This morning sermon comes from Luke, chapter 18, and I invite you to turn there and read with

me.

I'll be reading from Luke chapter 18 verses 1 through 8. And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

He said, in a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man.

And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying,

vindicate me against my adversary.

For a while he refused.

But afterward, he said to himself, though I neither fear God nor regard man,

yet because this widow bothers me, I will vindicate her, or she will wear me out by her

continual coming. And the Lord said, hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God vindicate

his elect who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you he will vindicate

them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on Earth?

The last verse now of that text, verse 8, is clearly a reference to the Second Coming. I tell you he will vindicate them

speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth.

And I think the ending now to the paragraph there in verse 8 is a clear indication that we should

read this parable in connection with the last paragraphs of

chapter 17, which have to do with the end of the age and the coming of the son of man. So let's back up to

verse 20 of chapter 17. The Pharisees ask Jesus when the kingdom of God is coming, and what they meant by that was

when does Messiah come in great power and glory to overcome the Roman overlords, establish Israel as a great nation

of peace and spread righteousness through the world.

And his answer to them would have been baffling to anybody who didn't accept Jesus as that

Messiah. He said, basically, the kingdom of God is already here in your midst.

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