Luke 18.1, He spake a parable
unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not
to faint, saying, There was in a city a judge which feared not
God, neither regarded man. And there was a widow in that
city, and she came unto him saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
And he would not for a while, but afterward he said within
himself, though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this
widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming
she weary me. And the Lord said, hear what
the unjust judge saith, and shall not God avenge his own elect,
which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with
them? I tell you that he will avenge
them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of
Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" Notice first that this parable
had one purpose. He spoke a parable unto them
to this end. And this is true whenever, and
remember this, whenever you see the Lord's parables in the scripture.
It's easy to try to make every detail of the stories that the
Lord told mean something specific. It's easy to miss the forest
for the trees. There are elements of his parables
that do signify certain people and things. He explains that
in the parable of the sower, for example. He said, the seed
is the word of God. And in the parable of the wheat
and the tares in Luke 13, he said, the sower of the good seed
is the son of man. And he does point that out specifically.
And in other parables, like the parable of the hundred sheep,
though, for example, what man having a hundred sheep, if he
lose one of them, leaveth not the ninety and nine and go and
find? That one sheep. I've read things and heard people
arguing about who the 99 are. Well, they must be the elect
because they're called sheep. But no, this and that. Arguments, debates. You miss
the point of it. That all of God's sheep are that
one sheep. Which of His were never lost?
Which of His didn't leave the fold? Which of His? The Lord
says, all we like sheep have gone astray so which one are
you that's the question don't miss the forest for the trees
which of God's sheep is it that couldn't say that one is me so
these parables they have one purpose and they all have the
same purpose the same point they all have the same point now what
was the purpose of the parable of the tares in the wheat Think about this now. Christ
sowed the good seed. The seed was his seed. The field
was his. The world is his. Because he
said the world, the field is the world. The world is his. The wheat is his. He does the
harvesting. He does the separating. He burns
the tares. He gathers the wheat. He gets
all the glory. So what's the point of that parable?
Christ is all. Isn't that it? That's pretty
clear. What's the purpose of the parable of the hundred sheep?
Christ is the shepherd. The sheep belongs to him. That's
why that sheep was precious. He said, it's my sheep. I've
lost my sheep. I found my sheep. which was lost. He goes after the sheep. He finds
the sheep. He brings home the sheep. He
rejoices. He gets the glory. What do the
sheep get? Him. What's the point of that
parable? Come on now. Well, our text today
though, Chris, that expressly says what the point of it is
and it doesn't say anything about Christ. What's the point of that? That we ought to pray and not
faint. That's a little different. Really? Who do you pray to? Do
you ever think about what prayer is? What's the point of this
parable? We're going to look at this.
Who are you praying to? What are you praying for? Who's going to decide whether
you get it or not? If we don't faint, why won't
we? Who's going to get all the glory? Same point. It's one thing. It's always one thing. He spoke
this parable to this end, to one end. And it's Christ and
it always is. Men ought to pray and not faint.
Now I've read things about how to pray. And maybe you have too. There are acronyms. You may not
know this. You don't need to know this really.
I'm just saying this to show you what it ain't. There are
acronyms that you can follow that will remind you, you know,
to be sure to have all the elements of prayer included in your prayer.
Acts is one of them. A-C-T-S. Adoration, contrition,
thanksgiving, and supplication. Be careful now. Make sure you
don't miss anything. These four things themselves
are fine. They are included in prayer, but the idea that you
have to analyze and properly structure your prayer before
God is not fine. There's nothing fine about that.
If you have to be reminded to reverence God when you pray,
then your problem is not that you ain't praying right. That's
not it. You don't need an acronym for
that now. If you need to be reminded that
you need God's forgiveness as you pray, you don't need an acronym. You need a new heart. He taught
us to pray this way. Forgive us our trespasses. And
you can't help but pray like that. If you know Him, now think
about this, just the act of bowing and coming before God reminds
us that we have no grounds upon which to ask Him for anything.
