Luke 18 — Read & Listen Online | Father's Heart Bible™

Our Father Hears the Persistent Cry

Chapter 18.

Then Jesus told them a parable about the need to always pray and never lose heart. "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people." "And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him and saying, 'Give me justice against my adversary.'" "For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor respect people,'" "yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not wear me out by her endless coming."

And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says." "And will not our Father bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?" "I tell you, he will bring about justice for them quickly. Yet when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

The Humble Heart Finds Mercy

He also told this parable to some who were confident in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector." "The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: 'our Father, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.'" "'I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all I get.'" "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his chest and said, 'our Father, have mercy on me, a sinner.'" "I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

The Father's Kingdom Belongs to Children

Now people were even bringing their babies to him so that he might touch them. But when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of our Father belongs to such as these." "Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of our Father like a little child will never enter it."

The One Thing Wealth Cannot Buy

A certain ruler asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except our Father alone." ^a "You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not give false testimony, Honor your father and mother.'"

"All these I have kept since my youth," he said.

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."

But when he heard this, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.

Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of our Father!" "Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of our Father."

Those who heard it asked, "Then who can be saved?"

But he said, "What is impossible for people is possible for our Father."

Then Peter said, "Look, we have left our own homes and followed you."

And he said to them, "Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of our Father" "who will not receive many times more in this age, and in the age to come eternal life."

The Son of Man Goes to the Cross

Taking the Twelve aside, he said to them, "Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished." "For he will be handed over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon." "They will flog him and kill him, and on the third day he will rise."

But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

Sight Restored by the Father's Son

As Jesus drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. Hearing a crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by." So he called out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Those who were in front rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"

Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" He said, "Lord, let me see again."

And Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has saved you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, glorifying our Father. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to our Father.

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