Luke chapter 18 tonight, beginning in verse number one, the Bible reads,
And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint,
saying, There was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither regarded man.
And there was a widow in that city, and she came unto him, saying,
Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while,
but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man,
yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge said.
Because remember the Bible says that this judge, he didn't fear God, he didn't fear man,
and obviously someone who fears God, who does not fear God is unrighteous or unjust.
And so it says, Hear what the unjust judge saith, and shall not God avenge his own elect,
which cried day and night unto him, though he bear long with them.
I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth.
So what the Bible is explaining here is that even an unjust judge, if you bug him enough,
he'll do what you want him to do just because you keep asking,
just because you keep bugging, just because you're so persistent.
And God wants to help us, the Bible is saying.
We're his elect, we're his children.
And just as we, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto our children,
how much more shall our Father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him.
So God wants to bless us, God wants to answer our prayers,
God wants to avenge us and help us out,
but the Bible is saying that the problem is just a lack of faith on our end.
See, the Bible says that he'll avenge his elect, which cried day and night unto him.
But the problem is that we as Christians often don't pray.
What's the whole purpose of this parable?
It says, he spake a parable unto them in verse one to this end,
meaning this is the reason of the parable, this is the moral of the story.
Men ought always to pray and not to faint.
So what the Bible is telling us is that we need to pray because if we pray,
God is going to do things for us.
And if we ask for something repeatedly and we keep asking for it,
God's going to give us the desires of our hearts,
God's going to grant our petition unto us,
but at the end of it he says,
but when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth.
It takes faith to pray because of the fact that prayer doesn't accomplish anything,
humanly speaking.
You know, if we read our Bibles, we're accomplishing something because we're learning
and we're growing in knowledge at least, right?
And you know, if we go out and work and go to our job,
or if we go soul winning or, you know,
almost anything else that we do in life,
there's some kind of a visible result that we can get from it.
But prayer takes faith because praying only does anything if God is listening
and if God is answering that prayer.
Now he's promised us in his word that he is listening and that he will answer our prayer.
So we have to have the faith to believe that prayer actually accomplishes something
that God actually wants to hear from us and that it will change things.
I'm not one of these people who thinks that we just go through the motions when we pray
because God's already decided what he's going to do
and we're just sort of going through an exercise when we pray.
Now the Bible says you have not because you ask not.
And then he said you ask and receive not because you ask a miss
that you may consume it upon your lust.
So he says, look, if you're praying and you're praying right,
you're going to receive things from God.
You're going to receive blessings from God.
And if you don't pray, you will miss out on things
that you would have received if you would have asked for them.
You have not because you asked not.
And so the Bible is admonishing us here always to pray.
And he says, and not to faint.
What does it mean to faint?
Well, when you think of fainting, it means getting tired or running out of steam.
One of the most famous verse in the Bible that use the word faint
is the verse that says they the weight upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
They will mount up with wings as eagles.
They shall run and not be weary.
They shall walk and not faint.
Right.
So in that verse, fainting has to do with running a race
and then slowing down to a walk.
But you don't faint.
You just keep on going.
Right.
So what does that have to do with patience?
Run with patience the race that is set before you.
What is fainting?
Fainting is giving up.
The Bible talks about being wearied and fainting in your minds in Hebrews Chapter 12.
So fainting always has to do with getting tired, being weary, giving up.
And so the Bible is saying, keep praying and don't give up.
Don't faint.
Don't get weary of praying.
Don't think to yourself,
I already prayed and God didn't answer my prayer.
So I'm going to quit praying because prayer doesn't work.
I tried it and it didn't work.
So I'm just going to stop praying.
Well, but the Bible says here in verse seven,
and shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him,
though he bear long with them.
What does that mean?
Though he bear long with them.
It means that the answer is not always going to come right away,
but we need to keep praying and not fainting
because sometimes God's answer comes later.
Sometimes we have to wait and have patience for it.
And I know there are a lot of people who keep like a prayer journal
where they write down what it is they're praying for on a certain time of the year.
And then they go back and I've talked to people who did this,
and they said that they went back six months later or a year later,
and then they would revisit.
OK, what was I praying for six months ago?
What was I praying for a year ago?
And virtually everything on that list, either the prayer had been answered
or they would look at it and say, well, I don't even want that anymore.
That's not even really what I wanted.
That wasn't even really the right thing anyway.
So they either realized that things were getting answered most of the time
or they were realizing that what they were asking for was misguided.
And so God really does answer prayer.
It's not just an exercise.
It really does accomplish something.
It's worth spending time praying to God.
He says also that God will avenge his own elect.
Now friends, when the Bible says the word elect, it's referring to the Jews.
That's Israel.
Right?
Wrong.
But isn't that what people teach?
Well, you know, the Jews are God's chosen people.
What does elect mean?
Chosen.
I mean, if you elect a president, what'd you do?
You chose a president.
Election is a choice.
And the Bible says here that God's elect are those who are crying day and night unto him.
That's not talking about the Jews.
That's not talking about Israel.
The elect in the New Testament is referring to saved Christians,
whether they be Jew or Gentile, whether they be bond or free.
And no Jews prayers are even being heard by God
because no man cometh unto the father, but by the son.
Right.
If they're not praying in Jesus name,
then their prayers are not even going past the ceiling.
