Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Luke chapter 18 and verse
1. Luke 18 and verse 1. And he spake a parable unto them,
to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint. Luke 18 and verse 1. we would gather from the word
that is before us here that men are liable to faint and not to
pray. And the Lord, he knows of that. He gives this parable, an earthly
story with a spiritual meaning with this end in view. And we
would remember that all that the Lord says and all of his
word from Genesis to Revelation has an end in view. Sometimes we can forget this,
but we are told that that which was written four times was written
for our learning that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures,
might have hope. There is an end in view of which
John says that all the things that our Lord did, if they were
written, that the world would not be able to contain the books
that could be written. But then he said, but these are
written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, and
that in believing ye might have life through his name. And so again there is an end
that is in view. And may we think of this wherever
we read in the Word of God. What is the end in view of the
Holy Spirit? What is the end in view that
concerns us, that affects us, when we come to the Word that
is before us here. If we are liable to faint, be
discouraged, be disheartened, and therefore we stop praying
through perhaps feeling our prayers are not being heard, not being
answered, through unbelief, unbelief, that sometimes overwhelms us,
we sometimes are tempted that there
is no God, there is no power, there is no appointment of prayer,
God has not appointed it, but He has, and He has appointed
prayer, and there is a God, and He does hear prayer, and He does
answer prayer, and He tells, our Lord tells this parable that men ought always to pray
and not to faint. It may be whenever we feel that
discouragement in prayer, that this parable comes to mind, this
introduction, this first verse comes to mind, that this is why
the Lord told this parable, and to feel that while we, however
low we may be, We actually are found in the Word of God, we
are found in the position and in the character that the Lord
is devoting this part of the Holy Inspired Word for us, for
people like us, for those like us that need to be encouraged. And so the parable, in a way,
is a simple one. of a city that had a judge in
it. And that judge did not fear God. He's not one of the Lord's people. And also he did not even regard
man, did not fear man. Now what a picture, and really
most solemnly, of our day and our generation, where so many
that are in a position was told to appoint judges, then
one of the qualifications was that he feared God. Well, we're
told then there's a widow in that city, and of course in Bible
times the widows, and it's very emphasised with the case of Naomi
and Ruth, that They did not have any provider. They did not have
one to speak for them or an inheritance or anything. And yet there's
much spoken in the Word of God for widows and the fatherless,
that the Lord will appear for them and help them. And so it
is very apt, in a way, the Lord uses this illustration of a widow
that in herself she has no strength, she has no mind, she hasn't got
one to fall back on, one to say, I'll send my husband to this
judge and he'll speak for me to him. No. She comes on her
own and she comes again and again. She has an adversary. and she
wants to be avenged of that adversary. She wants to be helped, and she
comes to this judge for help, but we are told 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. The Lord tells this parable,
this simple story, a story that no doubt was very much based
upon facts, that which really happened, the Lord knowing all
things. And the Lord says here, what
the unjust judge saith, and shall not God, God who is not like
this judge, God who is a gracious God, a merciful God, a long-suffering
God, 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, speak to me." What an encouragement for continual
prayer. What a reminder that even God
with his own elect people Sometimes He does not answer them straight
away. He does not immediately appear
for them. He keeps them on praying ground. He tries their faith. He helps
them through those times of tribulation to lean upon Him. But in the
end, He does appear for them in His time. In his way, with
Saul of Tarsus, the Lord appeared not in taking away the thorn
in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, but in giving him grace
instead, grace to bear that trial. And so here is the thing that
the example is given in a thing of this earth, that which we
want the Lord to do and appear for us and then in things that trouble
us here below. And how much does that also apply
to in things of our soul, in our need of the soul, in our
own sin, the need of pardon, need of forgiveness, need of
mercy. And so then we have another parable
that follows it, and this is setting forth, and of course
the Lord gives the reason for this. He speaks this parable
to those that trust in themselves that they are righteous and despise
others. But the matter is in prayer again. It's another parable on prayer. And we have the picture of what
true prayer is. Not a telling of the Lord of
our good works does the Lord Require that we tithe? Yes. Does the Lord require that we
pray unto him? Yes. But we're not to take those
things that the Lord desires us to do and use them as our
righteousness and things that make us acceptable unto God. This is what the Pharisee was
taking his religious devotions, he was taking the things that
he did and things that he didn't do as that which was making him
acceptable to God. His fasting, his prayers, his
tithes, and yet all he did was pray with himself. And yet he
used the word God, I thank Thee. He seemed to be praying to God,
His prayer was not ascending to God at all. Then we have the
picture of the publican, how he felt. So poor he couldn't
lift up his eyes to heaven, smiting upon his breast. And his words
expressed the feeling of the sinnership that he was. God be
merciful to me a sinner. And yet our Lord says that this
man went down to his house justified rather than the other. Now we
don't know what the man felt, but we know this is what God
said of him. And we know that those who are
truly brought into this situation, that this is true of them. The Lord says, I tell you, that
this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.
