Luke 18:1-8 - Persistent Prayer
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction:
Persistence is the ability to stick with something. It involves continuing on even when it is hard. It means continuing even though you might not see any benefit at the time.
When we think of the need to persist in something, prayer is not often at the top of our list. We consider persisting in athletics, academics, marriage, our vocation, and other things - but we often don’t consider prayer at the top of our list when it comes to doing something hard or difficult.
Yet, Jesus understands the difficulty of persisting in prayer - especially when things seem hopeless or difficult.
Today we will see Jesus teach on the need to remain persistent in prayer. He will give us a short parable to teach us how to remain steadfast in approaching our Heavenly Father.
Let’s jump into today’s Scripture…
Read Full Scripture:
And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man.
And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’
For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man,
yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ ”
And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says.
And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?
I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Prayer
Today we will see three factors consistent with a persistent prayer warrior. The first is…
I. The Persistent Prayer Warrior Does Not Lose Heart (1)
I. The Persistent Prayer Warrior Does Not Lose Heart (1)
And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
I love how Luke gives us the thesis of this passage right at the beginning. We are not left guessing what Jesus is trying to teach. Some parables are more difficult to interpret, yet Luke wants us to know the main thrust of this parable before he even records what Jesus said.
There are two main messages that Luke gives us regarding what is about to follow in Jesus’s parable.
First Jesus is going to be teaching His followers to always pray.
This is very similar to a parallel passage found in 1 Thessalonians 5:17
pray without ceasing,
This concept of praying without ceasing does not mean that we are to continually be jabbering to God or that we are to continually have our heads bowed or be prostate on the ground. It means that we are to continually be in communion with God. We should always be aware of His constant presence and be conversing with Him throughout the day. There is never a time when we are alone. He is always with us.
Second, we are told that Jesus will be teaching His followers to not lose heart.
When we continue in persistent prayer, there can be discouragement that creeps in if the prayer is not answered as quickly as we would like to see it answered. We can be tempted to lose heart and become discouraged.
Yet the remedy for this discouragement is actually continued prayer! Communion with God is the cure for discouragement and losing heart.
I think it is important for us to understand the context of the parable about to come. Jesus has just finished teaching about the kingdom of God at the end of chapter 17. This parable is actually a continuation of that teaching.
We can look around at our world today and find a lot of reasons to lose heart and become discouraged. We see Christians persecuted throughout the world. Many are in prison while many others are martyred daily. We also see that we appear to be losing the culture-war in our nation with sexual perversion, abortion, and other godless ideologies being propagated.
When we consider the current state of the world, we can easily lose heart.
Yet, Jesus has reminded us that He is coming back. He has reminded us that He will one day rule and reign on earth.
We can persist in prayer because we know Jesus wins!
Although the current context of this Scripture is focused on remaining steadfast until the coming kingdom, we can learn much from this parable about prayer in general. Which brings us to our next point…
Scripture References: 1 Thessalonians 5:17
II. The Persistent Prayer Warrior Does Not Lose Hope (2-5)
II. The Persistent Prayer Warrior Does Not Lose Hope (2-5)
He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man.
Jesus has now started to teach this parable. If you recall, parables are fictional stories designed to teach a point - namely a theological point. We are introduced to a judge in a certain city who neither feared God nor respected man. This judge is all about himself. He doesn't care about God, and he doesn't care about people. He is only looking out for number one.
This initial description of the judge is pretty bleak. He stands in stark contrast to the charge that King Jehosaphat, the fourth king of Judah, had given to judges during his reign:
and said to the judges, “Consider what you do, for you judge not for man but for the Lord. He is with you in giving judgment. Now then, let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with the Lord our God, or partiality or taking bribes.”
Obviously, this man did not take this charge to heart. Judges were supposed to be impartial and all about justice. They were supposed to fear the Lord. This judge certainly did not meet the qualifications of this charge.
There is an important lesson for us in this initial description.
