Luke 18. I always hope that these Bible
studies will be more than just a Bible study. This is another wonderful gospel
story, is what it is. Read verses 1 through 8. And he, our Lord, spake a parable
unto them, that is, his disciples. He's still talking to his disciples.
To this end, and for this purpose, that men ought always to pray
and not 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 she kept coming. 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 saith. And shall not God avenge his
own elect, which cry 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 earth? Now, the purpose of this, our
Lord said, to this end, was that man ought always to pray and
not to faint, not quit. This was to his disciples. That's
who he's speaking to. That's who's going to be praying. That's who's going to be calling. We won't call unless the Lord
calls us. But all of His people who are
called, call on Him. And they keep calling. And they
keep calling. And they keep coming to Him.
They keep calling on Him. We ought always to pray, He said.
And don't quit. Don't faint. Why? Because believers
have an adversary. They have more than one. But
they have strong adversaries. And they don't quit. They will
not let up. Our adversaries will not let
up. And until the day we die. And
without, Christ said, without me, you can do nothing. You can't
resist one assault from the adversary. You can't resist one temptation
from the adversary. He's stronger than you. And so
we call on him who's stronger than he, who alone must bind
him. So he speaks of an unjust judge. Verse 2, there was in a city
a judge which feared not God and neither regarded man. And
that's a description of man by nature. Ecclesiastes 7 says there's
not a just man on earth that doeth good and sinneth not. That
is, by nature, naturally speaking, man is born dead and trespasses
in sin. He comes forth from the womb
speaking lies. In sin, his mother conceives
him, man, and man comes forth a sinner, hating God, doesn't
fear God. Romans 3 is a description of
man by nature. No fear of God before they're
out. And man doesn't regard other
Man, really, man thinks about-the natural man thinks about one
person, himself. They're out for themselves. That's
man. So this unjust judge, he said, I don't fear God and I
don't regard man. And that's mankind. But now,
who's the judge of all the earth? Who's the supreme judge? Who
is in control of this world, the universe, armies of heaven
and heavens? We've got a just God. You like Isaiah 45, 22, look
unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I
am God, there's none else. I'm a just God and a Savior. That's a scripture to open your
eyes. A just God. That's what Abraham said when
he was pleading to the Lord for Lot, to bring Lot out of Sodom,
or if there were ten righteous, to bring them out. God said,
if there are ten righteous, I'll bring them out. was one. And God must spare his elect,
and he did. He brought just life, just and
righteous, because God made him so. But our God is just. He's the judge over all. Look at, well, I'll turn in just
a minute, Isaiah 45. Our God controls even-turn there,
Isaiah 45-our God controls even the unjust of this world. He's merciful, He's gracious,
He's kind. Scripture says He's tender mercies
over all His work. He's kind, He's merciful even
to the unjust. His reign falls on the just and
the unjust. And look at Isaiah 45. But God
controls all people and things. Scripture says in the king's
heart is in the hands of the Lord. Now, few people have ever
read this, and even fewer people know what it means. Isaiah 45
7, verse 5. I am the Lord, there is none
else. There is no God beside me. Capital G-O-D, that means
Supreme Ruler, Controller. God means Controller. He's not
a bystander in the affairs of men. He's controlling the affairs
of men. All men. All things. All things
work together according to His purpose. God who worketh all
things after the counsel of His own will. And none can stay His
hand, and none can do anything about it. I'm glad. God's people are glad. We're
going to consider all the injustices and things that happen. And he
said in verse 5, I girded thee, I clothed you, though you haven't
known me. He does this for all men. Verse 7, I formed the light
and create darkness. If anyone has light, God gives
him light. Anyone has understanding, God
gives them understanding. Darkness? Why? He just leaves
them alone. All He has to do is leave you alone. We're in
darkness. Just leave you alone. And you'll
not get out of darkness until He calls you from darkness. I
make peace. Who makes peace? God. He's angry with the wicked every
day. How does He make peace? Who made peace? Christ made peace
by the blood of His cross. You don't make your peace with
God. You can't. It's not in your power. The power
is in the blood. The power is in the Son of God.