the blessing of being humbled and laid low before the Lord,
and yet the pain of it, the reality of it here. So these two parables,
they both speak and address the matter of prayer, one importunate
prayer, one prayer that is going on and on, like locking a poor man who felt so bowed
down with his sin that he could not look up, that no doubt felt
so far off. And yet the blessing of that
prayer, through that prayer, that man was accounted as free
from guilt. The hymn writer takes my plea, God be merciful to me."
So the subject this morning is prayer and an encouragement to
pray. It's God that has instituted
it and it does matter to whom we pray and through whom we pray. We come to God, the true and
living God, and we come through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We plead his name, we plead his
blood, and we come because the Lord has said we are to come
boldly unto the throne of grace, that we might obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. Well, we'll do it this
morning, the Lord's help, just to look at a few of the characters
and the prayers in scripture of those who have gone before
us. The Lord in these parables, he
uses examples, he draws our attention to those that we're praying,
those that we're asking. And we have set forth in the
scriptures of truth those that were praying souls, their situation,
what they prayed about, what they felt, the trials that they
were in, the answers to prayer that they had, and may we be
able to look at some of these that may be held to us this morning. We would remember Psalm 107,
And in all those changes that the psalmist went through, or
pictures that a child of God goes through, they fell down,
there was none to help. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.
It was the turning point every single time, prayer, answers
to prayer. It is that path that is appointed
for the people of God. They have walked it, they do
walk it, and may we also walk that path of prayer. So on to look at a few of those
examples. The first one is that of the
servant of Abraham, When he was charged to seek a wife for Isaac
and he comes to the well, he comes to where Abraham's relatives
were. He'd been told in Genesis chapter
24 that he should take for Abraham's son Isaac a wife of his kindred,
that thou shalt go into my country, into my kindred, and take a wife
unto my son Isaac. to bring forth that promised
seed. And so this servant goes, and
we read in verse 12, he comes to the well where the women go
out to draw water, and then he begins to pray. I wonder how
many of us That when we are charged with a thing, there is something
before us, something that we must do. That the first thing
that we think is that we should pray. And I do want to make a
caution here. Sometimes it can be that prayer
is just a habit. You know, in our worship, we
have a set pattern of asking the Lord's blessing on the beginning
of the service and our time of prayer. Other Reformed churches,
they will have a time of prayer just before they preach and maybe
at the close of the sermon as well, to ask the Lord's blessing
on the sermon. judges to reality in each case. In a lot of ways it's a lovely
thing to do. But whether it is our pattern
or their pattern, how easy it can be that instead of it being
the real desire of the heart to come and pray before God,
it ends up just something that, well, we always do. so we'll
do it. And may we be refreshed in our
times of prayer, that as we've sung that the Christian's heart
is prayer in tides, that which is pressed out from us, that
which is really like the publican, God be merciful, and he's beating
himself upon his breast. He really feels what he is praying. And may it be so with us. We
hear Abraham's servant, he comes, and he begins then with prayer.
And he says before the Lord what actually is happening where he
is. He says, O Lord God of my master
Abraham, I pray thee send me good speed this day and show
kindness unto my master Abraham. Behold, I stand here by the well
of water, and the daughters of the men of the city come out
to draw water. Let it come to pass that the
damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee,
that I may drink, and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy
camel's drink also. Let the same be she that thou
hast appointed for thy servant Isaac, and thereby shall I know
that thou hast showed kindness unto my master. So he tells the
Lord where he is. He asks a token, but it's not
an unrelated token. It's not just a foolish thing.
It's not like some have said, well, if I am a child of God,
It's raining now, let it suddenly stop raining. And it has done,
but it hasn't proved that they're a child of God. And it has no
relation to what their standing is. But this servant, he wanted
one that feared God, one that was a virtuous woman. And to
ask then that there is a token that here is a woman that will
go the second mile, He doesn't need to ask that she give drink
for the camels as well, but she will do that herself. She will go that second mile. And this is the token that he
asks. Now, it's not always in prayer
that we'll ask such tokens like this, but we see here the immediate
answer. She came to pass before he had
done speaking, that Behold Rebecca came, and these things came to
pass. And when they rehearsed to her
father, her brother, they said, the thing proceedeth from the
Lord. They could see the Lord's hand
in the matter, that God had been the guide. And here as well,
the servant had a very clear understanding that it was not
just any, any woman. There was a woman that was appointed. He says, let the same be she
that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac. It was not
up to him. He was not making the choice.
