It is not that I did you Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Niver. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nibert. I've entitled this morning's
message, Importunity. In Luke chapter 11, beginning
in verse five, the Lord says, and 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 has come to me and I have nothing to said
before him. And he from within shall answer and say, trouble
me not, the door is now shut, my children are with me in bed,
I can't 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 importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. The word importunity means shameless
persistence. This is the only time the word
is used in the scripture, yet it's taught throughout. Shameless
persistence. That man wouldn't get up and
give that man bread because he was his friend. He gave it to
him because the man wouldn't let it go. He kept knocking,
he kept knocking, he kept knocking until he finally was driving
the man crazy. Shameless persistence, audacity,
urgency, relentlessness. like the persistent asking of
a desperate beggar. He keeps asking. You turn, he
turns that direction too. He keeps asking. He will not
give you peace. He keeps asking. Very much like the widow in Luke
chapter 18, where the unjust judge said, I'm not going to
give her what she wants because it's the right thing to do, but
because it's her continual coming, she wearies me. So I'm going
to go ahead and give her what she wants. Opportunity. Many times during the Lord's
earthly ministry, He healed people who were not asking for his help.
He helped people who were not asking for his help. He came
to them. So many examples of that in the
scripture. He came to that impotent man
in John chapter five, laying there at the pool of Bethesda.
He'd never heard of the Lord Jesus, but the Lord came to him
and made him whole. I think of the blind man in John
chapter 9. He wasn't seeking the Lord. He wasn't asking the
Lord to give him sight. There he was, blind, and the
Lord spit in the ground and made a clay of the spittle and anointed
the man's eyes and gave him sight. That man didn't ask the Lord
to do it, but the Lord did it. I think of the woman bowed down
18 years with a spirit of infirmity, couldn't raise herself up. She
didn't ask the Lord to do anything for her, but the Lord saw her.
And he told her to raise up. And she did. She was straight
from that point on. What about Lazarus when he was
dead? Lazarus couldn't seek the Lord. He was dead. And the Lord
said, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth.
Now this is given to tell us the Lord comes to us. It's not
us first coming to Him, it's Him coming to us. He said, I
was found of them that sought me not, and I was made manifest
to them that ask not after me. Oh, I'm so thankful the Lord
is that way. But the Lord also had many people
come to Him in great need with this spirit of importunity, this
shameless persistence. They had to have His mercy. Now, the Lord gives us this right
after He had taught us to pray. And when He teaches us to pray,
He tells us to pray for these six things. Thy kingdom come. We're asking for this. Thy kingdom
come. Thy will be done. on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us our daily bread and forgive us of our sins as we forgive
those who are indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation. Don't let us even be tempted.
We're afraid if we're tempted we'll fall. But deliver us from
evil. Deliver us from the evil one. Deliver us from this present
evil world. And most especially, deliver
us from ourselves. I'm my biggest enemy. Oh, deliver
us from evil. Now, the Lord is teaching us
to ask for things. And then he gives us this story
to teach us something about persistence in this thing of asking. Now,
picture in your mind you're laying in bed asleep at midnight and
someone knocks on the door and wakes you up. I mean, it's startling.
I've had it happen. People knocking on my door late
at night. I've even had people knock on
my window at night that wanted to talk to me. And it scares
you to death when you wake up and you hear that knocking and
you say, who is it? And it turns out to be a friend,
and he says, well, I need some food for my guests. I've had
some guests come by, and I don't have anything to give them. I
want you to give them some food. Give me some bread to give to
them. And you would say, what audacity to come and knock on
my door and wake me up for that. Go get your own bread. I'm not
going to get out of bed for that. I'm already in bed with my children. Lights are out. We're asleep.
