You Are Dependent upon God - Luke 18

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, but we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. My name's Mike Abendroth, and this is about take four on the show. I usually just let her run and tape over it if I don't like it, but somehow the last few I didn't like, so if you don't like this part, you really wouldn't have liked the things that I taped over.

And so at the show, we have a slogan. Always biblical, always provocative, always in that order. And so I'd like to teach you the Bible. I'd like you to learn a biblical worldview from the show, and I'd like the pace to be quick.

I'd like the tempo to be brisk, and I'd like the speed to be rapid. Is that, you know, I'd like to teach with alacrity. I'd like to teach with enthusiasm. I want you to be tuning your dial around, and then say to yourself, oh, that's interesting.

That's an interesting way to teach the Bible. Someone asked me the other day, why did we ever call it No Compromise? If you don't like the name of that, you can blame my wife since she is the creative genius in our house.

She had the idea for the title, and I thought it was a good title because, you know, some of them are already taken that are good grace to you, or desiring God, or something like that. But No Compromise, I think that's a new book by the wife of Keith Green.

But No Compromise just tells us kind of what we're going to do. Galatians chapter two, verse five, we're gonna stand up for truth, which means we stand up against error. And I'd say 90 of the people that write me, or email me, or some even call here at the church, have been positive.

There are some that don't like the style, some who send me stuff to try to convert me to other religions. I just got some CDs, some Roman Catholic CDs from people who used to be Protestants, and then they went to the Mother Church, or the Roman Catholic Church, and so I listened to them.

And so we just have a potpourri of things. Mondays, it's one of my sermons. Tuesdays, I'm here in the office in my study with Pastor Steve, and we just kind of joke and talk about church issues. Sometimes we don't joke, but these days it's been a little more comedy.

Wednesday, I usually talk to authors, or talk about books. Thursdays, I try to teach something positive. I call Thursdays K-Love Thursdays, positive, encouraging, K-love, no compromise. So just teach a topic, confession, repentance, lordship, something like that, deity of Christ.

And then Friday, I pretty much attack people. Well, I shouldn't say I attack people, but if someone believes something false, I'll go after that. And so that's the format. You can always write us at info at nocompromiseradio .com.

It goes straight to moi. And so I get that, and then I might shuttle it off to have one of our writers answer you, or maybe I'll answer you directly. If you send gifts, I always answer myself. No, just kidding.

Dependence on God in Luke 18

All right, today I'd like to talk about a great passage in scripture that has a unifying theme. So today I'd like to discuss Luke 18. Luke 18 is one of those chapters in the Bible that after you read it, you can't get it out of your mind.

It sticks with you. And the way I'd like to teach it today is there's three sections specifically that I'd like to teach that all have a unifying theme. Luke is a wonderful gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the gospel of Jesus Christ according to Luke.

And these three sets of scriptures all tie together with the theme, you can't save yourself. You don't contribute to your salvation. You are dependent upon the God who made you the first time to remake you the second time.

In other words, God made you alive when you came out of your mother's womb. Actually, you were alive before that, but in your mother's womb, He made you alive. And then if you are going to be spiritually made alive, born again, born from above, born anew, given a new nature, given the righteousness of Christ, given standing before God, of child being adopted into His kingdom, forgiven, whatever biblical principle you'd like to apply, it must be done to you.

You are dependent upon God to breathe air. You are dependent upon God to give you food. And you are also dependent upon God as a creature to be born again. You don't cause yourself to be born again. 1 Peter 1 says, He caused us to be born again.

You don't make yourself alive. Ephesians 2 and Colossians 2 says, He made us alive with Him. He is the one that does it. You don't make yourself born again. It's something that's done to you. We would call this the passivity of redemption, the passivity of regeneration.

We are acted upon. Now, certainly, once we're acted upon and we're given a new nature, that new nature then loves God. That new nature believes God. That new nature repents from sin. That new nature confesses Jesus as Lord.

That new nature believes in His heart or her heart that God raised Him from the dead. And so we're not talking about God believing for you or God having faith for you or God having repentance for you.

But we are saying this, that your repentance alone, your faith alone, your works alone, whatever you do, cannot earn God's favor. God must act upon you. And so in Luke 18, there are three sections of scripture here, all tied together, that are talking about either talking about Jesus or Jesus talking, that show you, should reinforce to you that you, if you're a Christian, are a Christian by the grace of God.