He made peace. And create evil. God does not
have to make people do evil. All He has to do is leave them
alone. It's all he has to do. Just put man in a situation he
knows he's going to do what he's going to do. And he'll fulfill
God's will, even evil. Good and evil, all is fulfilling
God's will. If not, he's not God. We'd better
run to the hill. We'd better hide in a cave. You'd
better gather some guns and all the food you can get. But if
he is God, don't gather anything. Just trust him. Right? So that's,
yeah, and it goes on down there, and this is quoted in Romans
9, verse 9 of Isaiah. Let woe unto him that striveth
with his maker. Let the potsherds strive with
the potsherds. That's fragmented vessels. Shall the clay say to him that
fashioneth it, what maketh thou thy work? He hath no hand. Isn't
that what religion says? God has no hand but your hand.
That's a direct denial of the Scripture. That tells me they
don't know God. God's people know God. And they
know we're in His hands and we're so glad. Aren't you glad? God in whose hands my breath
is and all my way and the King's heart and every just and unjust
person on this earth is in my God's hand to do with as He pleases. So I rest, don't you? I rest. God is just. And our Lord, but
our Lord said, in this world you shall have tribulation, but
be of good cheer. He said, I've overcome this world.
I control this world. I rule this world. All power,
I can give it unto thee over all flesh, Christ said. Right? And so whatever happens,
we acknowledge our God in it. We say our God did it. And he
does things that seem contrary to our faith, but for us to bear
witness, though we don't understand fully all the injustices and
all the cruelties and all the things, it wouldn't happen if
God didn't purpose it. And so we bear witness, and we'll
know someday, even as we've been numb. And it's for us to vex us like
a lot. that these things would vex God's
people and make them want out. He's going to take us out of
this sinful world. The Lord calls it this present
evil world. Man is not a good creature, he's
evil. And man by nature is under the
captivity of an adversary, the God of this world, small g. Satan
can't do anything except what God allows him to do. Read Job
1 and 2. Okay, we have an adversary. We have an enemy. I just mentioned
it. Satan. And I'll just tell you if you
haven't read Job 1 and 2. He had to report to God. He had to come to God to get
permission to do what he did to Job. He said, I cannot touch
Job. I want him. Peter says, Satan
as a roaring lion seeketh whom he may devour. But he can't touch
anybody unless God allows it to. That's what he said to Job. You put a hedge about him. And
finally, Job said to the Lord, you touch him and he'll curse
you. So, though Satan was allowed
to do what he did, it was the Lord. And Job said that. It's the Lord. He sent the Sabaeans
to take away all his earthly goods, the Chaldeans to kill
all his children. Kill all his children. And Job
said, it's the Lord. The Lord gave these children
to me and he took them away. The Lord did it. Now, what Job,
the Chaldeans, no they didn't. They couldn't do anything if
the Lord hadn't done it. See that glory? In all this,
Job sinned not, but he feared God and he glorified God with
his lips. His testimony was wonderful,
wasn't it? And I've heard you all say the
same thing when going through fiery trials. The Lord didn't.
And He brings you through it and later you see. And you trust
Him even more. That's why. Well, this widow
was a widow indeed, and the Lord, He dealt with widows often, didn't
He? Widows and the homeless, or the fatherless, are spoken
of quite often in Scripture, widows especially. When the Lord
came to Nazareth, He brought up two widows that were chosen,
elect. In Nazareth, His hometown, He
brought up those two widows in the day of Elijah and Lashon.
No, one widow, and then Nahum and Assyrian. But he dealt with
widows often. And there's a reason for that.
Verse 3, this widow was in the city, and she came unto the judge
and said, Avenge me of my adversary. Now, according to Scripture,
a widow is one who has no husband, of course. but also one who has
no children to take care of her. A widow is one who has no help,
no hope, no inheritance. A woman in the Old Testament
could not inherit anything. Her husband's property went to
his blood kin. Do you know that? Rachel and
Leah, their father, Laban, didn't leave them a thing. And they
pleaded to Jacob. We're not getting anything from
our father. Would you help us? Oh, will I? Jacob, you see, was
a just man. Naomi and Ruth, they had husbands.
