What Faith Looks Like?

We're going to look at today Luke chapter 18. And that's a long chapter. Don't freak out. I'm not going to read it all to you today. But we're going to cover it today. We're going to focus on two verses that I think connects everything going on in this chapter. It actually leans back into what we studied last week. I had a number of people say to me last week how they needed to hear that sermon about being postured before the Lord, looking for the rapture of the church and looking for his return to set up the kingdom. And I had a lot of folks tell me going out of church, you know, I've gotten so worldly-minded and busy with and preoccupied with the world that I don't know if I've been looking and preparing myself for his return. And, you know, that's pretty encouraging when a preacher hears those sort of things. Somebody was listening, you know, and that was encouraging. Luke 8, verse 8. I want you to see this here. Jesus said, I tell you that he will bring justice for them speedily. You know, before we move on through that, I've got to thinking, who is them? it refers to the elect the chosen he will bring his justice speedily upon them I ask myself well is it just an autocratic election of favor listen to Ephesians 2.8 For by grace you have been saved through faith And that is not of yourselves It is a gift of God For by grace you've been saved through faith And that is not of yourselves It is a gift of God Grace Faith Gifting and unwrapping. That's what that's talking about there. You remember when Jesus said to Peter, Peter, who do you say that I am? And Peter said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Peter made a response to Jesus' question. Then he goes on and says, Peter, you did not figure this out on your own. It was revealed to you from the Heavenly Father. Now, in my mind, I see a grasping of hands here. God's choosing hand reaching down. You know I always been excited when I understand in Scripture that I not ascending upward but God descended downward that He became human dressed in our flesh to bear our sins on the cross Jesus descending, His hand reaching down, and my choiceful hand reaching up. you remember the story of the prodigal son it says when he came to his senses I'm going back home he made a choice salvation in Christ is a chosen relationship undergirded by revelation and acceptance You see those two hands at work there? God reaching down and me reaching up and grasping that hand. He did everything needed for our salvation. But I've got to unwrap that gift. I've got to accept it. I've got to be open to it, acknowledge it, enter into that relationship. He said, I tell you that he will bring about justice for them speedily. However, here's the question. When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? certainly this question if you think about it is in reference to what we studied last week that's the foundation of this question there's a foundational image over all of this when the son of man comes will he find it to be like it was in Noah's day or in lots day preoccupation sin desecration total ignorance and ignoring faith when he comes will he find that kind of world that's a haunting question isn't it in Luke 8 42, Jesus wraps up this chapter by telling a blind man, receive your sight. Your faith has made you well. Now I read this chapter and I hear this question, when the Son of man comes, will he find face on the earth? And I get to the end of the chapter and it says receive your sight. Your faith has made you well. So when you're preparing a sermon, if you're a good student of sermon preparation, you stop and you listen. God, what are you trying to say to me? Here's faith in the beginning. Here's faith at the end of this chapter. The Holy Spirit quickened within my spirit and my mind. Sometimes he has to take a two by four and hit me over the head He said Carrie go back and zero in on the parables and the stories in this chapter Because I have given a description, you might even say a prescription of faith that lines up with Hebrews 11, 1 through 3 and verse 6. Let me read that to you. Now faith is the assurance. Assurance. You hear that word? Of things hoped for. The conviction of things not seen. For by it all men of old gained approval. Now what's that saying? These Old Testament guys were approved by God because of their faith. You can go and read all of Hebrews 11 and you'll see all the characters of the Old Testament that he talks about by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith. he goes on and says by faith we understand that the worlds why do you use plural there and not just say the world because he's talking about the heavens and the earth and everything in between he's talking about the angelic host and the demonic opposition he is the creator of all things we could spend a couple of weeks just talking about the biblical understanding of worlds here we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. You know, my mind went to the story of doubting Thomas. He had to see and he had to feel the scars in Jesus' side and in his hands. But Jesus said, because you have seen me, you have believed, blessed are they who do not see and yet believe. I've heard the voice of God but I've never seen the physical Jesus but I believe in him you see what I'm saying and he says in verse 6 and without faith this nailed me to the wall and without faith it is impossible to please God for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him You want to please God You believe in him, but you also believe he is a rewarder. So, I read this chapter over and over. and over. Come on, Holy Spirit. What are you saying to me? And all of a sudden, God just dropped five examples of faith's description. I entitled this sermon, What Does Faith Look Like? And he dropped in my spirit five examples of face description from this passage. Let me just mention to you real quickly what they are. The unhinged widow. The undeserving sinner. The undivided child. The uncompromising disciples. And the unyielding blind man. now that's pretty good five statements isn't it I sat there and thought wow and then he