One cannot truly love his fellow man if he does not first love God. We love because God first loved us (1 John 4:19). Apart from God working in and through us, all of man’s love is self-seeking. Even what appears to be kindness from unbelievers is done with unholy motives such as feeling good about themselves or making much of themselves. One cannot truly agape (or sacrificially) love without Christ.
Despite what the world might teach, the Bible is clear that…
One cannot divorce one’s theology from one’s morals and ethics.
A judge without the fear of God does not understand or follow the unchanging ethics of God’s Word. Without a universal truth and without a universal law-giver, true justice from a judge is impossible.
As R. Kent Hughes states, the worst villains in the history of the world, men such as Stalin, professed love for humanity.
Yet, their disregard for God’s authority and His Word led them to do some of the most atrocious acts imaginable.
This is why our culture has gotten to where it is today. Many of our political leaders and judges do not fear God. Thus they are unable to truly love their fellow man and provide true justice.
Moving forward we are introduced to our next character in the parable…
And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’
Now we are introduced to a widow in the city who continues to come to him asking for justice against her adversary. Note the imperfect tense of the verb - kept coming. She was persistent. Despite the fact that she knew that this man was evil and wicked - despite the fact that her situation seemed hopeless to see justice accomplished - she continued approaching the judge.
You see, widows in ancient times were among the most vulnerable and defenseless class of people. Although the Old Testament Law encouraged special care and protection to be given to widows (Exodus 22:22, Deuteronomy 24:17, Isaiah 1:17, Deuteronomy 10:18, Psalm 68:5, Psalm 146:9, Proverbs 15:25, Deuteronomy 27:19), many disregarded this care.
The very fact that she did not have a male with her at all as she approached the judge shows her state of destitution. The court was a male-dominated part of society. A woman would not approach the court unless she had no male relative to turn to.
This widow understood that her situation was bleak at best and seemingly impossible at worst. She knew that there would be no benefit for the judge to help her. He cared about no one but himself. She likely had no money to pay him. She likely had no political clout to help him. Why would he waste his time helping her when she obviously could not do anything to benefit him whatsoever?
We are not told what justice she is asking for. It is likely that someone owed her money or had taken advantage of her in some financial way as she is approaching a civil judge most likely.
This legal issue must have been very important to her ability to survive because she is relentless in her pursuit of this judge.
Listen as the story continues…
For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ ”
This evil and wicked judge stands strong at first. There is nothing in it for him to help her so he avoids her. It is likely that he had her removed from his presence. But this continues day after day. He can’t seem to shake her off. She continues pestering him.
Jesus tells us that the man eventually decides to give her justice so that she will not beat him down by her continual coming.
The Greek word, hypōpiazō (oo-poe-pea-ah-zo), that is translated as the phrase ‘beat down’ is used figuratively in this parable. It literally means to strike under the eye. It is actually a boxing term that Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 9:27 as well:
But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
The judge is figuratively using this term to refer to the fact that she is wearing him out and tiring him by her persistence. There is probably a hint of public embarrassment as well as she continues to come day after day.
As the old saying goes, ‘The squeaky wheel gets the grease.’ She had become so squeaky that she was stealing any peace and tranquility he desired.
Her persistence finally pays off because he decides - even though it is not for her good or because he fears God - that helping her is in his best interest. Giving her justice will get her out of his hair!
And so he finally provides this widow the justice that she requested.
This widow persisted and did not lose hope. Even when all seemed hopeless when her fate was depending on a godless and wicked judge, she continued to persist.
My friends, may we not lose hope in the power of God in our lives. Obviously first and foremost, this speaks of the hope that we should have regarding the second coming of Christ. We continue pressing on in faith because we know who holds the victory - Christ alone.
But we also can learn from this woman the need to persist in hope in other things in our lives as well. As we continually seek God in prayer, we must believe and not doubt. See James 1:6
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
We must trust that God is in complete control of everything and that His will, will ultimately be what is done. Listen to 1 John 5:14-15:
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 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.
This is such a beautiful Scripture on prayer. All of our requests are guaranteed to be heard and guaranteed to be answered if they are according to His will.
