In our text, we find in Luke 18
Which verse?
Luke 18, verse 8,
verse 8.
This was a question put by the Lord
Jesus.
However, when the Son of Man comes, will
he find faith on the earth?
If you listen to
what Umpir said, you would say faith is
coming to an end.
Because the theologian, Dr. Gaum, said, yes, even
though you now believe in the Bible as
the inspired word of God, but after 10
years, you'll read it in a different way.
Well, if one listens to those things, then
you can say, yes, this is applicable to
this.
Will he still find faith when he comes
back, Jesus?
But let's forget about the Sodomites and those
citizens from Gomorrah.
If you read this, then you say, no
Lord, this is a strange question.
When you come back, your bride will be
ready for you.
There will be so many people.
Just look at all the people that get
converted.
Just look at all the people.
There are so many, more than ever before,
Charismatics, Pentecostals, all the different churches.
There are so many believers.
How can you, Lord, utter such a question
that when you come back, will you find
faith in this world?
In the German translation it says, do you
think he'll find faith on earth?
Yes.
When I come back.
There are so many people that get converted,
that become Christians.
Just listen to what they say on the
radio and television.
How can you, Lord, utter such a question?
Will he find faith when he comes back?
Or not?
There are so many believers.
Just look at all of us here.
And he asks us, do you think I'll
find faith when I come back?
He asks us, do
you think I'll
find faith when I come back?
He asks us, do you think I'll find
faith when I come back?
Maybe there won't be anyone there.
Or maybe one or two.
But he says to us, do you think
I'll find faith when I come back?
What kind of faith is that, that he's
looking for, that's like a pearl for him?
The best faith that he's looking for.
Faith.
Each one of us has to ask himself,
do I have that faith?
We're all believers, but what does it mean?
Jacob says, there are many who believe, but
the devils also believe.
And yet, Jesus asks this question.
In other words, there is a particular quality
of faith that he's looking for, that he
wants now amidst.
That which is the best, which is like
a pearl.
And each one of us have to examine
our lives and ask ourselves the question, do
we have that faith which Jesus expressed to
us?
Have you got this type of faith?
I want you to go out of here
today knowing what quality, what type of faith
you have.
Is it this quality that's worth more than
gold purified in the fire?
If we look at this whole passage in
context and we don't just look at the
one verse, Jesus says there was a judge.
He was a hard judge who didn't believe,
who didn't fear God, who was unconcerned about
people.
And at night there was a knock at
the door.
It was a woman, a widow.
And she said, judge please help me, I've
got a problem, I've got enemies.
Grant me justice against my adversary and he
says don't come and waste my time, I
don't have time for you.
But this woman persevered, she kept on.
She didn't lose heart.
And for some time, quite a while, a
long time, he kept on refusing her, not
taking any notice.
But she kept on persevering.
Eventually, this judge who didn't fear God, who
didn't care about men, who had easily condemned
somebody to death and didn't feel a thing
about that, this
woman, this widow, who's keeping on bothering me
and disturbing me, let
me do for her what she wants so
that she would stop bothering me.
So he said, let me, I'll see to
it that she gets justice.
And then Jesus said, do you hear what
that unbelieving judge said?
He said, just listen to what this unjust
judge said.
He said, I'll give her justice just so
that she would stop pestering me and troubling
me.
And he said, in that way, you need
to keep on praying and not lose heart.
And Jesus said, will God not bring about
justice for his chosen ones who cry out
to him day and night?
Will he not be patient with them?
Will he keep putting them off?
I tell you, he will see to it
that they get justice.
Do you see?
Will Jesus find faith when he comes to
earth?
With some, he will find faith.
But with others, he'll find that they've lost
heart.
They've become weary.
They've given it all up.
They said, well, if their faith in Christian
life is like this, I'm leaving it.
You find Christian, he's crying or she's crying.
Women cry more than men.
She's crying.
Why?
Oh, Mrs. So-and-so didn't greet me
properly.
Or she said I'm a thief.
Or she has told lies about me.
And you find the Christian down in the
dumps.
Will he find
faith?
God said, after 10 years, there won't be
faith anymore in Peter's life.
That he won't believe the Bible.
Faith, which doesn't come to an end, is
precious.
Will you stand on that faith, no matter
what?
One day, a Canaanite woman, Luke and Mark
called her a Grecian woman.
She came to Jesus because her daughter was
suffering from demon possession.
Jesus didn't take note of her.
Jesus continued walking on.
Eventually, his disciples came to him and said,
Jesus, send her away.
She's a nuisance.
She's making a noise.
She'd cry out and she'd say, Jesus, son
of David, have mercy on me for my
daughter is suffering from demon possession.
But Jesus didn't answer her and reply to
her.
And the disciples said, send her away.
Because she's making a noise behind us.
And Jesus answered her and said, I haven't
come but for the lost sheep of Israel.
But she came to him and she continued
crying, saying, Lord, help me.
And Jesus said, it's not good that I
should take the bread away from the little
children and throw it to the dogs.
But she said, yes, Lord, but the dogs
eat the crumbs that fall from their master's
table.
Jesus answered her and said, woman, you have
great faith.
Your request is granted.
And her daughter was healed from that very
hour.
She wasn't an Israelite woman.
She was of the nations, of the heathen.
But Jesus said, oh woman, great is your
faith.
First of all, Jesus didn't take any notice
of her.
And then secondly, Jesus said, I'm not sent
to you.
And then he also said, it's not right
to take the children's bread and toss it
to the dogs.
But she persisted.
She persevered.
She didn't lose heart.
She said, but Lord, even the dogs eat
the crumbs that fall from their master's table.
You see, you can't stop a man if
he's got faith, the real faith, the real
faith.
