This morning's message is found in the Gospel of Luke chapter 18. We're going to look at the first 14, excuse me, it's actually the first 8 verses here of this chapter. The first 8 verses of the chapter. In the previous message here, Jesus taught His followers that days, remember we talked about days and the day. Days and the day. that days were coming in which they would desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man. That's chapter 17 verse 22. The implication of that is this, that what the disciples would be experiencing after his departure would be hard times. That those days would not be easy for believers. And this assertion was to counter the expectation that they had, along with the Pharisees and others of the Jewish community, that Messiah's coming would also bring the realization of the Kingdom of God on earth as promised in the Old Testament. In fact, remember when Jesus Just before his ascension, the disciples still not understanding it said, will you at this time establish the kingdom? And he said, this is not for you right now. Rather you to go to Jerusalem and you wait for the promise of the Father, which is going to come upon you. And then you're to be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and Judea, Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. See, and that's based on his response here, that you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man. This was his response then to his disciples based on what the Pharisees had asked him there in verse number 20. They asked him with, I believe, scorn and contempt. to show the evidence of his kingdom. You claim to be the Messiah. Where is the evidence of your kingdom? What have you done to show us that you're really the Messiah and to establish the kingdom? That's why they overlooked his miracles. I mean, everything he did on earth was proof that he was the Messiah based upon Isaiah 61, one and two. But they couldn't see that. Why? Because they were looking for him to overthrow the Romans and to have a military presence and be like King David and establishes his throne. David is slain as thousands, or Saul is slain as thousands, David is tens of thousands. As the women sang there concerning David. If Christ was truly the son of David, why wasn't he out there slaughtering the enemy? And Jesus' response to them was that the kingdom he was introducing was spiritual in nature. Its presence would be unobserved. It would be residing in the souls of his chosen followers through the Holy Spirit. These citizens would remain in this corrupt and sinful world as a testimony against it. A world that hated their Lord then rejected Him and killed Him. So as Jesus had suffered many things and was rejected by His generation, according to verse 25, so His own would face the same hostility in their day. Thus the days coming would be difficult. He illustrates that with the days of Noah and the days of Lot. They're in verses 26 and 28. These days would prompt the saints to long for his presence among them again. That's why he said the days are coming when you'll desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man. It's going to get hard. And like the days of Noah and Lot, these days also waited for the judgment of God, according to verses 27 to 29. So anyone acquainted with Scripture understands that the very wicked days of Noah and Lot though subject to the imminent judgment of God, were treated by those who lived in them as ordinary days for living. They ate and they drank. They married and they gave in marriage. It was just like ordinary days. They had no conscious realization of their imminent doom because spiritual blindness and unbelief governed their sinful hearts. Don't let it govern yours. It says, there was no fear of God before their eyes. Psalm 36, verse 1. Paul cites that in Romans 3, 318. Thus, the unexpected judgment came suddenly upon them and destroyed them all. The day Noah and his family entered the earth, the floods came. The day Lot and his family fled Sodom, the fire and brimstone fell, and it destroyed them all. So Jesus reminded his disciples that in the same way the days to come were also subject to the sudden and unexpected judgment of God. When Jesus comes again, woe! the fire will fall. And these days would end when Jesus suddenly appears like lightning flashing across the sky. Almost unexpected, verse 24, His return on that day is to judge the world. All judgment has been committed to the Son. And there is a day in which God has pointed that Jesus will judge the world in righteousness. And on that day, when the Son of Man is revealed, it says. Interestingly, that word revealed is the Greek word apokalupto, apocalypse, from the Greek word apocalypse, which is the last book of the Bible, the Revelation. the apocalypse. So the disciples then responded to that. They said, Where, Lord, where? And to which then Jesus replied, Where the corpse is. What did he mean by that? Where the corpse is. This wicked world is ripening for judgment like a corpse, rotting and ready to be devoured by the vultures. That's what he meant by that. When judgment falls, nothing of this world will matter anymore. All the money you've got in your savings, it's worthless. All the valuables that you have in your home, no account. And he illustrates that by telling the man who is on the rooftop