It is a wonderful thing to be gathered together and already sense the Lord moving—His presence. We are so thankful for brothers and sisters who have come and have these desires deep in their hearts. As we gather together, we do pray the Lord will do something very special.
Julie and I arrived this afternoon. We just pulled up by the place, and some angels with green shirts came out right in the middle of the raindrops and got all our luggage inside. We even ran between a couple of thunderstorms there. We are very thankful for the hospitality of the saints who are with us this year.
We would like to begin by sharing some Scriptures. One is very familiar to you, in 2 Chronicles. Just a verse here in chapter 16.
We all know the Lord is looking down. We all know the Lord has a great desire for His bride, His people. We see here a prophet reminding Israel and the kings of how far they have gone away from the Lord.
Yet the prophet says here in 2 Chronicles 16:9:
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth,
to show Himself strong, on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.
Isn’t that an amazing thought, as we think of how many people populate this earth? Yet the Lord somehow is able to scour this whole earth and see those whose hearts are loyal to Him. He wants to show Himself strong on behalf of those who have such a heart.
Tonight, we are going to be sharing in Luke. So let us go to Luke 17 for a few verses.
I have had a burden for a few months regarding this matter. I am very thankful I could be here. I just pray the Lord will help me to release these senses that I have.
In Luke 17, we pick up in the midst of a dialogue. The Lord is doing great and wonderful things. He is preaching His gospel. Many are being healed. Ten lepers have just been cleansed.
At this point, in Luke 17:20, the Pharisees come up to Jesus and ask Him when the kingdom of God would come. He answered and said:
The kingdom of God does not come with observation;
nor will they say, “See here!” or “See there!”
For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you, or in your midst.
Then, in Luke 18, we want to read this parable on prayer.
Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying:
“There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man.
Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Avenge me of my adversary.’
And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man,
yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’”Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said.
And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night unto Him, though He bears long with them?
I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on earth?”
Our Father, we do come to You, thanking You that this conference has begun, thanking You for our brother’s exhortation to us. We want to draw close to You in this time.
We pray that in that true separation before You, we might see our situation and find our heart linked up with Yours, as You are about to change the epochs in these days.
We thank You for every heart, every person here, young and old. We know some have much experience of You and others are just entering in. But we thank You that Your kingdom is such that, by Your gospel, You allow multitudes to press into Your saving kingdom and discover our wonderful Lord.
May it be that all of us sense the nearness of Your presence, even at the doors, so near and coming for us. Do help us, Lord, to sense and be taught by Your Holy Spirit, Who brings to us the depths of God, teaches us these things, and produces in us that blessed hope that spurs us forward to purify ourselves, even as He is pure.
We commit this time now into Your hands, asking for Your help and Your light. Refresh us, Lord, as many have traveled here and gone through rain and difficulties and all. Do bless them for their coming.
Now open our hearts and minds to know more of Your will. In Jesus’ precious name we pray. Amen.
Well, you know, the theme is, “God is looking for a link.” I keep looking for that in the Bible. I cannot find exactly those words. It sounds like Jerry words somehow, but God is looking for a link.
What a wonderful thought. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Things are so very close. The Scripture I saw on the brochure was, “Look up. Your redemption draws nigh.” I suppose it is about time we start looking up because of all the things we see around us.
The Son of Man is at the doors. There is this vital, final linkage on earth that brings about the return of our Lord.
This is a great, mysterious thing. We know that nobody knows the day nor the hour of our Lord’s return—not even the angels, but only the Father in heaven. We do not know when He is going to come back, and His return will be a sovereign act.
But somehow, He desires it to be linked up with something that happens on earth. He can do everything whenever He wants, however He wants. We know our God is sovereign. Yet isn’t it interesting how, down through history, He has wanted human vessels—sanctified vessels, righteous vessels—involved in these epoch-changing events?
You have heard that we will be sharing on these different topics. Lance will be talking about Samuel because, as humble as his beginnings were, he was the man God used at that time to change the epoch from judges to kingship.
Israel had no king, and Samuel did not become the king. But he was that vessel that brought about that change of epoch. Not only did Israel come into kingship while he was alive, but he was the one privileged to anoint David, the Messiah, the Anointed One—God’s king in His kingdom.