Go away. Now that doesn't stop the man,
he knocks again. I said no, he knocks again. Okay, I'm just not gonna respond. I'll just act like I fell back
asleep. He keeps knocking, he keeps knocking, he keeps knocking,
driving me crazy. So I get up, open the door, take
whatever it is you need. Now the Lord allows us to do
this. He encourages us in this thing
of importunity, continual coming, continual asking. What a blessing
that He encourages us to do that. Now, what will create this shameless
persistence with the Lord where you just keep coming and keep
coming and keep coming over the same thing? Desperate need. You will be importunate. I will be importunate about that
which is truly important to me. It's desperate need that creates
this spirit of importunity where the Lord actually encourages
us in this. The Lord said, the whole need
not a physician, but they that are sick. Now, you're not interested
in doctors and physicians while you're healthy. You feel fine. I mean, it's nice to know they're
there if you ever need them, but oh, when you're sick, when
you're very sick, how earnest you are about having a physician
who can do something for you. The whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick. You get sick, you'll desperately
need the physician. Now, do you know when you'll
ask the Lord, and when I'll ask the Lord with importunity, when
we are desperate. when we have no other options,
nowhere else to turn, and all doors have been closed. That's
when we turn to the Lord, when there's nowhere else to turn.
We turn to the Lord with this opportunity that the Lord is
actually commending. David said, for thy name's sake,
pardon my iniquity, for it is great. My iniquity is so great
that if you don't pardon it for Christ's sake, it's over for
me. David said, I'm poor and needy. Make haste to help me. He said, bow down thine ear to
hear me for I'm poor and needy. He said, save me, oh God, for
the waters are coming to my soul. I sink in deep mire where no
standing is. I'm coming to deep waters and
the floods overflow me. When Peter cried out, Lord, save
me. If the Lord didn't reach out
and grab him, he was gonna drown. Oh, with what importunity he
cried, Lord, save me. Now, I want to give several examples
in the scripture of people who came to Christ with importunity. The first person that I thought
of that came to the Lord like this was the leper in Matthew
chapter 8. Now, remember the Old Testament had given laws
about leprosy. If you were a leper, you weren't
allowed in the camp. You had to stay outside the camp.
And if somebody came towards you, you had to cry out, unclean,
unclean. You had a rag over your mouth
and you cried out, unclean. You were not to infect other
people. You were not allowed around other people. So when
this leper came to Christ, he was coming and doing something
that the law forbid him to. but he was going to come anyway
because he had such a great need. He was a leper, he was full of
leprosy. Oh, what a need he had. Now we
read in Matthew chapter eight, behold, there came a leper and
worshiped him. Oh, he hadn't been healed yet,
but he knew the Lord was worthy of worship. You see, when you
come to the Lord, it's because you know who he is, and you know
he's the only one who can do anything for you. Behold, there
came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if you will, thou
canst make me clean. Now, this leper knew he was unclean. And he knew he could not make
himself clean. He was going to die. And he knew
the Lord could. He said, Lord, if you will, you
can make me clean. Now, in saying this, he was saying
my only hope of being clean is if you will it. That's the only
hope I have. This is it. The only way I can
be clean is if you will me to be clean. If you will, you can
make me clean. You see, this man didn't believe
the ridiculous things that people believe today about, well, I'm
going to accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior and allow
him to cleanse me. He didn't say anything foolish
like that. He knew the sovereign will of Christ. He knew who Christ
was. He knew he was the Lord. And
he worshipped him for who he was before the Lord had done
anything for him. And he said, Lord, if you will, here's the
only place I got is your will. You have to will it or it's not
going to happen. If you will, you can make me clean. And the
scripture says in verse three, and Jesus put forth his hand
and touched him. How long do you reckon it had
been since that man had been touched? else would touch him
he was a leper but the Lord reached forth his hand and touched him
and said I will be thou clean. In Mark chapter 10 we read about
a blind man by the name of Bartimaeus. Now Bartimaeus was a beggar and
and he was blind. Can you imagine what a horrible
condition that would be? Somehow he knew who the Lord
was when the Lord passed by his way because he said, Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy on me. He knew who the Lord was. I know
this is speculation, but I think it's right. Blind Bartimaeus
would be brought into the temple to hear the scriptures read,
and one day he heard that when the Messiah would come, he would
restore sight to the blind. Isaiah says that twice. And don't
you know that meant something to a blind man? I mean, if you
could see, you'd think, well, that's good. But oh, if you were
a blind man, oh, how you would hang on. Oh, I hope he comes
and restores my sight. Now one day while Bartimaeus
was sitting by the highway side begging, he heard rumors about
Jesus of Nazareth, the prophet from Galilee. And one day he
heard that Jesus of Nazareth restored sight to one who was
born blind. And it clicked. He knew at that
time, Jesus Christ is the Messiah. He's the son of God. He's the
son of David. And I feel sure that Bartimaeus
said, if he ever passes my way, I'm going to Cry out for mercy. Now, we read in verse 46 of Mark
chapter 10, and they came to Jericho, and as he went out of
Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind
Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side, begging. And when he heard that it was
Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he
should hold his peace. They said, be quiet, Bartimaeus.