We're sinners. We don't have to have forgiveness
if we're going to have anything else. Isn't that right? Thanksgiving,
you need somebody to remind you to thank God for what He's done
for you and given you. You know who uses acronyms? Somebody
that doesn't know who God is. You'll have to have a reminder.
If you don't know who you're praying to, then you'll have
to be sure and remember in your head that he's God and you're
not. Now I'm not suggesting that we
don't sometimes forget that. We don't need an acronym. We
don't need some kind of formula, you know. A mental note. We need
a hard attitude. And that comes from Him. We need
to look to Him. I find myself, and I'm not a role
model at all when it comes to prayer, but this is just natural.
I find myself asking God to forgive me before I even realize I'm
saying that. Don't you when you pray? God,
forgive me. I'm sorry that I don't pray more. Aren't you? When I do think to pray, I'm
thinking, how long has it been? My God, has it been that long
since I've prayed? Since I've really gotten on my
face before God? Forgive me for not even knowing
what to say, because I usually don't. Forgive me of my sins. How can I ask for anything? when I deserve nothing but hell and yet Lord I come in the name
of the Savior for his glory save for his glory
save my children for his glory sustain me in the ministry and
in everything I am as a father as a husband to my wife In everything, Lord, give me
grace. For Christ's glory, give me wisdom and strength and love
for your people. For His sake, increase my faith. Teach me, Lord, to pray. For
His sake, for His glory. There's adoration and praise,
certainly in our prayers, without needing a formula. I'm not worthy,
but He is. And then if you live every day,
now think about that, you live every day needing His mercy,
needing His provision. If you understood your desperate,
continual, utter need of Him in everything, all the time before
you started praying, then of course you're going to pray that
way. Needing His strength, When he's given it, needing his
provision, he's given it. How do you forget to be thankful?
We can and do, again, forget at times, but a formula's not
gonna help that. A formula for prayer might remind
you to say the right words, but it won't make you thankful. It might remind you to say thank
you, but it won't give you a thankful heart. Not gonna do that. I tell you, it's not going to
help that. I tell you what will help that. Living on Him. And that's exactly, you think
about that. Living on Him. We live on Him. Acknowledging our constant need
of Him and knowing that when we succeed or when we're sustained,
it's because of Him. If you live all the time like
everything depends on you, and you're proud of your accomplishments
and so on, you know, saying your prayers at night before you go
to bed, and remembering the right formula, including a thank you
in your prayers, that doesn't mean you're praying. You see, it's life. He is life,
and prayer is a part of that. It's the heart expressing before
God what we feel all the time. I need you. I need Him all the
time. And so prayer is an expression
of that. I don't need things so much.
Sometimes we pray for specific things and there's nothing wrong
with that. But what we need is Him. And you can't not need Him throughout
your day and then need Him for a few minutes while you're praying.
That can't happen. Remember the point of every parable,
Christ is all. And that will be the point of
your prayers. We need him. Some of you have heard this poem
a few times over the years. I think it must be my favorite
poem. Dear Lord, engrave it on my heart that thou the one thing
needful art. I could from all things parted
be, but never, never Lord from thee. Needful is thy precious
blood to reconcile my soul to God. Needful thy indulgent care. Needful thy all-prevailing prayer.
Needful thy presence, dearest Lord, true peace and comfort
to afford. Needful thy promise to impart
fresh life and vigor to my heart. Needful art thou, my guide, my
stay, through all life's dark and weary way, nor less in death
thou wilt needful be to bring my spirit home to thee. Then,
needful still, my God, my King, thy name eternally I'll sing.
