For the last few weeks, across 16 or so chapters,
we have been following or trying to follow the
way of Jesus through the gospel of Luke. And
this morning, we follow Jesus to Jerusalem, the
holy city. At the time Jesus enters Jerusalem,
he's already proven himself to be more than just
a rabbi. He's proven to be more than just a good
teacher. He's done miracles. He's taught things
that nobody could explain by earthly means. And
he's not only taught and done things that were
otherworldly, he's claimed to be otherworldly.
He's claimed to be God, the Son of God, the Messiah,
the Savior that the Jews have been waiting for.
And he's proven it. So far, he has proven to
be the long -awaited Savior. He's fulfilled a
lot of these prophecies. He's lived the life
that they would expect from their Savior. So
as he arrives to Jerusalem, the response of the
crowd is as intense as you would imagine it would
be for a people that are now receiving this thousands
of years -awaited Savior. The crowds shout. I
want you to read this boldly with me. Blessed
is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And
they celebrate just as we would, just loudly
and proudly. Just imagine if like your favorite
celebrity came to town or they came into your
business, they came into your restaurant, whatever
it is, and you saw them and they came up and
talked to you. You would be awestruck. And maybe
if we knew they were coming, we would have like
a parade going ready for them to come into town.
You think about like your favorite sports team
when they win a championship and they come back
from wherever the championship was and people
meet them at the airport celebrating, shouting,
proclaiming their victory. That's what's happening
here. The crowds are declaring victory. They're
declaring glory because the king has arrived.
But we have to realize that this is the same
crowd. that in just a few short days, after Jesus
arrives in their town, will cry crucify. This
is the same crowd that would gladly cheer for
his arrest, the same crowd that would put him
forward to be beaten. They're chanting victory
and glory today, but in just a few short days.
they will be singing an entirely different tune.
The voices right now that are praising him, they'll
go silent. The crowds that are currently following
him and cheering for him, they will run far away.
The same people celebrating him, they're going
to be the ones that go off into hiding. The same
ones that will pretend that they never knew him.
And knowing that part of the story, after seeing
what Jesus taught them and knowing that he had
tried to prepare them, I asked the question,
where is the faith? You see, when Jesus is coming
into the holy city, after all the great things
he had done, after all the amazing things he
said, everything was sunshine and roses. But
now when the adversity, when the persecution
starts to approach, when it hits, we're nowhere
to be found. And I want you to think about your
life, your faith journey, your walk with God.
It's easy right now to sing praises. It's easy
to say, we love you, Lord. It's easy to declare
how good God is. But when life hits you, when
things get hard, when society makes it questionable
to be a follower of Jesus, where is your faith?
When you're challenged, where is your faith?
See, when Jesus is coming into the holy city
after all the great things he had done, it was
good. But what happens after that? When life
gets complicated? Is it possible that we as followers
of Jesus find it easy to celebrate him without
actually being faithful to him? Now that can
be kind of troubling to think about. So I do
want to offer some good news. The good news is
that none of this surprises Jesus. None of it
is surprising to him that the same people that
could cheer him on will be the same ones that
would offer him up to death. The same people
that will follow him are not going to be faithful
to him. That's not surprising to him. Before
he entered Jerusalem, he had been preparing the
disciples for this very moment. He had taught
them what it meant and what it looked like to
be faithful, even under not so great circumstances.
I want us to go back a couple of chapters. and
go back to some moments leading up to this scene
here in Jerusalem. And we'll start in Luke 18,
verses 1 through 8. In Luke 18, verses 1 through
8, Jesus tells a story about a widow. And this
widow keeps coming back over and over and over
again to a judge, and she refuses to give up.
She's seeking justice from this judge who wasn't
exactly a follower of God, and he wasn't really
a kind guy. So this is like if Kristen Stanley
was the judge. Not very nice. A little bit mean,
hard to deal with. She gave me permission to
say that. She did not. So if I ever get in trouble
and have to go see her, you'll know what happened.
But seriously, this is a not so nice judge. But
this woman, she keeps going back to the judge
seeking justice. And here's what Jesus says happens.
For a while, he, the judge, refused. But afterward,
he said to himself, though I neither fear God
nor respect man. Yet because this widow keeps
bothering me, I will give her justice so that
she will not beat me down by her continual coming.
And Jesus explains the relevance here to those
who are listening. And this is what he says in
verses seven through eight. Will not God give
justice to his elect who cry to him day and night?
Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he
will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless,
when the son of man comes, will he find faith
on earth? Jesus is teaching them about persistence.