Why did they end up beggars? Because they couldn't inherit
it. Did they find a husband? Did they find a just man? Who
does he represent? Jesus Christ, our true husband. You see, this is a picture. Isaiah
54. Go to Isaiah 54. This is a picture. This widow is all of God's people,
all of God's elect. You see, we were married to the
law once. Romans 7 talks about that, doesn't
it? To the law. And yet, Dead is
the law. We're married to another. Christ,
our true husband. I love this, don't you ladies? All of you love this. Isaiah
54 verse 4, Fear not! Thou shalt not be ashamed, neither
be confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame. Thou shalt
forget the shame of thy youth, and not remember the reproach
of thy widowhood any more. Like Ruth, like Naomi. No, thy maker is thy husband. Inherit. Are you going to inherit
anything? All things through Christ. The Lord of hosts is His name. Thy Redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel, the God of the whole earth, shall He be called. That's
Him. Jesus Christ. For the Lord hath called thee
as a woman forsaken, divorced, or widowed. Grieved in spirit,
a wife of youth, thou wast refused." Remember the woman at the well?
Five husbands? What happened? Did they die?
Did they divorce her? Huh? Doesn't matter. She finally met
her true husband, Jesus Christ. And in Isaiah 30, I think it
is, he said, try to find your divorce papers. You'll never,
I'll never leave you or forsake you. You're going to leave me
like Hosea did. You're going to leave me time and time again,
but I will never leave you or forsake you. Oh, you may be a
widow in this earth and not get anything, not get justice, but
you're going to get justice from me. You may not get anything
of this world's good, but you're going to get all that I have.
But I love you. God's truth. He's elect. He's
talking about His elect. God doesn't love everybody. He
loves His elect. And they're going to get justice. And don't think of justice as
being just a law thing. It means the judge in there is
going to do right. He's going to deal with his people.
He's going to deal with them in righteousness by that man,
Jesus Christ. You see, our Lord Jesus Christ
is our husband, and he met the law like Boaz met the law and
took his shoe off and threw it at him. And he said, now I'm
going to buy everything that Naomi and Ruth have. I'm going
to buy it all back. And Gomer, he said, she's mine. And nobody from here on will
mistreat her ever again. You need a husband like that?
Anybody? Men? See, all God's people are
His bride, are the wife of Christ. We're all weak, helpless, hopeless,
without help, without strength, no goods, no riches. Oh, but
we are married to a kind man. In Him we have all things. Christ
is all. You don't need anybody else or
anything else but Christ. So she's a widow indeed, and
so are we. But now we're married to Him.
The adversary. She had somebody against her.
She said, avenge me of my adversary. Someone was against her. Someone
was trying to extort her. Someone was trying to molest
her. Someone wouldn't leave her alone.
Someone wouldn't go away. They continually hounded her
and left her afraid and desperate. So she cried continually, help
me. Please help me. He won't leave
me alone. Anybody? Anybody have an adversary
like that? All of God's people do. All of
God's people go through this warfare, continually, day and
night. Paul said, I see in my memory
a law warring in my memory, bringing me into captivity to my flesh.
It's called sin. He said, O wretched man that
I am. We have three adversaries, three basic adversaries, but
there are many. Satan, God of this world, is
our adversary. That's God's people. And he knows
who doesn't belong to him. He knows. And he's after them
more than anybody else. He is. He can't have them. And
this old man within, that old man, he's our biggest source,
one of our biggest sources of treasure. And then the world.
The world is the adversary of God's people, the enemy of God's
people, the things of the world. And as we've already noted many
times, that the world is not necessarily an outspoken enemy
of Europe, it can do it in subtlety. The kisses of an enemy are deceitful,
and on and on it goes. And Satan uses that, things and
people, to try to lure and woo his people away from crying at
the enemies in that scene. But often, quite often, they
hate the gospel and they hate God's people, openly, and they
persecute them. But all of God's elect have these
enemies. David said, my enemies are many
and they're lively, and they won't leave me alone. Oh, if
you've read the Psalms, you know. And that's why God's people love
the Psalms so much. We can relate, can't we? David,
over and over, my enemy, my enemy, my enemy, without, within. Help
me, Lord, help me. And do you know the Lord didn't
give David rest until he was 70 years old? David fought battles for God's
people until he was 70 years old. Brother Wesley, he's out
there with a sword. Hand-to-hand combat until he's
70 years old. From the time he was 16, he slew
Goliath until he was 70. War after battle after war after
battle. And finally, when he was 70 years
old, the Lord gave him rest round about from his enemy and took
him out. And that's us. In this world you shall have
tribulation. Don't you love Psalm 13? How
long, O Lord? How long, how long, how long? Help me, help me. The widow of
a Syrophoenician woman, you know, came to the Lord. Help me, help
me. He didn't answer her word. Remember? Was he going to help her? Yeah.
