressions, then God exalts us. How high does He exalt us? This is how high God exalts those who humble themselves and uncover their sin.

But God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our sins, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. By grace, you have been saved. And raised us up together with Christ and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Now that's exaltation brothers and sisters to be raised with Christ and to be seated with him in the heavenlies With Christ Jesus That comes to those who are willing to humble themselves who are willing to acknowledge that what we do is sinful, that our hearts are corrupt, but that Jesus Christ can forgive us and pardon our iniquity. And He does.

We were raised together and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. That comes as we confess our sins and cast ourself on the mercy of Jesus. And this is an ongoing thing. This is an ongoing thing. This isn't something we can look back and say, well, I humbled myself back there.

I confessed my sin that day. This is something that is ongoing. Humility is a work of God's grace that we are clothed in humility and that we are a people who who daily uncover our sins. So that the Lord can cover them in His mercy. We are a people who are daily humbling ourselves before the mighty hand of God.

And those are the people whose prayers God hears. It's not a matter of how long they are or how eloquent they are or how precise they are or how free flowing they are, It's a matter of our heart. Whether we are humble before the Lord, whether we are coming with a broken and a contrite heart, in a sense of our own unworthiness, but also a sense of Christ's mercy and His goodness and love to us who don't deserve it. May God give us His grace that we may both see our own unworthiness and rest and trust in Christ's mercy for us that we are, that we are truly accepted in the beloved. Our almighty heavenly father.

How often we struggle. To either recognize our own unworthiness. Or having recognized it to to receive and rest in your great worth and in your great mercy to forgive and to pardon and to cleanse. And to accept us. In Christ, in the beloved.

Despite all the things that we are. Oh, Lord, you, those who are in you, are new creations in Christ. The old things that we have done are passed away. All things have become new. Oh Lord, as we walk day by day with you, may we be those who are clothed with humility, who acknowledge day by day that we are what we are by your grace and not by our own strength and not by our own wisdom and skill and our own fortitude.

For apart from you, we could do nothing, nothing at all. And it is only your grace that makes us to differ. And where we see your grace, Lord, May we be humbled to know that this is your work and not our own. Thank you Father for your mercy to us in Christ Jesus. Thank you for your cleansing power of your blood.

Thank you for your righteousness, which is fully good enough to meet every commandment and every demand of the holy law of God. Thank you, Lord, for our Savior. May we see each day your beauty, your glory, your mercy and your loving kindness to us in Jesus name. Amen.