Let us turn again to God's Word
in the Gospel of Cundus and Luke chapter 18. The 18th chapter
in Luke, and I'll read the first eight verses. Luke 18 from verse 1, And 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? Here then we have
a parable of prayer. As we see in the opening verse
of the chapter how the Lord Jesus spake a parable unto them to
this end that men ought always to pray and not to faint. As God's creatures all should
call upon His name, all should come to acknowledge Him, to thank
Him for their very being to worship Him. The psalmist says, O thou
that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. Men ought always to pray, says
the Lord Jesus, and not to faint. However, we know that prayer
is really a spiritual exercise it is that that involves faith
and by nature we know that men are not spiritual beings, they
are carnal beings and all men have not faith also we know that
God himself is a spirit, and the Lord Jesus has said that
those true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. How impossible it is then for
the natural man to pray, to truly, to sincerely seek the face of
God without faith. Says the Apostle, it is impossible
to please Him. He that cometh to God must believe
that He is and that He is a rewarder of all that seek Him. All the impossibility then of
prayer and yet we know that there are those who do pray, there
are those who do call upon the name of the Lord that is the
mark of the godly generation back in Genesis There in chapter
4 and verse 26 we read of how a son was born unto Seth. Well
remember, initially Adam and Eve have two sons Cain and Abel. Cain, the ungodly seed, kills
his brother Abel. But then we read also of the
birth of Seth. And then to Seth was born a son
called Enos. And there at Genesis 4.26 it
says, Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. Again, there is a godly generation. There are those who call upon
the name of the Lord. And that calling upon the name
of the Lord is not evidently a mark of the grace of God in
a person. It's a mark of the election of
grace. Well, we see that quite clearly
here in verse 7, "...shall not God avenge His own elect, which
cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with Him?" All the
elect, they cry, and they're crying constantly, calling upon
Him by day, calling upon Him by night. These are the only
ones who really understand the secret of true prayer. It's interesting
how it says here that the Lord spake a parable unto them for
this end that men ought always to pray and not to thank. Remember the purpose of the parables. We know that much of the ministry
of the Lord Jesus Christ was parabolic. He would speak in
parables. And there's Many of you misunderstand
the significance of parables. They think that the Lord spoke
in that way because it would enable people to understand his
teaching. He would use these simple stories
as an aid to his teaching. But that's not the real purpose
of the parables. In Matthew 13, we have a chapter
that is full of parables. And in that chapter we are told
the reason why it was that the Lord used this form of teaching. There in Matthew 13 10 we read,
And the disciples came and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto
them in parables? He answered and said unto them,
Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the
kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. Verse 13, he
says, Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they seeing
see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the
prophecy of Esaias which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and
shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive. The purpose of the parables then
is to conceal the truth from some whilst it is being imparted
to others. It's part of that discriminating
ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that there was often
division amongst the people because of him, because of his sayings.