Quit crying out like this. Did he comply with them? Did
he say, okay, no. The scripture says, he cried
the more a great deal. Thou son of David, have mercy
on me. And Jesus stood still. There's something so powerful
about that. You know, the Lord was on His way to the cross at
that time. Scripture says He set His face like a flint, but
there's something that would stop Him. The cry for mercy,
the continual, importunate cry for mercy. Bartimaeus would not
be denied. He had to have mercy. He was
like, Jacob, I will not let thee go except thou bless me. He had
to have the blessing of Christ. He had to have mercy. Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. He could not be quieted. And Jesus stood still and commanded
him to be called. And they called the blind man,
saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee. And he
casting away his garment, rose and came to Jesus. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto
thee? And the blind man said unto him,
Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him,
Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. and immediately he
received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. In Matthew
15, we read what I believe is the most powerful example of
importunity in all the scriptures. In Matthew 15, verse 21, we read
of a woman who had a demon-possessed child. Now, can you imagine how
you would feel if you had a child that was actually demon-possessed. Oh, what a great need. Now, we
read in verse 22, and behold, a woman of Canaan, a Gentile
woman. came out of the same coast and
cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son
of David. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil." Now this woman came the right way. She came
knowing who the Lord was. He's the Son of David. She knew
He was the Messiah. And she came for the right thing. Mercy. Have mercy on me. And she came with a great need.
My daughter is grievously vexed with the devil." Now, how did
the Lord respond? Verse 23 says, but he answered
her, not a word. He didn't respond. He remained
silent. When she comes to him for mercy,
she comes to him the right way, knowing who he was with a great
need, and he doesn't respond. Now, does she give up? Does she
quit? Does she say, well, OK, I'll go back to the way things
were? No, she kept coming, kept crying for mercy. And his disciples
came and besought him, saying, send her away, for she crieth
after us. She just continued to cry for mercy. She would not
be denied. She had to have mercy. This is importunity, shameless
persistence, even though the Lord didn't answer. His silence didn't silence her.
She continued to cry. Then he gave an answer, verse
24, but he answered and said, I'm not sent but into the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. Now he says in no uncertain terms
to this woman, I did not come to give mercy to everybody. I
did not come to save everybody. And remember this woman was a
Gentile. He said, I've only come to save the lost sheep of the
house of Israel. Now this is another way of saying,
I only came to save the elect. I only came to save those the
father gave me. Now that's what he says to this
woman. Now how did she respond? Did she say, Well, that's not
fair. If you're going to have mercy
on somebody else, you ought to have mercy on me too. That's not fair. Did
she respond that way? No, the scripture says in verse
25, then came she and worshiped him. Now, the Lord hadn't granted
her request yet, but this issue had to be straightened out. The
Lord is to be worshipped without reference to what He does or
does not do for me. He's worthy of worship because
of who He is. He's God. He's the Lord. He's
the Creator. He's the sovereign controller
of the universe. He is to be worshipped for who
He is without reference to what He does or does not do for me.
Then came she and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, help me. Now look at His answer. But he
answered and said, it's not me to take the children's bread
and to cast it to dogs. Now what he's saying to this
woman, and it's all done in kindness, it may seem rough. And it does
seem rough, but it's done in kindness. He's doing this for
this woman's good, but he says, it's not right to take my gospel,
my grace that's for the children, and to throw it out to dogs.
And he's telling this woman, you're a dog. You don't deserve
my mercy. You don't deserve my grace. Now,
how does she respond? Does she turn on her heels and say, I'm
not going to listen to that kind of stuff. I'm not going to be
treated like that. No. When the Lord says that, look
at her response. And she said, truth, Lord. That's the truth. I'm a dog,
and I don't deserve your mercy. I don't deserve you to do anything
for me. I know that. That's the truth,
Lord. But the dogs eat of the crumbs
that fall from their master's table. I may be a dog, but I'm
your dog, and the only hope I have is any crumbs of mercy you send
my way. Oh, please have mercy on me.
