Would you turn back to Luke chapter
11? I've entitled this message, Importunity. Importunity. This is the only
time this word is used in the scriptures, but it's taught throughout. Importunity. The word means shameless
persistence, impudence, audacity, urgency, boldness, relentlessness. in this thing of seeking the
Lord, like the persistence of a desperate beggar who won't
leave you alone. You say no. Walk on, and all
of a sudden, he's in front of you again. You move another direction,
and he goes in that direction again. He will not be denied. He must have help. Importunity. Now, we will be
importunate about that which is important to us, won't we? Many times during the Lord's
earthly ministry, he came to help and to heal people who were
not seeking him. Aren't you glad he does that? I think of the impotent man at
the pool of Bethesda, laying there waiting for the moving
of the waters. He wasn't seeking the Lord, he
didn't even know who the Lord was. But the Lord came to him
and said to him, wilt thou be made whole? I think about the blind man in
John chapter nine. He was blind. And we don't read
where he was seeking the Lord to give him sight. But the Lord Jesus spit in the
ground and made clay of the spittle, and came up to that man unasked,
unsought, and anointed his eyes with that clay. And that man
came seeing. And when the Lord appeared to
him again and said, Believest thou on the Son of God? He said,
Who is he, Lord, that I might believe? The Lord came to him. I think of Lazarus. When the
Lord called Lazarus being dead, Lazarus sure wasn't seeking him.
He was dead. But the Lord said, Lazarus, come
forth. And he that was dead came forth. Oh, the power of his voice. I
think of that woman bent over. 18 years with a spirit of infirmity. She wasn't seeking the Lord and
the Lord, the scripture says, saw her. He looked upon her and
he said, woman, be loosed of thine infirmity. And immediately
she raised up. Now these are one of or some
of many examples of the Lord coming to people who were not
seeking Him and set them free. And doesn't the scripture say,
I was found of them that sought me not. And I was made manifest
to them that asked not after me. You know, there was a time
when I wasn't seeking the Lord, didn't really care. The Lord sought me. Now, there were other times when
people came to him in great need and desperation and importunity. Shameless persistence. They would
not be denied. Now, in the context of this passage
of scripture I was just reading, the Lord had been teaching us
to pray. And he gives us six things specifically, which we
ought to be praying for every time we pray. Because he said,
when you pray, say these things, say them. Not just audibly voice
them, but this is the very desire of your heart. We're to pray,
thy kingdom come. You see, he's the king and we
want his universal reign to be seen everywhere. Thy kingdom
come. Thy will be done. We're to pray
that the Lord's will would actually be done. Take my will and make
it thine. It shall be no longer mine. Thy
will be done. Give us this day our daily bread.
Lord, give me what I need. We're permitted to pray that.
And forgive us our sins. Oh, we have so many sins. Lord,
forgive us of our sins as we forgive those that sin against
us. And then we're taught to pray,
lead us not into temptation. I don't want to be tried. And
I don't want to be tempted. If I'm tempted, I'm afraid I'll
fall. Just set a hedge about me and let me not even be tempted
to sin. I'm so weak. Don't let me even
be tempted. And deliver us from evil. Deliver
us from the evil one. Deliver us from this evil world.
most especially deliver us from evil self. Now he's taught us
to ask for these things. When we pray, we're actually
saying, Lord, give us these things. And then he gives us this picture
about asking for things in verse five. And he said unto them,
which of you shall have a friend And she'll go into him at midnight
and say unto him, friend, lend me three loaves. Now, when's
the last time you were in bed asleep? Already in bed, covered
up, house has been closed. Lynn and I always check the compound
tonight. That's what we say, check the compound, you know.
Have you locked the doors? Because sometimes I forget and
she goes around and always goes behind me because she doesn't
trust me to get them locked. And there's probably a pretty good reason
because quite often she'll find where I thought I did. But compound
closed and bad, and all of a sudden while you're laying there, that
ever happen? Scares you to death, doesn't
it? You're asleep, all of a sudden somebody's knocking on the door
and you think, has there been an emergency? Has something happened?
And you don't know what it is. Yes, who is it? It goes through
you. I've had people knock on my window
at night at two or three o'clock in the morning to get me up.
You don't know what's going on. If there's an emergency, you
want to respond to it, but you're just, you know. And then what
if you heard this knocking? Who is it? It's me, Todd. I got some company. I don't have
anything to give them to eat. I need you to give me three loaves
to give them. What? You came and woke me up for that?
