WEBVTT 00:00:06.050 --> 00:00:14.269 Luke chapter 18. We're going back in time tonight. 00:00:14.349 --> 00:00:17.489 We were in verse 9 the other day. But tonight 00:00:17.489 --> 00:00:21.109 we're going to be in verse 1. It's a real short 00:00:21.109 --> 00:00:25.109 and real simple little parable. I say short, 00:00:25.149 --> 00:00:28.629 it's a few verses, but it's really, really simple. 00:00:28.730 --> 00:00:33.759 And in verse 1, that's really the message. When 00:00:33.759 --> 00:00:35.939 we just read the first verse, that's really the 00:00:35.939 --> 00:00:39.920 message that Jesus wants us to know. But we'll 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:43.560 pray, and then we'll get started. In Luke chapter 00:00:43.560 --> 00:00:51.380 18, verse 1, let's pray. God, we come to you. 00:00:51.380 --> 00:00:53.299 We thank you for a good day. We thank you for 00:00:53.299 --> 00:00:54.939 all the people that are here tonight. I thank 00:00:54.939 --> 00:00:57.420 you for this church. I thank you for the love 00:00:57.420 --> 00:00:59.240 that you have for us and the love, God, that 00:00:59.240 --> 00:01:01.619 you have placed in this place that we would... 00:01:01.869 --> 00:01:04.349 have and do have for one another and i pray that 00:01:04.349 --> 00:01:06.150 you just would free us from the distractions 00:01:06.150 --> 00:01:09.430 and the worries and the things of the world and 00:01:09.430 --> 00:01:12.069 and god whatever whatever may be on our heart 00:01:12.069 --> 00:01:16.129 sin or worries or fears or whatever it is i pray 00:01:16.129 --> 00:01:18.670 god that we would just give those things to you 00:01:18.670 --> 00:01:20.769 right now and that you would just give us a good 00:01:20.769 --> 00:01:22.709 good few minutes that your holy spirit would 00:01:22.709 --> 00:01:25.810 help us to be encouraged by these words and i 00:01:25.810 --> 00:01:31.579 ask these things in jesus name amen luke Chapter 00:01:31.579 --> 00:01:38.780 18, verse 1. He then told them a parable of the 00:01:38.780 --> 00:01:44.040 need for them to pray always and not become discouraged. 00:01:44.659 --> 00:01:48.739 Now, this idea of praying constantly, we see 00:01:48.739 --> 00:01:51.040 this theme throughout the New Testament in particularly. 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:55.939 The idea that as a people, that we as humanity 00:01:55.939 --> 00:02:00.159 need to call out to God. Well, that's... That's 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:02.879 pretty evident through Scripture. God has created 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:06.319 everything. He is in control of everything. And 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:08.659 who else are we going to call out to? Now, that 00:02:08.659 --> 00:02:12.280 doesn't mean that we don't call out to someone 00:02:12.280 --> 00:02:15.180 or something else. There may be plenty of things 00:02:15.180 --> 00:02:18.939 that we trust or seek or turn to in our times 00:02:18.939 --> 00:02:21.719 of trouble. It may be another person. It may 00:02:21.719 --> 00:02:24.180 be our wealth. It may be some substance that 00:02:24.180 --> 00:02:27.520 we use to try to cope with whatever we're going 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:30.939 through. But really, what does the Bible say 00:02:30.939 --> 00:02:34.039 repeatedly? That we need to go to the Lord. That 00:02:34.039 --> 00:02:36.060 we need to follow him. That we need to seek him. 00:02:36.139 --> 00:02:39.439 That we need to live in obedience to him. And 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:43.039 so we need to pray to the Lord. And Jesus tells 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:46.479 us that in this parable. It says that he wanted 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:51.479 to teach them to pray always and not become discouraged. 