SPEAKER_00: Church, King David said in Psalm 207, some trust in chariots, some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
SPEAKER_00: And you wonder if we had a manuscript of your prayers for the last 18 months or so, what would they reveal about who or what you trust in?
SPEAKER_00: Now I would be the first to stand up and say that I don't pray enough.
SPEAKER_00: And there's not enough evidence as I would like in my prayers.
SPEAKER_00: But hopefully we together, as people were to examine our prayer life, would say, well, it would seem this person, they keep saying this thing over the days and months.
SPEAKER_00: It would seem that they trust in God.
SPEAKER_00: But some trust in their own abilities, some trust in their bank accounts, some trust in their own righteousness, and some trust in their own spouses, some trust in just kind of that the world is stable and they're gonna kind of make it.
SPEAKER_00: Some act as if they trust in nothing.
SPEAKER_00: What do we trust in?
SPEAKER_00: And what would our prayers reveal about where you place your trust?
SPEAKER_00: See, Jesus is about to teach us something in Luke 18.
SPEAKER_00: If we have ears to hear, and that is this the power of our prayers rests on the character of God in the condition of our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: The power of our prayers rests on the character of God in the condition of our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: These verses, these 30 verses, first 30 verses of Luke 18, we're going to see how prayer, this approaching and talking to God.
SPEAKER_00: So prayer is how it reveals our trust in Him.
SPEAKER_00: It reveals the confidence we have in Him.
SPEAKER_00: It reveals the condition of our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to have two examples.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to see two examples of humility and two examples of pride.
SPEAKER_00: Humility is having this right understanding of who you are and where you are in the world.
SPEAKER_00: Even the greatest of people are just people.
SPEAKER_00: They're just people.
SPEAKER_00: And humility is knowing what is in your control, which is very, very little, in what is outside of your control.
SPEAKER_00: Pride is the inaccurate, inaccurate understanding or wrong understanding of who you are and where you are in the world.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't mean kind of spatially, I mean more socially, where you are in the world.
SPEAKER_00: You are just a person like everyone else.
SPEAKER_00: And with that, you will die just like everyone else.
SPEAKER_00: You're not really that special or smart or above everyone else as you might think you are.
SPEAKER_00: Pride comes naturally.
SPEAKER_00: Humility does not.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have to work to be prideful.
SPEAKER_00: And you might think, well, I'm not a prideful person because I'm not an arrogant person.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not flaunting my wealth or kind of just demeaning over people.
SPEAKER_00: The reality is that everyone has some selfishness in them.
SPEAKER_00: We're self-oriented.
SPEAKER_00: If you're self-oriented, you have a pride issue.
SPEAKER_00: You're thinking too much of yourself.
SPEAKER_00: So what we see in this text is a lesson on humility, and then we'll see it applied.
SPEAKER_00: And we'll see a lesson on pride, and then we'll see how that is applied.
SPEAKER_00: Alright?
SPEAKER_00: And it's going to teach us that our confidence should be in God.
SPEAKER_00: That our confidence should be in God.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has just finished in Luke 17, telling all of the disciples and all the listeners about the kingdom to come.
SPEAKER_00: And he's talking about the end, and no one knows, but what they do know is it's going to be like nothing they've ever experienced before.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: People are going to be judged, and then people are going to be disappearing, and all these things will be happening.
SPEAKER_00: And so what does Christ do?
SPEAKER_00: Well, he gives them some encouragement.
SPEAKER_00: He goes right here into verse 1 of 18.
SPEAKER_00: And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus tells them about this widow who's making an appeal to an unjust judge, a wicked judge.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you don't know much of the culture in this time, a widow would have been one of the most vulnerable people, right?
SPEAKER_00: Her husband has died, and she, for most people, she has two options.
SPEAKER_00: She can stay with her husband's family, in which she would essentially become a servant in most families.
SPEAKER_00: She would not be viewed as an equal in the family, she would be viewed subserviently and become a servant in the family for most of the time.
SPEAKER_00: However, she could go back to her parents' family, to her parents.
SPEAKER_00: She could do that, but if she does that, the family, her origin family, they have to then give back the dowry, the bride price.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever was given, they have to give all that, those resources back.