The appointment had already been made and he wanted to know which
one was appointed. And it is a good good principle
in prayer, that we know that those things the Lord has bid
us to pray for, he already has decreed he'll answer. He already,
before we call, thou shalt answer. While thou yet speaketh, the
Lord will hear. But he has appointed prayer,
that through prayer, his people are brought close to him, through
that prayer, They have a witness that God, who is in heaven, hears
the voice of a man, a sinner upon earth, man, woman, child,
whoever it is, whosoever, shall call upon the name of the Lord,
shall be saved, that all men should pray and not faint. And so the Lord has ordained
that This is the way that we have those tokens from heaven. The Lord is hearing, the Lord
is answering, the Lord is regarding, the Lord is appointing our path,
the Lord is guiding our life, the Lord is going before us. And the servant here found that
many times through finding the examples of prayer, that those
who begin in prayer also begin by telling the Lord where they
are, what their fears are, what the things that are before them.
They don't say, well, the Lord knows anyway, I don't need to
tell Him. No, they tell Him. And when we
think of the Lord drawing near to the two on the way to Emmaus,
and they did not know Him, but He drew out from them, What things,
he said, what things have happened in Jerusalem? What things are
troubling you? Why are you sad? Why are you
cast down? He wanted to hear it. He knew
why, but he wanted to hear it. Do be encouraged this morning
to tell the Lord why you're alone, why you're discouraged, what
the trials are, what the problems are, what the things are you
want the Lord to appear for you in, and to come before him in
that appointed way, appointed way of prayer. So we have Abraham's
servant. Then later on we have Jacob. Jacob, when he had gone to Laban
and then coming back again, and of course the reason why that is where Rebecca was, it
was because of Esau that was determined to kill him and that
because he'd stolen his birthright and the blessing. But when he's
coming back then he hears that Esau is coming and with 400 men
Jacob is fearing very much and we read in Genesis 32 and verse
9 where Jacob, he prays and he makes many other arrangements
to appease his brother but he doesn't just rely on that. Very
often with prayer there's not just praying but action as well. Always remember the little illustration
that is used. Two girls that were running to
get a train. One of them said, let us stop
and pray that we might get the train. The other one said, no,
let us continue running and pray as we run. The two things, they
go together. Not just prayer, but prayer and
action. Not just action, but prayer as
well. I remember that. And so Jacob,
he does take steps, but then he comes and he prays before
God. Verse nine of chapter 32 in Genesis,
Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father
Isaac, the Lord which said unto me, return unto thy country and
to thy kindred and I will deal well with thee. I am not worthy
of the least of all thy mercies, and of all the truth which thou
hast shown unto thy servant. For with my staff I passed over
this Jordan, and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray
thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I
fear him, lest he come and smite the children. And thou saidst,
I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of
the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude." Do we see the
situation of his prayer? We see the reminder that it is
the Lord that put him in that path, the reminder of the blessings
that God said that he would do, and the very clear prayer for deliverance
and deliverance from the hand of his brother. The confession
that he feared him and he feared lest he would come and smite
his mother and the children. These are patterns for us in
prayer, in the paths that we walk. This is not any old prayer. This is prayer to do with the
very situation that Jacob is in? What is your situation? What is mine? Do our prayers
match it? Do we have things that we can
remind the Lord of? Do we have promises that He has
given us that we remind Him of? Do we have those things that
we bring before Him that we want Him to do for us? Those fears
that we tell Him of? All these things. are in this
portion here. Then we have later, in verse
24, where Jacob is left alone, where he's separated from the
rest of his family and his flocks and he's just alone. And there
wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. That
man was our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. the eternal Son
of God before he was manifest in the flesh. Later on it is
said that thou hast wrestled with God and with man and hast
prevailed. In verse 28, for as a prince
hast thou power with God and with men and hast prevailed.