00:02:52.620 --> 00:02:54.840 We probably, I would venture to say, every one 00:02:54.840 --> 00:02:57.979 of us in here has prayed. And I would also venture 00:02:57.979 --> 00:03:00.580 to say that there has probably, if we're honest, 00:03:00.620 --> 00:03:03.819 been a time in our prayer life that we have become 00:03:03.819 --> 00:03:07.599 discouraged. Now, why is that? Well, sometimes 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:11.639 God doesn't appear to hear our prayer or God 00:03:11.639 --> 00:03:15.460 doesn't appear to be listening. God doesn't appear 00:03:15.460 --> 00:03:19.000 to grant our prayer. And we can become discouraged, 00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:21.120 especially if we've prayed for something for 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:23.819 some amount of time. If you pray for something 00:03:23.819 --> 00:03:26.979 today and you don't get an instant answer, you 00:03:26.979 --> 00:03:30.120 don't get the answer you want, okay. But then 00:03:30.120 --> 00:03:33.240 what if you pray for that for a day, for a week, 00:03:33.300 --> 00:03:35.159 for a month, for a year? What if you've been 00:03:35.159 --> 00:03:37.520 praying that for somebody or for something in 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:41.659 your life for 10 years now? And you say, God, 00:03:41.800 --> 00:03:44.659 should I still keep praying? God, I'm so... I'm 00:03:44.659 --> 00:03:47.159 so discouraged, Lord, I have called out to you. 00:03:47.180 --> 00:03:49.780 God, I trust you. I know you can do it. I'm seeking 00:03:49.780 --> 00:03:52.599 you, dear Lord, with all my heart, and I've called 00:03:52.599 --> 00:03:56.020 out to you repeatedly and repeatedly. And God, 00:03:56.159 --> 00:03:58.879 you just, you haven't answered. And sometimes 00:03:58.879 --> 00:04:04.199 we can become discouraged. Jesus tells us in 00:04:04.199 --> 00:04:07.939 this parable, do not give up, because God is 00:04:07.939 --> 00:04:09.960 good. I'm summing up what he says. But that's 00:04:09.960 --> 00:04:12.580 essentially what Jesus is telling us. In verse 00:04:12.580 --> 00:04:17.550 2. He tells us the story. There was a judge in 00:04:17.550 --> 00:04:21.670 a certain town who didn't fear God or respect 00:04:21.670 --> 00:04:25.529 man. And a widow in that town kept coming to 00:04:25.529 --> 00:04:29.790 him saying, give me justice against my adversary. 00:04:30.329 --> 00:04:33.329 Okay, so we have kind of the main character in 00:04:33.329 --> 00:04:36.670 this story. It is the judge. Now, the judge in 00:04:36.670 --> 00:04:38.589 this story is going to be the one that Jesus 00:04:38.589 --> 00:04:41.670 is ultimately going to connect with God. Now, 00:04:41.730 --> 00:04:44.850 the judge in this story is a bad guy. So don't 00:04:44.850 --> 00:04:47.769 misunderstand. Jesus isn't saying that God's 00:04:47.769 --> 00:04:51.269 a bad guy. Not every aspect of every parable 00:04:51.269 --> 00:04:54.069 is a direct connection to the person the parable's 00:04:54.069 --> 00:04:57.990 about. But at the core, it is talking about God 00:04:57.990 --> 00:05:01.920 as the judge. God is the ultimate judge. Here 00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:05.500 in this parable is an earthly judge. But Jesus 00:05:05.500 --> 00:05:08.899 is making a contrast to bring about or bring 00:05:08.899 --> 00:05:12.300 out the goodness of God more clearly. And so 00:05:12.300 --> 00:05:16.160 what do we see is the character of this earthly 00:05:16.160 --> 00:05:19.879 judge? Well, he's a bad guy. We see that in that 00:05:19.879 --> 00:05:24.170 he does not fear God or respect man. So he's 00:05:24.170 --> 00:05:27.250 a bad guy, but nonetheless, he is the one who 00:05:27.250 --> 00:05:30.829 has the power. So you would assume that a bad 00:05:30.829 --> 00:05:33.610 guy is going to make bad choices and that a bad 00:05:33.610 --> 00:05:36.329 person, especially somebody who doesn't fear 00:05:36.329 --> 00:05:40.430 God, would not ever do what is right. But here 00:05:40.430 --> 00:05:43.610 we have the other character in the story, and 00:05:43.610 --> 00:05:46.800 