Now there was some vessel. He waited long and he lived hard, but he was ready there for that moment in time.
Of course, John the Baptist was the same way. The Lord Jesus could have come to earth and announced the kingdom on His own, but no. God, in His glory, wanted some human herald to pave the way—a forerunner—to come and say, “He is coming,” and then He could come.
Isn’t it wonderful that God wants us in the mix? It is not just all kinds of stuff happening up in heaven while we are merely bystanders. Somehow, He wants this link.
Our brother Stephen will be sharing about this ultimate link from Revelation 12, when the man child is caught up to the throne of God. That should be a wonderful time.
But I hope you see what we mean by “God is looking for a link.” There is another epoch to be changed. We have been in this age of grace. The kingdom of heaven has been on earth, but it has been here in a mystery.
As we read in Luke 17, the Pharisees came and said, “Well now, when is this kingdom going to come anyway? We do not see it.” How blind were the Pharisees? They were standing in front of the King, but they could not see it.
He said, in effect, “In this time, the kingdom will not be manifest as one day soon it will be manifest. So do not say, ‘There it is,’ or, ‘Here it is.’” Jesus said, “Behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
I think we could apply that today and say that, even though we are living in this kingdom mystery, it is here. But it is observable to those who have eyes of faith. They see where two or three are gathered together in His precious name; there He is in the midst.
The kingdom is here, but it is in a mystery. One day it will be fully manifest. Yet there needs to be this vessel, this final linkage, for Him to be satisfied to return. All things are now ready, and that is what we are talking about.
There are many signs regarding His return. Any of the Gospels, the book of Revelation, or Thessalonians shows us signs of the soon coming of the King. But this vital link that He is looking for is not a sign or an event. It is a people.
He is not satisfied merely with lightning shooting across the sky and then the Son of Man coming. No. There is a bride He is looking for. There is this ready vessel. That is what we want to talk about during these times.
I will be sharing on John the Baptist. But the idea of sharing about Samuel or John the Baptist is not so that you can gain the history of these men.
Peter says in his last epistle, as he brings to remembrance the soon coming of the Lord, that we should consider how we ought to live in holiness and godliness as we await and hasten the coming of the day of God.
Again, we come against this tremendous mystery: even though the sovereignty of God decides when Jesus will come back to this earth, there is still a hastening that can be produced by this epoch-changing, ready link—this vessel that will hasten His return.
What manner of holy conduct and godliness should we be living as we wait for Him to come?
I want to begin tonight by saying, let us just put aside who the link is. Do not start looking around. I think this link is a corporate vessel, as we will hear more about in the days ahead. But here is the real issue.
If we are going to see this wonderful transition and this epoch change—and I think you will agree more and more—without our Righteous One, without the Messiah coming back to restore His kingdom, we will not see much righteousness in our days.
We need His return. Our nation needs His return. This world needs His return. It is absolutely necessary.
But here is the first point I want to bring to us tonight. Before we start talking about the links, I want us to consider this matter of being linked up to Him ourselves.
I want to talk in a very simple way tonight about prayer, as it is presented in the parable in Luke 18. Being linked up to Him—are you ready? Are you linked? What does that mean? Maybe we can talk about that tonight.
Furthermore, I want us to begin at the last verse in the parable, Luke 18:8:
I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?
Here is a question that the Lord poses to His disciples. I suggest to you that this is not a rhetorical question. Neither is He trying to evoke self-pity by saying, “Well, when I come back, is anybody going to be here for Me?” No, our Lord is not like that.
Neither is this a question that can be answered glibly: “Oh yeah, sure, sure. I will be here.”
If we see the context of this parable, it comes at the end of an extensive section that is talking about the return of the Son of Man—the days of His return. He is posing a deep question after giving them a sober assessment of the condition of things just before His return.
In Luke 17, when the Pharisees asked Him about the kingdom, He said this kingdom was not observable. But then He goes on to speak to His own disciples, beginning in Luke 17:22, about the days of the coming of the Son of Man.
He talks to them about some very sobering things—what the condition of the kingdom will be like.