Because the Bible says whosoever denyeth the son, the same hath not the father,
but he that acknowledges the son hath the father also.
So you can find a Jewish person.
And when I say Jew, we're talking about a religion.
Because if they got saved, they wouldn't be a Jew anymore.
They'd be a Christian now.
Okay.
But I'm talking about the Jews.
I'm talking about those people in Israel.
99% of whom reject the Lord Jesus Christ.
I'm talking about the Jews of New York and Los Angeles,
the vast majority of whom reject the Lord Jesus Christ, their savior.
You know, they're praying to God, but it's the wrong God.
Because the Bible says, if you don't have the son, you don't have the father.
And if they're praying to God, then so are the Muslims.
Well, guess what?
The Muslims have the wrong God.
The Jews have the wrong God.
Neither one of them believes in the Trinity, the father, the son, and the Holy Ghost.
You have to believe on the son.
You must come to the father through Jesus, the son.
And that's how we get our prayers answered.
Jesus is our high priest.
Jesus makes intercession for us.
And if you don't have the son, you don't have the father.
You deny the son, you don't have the father.
He that hateth me, the Bible says, hateth my father also.
So we got to keep that in mind that the elect is a great example of the elect
referring to believers, saved believers as always.
He says in verse 9, and he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves
that they were righteous and despised others.
So it's kind of cool how he kind of tells us what these parables are for.
The first parable was to teach us always to pray and not to faint.
The second parable here is about people who trust in themselves
that they are righteous and despise others.
Two men went up into the temple to pray.
The one a Pharisee and the other a publican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus, watch this, with himself.
Now this guy is not even praying to God.
He's praying with himself.
Isn't that just bizarre?
And I've seen people do this.
People give, you know, when you see these political rallies
where, okay, we're going to have brother so-and-so come pray for us,
pastor so-and-so, bishop so-and-so, rabbi so-and-so,
and they go to these big presidential prayer breakfast type things,
and they pull out notes.
Let me just give you a little hint.
When you're praying off a piece of paper, you're praying with yourself at that point.
That's not from the heart.
That's not talking to God.
They pull out, it's basically a speech is what it is.
They read a speech and they call it prayer.
Prayer is when we're actually talking to God.
So we need to make sure that we do the vast majority of our praying privately.
The Bible says, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,
and when thou has shut thy door,
pray to thy father which is in secret,
and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
So most of our praying needs to take place privately,
not even in front of our spouse, not even in front of our children,
not even in front of our friends, our family.
It should be alone.
Most prayer should be alone.
But it's good to pray with your wife,
pray with your children, pray with other people as well.
The Bible says, I will therefore that men pray everywhere,
lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting.
There's nothing wrong with praying publicly,
but most of our praying should be done in private.
Okay, but when we do pray publicly,
we better make sure that we're not putting on a show and praying with ourself.
We want to make sure that we're actually praying to the Lord,
and actually talking to him from the heart,
not just putting on a show publicly.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself,
and he's at the temple to pray,
God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are,
extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
Now look, it's pretty easy for us to name all the sins that we don't do.
See, what would make more sense would be to go to God in prayer,
and tell him the sins that we do.
Tell him what we're guilty of, right?
Confess our sins to God.
You know, I could go to God and just start listing stuff.
Dear Lord, I thank you so much that I've never committed adultery,
and I've never committed extortion, and I've never been drunk,
and I've never tasted a beer, and thank you so much that I've never smoked pot,
and thank you so much that I've never robbed any stores or anything.
I mean, look, that's pretty easy to come up with a list of things,
and I'm sure you're, and you know what, I haven't done any of those things,
but you know, maybe some of you are like, I've done some of that,
but hopefully there's probably a list of other things that you've never done.
So you could basically list off things that you've never done,
but you know what, that's stupid, isn't it?
Because listing off the things that you haven't done doesn't make you righteous,
because what about all the stuff that you did do?
See, I could go to prayer right now, you know, I'll do this privately,
and list all my sins that I did do, that's what God told you to do.
See, the Bible says that whosoever shall keep the whole law,
and yet offend in one point, he's guilty of all.
For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill.
Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill,
thou art become a transgressor of the law.
So speak ye, and so do as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy,
and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
James chapter 2.
What's the Bible saying?
It's saying that, look, okay, you haven't committed adultery, but you've killed.
Or you haven't killed, but you've committed adultery.
Or, yeah, okay, you didn't get drunk, but what did you do?
You know, there's other sins, and there's a whole list of sins in the Bible,
hundreds of things that we could do that are sinful,
and every single one of us has sinned and has sinned in our lives, even now,
because the Bible says there is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not.
It doesn't exist.
The Bible says if we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Romans chapter 7.
Even the apostle Paul talked about the struggle to do what was right,
and how so often he did the things that he hated.
And so it's just foolish to list all the good things that you've done
as if that somehow just negates the bad that you've done.
Right?
And this is how some people think they're going to get into heaven.
They think, as long as my good outweighs my bad.
Or how many times have you knocked on somebody's door and asked them,
well, how do you know you're going to heaven?
And they said, well, I haven't done anything really bad.
I've never killed anybody.
They're kind of like this guy.
Lord, you know, I'm not an extortioner.
I'm not an adulterer.
You know, and you know what?