Get your own loaves. I'm in bed. Why? I mean, that seems so... You're
not... Go away. I sound very friendly,
but that's what the Lord says happens. No, I'm not, I'm already
in bed. If it was an emergency, I might
do something about it. If you're just acting, get your
own bread. You know, I mean, there's something you could do
about that. So I'm going back to sleep. So, no. I said no. I'm not going to respond to that.
I'm not going to respond. Just, I'm going to stay quiet. What? I need three loaves. I'm in bed. I said no. All right. I open up the door. Take whatever you want. I need
to get back to sleep. He comes in. I come in, take
the bread, got what I need, leave. But look what the Lord says about
this. He actually commends this. 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 set
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, they will not rise and give him because he's his
friend, yet because of his importunity. his shameless persistence, his
impudence. He just kept coming and kept
coming and kept coming. He'll rise and give him whatever
he needs. Look over in Luke chapter 18,
something very similar. And he spake, verse 1, a parable
unto them to this end, that men are always to pray and not to
faint, not to give up, not to lose heart. Satan, there was
in a city a judge. And this judge was not a good
man. He didn't fear God and he didn't regard men. 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 afterwards he said within
himself, though I fear not God nor regard man, yet because this
widow trouble of me, I will avenge her lest by her continual coming. She weary me. She just keeps
coming. She won't be denied. She will
not let me alone. Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and
avenge her. Let's buy her continual coming, she weary. Verse six,
and the Lord said, hear what the unjust judge saith. And if
an unjust judge is like that, what about a good God? Now, what will create this shameless
persistence with the Lord? where you will not let it go. You keep coming, you keep knocking,
you will not let it go. You can't. Desperation. Need. The whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick. I couldn't help but think about
a time, and I think it was either 2005 or 2006, I'd never heard
of a man by the name of Tom Rice. Never heard of him, really wasn't
interested in him. And then I started experiencing
some, I was having difficulty swallowing. I thought something's
wrong with me. And I remember, The two Poles, Paul Walmsley
and Paul Harris, found a doctor in Cleveland by the name of Tom
Rice that before this, I didn't give a flip about. I didn't care.
I mean, I just wasn't interested. Now, all of a sudden, I'm greatly
interested in this man because he's the one who can help me. I needed him and I went all the
way to Cleveland, Ohio. to have this man work on me.
Why? Because I needed him. Do you know when you'll ask the
Lord with importunity? When you are desperate. When you have no other options. When you have nowhere else to
turn. when all doors have been closed. That's when you'll seek the Lord
with importunity. Like David said, Oh Lord, for
thy name's sake, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. I'm poor and needy, make haste
unto me. Bow down thine ear to hear me,
for I'm poor and needy. Listen to this. Save me, O God,
for the waters are coming to my soul. I sink in deep mire where no
standing is. I'm coming to the deep waters
where the floods overflow me. You know when Peter cried out,
Lord, save me! If the Lord didn't save him,
he'd drown. That's why he cried out thusly. Now if there is something we
greatly need, we will be importunate, shamelessly persistent. We won't be denied. Like Jacob, I will not let you
go. When he was wrestling with the
angel and he knew who he was, he was God. He knew who he was wrestling.
He said, I've seen the face of God. And I think, you know, the
picture I've been, he's holding on to his leg and he's not going
to be kicked off. And the Lord taught me, I will not let you
go except you bless me. I mean that this, this is it.
If you don't bless me, it's over for me. I will not let you, I
think of Hannah. The scripture says Hannah was
in bitterness of soul and prayed to the Lord and wept sore. She
wanted a child. The Lord had set up her womb.
And she had to have this child. She had to. I want to give you several examples
in the New Testament of importunity. Like I said, this is the only
time the word's used, but it's taught throughout the scriptures.
Turn with me to Matthew chapter 8. When he was come down from the
mountain, after giving the sermon on the mount, great multitudes
followed him. And behold, there came a leper. Now let me say a few things about
this leper. What does the Bible say about this leper coming out
into public? He wasn't allowed. He was to
stay outside the camp. He wasn't to come in and infect
other people. He was to stay outside the camp.
There wasn't a sacrifice for him. He had to stay outside unless
the priest pronounced him clean. He had to put a rag over his
face and cry out, unclean! Unclean! If anybody came his
way, he had no right to come into the Lord's presence. As
a matter of fact, the law forbid him to. He was a leper. Without
the camp shall his habitation be, the scripture says. He's
on the outside. He had no right to come and infect
others. Leprosy. Leprosy is that great
picture of sin. He was full of leprosy. Now let's
read about this leper. Contrary to the law, behold,
there came a leper and worshiped him. The only time you worship the
Lord and the only time I worship the Lord is when we worship him
for who he is. He hadn't been cleansed yet.
