"The Days Are Evil So Prayer Must Be Persistent!"
Notes
Transcript
Over the past few weeks we have taken a look at some of the Lord’s Parables that He used to teach others as well as His own disciples important lessons. Last week we began to look at some of the parables that deal with Christian living. In other words, how are we to live as believers? Today I want to take you to Luke chapter 18 to see the parable of the Persistent Widow. So, if you have your Bibles will you turn with me there.
The important theme of this message today is being persistent in our prayer. So, I want to encourage you today to keep Praying and never give up! It can be so easy when our world or just life in period seems bleak and in despair. When the world seems like it is getting more and more evil and sinful and spiraling out of control we must persist in prayer. When you are dealing with a crisis in your life, than this is the time to run to God in prayer. Yes, there are times when God delays in answering our prayers, but He encourages us to keep praying. We can be confident that God hears the prayers of His people and will answer those prayers of His people as well. Many times throughout God’s Word we see not only the importance of prayer but the necessity for it. I want you to see this today so we are going to look at several passages before we get to our parable on the Persistent Widow. Let’s begin in the Old Testament with King David.
16 But I call to God,
and the Lord will save me.
17 Evening and morning and at noon
I utter my complaint and moan,
and he hears my voice.
In James we see just how effective prayer truly is.
16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
The same is true of Matthew.
22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
God desires for His children to pray in faith trusting in Him, but also to pray persistently never losing faith or losing heart. Let me actually back up and let’s start in Luke 17 to get the whole picture here of what is happening.
22 And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. 24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. 25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, 29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— 30 so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife. 33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. 34 I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. 35 There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.” 37 And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ ” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Jesus is speaking here to His disciples to help them understand that they should always pray and not faint or grow tired and lose heart because of the difficult times. After Jesus died and rose again and shows himself to his disciples He returned to heaven. We are living in this delay until Christ returns again. This delay is discussed at the end of Luke chapter 17 verses 20-37. The Luke 17 language discusses many things but helps us to see the warnings and disaster that is coming. Here we see the imagery of gruesome death and corruption. Verse 37 tells us, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.” And then we jump right into our parable of why we should pray. So, this persistent request from the widow for justice is just like the believers prayers for Christ to return. The teaching is that Christ will return even though we do not know when and it could be a long way off, so in the meantime we as believers continue to pray and anticipate the Lord’s return. We can even pray this verse.
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
In verses 2-5 we begin to see some things that stand out to us. We begin to learn that there are two main characters that Christ keys in on and we learn about their lives. Let’s begin with the Judge. Who was he?
One of the things that we do know about Ancient Israel is their court system. In fact, the highest religious court of Israel was the the Great Sanhedrin Court that consisted of 71 judges. These men were all considered the highest of the high. They were experts in both the Old Testament Torah or law and the oral tradition. Sadly, their power was oppressive and often unjust. We know that this is the group of men that were so unjust that they conspired together to eventually put Jesus on the cross.
There was also another part of the religious court system under the Great Sanhedrin. The Larger cities throughout Israel each had their own ruling bodies known as the lesser Sanhedrin. This group consisted of 23 judges in each city. Just like the chief rulers in Jerusalem, these men were strongly influenced by the thoughts and doctrine of the Pharisees and the politics of the Sadducees. These men were swayed by money, man-made rules and traditions and often dealt out harsh and cruel judgments based on false applications of the Old Testament. These men were often very corrupt.
In addition to all of these national Israelite judges, Rome also appointed local magistrates and village judges who judged criminal cases and looked after the interests of Caesar. These judges were terrible because the lacked any kind of moral value whatsoever. These men were of course considered Gentiles and unbelievers and were generally paid large sums of money to do their jobs. The Jews referred to them as “Robber-judges.”
From the Lord’s description here is seems very evident that this judge was one of these Roman appointees. He did not fear God or respect man. This was someone who showed no true reverence for God’s will or His law. We also know that this judge did not care about the needs of the people and their just causes. This man had become a judge because he loved the status and the money, not because he loved justice. This mans character was so awful because it lacked virtue and most of the people would have considered him inhuman. But even is this harshness we see a positive lesson about God an how He answers our prayers.
Let’s take a moment to look at the other character in our parable. This is the poor widow who was the victim of some injustice or oppression. She didn’t know what to do and so here only solution to her problem was to run to the courts. Someone had hurt her and she found herself destitute and alone.
