Luke 18, let's begin reading
in verse 1. And He spake a parable unto them
to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint. I love that, don't you? Men ought
to pray. What a statement that is. From
the Son of God. Men ought to pray. You ought
to pray. And this is the parable that
he spake concerning prayer. There was in a city a judge,
and he feared not God, neither regarded man, had no respect
for man. And there was a widow in that
city, and she came to him, saying, Avenge me of my adversaries. 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 troubles me, I will avenge
her. Lest by her continue coming,
she weary me." And the Lord said, there that word is again. I showed
you that this morning. These disciples and these apostles,
when they spoke to the Lord or about the Lord, it was always
the Lord. They sit around and talk about
the Lord. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge said. 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 comes, shall He find faith on the earth? I want to just
speak to you for a few minutes on This parable concerning prayer. Men have prayed almost from the
beginning of creation. Men have sought the Creator.
They've prayed to Him. Men have sought the Redeemer.
They've called upon Him. All the way back in Genesis chapter
4, we're told that men began to call upon the name of the
Lord. That's a long time ago. The Bible teaches prayer. It's
amazing to me that the Son of God came down from heaven and
He would write a whole parable. He would speak a whole parable
just to this end to teach us to pray. And He was a praying
man Himself. How often do we read of our Master
that He went out and spent the night in prayer? Before He had
this particular work to do or that particular task to do, often
we're told that He went to pray. He gave us the model prayer. He said, when you pray, say,
Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And you
read that prayer, and it's just a good prayer to model all our
prayers by. And it's amazing to me that he
was praying when the disciples came to him, and they sat there
and listened to him pray. Can you imagine what it was to
listen to the Son of God pray? A man in our likeness, with our
passion, sin accepted, praying to his Father in Heaven. Something
about that impressed these men. Because they listened to him
and when he finished and said, Amen, they said, teach us to
pray. We want to pray just like you
pray. He was a praying man himself. Men ought always to pray. And this whole parable he speaks
here just to encourage us to pray. And he tells here in verse
1 beginning about this judge. We don't know what happened to
this widow. Her husband probably had just died. Commentaries speculate
that maybe her husband had had some debt and now they were trying
to collect it from the widow. Maybe she was trying to be embezzled,
defrauded. Some suggest that they were trying
to take some of her children away from her or her living.
that her husband had left her. But she had some adversaries.
She was in trouble. And in this town, before this
judge that she had to come to, this was a wicked man. The Bible
says here that he feared not God. And that simply means he
had no conscience. He's a dangerous man. You take
a man that don't fear God, You better avoid Him if you can.
Because you take a man that don't fear God with the natural fear
that creatures have of their Creator, it won't bother Him
doing harm to you. He could make any judgment He
wanted to make. He could cause people all the
pain He wanted to, and it never bothered Him. He had no conscience. He never looked up and said,
man, I better be careful. He didn't believe in God. He
had no fear of God. And I think the very next thing
that's said about him here is very natural. If you don't fear
God, neither regarded man. Now, you can just mark this down.
As our country departs from the knowledge of God, as men in high
places, the judges and superintendents of our schools and all of these
men leave the natural reverence of God that we look up and say
there is a God. and they leave the fear of that,
I'm telling you, it will be a danger to live in society. It's just
one step down when a man does not have this natural fear of
God, it's just one step down to say, neither does he regard
man. She couldn't appeal to his humanity. She couldn't come to him and
say, sir, please, I'm in trouble. I appeal to the decency in you. I'm a fellow human being. You
know what he says? I don't care. I just don't care. I can go home tonight and sleep
well. I just don't care. Lady, I have
no regard for you. I don't care what predicament
you're in. Can you imagine that? I don't
care if you're rich. I don't care if you're an influential
man. You wouldn't want to stand before
this fellow because he had no regard for humanity. Then I think just as bad was
told her in verse 6, the Lord says this about him, hear what
the unjust judge said. He had no respect for God's laws
and he had no respect for man's laws. And he was a judge. He didn't care to throw you in
jail and forget about you even though he knew it broke the law. He was an unjust man. And that's the man that this
poor widow came and asked Him to plead her cause. Asked Him
to avenge her of her adversaries. Now, out of this parable, I want
to give you five or six things quickly concerning prayer. And I think it will encourage
you and I to pray. I don't know what it is about
prayer, but it's difficult to maintain. One fellow said he
came by this little church and he felt like he ought to go in
and say a prayer. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about
just saying a little prayer. I'm talking about praying. Heart
prayer. First of all, I see from this
prayer we hear the Lord is teaching this. When you and I pray, we
need to remember this, that God is nothing like this man. He is nothing like this judge. And this is the lesson the Lord
Jesus was seeking to teach us. Hear what the unjust judge said. He heard this woman, but why
did he hear her? Why did he finally answer her?
