Luke chapter 18. We're going back in time tonight.
We were in verse 9 the other day. But tonight
we're going to be in verse 1. It's a real short
and real simple little parable. I say short,
it's a few verses, but it's really, really simple.
And in verse 1, that's really the message. When
we just read the first verse, that's really the
message that Jesus wants us to know. But we'll
pray, and then we'll get started. In Luke chapter
18, verse 1, let's pray. God, we come to you.
We thank you for a good day. We thank you for
all the people that are here tonight. I thank
you for this church. I thank you for the love
that you have for us and the love, God, that
you have placed in this place that we would...
have and do have for one another and i pray that
you just would free us from the distractions
and the worries and the things of the world and
and god whatever whatever may be on our heart
sin or worries or fears or whatever it is i pray
god that we would just give those things to you
right now and that you would just give us a good
good few minutes that your holy spirit would
help us to be encouraged by these words and i
ask these things in jesus name amen luke Chapter
18, verse 1. He then told them a parable of the
need for them to pray always and not become discouraged.
Now, this idea of praying constantly, we see
this theme throughout the New Testament in particularly.
The idea that as a people, that we as humanity
need to call out to God. Well, that's... That's
pretty evident through Scripture. God has created
everything. He is in control of everything. And
who else are we going to call out to? Now, that
doesn't mean that we don't call out to someone
or something else. There may be plenty of things
that we trust or seek or turn to in our times
of trouble. It may be another person. It may
be our wealth. It may be some substance that
we use to try to cope with whatever we're going
through. But really, what does the Bible say
repeatedly? That we need to go to the Lord. That
we need to follow him. That we need to seek him.
That we need to live in obedience to him. And
so we need to pray to the Lord. And Jesus tells
us that in this parable. It says that he wanted
to teach them to pray always and not become discouraged.
We probably, I would venture to say, every one
of us in here has prayed. And I would also venture
to say that there has probably, if we're honest,
been a time in our prayer life that we have become
discouraged. Now, why is that? Well, sometimes
God doesn't appear to hear our prayer or God
doesn't appear to be listening. God doesn't appear
to grant our prayer. And we can become discouraged,
especially if we've prayed for something for
some amount of time. If you pray for something
today and you don't get an instant answer, you
don't get the answer you want, okay. But then
what if you pray for that for a day, for a week,
for a month, for a year? What if you've been
praying that for somebody or for something in
your life for 10 years now? And you say, God,
should I still keep praying? God, I'm so... I'm
so discouraged, Lord, I have called out to you.
God, I trust you. I know you can do it. I'm seeking
you, dear Lord, with all my heart, and I've called
out to you repeatedly and repeatedly. And God,
you just, you haven't answered. And sometimes
we can become discouraged. Jesus tells us in
this parable, do not give up, because God is
good. I'm summing up what he says. But that's
essentially what Jesus is telling us. In verse
2. He tells us the story. There was a judge in
a certain town who didn't fear God or respect
man. And a widow in that town kept coming to
him saying, give me justice against my adversary.
Okay, so we have kind of the main character in
this story. It is the judge. Now, the judge in
this story is going to be the one that Jesus
is ultimately going to connect with God. Now,
the judge in this story is a bad guy. So don't
misunderstand. Jesus isn't saying that God's
a bad guy. Not every aspect of every parable
is a direct connection to the person the parable's
about. But at the core, it is talking about God
as the judge. God is the ultimate judge. Here
in this parable is an earthly judge. But Jesus
is making a contrast to bring about or bring
out the goodness of God more clearly. And so
what do we see is the character of this earthly
judge? Well, he's a bad guy. We see that in that
he does not fear God or respect man. So he's
a bad guy, but nonetheless, he is the one who
has the power. So you would assume that a bad
guy is going to make bad choices and that a bad
person, especially somebody who doesn't fear
God, would not ever do what is right. But here
we have the other character in the story, and
it is this widow. And what does it say? That
the widow kept coming to him saying, give me
justice against my adversary. Now, we don't know
what the situation was. It doesn't matter. There
probably wasn't one. The point is, this woman
had a problem. Somebody had wronged her in some
way. And she goes to the judge and she says,
judge, this person has wronged me. Rule in my
favor and give me my just reward or give them
their just punishment for what they have done.
I have been wronged. I'm in the right. You have
the power to deal with that, Judge. Not so unlike
what we see in our court system today. Hopefully
none of us ever have to go before a judge in
this life. We will one day in the life to come.
But hopefully in this life, we're not ever going
before a judge. Hopefully not for anything bad,
but sometimes disputes break out, and sometimes
you have to go before a judge. Sometimes you
are wronged. And the legal system, God has put
these people into place, the scripture says,
to carry things out the way they should. Now,
they don't always do that now. There are plenty
of bad judges today that don't fear God and don't
respect man. But nonetheless, with this judge,
he has the decision to make. A wrong has been
done, and he has the decision to make it right.