or the Sámi says I will open my mouth in a parable I will
utter dark sayings of old in that sense the parable is to
so many a dark saying a difficult saying it's a concealing of the
truth the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God or their foolishness to him neither can he know them
says Paul because they are spiritually discerned it is the Holy Spirit
who must come and unfold to us the riddle, which is the life
of true prayer to God. We need that ministry. The Spirit,
He searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. What
man can know the things of the Spirit of man, of man's side,
the Spirit of man that is in him. Even so, the things of God
knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. We need in the Holy Spirit
if we're to understand the significance of this parable that lies before
us this morning in these opening verses of Luke 18. Well, I want to center what I
say really around the words that we find here at verse 7. The Lord says, And shall not
God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though
he bear long with them? And three things with regards
to what the Lord is instructing concerning prayer. We have promise
in relation to prayer. We also see here the importance
of perseverance in prayer. And then finally I want to say
something with regards to patience in prayer. First of all, promise. Oh, it is promise that is such
an encouragement to the people of God to pray, to call upon
the name of God. And here in the opening words
of the seventh verse We do have a promise, and it's in the form
of a question. And shall not God avenge his
own elect? And shall not God avenge his
own elect? It's a rhetorical question. And
what is the answer? It's interesting. The question
is put in the negative form. There's a certain emphasis here
in the way in which these words spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ
are set before us. The question lends emphasis to
the statement that is being made and the negative form of the
question even emphasizes more the truth that the Lord is setting
before us. The answer to this rhetorical
question must be, certainly God will avenge His own elect. Oh,
this is the promise of God. And remember, all the promises
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ, they are all Yah and they are
all Amen. To the glory of God by us. Oh, we have so many of those
promises. why in that portion that we read
back in chapter 11 remember the words ask and it shall be given
you seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened
unto you everyone that asketh receiveth he that seeketh findeth
to him that knocketh it shall be opened again there in that chapter we
have that grace promise in verse 13 of chapter 11, If ye, then
being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to
them that ask it? And remember the words of the
Lord Jesus also there in the 14th of John, in John 14 and
verses 13 and fourteen, whatsoever ye shall
ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified
in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my
name, I will do it." Why we have these multitudes of promises
as an encouragement to pray and all those promises as they
come to us from the Lord Jesus Christ as they come to us in
the gospel of the grace of God. Oh, they are all sure and certain. They are all yea and they are
all amen. But then also here observe how
in the course of his parable the Lord Jesus Christ draws a
contrast between the unjust judge and God. Here in verses 6 and 7, the Lord
said, Hear what the unjust judge saith, and in the contrast, And
shall not God avenge his own elect which cry day and night
unto him? Oh, if the unjust judge is pleased
to avenge the poor widow because of her continual coming which
is so wearisome to Him. How much more? How much more
will the Lord God hear the prayers of His people? He is the unjust
judge that He has spoken of in verse 6. But what sort of a judge
is God? He is the judge of all the earth.
Remember the words of Abraham, the father of all that believe.
There in Genesis 18.25 he says, shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? All the judge of the earth will
do right. And now he is that one who so
encourages his people to pray, to come to him, to call upon
him. We're not beforehand with God. None can be beforehand with
God. He first comes to us. and He bids us to pray to Him.
In the language of Isaiah 14-2, Take with you words, says the
Prophet. Take with you words, and turn
to the Lord, and say, Take away all iniquity, and receive us
graciously. The Lord comes through His servant
the Prophet again. In the Psalm we read, When thou
sayest, Seek Him, I face, My heart said unto thee, thy face,
Lord, will I seek. You see there how God is first,
God is beforehand. God comes and says, seek him,
my face. And where the word of a king
is, there is power. Or when God comes to us, I know
the word is here before us, it's on the page of Holy Scripture,
but how there must be that gracious application by the Spirit, we
must be moved to pray. There must be that application
of the Word of Truth. And when God says to us, seek
Him, I face. As the Spirit applies that Word,
we are moved to pray. We cannot but call upon the name
of the Lord when He impresses upon us the truth of Holy Scripture. Every encouragement then is given.
We have the promises of God. Oh, remember the language of
the Apostle there at the end of Hebrews chapter 4 let us therefore
come boldly to the throne of Christ that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in every time of need we are to come boldly
and remember the significance of that word boldly It's one
of those words that's a compound. It's really two words, literally.
It means all speech. Take with you words. I know sometimes
we do feel that words fail us. But let us not forget that we
have the Word of God. Surely we can take the words
of God. And as William Huntington used
to say, we can surround the Almighty with His own words. Let's pray
to hold God true to what He has said. The Puritans used to say
that we need to thicken our prayers with God's words, with God's
promises. We have the promise of God, who
has made this parable unto them to this end, that men ought always
to pray and not to faint. And here is the promise, shall
not God avenge his own elects. Remember again, and I emphasize
this, the significance of the form in which the scripture is
declared. It's a rhetorical question, it's
in the negative form, and it lends emphasis to the truth of
what is being declared, that God will most certainly avenge
his people. They will not pray to him in
vain. the promise of God in relation
to prayer but also here we see the importance of perseverance
in prayer here are the elects and what
do they do? they cry day and night unto him or they keep on praying They never cease praying. They
pray by day, they pray in the night. Now, I'm sure there are
those times when, in your experience, maybe you have to endure sleepless
nights, and we lie there. And I know it's not easy to pray,
and sometimes we think, well, let's seek to make some use of
these small hours, so restless as we lie in our beds, unable
to catch sleep. We begin to pray and so often
we fear that we cannot really formulate our prayers properly.