He didn't know if he would be cleansed, but he worshipped the
Lord. Is the Lord worthy of worship
without reference to what he does for you? He is. The leper believed that. He came
and he worshipped Him, saying, Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make
me clean. Now, the law didn't come like
this. The law condemned him in what
he was doing, but he came with this desperate need. This leper
knew he was unclean. Unclean before God. He knew he could not make himself
clean. He knew that. There's not one
thing I can do to make myself clean. And he knew the Lord could. In his desperation, He came when
the law forbid him to, because he knew his only hope was found
in the sovereign will of Jesus Christ. He knew his only hope
was if Jesus Christ the Lord willed him to be clean. He knew
he had no control in this. He couldn't help but decide,
well, I'm going to let the Lord heal me. I'm going to let the Lord... No,
he knew better than that. Lord. He knew he was the Lord. If you will, it's all up to your
sovereign will. I realize that. If you will,
you can. You're able to make me perfectly
clean. And Jesus put forth his hand. And touched him. When you reckon, the last time
that man was touched, been a long time, hadn't it?
But the Lord reached forth his hand and touched him saying, I will. Be thou clean. This man was importunate. And
the Lord cleansed him. Turn to Mark chapter 10. Verse 46. Now this is when the
Lord was on His way to Jerusalem. The scripture says He set His
face as a flint. He was going to be crucified.
The reason He came to die was now about to take place. He was
on his way to Jerusalem knowing everything that was going to
befall him. He was in control of it. He'd ordered it all. And
he 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. Now this blind man, he couldn't
see. He was in utter darkness. Now I don't have any doubt, because
he knew something of the Lord Jesus Christ, that when he was
Probably all of his life, from time to time, he was led into
the temple. And he heard the scriptures read. And he heard
that scripture about when the Messiah comes, he gives sight
to the blind. Now, if you've already got sight,
you hear that and you say, that's nice, that's good. I'm glad of
that. But if you're blind, what does
that mean to you? Oh, Bartimaeus latched hold on
that. I know that when Messiah comes,
he'll do exactly what I need. He'll give me sight. He'll give
sight to the blind. Now, one day while Bartimaeus
was sitting there by the highwayside begging, he heard all the stuff
that was going on, and he heard about a prophet by the name of
Jesus of Nazareth that had given sight to the blind. And at that
time, it clicked. He's the Messiah. He's the Messiah. He gave sight to the blind. Oh,
if he ever comes my way, I'll cry out to him for mercy. I can't get to him. I'm blind.
I don't even know where he's at. But if he ever comes his
way, I'm going to cry for mercy. That's the son of David. He gave
sight to the blind. Well, he's sitting there one
day by the highway side begging and he hears a commotion. He
hears a noise, he asked somebody, what's going on here? And they
said, Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. Jesus, the son of David,
have mercy on me. This is his time. And let's go
on reading. Verse 47, 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. I wish I could duplicate
or imitate the way he did it. Can you imagine what this, oh,
he's here, the one who gives sight to the blind. Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy on me. Verse 48, and many charged him. that he should hold his peace.
He's disturbing us. You know what they said? They said, shut
up, Bartimaeus. Don't tell people to shut up. That's what Leno
says to me when I say that, and I should never say it. But that's what they told Bartimaeus.
Shut up, Bartimaeus. Shut up. Hold your peace. Did
Bartimaeus say, OK, I give up. I'll hold my peace. I mean, there's no point in me
I it was it was all wishful thinking. Nothing's going to happen. No,
from his great need, look what it says. He cried the more. A great deal. The son of David had mercy on
me, and I think that is so powerful. Verse forty nine in Jesus stood
still. The Lord is on His way to the
cross. And there's a great crowd with
Him. There's a great crowd. And I'm sure everybody's saying,
Jesus this, Jesus that. He kept going. The scripture
says He set His face as a flint. But there is one cry that stopped
Him dead in His tracks. The cry for mercy. Now the only time somebody cries
for mercy is when they know they don't have a drop of merit. They
don't have a drop. Everything is their fault and
what they need is mercy. Jesus, thou son of David, Have
mercy on me. 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. Wouldn't you be of good comfort
if he called you? Oh, that's what I want. Lord, call me. Call
me. Lord, call me. And he, casting
away his garment, rose and came to Jesus. That security blanket,
he got rid of. the garment of his own filthy
righteousness he got rid of and came to Jesus and Jesus answered
and said unto him, what wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him,
Lord, that I might receive my sight. Remember the way he just
continued crying, the more a great deal. 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. Turn back to Matthew chapter
15. I think this is one of the greatest
stories of impotunity in all the scriptures. Shameless persistence. Verse 21. Then Jesus went thence and departed
in the coast of Tyre and Sidon, and behold, a woman of Canaan,
a Gentile, not a Jew, a Gentile, came out of the same coasts and
cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son
of David, my daughter is grievously vexed with the devil." Now put
yourself in this woman's place. What if your child was demon
possessed? Grievously vexed with the devil? Oh, how that would rip you to
shreds. This woman was convinced. I don't
know how she, well, I know how she became convinced of this.
