Luke 18:8b
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Let me encourage you to...
Turn to Luke 18 in your Bibles
Follow along
We began, both...
This chapter
This parable...
...last week...
And we covered quite a bit of ground...
But we didn’t get QUITE finished with it.
We left off the very last sentence...
...of the very last verse.
(And Judge Hal called me out on it too!)
So, to honor… his honor...
We’re going to come back...
...and try to give it a proper treatment!
(I hope you know that I’m kidding)
I skipped over it by design.
-With everything else...
...that we had going on last week...
I just couldn’t come up with a way...
...to sufficiently cover it...
...in an appreciable amount of time.
So — here we are!
-Alright, for sake of time...
...we’re only going to read Verses 7-8 for now.
Luke 18, beginning in Verse 7.
This is the Word of the Lord
7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?
8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
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Pray
-Alright, let’s review…
...what we looked at last week.
Look back up at Verse 1:
Remember what it told us:
1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
The Message and Purpose...
Stated right up front.
Verse 2
2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man.
According to the standard of the Word of God...
This was a BAD judge.
-Let’s read on (Verse 3):
3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’
She had no other male benefactor
He was her only hope
-Let’s Read On:
4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man,
The Motivation is clear:
It’s self-preservation
Not repentance
5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ ”
-That was the parable.
-This was the application...
...that Jesus had made (Verse 6):
6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says.
7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?
In other words:
Will God treat his elect...
...the way this unrighteous Judge...
...treated this poor widow?
Will he put off their vindication...
...any longer than is absolutely necessary?
Of course not!
He’s loved them for all of eternity!
He cares about their plight...
...more than they do!
Of course he won’t:
7 ...delay long over them?
-Quite the Opposite:
Verse 8.
8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily...
There won’t be any delay in their vindication.
It will be...
Precisely On-Time
Perfectly Motivated
-Pretty clear, right?
No questions.
Absolutely certainty.
-But… Then he says this:
Verse 8:
8 . . . Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
-Now, as some of you...
...have already mentioned to me...
This is quite an enigmatic little statement.
Why?
Because it would be easy to...
...infer the wrong idea from it.
For example, you could infer...
1.) That Jesus was uncertain about the eschatological future!
(Elaborate)
(Would that comport with what he just said?)
2.) That Jesus was uncertain about...
...the ultimate fate of his elect?
(Would that comport with what we saw last week?)
Surely, those can’t be right!
-So, what is he getting at?
Well, let’s break down the question:
Notice that he begins it with an interjection:
8...Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes...
So, it’s obviously meant to be...
...something of a contrast...
...to the statement of eschatological certainty...
...that had come before it.
In other words:
That was certain (The vindication of the elect)
Here’s what’s not as certain (what he’s about to say)
-But, before we look at that...
...let’s be clear about...
...what event he has in view.
Let’s read on:
8...Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes...
What's that referring to?
Well, the most natural reading would indicate...
That he’s referring back to...
...the same event that had been...
...the central focus of chapter 17:
30 ...the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
His Physical, Visible, Bodily Return
(I see nothing in the text...
...that would indicate...
...that a different eschatological event is now in view)
Alright, lets read on.
He asks...
8 ...when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
The LSB is even more emphatic:
8 ...when the Son of Man comes, will He find that faith on the earth?”
(Showing us the presence of the definite article in the original)
So, that’s a reference...
...to a particular “faith” or “faithfulness,” right?
Okay, well what’s that referring to?
-Verse 7 mentioned two possibilities:
The faithfulness of God — to give justice to his elect
The faithfulness of his elect — to depend on him for it
Let’s read it again:
7 And will not God give justice to his elect...
Brethren, is God’s faithfulness ever in question?
Absolutely Not!
Remember Verse 8:
8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily...
Okay, so what’s left?
Only this:
7 ...his elect, who cry to him day and night...
That’s the kind of faith/faithfulness...
...that he has in view.
The kind that...
1 ...always to pray and not lose heart.
So, let’s put it all together...
...in its context:
He’s asking (rhetorically)...
...this group of his religious followers...
Who profess to be his people...
Who profess to be his elect...
He’s asking them:
8 ...when the Son of Man comes, will He find that faith on the earth?”
-Now, does Jesus know the answer to this?
Of Course!
-So, why is he asking it/saying it to them?
To give them both, a warning — and an exhortation
Think about two things:
The immediate context
Its Historical context
-1.) All of the preceding warnings of Chapter 17:
(This one fits right in with them)
The warnings about...
...the days of Noah and Lot:
In both scenarios...
The overwhelming majority of the people:
Put no thought into the things of God
Lived for earthly pleasures
Relied upon their earthly abundance.
Only a small remnant of the people...
...remained faithful to God.
And Jesus had said:
30 so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
Now, in contrast to that...
And to the rest of fallen humanity...
Jesus said that:
7 ...his elect, who cry to him day and night....
Do you see the difference?
-Now, that brings up...