not to go back down to the house. to gather his possessions. Or if you're in the field, don't return home to gather your possessions or your belongings. There in verses 30 and 31. And so, Jesus then adds this caution. Remember Lot's wife. She turned into a pillar of salt because she looked back. Don't look back. There in verse 31. The angels had warned Lot and his family in their fleeing Sodom, escape for your life. Do not look back or step anywhere, or excuse me, stop anywhere in the valley. Genesis 19, 17. Although the word is silent as to her motives, it is presumed that Lot's wife's disobedience was due to her heart's being still in Sodom. Disappointment and a sense of loss moved her to look back as the fire and sulfur consumed her home and her possessions. When the Lord returns to judge the world, don't be like Lot's wife and look back on what no longer matters. And so Jesus reinforced it then in verse 33 by saying, whosoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life will keep it. Loses it for Christ. Loses it for gospel and for truth. So also as it was in the days of Noah and Lot, The prepared and the unprepared associated together in the ordinary course of their lives. Two men working a field, two women grinding at the mill. Identical responsibilities, identical lifestyles in many respects. But then a separation came suddenly. When judgment fell, they were separated. And this separation by the Lord with respect to their relationship to Him involves their being in their relationship to Him, or not. Some were, some were not. An example of this actually occurred when, according to the historians of the time, Christians followed their Lord's warning of the destruction of Jerusalem. as found in Luke 21. That warning reads, Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out of the country enter it. Believers heeded this warning, and at once and forever walked away from their old associates to preserve their lives in the like manner when the coming of Christ burst in upon this heedless world. There will be an eternal separation. And that's described for us in Matthew chapter 25. When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all His angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right hand, on his right, and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my father, enter, or excuse me, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Matthew 25 verses 31 to 34. Now, since we don't know the day nor the hour when this event will occur, we must always be prepared and expectant. We must be sure that we belong to Him. One of the proofs of our full surrender to Jesus is loving and serving Him supremely, wary of everything that this world holds out to lure us away from Him. Therefore Jesus continued his instruction with a parable to provoke persistence through prayer. That's our text this morning. Chapter 18 verses one through eight. Notice chapter 18 opens with a conjunction. There's two conjunctions in the Greek. I wasn't gonna give this, but I'm gonna do it anyway. There's two kind of conjunctions in the Greek. One is the Greek word chi. which is generally translated and, sometimes but or when. The other is de, D-E, if in the English spelling here, de, with an accent mark. That's also can be translated and, as in the King James Version, and the ESV uses the word and, notice in verse one, and he told them a parable. I prefer the word moreover here usually it's translated but it's giving a but but it's but it's here again it shows a continuation so I like the word moreover moreover he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart verse 1 Jesus gave this parable to stress how His followers should live in this wicked age, these days, as they waited for His return. Jesus is not making things better for His own here. Despite much false teaching to the contrary, the prosperity gospel and so forth, But these days, with all their trials and troubles, are to prepare us for the glory that awaits. And accordingly, these days will be difficult, dangerous, discouraging, doubtful, and draining. However, we are to live in them by faith, trusting God's sovereign design. filled with joy and gratitude, yet with longing and expectation. The Lord does not diss us for our longing cries to Him. Then that's what this parable is all about. And the question is, how is it possible? Here's the answer to that, Philippians chapter 6, 1 and verse number 6, Philippians 1, 6. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. What's he doing? He's doing a good work in us. And he's going to continue that good work in us until it is completed when Jesus returns. And with respect to our side of the issue, then Paul exhorts in chapter 2 verses 12 and 13, a couple of my favorite verses in scripture, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. In other words, I'm not just sit idly by, but by the Holy Spirit and the obedience which He works in me, I am to work out my salvation with fear and trembling. So now returning to this parable, Jesus then told of a poor widow who had been defrauded of the little that she had. Widows in those days were very vulnerable. And they had really nobody to look out for them. A husband was gone or a son gone. Remember when Jesus was approaching a particular city and here out came this funeral procession from the town to bury