Glory and praise be ever his, the one thing needful Jesus is. And of course we must be thankful
to God and praise Him, but prayer really is asking God. It includes thanksgiving, it
includes praise, but the word prayer means to wish toward. It's a combination word, two
words put together, to wish toward. You don't make a wish by breaking
a wishbone or wishing on a star. When you eat your turkey this
Thanksgiving just don't even look for that thing. That's not
how you wish. You wish toward God if you know
Him. You say, well I wish I knew how
to pray. Wish toward Him. I wish I had more faith. The
answer to that is not in the stars. Don't wish upon a star. The answer to that is in the
Lord Jesus Christ, the one who hung the stars. Only he can grant
that wish. So let's look at the parable
of itself before we run out of time. We have an unjust judge
in the parable. And that's God's estimation of
him. He's unjust. He doesn't fear God, and he doesn't
have any regard for man. He doesn't care anything about
his fellow man. What makes him unjust? Well, let's notice right
off that this unjust judge is a contrast. He's not a type of
Christ. He stands in the place of Christ
in the parable, but not as a type, but as a contrast. He's like
that, but our Savior's like this. He's unjust in the spiritual
application of the parable. Christ is the judge. He's not
unjust. He does care about sinners. And
he does fear God. He is the judge also. So this judge is a contrast to
him, to Christ. What is unjust about him? All
we really know about him is that he was selfish. Why did he end up doing what
he did? She's bothering me. And he's heartless. He didn't
care anything about that woman. He didn't care about her cause.
He didn't care if she lived or died. He didn't care if she was
wronged or not wrong. He didn't care that she was suffering
and needed him. He just didn't want to be inconvenienced.
Selfish and heartless. I've actually heard people preach
from this parable and say You know don't ever give God any
peace. Let's don't give him any peace. Let's just keep bothering
him Until like this judge. He does what we want just to
shut us up. You know Maybe read it again if that's
what you think Our Lord is not like this judge. He's not selfish. He's not heartless. He's contrasted
with this judge that fears not God. He says in verse eight,
I'll avenge you speedily. I'll avenge you speedily. And
here's the thing about that. Maybe you're thinking, well,
I've cried unto the Lord and sometimes I've cried for years
about things. And then he will answer that
prayer. He'll do what I ask. But boy, it was years before
he did. How's that speedy? He already answered it before
you ever experienced it. It was done. You just didn't
know it yet. And you knew it when you needed to know it, didn't
you? He'd already done it for you. He answers speedily. He loves those that cry unto
him now. You call on his name, he said
you'll be saved. He is the just judge. So where
are we in this parable? That's kind of obvious, isn't
it? We're the widow. She was needy. She kept coming to the
judge continually. Verse 5, her continual coming. Why? Well, there are a couple
of answers to this. Why'd she just keep on coming?
She didn't have anywhere else to go. She had a legal problem. Why
did she go to a judge and not a doctor? She had a legal problem.
We're pictured as sinners coming to Christ as the great physician
in the scripture too. The woman with the issue of blood.
She spent all she had on other doctors and she just got worse.
And she came to the Lord and said, if I can just touch his
garment, I'll be healed. And she sure enough was. But here we see we also have
a legal problem before God. And we need the judge to help
us. We need the one before whom we stand guilty to avenge us. To protect, defend, and vindicate. That's what that word avenge
means. To protect, defend, and vindicate. You see, the only
way the just judge can solve our legal problem, can justify
us, is to vindicate us. It must be just for Him to justify
us. We've got to be vindicated. There's
got to be a way that it's right to declare us not guilty. That's
what Paul's talking about in Romans 3.23. For all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by
His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at
this time, his righteousness, that he might be just. And justifier of him that believeth
in Jesus. What's it gonna take? Blood,
redemption. Price has got to be paid You
see this is not just a lesson on how to pray We saw that from
the start didn't we it's it's about him It's all about him. This is the gospel Needing stuff
and asking God for stuff is not the gospel but needing Christ
needing justification Needing to be legally vindicated That
is the gospel Go into him for what we need. That's the gospel
We need above all vindication we need redemption Free justification
and there's only one that can give it that's why we keep coming
to him We have an adversary We have an adversary the scriptures
speak of our adversary the devil There's no question that he is
but also We're in legal trouble by nature with God We're in legal
trouble with God. We stand condemned by God's law
And we don't just need Here's the thing we need mercy because
we're guilty But we also need to be not guilty It's always
interesting, we try to, we try to nail down everything that
the scripture teaches about salvation and how, and try to make it logical,
you know. We talk about justification,
we say well that means you don't have any sin, and that's true,
it means you have no sin. It means not guilty, you're justified
before God. It means you never sinned, you're
not sinning, and you're not ever going to sin. But the scripture
also speaks about forgiveness, which means you have sinned.