He probably wasn't an extortioner.
He probably wasn't an adulterer.
But I'll bet you he had a whole bunch of other sins,
and we know one that he was for sure guilty of was pride,
which pride is an abomination to God.
That's something that God hates.
So this guy is listing the things that he didn't do.
And this is often people's defense when you catch someone in wrongdoing.
Well, at least I didn't do this.
You know, and they just try to,
you can always find some worse thing that you didn't do.
But, you know, still you're guilty.
I fast twice in the week.
I give tithes of all that I possess.
Now, why would you tell this to God?
Like, wouldn't God already know if you're fasting or not or if you're tithing?
Now, this guy, I don't know, is he praying this out loud?
I think he probably is.
I don't think he's praying this in his head.
I mean, he might be.
But I think it makes more sense.
He probably walked up and is actually praying this out loud.
That's the way I picture it.
But either way, what does he say here?
I fast twice in the week.
That's something that we're supposed to do privately.
You know, and sometimes I half jokingly say it when people tell me,
oh, you know, I fast X, Y, and Z.
I fast as many days.
I always just say, you just lost your reward.
And I'm only half joking.
Because, you know, the Bible does tell us to do that in private.
So we, you know, especially when you hear people bragging about these huge fasts,
I'm thinking to myself, man, why would you go without food for that long and then get no reward?
I mean, if I ever do a long fast, I'm not telling anybody about it.
You know, and I'm just going to be perfectly honest.
I have never fasted beyond three days, never in my life.
OK, so but if I do, you're not going to ever hear about it.
I'll tell you that right now, because that's torture for a guy like me,
because I eat a lot of food.
And so, you know, it just blows my mind when somebody brags about some big fast.
Sometimes you wonder if they're lying, if they really even did that fast.
But maybe they are telling the truth, but they're just bragging about it.
And it's wrong.
And they did lose their reward.
And God's not impressed by that.
I fast twice in the week.
Now you say, how do you fast twice a week?
Well, the most common fasting in the Bible is just a one day fast.
See, a lot of people, when they hear fasting,
they think they have to go crazy with some.
All right, we're going to try fasting.
Let's go for 14 days or, you know, we're doing a seven day fast.
You know, just fast one day, friend.
Now, there are occasions where you could go for long fasts
and go for a more hardcore fasting.
But that's not very common in the Bible.
And it's not something that God ever commands us to do.
So, you know, why don't you just fast for one day if you want to fast, right?
And why don't you do this?
Keep your mouth shut and keep it to yourself and not brag about it, right?
So he says, I fast twice a week.
So the reason he's fasting twice a week,
because it's probably just a one day fast.
He's probably just skipping food two days a week.
And some fasts in the Bible, they weren't even a full 24 hours.
Sometimes it's just the whole day and then they eat after the sun goes down, for example.
So we don't know exactly what style of fasting this guy did.
But fasting in the Bible is in two categories.
There's a fast in the Bible where they drink water, but eat no food.
That's the most common fasting in the Bible.
They drink water, no food.
Okay.
But then there's another type of fasting in the Bible
where they abstain from both food and water.
Now that kind of fasting, you should exercise caution.
And that's for sure like a one day fast.
In fact, if you went beyond three days with that, you could die pretty easily.
Now living in Arizona, you might just do that for a few hours.
I would stay away from the non-drinking fast in Arizona in the summer.
Okay.
But anyway, the most common fast in the Bible, they would drink water, but not any food.
So he fasts twice in the week.
He gives tithes of all that he possesses.
And the publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven,
but smote upon his breast saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
Now that's the type of praying that we should do, right?
Confess our faults, confess our sins, pray to God sincerely, humbly.
But look what it says here in verse 14.
It says, I tell you, this man went down to his house
justified rather than the other for everyone that exalted themselves shall be abased.
And he that humbled themselves shall be exalted.
This is actually referring to salvation.
Okay.
Because it says he went home justified.
What does it mean to be justified?
Justified means that you are declared righteous.
Righteous and just are used synonymously in the Bible.
They're used interchangeably.
So when the Bible says he went home justified, it's saying he went home saved.
He's declared righteous in the eyes of God.
Why does that have to do with salvation?
Because the Bible says there's none righteous, no, not one.
Paul said, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law,
but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness, which is of God by faith.
So we cannot get into heaven on our own righteousness
because our righteousnesses are as filthy rags unto him.
When we believe on Jesus and call upon the name of the Lord,
his righteousness is imputed unto us.
And all of our sins are not imputed unto us.
They're all taken off of our account.
And instead the righteousness of Christ goes on our account.
So we have his righteousness as our ticket into heaven, not our own righteousness.
That's what justification means.
The Bible says being justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
So one way that some people have said to remember it is
justified means just as if I'd never sinned, right?
Justified.
Just as if I'd never sinned is something that I was taught as a little kid.
So that's what it's saying here.
He was justified.
Now this is often referred to as the sinner's prayer in the Bible
because this guy, he's a sinner, he's a publican,
and a publican was a bad person.
Publicans were bad people.
This guy is a crook, okay?
He is somewhat of an extortioner.
And the publican goes to the Lord and prays,
and he's humble before the Lord,
and he beats on his breast and says,
God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
And the Bible says he went home justified.
So this is him being saved.
Now the Pharisee's not saved.