He said, I'm just tired of her wearying me. I want to get her
out of my sight. Is God that way? Well, I know
not only is He a just God, That would encourage us to pray. But
He's so tender. He's so kind. He's so gentle. He loves to hear His people come
and pray. And not only is He a judge, He
is that, but He's our Father. He's our Father. And what man
is it here this evening, and our women, our mothers, If their
children are in need, don't you love for them to come to you
and pour their hearts out to you? God is the same way. He pities us. He remembers that
we're just dust. And I'm telling you, brothers
and sisters, even our groans, our cries of our soul doesn't
weary Him. He bottles our tears up, the
Bible says, and keeps them. He is a Father. How different
He is than this judge. One of the titles that's put
upon the Lord's name is this. And I love this. I think this
is one of the best titles that they've ever had. Name the Lord.
O Thou that hearest prayer. What a title. O Thou that hearest
prayer. We don't go to a man like this.
We go to a merciful, tender, faithful Father in Heaven. Men ought to pray then, shouldn't
they? And secondly, I noticed something about this woman. When
she went, she had no lawyer. She had to plead her own cause,
her own case. She had nobody to go before the
judge that knew how to speak, that knew the rules of engaging
the court. I've been in court, and when
I sat there, I was the most thankful man you've ever seen in your
life that I had a lawyer. If I had stood up to plead my
own cause, the first sentence out of my mouth, the judge would
have probably stopped me and said, wait a minute, man, you
don't address me that way. You don't address the court.
This woman had to go before this man herself. She had to plead
her own cause before this awful, awful man. It's not that way
with me and you. You know the Scripture teaches
that we have a lawyer in heaven? That's what a mediator is. That's
what an advocate is. There is one God and one mediator
between God and man. That's the man, Christ Jesus. Hold just a minute and look over
in Revelation with me, chapter 8, and look in verse 1. Revelation chapter 8 and look
in verse 1. This is one of the most precious scriptures.
The Lord Jesus Christ is often spoke of in the scriptures as
being an angel. He's the angel of God's presence.
He's the messenger of the covenant. He's the angel. And look at Him
here as He's depicted in Revelation chapter 8 and look in verse 1. And when He had opened the seven
seals, there was Silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
And I saw seven angels which stood before God, and to them
were given seven trumpets, and another angel..." Now this is
the Lord Jesus Christ, our Mediator. "...He came, and He stood at
the altar, and He had a golden censer, and there was given unto
Him much incense, that He should offer it..." Look at this. with
the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before
the throne." Jesus Christ is in the presence of God, and when
we go unto God's presence, we go through Him. He is the mediator
between God and man. He represents us. He takes our
prayers as weak And sometimes, let's be honest, as filthy as
they seem to be in our own eyes. All the straying. And he takes
those prayers and he mixes his sweet incense of obedience and
intercessions upon it, and then he presents it to the Father.
And it's sweet incense. If you and I had to go into God's
presence and plead our own cause, We'd be condemned. We don't know
how to do that, do we? God is a holy God, and He'd find
sin mixed with our prayers, and then what would become of us?
I tell you, we'd be cast out and condemned. But we have a
mediator. If we sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He's the propitiation. And isn't it wonderful, if you
had to go to court, And you have to sit before a judge. Wouldn't
it be wonderful if you could hire the judge's son to plead
your cause? That'd be wonderful, wouldn't
it? They probably wouldn't allow that in our court system, but
heaven does. Heaven does. I read one time
where this man, he had a need. Back in the day, you could go
right up to the president and talk to him. You could go in
the White House and visit Andrew Jackson, President Lincoln, if
you could get in. There was this one guy, he had
a need, and he couldn't get in to see President Lincoln. And
he stood outside for two or three days, and he couldn't get in.