said now look at those so I want you to look at those with me this morning number one the unhinged widow if you go and read it I'm not going to read it to you I'm going to just talk about it a little bit this is a parable about a widow that needs vindication from her opponent. The only way for this to happen was that she had to approach a judge. And the Bible here calls him an unrighteous judge. He could have cared less about this widow's needs. An unrighteous judge. And he was the only one that could make things right. Verse 3 says, And there was a widow in the city, and kept coming to him saying, Give me legal protection from my opponent. Now, I don't know who the opponent was. I don't know the agenda of the opponent. But she had opposition. She had an enemy that was opposing her. and she needed help. She needed vindication. Verse 5 says, Yet because this widow bothers me, she kept coming back and back and back to that judge. Because this widow bothers me. You ever had an experience with your children when you were raising them? And they just kept bothering you until you went, okay, whatever you want, I'll give you. She kept coming back. He said, I will give her legal protection. I'm going to execute the law in her favor. and then he says less by her continual coming she wears me out now if you go and study the Greek language there you know what it literally means what it literally means is if I don't give in, she's going to blacken my eye. She's going to smack me in the face and give me a black eye. Now, I don't know if that was a physical designation or if it was just an image designation. She's going to spread enough bad stuff about me out there in the community that it's going to make me look like I have a black eye. whatever the case she kept coming persistently bringing her needs before this unrighteous judge so that he would yield to her needs her faith you know if this isn't a message of faith her faith is described as persistence she is unhinged in her commitment. You know, when the Lord dropped that word in my spirit, I thought, unhinged. How many people have I seen unhinged in their commitment to Jesus? Think about Noah. Since he referred to him in the previous chapter, Noah was building an ark and there was no water you know the guy certainly got accused of being literally an idiot but he kept building persistently day after day he laid that ship together piece by piece, establishing rooms and stalls for all the animals. Can you imagine when God gave him that plan? Noah himself probably said, what in the world is this all about? But he never gave up, did he? He stayed persistent. He stayed faithful. Do you hear what I'm saying? Noah was unhinged in his commitment to building the ark this woman this widow whatever the cost I even put this widow of discrimination women were discriminated against in that society. And even more so because she was a widow. She simply would not let up. Guy's faith is unhinged persistence. I can remember my first months after I'd gotten saved, I transferred from Texas Tech to McMurray. I didn't know a soul on campus. I didn't know there was a revival going on on campus. I had no clue that there was liberals or evangelicals or charismatics. I had no clue about all that. All I knew was that Jesus had saved me and I was unhinged in being committed to him. And there was a group, a small group of believers on that campus that had prayed the year before. God sent in an army of believers. And 120 of us walked on campus that fall. 120 we walked on campus But that small group who became our mentors and leaders they were very cautious They wanted to see your colors before they really befriended you You remember some of that, don't you? They wanted to know who you really were. And I can remember one night after about 30 days of really not having very many conversations with anybody but in classrooms. Now I can remember praying and I told God, God, if I have to be alone and isolated and lonely like I'm feeling right now, I will not unhinge myself from you. I will stay persistent in my commitment to following you. I will never yield. I will not go back to that lifestyle that I was living. It was amazing. The very next day, one brother, one sister after another said, I've been watching you. Tell me your story. It didn't take long for my story to spread. That guy's really been converted He's really one of us I had immediate community And fellowship Some of you know what I'm talking about You had friends outside of Christ But once you came to Christ You had real friends in Christ You knew the difference And I immediately knew the difference. Now, I see this widow here as being unhinged faithfully. She is a demonstration of faith. Secondly, the undeserving sinner. This is a parable about a Pharisee and a sinner. identified as a tax gatherer or a tax collector. I wrote in here someone akin to Zacchaeus. You remember that story, don't you? Jesus invites himself to eat at the table of Zacchaeus' home. At the end of that meal, Zacchaeus declared, Half of my possessions I give to the poor And if I've stolen from anyone of anything I'll give it back four times as much In this parable The Pharisee was just consumed with his own self-righteousness Even when he prays The Bible says he prayed to himself Now let me make a statement here That is the height of idolatry When you pray to yourself All the humanism that's going on In our world today Trying to find your self-realization Through yourself That is idolatry We're not to focus inwardly We're to focus on him In verse 13 Jesus said But the tax gatherers The tax gatherers standing some distance away Was even unwilling to lift his eyes to heaven but was beating his breast saying God, who's he focused on? God, be merciful to me, a sinner. The Pharisees' focus was on self. The sinner's focus was on God. This centers humility. In his posture, he stood back. In his sight, he was so, he didn't even, he wouldn't even look up. In his repentance, and in his word, God, be merciful to me a sinner guys that is the beginning of faith when you come to that place in your life when you totally focus on God and realize that