But then we have that gracious promise that we find in Romans
chapter 8, how the Spirit helps us in all our infirmities. And
He maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be
uttered. Indeed, the church of the heart
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession
for the saints, it says. according to the will of God,
or when prayer is hard and difficult. Maybe we begin to formulate our
prayers, but then our minds begin to wander, and we're struggling
in prayer. And yet there is the Spirit of
God helping our infirmities, and really making that intercession
for us with those groanings. Oh, there is a place for prayer,
be it by day, be it by night. And this is the mark, I say,
of those who are truly the people of God. This is the mark of the
elect. There are some who are tormented
all their days by the doctrine of election. They wonder, am
I really of that blessed company? Am I of those chosen in the Lord
Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world? Is there really
any hope that I might be one of those who's to spend a never-ending
eternity with God in heaven? They long, they yearn to have
an assurance of their salvation. They're in some ways tormented
by the doctrine of election. Well, we know that the secret
things belong unto the Lord our God. It is the things that are
revealed that belong unto us and to our children. Now election
is God's secret decree. But what we can discover in scripture
is something of the marks of those who are the elect. And surely here we have a most
significant mark of those who are the elect. They cry. His own elect, it says, which
cry day and night unto Him. They are very much a praying
people, a prayerful people. Remember what we're told in Acts
chapter 9 concerning Ananias and Saul of Tarsus. There in
that chapter we read of that man who was a great enemy of
the early church, Saul of Tarsus. He was a Pharisee. He was the
son of a Pharisee and all the zeal of the Pharisees. He considered
himself blameless before the Lord of God. He was such a self-righteous
man. He was such an opponent to the
Lord Jesus Christ and he has received letters at Jerusalem
to go to Damascus. and his intent is to persecute
these followers of Jesus Christ and there of course you are familiar
with the chapter Acts chapter 9 there at the very gate of Damascus
he is arrested by the Lord Jesus Christ or as he writes there
in Philippians Chapter 3 of being apprehended. It was there at
Damascus that the Lord Jesus Christ laid his hand upon him
apprehending him. I am apprehended of Christ Jesus
he says to the Philippians. And now he is struck with blindness. He hears the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking to him. Why persecutest thou me? Oh,
the Lord Jesus, you see, in all the afflictions of His people,
He's afflicted. Are they being persecuted? He's
being persecuted. The head and the body are one.
He feels for His people. He's touched. Oh, He's touched
with the feeling of all their infirmities. He knows all their
trials, all their troubles. Why persecutest thou me? And
this man is so arrested by the Lord Jesus. He's struck with
blindness. now led by the hands into Damascus. And the message is sent to one
of the Lord's disciples, Ananias. and he is to go to the street
called Straight, where he will find this man, this arch-persecutor,
and he is to lay his hands upon him that he might receive his
sight." What a strange message he sent then to Ananias. What
a strange message he must go on himself. But how does the
Lord assure him that there's a change? Because this is where
Saul of Tarsus becomes Paul the Apostle. And this is the assurance
that is given there in Acts 9.11. Behold he prayeth. Oh that's the assurance that
is given to Ananias that he need not fear this man who was such
a persecutor. Now doubtless as a Pharisee he
had many times prayed, he had said many prayers. Remember how
the Lord Jesus speaks of these Pharisees and all the display
that they used to love to make in their long prayers. They just made a display. They were just like those heathen.