He says the days of the coming of the Son of Man will be as the days of Noah and as the days of Lot. When we hear these things, we easily translate them into, “Boy, this is going to be the condition of the world, and things are really going to be bad when He comes.”
But Jesus’ burden here is not to talk about the condition of the world. He is talking about the condition of the kingdom just before His return. That is a sobering and powerful thought.
Now, the kingdom of the heavens—we should look in Matthew 24. I do not want to assume too much here. Jesus, in the Gospel of Matthew, speaks about the kingdom of the heavens, and I do not know if you quite understand what He is talking about.
Since the announcement of John, and since Jesus came to earth, the kingdom of the heavens has come to earth. It is a great conflict. During this time, since His first coming and until His second coming, the kingdom of the heavens is coming in through great spiritual conflict.
Those who are entering the kingdom are doing so through violence. Yet in this kingdom, as it is outwardly viewed, we see not only wheat but tares.
You may say, “No, no, no. The wheat is the kingdom; the tares are not the kingdom.” No, that is not what Jesus said. The kingdom of heaven is like wheat and tares. The kingdom of heaven is like leaven hidden in the loaf. The kingdom of heaven is like that tree that has grown screwy and has birds sitting on it.
The kingdom of heaven is some kind of mixed mishmash of the real and the outward, the professing and the true-hearted, real faith and outward membership.
That is what He is talking about when He speaks of the kingdom just before His return and the condition it will be in. I do not know what you want to include in that kingdom of the heavens, but it is the outward and visible view of things.
It includes, of course, real saints. It also includes, unfortunately, professing saints who are not really Christians, but who do Christian things and go to Christian things. It even includes some Christian churches that are not Christian, yet are involved in Christian activities, Christian missions, and Christian-this and Christian-that—Christian in name, but with a whole lot of leaven in there.
Perhaps the kingdom also includes the outward view of Israel, the Jews. But wait a minute: who are the real Jews? The Jews of faith? All Jews genealogically? What is involved here?
When Jesus was there in that day talking to the people, He was speaking to Jews who all thought they were part of the kingdom. He says, “Now, you really want to know what the kingdom looks like?”
When the seed gets scattered, only one out of four produces something. Despite all the different ground and the things that happen, strangely, life gets choked out or burnt up, or the enemy snatches things away.
That is what is going on in the great conflict of this kingdom. There are great forces at work, both good and evil. Just before His return, the outward assessment looks rather grim.
In Matthew 24, as He is talking about the kingdom of the heavens in the last days, we read in Matthew 24:9-13:
Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you,
and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.
And then many will be offended,
will betray one another,
and will hate one another.
Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
And because lawlessness will abound,
the love of many will grow cold.
But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
Who are “they”? They will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you. You will be hated by all nations for His name’s sake. Then many will be offended. Is that terrible? Kingdom people offended. They will betray one another, and they will hate one another.
Many false prophets will rise and deceive many. Because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
There will be some sorting out in this kingdom, you can believe it. When the Lord comes, there will be the wheat separated from the chaff. There will be the great casting of the net, the bad thrown out, and the righteous rejoicing.
That day will come. But right now, what do we do with wheat and tares? He says, “Leave it alone.” The Lord will prove what is real and what is not.
Our first problem with the kingdom is that we cannot just go around and say, “Who is in and who is out?” There is something deeper going on than that.
But we know that just before His return, things will look as we are reading.
When we go back to Luke 17, we see that He mentions and clarifies some things that seem awfully contemporary. In Luke 17:26, He says:
As it was in the days of Noah,
so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man.
There we are. Just before the coming of the Son of Man, it will be as in the days of Noah.
First of all, I would like to mention that it is interesting He puts it that way rather than saying, “As in the days just before the flood.” Because, as bad as things were upon the earth, God looked down and saw righteous Noah.
There is your link—your faithful one, the one praying, the one crying out.
But as for the rest, what were they doing? They were eating and drinking and marrying. You say, “Gee, what is so bad about that?” It sounds like today. Are we not supposed to eat and drink and get married?
But here is the point. In the days of Noah, even in the kingdom, though Noah warned as a preacher of righteousness of the coming judgment and exhorted men to get in the boat before it was too late, they all laughed at him.