Whatever may come his way, hardship, persecution, temptation,
he's got the right faith, which Jesus is
looking for.
And ultimately he says, oh woman, great is
your faith.
Do you think when Jesus comes, will he
find faith?
Have you?
Do you have that kind of faith?
Is it a reality in your life?
Some people, it's the smallest request.
The devil can be miles away, and he
runs as fast as he can to get
there.
You have faith that comes from heaven, like
the devil.
You don't have the right kind of faith.
Even
if
you are living in Durban.
Even amongst the prostitutes.
Or in Hamburg, St. Pauli Strasse.
If you're easily slipped along by temptation, and
even if Satan is not on your side,
and you don't have the right kind of
faith, and you don't have the right kind
of faith, and you don't have the right
kind of faith, and you don't have the
right kind of faith, and you don't have
the right kind of faith, and you don't
have the right kind of faith, and you
don't have the right kind of faith, and
you don't have the right kind of faith,
and you don't have the right kind of
faith, and you don't have the right kind
of faith, and you don't have the right
kind of faith, and you don't have the
right kind of faith, and you don't have
the right kind of faith, and you don't
have the right kind of faith, and you
don't have the right kind of faith, and
you don't have the right kind of faith,
and you don't have the right kind of
faith, and you don't have the right kind
of faith, and you saw Satan comes a
mile away, and you run to him.
I said that type of faith is out
of hell.
The same type of faith that the devil
has who believes and trembles.
It's not a saving faith.
Have you got that precious faith that is
more costly, that is much better than pure
gold purified by the fire?
To the Lord it's the best.
There's nothing.
Fame, good works, done many things.
It doesn't mean a thing.
He'll look for this kind of faith and
will he find it in your life?
If you haven't got this kind of faith,
you are on your way to hell.
Because Jesus says, if you believe, you'll have
eternal life, you'll be saved.
If you don't believe, you are doomed and
damned in this world and in the world
to come.
This faith makes the difference.
This is the time in which we remember
the crucifixion of our Lord.
If you believe that Jesus was crucified for
your sin and that works in your life,
you will be saved through that faith.
Not just that you know it, but that
it will be an experiential knowledge, in Greek,
epignosis.
If I've got an apple here, I bite
into that green apple and I say, oh,
it's so sweet.
In spite of being green, it's sweet.
And if you are a veggie, you will
say, yes, it's sweet.
It's sweet.
But you haven't bitten into it.
You say so because I say so.
But if you have bitten into that apple
and you taste it for yourself, you'll know
it is sweet.
You can go to other people and say,
it is sweet, or it's bitter.
You've tasted it yourself.
And this faith is tasting it by yourself
what Jesus is, that he bled and died
and he shed his precious blood for you.
This blood is precious to you.
You'd rather die than part with that faith
in Christ.
If I've got an apple here, I bite
into that green apple and I say, oh,
it's sweet.
In spite of being green, it's
sweet.
But if you have bitten into that apple
and you taste it for yourself, you'll know
it is sweet.
And he made such a noise.
He's very talkative.
I say he, I'm sorry, I don't know
whether it's a he or a she.
But this bird is very talkative.
Talks a lot.
Can greet people in Zulu.
Can sing and speak in other languages, English,
Afrikaans, other languages.
But it's an African Grey.
Now, are you an African Grey?
Believe it.
People have got to tell you, mustn't do
this.
Don't do that.
Don't go with boys.
Don't flirt around.
You must go to church.
And you parent, when you pray for your
child, pray for the devil's child.
Don't think, oh, because the child sits next
to you.
In secret, that child sins.
Sins does the most blatant things.
And you call it a Christian.
Oh, no.
A thousand times and ten thousand times, no.
You haven't got the faith that Jesus is
looking for.
When the Son
of
Man comes into this world, do you think
he'll follow you?
Do you think so?
What don't you think?
Do you think he'll find this kind of
faith?
Forget about other people.
Think about yourself.
Do you have this kind of faith?
Or not?
It will be a tragedy if he comes
and you stand there.
And he says, no, that's not the kind
of faith that I want.
That's not the kind of faith that I
want.
That's not the kind of faith that is
precious in my life.
That's not the
kind
of faith that I want.
We don't know.
He can come in death, through an accident,
through a stroke.
He can come in many different ways.
Will he find that faith, that precious faith,
that is better than the best gold of
greater value and greater value for him?
He will not look for it when he
comes.
If you have it, you are blessed.
If you don't have it, you know where
you will end up.
Can I stop now?
Is it clear to you?
Have you understood?
Our brothers said, these people don't understand.
The Germans say he's got a head made
out of wood.
You can speak and speak and speak until
you are blue and green in your face.
It doesn't help.
You can say, yes, I know.
I know.
You don't know.
You don't know the way you should know.
And if you don't register it now, maybe
in hell, but then it's too late.
Do you think that when the Son of
Man comes, he will find faith in this
world?
You ask that question.
You ask.
And may God in heaven make a note
of it, of your answer.
Now it's not just to say yes or
no, but that you go deep and further
and that you say, God grant me that
kind of faith.
Nothing less.
But that what you are looking for.
Shall we pray?
Let's stand.
Oh God, you know each one of us
as we are here.
Whether we are from overseas.
Whether we are from Kwazulu.
Whether we are Afrikaners.
Englishmen.
Greeks or colors, whatever we might be.
Examine, oh Lord, the heart of each one.
And may each one experience you addressing that
question to him or to her.
Whether they have this faith which you expect
and are looking for.
Amen.
There's a person that said, I just can't
understand the life that I'm living.
Because when I read the Bible, it's as
if the heavens are open.
God just speaks to me.
And I said, praise the Lord if that's
the case.