And that should increase your praise. And if you're not a Christian, it should show you that you can't walk enough aisles, have Jesus in your heart enough times, let Jesus be your Lord enough times. You can't do anything to save yourself.

It has to be done to you. And so the best thing you could do is to cry out to God for forgiveness, for mercy, for grace, for redemption. And so today it's all about God. That's what we're missing in our churches, by the way.

That's what we're missing in Bible studies. That's what we're missing on Sunday night services. I guess people don't have those anymore, pretty much. We are missing Jesus in our churches. And so if people say, church is boring, well, they may be boring, but many times it's because the pastors won't show the people Christ Jesus, who is anything but boring.

I deny, I defy, deny, I defy anyone to read the gospels and say, now that is one boring dude. That was one boring cat there, that Jesus guy. He is just so boring. So I don't think you can do it. So today at No Compromise Radio Ministry, we're going to look at Luke 18.

In Luke 18, verses nine through, oh, let's say about verse 27. Nine to 27, we're going to look at, and there's going to be three specific illustrations or instances of people who need God's mercy to be right with Him.

They are dependent. Maybe the greatest word here I could use is dependency. This is going to show that we are dependent upon God for our original birth and for our new birth. So once again, for the sake of repetition, this should drive your praise up if you are a Christian because you didn't become a Christian, 95 of God's work and 5 of yours.

It was 100 God. And if you start thinking you did something to achieve your salvation or obtain your salvation, you deny grace, you don't understand it. And maybe in some kind of infantile way, you're a Christian, you just don't grasp it all.

But I'm telling you, as your dependency upon the Lord increases, the glory of God in your heart and mind and soul increases. That's just the way it goes. If somebody does something for you, you are thankful.

If somebody does something with you, you're just kind of thankful. And so grace plus works equals works. Here we have grace plus nothing. You are dependent upon God, Luke 18, instance number one of dependency.

The Tax Collector and the Pharisee

And he also, Jesus told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt. You know this passage very well. And now the greatest teacher of all, the greatest preacher, the prince of preachers, the greatest expositor preaches.

Two men went up into the temple to pray. One a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. So you've got a religious leader and you've got a sinner. You've got someone who's despised because they're a person who are a Jewish person taking money from Jews and giving it to the Roman system.

The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself. And notice as I read this, there's no dependency upon God. He's praying to himself and it's a big show. God, I thank you that I am not like other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

I fast twice a week. By the way, that's above and beyond what you're supposed to fast. The Pharisees had a special fast for the day Moses went up to the mountain and the day Moses came back from the mountain.

So it was twice a week. I pay tithes of all that I get. And so he was boasting. He was dependent upon his own self, his own righteousness. He trusted in himself. So now we have the tax collector. But the tax collector standing some distance away, you can immediately feel the humility there, the shame, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner.

And here's this man not praying to himself, not trusting in himself. He knew he had no righteousness. He knew he had no good works. He knew he was not right in God's eyes. He was not justified. And so what did he do?

With contrition, with humility, with repentance, he cried out to God and said, God, I've sinned against you. So would you please be propitious? That's what the word comes from. Would you assuage your wrath on another in my place?

I deserve it. I deserve hell. I deserve wrath. I deserve the one who should absorb all your holy just punishment. But I know you're merciful. I've heard about you. And would you be propitious? Would you be merciful?

And then he calls himself, sadly, some translations use a sinner, but the Greek is the sinner. And New American Standard has it right, who says, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. I'm not comparing myself to other people.

I'm not comparing myself to Jeffrey Dahmer. I'm not comparing myself to anyone else. I am sinful. And I have sinned against the God of the universe. God, forgive me, is basically what he's saying. Now, what did Jesus say?

Verse 14 of Luke 18. I tell you, this man, you can almost see Jesus pointing. If there was a man, there's not a man there. It's a parable. This man went to his house justified, declared righteous, imputed with the righteousness of God, from God, rather than the other.

Why? For everyone who exalts himself, like that Pharisee, depends on himself. Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself, like that tax collector, will be exalted. So that's illustration, our instance number one, where you have someone who realizes, I have sinned against God, and I am dependent upon God for mercy.

It's not, God, you owe me mercy, because mercy is never owed. God, you must give me by obligation grace, because grace has no obligations. Grace is a free gift. Grace is a gift that is given solely based on the pleasure and the free will of the giver, God himself.