This is Jacob wrestling I will not let thee go except
thou bless me." And we read to the answer, when he did come
to Esau, then he runs to him and he says that he has seen
him as the face of an angel, and how
that he, in verse 10 of the next chapter, chapter 33, Jacob said,
Now I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then
receive my present at my hand. For therefore I have seen thy
face, as though I had seen the face of God, Thou wast pleased
with me." And it is the realization that here God had answered his
prayer. God had appeared for him and
done what he had asked of him. Sometimes the devil can get in
and say, well, it would have been like that anyway. Prayer
didn't make any answer. to the times when we were fearing
like Jacob and think how it was then and how it is now. May we
be delivered from that which robs the Lord of His honour and
glory in answers to prayer and robs us of being strengthened
in prayer. There's nothing that strengthens
the hand of the people of God in prayer than to have answers
of prayer in review. There may be a good time this
morning to go back over our lives, your life, my life, and remember
those times that the Lord has answered our prayers, where the
Lord has appeared for us and we've known it to be so. And the more we think on that,
the more we shall be encouraged to Pray on. Well, another instance
of prayer is when the children of Israel ask Moses to pray for
them. And that is in Numbers chapter
21. And we have the people there murmuring. Why were they murmuring? Because
of the hardness of the way. How easy that can be so. We read
in verse 4, chapter 21. They journeyed from Mount Hall
by the way of the Red Sea to compass the land of Eden. And
the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. Maybe that's where we are this
morning. Much discouraged because of the way. And the people spoke
against God. Oh, may we be so careful when
we're discouraged. We start speaking against God,
and they spoke against Moses as well. Wherefore have ye brought
us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is
no bread, neither is any water, and our soul loatheth this life. the man a miraculously given
from heaven. They despised it. And so the
Lord said, fiery serpents among the people. They bit the people
and much people died. And it is then that the people
confessed. They said, we have sinned. And
they asked Moses to pray for them. And we read at the end
of verse 7, Moses prayed for the people. And this was when
the Lord then said to Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, set
it upon a pole. It shall come to pass that every
one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. This is
what our Lord spoke of in John 3. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but should
have eternal life. And this was what our Lord was
referring to. The people that were sinners,
the people that had been murmuring, the people discouraged of the
way, the people that were being bitten by these fiery serpents,
that were being chastened, and yet the Lord provided. provided
a remedy. And for every sin-bitten soul,
the remedy is in Christ. For everyone that is bitten by
sin, death is on the road without the remedy. You know, if we were
over in Australia and we were bitten by a poisonous snake,
we would know that If untreated, that would end up in our death. We would need to have an anti-venom. We'd need treatment. And these,
in the wilderness, they were bitten like that. They knew they
had death within them. The poison was within them. Now,
years ago, I used to be able to take penicillin as a antibiotic,
and then suddenly I became allergic to it. And the feeling of having
this drug in me that was causing irritation, rash, right through
my body, and knowing that I just had to wait until that went away
out of my body, there was nothing I could do, I couldn't take it
out, knowing that that was there, This account here, the poison,
it was in there. It was working. It would bring
forth death if it was untreated. And sin is like that. Sin is
within us. We feel it festering within us.
We feel it breaking out. We feel it working death, separation
to God. Death is on the road. But the
remedy is in the Lord Jesus Christ. and that is so beautifully set
forth here. And this all flowed down, and
Moses prayed for the people, and this was the provision, a
provision in the Lord Jesus Christ. May it really encourage us to
pray, every sin-bitten soul, every wounded soul, every soul
that may feel death is upon the road, sin is within me, sin is
all about me, see it in the precious blood
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then we have the example of Hannah. In the first book of Samuel,
in chapter 1, we have the way that Samuel was brought forth,
the prophet of the Lord. so greatly used. And it came
about with Hannah being barren, she couldn't have children. And
Alcana, her husband, had another wife and she could have children.
And as they went up to the house of God year by year, then her
grief, her sorrow was heightened each time. But there came a time
that she then came and prayed, but Eli the priest, he mistook
her, he thought she was drunken because her lips moved, but her
voice was not heard. Again, what a picture of prayer.
We don't need our voice to be heard for God to hear and God
to know and understand our prayers. Our Lord told that when we are
to pray, that we are to go into our closet and pray to the Lord
in secret. Sometimes it is a real help to
us when we pray audibly, even in secret, so that our thoughts
are clear, our praying is clear and not jumbled. But it does
not need to be so. We think of Nehemiah as well,
that in the presence that he was doing so. Our prayers
do not need to be audible to be heard. This is taught here
with Hannah's case. When Eli realizes his mistake,
because Hannah said that she was not drunken. No, my Lord,
I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor
strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. That's a good description of
prayer, isn't it? Pouring out our soul before the
Lord. Eli, he says. But then she goes
on, she says, Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial,
for out of the abundance of my complete and grief have I May
that be a picture of our prayer as well. Out of the abundance
of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto. We might not
count that to be much of a prayer, but this is what was Hannah's
prayer, an answered prayer. Hear thy answer, go in peace.