SPEAKER_00: So she can stay and be a servant, or she can go back home and put her family, what might be in complete financial peril.
SPEAKER_00: So you can understand the vulnerability.
SPEAKER_00: She did not have a husband to advocate and protect her.
SPEAKER_00: She did not have a father to advocate and protect her either.
SPEAKER_00: So this widow, who has no place to go, begins to cry out to God, or to the judge, excuse me, for justice.
SPEAKER_00: And the judge, who knows himself to be a wicked judge, says, I'm not going to answer this woman because I fear God, I don't, but I'm just going to answer her because she keeps persisting in her prayer.
SPEAKER_00: She's persistent in her request.
SPEAKER_00: And he grants her that.
SPEAKER_00: And then verse 6.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord said, Hear what the unrighteous judge says, excuse me.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 8, I tell you, this is verse 8, I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily.
SPEAKER_00: This is God.
SPEAKER_00: He will give them, nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?
SPEAKER_00: So he's just given this parable, and I botched this up a little bit, but he does say in verse 7, and will not God give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night?
SPEAKER_00: Will he delay long over them?
SPEAKER_00: See, Jesus is teaching them something.
SPEAKER_00: And you might think, not completely inaccurately, that what Jesus is saying is just keep persisting, keep praying, keep at it, and you'll get there eventually.
SPEAKER_00: Even the wicked judges of the earth will have to listen to you.
SPEAKER_00: Their principle here is to keep praying, to persist in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: But the greater thing is Jesus is pointing not to the unrighteous judge, but to the righteous judge.
SPEAKER_00: And will not God give his elect justice?
SPEAKER_00: Those who cry day and night, will he delay long over them?
SPEAKER_00: See, he has just told them all the things that are to come, this kingdom that is to come, and this the final judgment and these terrible things and the persecution they're going to go through.
SPEAKER_00: And he says to them, listen, don't be dismayed, don't lose heart.
SPEAKER_00: For you are petitioning, you are praying to the righteous judge.
SPEAKER_00: Reveals the character of God.
SPEAKER_00: Justice.
SPEAKER_00: Well, who is able to give justice?
SPEAKER_00: Who has that kind of authority?
SPEAKER_00: Well, two things are required to give actual justice.
SPEAKER_00: One is you have to be in a position of authority.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: If I commit a crime and I go before the judge, my friends can't come in and say, it's alright, he's innocent.
SPEAKER_00: It's done.
SPEAKER_00: They don't have that authority.
SPEAKER_00: That authority was never given to them.
SPEAKER_00: You have to have the authority.
SPEAKER_00: The judge has the authority.
SPEAKER_00: And to give right and true justice, what else has to be there?
SPEAKER_00: You have to know what the law is.
SPEAKER_00: You have to interpret correctly the moral standard.
SPEAKER_00: This is why this judge here in this parable is a wicked judge.
SPEAKER_00: He has the authority, but he does not have the ethical ability.
SPEAKER_00: He's not following and adhering to the law, the moral standard.
SPEAKER_00: He does these things perfectly.
SPEAKER_00: It's God.
SPEAKER_00: He has the authority, and he has the standard.
SPEAKER_00: So he can give justice to his elect, to his people.
SPEAKER_00: Speaking of his elect, and who are these people?
SPEAKER_00: JC Ryle says, we have a plain mark described here by our Lord in the passage before us.
SPEAKER_00: God's elect are people who cry unto him night and day.
SPEAKER_00: They are essentially a praying people.
SPEAKER_00: No doubt there are many persons whose prayers are formal and hypocritical.
SPEAKER_00: But one thing is very clear: a prayerless man must never be called one of God's elect.
SPEAKER_00: Well, God's speaking of his people.
SPEAKER_00: Those whom he has chosen, he's redeemed, who belong to him.
SPEAKER_00: He will not abandon them.
SPEAKER_00: So their cry to this cry, this prayer, this persistent prayer to God, they can do that with confidence, because he is a just God, and he does not feel, you may resonate with this language of delay.
SPEAKER_00: Because he says in verse 8, I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily, quickly.
SPEAKER_00: But are we still waiting for this justice?
