Can a sinner pray an acceptable prayer to God?
Assuredly; else no soul of mankind could be saved; "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:28) "[Death has] passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." (Romans 5:12) "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way." (Isaiah 53:6)
But God has devised means "that His banished be not expelled from Him." (2 Samuel 14:14)
The Gospel of Luke gives us two striking answers to this question. The first is the unconscious tribute which the Pharisees paid to Christ, when, thinking to cast the worst reproach upon Him, they said, "This man receives sinners." (Luke 15:2)
The second is in the account of the two men who went into the temple to pray. The Pharisee told the Lord about his own goodness, with which he was well satisfied; while the other, not able to lift his eyes upward, smote upon his breast, and said, "God be merciful to me a sinner." (Luke 18:13)
Jesus said, "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other." (Luke 18:14)
Here is the Lord's own call to the sinner: "O Israel, return unto the Lord your God; for you have fallen by your iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord; say unto Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously." (Hosea 14:1-2)
Do you think that God will refuse to hear and answer the prayer of one who comes to Him in response to His own call, and who prays the very prayer that God has told him to pray? Nay, verily. Jesus says, "Him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out." (John 6:37)
Again God says: "Return, you backsliding Israel, and I will not cause my anger to fall upon you; for I am merciful, says the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever. Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the Lord your God." (Jeremiah 3:12-13)
God is "rich in mercy" (Ephesians 2:4) to sinners and "He has not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities." (Psalm 103:10)
No doubt you have in your mind the words of the young man who was born blind, to whom Jesus gave his sight. When the Pharisees were worrying him with questions, they said of Jesus, "We know that this man is a sinner;" (John 9:24) to which the young man replied, "Whether He be a sinner or no, I know not; one thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see;" (John 9:25) and then he said, in defense of Jesus, whom he knew only as a stranger who had healed him, "Now we know that God hears not sinners; but if any man be a worshiper of God, and does His will, him He hears." (John 9:31)
We might dismiss this statement by saying that it is simply what the untaught young man said, and need not be taken as expressing the mind of the Lord. Still we do have inspired words, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." (Psalm 66:18)
But this is no more than what we read in James 1:5-7, where, after being told that if any man asks the Lord for wisdom he will receive it, we read: "But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting; for he that doubts is like the surge of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." (James 1:6-8,RV)
The sum of it is, that whoever earnestly desires any good thing from the Lord will surely receive it; but the man who asks for righteousness while in his heart desires sin, need not expect anything. He doesn't really pray at all; for God looks at the heart, and not at the lips.
God gives every man just what he really desires. If he wants sin, he allows him to have it with all its fearful consequences, no matter what he may profess with his mouth; but whoever desires righteousness will receive it from the Lord, no matter how great a sinner he may be.
Sing it o'er and o'er again;
Christ receiveth sinful men;
Make the message clear and plain:
Christ receiveth sinful men.
--Erdmann Neumeister (1718); translated by Frances Bevan (1899); Hymn: Christ Receiveth Sinful Men.
--Present Truth, July 24, 1902.