use not thine repetitions as the heathen do they think they
shall be heard for their much speaking be not ye therefore
like unto them says the Lord Jesus your father knoweth what
things you have need of before you ask him how many times would
Saul of Tarsus have been saying his prayers he would observe
all the hours of prayer that were required by the Pharisees
and yet he had never prayed in a sense, previous to what we're
told there in Acts chapter 9. Behold he prayeth. It is the mark. It's one of the
marks of those who are the election of grace. They pray. His own
elect which pray, which cry, which call, which seek, day and
night, constantly, continuously. What does the Lord say at the
beginning of this chapter? We read, He spake a parable unto
them to this end, that men ought always to pray. Men ought always
to pray and not to faint. So, that word is repeated time
after time in scripture. When we come to the epistles
of Paul. Well, that man had learned what
real prayer was. You know how in his various epistles
we normally have the doctrinal part of the epistle in the first
part, and then the latter part is working out the significance
of all those doctrines. The practical part comes at the
end of the epistles, and time and again we find him there giving
many exhortations and directions. setting before those churches
the precepts of the Gospel. And this is the sort of thing
that we find Colossians 4.2. He says, continue in prayer.
In 1 Thessalonians 5.17 he says, pray without ceasing. These are
the sort of exhortations he has given. Men ought always to pray. There is that need to be persevering
in prayer, continuing in prayer. And so this comes out in the
course of the parable that the Lord speaks. He makes mention
of this widow. And he speaks of her continual
coming in verse 5. With regards to that I'm just
judge, a judge which fear not God, neither regardeth man. He
takes no account of her initial. But then it says at verse 5,
Because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by
her continual coming she weary me. Or we should be those who
are continually coming to the Lord, and we will not weary Him
with our prayer, He is so different to the unjust
judge. As I said, there's a contrast
being drawn between the unjust judge and God, the judge of all
the earth. That God who only does what is
right and good. Again, but see, the language
that is being used. There was a widow, it says in
verse 3, a widow in that city and she came unto him. She came unto the judge. saying,
avenge me of mine adversary. Now, the verb that we have here,
she came, she came, is really in the imperfect tense. Literally it says, she was coming. There was a widow in that city
and she was coming unto him. You see, the imperfect tense
indicates to us that this action has not been completed. She keeps on coming. She's still
coming. She doesn't stop coming. Now, this perseverance, does
it not remind us of the importance of opportunity? And we saw that
in the portion that we read in chapter 11. Remember what we
read there at the beginning of that chapter. Verse 5, He said unto them, Which
of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight,
and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves? For a friend
of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to
set before him. And he from within shall answer
and say, Trouble me not, the door is now shut and my children
are with me in bed I cannot rise and give thee I say unto you
though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend
yet because of his impotunity he will rise and give him as
many as he needed impotunity or the man will not be denied
he keeps on asking he keeps on asking and that's what we see
with this widow and the the judge who was unjust, no
fear of God, no fear of men. It was her persistence, it was
her importunity that caused him ultimately to answer. One wonders whether the Apostle
Paul himself is not mindful of these words when he speaks or
writes to Timothy concerning the widow indeed there in 1 Timothy
5 and verse 5 she that is a widow
indeed and desolate trusteth in God and continueth in supplications
and prayers night and day always writing you see of the of the
widows and the care of the widows and he speaks of that widow indeed
and what is the mark of her? why she's desolate but she's
trusting in God and continuing in supplications and prayers
night and day oh friends the importance the importance of
perseverance in prayers not to give over pray but continue we see it again of course in
in Jacob at Peniel back in Genesis 32 where the angel wrestles with
him and he wrestles with the angel and he will not let the
angel go I will not let thee go except thou bless me as I
said we have so much to encourage us to pray and here is that that
is the mark of those who are God's own elect they pray how
we're to come with every manner and all sorts of prayers. Paul
says to the Philippians, be careful for nothing but in everything
by prayer and supplication with thanksgivings. Let your requests
be made known unto God. Some ways I find it so hard really
to preach on such a subject as prayer and perseverance in prayer