The Pharisee is going to hell.
Why?
Because he's not trusting in the Lord to save him.
He's trusting in himself.
Now this is the Old Testament.
Because the New Testament did not start
until Christ shed his blood on the cross.
The Bible says that for a testament is not a force
until the death of the testator,
and that the New Testament was sealed by the blood of Christ.
Jesus said, this is the New Testament in my blood
that is due in remembrance of me.
So the point is that this is
an Old Testament-styled salvation here, okay?
So what's the difference between salvation
in the Old Testament and salvation in the New Testament?
Now I already did a whole sermon on this recently,
but I'm just going to touch on it in this chapter
because it's pretty interesting,
and there are a lot of people
who get confused on this subject.
How do we get saved in the New Testament?
Well, the Bible's pretty clear
how we get saved in the New Testament.
It says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God has raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
A couple of verses later it says,
for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved.
So how do we get saved in the New Testament?
It's by putting all of our faith and trust
in Jesus Christ, his death, burial, and resurrection,
and calling upon him for salvation.
So we're saved by grace through faith,
but it has to do with believing on a name.
It has to be the name of Jesus.
We confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus
and we have to believe in our heart
that God raised him from the dead.
So it's the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus
that we have to believe in in the New Testament
and then we just call upon him by faith
as our Savior, right?
Very simple.
It's easy to be saved.
Okay, what about in the Old Testament?
How did they get saved in the Old Testament?
What's the difference?
Well, here's the thing.
In the Old Testament, they were also saved by faith.
New Testament, they're saved by grace through faith
calling on the name of the Lord.
Old Testament, they're saved by grace through faith
calling on the name of the Lord.
So in that sense, it's the same.
In that sense, they're saved the same way
in the Old Testament as in the New Testament.
But there is a difference
between Old Testament salvation and New Testament salvation.
Here's the difference.
In the Old Testament, they did not know the name of Jesus.
That name of the Savior had not been revealed to them, so when they called upon the name
of the Lord, they're not calling on the name Jesus.
They're calling on the name Jehovah, or in the cases of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
they didn't even know the name Jehovah.
They called on the name God Almighty.
One difference is that in the Old Testament, they don't know the name of Jesus.
That's not been revealed to them.
The second difference is that in the Old Testament, the death, burial, and resurrection
of Christ had not been revealed unto them.
So they're still putting their faith in the Lord to save them, but they had way less information.
In the Old Testament, they're trusting in the Lord to save them, but they don't know
exactly how he's going to do it.
They don't know exactly that his son is going to be born of a virgin, and live a
perfect life, and die on the cross, and be buried, and rise again.
They don't know all that detail of exactly how he's going to do it, but all they know
is that it's the salvation of the Lord, and they know that if they call on the Lord
as their savior, he'll save them.
And it's by trusting in him, fully trusting in the Lord to save them.
The difference with the New Testament is that we have the revelation of the name
of Jesus, and also the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ as the method of our salvation.
Now, here's the thing about that.
In the New Testament, you must call on that name Jesus to be saved.
That's different than in the Old Testament, because look, in the Old Testament you just
call on the name of the Lord, Jehovah or God Almighty, as long as it's the God
of the Bible, because notice, it didn't just say, call on God and you'll be saved.
It said call on the name, the name of the Lord.
Why is the name important?
To make sure you're calling on the right person.
Okay, so in the Old Testament, you call upon Jehovah, you call upon God Almighty by faith,
and that's how you get saved.
And once you're saved, you're always saved, Old Testament or New Testament, okay.
Then when you get in the New Testament, same salvation, except for the fact now there's
more information that we've received.
It's been revealed that that name is Jesus as the actual, literal savior, you know,
the one who actually died for us.
And then we understand the method that he died and was buried and rose again.
So here's the thing, in 2017, you can't just call upon the name of the Lord, one
of his Old Testament names, and just skip Jesus and skip the death, burial and resurrection
wrong.
Now that that stuff has been revealed, there's no salvation in any other and there's none
other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
That's why before the New Testament came into force, Jesus spent three and a half years
doing what?
Making sure every single Jewish person, every single Israelite heard about him.
And then when he died on the cross and was buried and rose again, the first thing
that happens is the day of Pentecost, there's devout men from every nation under
heaven and they all hear the gospel, they all hear about Christ, death, burial and
resurrection and they all take that home to their home countries and the apostles go
out preaching and the gospel goes out everywhere and now people are responsible for that name
of Jesus and for that information of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.
You say, well Pastor Anderson, prove that to me.
Okay, well look at the Bible here, just in this chapter, let's jump down to verse
31.
And I'm going to show you that in the Old Testament, the Old Testament saints, even
those who are saved, did not understand necessarily the death, burial and resurrection
component of it, just like they didn't know the name Jesus.
It says in verse 31, then he took unto him the twelve and said unto them, behold,
we go up to Jerusalem and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the
Son of Man shall be accomplished, for he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles and
shall be mocked and spitefully entreated and spitted on and they shall scourge him
and put him to death and the third day he shall rise again.
Now that's the gospel, that Jesus is going to die and be buried and on the third day
rise again.
But what's it say?
And they understood none of these things and the saying was hid from them, neither
knew they the things which were spoken.
So did they understand the death, burial and resurrection at that time?
No.
