Welcome to Waymaker Church! We are so excited to have you join us today! We exist to Encounter, Live for, and Advance the Kingdom of God!

If you wouldn’t mind, go ahead and turn in your bibles to Luke 18 and we will be there here shortly.

But as we dive into today’s message, I have 3 parables I’m going to dive into.

The first two are prayer parables. Then the last one is a parable that ties into Jesus’ instruction. That parable will be in Luke 6 if you want to mark that for later.

But before we get into the word, let’s pray...

Now as we dive into the word, I want to set the setting for the next two parables.

By a reading of Luke 17:11-12 and 18:31, it would appear that Jesus and His disciples are enroute, through Samaria and Galilee, to Jerusalem. During the course of the journey, Jesus healed ten lepers, answered questions of the Pharisees about the Kingdom of God, and also spoke of His second coming. It is out of this setting the parable arises as he is speaking to his disciples.

Parable of the Persistent Widow
Basic Elements of the story

Now, one thing nice about this particular parable is Jesus himself gives us the moral of the story, and we will get to that shortly, but let’s quickly look at some key players.
1. Judge - The purpose of judges in Israel was to rule with fairness, fearing God and being impartial in their judgments. Justice and mercy were to be the scales of their judgments. They were to be just as God is just in all of His judgements
2. Unjust Judge - Jesus made it clear that this particular judge didn’t care for God’s ways or for people. This is a pointed proclamation that he was against the 10 commandments. The first four are declarative of our relationship with God. the last 6 are declarative of our relationship with people. To this judge, business was business, period.
3. A widow - The OT abounds with laws God had given for the protection and care of widows in Israel. This particular one had an adversary and needed justice. According to the law, there was Divine judgment on any who oppressed the widow and the fatherless. The very fact she was a widow should have moved the judge to action.
4. An adversary - The widow had an adversary… we don’t have a lot of detail here, but there was an enemy involved that required legal help.
5. Persistent widow - she came persistently and consistently appealing for justice. This was actually a quality Jesus was commending.
6. Avenging Judge - Though the judge would not listen to her for awhile, he was eventually worn out with her PERSISTENCY!!

Practical Application
In verses, 7–8, the moral and practical application of the parable is seen. If the unjust judge eventually responded to the widows, persistent appeals, how much more will God, the judge of all mankind, respond to his people?
God's people are his very own elect, elect according to the foreknowledge of God (one, Peter 1:2). God is the divine and righteous Judge, the judges of the earth may be human and unjust. The elect cry out to him, day and night, continually praying for him to answer their prayers.

Jesus told his disciples they should always pray in faint not. Come continually to the Father God, as the widow to the judge. Do not give up. Keep persevering in prayer.

It is worthy to note the Lord's question as he closes off the parable. The amplified New Testament says, "However when the son of man comes, will he find persistence in the faith on the Earth?" Some expositors will answer in the negative, while some in the positive. The answer is, He will find faith in his elect, the true church, while unbelief abounds in the earth.

Moral
Jesus himself provides the moral of the parable for us, as he does, in most of the parables in Luke's Gospel. The moral is found in verses, 7-8. By means of the parable, he shows that God is far more willing to avenge his elect and answer prayer, though he is long-suffering in dealing with mankind. However, prayer should be consistent and persistent, and the one who prays must not become faint-hearted because God does not instantly answer their prayers. One must pray constantly (1 Thessalonians 3:10; Ephesians 5:18).

Jesus is calling us to persistent prayer .

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14)

Jesus immediately jumps into the next parable as it was part of his teaching moment. He often did this to really drive a point home. (The Lost coin, the lost sheep, the lost son) ((The kingdom of heaven is like…)). Now, keep in mind that Jesus had quite the entourage at this juncture. We know the names of the 12 disciples, but we also see that there was a slew of others that were with them that we “knowest not thereof.” A prime example of that understanding is seen in Acts 1 when Matthias replaces Judas. One of the prerequisites from Peter was given in vs 21 (Acts 1:21
Acts 1:21 NLT
21 “So now we must choose a replacement for Judas from among the men who were with us the entire time we were traveling with the Lord Jesus—

So, with that in mind, Jesus is talking to his disciples/followers. Not simply the 12 but those who are with Jesus. And in that, we see a direct teaching on some attitudes Jesus saw present.

