The Mercy We Could Never Deserve

Oct 25, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: The Pharisee’s Prayer of Self-Congratulation

Religious performance often disguises spiritual bankruptcy. The Pharisee stood apart, listing achievements like spiritual trophies – fasting, tithing, moral superiority. His prayer revealed transactional religion: God owed him favor for good behavior. This posture blinded him to his need for grace, mistaking self-congratulation for worship. True righteousness begins not with comparing ourselves to others, but with seeing our poverty before a holy God. [38:13]

“The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’”
(Luke 18:11-12, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you secretly thanked God for being “not like them” – measuring your righteousness against others’ failures? What measurable spiritual habits might you be treating as bargaining chips with God?

Day 2: The Chest-Beating Cry of the Unworthy

Shame kept the tax collector’s eyes lowered; grief over sin turned his fists inward. His beating chest mirrored the hammering conviction of a heart aware of its moral debt. Unlike the Pharisee’s polished resume, his prayer held only eight raw words. This was no negotiation – just a beggar’s plea for undeserved covering. Mercy thrives where pretense dies. [40:16]

“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’”
(Luke 18:13, ESV)

Reflection: When have you last approached God with empty hands rather than spiritual accomplishments? What sin weighs on you that requires not explanations, but a cry for atoning mercy?

Day 3: Mercy as Atonement, Not Approval

“Be merciful” meant more than kindness – it begged for the sacrificial covering of sin. The tax collector used the Greek term hilaskomai, a cry for propitiation. He didn’t ask God to overlook his failure but to deal with it through atoning sacrifice. Centuries before Calvary, this man grasped what Pharisees missed: mercy requires blood-bought payment, not moral bargaining. [59:24]

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
(Hebrews 4:16, ESV)

Reflection: Do you seek God’s approval through self-improvement plans, or rest in the finished work of Christ’s sacrifice? How does viewing mercy as atonement change your approach to failure?

Day 4: Justification’s Unexpected Recipient

First-century jaws dropped when Jesus declared the tax collector justified. Religious logic insisted the “good guy” won. But grace upends merit-based systems. Justification isn’t awarded to the morally impressive but given to the spiritually bankrupt. The Pharisee’s error wasn’t his discipline but his delusion – he trusted his resume more than redemption. [41:03]

“I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
(Luke 18:14, ESV)

Reflection: Where does your confidence lie – in your spiritual track record or Christ’s finished work? When others fail morally, do you feel secretly assured of your superior standing?

Day 5: Walking Humbly in Another’s Righteousness

The tax collector left justified not because he groveled well, but because he clung to mercy’s promise. His humility wasn’t self-hatred but honest assessment – he needed another’s righteousness. Like a defendant embracing a substitute’s pardon, he received what he couldn’t earn. Daily Christian life isn’t maintaining moral superiority but continually returning to the mercy seat. [01:08:06]

“With what shall I come before the Lord? He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
(Micah 6:6-8, ESV)

Reflection: Are you trying to walk perfectly or walking humbly? How might embracing your permanent need for mercy free you from performance anxiety?

Sermon Summary

Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector to people who trusted in their own righteousness and despised others. The two men stand at opposite ends of the religious and social spectrum. The Pharisee looks like everything a faithful follower of God should be. The tax collector looks like everything he should not be. Yet looking righteous and being justified before God are not the same thing.

Both men come to the temple needing God to declare them righteous. The Pharisee brings a religious resume: a morally upright life, fasting twice a week, and careful tithing. Those practices are not the problem. His spiritual confidence is. Even a prayer that sounds like genuine thanksgiving can reveal a heart that has moved from gratitude for what God has done to confidence in personal faithfulness. Comparing obedience, marriages, children, or service can turn good gifts into supposed reasons for deserving more than someone else.

The tax collector brings nothing but his need. His lowered eyes and beating chest show that he treats his own sin as a tragedy. His plea for mercy asks more than that God overlook his failures. Sin must be covered. Jesus Christ, through his sacrifice and resurrection, provides the atoning work that makes mercy possible.