You've got to understand both, don't you? One human principle
is not going to be enough to cover the gospel. The Lord teaches
it in a lot of different ways, doesn't he? I've never sinned. But you have. That's the thing.
You've got to stand before God now, sinless, justified, guiltless,
without sin in your past, present, or future. But we also need forgiveness. You see, but it takes both to
understand the reality, the spiritual reality of this. He got to forgive
us of our sin. What sin? We're justified. It's not logical, but it is wonderful. Logic won't get it, will it?
You're not going to understand the gospel by logic. We need redemption. We need free
justification and there's only one place. Our adversary is the
devil but our adversary is also God. My problem is my sin and
because of my sin I have a problem with God. Your sins have separated
between you and your God. God's holy law condemns me and
I don't have any answer. I don't have any excuse. There's
no extenuating circumstances. It wasn't because I was with
the wrong crowd. There's no excuse. Listen to what Paul said in Romans
3.19, and this is just before the passage we just read in Romans
3. Now we know that whatsoever the law saith, it saith to them
that are under the law. And that's our parable, isn't
it? The law. She had a problem with the law. Under the law she
was suffering and she needed vindication. Here's why it says
what it does. Here's why the law says to us
who are under the law what it says to us. To shut you up. That every mouth may be stopped. The law is not given to make
you better. Do you know how many people believe
that? Just about everybody. Well God gave his law so we know
what to do. Really. So we know right from wrong.
Really. That's not why he said he gave
it. He said he gave it to shut you up. And to make you stand
before him guilty. That all the world may become
guilty before God. Now you are in reality guilty.
What this is saying is that you might stand there before the
bar of his justice and say I'm guilty. He gave his law to cause
us to plead guilty. Not to make us better. Therefore, if all the law can
do is make you guilty before God, of course, therefore by
the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his
sight. The law can't justify you. It
just shows you how guilty you are. It can't make you better. It just makes you bad in your
own sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. God gave his law to show us our
need of the Savior, the righteous one. But now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested. And as I've said so many times,
it doesn't mean that the righteousness of God doesn't regard the law.
When it says without the law, He doesn't just throw His law
out. What that means is without you keeping the law. The righteousness
of God without you keeping the law, without your obedience to
the law, is manifested being witnessed
by the law and the prophets. That's what this whole book is
about. How a sinner can be righteous before God. And it's not by law.
It's not by you doing or not doing. Even the righteousness of God.
That's what this book is about, the righteousness of God. What's
that? Which is by the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ. God's righteousness is Christ.
And guess what? If you have any righteousness,
your righteousness is Christ. By the faithfulness of Jesus
Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. Because there's
not any difference in sinners. There is no difference. We all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And the wages
of sin is death. You're not saved because there's
a difference in you than somebody else. You're saved freely by
His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus if you're
saved at all. Oh, isn't that clear? And isn't
it wonderful? You see why we've got to go to
the judge? Only the judge, who has pronounced us guilty by the
way, Isn't that what he did when he gave his law? That's what
Paul just said. When he gave his law, he was saying, Guilty!
But what do we need him to say? Not guilty. The only one that
can say not guilty is the one that said guilty. And it's not
that complicated, is it? In ourselves, we're guilty. In
Christ, we're not. That hard to understand? In ourselves, what do we need?
Forgiveness, mercy. In Christ, what do we have? Justification. We need the righteousness of
God. You know why we need the righteousness of God? Because
that's the only righteousness there is. That's all there is. There is none righteous, no not
one. But God, We only have that righteousness
because he accomplished it. The faithfulness of Jesus Christ. To God's law, to God himself.