He's teaching them about not giving up, about
not quitting when it gets hard. He's telling
them that faith isn't so quick to give up. And
I want you to notice, he isn't making it sound
like life is or life will be easy, but what he
is saying is because God is faithful, because
God is faithful to do right by his people, by
those that follow him, by those who he has redeemed,
made right. Justice will be served to the faithful
because our God is faithful. And I love that
question that he asked at the end, but it's also
kind of troubling for me where Jesus says, will
the son of man find faith on earth? What he's
saying is, will he find people? Will he find
people that trust? And what he's not asking is,
are there going to be people that believe right
now? Because while Jesus is sitting with them,
while Jesus is in their presence teaching them,
it's easy to believe in him. It's easy to believe
in the guy that's healing people that can't walk
and healing people that can't see. It's easy
to believe in the guy that shows compassion and
shows love to the outcast, to the widow. It's
easy to believe and trust and follow that guy.
But is it easy to trust and follow the guy who
is hanging on a cross? Is it easy to trust the
one who is dead, laying in a tomb? You see, this
week, we look at this life of Jesus and we see
on Palm Sunday where he enters Jerusalem and
people cheer his victory. And then just a few
days later, he gives his life and he dies and
nobody wants to be known as a follower. of Jesus
because it's not safe. It doesn't make sense
to follow someone who has been killed when they
thought he was coming to be a king. And so Jesus
says, yeah, you trust me right now, but will
you trust me down the line when it's hard? Will
your faith last over time? Because we know we'll
have trouble in this life. Maybe you're in a
spot right now where you are experiencing trouble.
There's uncertainty. Maybe you're seeking justice
because someone did something wrong to you. Maybe
you're seeking healing and you've been praying
and praying and praying, but you're not feeling
it. You aren't seeing the results and you just
wonder, should I give up? And what Jesus is saying
is, no, you've got to hold on. Faith is understanding
that you have to hold on because our God is faithful.
And you may not see it right now. You may not
see it a week from now, but he will do right.
And not only is faith persistent, not only does
faith hold on, but faith is humble. I want you
to look at Luke 18 verses 9 through 14 with me.
We see Jesus contrasting these two men that are
praying. And on one hand, you've got a very confident
man who wants to tell you about all the good
things he's done. And well, he's talking to God,
but he's saying it so loudly that everybody can
hear it. And he is a good guy. At least that's
what he wants you to hear. And then you've got
the other guy who's not so confident. He's a
little bit more maybe shameful. He understands
that he isn't capable of as much good. He understands
that he is fully dependent on the mercy of God.
You've got one guy who's a religious leader.
He's described as a Pharisee, and he's telling
God about all this good. And you have the other
guy who's this scummy tax collector. Not my description.
And here's what Jesus says the tax collector
was doing. But the tax collector standing far
off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven,
but he beat his breast saying, God, be merciful
to me, a sinner. Do you see the difference in
these two men? Do you see the difference between
the confidence of one man, the boldness of one
man to say, I'm good and I've done good, and
the other man who says, I just need help. I just
need mercy. And I think Jesus sees the difference.
You can imagine this because he says in Luke
18, verse 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.
You see, none of us are able to impress God.
None of us are able to prove anything to God.
None of us are able to give enough. We're not
able to earn enough. We're not able to prove
ourselves worthy or good enough. So having faith
is looking to God, trusting that he will look
upon us with mercy. It's letting go of my own
ability, letting go of my own status and my own
qualifications and understanding, God, I just
need you to do the work. Because I am just a
sinner. I'm just a wicked person. I'm just a
human. I'm incapable of saving myself. I have
no ability to redeem myself. I can't heal myself.
I can't make myself right. God, only you can.
And so we look to God, trusting. And I think
that's exactly why Jesus follows this by saying
this in Luke 18 verse 17. Truly I say to you,
whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like
a child shall not enter it. Faith is humble.
Faith realizes that I've got no ability. And
maybe you understand this concept of a child
because you have a baby. And a baby can't feed
itself, it has to be fed. And a baby can't get
up and go to the bathroom, it needs its diaper
changed. And a baby can't put a blanket on itself.
A baby can't go and do for itself. And even as
the baby gets older, it becomes a five -year
-old and it still needs help. And it becomes
an eight -year -old and it still needs help.
And maybe you've got a 16, 17 -year -old in your
house and you realize they still need help. And
maybe you can relate to this when you were in
college or you were just starting out on your
own and you were calling home to mom and dad
because you still needed help. And that's what
I see when Jesus says, receive the kingdom of
God like a child. Understand that you can't do
for yourself. You can't make this kingdom happen.