Are you going to tell me the twelve disciples aren't saved?
Well, we know one of them wasn't saved.
The rest of them were saved.
And let me just come right out and say this, saying that some of the disciples were not
saved as a stupid doctrine, except Judas.
Why would Jesus handpick unsaved people to be his disciples?
He only picked one unsaved person, why?
That the scripture would be fulfilled.
He picked one unsaved person on purpose that would be the one that would betray
him.
Because in order to fulfill scripture, he needed one of his disciples to betray him.
So he picks eleven saved good guys and he picks one unsaved bad guy.
To sit there and say, oh Peter and James and John, they all got saved later, it's
garbage friend.
It's nonsense.
Or people try to say, oh King David got saved like years after he was king.
Why would God handpick and anoint someone who's not even saved and say, this is a
man after my own heart.
He's not even saved.
I mean the stuff that people come up with is crazy.
Why do you think he picked King Saul?
Because King Saul was saved.
Why do you think he picked David?
Because he's saved.
Why did he pick Solomon?
Because he's saved.
He picked those guys, handpicked those three men.
Saul, David, and Solomon.
Handpicked twelve disciples, purposely picked one who was the devil.
But good night, the other eleven are saved.
And when thou art converted, look, just because you've heard the word converted associated
with salvation so much, doesn't make it so.
That doesn't mean when you get saved.
Converted just means change, when you change.
When you get changed.
We change all the time and it has nothing to do with salvation.
So you have to understand that the twelve disciples here, isn't the Bible clear that
none of them grasped the death, burial, and resurrection?
Now this is where the stupidity comes in where people say, oh, there's multiple gospels.
There's three gospels.
There's a different gospel in the Old Testament, isn't it, in Iraq.
There's only one gospel.
Which is in the Old Testament, they didn't know as much detail about that gospel.
In the New Testament we know more details, but it's the same gospel.
God was always planning on saving us the same way.
The difference is that in the Old Testament they saw through a glass darkly, so all
they knew, the good news to them, the gospel to them, is that someday the Savior's
going to come.
They don't know what his name is, they don't know exactly how he's going to die,
or exactly about the resurrection.
They just know that if they call upon the name of the Lord, they'll be saved.
And they just know to just trust the Lord, not to put any trust in any false God,
to put all their trust in the God of the Bible, and that he's going to save them.
And he's going to send a Savior someday.
You know, and they just call out to the Lord by name with that knowledge.
That's how they got saved in the Old Testament.
In the New Testament there's more information given.
So this chapter's pretty clear that, you know, this guy, this sinner, how did he get
justified?
By works?
Did the publican do any works?
No.
What did he do?
He just called upon the Lord for mercy.
God be merciful to be a sinner.
I mean, he's just humbly admitting he's a sinner and just asking the Lord to save
him.
That's it.
And that's how we get saved, that's how they got saved then.
So there's a difference, but it's not the difference that some people have made it where
they try, oh, they had to do works or offer sacrifices to get into heaven in the Old
Testament.
It's not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats take away sin, the Bible says.
So that makes no sense.
So that's the difference.
Now here's an interesting subject as well.
And I don't want to go too deep on this, but I think it's an important point to mention.
How about people, and pay close attention because I don't want to lose anybody because
I'm going to go a little deeper here, how about people who were already saved when
Jesus came on the scene?
Because here's the thing, I mean, people are saved in the Old Testament, right?
Okay, so what about people that are already saved and then John the Baptist comes on
the scene?
Jesus comes on the scene.
Did those people have to get resaved?
No, of course not, because you only have to get saved once.
So they were already saved.
The disciples didn't have to get resaved when they met Jesus, they're already saved.
That's why I even picked them.
They were saved before they'd ever even heard of Jesus because they're under the Old
Testament system, okay?
Now here's how this works, because some people have put out a hypothetical, well,
what if somebody was saved in the Old Testament, but then when Jesus came along they didn't
believe in him?
You know, here's the thing, that's an impossible situation, here's why.
Because Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me.
Now that means that when Jesus came on the scene, Jesus comes into Israel and starts
preaching, okay?
There's three kinds of people that are out there.
There are people that are already saved, okay, and those people, when they heard Jesus
preach, they knew this is the voice of the shepherd, this is the son of God, and they
believed in him, right?
But they were already saved, and because they were saved, they believed in him, okay?
Then there's another kind of people, people that were not saved, but when they heard
Jesus preach, or when they heard John the Baptist preach, they got saved, right?
John the Baptist, Jesus, the apostles got them saved.
And then there's a third group of people who were not saved, they heard John the Baptist
and Jesus preach, and they still didn't believe in him, and they still didn't get
saved, right?
Now let me give you an illustration to help you understand this concept.
Let's say I took the Bible and showed a saved person a passage of scripture that they've
never seen before, because most Christians have not read the whole Bible.
So if I took a saved Christian and I show them a passage of the Bible that they've
never seen before, and they point at it and say, I don't believe that, that's a
lie, you know what I would say?
That person's not even saved.
I thought they were saved, but that person's not saved, because if I show a saved person
a passage from the Bible, they're going to believe in it every single time.
And if they don't believe in it, it's evidence that they weren't saved, right?
Because you know what?
He that is of God heareth God's words, you therefore hear them not because you're
not of God.