They said, “Well, let us go out for a good meal first. No, let us get married, make a million dollars, then we will get in your boat, Noah.”
The problem is not that they were eating and drinking. The problem is that they had no conscience whatsoever. They mocked Noah, the preacher of righteousness. But that was God’s testimony at that time. Noah spoke the truth; the rest of them did not heed.
Their consciences were seared. They were men of flesh, with the intentions of their hearts being evil continually, as the Bible says. God said, “My Spirit will not strive with flesh any longer.”
Noah told mankind about this, and mankind ignored it. Then one day, Jesus says, the door shut, the rains came, and it was all over. Just like that, people learned the truth.
Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man.
Then, in Luke 17:28-29, He says:
Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot:
They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;
but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom,
it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
The days of Lot seem to have a very contemporary application to us.
Peter says in 2 Peter that even though Lot dwelt in Sodom, he was vexed and oppressed because these men were unprincipled. These men were completely corrupt in their lusts and perverted. They despised authority.
But what we see at this time, to me—I hope it is not the case—the problem is in the kingdom. What is Lot doing there? Why is Lot so caught in the thorns of worldliness, the cares and deceitfulness of riches, and the fact that it is a better plain down there with better pasture for his animals?
He is liable to make more money in Sodom, and so he is there. He is vexed day and night.
Before God could bring down the judgment, He had to extricate Lot by angelic intervention and then send the rains of fire down. So will it be.
Somehow, this strikes me as a picture of what is going on in the kingdom as it appears in these days. There are so many Christians—you can just see the thorns of cares and the thorns of riches. They are caught. They are part of it, thick as thieves in Sodom.
What a disaster if judgment came and they were not extricated somehow. I believe part of our intercession, like Abraham’s, should be to ask God, if there be any righteous men, to deliver them and save them.
Speak to them. “Get you out from her, and be separate before destruction.”
Such is the condition that it should be very sobering when Jesus says, “So when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”
To bring one more matter in here, as He continues this—and this is all leading up to the prayer parable—He talks about those in Luke 17:33 who seek to save their lives and lose them, while whoever loses his life preserves it.
He goes on to say:
I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed:
the one will be taken and the other will be left.
Two women will be grinding together:
the one will be taken and the other left.
Two men will be in the field:
the one will be taken and the other left.
Now, what is He saying? I appeal to you: what is He saying? Is He not saying there are going to be many Christians—or so-called Christians—who have never laid their lives down for the Lord, who have never really taken up the cross? They have preserved their lives.
When things get bad, we all get into the mode of self-preservation. “I do not care what happens to my city. I am going to survive.” We build a little moat around our house and make sure we have cable and all the basic necessities.
Now we are going to survive. We are survivors. We are not laid-down livers.
Then the surprising day comes when suddenly, in the field, one is taken. At the mill, one is taken and one is left. We say, “What has happened?” You preserved your life, and now you have lost it.
It is a very sobering picture.
Now, I do not want to get into controversy. I know others have other interpretations. I will just give you mine because I know it is right.
But it so bothered the disciples when they heard this. Get the context. I have slowed it down by sharing these things, but here is what Jesus said: just before the coming of the Son of Man, it will be like the days of Noah—there will be a sudden rain. Just as in the days of Lot, there will be sudden fire. Just as with these self-preserving Christians, there will be a taking away and others suddenly left.
This so strongly forced its way upon the minds of the disciples that they asked an interesting question in Luke 17:37: “Where, Lord? Where is this going to happen? What field? Jerusalem? Judea? Babylon? Where is this sudden judgment going to come?”
Jesus basically said—sometimes the disciples were still geographically limited in their understanding of spiritual things—“Look up. You see those vultures gathering? They are gathering over all that is corrupt to come down and have a meal very soon.”
It is hard for us to judge when all this is going to happen. Nobody can say whether we are at the nadir of things or whether things can get worse. But let us look up and see that our redemption draws nigh.
Never mind those vultures. Whatever is corrupting here on the earth has nothing to do with you.