SPEAKER_00: It's been 2,000 years.
SPEAKER_00: Has it happened?
SPEAKER_00: Are we still waiting on God to bring these things about?
SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes, you've heard it said that God's timing is not our timing, and God's ways are not our ways, which is 100% true.
SPEAKER_00: You see this pattern, I think, in the Old Testament and even in the book of Acts, the Lord, his timing is perfect.
SPEAKER_00: And so what he does is he's using all the things in your life, in my life, for our good.
SPEAKER_00: He will bring about justice, is not saying, God's gonna bring justice on your timeline or when you think it's best.
SPEAKER_00: How many Christians have been martyred for their faith?
SPEAKER_00: They've died.
SPEAKER_00: They've died in front of their children, in front of their family, they've been drugged off into the wilderness and persecuted and killed.
SPEAKER_00: All kinds of terrible things.
SPEAKER_00: And you can step back and say, well, where's the justice in that?
SPEAKER_00: What's going on in that?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe in your own life, you're not facing anything like that, but there's something.
SPEAKER_00: You feel like God has delayed.
SPEAKER_00: Where is he at?
SPEAKER_00: When is he going to deliver?
SPEAKER_00: When is this gonna happen?
SPEAKER_00: He said he's not gonna leave me or forsake me.
SPEAKER_00: He said he will bring about justice.
SPEAKER_00: Brother, sister, the Lord is so gracious to you.
SPEAKER_00: And he's using even the hardships of the world to form you more like him.
SPEAKER_00: And so I fully grant that that is a normal and natural question.
SPEAKER_00: How long, oh God, how long has David cried in the Psalms.
SPEAKER_00: But what we need to do is look to the righteous judge, look to our Father, the one we're pleading with, crying to, and have confidence, one that he hears us, that he knows what's going on, that by his sovereign goodness, he's using it for our growth.
SPEAKER_00: Never in the moment do you see all this working.
SPEAKER_00: Never in the valley of life do you see the Lord maturing you and growing you.
SPEAKER_00: It's only after, once you're through all these things, that you look back and you're like, wow, this is amazing what the Lord has done.
SPEAKER_00: And if you doubt that, I would encourage you, go find a mature Christian.
SPEAKER_00: There's plenty of them I can point to you this morning, and just ask them, is that true in your life?
SPEAKER_00: Have you seen the Lord take you through a wilderness when you feel alone?
SPEAKER_00: Have you seen the Lord take you through a valley when you didn't see any way out and you didn't know where he was or what was going on?
SPEAKER_00: And what did that do to your faith?
SPEAKER_00: What have you learned about who God is and his faithfulness to you through that?
SPEAKER_00: So even though there is this delay, we feel God is bringing his justice.
SPEAKER_00: Through the return of Christ, which he was just speaking of in chapter 17, God will bring his justice.
SPEAKER_00: And when it's all done, we look back, we will say, that timing was perfect.
SPEAKER_00: That was amazing what he did.
SPEAKER_00: That will be our response when our confidence is in God.
SPEAKER_00: We're praying to him.
SPEAKER_00: We're coming to him with humble hearts.
SPEAKER_00: We're not coming to him with prideful hearts that are saying, hey, listen, I know a thing or two about my life.
SPEAKER_00: I know what I want.
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
SPEAKER_00: Coming to him with confidence, with a humble heart.
SPEAKER_00: This is what children do.
SPEAKER_00: They come to the Lord, they come to their parents, to people, and they're just innocent.
SPEAKER_00: And so we see this confidence in God that requires humility, and we see it applied here in verses 15 and 17.
SPEAKER_00: So look at your Bible, look down, skipping a passage to verses 15 and 17.
SPEAKER_00: And what's going on?
SPEAKER_00: They're bringing infants, children to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: When the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus said to them, Let the children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belong the k belongs the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.
SPEAKER_00: You know, there's something here about children.
SPEAKER_00: It's their their their faith, their their simplicity that also belongs to those who belong to the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Their simple confidence, their clarity, really, of who God is.
SPEAKER_00: Think about children.
SPEAKER_00: If you have children, they're very focused at times, very single-minded.
SPEAKER_00: But if you're a good father, my kids don't wonder if I love them.