Key Elements
Again Jesus gives us the moral of the story… But let’s look at the breakdown really quick.

1. Two Men
a. A Pharisee - separatist of Christ’s time. They had actually become a reformation movement, to uphold the holiness of God, and separation from the evils of the time. Over the years, the pharisee’s had digressed into externalism, formalism, and legalism (all show, no heart.) Jesus saw them as ‘white-washed tombs’. They were “white-washed” but they weren’t “washed white!” Christ’s greatest denunciations were given upon the scribes and the Pharisees for their hypocritical self-righteousness. (Matt 23)
b. A tax collector (publican) - These tax collectors were Jews that the Romans employed to collect taxes from their own Jewish brethren for the Roman empire. They were hated by their fellow Jews and looked upon as traitors for working for the Romans. More than often, they overtaxed their fellow Jews and pocketed the extra taxes for their own benefit. When Zaccheus, a tax collector, came to Jesus, he promised to make fourfold restitution of all the excess taxes he had robbed of his own people. Salvation came to his house (Luke 19:1–9). Zaccheus was a chief among the tax collectors or publicans.

2. The Temple - the center of priestly ministrations, sacrifices and offerings. The temple was the focal and binding power of the Jewish nation as they would live and die for the protection of the temple and it’s priestly services.

3. Time of Prayer - Acts 3 points to a daily 3pm prayer service that Peter and John went to. Solomon’s prayer when the temple was dedicated was that it would be a house of prayer for all nations. In the parable we have 2 kinds of prayers that were offered up before God. Undoubtedly the Pharisee prayed in the court of the temple , not the court of the priests nor
14 the court of the gentiles.

4. The Prayers
a. Pharisee’s Prayer - It’s worthy of much attention, for it isn’t the kind of prayer that the Lord in heaven wouldn’t want to hear. Note the words and motives of his prayer.
i. He stood and prayed with himself. That is, in a class by himself. He stood alone and aloof. He prayed about himself. it was the custom to stand and pray. Sometimes Jews would prostrate themselves.
ii. He began his prayer with “God...” but that was the only place “God” had in it.
iii. He prayed a very self-centered prayer, filled with his own self-righteousness. Five times he mentions the self pronoun “I”. I thank you God, I am not like them, I fast, I tithe, I posses (my income)
1. His prayer is reminiscent of Lucifers words in Isaiah 14:12-14. Five times in 3 verses, Lucifer (satan) expresses His Will
a. I will ascend into heaven (self-ascension)
b. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God (Self-exaltation)
c. I will sit on the mount of the congregation in the north (Self-enthronement)
d. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds (self-glorification)
e. I will be like the Most High [God] (Self-deification)
2. The Pharisee moves from the negative (what he doesn’t do and doesn’t like) to the positive (what he does and is like.) He also sees two classes of people.
iv. Interesting fact… the Law of God only recognizes one official national day of fasting. The day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:27) It does confirm the tithe many times over both new and old testament and we see that the Pharisee gave more than what was necessary. He was an overachiever… But
v. The whole prayer was self righteous and arrogant. Paul dealt with this idea in Phil 3 where he states that your righteousness isn’t by the works of the law. But the pharisees stayed in that thought process and wouldn’t budge on righteousness by faith in Jesus.
1. There was no confession in the pharisee’s prayer… just a list of all his good deeds. And these things are good things in God’s sight, but all done out of the wrong motives and from a position of works before God.
b. Tax Collectors Prayer - what a contrast to the Pharisee’s prayer. As a tax-collector, he was counted as a renegade Jew, a traitor to his people, working for Rome.
i. He stands far off. Most likely in the court of the gentiles. He doesn’t feel he can draw near to God.
1. Israel was a people near to God.
2. Gentiles were a people far off...
ii. He wouldn’t life his eyes. (pharisee stood… tax collector wouldn’t even look up). No arrogance here, but self-effacement and humility of prayer.
iii. He smote or beat upon his chest, the place of the human heart. (Remorse, contrition [sorrow for things done], self-abasement [looking foolish, belittling, humiliation of oneself]) he wasn’t worried about what others thought… he simply
iv. Prayed a simple but powerful prayer. “God be merciful to me, a sinner.”
1. The tax collectors prayer begins with God and ends with his acknowledgement of being a sinner. In between in those 7 words we see the word merciful.
2. Greek word is “hilaskomi” and means to “atone for sin, be propitious.” English translates it to “be merciful, make reconciliation for”. The inter-realted words are propitiation (1 John 2:2; 4:10) and “mercy-seat”.
3. His prayer literally said, “God be the mercy seat to me, a sinner.”
4. That whole thought brings one to the ark of the covenant and the blood-stained mercy seat. This is where the blood of the sacrifices was sprinkled. God communicated to His people, by the High priest, off that blood-stained mercy seat. God has nothing to say apart from the blood.
5. The tax collector recognizes his need for the mercy of God. For God to be gracious to him… to be reconciled through atonement, by means of a blood-stained mercy seat. The NT clearly shows that Jesus Christ is our “propitiation,” our living sacrifice in place of us… our mercy seat. We come to God by him and him alone.

