April 16

The Kind of Faith That Refuses to Quit

Some people quit praying because nothing seems to change. Others keep knocking even when heaven feels silent. Jesus steps right into that tension and tells you exactly which one is right.

Luke 18 opens with a clear purpose: “men ought always to pray, and not to faint” ~Luke 18:1. That sets the tone. This is not about fancy words or public performance. This is about persistence when it feels like nothing is happening. Jesus tells the story of a widow who keeps coming to an unjust judge. He does not fear God, and he does not care about people. Yet even he finally gives in, not because he is righteous, but because he is worn down by her continual coming.

Then Jesus turns the light on you. “And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?” ~Luke 18:7. God is not like that corrupt judge. He is just. He is righteous. He hears. The delay is not neglect. It is purpose. Scripture confirms this pattern elsewhere: “The LORD is not slack concerning his promise… but is longsuffering” ~2 Peter 3:9. God works on His timing, not yours. But the command remains. Keep praying. Do not faint.

Then Jesus asks a piercing question: “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” ~Luke 18:8. That reveals what persistence in prayer really is. It is faith that refuses to quit. It is trust that keeps showing up. Prayer is not about moving God like He is reluctant. It is about revealing whether you actually believe Him.

Right after that, Jesus exposes another danger. A Pharisee stands and prays, but he is not really praying to God. He is talking about himself. “God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are” ~Luke 18:11. He lists his works, his fasting, his giving. He measures himself against others and walks away justified in his own eyes.

But the tax collector stands far off, will not even lift his eyes, and says, “God be merciful to me a sinner” ~Luke 18:13. That is it. No performance. No comparison. Just truth. And Jesus says plainly, “this man went down to his house justified rather than the other” ~Luke 18:14.

That cuts straight to the heart of the gospel. Justification is not earned by works. It is given to the one who humbles himself before God. Scripture agrees in full: “For by grace are ye saved through faith… not of works” ~Ephesians 2:8-9. The proud religious man is rejected. The broken sinner who cries for mercy is received.

Then Jesus brings children into the scene, and the disciples try to stop them. But Jesus says, “Suffer little children to come unto me… for of such is the kingdom of God” ~Luke 18:16. A child brings nothing. No résumé. No achievements. Just need. Just trust. Jesus makes it unmistakable: “Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein” ~Luke 18:17.

Now put all of this together. Persistent prayer, humble repentance, childlike faith. That is the path. Not pride. Not self-reliance. Not religious performance. God is not impressed with your résumé. He responds to faith that keeps coming and a heart that knows it has nothing apart from His mercy.

This passage presses on how you live today. When prayer feels dry, do you stop or do you keep going? When you look at your life, do you compare yourself to others or do you fall before God and ask for mercy? When you come to Christ, do you come like someone who has it together, or like a child who knows he has nothing?

The Word is clear. Keep praying. Stay low. Trust fully. God hears. God justifies. God receives those who come to Him His way.

So here is the question that lingers after you close this passage. When Jesus looks at your life, will He find faith that keeps knocking, or a heart that quietly walked away?

Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord.

And He (And He) shall lift (shall lift)

You up (higher and higher)

And He (And He) shall lift (shall lift) you up.

Up into heaven.

Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” ~ Luke 18:17

Become as little children is how Jesus characterized conversion. Like the Beatitudes, this verse pictures faith as the simple, helpless, trusting dependence of those who have no resources of their own. Like children, they have no achievements and no accomplishments to offer or with which to commend themselves. ~ MacArthur Bible Commentary

Read / Listen
Joshua 13:1-14:15
Luke 18:1-17
Psalm 85:1-13
Proverbs 13:7-8

New Testament

Luke 18:1-17

The Parable of the Persistent Widow
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector
Let the Children Come to Me

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

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.” ~ Luke 18:9-14

Overview: Luke 10-24 Click Here to Watch Video

Persistent Prayer for the Lord’s Return

Luke 18:1–8

The Lord knew then that a long time would go by, by our measurement, not by His. A day with Him is 1,000 years, 1,000 years is a day because He is eternal. But for us it’s a long time. It was probably a long time for some of the disciples when it was just years and then when it was centuries and now it’s a couple of millennia, 2,000 years. And continually Christ is dishonored and Christ is denied His rightful place. And the Word of God is unappreciated and assaulted and attacked. And Christians are treated with rejection and persecution and hostility and even martyrdom through these two millennia. We suffer at the hands of Satan and the world and we suffer the persecution of a hostile environment and we long for Christ to come back and destroy the ungodly and destroy sin and the reign of Satan and set up His kingdom. We want all that. We long for all of that. But in the intervening time the message is very clear from our Lord: Don’t lose heart. Keep praying to that end. This is instruction for us that it’s unmistakable: at all times, at all times. That simply means through all the events and all the seasons and all the eras and all the sweeping years that go by, we are to pray and not lose heart. “Lose heart” comes from a Greek verb egkakeō, which means “to become weary,” “to give in” or “to become a coward,” turn coward. It’s used only here by Luke but five times by Paul and it always has that…that meaning. Don’t give up hope that Jesus is coming. Mockers will come, as Peter says. Where is the promise of His coming? Denying the Second Coming. We will be a…ridiculed for saying Jesus is coming, but He is coming. Don’t lose heart. Don’t become cowardly. As Matthew 24:13 records, our Lord says “he that endures to the end shall be saved.” It’s that enduring faith that marks the true believer. So this is not a call to prayer in general like, “Pray without ceasing.” That’s a call to unceasing prayer in general. This is a call to eschatological prayer, pray that the Lord will come and pray for the strength to endure until He arrives, to endure the flesh, the world, the devil, the hostility against the gospel, persecution, rejection, and even martyrdom. This is eschatological praying. ~ John MacArthur

Who Can Be Right With God? Part 1

Luke 18:9–14

Now all this talk about the kingdom then raises a very basic question: How does one get into this kingdom? How is one made right with God? How is one reconciled to God? That is the big, big question and that is the question our Lord answers in this simple story. How can a person be right with God? This is not a new question. This is a question that plagued and haunted the people of the earliest biblical era. Back in the book of Job written in the patriarchal period, Job chapter 9, verse 1, Job answered in truth, “I know that this is so but how can a man be right with God?” How can we be righteous before God? How can we be justified before God? How can it be?

And there are some compelling reasons why the question is not easy to answer. It is not easy to answer because we know for certain that no person, no one of us, can on our own achieve this righteousness and they understood if they understood the Old Testament at all that this is a biblical truth. There was no way that a sinner could be righteous on his own, for the Scripture says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked and the prophet also said that all our righteousness is as filthy rags. The dilemma then is if we are sinful and God demands righteousness, how can a man be right with God? How can we be justified? ~ John MacArthur

Dr. J. Vernon McGee – Thru the Bible

16-18 – J Vernon Mcgee – Thru the Bible

The Gospel of Luke Audio