Widow and Adversary

5/17/2012

This parable is from Luke 18: 1-8. To save space I will not type this passage out, but request that you read it from your own Bible. This widow is no particular widow with the exception that she has an adversary which will not change his/her doings. The widow is representative of God's elect (those who have trusted Christ for salvation). The adversary is not simply someone who is pestering the widow, but someone who has done something wrong to the widow and will not repent (change their mind and admit they have done wrong and try to amend the situation). The adversary is representative of anyone (lost or saved) who has wronged God's elect and is not willing to repent get it right and continues to bother them about it. Because the adversary will not leave the widow alone, she persistently seeks assistance from a unjust (lost) judge. He could care less about her situation but because of her persistence, he finally aids her and rids her of the harassment of her adversary. Jesus explains that if someone that is not concerned about the widow's well being will do this, how much more eager is God to avenge his own if they will but have faith and understand his longsuffering. Jesus ends the parable and closes his discussion on this matter with the statement "shall he find faith on the earth?". I will list some lessons we should take from this parable, but I know there are many more, please feel free to add them in the comments of this post.
Lessons learned:
1. God will avenge His own if they have faith in His ways and timing.
2. God will avenge His own if their faith is persistent.
3. God is longsuffering to allow the adversary ample time to repent and make things right.
4. As we get nearer to His coming, there will not be much of this good faith left among His people.
God can take care of us, our family, and our country if we are willing to persist through faith!

3 Comments

gary

10/14/2013 08:40:12 am

No, God doesn't need your help to save you.

Baptists and evangelicals are correct: sinners MUST believe to be saved. But you will not find one passage of Scripture that states that the sinner must make a “decision” to believe. The sinner must believe, but it is God who makes the decision for him to believe.

Acts 13:48 (ESV)
48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

This passage of Scripture points out the great fallacy of (Arminian/Free Will) Baptist and evangelical theology: The sinner does not assist or even cooperate in his salvation. The sinner is a passive participant in his salvation. Yes, he believes, but he believes because he was appointed before the world existed to believe, not because HE makes a free will decision to do so.

God chooses who will believe…the sinner chooses to reject Christ and send himself to hell. Christ died for all and desires all to be saved. God has predestined NO ONE to hell.

The Arminians and the Calvinists are both wrong.

http://www.lutherwasnotbornagain.com/2013/10/salvation-is-much-simpler-than.html

Travis Brice

10/14/2013 11:18:45 am

Gary, thanks for your comments even though I am not quite sure where you are headed with these comments. Here are a few verses that come straight from Jesus' mouth in the book of John.
John 3:17-18 (KJV) For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 3:36 (KJV) He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

1. If as you say "God chooses who will believe", why does God spend most of his time pleading with all to believe? The answer is that all men are natural born sinners and on their way to Hell and they must choose to believe. This action to choose is not helping God in anyway, it is simply accepting the gift He has offered to all who believe.
2. If the sinner is not already on his way to hell then why does it state in verse 18, "is condemned already" and in verse 36, "the wrath of God abideth on him."? Once again it shows that mankind is born a sinner and on his way to hell unless he believes on Jesus. You cannot be "condemned already" nor have "the wrath of God abiding on him" if he had already been chosen to believe. These verses speak of no one actively "rejecting Christ" but speak very clearly of believing on Him.

The act of believing is not "assisting or cooperating" it is simply accepting a truth. Just as you believe a light switch will turn on a light, and faith in what you believe causes you to act upon the switch that has been offered to give you light, and you simply activate the light through your belief and faith of what has been offered to you even though you had nothing to do with the work of installing and providing the light switch. When we receive knowledge of Christ's payment for sin we believe on him and our faith causes us to choose His free gift of salvation He has offered to us all thus activating the gift of eternal light.

Jody Gott

10/14/2013 02:06:05 pm

I do believe that God does know who will accept Him and who will reject Him because He knows all things. However, I believe God gives every one a free will to choose or reject Him. If it is only the ones God appointed to be saved, why didnt God just appoint everyone to be saved? In II Peter 3:9 It says that ...God is not willing that that any should perish,but that "all" should come to repentance. How can all even qualify if its Just the ones that God chose to be saved? In John 3:14 It talks about Moses lifting up the serpent in the Wilderness for those who were bitten by the serpents to look at the serpent and to be healed. It wasn't just certain ones that were chosen to look, anyone could look. In John 3:15-16 It says... whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,but have everlasting life. It didnt say anything about only those who were chosen. It said Whosoever which means anyone. In Romans 10:13 It says, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. In Romans 10:9 it says For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;and with the mouth confession is made unto Salvation. There is that whosoever again. Also,it talks about confessing with the mouth,looks to me like this is an action that the sinner is taking towards salvation. If God chose who was to be saved and who wasn't, that would give sinners an excuse when they stand before God to be judged. They could say, how could I be saved if I wasn't chosen? You lied when you said whosoever. You didnt mean me. And we know God cannot lie or does he contradict himself. Believing that the only people that are able to get saved are the ones God chose, is a good excuse to not have to tell others about the saving grace of Jesus Christ. All throughout the Bible it commands us to spread the gospel to all nations. This wouldn't be necessary if only the chosen ones could get saved. They would get saved whether we told them or not.

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Pastor Travis Brice

Hi, this is Bro. Travis. If you have a question or comment concerning a post, click on the add comment button under the appropriate post. I may not answer right away, but I will do my best to get back to you if you need me to. If you have a prayer request, please use the prayer request section under "Categories".

Widow and Adversary

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