I realize that sometimes we struggle to understand the will of God. There are some things that are clearly understood as the will of God because of the Scriptures - consider obedience to God - one does not need to pray if it is God’s will to follow His commands! It is clear.
But other situations are more difficult. Yet, we must pray in faith and maintain hope as we await His answer.
So far we have seen that the persistent prayer warrior does not lose heart and does not lose hope… finally we see that…
Scripture References: 2 Chronicles 19:6-7, 1 John 4:19, Exodus 22:22, Deuteronomy 24:17, Isaiah 1:17, Deuteronomy 10:18, Psalm 68:5, Psalm 146:9, Proverbs 15:25, Deuteronomy 27:19 1 Corinthians 9:27, James 1:6, 1 John 5:14-15
III. The Persistent Prayer Warrior Does Not Lose Sight of Heaven (6-8)
III. The Persistent Prayer Warrior Does Not Lose Sight of Heaven (6-8)
And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?
Jesus, using a lesser to greater reference here, asserts that if this evil judge will give justice to the widow who persists, how much more will God give justice to His elect that persist in prayer.
Jesus has used this lesser to greater argumentation style before. Consider Matthew 7:11:
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Jesus taught about God’s providence by comparing God to parents. If you as a parent are evil - not the most humanistic, self-esteem motivating message from our Lord - if even you can give good gifts to your children, how much more will God provide for His children!
In the same way we see God compared to this wicked judge. This wicked judge has provided justice for the widow only after being beat down by her continual persistence. How much better is God?
God is perfectly good. He stands in direct contrast with this wicked judge. God is an absolutely righteous and holy Judge. His judgements are perfect. Psalm 7:11 states:
God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.
He feels indignation at the injustice in our world. He will right all of the wrongs one day. He hears the cries of His elect who cry out day and night.
This speaks of those who are in Christ. Those with whom He knew before the foundation of the world as we see in Ephesians 1:4. These are those of us who have responded to His glorious drawing as seen in John 6:44 - those of us who have repented, or turned from, our sins - and placed our faith and trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. Those who have believed in the sinless Son of God who gave His life up for us on the cross, died, was buried, and rose from the dead three days later.
My friend, are you one of His elect? Have you placed your faith and trust in Christ. This word can oftentimes be divisive. It can start theology wars in churches and denominations. But it does not need to. My friends, His elect are those who are saved! Repent and take your place among the elect. He is gracious and kind and desires that none should perish as we see in 2 Peter 3:9. God is fully sovereign and is omniscient - meaning all-knowing. May we spend less time arguing about the doctrine of election and more time appreciating that God chose us and that we responded to His wonderful gift of salvation!
Getting back to our verse…
And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?
We are shown that His elect cry out to Him day and night. This shows the need for persistent prayer. Now we don’t come to God as the persistent widow came to the evil judge. She came with relentless persistence because of the wicked judge’s injustice. We come to God with confidence in His righteousness. We come to God with persistence but also trust. We don’t come at God as though we are to break Him down and bend Him to our will. This has been wrongly preached by some in the past. That is not the message that Jesus teaches in this parable at all - far from it! Jesus teaches that God is in direct contrast to this wicked judge. God is merciful and kind. God hears His children’s prayers. Yes, we should remain steadfast and persistent in relying on the Lord. Yes, we should remain faithful to the Lord. But we don’t need to try to twist God’s arm to have our will done. Instead, as we mentioned earlier, we pray that God’s will be done.
And when comparing us who are in Christ - namely His elect as mentioned here - we are contrasted to this poor widow. We don’t come to God as a poor widow once we are saved. We absolutely do come with nothing to offer at the time of salvation. Romans 3 clearly lets us know we bring nothing to the table when it comes to being saved. However, once we are saved, we are transformed, born-again, and adopted.
Now, when we approach God, we come as adopted sons and daughters of the King of King and Lord of Lords! We come with confidence through the blood of Jesus Christ. We don’t come as those who are powerless. Listen to Hebrews 4:16:
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
We cry out to God in confidence because of the work of Jesus Christ! We are able to draw near to the righteous Judge because we are seen as righteous due to the finished work of Christ on the cross. This righteousness is not because of anything we have done - not by our works - but only by the work of Jesus Christ. Rest in Christ my friends.