There were so many people. He came there every morning,
the line was so long. He saw Abe Lincoln's little boy playing
behind the house. And he said, I've seen that child
before. That's the President's son. So he went around and said,
son, Are you so-and-so?" He said, Oh, yes. Yes. Mr. Lincoln is
my father. He said, Can you get me in to
see him? Well, he said, Come on. And he got him with a hand
and tucked him in and set him right down there at his bed and
said, This man wants to talk to you. Well, he's got nothing
on us, has he? Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
is in the presence of the Father. And when we pray, our prayers
go through Him And when he's finished with them and gives
them to the Father, oh my, they smell so good. His sweet incense
of obedience. Now if you want to go down to
your St. Ann's and get the priest to pray for you, you better check
what kind of incense he's got. And his little, what do you call
that, cubicle? I call them toilets, but they're
a cubicle, whatever they've got. We've got an advocate. This poor
widow didn't. She stood there trembling, pleading
her own cause. We have an advocate between us
and the Father. And look here where he is, and
this brings me to my next point. He offered this sweet incense
with the prayers of all saints. I'll remind you of that. All
saints. My prayers? Are you a saint?
All saints. Unworthy me? Weak me? He offered it upon the golden
altar, look at this, and this brings me to my third point,
which was before the throne. Man, this is encouraging to pray.
When you come to pray, your prayers appear before Him who sits on
the throne. This is not just any throne.
This is not a throne, this is the throne. Do you believe that
God rules over everything? Do you believe there is nothing
that can resist Him? That His throne rules in heaven
and in this earth? Do you really believe that? Well,
the next time you go to pray, remember that. You are coming
to Him whose throne rules everything. His providence guides and regulates
and rules over all things. And here this prayer is being
brought up to the throne. How amazing! Because if He hears
your prayer and answers your prayer, what a blessing! What a thrill! What are you praying about? It
doesn't matter if He answers your prayer. Who's your adversaries? I tell you, they better take
heed. Because you're praying to the throne. If the throne
answers your prayer that rules over everything, then somebody's
in trouble. And it's your adversaries. And
somebody's blessed. And it's you. You know, a lot's
been accomplished by prayer. I mean, a lot has been accomplished
in the answer to prayer. There was a fellow one time,
a prophet, that lost an axe head He had borrowed it and was chopping
down a tree. An axe had fell in the deep water. And he began
to cry out, Lord, it was borrowed. And you know what the Scripture
says, the axe did swim. Ain't that amazing? At the answer of prayer. Does
the throne rule over an axe head? Yes, it does. There was another
prophet who prayed that it wouldn't rain for three and a half years.
I'm telling you, that wasn't even due on the ground. Then
he went back and prayed, Let it rain, and it gave abundance
of rain. There's been a lot accomplished
by prayer. There's a man in heaven today, and he's there because he prayed,
Lord, remember me. Ain't that amazing? Lord, remember
me. You can't take this fellow to
heaven. You hide and watch me. I'm on the throne. I'm irresistible. I can work and nobody can hinder
me. Look at the things that's been accomplished in my prayer. Oh, that ought to encourage you.
There was a man one time that the Lord had healed him. And
the prophet said, Do you want a sign that you're healed? He
said, I'd love a sign that I'm healed. He said, Do you want
a sign to stand still? He said, I'm going to go backwards.
He said, That's a hard request, but I know Him that rules on
His throne, and I'll ask Him. And he comes back and said, He'll
do it. And they say our system is still affected by the time
that sun went back ten degrees. We know of a man that was thrown
into a den of lions. And man, they were hungry. Just
a few minutes later, after they threw him in there, those lions
eat a bunch of cows. But they didn't touch him. Why? The Lord locked their mouths.