The Lord convinced her of it, but she was convinced that the
only one who could help her daughter is the Lord. Hard telling what
all she'd done in the past, but she knew there weren't any other
options. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. Now this woman had an impressive
resume. She came knowing who the Lord
was. He's the son of David. She came with a great need. My
daughter is grievously vexed with the devil and she came for
the right thing. Mercy. Mercy. Oh, may the Lord
enable us to come just like this woman came. That we might come
this morning just like she did. Verse 23. But he answered her, not a word. silence. Well, did she give up? Did that make her give in? No, she was importunate because
of this great need that she had. And His disciples came and besought
Him, saying, Send her away, for she crieth after us. She won't
be. She keeps crying for mercy. Send her away. You didn't answer.
Send her away. Boy, how hard-hearted Christ's
disciples could be. How hard-hearted. How wrong. Send her away. She crieth after
us. Fellas, you've thought too highly of yourself. She wasn't
crying after you. She's crying after the Lord. Verse 24, But he answered and
said, and I can't help but think he was looking at her when he
said this. He's speaking to the disciples
as well. But he answered and said, I am not sent, but into
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Now, he tells this woman in no
uncertain terms, I'm not sent for everybody. I did not come to save everybody. That's what he said to her. I'm
not sent but to the lost sheep at the house of Israel. Now,
this woman knew she wasn't at the house of Israel. She was
a Gentile and she knew what the Lord was saying. Now, if you
come to the Lord, you put yourself in this woman's place. If you
come to the Lord with a great need, seeking mercy, knowing
who He is, and He replies to you, I've only come for the elect. How would you respond? It's true. He only came for the
elect. That's just the truth. He didn't
come to save everybody. He came to save those the Father
gave Him before time began. He came to save the elect. He
came to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And you
come to Him and say, have mercy on me. And He says, I've only
came to save the elect. How would you respond? Would you turn around and say,
well, that's not fair. That's not right. I mean, I'm asking
for mercy. You ought to give it to me. This
is not right. This is not fair. How did she
respond? Verse 25. Then came she. And worshipped
him. Once again, the Lord is to be
worshipped. Without reference to what he
does or does not do for you. Do you believe that? Then came
she and worshipped. Oh, she bowed before Him. And
what did she say? Then came she and worshipped,
saying, Lord, help me. If you don't help me, I will
not be helped. There's no hope for me if you
don't help me. But he answered and said, verse
26, it's not me to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. What do you say to this woman? My grace is for my children.
It's not appropriate to take the children's bread and to throw
it out to dogs. Now, did she turn on her heels
and say, I'm not going to be talked to like that. I'm not
going to be addressed like that. I mean, this is wrong. I've come
to him for the right thing, and yet he treats me like this. You
know what she said? Verse 27. She said, truth, Lord. If I ever heard the truth, that's
the truth. I'm a dog. And I do not deserve
a place setting with your children, I realize that. I'm a dog, that's
the truth. But I'm your dog. And even dogs
are dependent on the crumbs that fall from the master's table.
I'll be so grateful for any crumbs of mercy that come my way. Now
that's importunate, isn't it? She would not be denied. The kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence and the violent take it by force. They must have grace. You see, the sovereignty of God
and salvation never detained one sinner who needed mercy from
getting to the Lord Jesus Christ. Doesn't happen. And this woman's
a beautiful illustration of that. And the Lord, you know, this
whole time, you know, his silence didn't silence her, did it? It
made her continue to come. And all that the Lord is doing
with this woman is done in love and mercy. It may have seemed
harsh, but he ends up saying to her, oh woman, great is thy
faith. Be it unto thee even as thou
wilt. Turn to Luke 15. Verse 11, He said, A certain
man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father,
give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. Give me my
inheritance early. And he divided unto them his
living. And not many days after, the
younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far
country. Luke 15, 13. And he took his
journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance. with riotous living." Now, this
man was having a good time. He was living the life of partying. That's all you can call it. And
he was enjoying himself. This is what he wanted. He wasted
his substance with riotous living. Oh, he was, hey, I think he was
thinking, this is it. I've arrived. This is life. This
is the good life. Verse 14, and when he had spent
all, there arose a mighty famine in
that land, and he began to be in want. What a blessed place
to be. He began to be in need, in want. He didn't have anything. So what
did he do? He went to work. He went and
joined himself to a citizen of that country. I think that represents
a religious experience. I'm going to go to work and I'm
going to get things straightened out and I'm going to provide for
myself. I'm going to do what I need to do. He went and joined himself
to a citizen of that country. It wasn't the Lord's country.