SPEAKER_00: There's a simplicity to them.
SPEAKER_00: They don't get caught up in all the complexities of life.
SPEAKER_00: There's a pureness to that.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to say, if this idea of being like a child bothers you, like just have to be like a kid?
SPEAKER_00: If that bothers you, that's probably something of your pride.
SPEAKER_00: Raging up.
SPEAKER_00: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: I just have to be the faith like a child.
SPEAKER_00: Children are ignorant.
SPEAKER_00: They don't know anything.
SPEAKER_00: So to be a Christian and get to heaven, I just have to be, at all a Christian, would advocate for ignorance or just staying ignorant.
SPEAKER_00: But there is a simple, clear confidence, not in themselves, but in their parents, in adults.
SPEAKER_00: The tragedy is they grow up and they realize, wow, that's not true.
SPEAKER_00: My parents weren't who I thought they were completely.
SPEAKER_00: They're also human.
SPEAKER_00: And what a blessing is Christian parents is our kids are understanding our broken nature and they're understanding the complexities of the world and the brokenness.
SPEAKER_00: And we can say, Yeah, but there is one who is good, who's right, who's pure and holy.
SPEAKER_00: And we point them to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: See, for children, their confidence is simple.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is again teaching his followers how to pray persistently, but with faith.
SPEAKER_00: Children don't understand the social kind of parameters.
SPEAKER_00: You could have a super famous person walking.
SPEAKER_00: Little children, they don't know.
SPEAKER_00: They just walk right up to them.
SPEAKER_00: This is the beauty of childhood.
SPEAKER_00: Simple.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord calls us to this kind of confidence in him.
SPEAKER_00: Again, I want to say clearly, I'm not saying take all your questions about who God is or the complexities of theology and social issues and philosophy and just throw all that away.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying that.
SPEAKER_00: But what I am saying is at the end of the day, what we're called to, what you're called to, is we're called to trust the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Our confidence is in him.
SPEAKER_00: But what does it look like when our confidence is in ourselves?
SPEAKER_00: We'll go back to verse 9.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus tells us another parable.
SPEAKER_00: What's his parable?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the the Pharisee and the tax collector.
SPEAKER_00: You're probably well acquainted with this.
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisee, religious leader, a teacher.
SPEAKER_00: He's to do his praying to God.
SPEAKER_00: And he's thanking God.
SPEAKER_00: Seem to be a mark of humility.
SPEAKER_00: He's thanking God that he's not lost like all these other people.
SPEAKER_00: He's thanking God that he's not a wicked person like an extortioner who's bribing people or compelling them to give things, essentially stealing from people.
SPEAKER_00: He's thanking God that he's not unjust.
SPEAKER_00: He's thanking God that he's not an adulterer.
SPEAKER_00: He hasn't gone around sleeping with a bunch of other people who aren't his spouse or his wife.
SPEAKER_00: He's thanking God that he's not a tax collector like this guy.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, just in case God had forgotten, he's reminding him, I fast twice a week.
SPEAKER_00: Now, in the old covenant, the commandment, they were commanded to fast for sure once a year.
SPEAKER_00: That was a command from God.
SPEAKER_00: And he's fasting twice a week.
SPEAKER_00: He's giving it a tithe, he's giving a tithe on his gross income, his pre-tax income.
SPEAKER_00: What a generous guy.
SPEAKER_00: He's giving a tithe on his crops, he's giving it a tithe on his oils.
SPEAKER_00: Everything that comes to him, he's giving a tithe on.
SPEAKER_00: What a generous, what a good guy.
SPEAKER_00: But the tax collector, what's he doing?
SPEAKER_00: He's standing far off.
SPEAKER_00: Why would that be?
SPEAKER_00: Why is the Pharisee here close to the temple and the temple and the tax collector's far off?
SPEAKER_00: He won't even lift his eyes up to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: He's too ashamed to even look.
SPEAKER_00: He's beating his chest.
SPEAKER_00: God be merciful to me, a sinner.
SPEAKER_00: What a powerful image Jesus is saying.
SPEAKER_00: What a powerful thing he's teaching the listeners.