All right, verse 4. For while he was unwilling...
But later he said to himself, even though I don't
fear God or respect man, yet because this widow
keeps pestering me, I will give her justice so
she doesn't wear me out by her persistent coming.
Okay? So here's the judge. Doesn't fear God.
Doesn't respect man. But he said, I'm tired of
this woman coming to me all the time saying,
give me justice, give me justice, give me justice,
give me justice. And so he says, look, even though
I don't fear God, I'm going to do it just so
this woman will shut up. I'm tired of hearing
from her. And my translation says she keeps pestering
me. Your translations may say something different.
But you may have experienced this in your life.
You may have been on the being pestered end of
it, or you may have been on the pestering end
of it. But a lot of times, if you pester somebody
long enough, they will cave. Maybe you've got
kids or grandkids and they have pestered the
stew out of you about something. And eventually,
maybe you've just given in. Or maybe you've been
the one that pestered your spouse or that pestered
somebody in your life. And finally, you just
cave. Sometimes it's better to just give in.
I remember when I was a kid and I wanted this
Lego set, a hot rod car. It was blue and it was
great. And my mom said, I'll buy it for you,
but you can't have it until your birthday. And
so she bought it, and my birthday was like two
or three months off. And guess what I did? I
pestered her. Oh, can I please just have it early,
please? I won't forget that I already got it.
I won't ask for anything else on my birthday.
And I pestered and I pestered and I pestered.
And guess what? I got the car. Not because I
deserved it, but because I pestered her. And
so even this judge right here, even though he's
not a godly man, even though he really doesn't
even care about people, really doesn't even care
about too much of anything, he still does what
is right because this woman kept coming to him
and making her request known to him. And Jesus
is making a point. Listen to the point he made.
Then he says in verse 6, Then the Lord said,
Listen to what the unjust judge says. Will not
God grant justice to his elect who cry out to
him day and night? Will he delay to help them?
I tell you that he will swiftly grant them justice.
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will
he find that faith on earth? Now Jesus says,
look, I just told you a story about a judge.
He wasn't even a good guy. He was kind of a bad
dude. And yet he did what was right because someone
made their request known to him. And Jesus says,
how much more so will God, a good and gracious
God, how much more so does he hear our request?
How much more so does he pay attention to us?
How much more so will the God who created the
heavens and the earth do what is right? If we
would only call out to him. And what did Jesus
say? When the son of man comes. Will he find
that kind of faith on earth? Will he find it
among us tonight? Are we those who will be persistent
in prayer? I'm not talking about like nagging
God. Like for the next hour when you go home.
God do what I say. God do what I say. God do
what I say. God do what I say. It's not really
what Jesus is talking about. But we do need to
continue to make our requests known to God. So
therefore, as we see in the first part of the
verse, don't be discouraged, but be constant
in prayer. God has heard your prayer. And maybe
he's answering it in a way that you don't see.
Or maybe he's answering it in a way that you
don't like. We pray for things as best as we
know how they need to be handled, but we don't
see the big picture. We're not God. We only see
a few pieces. God sees the big picture. He sees
all the pieces. And we pray for what we think
is good, but maybe if God granted what we thought
was good, maybe it wouldn't be what was best
for us. Or maybe it wouldn't be what was best
for our loved one. Or maybe by God not granting
our request, or not granting it in the time that
we want, or in the way that we want, maybe there's
something that God is teaching us through that.
And so we need not be discouraged. Do you know
tonight that God is good? That God loves you?
He hears your prayers. He does not always answer
them as quickly or in the way that we would like.
But he's a lot better than this old earthly judge
that we just read about. And even this old earthly
judge did what was right. So God's going to do
what's right. He's going to do what's right.
But he's going to do it in his time. So don't
be discouraged tonight, but continue to pray
to the Lord. Continue to seek Him. Continue to
make your requests known to Him, but always pray
that the will of God be done. Because sometimes
if our will was done the way we wanted, it wouldn't
be good. So we seek and we pray the best we know
how, but ultimately we know that God is the one
who makes the right decision. So we have to trust
Him and keep praying. and not be discouraged.
Let's pray. God, we come to you. We thank you
for your good word. I pray, dear Lord, that you
would help us to be persistent in prayer, dear
Lord, that we would pester you, so to speak,
in a way like this widow did, dear Lord, to just
continue to make our requests known to you. Whatever
they may be, dear Lord, whether it's something
in our life or something for... A friend or a
family member, God, we just want to continue
to lift those things up and we pray that your
will be done. Help us to be content with your
will, dear Lord. Even if we don't always like
how you work or when you work, we know that you're
right. And when we don't, I pray that you'd remind
us of that. I pray that you'd be with each one
in here, each one listening online, dear Lord,
that you would strengthen our prayer lives. that
you would help us to continue to seek you in
everything and to not be discouraged. And I ask
these things in Jesus' name. Amen.