Don't Shrink Back; Look to Me and Pray!

Today's Reading: Genesis 44-46, Luke 18

Luke 18:1
1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

Personalize it method (Rick Warren's 40 Days in the Word): Lord God, let me hear what you are saying to me in your Word today...amen.

Jeff see that I am sovereign and I will work my plan in your life.  It was not Joseph's brothers that put him in Egypt and I am always at work in your life to accomplish good individually and collectively...

Genesis 45:8
So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Genesis 50:20
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

So in everything I am at work Jeff.  Therefore you ought to be in prayer always.  I am always working...ought not you to be always praying?

Luke 18:1
1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

Jeff, see that parable here about the persistent widow comes at the conclusion of my Son's comments regarding the coming kingdom and the disciples question of how to endure in their faith in the face of temptation?

Luke 17:5
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “ Increase our faith!”

Luke 18:7-8
And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

From a sermon by John Piper on January 9, 1983-

Jesus' answer to the question how to endure to the end is, Pray! Pray! Pray! And don't grow weary of praying.

When Jesus asks at the end of verse 8 [Luke 18], "When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?" he means, "Will the Son of man find that his disciples have kept praying, or have lost heart and given up?" So the implication seems to be: prayer and faith stand and fall together. If we lose heart and drift away from prayer, then the Son of man will not find faith in us when he comes.

Two will be sleeping in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. And the test will not be whether you once walked an aisle, or prayed a prayer, or made a vow, or were baptized. The test will be whether you continued in prayer and did not lose heart. God's elect will most surely be saved; and, as verse 7 says, the sign of the elect is that they cry to God day and night. Those who endure to the end will be saved ( Matthew  24:13 ).

Somewhere along the way someone has put the deadly, unbiblical teaching into your head that you can be saved even if you don't persevere in prayer. But you can't.

Jeff, I have not called you to a starbucks christianity of comfort and convenience.  I am calling you to pray.  I am calling you to follow.  I am calling you to lead.  I am calling you to surrender. Do this with zeal...

Romans 12:11-12
Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Ephesians 6:17-18
and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Jeff, do not let your faith become cold. Pray. Confirm your calling and do not allow the world to ensnare you.  Keep out of the thorns Jeff...

Matthew 24:12-13
And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

See that you are not justified by the righteousness I work in you Jeff but solely and completely on the righteousness that is in my Son on your behalf. See the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector...

Luke 18:9-14
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “ Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘ God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get. ’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘ God, be merciful to me, a sinner! ’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

From a sermon by John Piper on August 6, 2006-

The Pharisee’s Problem The problem is not whether the man himself has produced the righteousness he has or whether God has produced it. The problem is: He trusts in it.

He is trusting in himself that he is righteous with the righteousness that God has worked in him. That is what he is trusting.

He was looking at the wrong person and the wrong righteousness.

I am pleading with you on behalf of Jesus this morning that for your justification you not look at or trust in what God has worked in you. But that you look at and trust in Christ alone and all that God is for you in him.

What did the tax collector do? He looked away from himself to God. He trusted in nothing in himself. He trusted in God. And Jesus said, “God declared him righteous in his law court.” That’s what “justified” means.

We are not justified by the righteousness that Christ works in us, but by the righteousness that Christ is for us.

Luke 18:17
Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

Jeff, know that riches are a difficult thing.  You must surrender everything to follow me...

Luke 14:33
So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

So see that the parable of the rich ruler exposes this truth that wealth is not the problem, the problem is an unwillingness to part with it...

Luke 18:22-25
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “ One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. 24 Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “ How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

Hear me Jeff, do not deceive yourself to think that you must merely keep wealth secondary to me in order to obey here.  Do you really honor me and seek me first by tithing 10% and then spending the remainder on your kingdom?  Do you love your neighbor as yourself?  Do I ask that you renounce ALL that you have or 10%?  See how it is difficult for a rich man to enter.  Abraham raised the knife to plunge it into Isaac and it was then that I stopped him.  Should it be different for you when you claim to put all of your financial resources at the alter? Or do you stop short of raising the knife? I might stop you...but I might not. Where is faith? Is it in the expected outcome? Remember Shadrach Meshack and Abednego. Difficult, even impossible to man, but not to God...

Luke 18:26-27
Those who heard it said, “ Then who can be saved?” 27 But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

Jeff, do not be counted with those that shrink back at my calling. Rather, endure and live by faith in me alone.

Hebrews 10:35-39
Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; 38 but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” 39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

Application:
Today I will put my faith in the Lord and His righteousness, not mine (Praise God!)
Today I will pray regarding all circumstances and consider everything part of His plan
Today I will rejoice and be fervent
Today I will watch out for the thorns
Today I will continue to examine financial surrender and consider the knife

Prayer:
Thank you again Lord for speaking to me in your Word. Please give me the faith and trust to make application and to be a doer. Please remove any trust I am putting in my performance and replace it with you Lord. Please give me peace in all circumstances that I may rest in your sovereign grace. Please give me joy today and let me be zealous for you. Please give me eyes to see the thorns Lord and let me not deceive myself. May I hear clearly what word you bring me by my fellow brothers in the event that you allow me to fool myself. Please continue the conversation on financial surrender and help me to know what it should look like in my family. Please do the work in me Lord that I may have faith at the day of your coming. Let me not shrink back, let me not trust myself, let me not fail to pray.

In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!
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