And so, here we have a wonderful illustration about the tax collector who was a sinful person, and he was dependent upon God for mercy. And so you could ask yourself the question in illustration number one, are you, have you ever said to yourself, I'm a sinful person, and then said to God, I'm a sinner, and God, I don't deserve heaven.

I deserve a hell. And if I were to die today and take my last breath, I'm going to go straight to hell, and I'll have to pay for my own sins, because that is justice. The wages of sin is death. But God, I know you sent a son to die in the place of sinners like me.

He lived a perfect, righteous life that I could never live. He died a shameful, torturous death on Calvary, and then you were so pleased with that, God, this great sacrifice, this stainless sacrifice, spotless sacrifice, you raised him from the dead, and I will take you at your word, and you should call out to God like that if you're listening today and you're not a Christian.

And if you are a Christian, it is the grace of God working in the heart of man to even cry out for such a thing because left to ourselves, we'd all be Pharisees. Mike Abendroth, this is No Compromise Mate Radio Ministry, and today we're talking about the great teaching of Jesus Christ in Luke 18 with a theme of dependency.

Three instances of dependency found in Luke 18. Instance number one, the Pharisee and the publican or tax gatherer, that was the first one, dependency. Now we move to the second one. We're moving towards dependency so we can understand the gravity of grace, the greatness of grace, the freeness of grace.

God's freely giving us grace by his own good pleasure because God does what he wants, as he wants, only as he wants, and as often as he wants. And they, Luke 18, 15, were bringing even their babies to him, infants, I think the ESV says, so that he would touch them.

But when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them. That's an interesting thing. You've got these small children, infants, babies, the new American standard says, brought to Jesus, and then there's some rebuking going on.

But Jesus called for them, saying, "'Permit the children to come to me, "'and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God "'belongs to such as these.'". So he says, listen, these children typify something.

Now this has nothing to do with infant salvation, child salvation, how young people can be to be saved. Oh, I was four years old when I got saved, and use this as a cross-reference. It has nothing to do with that at all.

Think about children for a moment. Are children independent, infants, small babies, or are they dependent? And I would argue, that would be an easy argument to win, that they are dependent. They are dependent upon everything.

They cannot feed themselves, they cannot change themselves. Frankly, we know they can't even burp themselves. And so everything that a baby needs, he can't get, he can't do. About the only thing he can do, I guess he can cry, or he can get his thumb into his mouth.

Once he figures that out, that can kind of pacify him for a while. Jesus uses these words. "'Do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God "'belongs to such as these.'". This is an illustration of dependency.

This isn't children go to heaven when they die, children can be born again, people can get saved at a young age. Some of those things may be true, but that's not what the text teaches. Luke 18 is teaching that you need to have a child-like faith that is a faith that is totally dependent on God.

Totally dependent on self? No, not dependent on self at all, but only God. Jesus said the next verse in Luke 18, "'Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive "'the kingdom of God like a child "'will not enter it at all.'".

How do you receive the kingdom of God like a child? Well, you receive the kingdom of God like a child with dependency, utter dependency, no self-sufficiency, no righteousness of their own, of total dependency.

Our kids are dependent upon us for everything. Certainly that's part of being an adult, is growing up and actually being one who is no longer dependent upon the parents. But these young children, these infants, these babes, were completely dependent upon their parents.

I love the newborns that I see at church. This is kind of a baby factory almost here at Bethlehem Bible Church. New baby after new baby after new baby. And I notice with every one of those children, and I love to see the parents, and I remember what it was like when I had each of my four kids.

I had, you know, we had Royal Week, Kim bore them, but they were my kids too. I notice a complete dependency. They can't even roll over on their own. And so when you come to Christ Jesus, you must come dependent upon God for his grace, dependent upon God that he would apply the great atoning death of Jesus to you, that he would apply the blood of Calvary as it were upon the altar of your heart.

That is what's going on. And so this is round two of dependency. If you're a Christian, you're a Christian because God made you one. Let's not talk about all this silly Pelagian, silly semi-Pelagian, silly Arminianism, where it's you and God, it's cooperating.

You are a Christian today, if you are a Christian, by monergistic grace. Mono, alone, erg, work, God's work alone. And he receives the glory. We're not going to boast in anyone. We're going to boast in the Lord.