So if I show a saved person the word of God, they'll believe it.
I'm not saying that they're going to necessarily have the same interpretation of something
that's complicated, but if I just show them a clear scripture, it's just right there.
How many times have you had somebody point at the Bible and say, I don't believe that?
And what does that tell you?
Not saved.
Okay.
Well, it's the same thing.
If Jesus came along and started preaching, and somebody that you thought was saved said,
I don't believe this guy is the Messiah.
I don't believe this.
He's a false teacher.
What does that tell you?
He wasn't saved in the first place.
Okay, so let me ask this.
Was Saul of Tarsus saved during the ministry of Jesus and Stephen?
No way.
Why?
Because when Jesus came along and preached, and when Stephen came along and preached,
and these other men of God preached, did Saul of Tarsus believe they're preaching?
No.
He fought against Christianity.
He persecuted Christianity.
Look, Saul of Tarsus was on his way to hell, right?
But until Ananias preached him the gospel and he called on the name of the Lord.
Up to that point, he was religious.
He profited in the Jews' religion above many his equals of his own nation.
Why?
Because you could profit in the Jews' religion without being saved.
Saul of Tarsus wasn't saved until he got saved in the book of Acts with Ananias,
called upon the name of the Lord, and became the apostle Paul.
That's who we're talking about, the apostle Paul.
Then before that, he was called Saul of Tarsus.
His mentor, Gamaliel, was unsaved.
Nobody who didn't believe on Christ wasn't saved, because the people that were saved,
they were the sheep.
When they heard Christ preaching, they embraced it, because they said, hey, this
is the word of God.
We recognize this as the word of God.
When John the Baptist preached, they recognized it as the word of God.
When the apostles preached, they recognized it as the word of God.
The ones who rejected it and said it was false and heresy, they were just showing
that they weren't even saved in the first place.
So anyway, I just wanted to cover that.
By the way, with the people who got baptized by John the Baptist, they didn't have to get
baptized again after the death, burial, and resurrection.
Anyway, let's move on in the chapter here.
Look down, if you would, at verse number 15, it says, and they brought unto him also
infants that he would touch them, but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
But Jesus called them unto him and said, suffer, little children, to come unto me,
and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God.
Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child,
shall in no wise enter therein.
Now, this is reinforcing what we just learned, right?
Because in the last parable, the Pharisee was trusting in his own righteousness,
and he was at a very high level of the Jews' religion, and he'd done a lot of works,
but he's not saved.
He did not go to his house justified.
The publican, on the other hand, just bows his head, beats his breast, and says,
God be merciful to me, a sinner.
And he got saved, right?
Well, here the Bible is saying that the way to be saved is to be converted and
become as little children, right?
Verily I say unto you, verse 17, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as
a little child, shall in no wise enter therein.
What does it mean in no wise?
There's no way to do it.
There's no other way to get there.
The only way to get to heaven, the only way to be saved is to do what?
Is to receive the Lord as a little child, right?
Now, how does a little child receive the kingdom of God?
Because it says, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall
in no wise enter therein.
A little child is humble, because a little child realizes that they can't do anything
for themselves.
They realize that they can't provide their own housing, they can't provide their
own transportation, they don't have money, they can't even provide meals for
themselves.
They rely on their mom and dad to do everything for them.
And the Bible says that's how you get to heaven.
You fully trust and rely on the Lord to get you to heaven.
Whether you're in the Old Testament or the New Testament, you rely on him.
You trust him, not in your own righteousness.
It's not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy
he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
So it's all through faith in Christ, and it's a childlike faith of just fully relying
on the Father to save us, right?
Think about how children are.
If you get separated from a little child, what do they do?
Let's say you're out in the store and you get separated somehow, or you're out in public
somewhere and you get separated.
Does the child just go, oh, score, now I can kind of do what I want, I can kind of
do my own thing now.
Now I can go down to the toy aisle where I've been wanting to go.
Is that what they do?
No, they panic.
I mean, they start, whoo, because they're just helpless.
Their whole world falls apart because their whole world is based on what?
It's just everything relies on mom.
Everything relies on dad.
I mean, that's where all food, drink, clothing, security, safety, housing, everything comes
from their parents.
So what the Bible is saying is that when it comes to our salvation, when it comes
to getting to heaven, it's all him.
And we have to be like that little child who doesn't boast of his own works, like,
well, I've got money in my piggy bank, buddy.
No, they're willing to just take everything from their parents as a free gift, right?
A little toddler isn't going to fight you when you try to give them something for free.
They're not going to fight you and say, hey, dad, let me pick up the tab for the
ice cream this time.
You know, your three-year-old, you know, I mean, they're going to know that they
don't have that kind of resources, and they don't mind taking a free gift.
You know, children, you know, if you give a gift to an adult, sometimes they say
what?
Oh, you shouldn't have.
A toddler is never going to tell you, oh, you shouldn't have.
I mean, they don't say, dad, this is too much.
You know, I really appreciate what you've done here, but this is just too expensive
of a gift.
Is there any way you can return it?
They're not going to do that, are they?
They're just going to be like, ah, score, you know.
Well, that's the way it is with salvation.
And by the way, salvation is like an unto a gift.
And just like Christmas is coming up, a lot of people give gifts, right?
The gifts are wrapped.
They're under the tree.
