Luke 18:10-14 (NIV) Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 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.’ I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

Praying The Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 and obeying Romans 10:8-10 gave you a perfect record with God; but, it wasn’t given to you so you could go right back out there and sin against yourself, other people, and God’s plan. That perfect record was given to you so you would be able to understand the Bible, have Jesus and His power to fight against sin, and have DIRECT access to your heavenly Father. That made it possible for you to get your sins taken care of without them reinfecting you and killing you (separating you from God).

IF every time you sinned, you died spiritually (were separated from God), you would lose you understanding of the Bible, Jesus and the Holy Spirit would leave your body, and you would lose your direct access to God. Plus, God would cease being your heavenly Father; and, you would cease being His child. Every time you sinned, you would have to go back and be born again, go back and get salvation and justification, and get back into God’s family again.

But, with a perfect record with God, when you sin, if you take advantage of your new attitudes, take advantage of your understanding of the Bible, take advantage of your relationship with your heavenly Father, and take advantage of your power-relationship with Jesus, you will BE ABLE to repent (make a U-turn). This will cause you to REMAIN a Christian and go home justified before God.

You need God’s help when you are doing fine. But, you need God’s help THE MOST when you have done something wrong. The problem is, when we need God’s help THE MOST we typically feel like we don’t deserve to come to Him because we SINNED!

Gen 3:8 (NIV) Then the man (Adam) and his wife (Eve) heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. We do like Adam and Eve did, when they disobeyed God. They hid themselves from God because they felt guilty; and, they WERE guilty. But, God’s grace and mercy make our relationship with Him NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH us deserving His forgiveness.

God wasn’t mad at Adam and Eve; He wasn’t going to reject them; He was going to correct and punish them; but, they still needed God’s help THE MOST during that time and got it! If we hide from God, ignore Him, stay away from Him, or think He is mad at us, we fail to come to God at a time when we need Him THE MOST. We need to feel bad about what we have done; but, we need to run to God so we can take advantage of our clean record.

If we do like the Pharisee and reinterpret the Bible, if we make the rules, commandments, and teachings of Jesus mean something else, if we try to decide what is sin and what isn’t, and if we try to decide how to go about getting God’s forgiveness rather than doing what the Bible says, we will sin and fail to repent. We will think we are okay when God, the Bible, and our conscience are trying to tell us that we aren’t. The reason Jesus told us the parable about the Pharisee and the tax collector was so we wouldn’t get confused, misunderstand, and start believing false information. JESUS MAKES SURE NO ONE ACCIDENTLY, IGNORANTLY DAMAGES THEIR PERFECT RECORD.

Grace is getting gifts of good things that you don’t deserve. Mercy is NOT getting bad things that you DO deserve. When you sin, even though you are a Christian, ignoring, avoiding, and running away from God is the worst thing you can do. Hiding from God is caused by some of our wrong opinions about our heavenly Father. We CAN’T come to God because we think we deserve forgiveness. We MUST come to God at times when we feel so bad about what we did that we feel we don’t deserve forgiveness. We MUST NOT wait until we have done something that we feel made us worthy. We need God’s help at the moment of our greatest lack of worthiness.

It is important for you to understand that EVEN WHEN you DO refuse to repent, God doesn’t just dump you. Even though a person CAN damage their perfect record by refusing to “do what it takes” to repent, God uses a procedure to try to help them change their mind; it is called, discipline. It is hard for us to understand, sometimes, that there are things that are painful but can be good for us. Discipline is a form of grace and mercy that we may not understand or like at the moment.

1 Cor 11:32 (NIV) When we are JUDGED by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world. To be condemned with the world would mean we lost our relationship with God. When God’s children sin and they refuse to repent, He disciplines them rather than cutting Himself off from them. Salvation and justification keep you as God’s child so you can come to Him in your current condition and get healed. If refusing to repent AUTOMATICALLY caused you to not have a perfect record with God, you couldn’t come. Let’s look at discipline and all the wonderful things grace and mercy have done and are doing for you.

Grace and mercy made it possible for you to come to Jesus and be saved and justified. Grace and mercy provided you with a perfect record with God. Grace and mercy keep you a Christian after you sin so you can come to God and repent. Grace and mercy empower you to go to those you sinned against and make it right. Grace and mercy will give you power, training, wonderful relationships, and the opportunity to work together with Jesus so you will sin less and less. And, grace and mercy will give you discipline rather than condemnation when you refuse to repent.

Being disciplined isn’t fun or enjoyable; but, it saves us from the consequences of refusing to repent when we have done or are doing something wrong. There are times when we DO REFUSE to repent; but, IF we REALLY don’t want to separate ourselves from God, God will know.

God knows everything; God looks into our heart and can see when we are just being misinformed, distracted, lied to, confused, or driven by some temptation. He can see when DEEP DOWN inside, we still want to remain with Him. When we are struggling with some issue or temptation, God knows it is just a matter of time for us to come to our senses. So, He doesn’t let us go; He graciously and mercifully keeps our record perfect. Then He allows us to go through some HARDSHIPS to wake us up.

Heb 12:5-7 (NIV) And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes everyone He accepts as a son.” Endure HARDSHIP as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? This is your Perfect Father doing everything possible to help you keep heading in the right direction; don’t resent it.

In the parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee, we see the tax collector has the right attitude. The Pharisee had already “forgiven himself.” So many people around us tell us to do this so we can get rid of the guilt. But, that is the worst thing you could do to yourself. When you feel bad about something you have done, it is your cue that you need to run to your heavenly Father for help. BIBLICAL PRINCIPLE: Luke 18:14 (NIV) I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

If you lacked pain sensors in your body, you would never know when something was wrong. Pain is a very unpleasant experience; but, it warns you so you can take the appropriate action to save your body. God causes you to feel guilty about certain thoughts, feelings, words, and deeds so you will be able to make some important changes. Listen to this tax collector: Luke 18:13 (NIV) 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.’ He allowed himself to FEEL guilty and it helped him get healed.