it is this widow. And what does it say? That 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:49.639 the widow kept coming to him saying, give me 00:05:49.639 --> 00:05:51.839 justice against my adversary. Now, we don't know 00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:54.300 what the situation was. It doesn't matter. There 00:05:54.300 --> 00:05:57.000 probably wasn't one. The point is, this woman 00:05:57.000 --> 00:05:59.500 had a problem. Somebody had wronged her in some 00:05:59.500 --> 00:06:02.160 way. And she goes to the judge and she says, 00:06:02.339 --> 00:06:06.279 judge, this person has wronged me. Rule in my 00:06:06.279 --> 00:06:10.259 favor and give me my just reward or give them 00:06:10.259 --> 00:06:12.660 their just punishment for what they have done. 00:06:13.149 --> 00:06:15.850 I have been wronged. I'm in the right. You have 00:06:15.850 --> 00:06:19.329 the power to deal with that, Judge. Not so unlike 00:06:19.329 --> 00:06:22.509 what we see in our court system today. Hopefully 00:06:22.509 --> 00:06:25.029 none of us ever have to go before a judge in 00:06:25.029 --> 00:06:27.629 this life. We will one day in the life to come. 00:06:27.850 --> 00:06:29.910 But hopefully in this life, we're not ever going 00:06:29.910 --> 00:06:32.829 before a judge. Hopefully not for anything bad, 00:06:32.930 --> 00:06:35.610 but sometimes disputes break out, and sometimes 00:06:35.610 --> 00:06:37.810 you have to go before a judge. Sometimes you 00:06:37.810 --> 00:06:41.019 are wronged. And the legal system, God has put 00:06:41.019 --> 00:06:42.779 these people into place, the scripture says, 00:06:42.920 --> 00:06:46.000 to carry things out the way they should. Now, 00:06:46.019 --> 00:06:48.620 they don't always do that now. There are plenty 00:06:48.620 --> 00:06:51.459 of bad judges today that don't fear God and don't 00:06:51.459 --> 00:06:55.620 respect man. But nonetheless, with this judge, 00:06:55.939 --> 00:06:59.199 he has the decision to make. A wrong has been 00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:01.899 done, and he has the decision to make it right. 00:07:02.399 --> 00:07:07.639 All right, verse 4. For while he was unwilling... 00:07:08.089 --> 00:07:12.689 But later he said to himself, even though I don't 00:07:12.689 --> 00:07:17.089 fear God or respect man, yet because this widow 00:07:17.089 --> 00:07:20.930 keeps pestering me, I will give her justice so 00:07:20.930 --> 00:07:25.250 she doesn't wear me out by her persistent coming. 00:07:25.870 --> 00:07:28.870 Okay? So here's the judge. Doesn't fear God. 00:07:29.089 --> 00:07:31.930 Doesn't respect man. But he said, I'm tired of 00:07:31.930 --> 00:07:33.930 this woman coming to me all the time saying, 00:07:34.009 --> 00:07:35.730 give me justice, give me justice, give me justice, 00:07:35.790 --> 00:07:39.410 give me justice. And so he says, look, even though 00:07:39.410 --> 00:07:42.129 I don't fear God, I'm going to do it just so 00:07:42.129 --> 00:07:44.990 this woman will shut up. I'm tired of hearing 00:07:44.990 --> 00:07:48.509 from her. And my translation says she keeps pestering 00:07:48.509 --> 00:07:51.149 me. Your translations may say something different. 00:07:51.670 --> 00:07:54.290 But you may have experienced this in your life. 00:07:54.569 --> 00:07:58.870 You may have been on the being pestered end of 00:07:58.870 --> 00:08:01.170 it, or you may have been on the pestering end 00:08:01.170 --> 00:08:04.329 of it. But a lot of times, if you pester somebody 00:08:04.329 --> 00:08:07.149 long enough, they will cave. Maybe you've got 00:08:07.149 --> 00:08:09.889 kids or grandkids and they have pestered the 00:08:09.889 --> 00:08:11.670 stew out of you about something. And eventually, 00:08:11.730 --> 00:08:14.810 maybe you've just given in. Or maybe you've been 00:08:14.810 --> 00:08:17.110 the one that pestered your spouse or that pestered 00:08:17.110 --> 00:08:19.750 somebody in your life. And finally, you just 00:08:19.750 --> 00:08:23.709 cave. Sometimes