And we have it by faith. Unto all and upon all them that
believe. By grace are you saved through
faith. But it's not of yourselves. That's not by the law. That's
not by you obeying God. That's his gift. That's his gift. upon all them that believe. You
know what that word means? To believe means to be persuaded
of, to place confidence in, to entrust a thing to the fidelity
of another. In other words, I can't get it
done, but he can. He did. That's exactly what Paul was
saying when he said, I know whom I have believed and am persuaded
that he is able. I have confidence in the fidelity
of another. I entrust this matter to him. I know whom I have believed and
I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed
unto him. against that day. He's the just
judge. I lay my case before him by his
grace. What is the same in the parable
and in its application, the unjust judge is contrasted with the
just judge. He didn't care about God or men.
The just judge does. He stands between God and sinners.
and mediates. He's able to lay his hand upon
both. He does as the mediator, as the
advocate that we have with the Father. He cares about God. He fears God. God's got to be
satisfied. His law has got to be honored.
He fears God. But what also has to happen is
that wretched sinner has got to live. He's got to be free,
he's got to be justified, he's got to be saved. He cares about
man too. He cares about his people. What
a contrast. But what's the same in this parable
is the great need of the woman. She was desperate. And what's
also the same is this, and this is the teaching here. Continual
coming. The unjust judge granted her
desire because of her continual coming, just because of his selfish
need to get rid of her. But notice the way that the Lord expresses this continual coming
in the spiritual application of the parable in verse 7. In
the picture of the unjust judge, she just keeps bothering me.
I've got a case. I need you to hear my case. I
need vindication. I said no, and here she comes
again. She just kept knocking. But here's
what happened. Here's the spiritual application
of that. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day
and night unto him? Day and night, though he bears
long with them. Boy, there's a lot in that. We
could preach just on that. He bears long with us, doesn't
he? He bears long with us. We cry day and night unto him. Why? We've got the same reason
she did. We've got nowhere else to go.
Only he can help us. Now listen, let me say these
four things, I think it's four. Only he can help us. He can help us. He has helped us. He will help us. He can help us. The woman with
the issue of blood. If I can just touch the hem of
his garment. I'll be healed. Lord, if you
will, you can make me whole. He can help us now. Nobody else
can. Only he can help us. And then
he can help us. If you will, you can. And he
has helped us. Turn with me to so I'm almost
through so let's turn to some scripture. So I'm 18 to Look
at this with me. This is the reason David cried
on the under the Lord to help him. You know why because he'd
helped him That's a good reason in it So
I'm 18 to the Lord is my rock and And my fortress, and my deliverer,
my God, my strength, in whom I trust, I will trust. My buckler
and the horn of my salvation in my high tower, I will call
upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised.
So shall I be saved from my enemy. That's future. I will call upon
him, and he will save me. The sorrows of death encompassed
me. This is past now. The floods of ungodly men made
me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed
me about. The snares of death prevented
me. In my distress I called upon the Lord. That's past tense.
And cried unto my God. He heard my voice. Isn't that
amazing? That God Almighty would hear
you. He heard my voice out of his
temple, and my cry came before him, even to his ears. No wonder he said, I will call
upon the Lord, because I did, and he heard me. Only he can help us. He can help
us. He has helped us, and he will
help us. Listen to this, also in Psalm
18 verse 3, I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be
praised so shall I be saved from my enemies. There ain't no doubt
in my mind. You know why? He said whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's pretty clear. That's asking in faith. Believing
not that he'll do what I want him to do. Believing he'll do
what he said he would do. There's a big difference. It
just happens to be what he said he was going to do is what I
want him to do in this case. May it always be so. Believing
on him. He'll do what he said. He'll
do what's right. And I believe this, whatever
he does is right. I will call upon the Lord worthy
to be praised. Did you see that in verse three?
I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised. He's worth praying to. He's worth
crying to. The stars are not my help. The
stars need him to hold them up just like I do. Lady Luck is not my help. The
lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is
of the Lord. Lady Luck's waiting on him. I
will call upon the Lord worthy to be praised. When the Lord
comes back, let's talk about this for just a second. Will He find faith on this earth? And in the context of the passage
here, this is what He's asking. Talking about crying to Him,
calling upon Him, waiting upon Him, continue day and night. I'm going to cry to Him day and
night. How about you? Where else are we going to go?
