Luke 18:1-14, How Do You Come to God?

Luke chapter 18 reading verses 1 to 14 hear the word of the Lord and He told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart

He said in a certain city There was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man and there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying

Give me justice against my adversary For a while he refused but afterward he said to himself though I neither fear

God nor respect man yet because this widow keeps bothering me I will give her justice so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming and the

Lord said hear what the unrighteous judge says and Will not

God give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?

I Tell you he will give justice to them speedily nevertheless

When the Son of Man comes Will he find faith on the earth?

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 May the Lord add his blessings to the reading of his

Holy Word What are you willing to keep working at?

You know a lot of people go from one thing to another in their life different interests that kind of come and go Different kinds of exercise jazzercise was popular for a while.

Then there was Zumba. That was a craze I don't hear much about them anymore. Where do they all go? Maybe weightlifting for some or running or cycling maybe another kind of pursuit like learning a language like Mandarin or championing a cause

You know protests for social justice were widespread last June, but soon faded away Political interest rose over the last couple of months.

It will probably recede now for a while but maybe it's some other kind of thing like fishing or boating or bowling or golf

They are they have all the gear people do they get the gear they get the fishing rods and the hooks or a boat They get on it.

They have on a trailer and on their dry in their driveway Maybe they have a monogram bowling ball With a designer bag in their closet or an expensive collection of golf clubs

All of which they hardly touch anymore Or maybe it's like learning some subject like the Puritans which you all love with this

Wednesday Being the 400th anniversary of the landing of quote the pilgrims of Plymouth Plymouth Rock the beginning of the first Puritan colony

I hope you'll have enough interest peaked By all the hoopla, which doesn't exist

But I hope you'll have enough interest peaked by this anniversary to pay attention to our English Sunday school series

Especially the six videos that I'm making myself but even if you do even as intense as your interest hopefully will be

You become a lover of the subject and you watch my videos and you buy books and you want to talk about it There will probably come a time

Believe it or not. I know you think I'll never stop loving the subject I just can't talk about anything else, but there will probably come a time

When your interest will fade like jazzercise or Zumba Like a lot of people I've seen with running or swimming or trying to learn a language or champion some cause the the interest seeps away

Like air out of a balloon until it becomes something you used to be interested in or you used to do

For some knowing God is like that. They went through a phase when they were eager It seemed to know the

Lord they they pray they read their Bible. They went to church for every meeting They listened to every sermon. They even took notes Every Sunday school lesson even on the

Puritans believe it or not. They came to the prayer meeting They listened to their favorite radio or internet preachers They went to conferences and served in ministries, but then after a while like that balloon the interest fades away seeps out

They drop out of one meeting after another one ministry after another And then even the private devotions the disciplines began to fade away, too

So that they're hardly praying or reading their Bible anymore And I wonder whether this pandemic and the lockdown

That has shut many churches will be the cause of many people who had already lost probably many of our had already lost

Interest a long time ago But we're still going just out of habit Because they were raised to go to church or whatever, but and they have forgotten why they went

But they just kept going out of habit. I wonder now that the pandemic has sort of broken that habit Whether that will mean that they will drop out of church permanently, you know when everything goes back to normal, hopefully very soon

Still they they realize they'll wake up on a Sunday morning and realize, you know I'm just not that interested and they would just rather sleep late

They don't want to go back Well, what are you willing to keep working at?

It's what you're willing to keep working at day after day year after year Decade after decade.

Those are the things that you're really interested in that you're really passionate about that you really believe in now

There's nothing wrong I don't think there's anything wrong with taking up a pastime like bowling or a taekwondo or Studying the

Puritans for that matter and eventually decide. Okay. I've had enough of that I've It was fun, but I'm gonna move on to something else now don't spend your life like some people do who never seem to be interested in anything and never apply themselves to anything and just Live to pay bills and keep breathing

But you know, you really don't have to dedicate yourself religiously to everything some things you can

Just let go and you get tired of taekwondo or running or fishing or reading the

Puritans But it's it's those few things Maybe supporting your family your or your family themselves.

Hopefully seeking God That you think you keep working at No matter what no matter the setbacks no matter.