SPEAKER_00: For almost everyone identify themselves with the Pharisee.
SPEAKER_00: We're lawkeepers.
SPEAKER_00: We do what's required of us.
SPEAKER_00: And they all would have looked at tax collectors scornfully.
SPEAKER_00: They're wicked people.
SPEAKER_00: And for the most part, they were.
SPEAKER_00: They were robbing their own people.
SPEAKER_00: They were injust.
SPEAKER_00: But here, this tax collector is repenting of his sin.
SPEAKER_00: He's aware of the weight of his sin.
SPEAKER_00: He's standing far off.
SPEAKER_00: He won't even look with his eyes as if God deserves, or he deserves God to look upon him.
SPEAKER_00: He's head down, beating his chest.
SPEAKER_00: God be merciful to me, a sinner.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't a demand.
SPEAKER_00: This is a cry.
SPEAKER_00: A prayer to God saying I'm not confident in myself, I'm confident in God.
SPEAKER_00: It's interesting.
SPEAKER_00: Think about your own life.
SPEAKER_00: Does this at all resemble you?
SPEAKER_00: Are you ever torn up over your sin?
SPEAKER_00: Do you ever see your sin for how wicked it is?
SPEAKER_00: And say, it's not just that my sin is causing pain to people around me.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just that my sin is causing destruction around me in my life.
SPEAKER_00: It's that I am sinning against God, the holy and righteous God, the very one who has given me breath, the very one who sustains my heartbeat.
SPEAKER_00: It's against him that I'm sinning.
SPEAKER_00: Does the weight of your sin press on you ever?
SPEAKER_00: It drives you to a posture of humility.
SPEAKER_00: It makes you cry out to the Lord for mercy.
SPEAKER_00: Or do you spend more of your time thinking about your own?
SPEAKER_00: At least I'm not a politician, right?
SPEAKER_00: How often we look to justify ourselves by examining others.
SPEAKER_00: We look to their lack of righteousness as if that's some kind of indicator of our own righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe it's not tithing and fasting.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever laws you've made up in your own mind, in your standard that you're judging others by.
SPEAKER_00: See, that's what confidence in yourself looks like.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm not as bad as those guys, so I must be good.
SPEAKER_00: I must be able to get to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: I must be uh one of God's people.
SPEAKER_00: How wrong we can be about this.
SPEAKER_00: See, Jesus takes this very sober story, this parable, and then it's directly applied.
SPEAKER_00: Look in verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: Rich ruler comes to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And he has and we're gonna see where his confidence is laid.
SPEAKER_00: Where his hope is placed, where his trust is put.
SPEAKER_00: He comes to Jesus and he says, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
SPEAKER_00: I'll pause there.
SPEAKER_00: This is a phenomenal verse.
SPEAKER_00: It does two really amazing things.
SPEAKER_00: It correctly identifies who Jesus is, and it asks the right question.
SPEAKER_00: What must I do to inherit eternal life?
SPEAKER_00: And I know that we live in a day and age where people, you think no one's asking this question anymore.
SPEAKER_00: People are so consumed with their phones or money or whatever that they're just going about life.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says in Ecclesiastes that God has put eternity in the hearts of men, in mankind, so that we are all asking this question about eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: We're all wondering about eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: Where is it?
SPEAKER_00: How do I get it?
SPEAKER_00: Am I, will I have it?
SPEAKER_00: What does it mean?
SPEAKER_00: So this rich ruler's coming to Christ, asking a question that everyone asks How must I, or how can I inherit eternal life?
SPEAKER_00: So a couple things we want to notice here that are important.
SPEAKER_00: This guy has the ability to have really good theology and yet either have no self-awareness or to have terrible theology.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll explain that, okay?
SPEAKER_00: So he has great theology because he says, calls Jesus good teacher.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus responds, which is also quoting Psalm 14 in Ecclesiastes 7, why do you call me good?
SPEAKER_00: No one is good except God alone.
SPEAKER_00: He's making a declaration of his identity.
SPEAKER_00: You're calling me God, because you're calling me good teacher.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus goes on and says, you know, keep these commandments.
SPEAKER_00: And the guy responds in verse 21, all these I have kept from my youth.