Jesus declares the tax collector justified rather than the Pharisee. The question is not which man has done more good, but which man understands his need for mercy. Repentance agrees with God about personal sin rather than pointing to the failures of neighbors or nations. Even feeling superior to the Pharisee repeats his mistake. God calls believers to walk humbly, abandon confidence in their own righteousness, and depend entirely on the mercy of Jesus. The greatest help God gives is mercy that cannot be deserved and righteousness that cannot be earned.

Key Takeaways

1. Religious faithfulness cannot establish righteousness. Fasting, giving, and moral obedience are good, but they cannot supply the righteousness only God provides. The danger comes when gratitude for God’s work becomes confidence in personal performance. Comparing spiritual habits with someone else’s can reveal that obedience has become a claim to greater worth rather than a response to grace. [56:18]
2. Mercy deals honestly with human sin. The tax collector does not ask God to pretend his failures do not matter. His plea for mercy asks God to cover the sin he cannot undo or make right. Christ’s atoning work provides the answer, allowing forgiveness to rest on his sacrifice rather than on a sinner’s religious record. [1:01:31]
3. Repentance names personal sin without comparison. The tax collector grieves over his own guilt, not the sins of his country, community, or neighbor. Repentance agrees with God about the sin that belongs to the person seeking mercy. Even gratitude for being unlike the Pharisee can become another way of claiming superiority and avoiding that honest confession. [1:05:25]
4. Shame need not have final authority. The tax collector’s distance and lowered eyes express how deeply he feels his unworthiness, but Jesus does not leave him without hope. Neither a respectable appearance nor a painful sense of failure settles a person’s standing before God. Those worn down by guilt are invited to ask for the mercy they cannot earn rather than treating their shame as proof that mercy is out of reach. [1:03:03]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[34:30] - An Earthly Story With Heavenly Meaning
[35:49] - Mercy Undeserved and Righteousness Unearned
[37:52] - Two Men Come to Pray
[41:17] - Opposite Ends of the Religious Spectrum
[46:12] - The Need to Be Justified
[52:17] - The Pharisee’s Religious Resume
[55:56] - When Gratitude Becomes Self-Confidence
[57:51] - The Tax Collector’s Plea for Mercy
[59:02] - Atonement and the Work of Christ
[1:03:58] - The Unexpected Verdict
[1:05:25] - Repentance Without Religious Superiority
[1:08:06] - Walking Humbly and Trusting Christ’s Mercy
[1:10:03] - An Invitation to Respond

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Luke 18:9-14
“He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up 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, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” [33:46]

Micah 6:8
“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” [01:08:36]

Hebrews 2:17
“Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” [01:01:30]

Observation questions

In Luke 18:9, what two attitudes does Jesus identify in the people hearing this parable? How do both attitudes appear in the Pharisee’s prayer? [38:04]
What does the Pharisee include in his religious résumé, and what does the tax collector bring before God instead? [55:03]
What details about the tax collector’s posture and actions show how seriously he takes his own sin? [57:52]
What does Jesus declare about the tax collector’s standing before God, and how does that differ from the outcome the original listeners would have expected? [40:30]

Interpretation questions

Why is the Pharisee’s confidence the problem rather than his fasting, giving, or moral obedience? How might a person’s gratitude for God’s gifts become confidence in personal goodness? [56:23]
How does Hebrews 2:17 explain the basis for the mercy the tax collector seeks? Why is God’s mercy different from simply overlooking wrongdoing? [01:01:34]
Why does the tax collector’s grief over his sin not mean that mercy is out of reach? What does Jesus’ verdict reveal about the difference between feeling unworthy and being beyond forgiveness? [01:03:41]
How can someone who feels superior to the Pharisee fall into the very attitude Jesus is confronting? What distinguishes genuine repentance from simply identifying someone else’s pride? [01:07:05]