You can't establish this kingdom. You need God.
And so we look at faith and we say faith understands
that it needs to hold on. And faith understands
that it needs to be able to let go and let God.
Faith is humble. It's dependent on God's grace.
It's dependent on God's mercy, on God's might.
Essentially, faith knows when to let go and let
God. And you see, when we put the parable of
the persistent widow and we put the parable of
the men praying together, you see this example.
Faith is holding on to what we believe and being
able to let go and let God handle what we can't.
We get to Luke 19 verse 13. And we see this story
of a man who he has servants and he's going to
go away. He's a very noble man. That's what scripture
calls him. He's going to go away. So before he
leaves, he calls 10 of his servants in. He gives
them 10 minus. He gives them responsibility.
He gives them a job to do. And he entrusts them
with this. And so he leaves. Well, he comes back
and he wants to see what his men did with what
they were entrusted. And you have a few men and
what they did was they invested and they kind
of made the money work, right? They did something
with it. But you had one man and he didn't really
do anything with it. He just kind of trusted
or really he lacked trust. And so he was thinking,
okay, if I just hold on to the 10, if I don't
lose it, then we're good. And so the man comes
back and he wants to see what his servants did
with what they were entrusted with. And he commends
the men that made something happen with what
they were entrusted with. And then he kind of
rebukes the one who did nothing, who sat on his
hands. And this is what scripture says, calling
10 of his servants, he gave them 10 minus and
said to them, engage in business until I come.
He gave them a responsibility. Faithfulness is
about being steady in the work that God has already
placed in our hands. It's trusting. that when
he returns, he will find us working in faith,
not working to earn anything, but working because
he's given us responsibility. From the beginning
of time, man has had work to do. When God put
man in the garden, he gave man a job. And so
when Jesus comes and he establishes his kingdom
and he gives us the gospel, he gives us these
blessings, he says, I need you to work until
I come back. And so again, he's telling you,
I'm going somewhere. I'm leaving. But I'm going
to come back. And when I come back, just like
he said in Luke 18, will the Son of Man find
faith on earth? Luke 19 verse 17 is what we want
to hear. It's what we all hope to hear when Jesus
comes back. And I want you to think about your
life and the way you're living today. The way
you are treating what you've been entrusted with,
the influence you have, the people you have around
you that you've been trusted to take care of,
to show love to, the people you work with, the
job that you have, the resources that you have.
And I want you to ask yourself, when Jesus comes
back, will he say, well done, good servant? Because
you have been faithful in a very little, you
shall have authority over 10 cities. Now, I don't
know that when we get to heaven, God is going
to put us in charge over cities. I don't know
that God's going to give us these places to rule
over. But what I do know is that God is going
to make one of two judgments. He's either going
to say, well done, good servant, or he's going
to say, what in the world were you doing? What
did you think I gave you the money for? What
did you think I gave you the influence for? What
did you think I gave you the people for? What
did you think I gave you this life for? And you
look at our life here in America, we are very,
very blessed. We are among the richest people
in the world. And so when Jesus comes back, he's
going to look at us and he's going to say, what
did you do with the blessings that you had? You
look at America, we are among the freest people
in the world. We have no worries about proclaiming
the gospel. We don't have to worry about sharing
the good news. And so he's going to look back
and he's going to say, what'd you do with the
freedom you had? Why didn't you share the gospel
with more people? You had so much ability to
plant seeds, but you just sat at home and you
just sat in a pew. What were you doing? And so
ask yourself, when Jesus comes back, will he
say you were faithful with what you had? Or will
he say, you just sat on your hands? You see,
faith is steady even when we don't understand
exactly what's going on. It is a faith that works
even when we don't know where our master is,
when we don't know when he's coming back, when
we don't know what business he's doing. Faith
just says, I'm going to work. You see, the servant
that didn't really do anything with his responsibilities,
That servant was afraid. He didn't trust. Essentially,
he lacked faith because he didn't know, what's
my master going to do when he comes home? And
so we work trusting that what we do, the seed
we plant, the things that we do with what we've
been entrusted in will result in good for the
kingdom. So that when our master comes back,
he says, you were faithful. And faith holds on.