Maybe nothing seems to change for a while If it's your children, nothing seems to change for a while. You just keep seeking God like we all

We all keep eating don't we just seem to never get tired of that one say I'm gonna stop eating now

I don't I don't like it anymore are making money because we want to support our family because it's not just a hobby It's not just a passing interest

It's your life How do you come to God Well, we see that here in two parts and two connected and easily interpreted parables in the whole

Bible here It is well first the persistent widow and second the Pharisee and the tax collector you come to God We see by first persistence second by penitence now first we come to God by persistence now

Jesus's parables are at least to some people the hardest parts of his teachings to interpret But this has got to be the easiest parable to understand that the persistent widow

Maybe the Pharisee and the tax collector is the second easiest verse 1 plainly spells out for us what it means

It says he told them and them that is that's his disciples as continues from chapter 17 verse 22

Where's the the disciples? He's speaking to he told them this parable quote to the effect that they ought always to pray and not to Lose heart.

Well, there it is That's what this story is about It's not a lesson on how you should always pester and nag your way to get whatever you want out of everyone

You know don't apply this like to your husband or wife. I'm just gonna keep at it until they wear them down No, it's about prayer How do you come to God?

Will you come like a widow? You Come like a widow in a society where women had no power and she wasn't just a woman notice

Jesus specifically makes her a widow so she has no husband like to back her up She is the epitome of powerlessness

You come to God like a powerless Person like someone who has no leverage

You have nothing to offer There's nothing you can impress God with nothing you can entice him with no way to compel him

To do what you want him to do. Well, she came to a judge who neither feared

God nor respected man In other words, he didn't care he didn't fear that God would judge him for not dispensing justice and he didn't care about his reputation if Everyone knew that he did dispense justice.

He's not an elected judge So he doesn't have to look good to the public. He's not worried about re -election

You aren't going to be able to persuade him to issue the right order With arguments based on justice on what you judge should do what the law requires you to do

No, it's not gonna work as if he's duty -bound to give her what she wants or somehow

He'll get ashamed before his neighbors He just doesn't care

So she has nothing to offer she has no bribe she can make she has no husband who can do something for him or maybe

Intimidate him and and he doesn't care That her cause is just There's just no way to get this judge to do what is right except That she just continues to come

Keep coming. She keeps coming keeps pleading give me justice

Now, how much does she want justice Against her adversaries. How much does she want it?

It's like the way many of us bowl. Maybe we all of us would like to be a perfect bowler 300 every time

But we're not we don't really don't want it enough to practice day in and day out. We don't want that much It's just kind of a pastime maybe we do occasionally so like the way

I'd like to be a I'd like to be a Muscular weightlifter. Yeah, I like to if I could I could be like an Olympic quality weightlifter

I would do that if I could just snap my fingers and be one I would do that But I don't actually want that enough

To lift weights, you know that that desire to be strong weightlifter is not enough to motivate me to go lift weights

It doesn't rise to that level or is it more like the way? Here with this woman. How much do you want justice?

Is it more like the way that we want to eat? It's kind of it's regular. It's constant.

It's a craving And she kept coming day after day to his court, you know raising your hand give me justice pleading

Give me justice At first the judge thought well she could he could just ignore her But she continued then she gets to be an annoyance

Maybe she maybe he'd tell her to go away scowler. Get out of here. Get out of my court I don't want to see you again, but she stays at it every day and there she is crying out for justice

It's embarrassing Eventually, he decides it's easier to give in to her and to put up with her incessant begging

She kept coming to him so much so that eventually this judge who didn't care

About justice didn't care about the widow didn't care about how he looks Gave in gave the widow what she wanted who had absolutely she had absolutely nothing to offer him yet still

He finally just threw up his hands said, okay, I'll do it All right, though I neither fear

God nor respect man yet because this widow keeps bothering me I'll give her justice I guess

Her persistence did it he says in verse 5 so that she will not he will not beat me down Literally, she will not just wear me out.