Application questions

Where are you most tempted to compare your faithfulness with someone else’s—church involvement, giving, marriage, parenting, or another area? How does that comparison affect the way you treat that person? [57:02]
When you come to God after a good week or a difficult week spiritually, what changes in your confidence that he will receive you? What might that reveal about where you are placing your trust? [01:06:24]
Without sharing more than you are comfortable sharing, where are you tempted to focus on someone else’s failures rather than acknowledge your own sin? What would honest confession without excuses or comparison look like this week? [01:05:34]
Has shame ever made you reluctant to pray or seek help? How could Christ’s atoning work help you approach God honestly, and what support would be helpful from this group? [01:03:08]
God calls his people to walk humbly with him. In one relationship where you have been critical or dismissive, what could humility and dependence on mercy look like in your next conversation? [01:08:44]
Which good spiritual practice are you most tempted to treat as proof that you deserve God’s favor? How could you continue that practice this week as a grateful response to mercy rather than an attempt to earn it? [56:38]

Sermon Clips

48s

#NeedGodsMercy

“I am so thankful that I am not like the Pharisee and that I'm like the publican. And in so doing, I became the Pharisee. Do you see that? Because it's so easy to read this knowing the end, knowing the justification and go, I'm the good guy. And in reality, I'm the one that needs mercy. I'm the one that can't bring anything but my own sin. I'm the one that stands morally bankrupt. And the only one that went home justified was the one who came in that way.”

49s

#FaithOverPride

“But here's the problem. Not everything that sounds spiritual comes from a heart that is depending on God. Because when you listen carefully to this prayer, you begin to realize that while he's talking to God, almost everything he says is about himself. And somewhere along the way, this man, his gratitude for what God had done had become a confidence in what he had done. Write this down. His religious disciplines were not the problem. His spiritual confidence was.”

39s

#TrueRepentance

“See, Jesus isn't interested in resumes. He's interested in repentance. Repentance is where we change our minds, and we agree with God about myself and my sin. It is interesting that he doesn't, the publican doesn't say, I'm sorry for the sins of my country. God, I'm broken for the sins of my neighbor. The sins of my community make me sick at night. He says, my sin, I'm a sinner. He's broken over his own sin.”

35s

#TrustInJesus

“And the call of God today is this, it's the same as it was in the parable. Stop trusting in our own righteousness and fall completely on the mercy of Jesus. And whether you're out here this morning and you're trusting in all the good you've done, or you're out here and you're overwhelmed by all the wrong that you've done, the invitation is the same. Come to Jesus, confess your sin, Trust his mercy, and let him change your life.”

50s

#HopeInMercy

“But maybe, you came in today with just shame. You came in carrying something so heavy it nearly kills you. Maybe you feel guilty for a sin that you can't stop. You're broken because of a cycle you don't seem to be able to change. You're worn out from trying, but never seeming to succeed. Today, you came through the doors with nice clothes and makeup, but you feel so far from God. Today is a day of hope, because mercy is available to all. It is accessible to every single one of us, but it is applied to those who ask.”

46s

#JustifiedByGrace

“Well, this word justified very simply means this. It means the judicial act of God where God declares a sinner righteous. This is a a a court scene where God looks down and says, you have been made right. You are no longer guilty. You've been pardoned and made right in my eyes. That's what this word means. And both of these men recognized that they needed to be justified. The difference was, one sought his justification. He sought to be justified through his own actions. The other sought to be justified through the mercy of God.”

36s

#MercyForAll

“Both of these men came to God in need of the same thing from God. They both needed mercy. The Pharisee felt as if he could earn it by his own righteous acts, his own adherence to the law, and his own faithfulness in a fallen and in a disparaging society. The publican knew that he was unworthy of it, that he was unable to help his own unrighteousness. After all, he was the worst sinner that he knew. And then Jesus declares the publican justified.”

24s

#HumbleYourself

“And as we look at this, the question isn't which one has done more good? That was an easy answer. The question is which man understood his need for mercy? And this is where we find the answer to the scenario that was presented in verse nine. These are people who thought they could be righteous on their own, and Jesus is teaching them that you can't be righteous apart from the mercy of God that is applied to you when you ask.”

Ask a question about this sermon

West Asheville Baptist Church This sermon · AI assistant

Why does religious discipline fail to justify sinners?

What does the tax collector’s plea for mercy mean?

How can humility guard against self-righteousness?