5. The End Result - Jesus explained
a. Tax Collector went home, Justified by God, and being that he humbled himself, he was exalted.
b. The Pharisee went home justified in himself, therefor he condemned himself and degraded his title.

Practical Application
The message is simple. A person must be willing to humble himself before God. He must come in a spirit of contrition (remorseful). There must always be that recognition of the need for the blood-stained mercy-seat of God. Justification before God is by the mercy of God, a humble and contrite spirit, confession of sin, and faith towards God. There is no self-trust. There is no self-righteous attitude. There is no despising of others. There is no comparison of self with others.

These things are the characteristics of the religious yet unregenerate sinners who find no acceptance before God.

Moral
The reason for this parable is given in verse 9. Jesus spoke this parable to those who:
a. trusted in themselves – self-trust.
b. That they were righteous – self-righteous
c. Despised others – self-conceit

The pharisee emulated these attitudes, whereas the tax collector emulated the desire of God’s heart.

So the moral is... anyone who exalts himself, like the Pharisee, shall be discredited and brought down before God. Anyone who humbles himself, like the tax collector, shall be exalted and brought up before God.

Jesus is calling us to be persistent
Jesus is calling us to stay humble

And our last parable of the day is this

The Parable of the Wise and the Foolish Builders (Luke 6:46-49)

So the first two parables gave explicit instruction on prayer… be persistent and stay humble. We can easily say, “well, duh. I know that.” But the question is, do we live it out?

Many of you will know this parable, but let’s still dive in. Know that the explanation of this parable will be significantly shorter than the other two. So, hit pause on thinking about lunch and stay with me for a few more minutes.

Key Elements
This message was at the tail end of the sermon on the mount (or as Luke calls it, the sermon on the plain). I guess it depends on where you heard it from. Jesus was on the side of the mount; the people were on the plain listening. It was a natural amphitheater of a sort. I digress...

