Luke 18:1 I. This parable does not teach us to pray. There is no need that it should. Like the belief in a God, the moral sense of right and wrong, the hope of immortality, the expectation of a judgment, prayer seems as much an instinct of the soul as breathing, eating, drinking are instinctive act... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 18:3 The Church's Widowhood. That the Church is, nay _must be,_in a state of widowhood appears from such things as these: I. The Father's purpose concerning her. That purpose has great things in store for her, in the ages to come; but at present her lot is to be weakness, poverty, hardship, a... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 18:6 I. What is the central thought of this parable? The answer to this question is obvious. The central thought of the parable is the advantage to be derived from importunity in prayer. And the general fact which the story conveys is this: with man importunity will succeed, when the power of... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 18:8 I. Notice the peril that of losing faith. Now, faith in reference to questions of revelation has three degrees, and only the last represents it in its completeness, though, indeed, as things go now we are apt to accept even, and only the first, with a sort of thankful surprise. (1) First,... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 18:10 There are five points in which the Pharisee and the publican agree; there are five points in which they differ, and there are five special lessons which the incident urges upon the attention of all men in all ages. I. The points in which they agree are obvious. (1) They had the same obj... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 18:14 Self-Righteousness. I. We are not saved from the danger of self-righteousness by our full knowledge and hearty recognition of the doctrines of grace. The Pharisee did not dream of taking to himself the credit of the excellence which he supposed himself to have attained to. He acknowledg... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 18:16 I. One sense in which this text is true is, that the great company of those who are indeed the Saviour's people is made up of those who resemble little children in certain distinctive features of their character. The Church Militant, and far more the Church Triumphant, consists of such as... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 18:31 Why Christ suffered. I. The answer to this question is very simple. He suffered as a sacrifice for the sin of the world. It was the ultimate and perfecting act of His obedience, to carry down into death that death-sentenced nature which He had taken into the Godhead; to subject His Divin... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 18:31 I. The announcement by Christ of His approaching sacrifice was the announcement of the solution to the enigma which all the ages of mankind had been endeavouring to solve how to obtain peace with a justly offended God. The need of such a propitiation combined with a deep sense of human mi... [ Continue Reading ]