Just exhaust me. I can't take it anymore with her continual coming that's

How you come to God you you never stop? Winston Churchill said at the the depth of the of the worst part the deepest pit of World War two

He's for Britain when it looked like late 1942 when it looked like it was Britain alone against the

Nazis He said never give in Never give in never never never never

It's all exact quote Calvin Coolidge the president said press on Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence

Talent will not nothing is more common than unsuccessful individuals with talent

Genius will not unrewarded genius is almost a proverb Education will not the world is full of educated derelicts persistence and determination alone are

He said omnipotent a little bit overstated there nothing that we have is actually omnipotent, but you get the point

And the popular movie the Shawshank Redemption seemed like it's played every week if you missed it last time it was shown

Don't worry. It'll be back on in a few days But the Shawshank Redemption the main character Andy wants to improve the prison library

But he has to rely on money from the state legislature of Maine. Now. He's a powerless prisoner

He has nothing to no way to compel them to give him money, but he's persistent So he writes a letter to them once a week

You know letter after letter after letter after enough letters They finally sent in the money with a reply hoping please stop sending us letters persistence

Now little did we know for watching that movie for the first time that all that time While he's doggedly expanding the library

That he's been digging a tunnel through the wall an inch or so at a time slowly persistently

How do you come to God like that persistently every day determined Digging your way by prayer into his word seeking first his kingdom his rule in your life and your family

Sure, you can go through fads when you concentrate on something you read more books You listen to more lessons you dig deeper you study the

Puritans, but even when the fads fade away still every day You're still digging by prayer

Even if it feels like you have just a little hammer little hammer and you're trying to get through concrete

You're persistent The result will be that God will give you what you seek

Himself after all if this crooked judge Who gives a powerless widow what she wants how much more will

God who is not crooked Who is just righteous? How much more will he give us who are his people?

His chosen ones called the elect here. Notice the verse 7. He calls us his people the elect How much more will he give him them the elect?

How much more will he give us what we seek? The crooked judge and God are

Contrasted here. Even the crooked judge will give in to persistence. How much more will

God who is not crooked? Who cares about his people who elected them in the first place?

How much more will he give his people justice if they cry out to him? He says day and night

Jesus asked will he delay long over them? It's a rhetorical question the answer is

Well, of course not The crooked judge delayed because he was crooked.

He didn't care about justice He didn't care about the widow, but God does care about his people the elect. He chose them now

It might feel like a delay sometimes Because we're impatient but here

Jesus promises that he will give his chosen ones Vindication speedily, he says

Speedily The slaves in America probably thought justice was being delayed when they prayed for almost 250 years for justice and yet it came speedily

God loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword so How do you come to God?

It's not like some people think it's a kind of a one -time experience Like getting a vaccination thought that you pray once sinners prayer and once you've done that you don't really have to pray anymore

You're off the hook. You just go about your merry way No, you want always to pray Jesus said always to seek

God to plead your kingdom come You need to make prayer a regular

Part of your life. That's why we have a weekly prayer meeting so that we are always praying now

I know some of you can't make it often because of work Then you need to make sure that you are always

Praying and always I think it means it is a permanent a regular part of your life

Like the way you always eat. I mean you're actually, you know every constant second eating

But it's just every day you you eat every day you praise Part of your life.

It's not a fad you go through like when you took a bowling or golf or video games We live in an age when people think

People think that faith is a feeling they're feeling like they have faith and if you're full of Feeling like you have that faith.

Well, then you are You're gonna pray. That's the way they think and so they pray when they full feel full of faith and then they forget to pray

When they feel empty But if you are full of faith You will be faith full to pray

But then the question Jesus asked this haunting question the end of verse 8

Nevertheless, I was however Despite the promise Jesus just said this promise that God does indeed

God will indeed Speedily answer the persistent prayers of his chosen ones.

He will do it still Even though we have that promise he asked when the

Son of Man Comes the Son of Man the one who brings in the kingdom of God on earth when he when he finally fully

Answers our prayer your kingdom comes when he comes when that happens. He asked will he find faith on the earth

Where's faith? Will there be some? Who believe persistently who as here have faith that shows in?

Faithfulness Your faith grows faithfulness. You're full of faith if you have true faith and so our faith

Full when Christ comes again Will he find faithful believers persistently seeking him or will he find just a bunch of people who are treating him like it was a fad

Like he's a hobby. Okay, I did some before a while I did the Lord for a while and then I went to jazzercise So like that This is something they do until they get tired of got it and then move on to something else will he find fateful seekers

What's implied in this is that when he comes many will have fallen away He will find some who who sought the

Lord like they went through a stint of playing golf Who exhausted their faith so that it never matures into faithfulness, but true faith

Matures into faithfulness as our statement of faith says the grand mark that Distinguishes that sets apart true believers true believers from superficial

Professors that is people who profess who claim to believe but don't really the mark that sets them apart is perseverance is faithfulness when the

Son of Man comes Will he find faith? Faithfulness on the earth will he find fateful seekers are just exhausted fad believers

Hobby Christians whose interest in God and prayer has has seeped away

When Christ returns the person of persistent prayer will still be praying

Will you how do you come to God?