He brought her. She didn't come of her own will.
He brought her. All the Father giveth me shall
come unto me. And him that cometh to me, he's
going to help him. He's going to avenge him. Every
one of them. Every one of them. So all of
God's people, they cried day and night. And I wanted you to
go back to Exodus 12. This was an unjust judge, and
he finally said, I'm going to avenge her. I'm going to do something
for her because I'm tired of her. I want her to go away because
of her importunity, because she kept coming. You know, I've gotten jobs like that. There
was a young man who wanted a job somewhere, and he came to talk
to me about it. And I said, here's what you do.
Don't wait on them to call you. You go call on them. And keep
calling. If they don't call you, go back.
Until they get so tired of hearing from you, they'll hire you. I've
done it. When I was about 17, went on
a job site, and this man had 40 or 50 houses going at one
time, contract. And I'm 17 years old. And I walked
up, I had a brand-new tool apron on, brand-new hammer, brand-new
everything. And he said, I said, I need a
job. He said, what are you? I said, I'm a carpenter. He took
one look at me, and he knew if he's ever built anything, he's
a doghouse. But he said, well, I'm not hiring right now. Well,
I kept going back. I kept going back. And finally, he hired me. He hired me. He gave me the worst
job I'll ever remember. But he hired me. He said, do
you hear what the unjust judge said? Shall not God avenge his very
elect, which cry unto him day and night? And we cry unto him,
Lord, why? Lord, help. Lord, please. And
we cry not only for ourselves, but for those we love. And Lord, do something. Please help me. Now look at the
avenger here with me. Verse 6, the Lord said, Hear
what the unjust judge said. Now shall not God avenge his
own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear
long with them? I tell you that he will avenge
them speedily. Now what's the vengeance that
God's people need? Who do they need help with? Go
to Isaiah 35. Isaiah 35. I've already told
you. And you already know these things.
Like Paul said to Thessalonians, seeing you know these things
already, he said, I'm going to tell it to you again. Because
this is our constant battle, the adversary, the devil, and
sin within us, the old man within us. And you know, our Lord said,
sin shall not have dominion over you. We think this old man is
going to do us in. We think, God, this world is
going to have us eventually. He said, no. Our Lord said, no,
none of them that trust in me shall be desolate. No one has
ever looked to me have I turned away. And we keep coming, and
we keep coming, and that's a sign, that's a sure proof that we belong
to Him. We keep coming. Isaiah 35, I
love this. Isaiah 35, verse 3. Strengthen
the weak hands, confirm the feeble knees, We're so weak in prayer, aren't
we? Yet, tell them. Say to them that
have a fearful heart, anything, anyone you're afraid of, yourself,
be strong. Fear not, your God will come
with vengeance. Even God with a recompense, He
will come and save you. Who's He talking about? He's
talking about Jesus Christ. He came. He did, didn't He? On Calvary's tree. He came. God
manifested in the flesh. The first thing he did as a man,
as a 30-year-old man, what did he do? What was the first thing
Jesus Christ did as a 30-year-old man? Faced the adversary. Why? Because he's the second
man. He's the second Adam. He's our covenant head. He's
our substitute. He's our representative. He's
the one Satan's got to deal with. He's got to deal with Satan.
I'm in Him. All those in Christ, all those
found in Christ, Christ faced the adversary for them. And He did not fail. He resisted
every temptation. God says, I'm well pleased with
His righteousness. And then He lived that perfect
life. Can I say this all again? I must. This is the Gospel. Religion
is not saying this thing. This is the gospel. Jesus Christ
came to fulfill the law for his people. Not to show us how, but
to do it for us. He's the law giver and he's the
law keeper. He's the Lord, our righteousness.
Jehovah said Kenneth. That's why he came. We can't
keep the law. Try as we may, because the law
is spiritual. It requires perfection in thought.
