HOW TO PRAY FOR SALVATION
By Bruce Lackey
"And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
"The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
"And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon 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 every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." Luke 18:9-14
In this illustration given by Christ we see how to pray for salvation. It is obvious that the publican's prayer was heard by God, and the publican was saved. What were the characteristics of this man's prayer to God?
The publican was humble
The very first characteristic that leaps off the page here is the man's humility. When he prayed, he was humble. It says in verse 13 that he was standing afar off. Now what does that tell you about the Pharisee? You know where the Pharisee was standing? He was standing out there in the spotlight, where everybody would see him. Remember how Jesus said that they loved to pray in the marketplace that they might be seen of men? I'll guarantee you, when that Pharisee went to church, he got out there in the middle of everything. And he probably lifted up his voice with a holy tone and prayed out loud to God. He wanted everybody to hear him. But the publican sneaked off over there in a corner somewhere in the shadow, standing afar off. He was humble. He was sorry, and rotten, and wicked, and he knew it. Humble.
You know the reason God heard that publican's prayer? The first reason is he was humble. James 4:6. "God resisteth the proud, but given grace to the humble." If people get saved, they have to be saved by grace. And God will not give grace to the proud. Only to the humble.
The publican was burdened with sin
There is something else about this man. He was burdened with his sin. It says in verse 14 that "he would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven." He was burdened with his sin. Hold your place there, and turn back to Psalm 40. Why did God put this in the Bible? Why did God say he would not lift his eyes to heaven? I read a book sometime ago by Charles Finney, talking about revivals. The book was written toward the end of his career, when he said a lot of people were coming along with a counterfeit type revival. He said some people were trying to have revival, but it was not the real thing. And in this book he began to deal with the various things that people were doing wrong.
He made an interesting observation. I've never read anything like this in my life. Here was Charles Finney's way of doing things. He'd go into a place and preach, and then he'd give an invitation. He'd invite people to go to the inquiry room. That's the way they did it back then. They didn't deal with them down front. They went to the inquiry room. After the invitation was over Finney would go to the inquiry room to deal with these people and to help them to get converted. Now here was Charles Finney's practice. He said that when he walked into the inquiry room, if people were sitting there looking at him, he knew they were not ready to get saved. He said that the only ones who were ready to get saved were those who were looking down at the floor.
That's unusual, isn't it. I'm not saying that you have to go that far, but folks, I'd like you to look at a verse in Psalm 40 that we need to get hold of in our day. Psalm 40:12. "For innumerable evils have compassed me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up." That's the idea right there, isn't it. That's why that old publican would not lift up his eyes even to heaven. He said, "I'm such a sorry sinner; I've got so many sins; they're weighing me down; I can't even lift up my head." He was burdened with his sin.
Folks, we can't hop, skip, and jump, and traipse, and pop bubble gum when we are coming to Jesus. This is not a game. This is not a club we are joining. It's not a society we're becoming a member of. When we come to the Lord Jesus, and we call upon the name of the Lord to be saved, we've got to come like this publican did. We've got to come humbly and we've got to come burdened down with our sins.
When you asked the Lord to save you, what did you ask Him to save you from? I'm afraid that a lot of people ask God to save them from a failing career, or from a divorce, or from an operation, or some other thing. Now all of those are bad, but, folks, a failing career won't send you to hell. An operation won't send you to hell. And a divorce, a broken home, won't send you to hell. It's our sins that send us to hell. And we need to be saved from our sins.
That's the reason the publican wouldn't lift up his eyes. He was burdened with his sins.
The publican thought of himself in relation to God
Turn back over to Luke 9 again, and look at another characteristic. In verse 13, it's pretty obvious that this publican thought of himself in relation to God. The only thing that he said, the first word that he uttered, was "God, be merciful to me a sinner." He thought of himself in relation to God.
He could have said, "Lord, I'm not like that Pharisee. He's says he's not like me, but I'm glad I'm not like him. I'm not a hypocrite. I haven't been parading up here every Sunday and standing up there and praying out loud and acting like something I'm not. I'll guarantee you, if I'm going to sin, I'm going to do it openly!" He could have said that, you know. A lot of people do.
You see, he wasn't thinking about himself in relation to that Pharisee, but in relation to God. And when he did that, all he could think about was "I'm a sinner." "God, be merciful to me a sinner."