The God of Israel grant thee thy petition. that thou hast
asked of him. She went away, she was no more
sad, and then what, it was probably two or three years later, then
she comes again, probably three or four years actually, then
she comes and she brings Samuel, asked of God, it means, his name. And she says in verse 27, for
this child I prayed, and the Lord hath given me my petition,
which I asked of him. She prayed, the Lord gave her
conception, she brought forth the child, and then was able
to come to Eli. It's quite a thing, isn't it? Eli had said, the Lord grant
me thy petition. As far as Eli was concerned,
maybe four years had gone by, he heard nothing about that.
It's a lesson for us in the ministry. We might preach. Someone might
be blessed. We hear nothing of it. And then
four years later, we are told what had happened, what had flowed
out from it, the blessing that had been attended that word.
It's great encouragement. The Lord is never quick when
He works. Your time, He says, is already
ready. but my time is not yet. In chapter
2, we have again Hannah praying. But now this prayer is not supplication. Remember prayer is men speaking
to God. Preaching is God speaking through
the minister to us. Our voice is heard by God. But
here Hannah is not supplicating. She's not asking. She's praising. She doesn't mention Samuel, but
she does mention the goodness of the Lord, rejoicing in His
salvation and in the rock of her God. This is the beautiful
thing with prayer. When prayer is answered, then
we go back in the same place, the same path of prayer. But
in this time, it's thanksgiving. It's praise to God. Hannah is
a beautiful pattern in that. This is why I say this morning,
you look at the prayers of Scripture. You look at the content of them,
the subject of them. Our Lord takes two parables,
but really we have living parables right through the scriptures.
We see Daniel three times a day. He makes his prayer to God. Then
the decree is made that there should be no prayer, no supplication,
no request made to any but the king for 30 days. And if there
was, then they would be thrown into a lion's den. Daniel continues
praying. He is thrown in the lion's den,
and the Lord wonderfully delivers him and saves him. We're not told what Daniel prayed,
but we can imagine, can't we? In those three times a day, he
looked to Jerusalem, where the temple was destroyed. The temple
was a beautiful type of Christ. And Daniel was a man of faith,
a man that saw Christ die. And then, when threatened with
death, with the lions, we're not told of his prayer. But Daniel
was a praying man. We don't need to be told that
he prayed. We don't need to be told that.
What he prayed, we know he would have prayed to the occasion and
for the Lord to do what he did do. And may we be like him. But what of our Lord in Gethsemane? And our Lord had the weight of
his people's sin laid upon him, when for three times he went
and he prayed. The disciples, they could not
watch even one hour. He said, rise up and pray. lest ye enter into temptation. Watch and pray. But ye pray three
times the same words. Father, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not I will, but
thy will be done. The offering before him, the
weight of his people's sin, the hiding of a father's face, his
back to be torn with the lash, his hands and his feet to be
pierced, his head to be crowned with thorns, to be mocked, to
be spat upon, to be ridiculed, to be lifted up above the earth,
to be made a spectacle, a sacrifice though acceptable unto God. Our
Lord Jesus prayed before that great offering and sacrifice,
Our Lord spoke of his people taking up their cross and following
him. If we are to take up our cross,
if we are to take it up in a right way, then that will also be prayer
first and prayer along the way. We won't be able to bear the
cross ourselves. We won't be able to support it.
We will faint. We won't stand in our own strength,
but our Lord is that beautiful pattern of praying and then bearing
His cross. And may we be a follower of the
Lord in this. May we listen to His advice,
His direction, and to this, our text, where the Lord speaks to
this end that men ought always to pray and not to faint. May this word be a word in season
for us this morning. May we be strengthened in prayer
and help to pray and see what poor prayers bring forth, what
answers there are, what helps there are, so that we are able
to testify as well that the Lord in the scriptures, those we've
looked at, and many others as well, that before those prayers
were made, or while they were being made, these circumstances
were very discouraging. It was a real trial, a real burden,
not imagined. And it was in that situation
that prayer was made, that the cry to the Lord was made. And
as we said with Psalm 107, the prayer was the turning point,
the answer. May we be encouraged to pray
on, to watch on, and to pray with faith in Jesus' name. The hymn writer says, I can no
deny and take when I plead for Jesus' sake. And he spake a parable
unto them, to this end, that man ought always to pray and
not to faint. The Lord bless the Word. Amen.