It lets go and it lets God work. And it stays
steady. So I want to ask you, in your life today,
whether it's... Something that you're struggling
to hold on to. You've decided in your mind it
makes sense to you and you've believed it and
you do believe it to be true. Logically, it makes
sense and you've agreed to believing this and
living by this, but maybe life has gotten hard
and now it's hard for you to hold on to this
conviction. You know, I've had the blessing of
working with college students and one thing in
working with college students is you get to see
That they do believe in certain things. They
do have convictions. Even I know sometimes young
people, it seems like they don't really have
any real convictions. They do. And they believe
that drinking to excess is wrong. They believe
that sleeping together outside of marriage is
wrong. They believe that doing drugs is wrong.
They have those convictions. But you get into
certain social circles and you get into certain
situations and life happens and you find yourself
doing things that you believe are wrong, but
it's hard to hold on to those beliefs because
life happens, right? And so I don't know what
that is for you. Maybe for you it's struggling
with where are the lines of sin? Maybe it's struggling
to understand what you need to be doing because
you believe that you need to be living a certain
way, but life happens and it's hard to do that.
It's kind of like, you know, I used to, when
I was in youth ministry, I would hear from parents
all the time. Well, we know we need to be at
church, but we've got the ball game. We know
we need to be at that youth thing, but we've
got some other responsibilities. And maybe that's
the struggle for you is you've got the thing
that pulls you away. I don't know what it is,
but what I do know is faith holds on. Because
when you are convicted, when you believe something,
if you have faith in that, you have to hold on.
And faith lets go. It stops trying to fix everything
on its own. And this is hard for me because I'm
a hands -on person. I want to have control. But
faith says, I can't do it on my own. I've got
to trust in someone who is much more qualified
than me. And I don't know what you're trying
to fix in your life. I don't know what it is
that you're trying to handle on your own. I don't
know who it is that you're trying to save on
your own. I don't know. But what I do know is
you need, I need to let go. And that doesn't
mean we get lazy. It doesn't mean we get complacent.
It just means we stay steady in our walk with
Jesus as we let him figure it out. We let him
do the work because he's so much more qualified
than us. Faith holds on, it lets go, and it stays
steady while it waits. And if that sounds hard
for you, if that feels like something for you
that you just don't know if you can trust because
you can't see Jesus right now because he's not
here. If it feels like life is way too stressful.
It's way too chaotic. It's way too hard to just
let go or to just hold on. Wherever you're at,
I want you to know that if you will be faithful,
it is not going to be in vain. If you will be
faithful, it will not be wasted. Faithfulness
is never wasted when you are being faithful to
the one who is the ultimate promise keeper. And
I will say this every time I get up here if I
need to, that our God always constantly keeps
his promises. He has proven it time and time
and time again. So I don't know what you're struggling
with. I don't know where life is hurting you,
where Satan is attacking you. I don't know what
the waves of life are doing to your ship. But
I do know who our promise keeper is. I do know
who our anchor should be. And if you will trust
in Jesus and everything he has taught and everything
that he has proven to be true, it will be worth
it. And so we hold on in faith. to the one who
has proven to be good. We let go and let God
work because he has proven to do good work. And
we stay steady even when life wants us to veer
off course, even when life wants us to sit on
our hands and do nothing. When Satan tells us
to give up, we keep holding. We keep letting
God work. And I promise you, it will be worth
it. Because right now, in this scene that we're
looking at, when Jesus enters Jerusalem and he's
arrested and he's beaten and he's hanging on
a cross, everything seems dark. Everything seems
hopeless. Everything seems like it's over. And
the disciples, I can imagine, are probably sitting
there thinking we wasted the last three years
of our life. Because we're following a dead man.
And right now, you may be feeling like that.
You may be thinking, he's not here. I can't see
him. It's been 2 ,000 years. He still hasn't
come back yet. Maybe he's never coming. I promise
you, the resurrection is coming. Jesus will not
be defeated by death. And I promise you, he is
coming back. You see, we're in the same place
the followers of Jesus were from Friday to Sunday.
We're waiting, scared. But my hope for us is
that we do not live with a spirit of fear, but
we live in faith knowing that he is coming back
because our God makes good on his promises. And
I don't know about you, but when somebody has
proven, that they can be held to their promises,
I tend to trust them. And my God has proven over
and over again to make good on his promises.
So I ask you to follow him in faith. Today, whatever
your struggle is, whatever is hurting you, whatever
is making it hard for you to just keep the faith,
my prayer is that you remember Jesus is coming
back. And if you need prayers from the church
to help you to keep holding on, if you need someone
to help you in your walk, if you just need to
take a step in faith and give your life to Jesus,
we offer you an invitation now. And we mean it
sincerely when we ask you to please come as we
stand and as we sing.