The Word Is Alive The Gospel of Luke

1. The Word Is AliveThe Gospel of Luke Chapter Eighteen Presented by Tony Gillon

2. Chapter Eighteen • Luke 9:51–19:27 - • The Journey to Jerusalem (continues)

3. Chapter Eighteen • Luke 9:51–19:27 - • The Journey to Jerusalem (continues) • Luke 17:11–19:27 - The third mention of the journey to Jerusalem (continues)

4. The Journey to Jerusalem • Summary of Chapter Eighteen • Jesus teaches the need for persistent prayer.

5. The Journey to Jerusalem • Summary of Chapter Eighteen • Jesus teaches the need for persistent prayer. • The Parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector.

6. The Journey to Jerusalem • Summary of Chapter Eighteen • Jesus teaches the need for persistent prayer. • The Parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. • The Parable of the Rich Ruler.

7. The Journey to Jerusalem • Summary of Chapter Eighteen • Jesus again predicts his impending death.

8. The Journey to Jerusalem • Summary of Chapter Eighteen • Jesus again predicts his impending death. • Jesus heals a blind man.

9. The Journey to Jerusalem • Luke 18:1–8 - • The parable of the persistent widow

10. The Journey to Jerusalem • Luke 18:1–8 - • The parable of the persistent widow • The parable consists of a ‘lesser to greater’ argument, i.e. if A, the lesser, is true then how much more B, the greater, must be true. • The comparison here is between the reluctant action of an unjust judge, the lesser, and ‘how much more’ just will be the action of a just God, the greater.

11. The Journey to Jerusalem • 1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always prayand not give up.

12. The Journey to Jerusalem • 1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always prayand not give up. • Jesus told his disciplesthey should always pray: • pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

13. The Journey to Jerusalem • While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. • (Luke 9:11).

14. The Journey to Jerusalem • 2 He said: In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men.

15. The Journey to Jerusalem • 2 He said: In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. • Nor cared about men shows the judge had no special deference toward anyone whether great or small. If a man has no fear of his creator, it follows that he will have little regard for his fellow creatures.

16. The Journey to Jerusalem • In the place of judgment — wickedness was there, in the place of justice — wickedness was there (Ecclesiastes 3:16).

17. The Journey to Jerusalem • In the place of judgment — wickedness was there, in the place of justice — wickedness was there (Ecclesiastes 3:16). • Plead for the widow (Isaiah 1:17e).

18. The Journey to Jerusalem • 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary’.

19. The Journey to Jerusalem • 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary’. • The widow represents the poor, needy and oppressed as in: • They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely (Luke 20:47).

20. The Journey to Jerusalem • Kept coming refers to her persistence that is her only asset in seeking justice from the unjust judge. • Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me (John 17:25).

21. The Journey to Jerusalem • 4 For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’

22. The Journey to Jerusalem • 6 And the Lord said, Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?

23. The Journey to Jerusalem • If an unjust judge finally grants the widow’s prayer, how much more will God hear the prayers of his elect?

24. The Journey to Jerusalem • If an unjust judge finally grants the widow’s prayer, how much more will God hear the prayers of his elect? • In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye (Deuteronomy 32:10).

25. The Journey to Jerusalem • Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings (Psalm 17:8).

26. The Journey to Jerusalem • Day and night: • She never left the temple but worshipped night and day, fasting and praying. • (Luke 2:37b).

27. The Journey to Jerusalem • Day and night: • She never left the temple but worshipped night and day, fasting and praying. • (Luke 2:37b). • Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him (Acts 9:24).

28. The Journey to Jerusalem • So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears (Acts 20:31).

29. The Journey to Jerusalem • So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears (Acts 20:31). • This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. O King, it is because of this hope that the Jews are accusing me (Acts 26:7).

30. The Journey to Jerusalem • Justice for his chosen ones: • Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us — (Continued).

31. The Journey to Jerusalem • To show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear (Luke 1:68-74).

32. The Journey to Jerusalem • Will he keep putting them off? This probably means ‘Will God be patient much longer as he sees his elect suffer?’ The implied answer is no.

33. The Journey to Jerusalem • 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

34. The Journey to Jerusalem • 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? • From God’s perspective, justice will come to his elect quickly.From a human perspective, of course, justice may seem to be a long time coming. Therefore, God’s people must persist in prayer, as the widow persisted until she received justice.

35. The Journey to Jerusalem • Will he find faith on earth? • The answer is, of course, yes, but Jesus poses this as a question in order to encourage his disciples to constant watchfulness and prayer.

36. The Journey to Jerusalem • Will he find faith on earth? • The answer is, of course, yes, but Jesus poses this as a question in order to encourage his disciples to constant watchfulness and prayer. • Help, LORD, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men. Everyone lies to his neighbour; their flattering lips speak with deception. • (Psalm 12:1-2).

37. The Journey to Jerusalem • Luke 18:9–14 - The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector

38. The Journey to Jerusalem • Luke 18:9–14 - The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector • This parable contrasts a Pharisee boasting in his self-righteousness and a tax collector confessing his sins and seeking God’s mercy.

39. The Journey to Jerusalem • 9To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: • Again, as in v.1, Luke interprets the parable before the parable itself is given.

40. The Journey to Jerusalem • To some who were confident of their own righteousness: • The audience addressed by the parable are probably Pharisees, who had an unrealistic sense of self-worth, as they took pride in outward conformity to many extra-biblical regulations but still had impure hearts.

41. The Journey to Jerusalem • Falsely confident of their own righteousness, they looked down on everybody else or treated others with contempt.

42. The Journey to Jerusalem • 10Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

43. The Journey to Jerusalem • 10Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. • Two men: • Jesus continued: There was a man who had two sons (Luke 15:11).

44. The Journey to Jerusalem • I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left. • (Luke 17:34–35).

45. The Journey to Jerusalem • Two men went up to the temple: • Even if a person is in Jerusalem, he or she still must go up to the temple, and down from there, because the temple was situated on an elevated mount, with the rest of Jerusalem below it.

46. The Journey to Jerusalem • Temple denotes the area surrounding Herod’s temple, including the Court of the Gentiles, in distinction from the temple building proper from which non-Jews were excluded.

47. The Journey to Jerusalem • The Pharisees were the most influential of the three major Jewish sects. • They taught on the need for meticulous observance of God’s laws and the additional traditions that they had added on to it.

48. The Journey to Jerusalem • A tax collector collects tolls, tariffs and customs, and were notoriously dishonest and despised. • They were employed by the Roman authorities, which made them even more unpopular.

49. The Journey to Jerusalem • 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men — robbers, evildoers, adulterers — or even like this tax collector.

50. The Journey to Jerusalem • Pharisee stood up: • Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” (Matthew 26:62).