because then one looks to oneself and thinks, well what do I know
of persevering in prayer like that? all that determination,
that perseverance, that persistence. But then in the third place here,
in the third place also we see the need for patience. There's
the promise here at the beginning of the verse, verse 7, shall
not God avenge his own elect? There's that mark of of the elect,
they persevere, they cry day and night unto God. And now finally
we see the importance of patience. Though he bear long wisdom, God
you see, will have his elect to wait. And they are to wait
His time. Our time is ever ready, His time
is not yet come. Or the Lord says at the beginning
of the parable, men ought always to pray and not to faint. Now we begin to faint after a
while. How hard it is to watch. Remember
the words of the Lord Jesus to his own disciples there in the
Garden of Gethsemane. He would have them watch and
pray that they enter not into temptation. How they cannot watch within
one hour, how they are sleeping. Now we have to be those who would
wait, wait and watch, constantly looking to the Lord. Men ought
always to pray, says Christ, and not to faint. Oh God, preserve
us from fainting in our prayers. The guy in the language of the
psalmist, he says, rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. patiently waiting. What is this
patience that is so necessary? Well, true patience is not passive. It does not think, you know,
that patience and waiting means that we just idly stand around
as if we're doing nothing. That's not what we're to understand
here. True patience, it's an active waiting. It's that waiting
in faith. It's that waiting in hope. It's
that waiting in expectation. It's an enduring waiting. As
those who are anticipating that the Lord will appear. I said not unto the seed of Jacob,
seeking my face in vain. I, the Lord, speak righteousness,
I declare things that are right." Or the righteous God, He doesn't
say to Jacob, Seek Him I face in vain. We will not wait in
vain upon the Lord. He will answer us. He will answer
us and He will answer us of course in His own time. The Lord says
in verse 8, I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. He will hear the prayer of His
people and He will answer their cry. Nevertheless, when the Son
of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth? Or the necessity
of faith? The necessity of faith, praying
faith. James says, if any of you lack
wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally,
but let him ask in faith, not in wavering. For he that wavereth,
like a wave of the sea driven of the wind and tossed, let not
that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.
Now we need to hear the words that we have there in the opening
chapter of James' epistle. We're not to waver. We're not
to waver. We're lacking, what are we to
do? We're to ask of God. And God is the one who gives
liberally. But we're to ask in faith. Without faith it is impossible
to please Him. Whatsoever is not of faith is
sin. But we don't come to God resting
in our faith. Oh, let us beware here, we're
not to trust in anything of ourselves. We're not to trust in our own
prayers. The hypocrites, why they think
they shall be heard for their much speaking. What are we to
do then as we come to pray? We're to trust in God Himself. That's what prayer is, it's a
looking to God, it's a calling upon God. It's a trusting in
God. We're to trust in God Himself.
We're to trust in the sovereign purpose of God. And to recognize
that God Himself in His wisdom has appointed prayer such a significant
place in the outworking of His sovereign decree. Thus saith
the Lord God, I will yet be inquired of by the house of Israel to
do it for them. You see what God is saying there
to the prophet in Ezekiel 36. He will do it for his people.
He will do it for his spiritual Israel. I will do it for them.
But how will God do it? I will be inquired of, he says.
I will be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for
them. Our prayers have that place,
that significant, that important place in the outworking of the
sovereign goodwill and pleasure of God. The God of all the earth
who only does what is right. This is the one that we are to
trust Him. As we come to Him in our prayers, as we come as
those who would beseech us after Him, or we look to His very character. And now God has revealed himself
to us revealed himself ultimately of course in the person of his
only begotten son the Lord Jesus Christ the image of the invisible
God and that one in whom all the promises all the promises
of God in him are yay and in him are amen to the glory of
God by us oh God grant then that we might learn from the parable
of the Lord Jesus, a parable of prayer. He spoke 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 elects
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."
The Lord bless His Word to us. Let us now conclude our worship
this morning as we sing the hymn 1036 The tune is Eden, 327. Seek in my face, the Saviour
Christ, my soul where canst thou find supplies, but in the Lamb
for sinners slain, who has not shed his blood in vain. 1036.