Luke 18:7 (ESV)
And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?
Jesus then ends with an interesting question in verse 7 - will he delay long over them?
As we await the answer to our prayers - as we await the return of Christ - it might feel like there is delay. Yet, as Warren Wiersbe reminds us, God’s delays are not the delays of inactivity but of preparation. God is always working, my friends. He is always answering prayers. Trust Him.
Coming to our final verse Jesus says…
I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Jesus then asserts that He will give justice to them speedily. Although the return of Christ seems delayed right now, when that return comes, it will occur speedily. It will come swiftly and quickly. If you recall, the second coming of Christ was described in last week’s sermon in Luke 17:24:
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.
My friends, His return is sure. He is not delayed as we consider delay. His timing is perfect. We mentioned the second half of 2 Peter 3:9 earlier but hear the beginning as well…
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
God is not slow to fulfill His promise. He is merciful and is waiting for more and more to repent and turn to Him. Know that the days continue getting fewer and fewer before His return. If you have not done it yet, repent of your sins and turn toward Him for salvation.
For us who are saved, may we share the Gospel with more and more people knowing that the time is short.
Jesus then ends with a final question...
Luke 18:8 (ESV)
I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Jesus wants us to know what the main thrust of this passage is. The issue is not the righteousness of God and whether God will respond to our prayers. God is the polar opposite of the wicked judge in this parable. He will respond. He will answer. He is good and holy and true. He will hear the cries of His children, and He will answer in His perfect timing.
The real issue is whether or not we will respond to God and trust in His faithfulness.
Friends:
Do you trust God? Do you believe that God hears your prayers and will answer in His perfect timing? Do you trust Him to deliver you from the judgement to come? Is your faith solely placed in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?
And maybe the most important question needed to be asked today is…
When looking at your heart today, does Christ find faith in you?
I pray the answer to that question is a definitive yes, my friends. I pray that you have trusted in Christ alone for salvation.
Scripture References: Matthew 7:11, Psalm 7:11, Ephesians 1:4, John 6:44, Romans 3, Hebrews 4:16, Luke 17:24, 2 Peter 3:9
Conclusion:
As we come to a close, we have seen Jesus teach on persistence in prayer.
However, before finishing today, it is extremely important that we understand what persistent prayer is not. We are to be persistent prayer warriors - meaning those who continue to remain faithful - those who continue to trust in God alone. But C. Samuel Storms gives some really good questions in his book Reaching God’s Ear that we can use to evaluate our prayer lives.
These are questions that can help us understand wrong motives and wrong theology in regard to persistent prayer…
• Do we repeat a request because we think that the quality of a prayer is dependent on the quantity of words?
• Do we repeat a request because we think that God is ignorant and needs to be informed, or if not ignorant at least he is unconcerned and therefore needs to be aroused?
• Do we repeat our prayers because we believe that God is unwilling to answer and we must prevail upon him, somehow transforming a hard-hearted God into a compassionate and loving one?
• Do we repeat a petition because we think that God will be swayed in his decision by our putting on a show of zeal and piety, as if God cannot see through the thin veil of hypocrisy?
(Questions derived from C. Samuel Storms book Reaching God’s Ear)
All of these questions point to the misunderstandings many have about God. God is a loving and merciful God. God is a sovereign and powerful God. God is an all-knowing and caring God.
Church:
The key to having a better prayer life is by better knowing the God to whom you pray.
When you know God better, your confidence and persistence and faithfulness in praying will grow.
Persist in prayer knowing that God hears you and cares for you.
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Close of the service:
I am amazed at the sovereignty of God as He works things out without me planning them. Starting the last Wednesday in October we will be going through a four week study on a book called Praying the Bible by Donald Whitney. I love that this Sunday and next Sunday, as we go verse by verse through Luke, that Jesus is teaching us about prayer. God does that so often in my preaching. Without any planning at all, God works these things out. Isn’t He amazing like that?