In motive, in heart, Christ said He magnified the law. You look
with lust. You're guilty. You hate somebody. You killed them. The only reason
you didn't is I kept you from it. Guilty. That's what the law says, Romans
3.19. To everyone, stop your mouth. Guilty. But God is rich in mercy. with great love wherewith he
loved his elect, Jesus Christ, God manifested in flesh, came
to this earth to keep the law for his people, the lawgiver
and the law keeper. And he came and he kept it perfectly. He said, who convinces me of
sin? Not Satan, not God, not the law,
not men. Nobody could find one fault in
him. Why, he's the spotless lamb without
blemish, without fault. All right, what happened? God
put His Son. God put His Son on a tree. Why? Because cursing is everyone that
hangs on a tree. And we're under the curse. We're
under the curse of the law. And Christ came to be made a
curse for His people. Be made sin for His people. And
God laid on Him the iniquity of all His people. Not all men
and women. If He did, they'd all be saved.
Because it's the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, that cleanses
us. It's not your acceptance of it. No, sir. It's God's acceptance
of it. And God laid on him the iniquity,
the sins of all of his people from time past to time eternity. And Jesus Christ put it away. God made him to be sin for us
who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God have. Where? In him. And we are complete in
him. God is satisfied. The gospel
in two words is substitution and satisfaction. Jesus Christ
satisfied the law, and He was our substitute, and God accepts
us. Completely, 100%, on behalf of
Jesus Christ. And that's the second message.
Hang around. The second message. If we owe
anything, He said, put it on my account. Don't you sinners
love this? This is for sinners. This is
for widows. I can't. Help me. I will. All who cry, help me. I can't
keep the law. Help me. I've got this adversary.
Help me. He said, I've come. I'm a very
present help. And he came. And he did it. and proof that God accepted as
he raised him from the grave and sat him at his right hand,
the right hand of the majesty on high, and he's sitting there
expecting his enemy to be made his footstool. And he's got Satan
on a chain. Do you understand? Satan, our adversary. On the
cross, Christ crushed his head. Christ took captivity captive.
He has no power except what the Lord lets his leash have on him.
Don't you love Pilgrim's Progress when Christian is walking down
the way, heading to Celestial City, and he sees two lions in
the way, up ahead. Two lions in the way, and he
thinks, I can't get past these lions. Two lions. He said, but
the evangelist told me to keep walking, don't look to the right,
just keep walking. Trust the Lord, keep looking.
So he kept walking, and the closer he got, He finally got up where
he could see, and the lions were on chains. This was on a chain,
this was on a chain. And he walked by them. He could
sit, he could feel their hot breath and hear their roaring,
but they couldn't touch him. And he went right on by. And
so shall we. Why? Because the lion of the
tribe of Judah was stronger than he came. Bound him on Calvary's
tree, John. Didn't he? Yes, he did. If he
didn't, you'd have no hope. There's no hope. Now, listen
to these words, what our Lord said. Have you ever thought about
this? Look at verse 8. Nevertheless,
when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on earth? Nevertheless, what's that matter? What's he been talking about?
Faith. Whose faith? This woman, this
widow, who kept coming and kept coming, and God's elect. We have
the faith of God's elect, the faith delivered to the saints.
It's not of yourselves, it's a gift of God. To those who have
received, like precious faith, received it, given it to us.
It's not of yourself, it's a gift of God. It's faith. What is faith?
It's looking to Him. That's what faith is, looking
to Him, Him alone, calling on Him. You really believe He's
your only hope, do you? Do you keep calling on Him? Why? Because He's your only hope. And you keep calling. You don't
look anywhere else. You don't look to anybody else.
You look to Him. That's faith. People everywhere
look to here, look there, go to Egypt, go to Pharaoh and all
that. There's no help. Vain is the help of man. Faith
is believe God, believe Christ, trust Him, look to Him alone
for your help. And this is a rare faith. Do
you hear anybody today talking about needing help in this warfare
against sin within? Do you hear anybody? Do you hear
religion? Do you hear Christians talking
about needing a righteousness, needing Christ our righteousness,
needing pardon, needing an avenger of our adversary? Do you hear
any of that? No. But you do among God's elect.
That's what they deal with every day, day in and day out. this adversary, and they cry
daily. I tell him, God, help me. He
says, I'm coming. I'm coming quickly. I'll avenge
him speedily. He says, speedily, though they
cry a long time, though they live 70, 80 years, keep crying. What is 70 years in the course
of time? It's a moment. He's coming quickly. Then he says, vengeance is mine. I will repay. And I'm going to
cast him, your adversary and your sin, in a lake of fire,
and they'll never bother you ever again. Now, who can do that
but one? Okay.