And he sent him into his field to feed swine, and he would fain
have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat,
and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself,
he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough
to spare and I perish with hunger. Now he realized by what he had
done that he had no right to come back and expect anything
out of his father. He'd spent it all. He'd made a mess of things. He'd ruined his life, but he
was in want. And he says, how many hired servants
of my father have bread enough to spare? And I'm sitting here
perishing with hunger. Now that's a state of great need, isn't
it? I'm perishing with hunger. I will arise and go to my father
and I'll say unto him, father, I've sinned against heaven. My sin was against
God. I was wrong as I could be. And
before thee, and I'm not worthy to be called by son, I don't
even expect anything like that. Make me as one of thy hired servants.
And he arose and came to his father. But when he was yet a
great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran
and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him,
Father, I've sinned against heaven and thy son, and I'm no more
worthy to be called thy son. And the father wouldn't let him
finish. But the father said to his servants, bring forth the
best robe, the righteousness of my son, and put it on him. He can't put it on himself. You
put it on him. And put a ring on his hand, the
token of my eternal love and shoes on his feet, grace to walk
in the gospel and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it and
let us eat and be merry. For this my son was dead and
is alive again. He was lost and is found. Turn to Mark chapter five. This
is the last one. In every case, They all have
this in common. Great need. Verse 25. Verse 24. And Jesus went with him, and
much people followed him. and thronged him. They were pressing
against him, touching him, all kinds of people thronging him. And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood,
12 years. She had a menstrual disease for
12 long years. And can you imagine how anemic
she must have been, how weak she must have been, how she had
suffered through this disease for 12 long years. And once again, this was a woman
who, according to the law, should stay away. If you had a menstrual
disease, you were shut up. in your home. Anybody that touched
you, they had to have a sacrifice for them if they touched you,
if they came into contact. This woman was declared to be
unclean by the law and she had no business coming into this
crowd like this. The Levitical law had declared
her to be unclean. Stay away. You got no business
coming to the Lord. You're unclean. Well, verse 26
said, she had suffered many things of many physicians. and had spent
all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but
rather grew worse. She'd gone to many quacks, many
preachers, I suppose, many religious, here's what you need to do, here's
what you need to do, all these different things that they tell
her what to do. and none of it did her any good, she rather
grew worse. Verse 27, when she had heard of Jesus. Oh my, isn't it a blessing when
someone actually hears of Jesus. Oh, I love his name. What a name. When she heard of Jesus, oh how
weak she was, but she came in the press, the crowd behind. I imagine she was crawling because
she touched the hem of his garment. The hem of his garment is down
on the bottom. So I guess she was just crawling in through
the crowd. For she said, verse 28, if I
may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. Well, she touched his clothes,
verse 29, and straightway the fountain of her blood was dried
up. And she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
Now, can you imagine how she must have felt? After suffering
for 12 years, and all of a sudden she knew she was healed, she
was strengthened. She knew. And she knew the one
reason why was because of the Lord Jesus Christ. She knew that. Verse 30, and Jesus immediately
knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him. That makes me think of the Lord
on the cross. My sin came out of me and went into him. And his saving virtue and power
went out of him and came to me. He turned about in the press
and said, Who touched my clothes? He knew. And his 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. But the woman, fearing and trembling,
knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him
and told him all the truth. And that's what folks do when
God saves them. They confess 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, these all came in shameless
persistence. Impudence. They had no right,
but they all had this in common. They had great need. and had nowhere else to turn. May the Lord give me and you
that importunance, importunity. And I know this, whatever's important
to us with the Lord, being made clean, being made accepted, having
my sins forgiven, having his mercy, whatever's important to
me, I will be importunate about it. And if I can fail to be importunate
about it, says one thing, it's really not that important to
me. May God make you and I importunate men and women. And there's one
other scripture I'd like us to look at, Hebrews chapter four,
for our encouragement. Verse 16. Let us, therefore, come boldly
under the throne of grace, where God dispenses his free favor,
that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of
need. Let's pray.