The publican sought God by faith
There is another characteristic of his prayer. He sought God by faith and not by sight. I believe this is another reason why the Lord says that he "would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven." See, he wasn't trying to see God with his eyes. He was trying to find Him by faith. And that's the only way we can find Him, folks.
It's a shocking thing to me, with the emphasis that the Bible has on faith, how many preachers and how many testimonies today talk about being saved according to what somebody saw. I remember a certain well-known rebel that was a fugitive from justice. He fled this country to escape the FBI, but it was widely reported in the newspaper that he had been born again. And I began to read all I could about that. Finally I saw an account of his own testimony about how he got saved. You know how he got saved? He said he looked up into the moon, and he saw a figure of Jesus. Now I'm not trying to be a smart aleck, and I'm not trying to sound like I know it all today, but I'll tell you this: That's not how he or anybody else gets saved.
You know what the Bible says? 1 Peter 1:8. Concerning Jesus Christ, "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." The Bible says, "Now we see him not."
I know what people say. I've heard people say, "Oh, I was in the hospital, Brother Lackey, and I had such and such wrong with me, and the doctors gave up, and one night I woke up and there, standing at the foot of my bed, was Jesus." I've heard all of that, but a long time ago I had to make a decision whether I was going to believe what the Bible said or what people say. I made my decision, and I want to encourage you to make the same one. Believe what the Bible says.
When God wrote this book, He knew what folks would be saying in the twentieth century, and He put some very pertinent verses in there to help us see the error of some of these things. And one of these is the verse that we have read, 1 Peter 1:8. "...though now ye see him not, yet believing..."
2 Corinthians 5:7. "For we walk by faith, not by sight." Faith is contrasted with sight repeatedly.
Hebrews 11:2. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
You know why this publican went home justified? Because he sought the Lord by faith, not by some vision, but by faith.
By faith in what? Let's get a little more specific than that. Look at that verse again in Luke 18:13. "God, be merciful..." You know what his faith was in? His faith was in the blood. The word "merciful" is the same word that refers to the mercy seat. Back in the temple was a compartment, a room, where only one man could go--the high priest--and he could go only once a year. He went back in that room once a year for the sole purpose of taking blood and sprinkling it on the mercy seat. And the Bible says that was to make atonement for the sins of Israel.
Now, how did that publican know what was happening back in there? You know, he couldn't go back there and watch the high priest do that. You know how he knew what the high priest was doing in the holy of holies? The same way we know. He had read it in the Bible. That's the only way that he knew. The Bible says that is what the high priest does, and that's the only way he knew.
You know what the Lord Jesus Christ did when He rose from the dead? The Bible, in Heb. 9:12, says, "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us."
Now how do I know that He did that? I didn't see it, and I don't know anybody who has. But I know it the same way the publican knew what took place back there in the holy of holies in the temple. I know it because the Bible says it, and because I know what the Bible says, I have put my faith in what the Son of God did by His own blood. I believe that by His blood He has obtained eternal redemption for me.
The publican sought God by faith in the shed blood of an innocent sacrifice, and that blood was applied by somebody else for him. That's the way we seek God. We come to Christ, and we believe that He was the innocent Lamb of God, and He, as our Substitute, by His own blood, made the application necessary to save us forever and ever.
You see what it means to call upon the name of the Lord. Now I don't mean you have to have all of those words and those exact phrases in mind when you get saved, but folks, nobody ever got saved unless they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and what He did when He bled for our sins.
Can you say today, "When I leave this church, I'm going home justified because I have come to God just like the publican did. I came humbly. I came burdened down with my sin. I sought the Lord, not by sight, not by some experience, not by some ritual, but I sought Him by faith in the shed blood of the Savior."
I wonder how many would have to say, "I'm afraid I'm just like that old Pharisee. The only religion I have is on the outside. I know how to go through the ritual. I can put on a good show, but in my heart there is wickedness and sin. I've never been purified in my heart by faith."
Oh, my friend, it doesn't matter how many temples of God you've prayed in. It doesn't matter how many churches you might have joined, or ceremonies you might have gone through. If you have never come to God by faith in the blood of Christ, come to Him today, and you'll be able to walk down to your house saying, "Jesus was describing me when He said, `This man went down to his house justified'."
Don't let pride keep you from coming to Christ. If you do, pride will just as surely drag you to hell, as would murder, or any other awful sin.