Here is what we know about the culture of this time. Most of the time the court system belonged entirely to men. No woman would have even thought about appealing to a judge because generally the husband would step in to defend her if the woman was wronged. So, we know something of this woman because clearly she was widowed and without a husband. She evidently had no brother, brother-in-law, son, cousin, or nephew to help her out or to plead her case. This woman represents those who have no one to defend them, the poor, the powerless, the deprived, and the lowly. But we also know this about the culture of the time. Widows were to be cared for and the legal authorities had a duty to see that their needs were met. So, this woman kept coming to this judge. She kept coming to him over and over again. This went on for quite some time and finally the unjust judge suddenly has a change of heart. He grew weary of hearing her pleas again and again.
There are 3 short applications from this story that I want to leave with you today. Here we see 3 things for us to learn and understand about Christian living.
1. We must see the importance of perseverance through prayer.
1. We must see the importance of perseverance through prayer.
The Lord wants us to see why we must not lose heart because it can be so easy for this to happen as in this widows case. These verses help us see why we need to continue in prayer. This widow had no one to help her and yet eventually even she is granted justice from the wicked and unjust judge. Notice in verse 5 what this judge says.
5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ ”
The lesson to be learned here church is this. If an unrighteous judge or an unfair judge can eventually come to his senses and hand out justice for this poor widow, then how much more is there to gain for us God’s children who has a Father in heaven who cares for His own. God knows us and knows exactly what we need and how to care for us. This is why prayer should always be of upmost importance for us as believers. Prayer is the life-breath of a true Christian. I would say that prayer is one of the very first signs of true conversion or how you would know if someone was a believer. A Christian has a desire to meet with God. If you are a believer today don’t neglect to meet with God and then watch Him work in your life. Our praying should be urgent, passionate, and persistent. When we forget to pray we forget to meet with the maker of this universe, we forget that there is someone more important than us who has everything in control. Keep praying and don’t lose heart.
2. Just like this poor widow who got justice, so too will God take care of his elect.
2. Just like this poor widow who got justice, so too will God take care of his elect.
I want you to know today that God cares for His people. God cares for those who are believers. The widow here in this parable represents all true Christians who are God’s elect. We see this word elect used quite often in the New Testament. These verses teach us, that God does have an elect people on earth who are under his special care.
7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
There are many people today who wrestle with this word elect or election. But election is one of the deepest truths of God’s word. It is part of the Doctrines of God’s Grace.
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
Even before the foundations of the world were laid, God delivered His children from the curse of hell and brings them by Christ to salvation. Once we truly understand how awful sin is and what we all truly deserve we can come to see that election is a truth that should draw us as believers to give praise and thanksgiving to God. Our salvation comes from God and God’s people are those who call out to Him day and night through prayer. This is what verse 7 tells us. In other words, God’s people are a praying people. Someone who never prays is not a true follower of Christ. If Christ has truly changed your life and you are a believer than at some point you will see how vital it is to meet with the Lord and be persistent in and through prayer.
3. We must see that real faith will be uncommon before Christ returns.
3. We must see that real faith will be uncommon before Christ returns.
In verse 8 here the Lord asks the question when the Son of Man comes will he find faith on earth? This should cause each and every believer to stop and think through this question. Are we faithfully praying for the Lord’s return? I think that there are many Christians today who are living life but are totally unprepared for the Lord’s return. Many are not eagerly waiting for Christ to return because they are so busy with this life and the world around them. As believers or those who truly love Christ we should long for His return so that we do not lose heart.
You see church, someday the Lord will return and He will come to vindicate His people, glorify himself, and punish those who are not true believers. He will set up His righteous kingdom and bring everlasting peace on the earth. So, today we continue to pray for Christ to come and reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. As we await the Lord’s return may we grow in our faith and relentlessly continue to pray and seek the Lord.
God the Father is gracious in that he delays pouring out His righteous wrath and judgment that will come.
Conclusion:
For us as believers thousands of years later, Jesus’ encouragement here for us to keep on praying so that we do not lose heart is the encouragement that we all need. The world in which we live in seems to get crazier with every day that passes by. We live in a world today that mocks and makes fun of Christianity and God’s Word. Many unbelievers think that God’s Word is out of date and out of touch with current reality and so they don’t see eye to eye with believers or why we would forsake the things of this world and live for Christ. In other countries there are many believers who are being persecuted and even martyred for the sake of Christ.
We should long for Christ to return and put an end to ungodliness and oppression, destroying sin once and for all. Jesus himself taught us to pray this wonderful prayer found in Luke 11:2.
2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say:
“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Church do not give up hope that someday Christ will return. He is coming.
36 But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
(Pray and Lead into Communion)