...that second thing that we need to keep in mind:
2. (The historical context)
We need to remember...
...that for understandable reasons...
...The Jews just assumed that they were all elect.
Why is that understandable?
Remember:
14 Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it.
15 Yet the Lord set his heart in love on . . . and chose . . . you above all peoples...
Does that sound (if taken by itself)...
...like every physical descendant of Abraham...
...is part of God’s elect?
Yet, the Scripture elsewhere says things like:
7 ...Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it...
Those are not assumed to...
...necessarily be the same things, right?
Also, we have Jesus telling Jewish people:
39 . . . “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did...
41 You are doing the works your father did.” . . .
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me...
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-Now, how does that help us...
...to understand Verse 8?
Well, I think that Verse 8 implying the same thing:
The idea that God always preserves a faithful remnant...
...at all times, and in every age.
A Remnant that is chosen by Grace...
And because of that:
It is faithful and perseveres!
-And, I think that...
...tracing that out in the scripture...
...will bring a lot of clarity to Verse 8.
-Remember (And notice the contrasts):
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually...
8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
9 ...Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God...
We also already looked at Lot and Sodom.
But remember this:
17 The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do...
19 For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice...
23 Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? . . .
26 And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” . . .
28 Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”
29 . . . “Suppose forty are found there.” . . .
30 . . . Suppose thirty are found there.” . . .
31 . . . Suppose twenty are found there.” . . .
32 . . . Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.”
And yet:
29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.
Only Lot and his two daughters
Not his betrothed sons in law
Not even his wife!
-Now, this one is the classic OT text:
14 He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”
So, like the two times before:
Times are bad!
But this time:
Even the PRESUMED elect are compromised!
And like those other times:
Judgment is on its way
The actual elect will be preserved.
Watch:
15 And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way . . . you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria.
16 And Jehu . . . you shall anoint to be king over Israel...
17 And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death.
Decisive Judgment!
18 Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
A faithful remnant:
Protected and preserved...
Through the midst of tribulations...
From the Judgment of God
Now, here’s what’s interesting, here:
Paul quotes that last verses...
...and makes this application from it:
5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.
Just like:
Noah
Lot
Elijah and the 7,000
And while we’re on that...
...Paul clarifies:
6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
What does he mean by that?
Well, he asks the same thing (rhetorically)...
...in the next verse:
7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened,
Now...
25 Lest you be wise in your own sight...
Paul also says:
28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers.
29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
(I’m going to leave you wondering on that one)
(But I felt constrained to point it our here...
...so we don’t become imbalanced...
...and drift into sinful Anti-Semitism)
-Let’s get back to our OT survey:
This is another important one:
17 The light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.
18 The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land the Lord will destroy, both soul and body...
Again, decisive judgment...
...upon the presumed elect!
And again, we see that...
...coupled with this:
20 In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
Sounds a lot like “cry to him day and night” to me!
21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.
22 For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return...
Now, that probably had a near application to it.
But again, Paul references it...
...in his treatise on election in Romans 9.
Remember his thesis statement at the beginning:
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,
7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
And he references Isaiah 10...
...as an OT proof text for that idea:
27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved,
28 for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.”
29 And as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.”
Then he makes this application:
30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith;
31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law.
32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,
Who’s That?
4 ...Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
And who’s that?
That’s the “Chosen and Faithful Remnant!”
The concept is ALL OVER the Bible!
We could spend weeks...
...just looking at the texts!
-Now, here’s what’s glorious:
(Notice the similarities to everything before)
15 Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains,
16 calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,
17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” . . .
2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea,
3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”
4 And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
That’s remnant language.
(I’ll show you why soon)
First, watch this:
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
That’s the “Chosen and Faithful Remnant!”
She’s may be smaller in number...
...than those living on the earth with her...
...at any given time...
But, as she is gathered in heaven throughout the ages...
She becomes a grand and glorious Assembly...
More numerous than the…
sands of the seashore!
stars of heaven!
And Look...
Look at the way She’s described later in the book:
1 Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads...
3 and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.
4 It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb,
5 and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless.
14 ...those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”
-So, now we have the answer...
...to Jesus’ question at the end of Verse 8, don’t we?
8 ...when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Yes, He will!
Now, It won’t be widespread:
Think about how often Jesus emphasized that:
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’
23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
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-So, that faith that God is seeking...
...may always be a minority on the earth...
But it will never be extinguished from it...
It will always be present...
In the Chosen and Faithful Remnant!
-Now, what’s our imperative?
There are two:
1.) Don’t presume upon your ethnicity or ancestry:
28 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical.
29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit...
It’s not about your natural birth
You must be “born AGAIN!”
2.) Don’t presume upon your status in the visible church:
19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.
2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.
3 For we who have believed enter that rest...
Guys, the distinguishing characteristic of God’s elect...
...is, and always has been (in an ultimate sense)...
Repentance
Faith
-Watch this… and then we’ll pray:
11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
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Let’s pray