it's better to just give in. 00:08:23.769 --> 00:08:25.930 I remember when I was a kid and I wanted this 00:08:25.930 --> 00:08:29.410 Lego set, a hot rod car. It was blue and it was 00:08:29.410 --> 00:08:32.210 great. And my mom said, I'll buy it for you, 00:08:32.230 --> 00:08:34.490 but you can't have it until your birthday. And 00:08:34.490 --> 00:08:36.470 so she bought it, and my birthday was like two 00:08:36.470 --> 00:08:39.809 or three months off. And guess what I did? I 00:08:39.809 --> 00:08:42.350 pestered her. Oh, can I please just have it early, 00:08:42.450 --> 00:08:44.470 please? I won't forget that I already got it. 00:08:44.490 --> 00:08:46.289 I won't ask for anything else on my birthday. 00:08:46.389 --> 00:08:48.429 And I pestered and I pestered and I pestered. 00:08:48.429 --> 00:08:53.450 And guess what? I got the car. Not because I 00:08:53.450 --> 00:08:56.659 deserved it, but because I pestered her. And 00:08:56.659 --> 00:09:00.039 so even this judge right here, even though he's 00:09:00.039 --> 00:09:02.240 not a godly man, even though he really doesn't 00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:04.539 even care about people, really doesn't even care 00:09:04.539 --> 00:09:07.759 about too much of anything, he still does what 00:09:07.759 --> 00:09:10.779 is right because this woman kept coming to him 00:09:10.779 --> 00:09:15.460 and making her request known to him. And Jesus 00:09:15.460 --> 00:09:18.580 is making a point. Listen to the point he made. 00:09:19.320 --> 00:09:23.659 Then he says in verse 6, Then the Lord said, 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:28.379 Listen to what the unjust judge says. Will not 00:09:28.379 --> 00:09:32.679 God grant justice to his elect who cry out to 00:09:32.679 --> 00:09:36.460 him day and night? Will he delay to help them? 00:09:36.840 --> 00:09:39.919 I tell you that he will swiftly grant them justice. 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:44.039 Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will 00:09:44.039 --> 00:09:49.919 he find that faith on earth? Now Jesus says, 00:09:49.960 --> 00:09:52.340 look, I just told you a story about a judge. 00:09:53.019 --> 00:09:55.299 He wasn't even a good guy. He was kind of a bad 00:09:55.299 --> 00:09:58.860 dude. And yet he did what was right because someone 00:09:58.860 --> 00:10:02.759 made their request known to him. And Jesus says, 00:10:02.879 --> 00:10:07.519 how much more so will God, a good and gracious 00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:11.919 God, how much more so does he hear our request? 00:10:12.299 --> 00:10:15.399 How much more so does he pay attention to us? 00:10:15.559 --> 00:10:18.659 How much more so will the God who created the 00:10:18.659 --> 00:10:22.519 heavens and the earth do what is right? If we 00:10:22.519 --> 00:10:25.259 would only call out to him. And what did Jesus 00:10:25.259 --> 00:10:28.879 say? When the son of man comes. Will he find 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:32.000 that kind of faith on earth? Will he find it 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:36.840 among us tonight? Are we those who will be persistent 00:10:36.840 --> 00:10:39.019 in prayer? I'm not talking about like nagging 00:10:39.019 --> 00:10:41.519 God. Like for the next hour when you go home. 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:43.299 God do what I say. God do what I say. God do 00:10:43.299 --> 00:10:45.539 what I say. God do what I say. It's not really 00:10:45.539 --> 00:10:48.899 what Jesus is talking about. But we do need to 00:10:48.899 --> 00:10:52.480 continue to make our requests known to God. So 00:10:52.480 --> 00:10:54.419 therefore, as we see in the first part of the 00:10:54.419 --> 00:10:58.519 verse, don't be discouraged, but be constant 00:10:58.519 --> 00:11:03.080 in prayer. God has heard your prayer. And maybe 00:11:03.080 --> 00:11:05.840 he's answering it in a way that you don't see. 00:11:06.500 --> 00:11:09.159 Or