When the Son of Man Comes,
Will He Find Faith on the Earth?
Luke 18:8
Rev. Brian Bill
11/11/07
Today is Veteran’s Day. Could I ask those of you who have served our country to please stand? Some of you have a son or daughter or spouse or parent in the service right now. Could you please stand as well so we can express our gratitude? I came across a very sad statistic this week. Did you know that one in four homeless people in the U.S. are vets, even though they make up only 11% of the population? By the way, one way to increase your awareness is by visiting the War Museum here in Pontiac.
Information like this is unsettling, and we’ve certainly been unsettled by some of things that the Savior has said in the Gospels during this series called, “What Jesus Wants to Know: Questions Christ Asked.” Here’s where we’ve been so far:
* Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?
* How many loaves do you have?
* Has it not been written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer?’
* Do you want to get well?
And today the question we’re going to ponder is a bit perplexing and certainly unsettling. Turn in your Bibles to Luke 18:8: “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
When Jesus looks at the church in America, what does He see right now? Have you ever wondered about the state of the church in our country today?
[Play “State of Church” video]
I read a study this week from SermonCentral.com in which this question was asked: “Do you think the church in America is appropriately reflecting the character of God?” Only 13% of the respondents said “yes.”
“When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” Three truths stand out to me from this question.
1. Christ is coming. Note that it doesn’t say “if” He comes, but “when” He comes. The Bible indicates that He will come “like a thief in the night,” when we least expect Him. If we back up a bit to Luke 17:26-28, while people are partying and thinking only of themselves, just like in the days of Noah, the Son of Man will come. It’s way too easy to play and not pray.
Friends, while we don’t know when Jesus is coming, we know He can come at any time. Having said that, Matthew 24:14 indicates that His return is somehow contingent on our obedience to the Great Commission: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
2. The faithful will be few. The question Jesus asks expects a negative answer. When Jesus returns will he find faith on the earth? He will find more people faltering than faithful. This reminds me of Psalm 12:1: “Help, Lord, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men.”
3. Persecution will be prevalent. We know from other passages that persecution will become prevalent the closer we get to Christ’s coming. Some of us have bought into the belief that once we have Jesus in our life, everything will go great. Maybe we’ve even thought that we should be successful and financially well off. Actually, the Bible says that the exact opposite will happen for those who honor and obey Christ. Listen to Acts 14:22: “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” Jesus never taught the “prosperity gospel,” but He did preach the “persecution gospel.” Matthew 5:10: “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
John Stott suggests that we should not be surprised if anti-Christian hostility increases, but rather be surprised if it does not. In John 15:20, Jesus said, “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” In John 16:33 He adds, “…In this world you will have trouble…” The Augsburg Confession defines the church as the community of those “who are persecuted and martyred for the gospel’s sake.” Speaking of their futures, in Matthew 24:9, Jesus told the disciples that they would face incredible struggles: “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.”
2 Timothy 3:12 says, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Could it be that the American church in general, does not face persecution like believers in other countries do, because we are not living godly lives? Philippians 1:29: “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him.” When Paul wrote to the young church in Thessalonica, he reminded them that Timothy was sent to them, “so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. You know quite well that we were destined for them. In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know” (1 Thessalonians 3:3-4). Peter, after witnessing all that Jesus went through, wrote in 1 Peter 4:12: “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.”
Today is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Since Christ is coming again, how can we help the faithful few who are being persecuted for their faith around the world? Actually, there’s more than just a few who are being persecuted. Many estimate that there are up to 200 million suffering Christians around the world today.
On behalf of the other pastors and their families, we want to say thanks for the amazing pastor appreciation gift. In commenting on this, Beth mentioned that it’s humbling to have a whole month for pastor appreciation in our country when in other countries there is “pastor assassination.” Like our vets who often get ignored, we can no longer ignore the plight of the persecuted.
“When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
Part of our problem as American believers is that we’ve become so spiritually soft that we don’t take what is happening to other believers seriously. As we saw in the opening video, church is not all that important to a lot of people here. Pastor Jeff told me about a PBC teenager who, after viewing a DVD with the other students about the underground church in Vietnam, said something like this: “Nobody really cares. Were they really listening?” I believe that this church cares…we just need to be informed, reminded and mobilized.
In light of that, we’re going to watch a reenactment produced by the Voice of the Martyrs called “Sarah’s Blood.” I want to warn you ahead of time that because this is based on a true story, it is intense and quite graphic. I strongly encourage parents with young children to step out. You may want to just go into the old kitchen so you can still hear the words and then come back in when it’s over in seven minutes.
Video: “Sarah’s Blood”
Application/Testimony (Beth Bill)
Watching that DVD bothers me. For one, it confronts me with my greatest fear: that of denying Christ. It pushes me to wrestle with the inequity of life. I don’t get it. Here in the US we are free to worship Christ, read and distribute Bibles and share Christ with anyone. Why do I get to live here? I am confronted with my angry feelings toward those who persecute believers, and yet I’m challenged to obey Jesus’ words to pray for and love our enemies. And then there is a part of me that would like to ignore this information, or just deny its reality.
I struggle reconciling my freedom with the severe consequences Christians face in other countries. But God doesn’t struggle with reconciling. In fact, please listen to 2 Corinthians 5, starting in v.18: “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.”