And how easy would it be, 1 Corinthians 1, to boast in the Lord if we helped save ourselves, if we contributed? Remember, faith doesn't even save. Faith just looks away from self. Faith is an instrument.

It's not meritorious. Faith didn't die on the cross. Free will didn't save you. Free will didn't die on the cross. No, you are dependent upon God. And then when God saves you, within a split second, simultaneously, however you'd like to argue it theologically, you respond, of course, with faith.

With repentance, with confession, with trust. But you are dependent upon God. And we are dependent people. And even after we're saved, we're dependent upon God. And that's the struggle I have in my own life, is when I act independent and not dependent upon God.

The Rich Young Ruler

Luke 18, three illustrations of dependency. Number one, Pharisee and the publican. Number two, Jesus and the children. Number three, the rich young ruler. A ruler, Luke 18, 18, questioned him, saying, good teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?

That was a question they often asked rabbis in those days. And Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. Don't you understand that good, in the ultimate sense, can only be applied to God?

And you are talking to God. And if you're talking to God, you should recognize you're sinful. Do you, excuse me, you know the commandments. Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and mother.

And he said, all these things I've kept from my youth. I've obeyed, I've got my own righteousness. I don't need to depend upon anybody else. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, one thing you still lack.

See, Jesus could see his heart. Sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me. That's your God, that's your idol. That's what you're depending upon.

You're depending upon riches. You're depending upon visas. You're depending upon gold bars. You're depending on gold bullion. I'm going to tell you it has to be God or nothing. So, what happened? And when he had heard these things, the rich young ruler, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.

And Jesus looked at him and said, how hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God. For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

Well, they got it. This is no needle gate in Israel. This is a real needle, a sewing needle, and a real camel. You can't get the camel through the real needle unless it's going to be a dental floss-shaped bloody mess.

Then, what happened? They who heard it said, then who could be saved? Jesus said, the things that are impossible with people are possible with God. So, Jesus says, it's impossible to save yourself. You're dependent upon God to be right with him.

You're dependent upon God to be born again. You're dependent upon God to go to heaven. If you're listening today on WVNE, if you're listening on NoCompromiseRadio .com podcast, if you're listening on No Compromise Facebook, if you're listening on iTunes podcast, if you are going to go to heaven, you are completely dependent upon God for that.

He is the one who owns heaven. He is the only one that can make an unjust person just, based on the just work of the almighty, eternal Son of God, who cloaked himself with humanity so that he might die a sinner's death and be raised from the dead, even though he wasn't a sinner.

You are dependent upon God, and you need to look away from yourself and all your goodness and all your pleasures and all your manufactured so-called righteousness and say, you know what, I'm undone. This is all true.

I'm going straight to hell. Your conscience should be screaming that to you, and then you look away from self, and then you say, Lord, I don't understand all this, but I just know I'm in a very big mess, and I'm a sinner.

And Lord, would you have mercy upon me? I don't deserve it. I should go to hell. I should actually experience your wrath after all the things I've sinned against you and all the things that I've done against you and all the ways I haven't loved you with my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and all the ways I haven't loved my neighbor as myself.

I deserve to go to hell, but I will believe what Jesus said, and Jesus wants me to throw myself upon your kind, benevolent, gracious, merciful court, and God, would you please grant me clemency? Would you please forgive me?

Would you please save me? Would you please have mercy upon me? Because I'm the worst sinner in the entire world. I am dependent upon you. Lord, I'm dependent. Increase my dependency. So that's the story in Luke chapter 18.

You have three instances there from verses nine through 27, where you are dependent upon God to go to heaven. And so if you'd like to go to heaven, there's only one way, and that is by the merciful grace of God, which will yield in heaven immediately through angels' worship of God and glory of God.

It will give you a heart that says, thank you, God, that you grant me what I don't deserve, and then it will be forever and ever your eternal praise, worthy is the Lamb who was slain. You're not going to sing songs about yourself.

You're not gonna sing songs about your self-esteem. You're not gonna sing songs about what you did and how good you were or anything like that. It'll all be how dependent I was to get to heaven. I was completely dependent, and God kept his word, and he honored the Father's request, and he died in my place, and then he was raised from the dead.

You are dependent upon God. Shouldn't that make you want to be more thankful? No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible-teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at six. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.