Well first persistently and secondly Penitently now penitent is probably a word that you

Protestants aren't used to hearing It sounds too close to penance. So maybe we don't use it a lot for that reason, you know, like acts do people do

Acts of penance prescribed by a church and supposedly into order or earn salvation.

We usually just say repent We have some fundamentals today who say we don't even have to repent that all we have to do is claim that we believe

In some bare facts and we're saved even if we don't repent that's the false doctrine They call free grace of what is technically called in theology called antinomianism

But we see here and in many other places in the Bible that that's just not true to be justified before God that it's be

Declared right before God and a right good relationship with him. You must be penitent

Defined as a sorrow and regret for having done wrong Repentant It's what we saw

Paul talk about it. Remember in 2nd Corinthians that godly grief Contrasted the worldly grief worldly grief just cares.

It's kind of been embarrassed or maybe it's gonna get punished But a godly grief it cares that that's offended

God and we hear from Jesus is a picture of it And notice in verse 9 the picture is shown directly to those he says who were confident of their own

Righteousness now we have a lot of people today who are confident of their own righteousness. They think they're moral

They've been to church. They prayed the right prayer. They've done the right ritual They have some basic knowledge and so they are sure they are righteous

That is they they're sure they think that they're right with God And so no matter how much they sin and how many lies they tell how much slander they spew how hateful they are

They are absolutely sure that they are right with God They're sure they're saved They've never tested themselves as you saw at the end of 2nd

Corinthians two weeks ago They will like here they will look down and everyone else treat them with contempt look down on other people including people who tell them to examine themselves to see if they are in the faith because they know that they are right and For just those kinds of people the

Lord Jesus tells this story here. It is just for you Now hopefully not for you people here, but I'm talking to that That confident person out there a very religious person goes to the temple to pray

Right. He's go to the temple I guess because that's where all the religious people are So he goes there he wants to be seen by them

He's the kind of put scriptures on strips on his forehead today He'd be the kind of puts him on his Facebook page or bumper stickers on his car

He fasts twice a week and he ties he stands up to pray He close to the center of the temple the most prominent space he can find

So everyone can see him in verse 11 and he prays here says about or literally

Greek if he prays toward himself He sounds sounds reverent enough.

I mean if you look at his words Sort of he sounds thankful to God. He begins to talk about to God. He knows how to put a prayer in the right words so that they sound

Right starting off rightly thanking God that he's not indulging in sin. So he's even thanking God that he's not sinning

Yeah, but you know, it sounds pious enough, but it's really all about himself. He's informing God As though God doesn't know that he's not a swindler and an adulterer or a greedy traitor like that Like that tax collector over there.

He was confident. He had that that religious swagger That so many people like but the tax collector a collaborator with the

Roman Empire and most of the tax collectors Use their power to take more than they deserved so they were often just greedy

Oppressive people. Well, he was it says Jesus says he was a far -off He's in some obscure corner.

It's hard to see because he wasn't there To be seen.

Anyway, he wasn't there to show off how religious he was. He was crushed By a sense of his own sinfulness.

He was so contrite If he didn't dare Jesus says he didn't dare to look up to heaven as if he could look

God in the face He knew he couldn't he was ashamed He was penitent. He felt his repentance

And he beat his chest and said at the end of verse 13 God be merciful to me a sinner

That translation shows his penitence now Notice he's he's not informing

God of how religious how righteous he is compared to other people He's pleading with God like the widow

Knowing he is helpless That he has no he's no leverage on God that he's not impressing

God with how much better he is compared to anyone else Nothing in his hands

He brings empty -handed He knows he needs

He utterly completely depends On a mercy that he has absolutely no power to get from God He is completely like that widow powerless

Now if that were a complete translation of what he said, you know be merciful to me a sinner If that were a complete translation of what he's what he asked

God for that would be a powerful example of penitence but what he actually said is

Even more powerful he addresses God first and then he asked Simply not simply really not simply for mercy

Not simply for just a forgiving grace. Forgive me, but the Greek word there he asked for for God.