SPEAKER_00: What an amazing statement.
SPEAKER_00: I've kept the Ten Commandments since I was in my youth.
SPEAKER_00: I haven't done these things.
SPEAKER_00: I haven't committed adultery.
SPEAKER_00: I've never murdered, I've never stealed, I've never lied.
SPEAKER_00: I've always honored my father and my mother.
SPEAKER_00: What he's saying, this rich guy, is that I've kept the law.
SPEAKER_00: What did Jesus just say?
SPEAKER_00: I'm the law keeper.
SPEAKER_00: He has right theology because he's identifying Jesus as God, the good teacher.
SPEAKER_00: And he, one, either has no self-awareness, or he has no understanding of how he's broken the law, which would seem to be untrue, although possible.
SPEAKER_00: Untrue most likely because he's rich and he's a ruler.
SPEAKER_00: But he must have very bad theology.
SPEAKER_00: A repeat of the whole point of the law.
SPEAKER_00: And rather to give a repeat of the Sermon on the Mount or the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus says to them, says to him, One thing you still lack, sell all you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven and come follow me.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was going right after this man's confidence.
SPEAKER_00: Where are you placing your hope?
SPEAKER_00: Where are you placing your security, your identity?
SPEAKER_00: Is it in God?
SPEAKER_00: The one you proclaim to be keeping his commands, or is it in yourself?
SPEAKER_00: The man is sorrowful.
SPEAKER_00: He's sorrowful.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Well, because he had all kinds of wealth.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus pointed his finger to the one thing the guy said, Well, this is mine.
SPEAKER_00: I've been obedient, I haven't slept with other women, I haven't killed anyone, I haven't stolen anything, I've sought to honor my mother and my father.
SPEAKER_00: According to the cultural standard of the society, he's a lawkeeper.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what all of his friends are telling him.
SPEAKER_00: That's what all the religious leaders are telling him, that he's a lawkeeper.
SPEAKER_00: He assumes himself to be a lawkeeper.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus lovingly and graciously reveals to him how much that he is not a lawkeeper.
SPEAKER_00: He reveals to him his false pride and arrogance.
SPEAKER_00: See, the question is, how do I inherit eternal life?
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says, forsake all and follow me.
SPEAKER_00: The man was sorrowful.
SPEAKER_00: He really wanted eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: He really did.
SPEAKER_00: But he really wanted the things of this world more.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus was only asking him the same thing he asks all of his followers to do or to be ready to do, to forsake.
SPEAKER_00: Do we have confidence in ourselves?
SPEAKER_00: Or do we have confidence in God?
SPEAKER_00: As we pray to God, as we come and ask him and seek him and bear our burdens to him.
SPEAKER_00: Is the confidence in him or is it in ourself?
SPEAKER_00: Where is your confidence?
SPEAKER_00: This is a question that's a this is low-hanging fruit for a preacher.
SPEAKER_00: You preach a text like this, and the question is, where's your confidence?
SPEAKER_00: But I want you to think about that.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't want you to just think about it now, I want you to think about it this week.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to set time aside this week to think about that.
SPEAKER_00: Where is your confidence?
SPEAKER_00: I think it's easy for us to give, which is a good answer, that if I were to die today and stand before God and they say, Why should I give you eternal life?
SPEAKER_00: Or why should I let you in heaven?
SPEAKER_00: For us to say, Because of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It's a good and right answer.
SPEAKER_00: But what's your confidence gonna be tomorrow when you wake up?
SPEAKER_00: Is it still gonna be that answer, or is it gonna be that plus myself or money or some what other thing you want to fill it with?
SPEAKER_00: It's easy to deceive ourselves in thinking that our confidence is in God, in like the big picture, eternal life, the forgiveness of sins.
SPEAKER_00: But do you believe that when Jesus says, forsake all, and then as he's teaching his disciples in verse 29, truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parent or children for the sake of the kingdom who will not receive many times more in this time and in the age to come, eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: This brother is asking about eternal life, and Jesus is saying, Listen, forsake the things of this world and follow me, and then in eternal life, you'll have everything you need.
SPEAKER_00: Everything will be met.