When it comes to this parable, there are a lot of similarities between the two builders Wise and foolish… which tells us that
1. All are building - everyone is building something… whether it’s a life, a family, a home, a character, a business, you name it… all are building
2. All are either wise or foolish - There are so many scriptures that allude to the wise and foolish we could spend all day here. As we have already seen, the test here had to do with their foundation.
a. Side note on Wisdom Proverbs 24:3-4
Proverbs 24:3–4 (NLT)
3 A house is built by wisdom and becomes strong through good sense (knowledge). 4 Through knowledge its rooms are filled with all sorts of precious riches and valuables.
b. Knowledge is the acquisition of facts - observation
c. Understanding is the explanation of facts - interpretation
d. Wisdom is the application of facts - application
3. All are building a house
a. symbolic in scripture of peoples lives, families, NT church...
4. Building houses - consist of 3 things (Foundations, Walls, Roof)
a. Foundation
i. Proper foundations change the support for the structure and the roof.
ii. The word is our foundation. Christ is the living word
iii. Jesus must be our foundation in all things
b. Walls/structure
i. A good framework allows for the ability to withstand storms
1. i.e. Noah’s ark - God gave a framework
2. i.e. Tabernacle of Moses - a pattern for God’s house
3. i.e. The Law - pattern for a relationship with God
ii. The wise man builds his life on the pattern of God’s word to withstand the storms.
c. Roof - proper covering
i. Not everything can withstand the elements. The proper covering keeps out the elements to protect those inside.
5. Three-fold test of the house (Floods, Winds, Rains)
a. Floods - test the foundation. in today’s world, there are floods of evil philosophies that ravage the world: socialism, atheism, humanism, new-ageism, and numerous other self seeking satanic philosophies that attack the very foundations of civilization. A wise man makes sure that their foundations are right in order to withstand the floods of the enemy.
b. Winds - test the structure. Think of it, we have tornadoes and hurricanes that test the structures of buildings. Will the walls stand? We are called to strong biblical structure.
c. Rains - test the covering. Covering speaks of protection, preservation and oversight.
It’s not “IF” the storms/rains/floods of life come, it’s when… and the condition of our homes will become evident in those moments.

Application
Though many lessons could be taken here, the real issue and application is obedience to Christ’s words. It is being a Hearer and Doer of the sayings of Jesus.

The Bible shows us several things relative to the Word of God that believers are called to do.

Believers are called to
1. Read the Word ( Deut 17:10 , 1 Timothy 4:3)
2. Hear the Word (Revelation 1:3)
3. Study the Word (2 Timothy 2:15)
4. Meditate on the Word (Psalm 1:1-3; 119:15,23,48)
5. Remember the Word (Numbers 15:37-41)
6. Learn the Word (Psalm 119:71,73)
7. Preach the Word (2 Timothy 4:1-4)
a. But most important of all...
8. Obey the Word (Ezekiel 33:30-33; Luke 6:46-47; Revelation 1:3; John 13:17; Matthew 23:1-3; 7:24-27)

1 Samuel 15:22 NLT
22 But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.
a. Jesus even quotes 1 Samuel 15:22’s idea driving this point home in

Mark 12 stating that we should love the Lord our God with all understanding and with all strength, and to love our neighbor as oneself, is much more than the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

b. Again, we see it in Matthew 12:7
Matthew 12:7 NLT
7 But you would not have condemned my innocent disciples if you knew the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’
i. Jesus is saying… see the structure and foundation of what is actually written! Obey the Word!

c. And what does John 14:15 say?
John 14:15 NLT
15 “If you love me, obey my commandments.

Moral
One must truly hear the words of Jesus. Bibilcal hearing = obedience. The wise and foolish man both hear the same word… in this case, it was the sermon's conclusion on the mount. It was the laws of the kingdom of God. One heard and obeyed; one did not.

Obedience determines whether we are a wise builder or a foolish one.
1. hear and do
2. hear and ignore

Moral - The foundation of a person's life is obedience to the word of God.

Jesus is calling us to be persistent
Jesus is calling us to be humble
Jesus is calling us to obedience

Conclusion
So, what do we do with this knowledge?

Are we persistent?
Do we continue to seek the face of the father even when he doesn’t perform to the fullest extent of our demands or standards?

Are we humble?
If our prayers were answered, does anyone benefit but you?
Kingdom isn’t about us? Even most of our prayer for others are usually graded in value by how much that person means to us.

Are we obedient?
Do we hear and do? or...
Do we hear and ignore?