the only son of a poor widow. Jesus had compassion on this woman. and raised her son from the dead and returned her to him. Now she had somebody to look out for her. And that's the same situation that we have here. This woman had no husband or son to look out for her. So she went to the civil magistrate to plead her case. Jesus describes this judge, which is typical of many judges even in our day here, as one who neither feared God nor respected man. Please note here, do not equate this judge with God. This judge does not represent God in this parable. but reflects the nature of the things that are in this vile age. This wicked judge knew both the laws of God and man, and that they were clearly on the side of this widow. But because of her lack of standing, because she was just a lone widow, he refused to rule on her behalf. He just didn't care. I'm not going to listen to it. However, this widow persisted. She kept coming to him again and again, and after a while he gave in, reasoning, 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. So Jesus now applied this principle to the saints living in the days before his return. They are, in effect, like this poor widow with little or no standing in this world. In fact, they will generally be opposed Jesus said, if the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. And if you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. John 15, 18, and 19. Now, you could compromise. You could live like the world, and then you could live comfortably in it. But if you do that, let me warn you, you're going to end up like the world in the fire of His judgment. And it's not because you lost your salvation, it's because you never had it. See, that's the point of this parable. No matter how difficult life is here, as we await His return. The Lord expects persistence and perseverance in us because that is the clear evidence of our faith and of our salvation. This poor widow was desperate for justice and her persistence was rewarded. So believers are also to persevere until they too are rewarded. The day is coming. when we will be rewarded. Now, this is important here. Jesus puts the focus on what the unrighteous judge said. In other words, he gave this little parable, then he turned the attention. Now listen to what the judge said. Verse 7 here also has a conjunction. And, and it's the same Greek word de in both that's translated and in both the King James Version and the ESV however and here again I would prefer the word now or but because what the Lord is doing here is placing a contrast the emphasis is a contrast Here we have a contrast between a corrupt human judge and a holy and righteous God. This contrast is meant to define the whole parable. The poor widow who was of no interest to the judge is held in contrast to the elect in whom the Lord has great interest. You see that? The judge said, I don't want to hear her. Your Lord says, I want to hear you. I love you. You're mine. As the poor widow came persistently to a reluctant judge, the elect cry out, to a loving and attentive God, but also persistently, because God wants it that way. It's all day and all night they prayed. Do you pray all day and all night? Boy, that's very convicting to me. That's been a conviction of mine for some time, how little we tend to pray. The judge finally, out of frustration, acts for the widow. But God has planned from eternity how he's going to act for his own in his own time. He will vindicate his own. The only correlation between these two is the vindication. But even that's different. The judge gives temporal relief. and justice. But God's vindication is eternal and glorious. All suffering that His elect are to endure in this age will be like nothing when Jesus returns and receives us into the eternal glory. Think about that. I heard an interesting illustration Think about a poor, afflicted, and tormented martyr. He's suffering pain and looking at the angry faces and the ravage and the hatred that is being thrown at him. And the murder that he is about to endure, suffering and anguish in his death. But what happens when he dies? He suddenly wakes up in heaven and sees the glory of it and his Savior's face for the first time. What a contrast! And that's what this parable is teaching us. In effect, Jesus is saying, stop longing to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but rather anticipate with faith and perseverance the glorious kingdom that awaits you when the Son of Man is revealed. But now, what about this crying out to Him all day and all night? I'm going to deal with that here. This is actually what Marx is on. The interests of heaven should be our sole concern while we live on this earth. Jesus taught his disciples to pray, and when you pray, say, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Yes, his people long for the will of God to be done on earth as it is in heaven. And this drives them to pray. They long for the gospel to reach out into every tribe and nation that his church is added to daily. And because they know that there is one soul out there, maybe yet unborn, who will come under the hearing of the gospel and that will complete his mission and Jesus will come. We need to pray that that will be done. And as heaven's foot soldiers clad with the armor of God According to Ephesians chapter 6, we stand against the wiles of the devil. And so Paul says we pray we're to be also doing this, praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication to that end. Keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all saints and for all those who boldly proclaim the mystery of the gospel. Ah, we've got much to pray for. It will keep us on our knees all day and all night. Examples of this kind of praying are also found in both Testaments. The Psalms are full of them. Psalm 35, verse 17. How long, O Lord, will you look on, rescue from their destruction the precious life from the lions? Psalm 74 verses 11 and 12. How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile your name forever? Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Righteousness. Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them. Or Psalm 94, verses 3 to 5, O Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult? They pour out their arrogant words, all the evildoers boast, they crush your people, O God. Or then New Testament, we read there in the Revelation, and they cried out with a loud voice, O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth. Revelation 6 and verse 10. You know, God answers prayer. Sometimes He waits a long time. That's why He waits. We wait for Him. We have to wait for Him. But He will act. And He will act according to His will and purpose. And He will bring about vindication of his own on this earth. So what are we to do? First Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 16 and 17. Rejoice always and pray without ceasing. So now Jesus closed this parable then with a question. Nevertheless when the Son of Man comes will he find faith the earth There's something that does not you not see that you don't see this in the English, but it's clear in the Greek There is a definite article before faith. So he's not talking here. The question here is a rhetorical question and oftentimes we read it with with a negative answer no, and there's a I think there's a kind of a place for this too because notice Who was saved in the days of Noah? Eight people. Who was saved in the destruction of the cities of the plain? Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot and his two daughters. That doesn't seem like very many. So Jesus says, now when the judgment comes at the end, will he find faith on the earth? And we tend to read that in the negative. Well, no. Are there but few that will be saved? It sure seems like it. We're not very many here, you know. The faith referred to here, though, this is important to understand. It's not practical faith. Practical faith is our believing and trusting the Lord and His Word in our everyday circumstances. In other words, many think that believers will be so worn out by the stress of holy living in a wicked world that they will become few and discouraged when the Lord returns. Few will be living by faith, things being so hard. But I don't believe that's what Jesus is asking. He's asking them, yes, it's going to be hard, and yes, there will be few of you. But wait a minute, do you see the big picture? So with all authority, Jesus declared, hear what the unjust 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, or but so, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth? And I believe the answer is a resounding yes. A sovereign God is doing His will on earth, and yes, He will find the faith on the earth when He comes. That is His plan. He has designated that there will be a witness in every generation, a people testifying to the gospel in this fallen world, and living examples of their glorious Lord. That's what we are. Be encouraged. Be encouraged. Peter discussed this very issue in his second epistle. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. In other words, be patient, persist, The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promises. Some count slowness. He's not reluctant. He's not reticent. He doesn't have to be prodded. But what? He is patient toward you, not wishing that any of His elect should perish, but that all His elect should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 2 Peter chapter 3 verses 8 to 10. Folks, don't be weary in well-doing. persevere by faith, Jesus made it clear, he who endures to the end shall be delivered. Even so come, Lord Jesus. Father, we praise you and thank you for the opportunity we have of considering this wonderful truth in scripture today to encourage our hearts in these difficult and desperate times. We look out on the world and our hearts are anxious. What's going to take place? What is going to be fulfilled? How is it all going to fall out? How are we going to be affected by it? When are you going to come? Help us, Lord, to trust you, to know, to continually remind ourselves that you are a sovereign Lord in full control, that not one thing happens but what it has been designed of you from eternity past to bring honor and glory to yourself and to elevate us to what you have prepared for us. Lord, give us that patient endurance by your spirit to hold out, to run the race with perseverance. The race set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despised the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the majesty of God. Oh, that day is coming for us too. May we run with patience the race that is set before us. We praise you in Jesus' name.