SPEAKER_00: And so the question isn't just, do you believe and have confidence in God for salvation?
SPEAKER_00: But do you believe, friends, that he can satisfy you?
SPEAKER_00: That he can take the desires of your heart and satisfy them.
SPEAKER_00: Truly.
SPEAKER_00: Do you have the faith?
SPEAKER_00: Do you understand who God is and have enough clarity on who he is to believe that he can satisfy you?
SPEAKER_00: Or are you holding on to something else?
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying that God who's given us all good things and we can't enjoy those good blessings.
SPEAKER_00: Are you willing to forsake all and have confidence that He can satisfy as you go through the hardships that will come?
SPEAKER_00: The confidence that He will see you through.
SPEAKER_00: Or are you resting on your own by teaching them who He is God and teaching them the posture of the heart that they need, which is humility.
SPEAKER_00: Briefly, there's two other themes that I think we see in this passage that I want to bring out.
SPEAKER_00: And those two things are justice and this idea of power dynamics, okay?
SPEAKER_00: So justice is it's doing what is right according to a set standard.
SPEAKER_00: Unjust actions are those that are unfair, again, according to a set standard.
SPEAKER_00: I think most people throughout all the world and most places have this sense, a natural sense of justice, right?
SPEAKER_00: You don't need to be regenerated to be born again to believe that oppressing the vulnerable is wrong.
SPEAKER_00: You don't need to be a Christian to believe that.
SPEAKER_00: You do need to be a Christian to truly know the foundation for why that's wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Plenty of people who aren't Christians know what justice is.
SPEAKER_00: And all through this passage, there's this cry for justice.
SPEAKER_00: The oppressed widow crying to the unrighteous judge for justice.
SPEAKER_00: She's given justice against her oppressors.
SPEAKER_00: You see the story of the tax collector knowing himself to not be just, but crying out for God to be merciful to him in spite of what he deserves.
SPEAKER_00: You see the Pharisee standing in his own justice, his own righteousness, saying, I am justified before God because of what I have done.
SPEAKER_00: I am right in my own standing.
SPEAKER_00: You see these little children coming to God, understanding him to be kind and just in their innocence, trusting in him.
SPEAKER_00: You see this rich young ruler appealing to the authority of justice, the good teacher, understanding himself to be just because he's kept the law, but then told when told what he must do, he forsakes it.
SPEAKER_00: He does not look to the justification of Christ for him.
SPEAKER_00: He keeps walking in his own justification.
SPEAKER_00: That should be a sober warning to us.
SPEAKER_00: One, as we seek to evangelize, and two, as we seek to be faithful in our own lives.
SPEAKER_00: You have a person here who's genuinely seeking the kingdom of heaven, genuinely wants it, knows who God is, his authority, his righteousness, when told what to do, is sorrowful.
SPEAKER_00: He's sad, he's sorrowful about this.
SPEAKER_00: But what does he do?
SPEAKER_00: He does not return in it.
SPEAKER_00: It's made clear for us.
SPEAKER_00: The only way of salvation, the only way to be saved is through the mercy and grace of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: This is what verse 27 says.
SPEAKER_00: What is impossible with man, justifying yourself, making yourself right before God.
SPEAKER_00: It's impossible.
SPEAKER_00: Is possible with God.
SPEAKER_00: How is that possible?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's because Jesus Christ has come and stood in your place, taking the wrath of God for you, and now his righteousness is put on to you.
SPEAKER_00: It's imputed, we say, to you.
SPEAKER_00: You're wearing the righteousness of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And it's because of that, when you pray to your Father, he doesn't see the wicked sinner that we once were.
SPEAKER_00: He sees the just one who's standing there in your place.
SPEAKER_00: When things are when things are against you, the enemy is a good, and you cry out to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: He's not looking and saying, Well, did you do enough good?
SPEAKER_00: Are you worth this?
SPEAKER_00: He sees the righteousness of Christ for you.
SPEAKER_00: You are the just one because Christ has now made you just.
SPEAKER_00: He's made you righteous.
SPEAKER_00: The other thing that I want us to see briefly is this idea of this power dynamics.
SPEAKER_00: And know that there's all kinds of conversations in our society about these things.
