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parent from verse 8 where Christ puts the answer to the prayer at the time of His. second coming—“when the Son of man cometh.” 2. Furthermore, this view gives fresh .meaning to the saying of our Lord, “ Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" (v. 8). In the Greek there is a definite article before “ faith.” It is “ the faith.” This has led some to regard the passage as a reference to the abandonment of Christian faith in general just prior to Christ’s second coming. That there will be such an apostasy at the time is cer tainly evident from other scriptures. But the context of the above passage, I am convinced, indicates that “the faith” here refers to a specific kind of faith, namely, faith in our Lord’s imminent return. This is the particular point where faith will be found at the lowest ebb. 3. All this gives tremendous significance to the admonition of verse 1: “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” There is much praying today, even in modernistic churches, but there is a great dearth of the kind o f prayer Christ is talking about E-prayer for His personal return. One lexicon gives the meaning of the word “ faint” as “ to cave in.” In a word, to faint is to collapse. And that is exactly what has happened in many places. Men not only have ceased praying for the Lord’s coming, but they have ceased to believe in it. Their faith has utterly col lapsed. Let us who still believe be careful to “watch and pray." Golden Text Illustration A Scripture reader handed a leaflet to a Protestant, then to a Catholic, with the remark: “ You are a Roman Catholic, are you not?” “Yes,” he replied, frankly and earnestly, “but there is only one creed in the trenches) ‘God be merciful to me a sinner’ ” (Lk. 18:13).— 1,000 Tales Worth Telling, by Pickering. How Two Men Prayed L uke 18:1-14 Memory Verse: “The Lord will hear when I call unto him” (Psa. 4:3). r Approach: Jesus was talking to the people about prayer. Many times He told them about how to pray. He, Himself, often spent whole nights in prayer. This
other people because we obey Him? Do you think that this man was really praying when He talked to God like this? What is it to pray? When we pray, we tell God how much we love H im ; we thank Him for what He has done for u s; we ask Him for the things that we need; we ask Him to help others. Did the Pharisee do any of these things in His prayer? No, he did not, and Jesus told the people that the prayer of the publican, who knew that he was wicked and was sorry, was better than the prayer of this proud Pharisee. The publican stood and bowed his head and said, “God be merciful to me a sin ner.” Jesus said that this publican went back to his house knowing that God had heard and answered his prayer. But the Pharisee’s sins were not forgiven, because he did not ask God to forgive his sins. . Lesson:. Which one of these fountain pens would you choose with which to write a letter? I thought so. Most o f you would prefer the one with the gold bands. This is one time you guessed wrong, because you looked at the outward appearance. As I test these pens by attempting to write with them, you will discover the difference. The fancy one with the gold bands refuses to write. The other writes freely. What is wrong with the first one? “It has no ink.” Yes, you are right: It is not right on the inside. Now, I am going to tell you how these two pens are like people. Object Lesson P ens and P eople Objects: Two fountain pens, one fancy looking but empty, and the other common looking but filled with ink. -Lesson T ext: Lk. 19:1-10, 4S-48. Golden T ext: “Thou shalt not steal” (Ex. 20:15). Outline and Exposition I. T he P ublican S aved (1-10). J ericho (v. 1) was known as “the place of the curse.” But, as our lesson shows, grace was manifested there. Zaccheus (vs, 2-4) was a publican,- a chief one, who, at the expense of his fel low countrymen, had become rich through , his business of serving the Roman govern ment. The publicans were considered by other Jews to be beyond the reach of God’s blessing. Nevertheless, they exerted a certain influence because of the nature of their business, and they were feared by other men. But riches and prominence of position never can remove sin, nor relieve from the curse, nor satisfy the longing of the heart. Zaccheus’ desire to “see” Jesus led to his salvation; thus God uses even curiosity in order to bring spiritual life to the unregenerate. The Lord forces no one to choose Him. But when this man, small of stature, chose to climb the tree in order to see, God chose to pass that way in order to save. The salvation was accomplished in seemingly simple fashion (vs. 5, 6). When Jesus passed by, He looked up and saw
Christ once told about two men who went up into the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, a member of a group of Jews who seemed to be very religious. The other was a publican, a tax-gatherer for the Roman government. The Pharisee went through the form o f prayer, but we are told that he “prayed . . . with himself,” and not to God. The other man, who admitted and was;' sorry that he was a sinner, said: “God be merciful to me a sinner.” God heard and answered his prayer. What was the difference between these two men ? One was not right on the inside, and the other was. Now you can see how they were like these two fountain pens. I took the fancy pen and went through the motions of writing, but I could not write because there was something lacking on the inside. The inside o f the other was filled with ink, and it wrote. From the two men and the. two pens we find that prayer is not a mattef of forms and words, but o f the heart’s cry to God. Some people say prayers which are correct so far as words are concerned, but God does not hear and answer these prayers, because the people merely, are going through the motions, and are not really praying. what Zaccheus was as well as where he was. Christ saw in him a sinner afar off from God, and He called him to Himself. At once Zaccheus responded, came down in haste, and received the Lord joyfully (v. 6). Those who beheld this action began to murmur against Jesus (v. 7). While others “saw” and yet received no personal benefit, Zaccheus saw, responded, and was saved. The religion o f the critical Jews could not reach out to one who was known as a sinner. But the Lord Jesus would not —indeed, could not — refuse salvation to any one. Underneath the grasping, hard exterior of this publican, Jesus saw the longing of the heart to know God, and to experience the peace and joy that that knowledge brings. Jesus had come to seek and to save such as he—those who were lost. The salvation was acknowledged im mediately both by Zaccheus and the Lord (vs. 8-10). The proof that, in the case of this tax collector, salvation was genuine is found in what Zaccheus said he would do (v. 8). He declared that half of his goods he would give to the poor, and that he would make ample restoration of any thing that had been fraudulently acquired. He was not saved because of this action, but he would engage in it because he was* already saved. The deed was the outward manifestation of what had happened in his heart. He was now showing forth the fruit o f his salvation, revealing it by his works.
MAY 17, 1936 JESUS INSPIRES HONESTY L uke , C hapter 19
time Jesus told the people a b ou t two men who went up to the temple to pray. Lesson Story: One of the men was a P h a risee, a man who carefully kept all the Old Testa ment laws, and he thought that because he did this, he was pretty g ood . This
Pharisee stood up proudly and began to pray. He said something like this: “God, I thank Thee that I am not like other men. I’m not like this poor publican standing here. I keep all o f the laws. I give a tenth o f all of my money to Thee. I fast twice a week.” And that was all that the Phari see had to say to God. I wonder whether God was pleased with this man. It is true that he was obeying the law, and that is something that God wants us to do. But does God want us to boast about it, and to think that we are better than
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