Only He can help us. He can help us. He has helped
us. He will help us. Shall he find
faith? You know what that's talking
about here? When he comes back, will he find
any that are calling on him day and night? That's what faith
is. Was it Abraham that said, I don't
need your stuff. I hold my hand up to God. That's
faith. That's faith. Shall he find anybody doing that?
Crying into him, continually coming to him, looking to him,
waiting upon him, trusting him, believing him. Will he find anybody
like that? What a question. I'm pretty sure the teaching
there, since he's raising the question, is that there won't
be many. You hear that in the question?
Why would he ask that? They're not going to be many. But the important thing is this.
Will I be calling on Him? Do I look for His coming? Shall
He find faith? That's really what this whole
parable is talking about. Do you believe on the Son of
God? What is it that you need? And
where are you going to get it? These are written that you might
believe. That Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of the Living God, and that believing, you might have life
through His name. Why do you think this parable
was written? That you might believe. This
is not about asking for stuff and how to do that. It's about
what you need and where are you going to get it. What is it you
need? One thing is needful. Why would
you ask for anything? You think about that. Every other
blessing, and I know there are other things that we ask for
specifically. We have everything we have in Him. Everything. One thing is needful and that's
Christ. Where are you going to get what you need? Same answer. Think about what David wrote
now. Listen to this. Probably the most well-known
passage of scripture in the whole book of God. Listen to this.
And think about this in regard to our text this morning. We
cry day and night. We have a desperate need. He's
the only one that can meet it. He can meet it. He has met my
every need. Where'd you get everything else
you got your whole life? So you need something this morning?
That might be a good place to go. What do you have that you
didn't receive? And he promised now. He shall.
He shall. We trust him. Listen to this. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. See if there's anything in here,
if this is true about you, Then what do you lack? He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for his namesake. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? Because thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of my enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil.
My cup is running over. When we bow before God, let's do it like this, knowing
this is true. Surely goodness and mercy Now
you think about that the Lord's my shepherd I shall not want
he maketh me lie down. He leadeth me he restoreth He
leadeth me for his righteousness Thou art with me he prepares
a table He anoints my head My cups running over What do
you need? Surely, here's the conclusion
to all that, surely the goodness and mercy of God shall follow
me, shall chase me, shall pursue me. Even when I'm running from
God, He's still blessing me. Shall follow me all the days
of my life. And this is that one thing that
David said, I desire and that which I seek after, to dwell
in the house of the Lord. And that's what he said here
at the end of it. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever. We really just need one thing
and by his grace we have it. If we know him. And every other
blessing, now you think about it. Maybe you need, I don't know,
just think of something. Some mundane earthly thing. And there's nothing wrong with
praying for it. If your car's broke down and it's dangerous,
you drive to work and you're thinking, am I going to die today?
Pray for a new car. But that new car is either going
to be a blessing to you or a curse to you. Whatever you get now,
you'll enjoy it as a believer if the Lord blesses it. And if
he don't, you better get rid of it. Whatever it is. And who
determines that? Who decides that? And why is
it that way? It's all about Him in everything. Every detail of our lives, everything
we have, everything we are, everything we do. So, we come before Him. And we
make our requests known. We pour out our hearts to Him.
And we come day and night. I have some things that I bring
before the Lord, and I know you do too. Sometimes it's stuff, but usually
not. I mean, I've got everything. I don't even know what to ask
for for Christmas. I don't even know what I want Vicki to get
me, much less ask God for anything like that. What would I need?
I've got everything there is. I've got stuff I don't even know
I have. But I sure would like to see
the Lord. I'd like to see him have mercy
on some. But as yet, it doesn't seem that
he has. And I don't know about day and
night, but I cry every night. Maybe I need to start crying
in the day too. But I know this. Actually, it
is just about continual. It's hard for me to get through
a day without thinking about it several times. And I know
you're the same way. That the Lord is able, only He's
able. He delights to show mercy. And
so we cry to Him, and what a privilege, what a blessing that is. Now
let's be dismissed in prayer.