And that old king said, I'm going to pray for you. And the Lord
that you serve is able to do it for you. And he did. Oh, brothers
and sisters, James said, the effectual firm prayer of a righteous
man availeth much. It is profitable to pray because
we are praying to the throne. We are not praying to men. We are praying to God. Therefore, men ought always to
pray. Something else that encourages
us in this prayer. Not only did this woman come
here to this unjust judge, she came here alone, no mediator,
nobody by her side to plead her cause. But she had to come here
in her own strength. I tell you, it's amazing. I mean,
she had some resolve about her, didn't she? I don't know how
many days she come, but I'm telling you, she never gave up until
she got an answer. I wonder where she mustered up this energy to
just keep on coming and keep on coming. I'll be honest with
you, I'd have quit. Would you? Probably after about
the first ten minutes, I'd have thought to myself, I'm getting
over her. I might as well go home. Seek another avenue. But
not her. Not her. And here is the blessing
behind this. You know, we not only have somebody
on God's right hand to plead our cause for us. But we've got
someone in us to give us energy and to hold us up in prayer and
to encourage us in prayer. Praying is hard work. It is hard
work. To get down on your knees or
to stand off in a corner or to sit on your bed or your couch
and really seek the Lord Day after day after day. Sometimes
that's hard work. That's why the Scripture calls
it labor in prayer. But brothers and sisters, we
have something in the Scriptures that so encourages us, and it's
this. We know not what to pray for
as we ought. But the Spirit, the Holy Spirit,
helps our infirmities. We have imperatives, and it's
related to prayer. Not only we don't know what to
pray for, but sometimes we just can't muster up the energy to
pray. But when He comes on the scene, oh, when He begins to
stir and be active in the heart, He can not only give us words,
but He can give us a heart. The Holy Spirit. He helps our
And what this woman seemed able to do in and of herself is keep
on coming, keep on seeking, keep on pleading. That's what the
Holy Spirit aids us in doing. With all prayer and supplications
in the Spirit. In the Spirit. Ain't that encouraging? That's so encouraging. David
said this. He said, O Lord, how long shall
the adversaries reproach, and the enemies blaspheme me? How
long, Lord, will you hide yourself forever? Lord, how long shall
the wicked triumph? How long shall I take counsel
in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall
my enemies triumph over me? You know what that tells us.
That sometimes we're just like this woman, that we just have
to keep going back and back and back and back, and sometimes
the Lord don't answer us, does He? And boy, there's where you have
to have some encouragement to pray. There's where it has to
be a divine power upholding you in prayer. The Lord bears long
sometimes. That's what the Master said.
The Father bears long. Sometimes He's long-suffering
to His enemies, and sometimes He waits long before He answers
the prayers of His people. He does that, I think, for one
reason. So we'll desire what we pray for. You ever go to the
Lord and you ask Him for something you weren't serious, and you
never got it? And you just forgot about it
because you weren't serious. But boy, when you really get
serious about something you need, And you pray and He doesn't answer,
but you'll go back and you'll go back. And He's waiting, He's
working in you for you to get serious. That's why some people,
when they first begin to seek the Lord, I've talked to people
and they say, I've been seeking the Lord for a few days and He's
not here. I mean, I'm really scared. The
Lord's making you serious. He waited on you for years. Now
He's going to let you wait on Him. He's going to teach you
a lesson. He's going to make you value prayer and what He's
able to do for you. But we have the Holy Spirit.
We have the Holy Spirit to help us and aid us. And fifthly, I
saw this in this prayer as I read it. When's the best time to pray? Time of need. In the time of
need. Come boldly to the throne of
grace that you may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the
time of need." This woman was in trouble, wasn't she? I mean,
she was in deep trouble. Whatever was going to happen
to this woman, her adversaries were going to accomplish their
desired end if they could. She was in trouble. That's the
best time to pray sometimes, is in trouble. We don't always
realize that. We want to wait until the troubles
pass. When we sin, we don't want to bear the guilt of that before
the throne. We want to wait until the guilt
has passed. I'm in too much trouble today.
It will be too difficult today to go to pray. I can't think.
I'm troubled. My mind is almost blocked. Brothers
and sisters, that's an excellent time to go. David wrote so much about this
in his Psalms. One of the reasons I think you
and I love the Psalms so much is because we can relate to David,
can't we? Because he was full of trouble.