They're fully paid for by the giver.
And the person who receives it, all they have to do is what?
Just open the gift, and it's theirs.
But they do have to open it, don't they?
How do they open the gift?
Well, back to what I was preaching on Sunday night, the way that they open the gift is
by calling upon the name of the Lord.
That's how you open the gift.
Now, and as I talked about on Sunday night, some people will, again, put forth a hypothetical
like, well, what if somebody believes in Christ, but they don't call on him?
And I was proving from the Bible on Sunday night that that doesn't exist.
And that makes no sense, because the person who believes on him will call upon him.
To say that somebody could believe on him and not call upon him would be as ridiculous
as saying, because remember, how do you receive the kingdom of God?
Like a little child.
What if the little child knew that in that box was the gift that they wanted?
And let's say their parents told them, they said, Johnny, inside that box is the exact
bicycle that you've been wanting.
There's some assembly required, but it's in that box.
Or whatever the gift, right?
The bicycle that you've been begging for, that you've wanted, it's in that box, Johnny.
What if Johnny just said, you know what?
I believe that.
I believe you.
But he just never opens the box.
You know, I mean, you have breakfast, you have lunch, you have dinner.
It's like, now, Johnny, you know the bike's there under the tree.
Yeah, I believe it.
It's there.
See, how often would that happen?
Never.
Right?
Well guess what?
That's how often somebody believes in Christ and doesn't call upon the name of the Lord.
Anybody who knows the gift is there is going to receive the gift.
Anybody, or how about this?
Let me give you an even better illustration.
Let's say the parents say, Johnny, there's no package under the tree.
Let's say it's stored at some other location.
And what if the parents come to the child and say, Johnny, we've got you the bike that
you wanted.
We've purchased the bike that you wanted for, Merry Christmas, son.
The bike that you want, it's yours.
I believe it.
Give me the bike.
Right?
See what I'm saying?
When you know the gift's there, when you know it's what you want, when you know who
has the power to give it to you, what do you say?
God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
Lord, remember me when thou comest thy kingdom.
Lord, save me.
Give me the bike.
Right?
Give me the gift.
I mean, it's that simple.
People get all turned around on this.
It's not complicated.
It's very simple.
I'm about out of time, but I just want to touch on this one last story here.
The rich young ruler.
So what's he been teaching in this chapter?
He teaches us, look, we're not saved by our works.
You can't trust in your own righteousness or you're not saved.
You got to be humble.
The publican, he beat on his breast and said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
That's how he got saved.
You got to be saved like a little child.
That's how you get saved, like a little baby, like a little toddler that just fully
relies on the parent.
With all that in mind, a certain ruler asks him, saying, good master, what shall I do to
inherit eternal life?
Now, he just finished saying, hey, you got to receive this as a little child, right?
This guy says, hey, good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Jesus said in him, why callest thou me good?
None is good, save one, and that's God.
Now, here's the thing.
He's not saying that he's not God.
Actually, if you read this, he's saying that he is God because of the fact that the
only one that's good is God.
So either Jesus is not good or he's God.
And we know Jesus is that great shepherd of the sheep.
We know that he's good.
He went about doing good.
He's without sin.
He's perfect.
So therefore, he's God because there's only one that's good.
That is God.
Now, what's he telling this guy, though?
He's basically telling this guy you're not good, right?
Because by saying to him there's only one good that is God, he's saying you're not
good.
Everybody got that?
You are not good.
Thou knowest the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do
not bear false witness, honor thy father and thy mother.
But the Bible tells in Romans chapter 2, not the hearers of the law shall be justified,
but the doers of the law shall be justified.
So just knowing the commandments and hearing the commandments, you have to be a doer.
But guess what?
We've all sinned.
And whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he's guilty
of all, the Bible says.
So he lists off these commandments and what's the rich young ruler saying in verse 21?
And he said, all these have I kept from my youth up.
What's he saying?
I'm good.
Is he good?
No.
Do you really think he kept all those commandments from his youth up?
From his youth up?
I mean, you know what King David said?
The man after God's own heart?
He said, remember not the sins of my youth.
And how many times have you prayed that prayer?
Lord, remember not the sins of my youth.
Look, foolishness is bound in the heart of a child.
Children and youth do a lot of stupid things.
And so therefore, it's just ridiculous, oh yeah, I've kept all that from my youth up.
Oh yeah, I always obey my parents all the time.
Right.
Now when Jesus heard these things, he said in him, yet lackest thou one thing.
Now look, he lacked a lot more than one thing.
But Jesus is basically just operating as if this guy were telling the truth.
Like, oh, okay, oh, you kept all that from your youth up?
Okay.
Well, how about this one?
Sell all that thou hast and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in
heaven and come follow me.
And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful.
He was sorrowful for he was very rich.
So he went away like, oh man.
So look, the guy wasn't perfect, was he?
Because he's greedy.
The love of money is the root of all evil.
Look, I guarantee you this guy had other sins, because the love of money is the root
of all evil.
People who love money have lots of other sins.
I mean, if you were face to face with Jesus Christ right now, and he said to you, sell
everything you have and give it to the poor.
I'd just be like, yes, sir.
It's not going to take me that long.
It's not going to be that much.
It's going to be a couple of pita pockets for a couple of bums.
And then it's time to follow you, I guess.