there is nothing within yourself that's worthy of saving yourself that only God can save you you remember the first question after the first sermon preached by Peter? After Pentecost? You remember that first question? What did they say? What must we do to be saved? And the answer, repent, be baptized, and receive the Holy Spirit. Now if you summarize that, it can simply be said, humble thyself in the sight of the Lord. The focus of humility describes the faith of this undeserving sinner. His faith, his focus began with God. That's where faith begins, guys. In the throne room of God. Think about your own experience. when you finally took your eyes off yourself and put them on God, what were you moving into in the experience of faith, weren't you? Thirdly, the undivided child. I can remember back years ago in this conference, there was a conference camping program. and basically you could have just called it another 4-H camp. They went and had fun. We had our Cedar Canyon, we had Camp Buckman and you'd take elementary kids off and you'd have fun for a week. And in those that were leading those camping programs, they never had a night of worship. Didn't even have a worship. but they prayed it over their meals, and that was about it. The rest of the time, they organized all kinds of playthings for these children. And the idea was, in their mindset, where they're too little to understand faith. And there was a group of us decided over the July 4th week, we would rent Camp Buckman, and we would have what was called an invitational one camp for children And we have worship every night Every night We had the quarterback from North Texas State come in and preach A guy named Tommy Nelson. Tommy was 6'3", 225 pounds, solid muscle. He had a deep, penetrating... He created and developed one of the largest independent churches in that area down there. And Tommy was a great brother in Christ. And I roomed with him. He and I, we didn't just stick the preacher off by himself. We put him in a cabin with youth, with children. And Tommy and I were together in this cabin. and they had evaporative coolers and the kids would have Doritos and things out and guess what? You just, mice would come in through those evaporative coolers and you could hear them chewing on that food at nighttime. And I said, we got a problem here, Tommy. And Tommy said, yeah, we do. He said, I got an idea. We'll cut the lights out. We'll let them come in. and then you shut all those vents and they'll run for those vents and I'll get them. And he did. Them mice all over those air conditioners. He's hitting them with his fist like that. Blowing guts and blood everywhere. These children were going, whoa, man. That was exciting for them to see. Let me tell you something about his preaching. He preached just like he went after them miles. And those children, we had 189 show up at that first elementary one-way camp. 189. On July 4th week, the conference said, Oh, nobody will show up on July 4th week. And those children sit on the end of their chairs. And Tommy described Jesus to them in such a childlike way that we had an altar call every night and we couldn't get out of that worship center until midnight because all those little children were coming to Jesus. Coming to Jesus. I see them even today. They're grown old. I see some of those little children today. And they'll go, I was at that camp. And I accepted Jesus at that camp. And I'm still following Jesus. You know, I'm telling you, it is undivided child. Verse 17, Jesus said, But truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God, listen to this, like a child shall not enter it. Faith is like a child's undivided attention. I saw it. I've seen it. When children are captured by the Holy Spirit and there is an undivided attention, There's a faithfulness, a faith response. It's innocent. It's inquisitive. Some of the questions. Brother Kerry, who made God? Some of the questions they'll ask you, and it's impressive. Some of these kids have come from terrible backgrounds, and they've come to Jesus, and their lives have been impressive ever since they accepted Him. Unbelievable. Fourthly, the uncompromising disciples. This is a story about the rich ruler and Jesus' disciples. True or not, the rich ruler says he's kept every jot and tittle of the law. He was a legalistic, moral guru. At least he thought that about himself. He was probably a member and in good standing in the Sanhedrin. He's upright and moral. and he brings this attitude forward in his conversation with Jesus. Did you know Jesus was impressed? I don't think so. But Jesus turned the tables upside down on him and he tells him, there is one thing you still lack. Listen to that. If Jesus sat down with me, he would have said, Carrie, there's many things you lack. There's one thing you lack. Go and sell all you have. Give it away to the poor and start building treasures in heaven. Well, let me tell you something. That didn't go too well with that rich ruler. In fact, go and read the rest of the story. The conversation from there went south. This ruler became very sad because he knew he was rich and he wasn't going to give away all he'd worked for and follow Jesus. Jesus then describes in this passage how hard it is to follow him. He said it's like a camel going through the eye of the needle. I used to think of a real needle and trying to force a camel through there until Kim and I went to Israel. And we were going to the different gates that entered into the city of Israel. And guess what? We came to a gate, a small gate, that was named the eye of the needle. That was the reference Jesus was making. It's hard to push down a camel and force him through that gate. that's how hard it is for a rich man a person that's consumed with their possessions to get into the kingdom of God because quite frankly if they going to follow me that investment will become my money and they give to me as I lead them by the Holy Spirit. They won't have determination over that. The Holy Spirit will have determination over that. The eye of the needle. Verse 28 after the disciples had heard all this they're going well man if this guy