maybe he's answering it in a way that you 00:11:09.159 --> 00:11:12.879 don't like. We pray for things as best as we 00:11:12.879 --> 00:11:16.259 know how they need to be handled, but we don't 00:11:16.259 --> 00:11:18.639 see the big picture. We're not God. We only see 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:22.179 a few pieces. God sees the big picture. He sees 00:11:22.179 --> 00:11:25.860 all the pieces. And we pray for what we think 00:11:25.860 --> 00:11:29.620 is good, but maybe if God granted what we thought 00:11:29.620 --> 00:11:32.860 was good, maybe it wouldn't be what was best 00:11:32.860 --> 00:11:36.019 for us. Or maybe it wouldn't be what was best 00:11:36.019 --> 00:11:39.740 for our loved one. Or maybe by God not granting 00:11:39.740 --> 00:11:42.879 our request, or not granting it in the time that 00:11:42.879 --> 00:11:45.100 we want, or in the way that we want, maybe there's 00:11:45.100 --> 00:11:47.740 something that God is teaching us through that. 00:11:48.809 --> 00:11:52.250 And so we need not be discouraged. Do you know 00:11:52.250 --> 00:11:55.830 tonight that God is good? That God loves you? 00:11:56.710 --> 00:12:00.669 He hears your prayers. He does not always answer 00:12:00.669 --> 00:12:03.210 them as quickly or in the way that we would like. 00:12:04.230 --> 00:12:06.549 But he's a lot better than this old earthly judge 00:12:06.549 --> 00:12:09.570 that we just read about. And even this old earthly 00:12:09.570 --> 00:12:12.850 judge did what was right. So God's going to do 00:12:12.850 --> 00:12:15.830 what's right. He's going to do what's right. 00:12:16.490 --> 00:12:19.779 But he's going to do it in his time. So don't 00:12:19.779 --> 00:12:21.759 be discouraged tonight, but continue to pray 00:12:21.759 --> 00:12:25.919 to the Lord. Continue to seek Him. Continue to 00:12:25.919 --> 00:12:28.460 make your requests known to Him, but always pray 00:12:28.460 --> 00:12:32.100 that the will of God be done. Because sometimes 00:12:32.100 --> 00:12:36.419 if our will was done the way we wanted, it wouldn't 00:12:36.419 --> 00:12:40.559 be good. So we seek and we pray the best we know 00:12:40.559 --> 00:12:44.580 how, but ultimately we know that God is the one 00:12:44.580 --> 00:12:46.639 who makes the right decision. So we have to trust 00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:49.779 Him and keep praying. and not be discouraged. 00:12:50.179 --> 00:12:52.480 Let's pray. God, we come to you. We thank you 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:55.220 for your good word. I pray, dear Lord, that you 00:12:55.220 --> 00:12:58.340 would help us to be persistent in prayer, dear 00:12:58.340 --> 00:13:01.659 Lord, that we would pester you, so to speak, 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:04.759 in a way like this widow did, dear Lord, to just 00:13:04.759 --> 00:13:09.000 continue to make our requests known to you. Whatever 00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:11.019 they may be, dear Lord, whether it's something 00:13:11.019 --> 00:13:14.389 in our life or something for... A friend or a 00:13:14.389 --> 00:13:16.549 family member, God, we just want to continue 00:13:16.549 --> 00:13:19.029 to lift those things up and we pray that your 00:13:19.029 --> 00:13:22.529 will be done. Help us to be content with your 00:13:22.529 --> 00:13:26.250 will, dear Lord. Even if we don't always like 00:13:26.250 --> 00:13:29.230 how you work or when you work, we know that you're 00:13:29.230 --> 00:13:31.990 right. And when we don't, I pray that you'd remind 00:13:31.990 --> 00:13:34.950 us of that. I pray that you'd be with each one 00:13:34.950 --> 00:13:37.470 in here, each one listening online, dear Lord, 00:13:37.570 --> 00:13:40.580 that you would strengthen our prayer lives. that 00:13:40.580 --> 00:13:42.460 you would help us to continue to seek you in 00:13:42.460 --> 00:13:45.899 everything and to not be discouraged. And I ask 00:13:45.899 --> 00:13:48.379 these things in Jesus' name. Amen.