SPEAKER_00: But here we have someone, a widow, oppressed, able to do nothing, crying out to the Lord, crying out to a wicked judge, and she is provided for.
SPEAKER_00: Wicked.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this doesn't teach that all judges are wicked or all authority is bad.
SPEAKER_00: We see a Pharisee, rich guy, he's doing well, he's righteous, a tax collector, scorned by society.
SPEAKER_00: He repents, he's justified.
SPEAKER_00: Little children.
SPEAKER_00: Are there more powerless people in the world than little children?
SPEAKER_00: Infants.
SPEAKER_00: Inheriting the kingdom of God?
SPEAKER_00: How is it that they had enough power to do that?
SPEAKER_00: A rich ruler, not only is he a ruler, he's really rich.
SPEAKER_00: He's got everything he needs.
SPEAKER_00: He can get whatever he wants.
SPEAKER_00: But yet he cannot buy his way into the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's this upside-downness, as we've said, about the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Those who are oppressed, those who are vulnerable, those who are without, they're right where they need to be because they can cry out to God and his righteousness for them.
SPEAKER_00: They're not saying, well, let's get a bunch of money and then we can kind of get things right.
SPEAKER_00: But rather, our confidence isn't in the power dynamics of this day and age.
SPEAKER_00: It's not in our education or our social setting.
SPEAKER_00: Our confidence is in our God.
SPEAKER_00: Creates in us, should create in us a praying heart.
SPEAKER_00: If I said to you, listen, you should pray to God.
SPEAKER_00: You really should pray often about the things that are bearing down on you in life.
SPEAKER_00: You should bring those to God.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe He'll hear you.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe He'll be able to do something for you.
SPEAKER_00: What does that sound like?
SPEAKER_00: It sounds like someone going to a politician and hoping to be heard and hoping the politician can somehow finagle enough people to do something about it.
SPEAKER_00: That is not our God.
SPEAKER_00: That's not the one you're praying to.
SPEAKER_00: He hears your prayers and he is taking action on your behalf because he loves you.
SPEAKER_00: And so it enables you to pray with confidence.
SPEAKER_00: Every time you pray, the Lord hears you.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't not hear you.
SPEAKER_00: And he's acting, taking action for your deliverance.
SPEAKER_00: And so the confidence we have in that, a God who hears, a God who delivers, God who brings hope.
SPEAKER_00: But if our heart is prideful, if our heart is self-absorbed, that is not the case.
SPEAKER_00: So I'd encourage you this morning to repent of that.
SPEAKER_00: If you're not a Christian and you're still living in this rebellion, I appreciate God maybe, but I don't need him.
SPEAKER_00: Repent of that and turn and know his grace and his mercy.
SPEAKER_00: If you are a Christian, brother or sister, remember what God has said about who he is.
SPEAKER_00: And you might think that the burdens of your life are significant.
SPEAKER_00: Well, if they are to you, then I promise you, they are to him.
SPEAKER_00: He cares for you.
SPEAKER_00: This love he has for you isn't conditional.
SPEAKER_00: He's not saying, well, okay, that's not that big of a deal.
SPEAKER_00: There's wars going on, there's genocide going on.
SPEAKER_00: Save your prayers for something more special, more significant.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: You don't understand God.
SPEAKER_00: He loves you.
SPEAKER_00: He's petitioning you.
SPEAKER_00: Come commune with me.
SPEAKER_00: Know my love.
SPEAKER_00: See my hand at work in your life.
SPEAKER_00: We are to be a praying people because we have confidence, not in ourselves, but in our God.
SPEAKER_00: So we are a humble people who pray with confidence.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: That we do come confident that you hear us.
SPEAKER_00: Not because of us, but because of what Christ has done.
SPEAKER_00: We preached on last week because of the sufficiency of the work of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing left I need to do for you to hear me.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing left for us to do.
SPEAKER_00: You hear us.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, may we be confident in our prayers.
SPEAKER_00: May we be a praying people.
SPEAKER_00: May we ask ourselves about eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: Be honest.
SPEAKER_00: Are we ready and willing to forsake all those things?
SPEAKER_00: Trusting that you will satisfy.
SPEAKER_00: Trusting that