But he prayed in his trouble. Let me read you some of the Psalms
where he spoke of it. This is when Absalom was seeking
him. His own son was seeking him. He said, Lord, how are they
increased that trouble me? Many are they that rise up against
me. But here he was praying about
it. He's praying about his trouble. Psalms 9, 9, the Lord will be
a refuge for thee oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. Listen to Psalms 20 and 1. The
Lord hear thee in the day of trouble. The name of the God
of Jacob defend thee. Psalms 22. Be not far from me,
Lord, for trouble is near and there is none to help. Psalms
27. For in time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion,
in the secret places of his tabernacle shall he hide me, he shall set
me up upon a rock." Listen to Psalms 50. Call upon me. Call upon me. When? In the day
of trouble. And I will answer you, and you
shall glorify me. When is a good time to pray?
Right in the midst of your trouble. Are you in trouble? Trouble without? Trouble within? Family troubles? Heart troubles? Are you in trouble? Then pray. Call on the Lord. This widow did it. We learned
that from her. Lastly is this. Prayer has a
lot to do with faith. Prayer has a lot to do with faith. We don't see God. We don't hear
Him with an audible voice. We don't feel Him. We don't feel
any little tickling sensations or chill bumps up our back. We come to God in prayer because
we believe God. That's why we pray. We come to
Him and we say, Lord, You've given us this promise. All who
knock, He'll be open to them. All who seek shall find. All
who ask, receive. We come to Him and bring His
Word. We come to you at your word.
You said this, and therefore we come. You promised this, and
therefore we come, pleading your promise. It has to do with faith. He that comes to God must believe
that he is. The prayer of faith shall save
the sick. It is believing. It's believing
Him. I think what keeps us from the
thorn of grace is unbelief. It's just unbelief. When we pray by faith, it's because
we believe God's Word. And here's the advantage you
have praying by faith. You can come where you feel like
it or not. You come at His Word. Well, my heart's so cold, what's
that have to do with prayer? Do you believe God? My heart's
so hard. Come anyway, if you believe God. Come because He said to come.
Oh, what a plea to bring this. Father, You sent Your Son. I
come at the words of Your Son. He's told me that I ought to
pray, so I come here at His Word. Oh, what a plea that would be
before the throne of grace. What encouragement that would be.
for you to come. God may delay, but I tell you,
faith won't quit coming. Faith knows God's got His own
purposes, and in time He will answer. Aren't you glad that
He's been long-suffering to His people and hasn't answered their
prayers as yet, at least some of them? There have been saints
praying to Him for thousands of years. Come, Lord Jesus. Aren't
you glad He hasn't come yet? Aren't you glad He didn't come
ten years ago, twenty years ago, thirty, forty years ago? What
world would that have left you? He's long-suffering to us-ward. He has His purposes. He's saving
His people. But when He does answer, boy,
He can do it speedily. Sometimes he delays and sometimes
he waits, but the Lord said he will hear them speedily. That
means when he answers, it may be quick. This world is going to say sometime,
pretty soon I imagine, when it has the church under its feet
and thinks it's got the victory, peace and safety. Peace and safety. But what's going to happen? Sudden
destruction. Sometimes when Satan thinks,
boy, I've won the victory, that's when the Lord shows up and defeats
him, and he does it quickly, immediately. Sometimes during
the darkest hours is just before the sun comes up. And there you
see it peeking up over the horizon, and light suddenly shines. No, the Lord can answer you speedily.
When He begins to do it, He'll do it. How many times has children
of God went to Him in prayer, and the Lord came on the scene
suddenly, and He turned their darkness to light, turned their
heaviness into joy, their tears into laughter? He don't always have to do things
a little bit at a time. Sometimes, boy, He can burst
out and shake, David went to Him one time crying unto Him.
And boy, before he quit praying, he said, the earth shook and
the rocks rent and they melted. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Those
disciples in Acts 4 went to Him in prayer and said, O Lord, Thou
art God which created the heavens and the earth. Would You show
Yourself? Would You come on the scene? And before they quit praying,
they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. And they began to
preach the Lord Jesus Christ. Men are always to pray. And don't
lose heart. Don't lose heart. That's what
the Son of God said. Let's pray.