can't be saved who can be? And Jesus said Peter said to him Peter wants to say God he said Lord behold we have left our homes and followed you. We've left our homes and followed you. I don't think I put this in the outline that you may be looking at. But verse 29, Jesus said this to them. Truly I say to you, there is no one who left house or wife or brother or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God who shall not now listen to this who shall not receive many times as much at this time seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you at this time and in the age to come eternal life what is this it's the reward of faith isn't it remember Hebrews 11 6 he who believes in me will be rewarded the rich ruler was caught in his hypocrisy of compromising. He had compromised with this world. Not the disciples. They were uncompromising in their faith. Now, do I mean by that they understood everything? In fact, it says here, they didn't understand everything at this point. But they did not abandon him. One betrayed him. but the others stuck with him. Now if you go think about when they were in the garden, Jesus says, take me, let them go. Peter kind of hanged around a little bit closer. So did John. They were uncompromising, all of them were uncompromising in their faith and its blessing of reward. They might have not understood it all, but they did not lose faith and trust in Jesus. It stayed firm. Not perfect, but firm. You hear what I'm saying? Lastly, the unyielding blind man. This chapter ends with the healing of a blind man. Verse 38 and 39. It says, And he called out saying Jesus son of David Now that identification says a whole lot This blind man understood the Savior would come from the line of David Son of David, have mercy on me. And those who led the way were sternly telling him to be quiet. But he kept crying out all the more, Son of David! Son of David! He drove them crazy. Have mercy on me! Have mercy on me! You know, I laughed to myself when I was praying over that. I thought, he must have been a cousin to that unhinged widow. his persistent yelling was a deep, listen to me here, was a deep reality of believing faith in the goodness of God. This was his moment to cash in. I've been at those moments, haven't you? I knew in those moments I better respond in faith come hell or high water he was not shutting up but listen to this and God was not giving up that's pretty profound he was not shutting up But God was not giving up. In my conclusion, I thought, well, how do you conclude a sermon like this? I hope you all saw the themes of faith running through all of these. They're there. I entitled my conclusion, The Unsettling Savior. Verses 31 through 34 was, you think, does it fit in here? It squeezed in all these parables and stories. And he squeezes it in there. And I thought, Lord, why did you put this in here? Listen to this, he said. And he took the twelve aside and said to them, he's telling these parables, he's showing these stories. He said to them, behold, we are going up to Jerusalem. and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. For he will be delivered to the Gentiles, the Romans, and he will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon. Know that turn your stomach? And after they have scourged him, I'm not even going to tell you about what that meant. They beat him to death almost. They will kill him, and the third day he will rise again. Verse 34. And they understood none of these things. They would. But right then, he's planting faith in them. He's challenging them to have faith. he he even is demonstrating that a man had faith in him and was healed and they understood none of these things and this saying was hidden from them and they did not comprehend the things that were said. He unsettled them, didn't he? He is an unsettling Savior. But why did he put it in here in all the parables of faith and the stories of faith here. Here's what I wrote down. I'm going to give you evidence to trust me. You hear what I'm saying? I'm going to give you evidence to trust me. We're going to Jerusalem. and all these things are going to take place, just as the prophet said, you can trust the word of God. And not only am I going to die, on the third day, grab onto your britches. I'm coming out of that tomb. I'm going to give you evidence to trust me. Faith is not just something you conjure up. It's built on the word of God. The fulfillment of scripture. The word of Jesus. You see what I'm saying? I didn't just muster up faith the night I got saved. I just said have mercy on me. Because I've seen other people that trusted him and were living in victory. That'll preach, won't it? That'll preach. I am so glad I listened to the Holy Spirit. Stop and look at this, Carrie. You know, I thought, which story or which parable do I fit into? That's a personal thing. Go back and look at those stories and parables. See which one identifies most with you. Which one calls faith out of you? Which one challenges you? You know, I'm by no means rich. But I am rich according to the standards of this world. And there's not anybody sitting in here. Don't be offended, but I'm going to tell you. there's not anybody sitting in here that's not rich according to the standards of this world. America has been rewarded and blessed Go and sell all that you have and follow me. Now, I'm not going to tell you go home and sell your home. today, James. But what I am saying is consider what he's given you and what you're to do with it. That's the story. Boy, that's the thing that challenged my faith. Will you continue to trust me even as you get older and your income streams change? Will you continue to trust me to be a rewarder of your faith? It's biblical, guys. That's biblical. Biblical. Believe in him and trust him. Now get an amen. Amen. Let's bow together in prayer. Lord, your word is so good to us and so rich. And Lord, I can't believe we covered a whole chapter. But the Holy Spirit created that. and these four o'clock meetings I had in the morning with you this week challenged me and I enjoyed every one of them Lord bless this congregation in Jesus name Amen