I know some versions say “eagles,” but we know from Matthew 24 that it is a corpse, not a body. This is a body that is a corpse in decay, you see. Unfortunately, in Hebrew, I think they have the same word for eagle and vulture. You can check with Lance on this.
But the difference in this particular case is that eagles like live bait. It is the vultures that like stuff already rotted a little bit. So I believe this is talking about vultures gathering overhead for the great feast of the rottenness going on upon the earth.
All right. Now that I have gotten you to chase all kinds of rabbits, let us look at this parable. We are trying to get to this question: “When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”
I believe the answer to that question is actually within this parable. Jesus is basically saying, “Heed this parable. What is going on in these last days?”
I do not know if your Bible version has a title for the parable. I want to give it my own title tonight.
The proper English title, which only Lance can say, is “The Parable of the Importunate Widow.” If any of you have any idea what that means, let me know. It means, I suppose, a pretty stubborn widow.
We know that women can be that way. Of course, it is all about her and her persistence, which paid off in the end. So we could call this the parable of this importunate, persistent, stubborn widow.
Some call it the parable of the unjust judge, because Jesus says, “Hear what the unjust judge said.” But I believe that if you look deeper and get down to the end of the parable, you will see what Jesus is really driving at.
Yes, He is talking about praying and not fainting. But here is really what this parable is about: the parable of the unceasing cry of the elect for righteousness.
Listen. We will go down to Luke 18:6. You know the story, of course.
Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said.
And shall God not avenge His own elect,
who cry out day and night to Him,
though He bears long with them?
I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.”
There is the elect in there. I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.
I believe the point is quite obvious when you look at it. Do you know who that widow is? It is God’s elect in the last days. They have no other recourse except to cry to heaven for righteousness.
The judges are unjust. She cannot go to the man unless she bribes him. He is not interested in justice anymore. Things have decayed around her, but she has only one recourse: persistence, crying out.
This is a parable about the elect crying out. I believe it has something to do with the return of our Lord, because you notice that last statement: “I tell you, He will avenge them speedily.”
When the elect cry out twenty-four-seven with one voice and one cry, there is an effect upon the Lord that makes Him answer speedily.
I need to be careful here, but I believe we are right at a juncture in our particular nation. Forgive me, those of you who come from other countries. We are going through an identity crisis here.
From our founding, in a strange sort of way by God’s providence, we have been blessed with leaders and people of moral character and Judeo-Christian understanding. That has been a blessed foundation for this country.
Just before the turn into the 1900s, in 1893, I think, when the woman wrote the poem, “America, America, God shed His grace on thee,” God had shed His grace on this country and continues, by His mercy.
But I wonder whether we can pray that prayer anymore.
Our country is in such a state of fluidity and moral deconstruction, with foundations seemingly being shaken in so many ways. Will the judges judge justly?
Will the executive branch execute with moral fiber and conviction? How about our Senate and Congress?
We are in a challenging time where these things are up in the air. We may be coming to that moment which, of course, most nations are already in—when those who are truly the elect, sincere believers in the Lord Jesus, are a minority opinion and are crying out unto heaven day and night.
I wonder if our prayer should not be changed from “God shed His grace on thee” to the prayer of Daniel, when he prayed on behalf of all the captives in Babylon and said:
Unto You, Lord, belongs righteousness;
unto us, open shame, as it is this day.
Unto us, open shame, as it is this day.
Many of you, I am so happy that you decided to come to the United States to find the kingdom of God. Of course, you did not come for money or success or family. But however you got here, praise God.
You thought this was paradise, and paradise is being shaken. We have, for a long time as Christians, been lazy and not crying out. We find ourselves in a bit of a fool’s paradise now.
I do not know what the majority opinion is. It is impossible to find out anymore. The polls tell us this and the polls tell us that. I do not know who this poll guy is anyway.
But we may be in a whole new era where we no longer have just justice. We may have to find recourse in heaven as we have never known before.
But that is just a picture of our country. I keep looking in the Bible for our country. I have heard various theories tucked deep somewhere in Jeremiah, but I do not know how much the United States has to do with the eternal purpose of God.
One thing it does make us aware of, even us who live in this isolated paradise, is that the kingdom is in compromise.