Oh God give me it means propitiation Fancy word we don't use much an atoning sacrifice an atonement

Obviously asked God for for God to do the work of appeasing God's righteous anger at his sin

For God to do what only God can do to make him right with God. He literally pleased

God propitiate me atone for my sin God settled the debt my sin owes

Because I can't God take away the whole your holy anger at my sin

That I rightly deserve Because there's nothing that I can do to take that anger away

That's what he's asking God for and then he calls himself literally in Greek there he didn't say a sinner have mercy on me a sinner as in our translations, but literally he says the sinner

Propitiate me the sinner. I'm the sinner The conservative religious guy was saying

I'm so much better than all these other people, you know There's no swindlers those sexually immoral people milling around in the streets out there especially better than that that Pathetic tax collector over there the penitent person though is saying

I am the sinner He's too aware of his sin to be aware of other people's relative badness

Because he prays for atonement He prays for God to do what only God can do to make him right with God Because he has that that godly grief that awareness of sin having trudged through the swamp of conviction

Knowing his helplessness that nothing in his hands. He brings to God. He goes home.

It's Jesus says he goes home Justified that is declared righteous

God declares him Righteous now the other guy so confident declared himself

Righteous, he declared his own righteousness But he went away unknown to himself

Guilty sinful Rejected by God the penitent man declaring himself the sinner

Pleading for atonement propitiation for God's wrath to be paid for he goes away declared

God says righteous by God right with God For Because explaining why the

Lord Jesus explains at the end of verse 14 Why the penitent man goes away righteous?

for everyone Who exalts himself? Everyone who gets up confidently with that religious swagger

Sure that he or she is better than those other people out there Better than those homosexuals better than that It's ridiculous looking guys, but they're sagging pants better than the people staying home from church because they're just too lazy sleeping in bed

Or maybe those better than those guys that go out and make money on Sunday morning because all they care about is making more money

Everyone who looks at those other people and thinks I am better than them. I have an advantage before God exalt me

Everyone who thinks he or she has some leverage on God some way to impress him by how how much whatever

I've been I've been to church I've abstained from these popular sins. Look how much

I've given How good a neighbor I am Everyone who thinks they have something in their hands they can bring to God To impress him with to say look look how much better.

I am than those other other sinners everyone who does that Exalting themselves

Because they're not penitent. They have no sense of their own sinfulness of how much they have offended a holy

God everyone like that Will be humbled But everyone like the tax collector

Who is penitent? Who says I am the sinner. I Need an atoning sacrifice.

I need you God to take away my sin Because I can't

Everyone like that Will be exalted lifted up from this world of sin from the judgment that is coming

God will reach down and Lift up the chin of the bowed head

The bowed head that's too ashamed to look up to him God will be the lifter of their head lift them out of condemnation and Exalt them to be sons and daughters of the king.

How do you come to God? Well not as a hobby Something you take up for a while as long as the interest strikes you

Like bowling or golf or some short -term interest like the Puritans that is satisfied after you've read a few books you come to God constantly persistently helplessly with nothing in your hands you bring to make

God give you justice and Give you the salvation for yourself or your child or your husband or your wife the grace the breakthrough you need

You cry to him day and night with faith That he is good that he will swiftly give you justice and your faith and God's goodness fills you so that you are full of faith faithful so when the

Son of Man comes He will find you faithful How do you come to God not arrogantly boasting before God How much better you are than all those other people out there who hardly ever bother to go to church hardly ever bothered to give

Or to live right, but you come penitently conscious of your sin and the punishment that those sins deserve and the fact that there's nothing that you can do to cure

Yourself of your sins your sins do two things to you first They make you deserve

God's wrath his holy anger and second they make you impure the sinner you need a double cure

To plead let the water and the blood from your wounded side which flowed be of sin my sin the double cure curing me of the wrath

I deserve and making me pure rock of ages cleft crucified for me rock of ages the propitiatory atoning sacrifice

Cleft for me. Let me me the sinner