I love these verses! They tell us that God gave us the message of Christ’s love and that as His ambassadors; we are to tell the world! And in August of 1988 I wrote here in the margin, “This is my life purpose!” Actually about 10 years earlier at age 16, I dedicated myself to God’s missionary work. I had always loved hearing missionary stories and about people coming to Christ and was fascinated by God’s work around the world. Finally in 1996 when I was 33, our family left for Mexico City to be missionaries. I could not have been happier and more fulfilled. However, shortly before completing 3 years there, it was necessary for us to come back to the U.S. During these years of living in Pontiac, I have often wondered if I could somehow be a small part of God’s global ministry again. It has just been in the past year or so that God has shown me that “Yes!” I could still be His ambassador.
So back to this DVD about persecution…Do I really need to know about it? Do I really need to respond? Yes, I need to know…I need to respond. The Bible says that Christians worldwide belong to the same Father. We belong to Him and to each other. We are sisters and brothers because we are in the same family! When one part suffers, the whole suffers. Hebrews says that we are to remember those being mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
So what can I do? Pray! This last year, I’ve been receiving a prayer bulletin from Open Doors USA. (Show and explain). They need for us to care about them, to pray for their strength, to pray that they continue to be loving and strong witnesses in their countries. Paul said in Philippians that he hoped his chains would serve to advance the gospel. What a great prayer request: that suffering would be used to actually spread the good news of Jesus Christ and that more people would become Christians! What about praying that they would be able to forgive and love their persecutors? What about praying for the salvation of persecutors? I count it a great privilege to pray for these saints. I beg you to pray more for them. The believers “over there” are asking us “over here” to pray for them. Let’s pray that their lives would be a strong witness of God’s amazing love. Let’s love them with prayer.
Another way to respond is to learn! There is a great big world out there and that world matters to God and it should matter to me and to you. It is so exciting and interesting to learn about what God is doing around the globe. *Look at your brochure: you can send in this card to receive a free book and learn more. What a thrill to learn firsthand from our own missionaries about God’s loving work in people. For more information, check out this website: www.persecution.com.
And speaking of missionaries, we have the opportunity to pray for them as well. They often minister in the midst of strong opposition too. Let’s pray that they don’t get weary and keep sharing Christ. What a privilege to intercede for our own missionaries. How amazing to be here in central Illinois and pray to God Almighty on behalf of Christians on the other side of the globe and then to hear how God is working things out for His glory.
The third way to respond is to get involved. There are so many things we can do. Our family learned about a project called Bibles Unbound. The purpose of BiblesUnbound is to send Bibles to specific recipients in countries where the Bible is restricted, confiscated and even destroyed. Each month we receive 5 new testaments, envelopes and addresses of 5 recipients. We package them up, pray over them and send them back to a distribution center that sends them off to China. It is then our privilege to pray that God would get these Bibles into the hands of the intended recipients. I can’t even describe the measure of joy I have sending the Bibles, praying for these people I’ll probably never know who Lord-willing will read God’s truth and become Christians and grow in their faith. In our struggle against the evil one, who wants to eliminate God’s truth and His people, it’s humbling and a delight to send Bibles to those who desperately need His love and life-changing truth. For more information, here’s a website: www.biblesunbound.com.
I know that reading about persecuted believers is overwhelming and breaks our hearts. I cry frequently for them. But we can’t let that stop us from caring and praying for them. Let’s use our religious freedom and resources for others and to glorify God in His church.
“When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
The context in which today’s question comes relates to an account of a widow who practiced persistent prayer in Luke 18:1-8: “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: ‘In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, 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!’ And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. 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? 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?”
Let me quickly share some principles from this passage.
1. The purpose behind this parable is for us to be persistent in our praying. Its stated right at the beginning: “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” Notice that “she kept coming” and “bothering” and was starting to “wear him out.”
2. We will become persistent when we realize there are no other solutions. She had no other recourse. Friends, we won’t pray until we recognize our desperate need. Some of us don’t pray simply because we don’t think we need to.
3. God is never bothered by believers and will not put off persistent prayers. He is not at all like this unjust judge.
4. Persistence shows how much we love those who are persecuted. We are to “cry out to Him day and night.” I heard someone say that we should practice P.U.S.H. prayers – Pray Until Something Happens.
5. Delay doesn’t mean denial. Jesus will come and bring justice. Don’t become weary in your waiting.
6. Persistent prayer honors God because it expresses our complete dependence on Him. When we’re relentless in our requests we demonstrate our reliance on God.
7. The main thing Jesus looks for is faith. Remember that we don’t need a lot. All we need is a little faith in a big God. The question really is this: Am I fervent or am I faint in prayer?
Prayer Time
We’re going to spend some time praying right now. You’ll see nine different slides appear on the screen, with each one highlighting a prayer request from a specific country. Hebrews 13:3: “Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” Let’s pray…and then determine to persist in our praying every day.
We honored vets at the beginning. I wonder how many of you are ready to serve in the spiritual battle. Are you ready to be counted? “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” The key issue is not whether we can wait until Jesus returns; the real question is whether or not He will find us faithful when He comes back.
There are really three questions to ponder in this passage.
* Will not God bring about justice? The answer is yes.
* Will God keep putting us off? The answer is no.
* Will the Son of Man find faith on the earth? This answer is yet to be determined.
Here’s a probing question. If Jesus were to come back today, would he find you living out your faith? Are you a born again believer? If you’re saved, have you been baptized? If not, why not? Our next baptism service will be held on Sunday, December 2nd. Baptism is a biblical way to express your obedience. In many countries to be baptized is the equivalent of signing a warrant for your death. Are you ready to die to self and live for the Savior?
Listen to the words of Jesus to the church of Sardis in Revelation 3:2-3: “Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.” If you’re ready to remember the persecuted and you’re committed to live out your faith with fervor as you pray with persistence, would you please stand right now? We’re going to conclude our service by singing this chorus: “I Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb.”
Closing Chorus: “I Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb”