I suppose most of you have known me for a while. You know I am a pretty optimistic guy. I like to smile a lot and hope for the best.
But when I travel around, when I hear and see what is going on in the church today, it grieves my heart—deeply grieves my heart. The unrighteousness and the things that are going on in the name of Jesus.
There is a whole corruption, a mixture, a compromise happening in these days.
I do not want to swing out and start swiping at mega churches or big groups or something like that. I am looking at us. When I see our kingdom condition, I am looking for things.
I speak about myself as well as the rest of you. I am very thankful that the Lord has given most of us children to raise up. I wonder where those kids are now.
If our life was such a light, why are kids choosing that halfway light, or whatever it is they have chosen?
Thank God, some of you have young children. You still have time to raise them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord. But still, there is tragedy. There are sad stories among our own children.
When we look at the kingdom in our own midst, do we really see that exclusive allegiance to Jesus—seeking first His kingdom, seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness?
Then I ask a third question of us, because we have been together a long time: where are those servants of God who have given up all to serve the Lord?
I am very thankful for my brother Stephen. The Lord has given him an amazing longevity, clarity of mind, and burden in his heart. Our dear brother Lance keeps coming across the pond every year speaking to us. Thank God for that.
Now where are those brothers God is raising up right now? Where are those younger ones, full-hearted and fully given to the Lord, who know their avocation, but they know their vocation? Where are they?
Such is the state of disrepair in the kingdom. God forbid, if lightning struck down in this place and killed the first three rows here, we would be dead ducks.
I cannot believe, even in the end days, that God does not want to raise up workers who understand God’s eternal purpose, who have a true vision of what is going on.
I am thankful for many who go out, even with limited knowledge, preach the gospel, and try to build the kingdom with their best machinations. But how about those who really see what is going on?
I think this is a time where the kingdom is in need of that final link.
That final link, I think, is a widow who has realized her only recourse is the Righteous One in heaven—a church that has begun to cry out, cast upon the Lord for His mercy and for righteousness in these days.
It is interesting that whenever the church does, in any measure, really come together with a single cry, the Lord seems to hear them on one level or another.
What does it mean to cry for righteousness, to find justice against the adversary, to be avenged? What do these things mean?
In this parable, the widow is crying out because somebody has done a wrong and she cannot seem to get justice. So she comes before this unjust judge. But what does that mean for us?
The Lord may answer in several ways. We are hoping for the highest answer, but there are lesser answers. One is this: when we realize the situation, see the injustice in this world, and begin to cry out, God does miraculous miracles of deliverance and provision, even for those people in great distress.
All across the world right now, Christians are dying, persecuted for the Lord. They are crying out.
The Syrian Christians are crying out for help because rebels who are attacking Assad and all that are bent on killing Christians along the way. They are crying out for help.
It is amazing when the church gets together and prays in one accord for deliverance for those people, how the Lord seems to provide a hedge around them and even provide for them in the most difficult circumstances.
All over the Middle East right now, there are persecuted and even tortured Christians crying out for righteousness. The Lord is sending ravens, sending provision. Somehow some escape, and others are martyred.
This is a difficult time in much of the world. In the Far East, it is not as bright as the government CCTV would let you know. There are very difficult things going on—people being persecuted, folks being snatched out of their homes, and nobody even knowing why.
There is a cry of righteousness that goes up. Do we hear it?
Sometimes the Lord makes these kinds of miraculous provisions. Sometimes the Lord brings revival. In the history of the church, there have been times when the church has been so distressed and come to the end of itself that it realized its only recourse was an open heaven and a coming down of God in righteousness.
They prayed so that the Lord, in His mercy, decided to bring revival to a country that was in sore need. I do not know what you think needs to happen here in the United States to get into sore need, but I think revival could be an immediate solution to so much that is going on.
The Lord answers that way. But I think the point of this parable is actually something along this line.
The greatest prayer for righteousness is not merely to be avenged of the injustices we have gone through and the persecutions we have endured. The greatest prayer for righteousness is asking for the Righteous One to come back.
This is the only way that this righteous cry will truly be answered. Anything short of that, whether revival or immediate deliverance, is only a temporary solution.