I mean, I mean, I mean, I don't, you know, we don't have much, right?
But what if you're like, wow, it's easy for you to say pass around because you don't
own anything hardly at all.
But what about what about if somebody owned and I'm not going to ask here, let's see
who owns the most in here.
I bet you there's somebody in here who actually has something of value.
My house I owe money on, my vehicle I owe money on.
But I bet there's people in here who do own their vehicles outright.
I bet you there are people in here who do own their house outright, or they have
a property somewhere, an RV somewhere, a boat somewhere that's outright, or maybe they
have a bank account, a retirement account that might have $50,000 and $20,000.
But I'll bet you that if Jesus Christ in the flesh walked up to you and said,
hey, I want you to liquidate that and give it to the poor and come follow me,
you'd do it.
You know, now I'm not saying everybody would do it, but I'm saying I'll bet you that
people that are in a church like ours that are pretty dedicated, I mean, whatever he told
you, I mean, if he's right there telling you, hey, you need to give this up, you'd
be like, I'll do it, right?
Okay, why?
Because your life isn't just about money, right?
Now if your life is all about money and Jesus tells you, hey, you got to sell the
RV and come follow me, you'd be like, oh, man.
Now let's see, I mean, I'm still going to heaven, so maybe I'll just skip that reward,
you know?
Why?
That would be a person who loves money, a person who's covetous, but a person who doesn't
love money is going to be like, sure, Lord, whatever you say, whatever you want.
I mean, look at Abraham.
I mean, he was asked to give up his most prized thing, which is his own son, and
he said, yes, sir, he's willing to do it.
See what I mean?
So this guy's not a great guy at all.
I don't think he's kept all those commandments, because for him to be greedy and want to hang
onto the money when face to face with the very son of God, it shows his priorities
are way out of whack.
It's all about money to him.
I mean, look, would you rather have a whole bunch of money that this guy had or to be
the 13th disciple?
I mean, you'd be the 13th disciple, you might even get to write a book of the New
Testament.
I mean, you know, you're going to be one of the apostles.
I mean, that's pretty cool, right?
This guy didn't think it was that cool.
This guy thought that his RV and his summer home was cooler than that.
See what I'm saying?
So this guy was lying.
And then it says in verse 24, when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, how
hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God, for it's easier
for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom
of God.
And they that heard it said, who then can be saved?
And he said, the things which are impossible with men are possible with God.
And look, we could look at the others.
I don't have time tonight, but I did a whole sermon called The Rich Young Ruler where
I looked at the Matthew and the Mark account, because you get different details from Matthew,
Mark, and Luke.
You put it all together, you get the full picture.
And understand that the Bible says that people who trust in their riches have a hard
time getting saved.
Why?
Because they're used to paying for everything themselves.
It's hard for them to have that childlike faith to fully rely on Christ to save them.
What this scripture has been twisted to mean is, yeah, you really have to sell
everything to be saved.
No.
I've got great news for you RV owners out there.
You don't have to sell the RV to get saved.
And not only that, you don't even have to sell the RV to follow Christ, all right?
You can keep your RV.
Keep it.
But the point is, it's funny how people take this story out of context and miss the
whole point.
I just heard a preacher this week, one of these phony repent of your sins, lordship
salvation type preachers, and he says, oh, well, you know, he says, you gotta be willing
to give up your sins to get saved.
And he said, I'm not saying you gotta give up all your sins, because nobody could really
do that.
But you just kind of have to like have a new master in your life and kind of be
willing to stop sinning.
And he said, usually it's just one thing that people are kind of hanging on to, you
know, that one sin, that one big sin in their life.
And you gotta be willing to give that up to get saved.
And he said, just like the rich young ruler.
He just had that one thing he had to fix.
But you know what?
That preacher is just as blind as this rich young ruler.
It all goes right over his head.
He doesn't even understand the faith of a little child.
He doesn't even understand the publican.
He didn't say, okay, God, I'm ready to stop being a publican.
Is that how he got saved?
No, he just said, be merciful to me, I'm a sinner.
I'm lame.
I'm a loser.
I'm a sinner.
Please save me.
He didn't say, all right, God, I'm going to give up my sins.
I'm going to turn around.
See, this guy thought it was a workspace salvation when he got to Jesus.
And when he walked away, he still thought it was workspace because everything Jesus said
about how he's the only one who's good.
It all went right over his head.
And anybody who's not saved, these things go right over the head.
They don't get it.
There's a free gift.
They don't get it that it's by grace or faith.
They don't get it that the purpose of the law is just a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ
and show us our own inadequacy so that we can understand that, no, we're not perfect.
We need a savior.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and we thank you for the Book of Luke and these great
truths that we can find in it, Lord.
I pray that these things would sink down into our ears, Lord, and that we would preach the gospel to the
lost and get them saved so that they could know that salvation is not by works, it's not by deeds,
it's not by selling things and giving them away, but it's actually about faith and trust and what
you've already done, your death, your burial, and your resurrection, Lord.
And we just pray, Lord, that you'd help us to honor you in this season, Lord.
And at a time when many people are very covetous and they're just into what they can buy and
what they can receive on Christmas, Lord, help us to keep the focus on you and realize that the
birth of Christ is the thing to get excited about this Sunday, not toys and gift cards, Lord.
And in Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.