Now, look at this woman's persistence. First, he's silent. She continues
to cry. He says, I've only come for the
lost sheep of the house of Israel. She continues to cry in importunity. He says, it's not right to take
the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. She said, that's
the truth. But it didn't stop her. You see, if you ever need
mercy, you will not be quieted. You will continue in importunity
to cry. And the Lord encourages us to
do this. Don't give up. Continue to cry,
Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And then I think of the prodigal. He had gone and wasted his substance
and riotous living. He had received his inheritance
early and he left home and went out and had a good time, the
life of parting and so on. And then when he had spent all,
a mighty famine rose in the land and he began to be in want. He began to be in need. Oh, he wasn't before that, but
when everything ran out, he began to be in need. And he said, how
many servants in my father's house have bread enough to spare,
and I'm here perishing with hunger. I'll arise and go to my father
and say, Father, I've sinned against heaven. And before thee,
I'm not worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired
servants. And off he went. He knew he didn't
deserve to be able to come. He knew he wasn't able to come
because of what he did. He knew that his father might
just reject him as far as he knew. But he didn't know that
his father was waiting the whole time. Bring forth the best robe
and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and shoes
on his feet. Thus my son was lost and he's
alive again. In Mark chapter 5, we read of
a woman that was very persistent. I love to think about this woman.
She had a menstrual disease, the scripture says. She had a
menstrual disease where she was bleeding continually. Can you imagine? She suffered
many things for 12 years with this disease. Can you imagine
how anemic she was and how weak she was from this disease that
she had? We read in verse 25 of Mark chapter
5, And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood 12 years,
this menstrual disease. Now remember this, that means
this woman, according to the law, had to stay in the house.
She wasn't allowed to be out around people. As a matter of
fact, if anybody even touched her, there would have to be a
sacrifice for them to be able to worship. You couldn't come
into contact with this woman. She was forbidden to go out.
She was supposed to stay in the house. But she has a great need,
and she's going to come to Christ, but in her need. She had an issue
of blood 12 years and she'd suffered many things with many physicians
and spent all that she had and was nothing bettered, but rather
grew worse. That's what happens when people
get religious. They go to all these different physicians trying
to straighten things up, trying to make themselves better. All
she did was grow worse. You see, human religion doesn't
do anybody any good. It really didn't. Religion's
an evil thing and it doesn't do anybody any good at all. Verse
27, when she heard of Jesus, she came in the press behind
and touched His garment. You see, she had said, if I may
but touch his clothes, I'll be whole. You see, she knew who
he was. Well, how did she know who he
was? Well, the same way I do or you do, if we know who he
is, because he revealed himself. This is the work of God's grace
in her heart. She knew who he was. And she knew if I could just
touch the hem of his garment, Luke tells us, not even up front,
but down at the bottom, I had no doubt that she was crawling
through this crowd, saying to herself in her weakness, in her
desperate condition, if I can just touch his garment, I'll
be whole. Verse 29, And straightway, upon
touching his garment, the fountain of her blood was dried up, and
she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. She
knew the Lord had done something for her. And Jesus, immediately
knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him
about in the press and said, who touched my clothes? Now he
knew who touched him, but he was doing this for this woman's
benefit. And did you notice how it said virtue went out of him?
Now this is the way salvation is accomplished. This woman's
sickness, her sin, and this represents what happened on the cross, my
sin. became his sin. It went out of me and came to
him, and he bore it in his own body on the tree, and his saving
virtue, his righteousness, goes out of him and comes to me."
That's what happens on the cross. That's what happened on the cross,
and this is represented where the Lord says this, and immediately
Jesus, knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned
him about the press and said, who touched my clothes? And the
disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging
thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And he looked round about
to see her that had done this thing. Oh, he knew her. But the
woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her,
came and fell down before him and told him all the truth. That's
what happens when God saves somebody. They tell all the truth. And
he said unto her daughter, Thy faith hath made thee whole. Go
in peace and be whole of thy plague. Now, all of these people
had this in common, a desperate need and importunity, shameless
persistence. And if you ever need mercy, if
you ever need grace, You'll call upon the Lord and you will not
be shut up. You can't do it. You must have
him. You must have mercy. You must
have grace. And the Lord encourages us to
be importunate. May the Lord bless this to all
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