Our world is in great need of the King to come back and establish righteousness in this world, as was the intention all along.
All that we see cannot be satisfied. Your heart cannot be satisfied. Your family cannot be satisfied. Your job, your position, or your life will not have its fullness until the Lord Jesus comes back.
He is the Righteous One. Until He comes with His scepter of righteousness, everything else is just warm-ups. Thank God, we have been blessed in so many ways. But I wonder sometimes how long we wait before we cry out.
I once read this parable, and Brother Sparks had a comment on it. He was speaking about Luke 18:8, where it says, “I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.”
He suggested that if this meant the Lord was going to come back soon simply because of the prayers, then He should have come back two thousand years ago.
Brother Sparks suggested something intriguing to me: the problem is that the whole church is not yet in one cry.
When the church really comes to this true and known position, and we all cry out for Him to come back, this is what will be answered speedily.
But until we are convinced that there is no other recourse except the Lord in heaven, we will find some way to get along.
Man has an amazing capacity to adjust, does he not? Think of the story of Israel. The taskmasters in Egypt kept saying, “More bricks, more bricks. Now no straw, no straw.” It got worse and worse—impossible, impossible, impossible.
Finally, I do not know how long it took for them, but they cried out, and it says that their cry came before the Lord. How long did that take? How long did it take for the Jews to say, “Ah, we can take it. That is okay. The economy is going to turn around soon enough”?
How on earth could Lot continue in that city? How long do you stay in a city where everything around you is vile?
I am not suggesting that we all flee a city. But there is a spiritual fleeing that the church needs to know more of.
If we would gather for this one cry, there has to be some kind of final realization that whatever we have is not enough, that we need the Lord.
What happens, in the wonderful mystery of all this, I believe, is that when we finally get so desperate and cry out with this one cry, “O God, avenge us. O God, send Thy Righteous One,” we discover that we have joined with multitudes who are already crying this cry.
This is the cry of the link: “O Righteous One, come back.”
Many places all over the world, this cry is already going out—many places that are very difficult. We know that the blood of the martyrs is crying out, as Revelation tells us.
We can imagine that the blood of all the unborn children is crying out for vindication. I know all those children in slavery and sex trafficking are crying out, and God hears their cry.
Join that with all the saints who have gone before. They are witnesses. They stood fast and stood faithful in their day. Like a great cloud of witnesses, they are crying out as well because they know what this world can be like when the Messiah returns with His kingdom.
There is a great cry already being sounded, but it may be that we are the last ones to enter in. I wonder what more it will take for us to realize how much He wants to come. He is waiting for that cry.
I know we can get worked up emotionally about this thing. For the next five days, we could have a good emotional time and pray and sing “Maranatha” in every meeting.
But I am talking about something stirring deep within our hearts—an awareness that this cry is not going to go away.
The Lord Jesus is saying, “I am giving you this parable that you can learn. Your position as the link is to be crying out for righteousness. When I hear this one cry from My elect, I will answer speedily.”
That is really all I wanted to say tonight. I want to end by challenging you about seeing what the Lord is really doing today.
I have painted a rather terrible, sobering picture. There are great powers at work in this dispensation—powers of evil. The enemy is at work, and he is like one of those great, frightening tornadoes out in Oklahoma.
He comes through, even through churches and fellowships. His centrifugal force is so strong that it spins people out in dissipation, disassembly, and weakness.
He has great power. Great things of darkness are going on all about—the days of Lot and Sodom, the days of Noah, and all these things. There is a great outward scattering and destroying that the enemy is doing.
But here is my challenge. Here is what I would like to ask:
Do you feel the greater power of God within you overcoming all that centrifugal force outward? Do you sense that gathering together by the Spirit of God working within us?
It is our dear brother John who says, in this context, that the world lies in the wicked one, but you have overcome the world—even your faith. Greater is He that is within you than he that is within the world.
Which of these forces do we concentrate on in the end? Those outward forces of dissipation, problems, corruption, and compromise that make us so sad when we see them?
Or do we sense this power within—this sanctifying power, this separating power, this readying power, this righteousifying power, this power to cry out?
This is the power to be God’s as we live in this world—to be for God, to be all in, to be wholehearted for Him. What a testimony that is in this day.
John says, “No, no, no. It is by that abiding life that is within you.” How are we going to overcome? How do you overcome a tornado? By God’s grace, you stand in the eye, abiding in His life.
Do you sense that power? That is where we should be focusing, do you not think?
Whatever the enemy is throwing, we need to be aware of his schemes and things. But the present effect upon us, effectually, is what is preparing His bride.
Do you hear when the Spirit speaks? Do you obey when the word within you gives you a command? Are you linked up in a living way even now?
Do you find yourself being joined with saints who are of the same like mind? That is the issue of the link.
Do you sense yourself dissipating? “I have got to get back. I have got to come back to the Lord.” Or do you feel that strengthening of the Lord that is within?
Who is going to win this tug of war anyway? Do you think Satan is going to win, or do you think the Lord is going to win? Who is going to be cast out of heaven? Satan is.
Who is going to overcome him? Some of these hidden ones here upon the earth, who have no recourse except the Righteous One in heaven. They overcome by His blood, by their confession of it, and by not loving their lives even unto death.
This is one last cry—a recognizing of what needs to happen in our lives.
It is this awareness of the power within that is growing day by day, enabling us to live in this world however long the Lord wants us to.
It would be wonderful if He came back before the end of this conference. But meanwhile, we need to be constituted inwardly in such a way that we know our brothers and sisters from other places are crying the same cry that we are crying.
“Lord Jesus, we will not take this anymore. This is injustice. This is not right. People should not be dragged down into such a place. We feel the pain of it. We cry out to You, Lord, for righteousness.”
Only You can rend the heavens and come down and set things right. Lord, how they need to be set right.
So much is being done today just glibly, as in the days of Noah, despite all warnings of righteousness and sure judgment to come. Our gospel of the kingdom is a gospel that involves judgment and the establishment of righteousness.
That is why I get to speak on John the Baptist, because he came in righteousness and laid the axe to the root of a whole nation of people who thought they were pretty good—certainly better than the rest.
By the time John was through with them, they were in the water. That is where we need to start, right?
It starts when My people, who are called by My name, humble themselves and pray and seek My face. Turn from our own wicked ways, our own worldliness. Get those thorns off our lives.
Then God hears from heaven, forgives their sins, and heals the land. If revival comes, that would be wonderful. But when Jesus comes, that will be glory.
I think you will agree with me as we go through this week that, as the hour draws to a close, the Lord is looking for that last stirring, that last prayer, at last the request for righteousness.
How wonderful it is to be in a kingdom where we pursue first the kingdom and His righteousness. How wonderful to be gathered with people who hunger and thirst after righteousness.
Only in the kingdom of our Lord Jesus will that righteousness be fully satisfied.
May the Lord help us now, as we go through this week and study regarding His various epoch-changing links, to realize that He is looking for us to be linked up with Him and crying out to Him in prayer.
This is the first position of the link. The epoch-changing link begins in prayer. May the Lord help us this week. Let us pray.
“Rise up, O men of God! Have done with lesser things. Give heart and soul and mind and strength to serve the King of kings.”
Lord, we can get so absolutely involved in lesser things that we find ourselves not looking up to a redemption that has drawn so nigh, even at the doors, so close.
Lord, would You change our understanding of things? We are so thankful for that which has been given us, and we are thankful for this country in which we live.
We no longer want to take for granted things which now seem perhaps to be slipping away. But we are not here to preserve a country; we are here to pray for a kingdom to come.
We pray, Lord, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done here on earth, as it is in heaven.” O hallowed be Thy name, Lord.
Thank You, Father, for giving us this opportunity to gather and cry out together—as elect, as righteous ones, as widows without recourse. You are our recourse. You are our hope.
That blessed hope stirs us to pray and to seek Your righteous ways even while we live upon this earth.
Lord, may everyone in this place, in some way, be a Noah who stands for righteousness, who warns of truth, even to those around who know nothing of these things.
Grant us, as we fellowship together, fellowship with that eye looking upward to the things You are about to do.
Even so, Lord, we pray Your will would be done. In Jesus’ name. Amen.