Don't Give Up
Take your Bibles and turn to Luke 11. I'm going to share one crucial thing with you today. There is one thing that Jesus is trying to emphasize here. It's not complicated. Don't leave here not understanding what I've said, but the message that Christ is trying to teach us today is that there is power in being persistent. It works on the job, and it works in the home.
Look at Verse 5. "And Jesus said to them [His disciples, His followers, the people in the crowd], 'Which of you shall have a friend" Now, note that He's talking about a friend. "And Jesus said to them, 'Which of you shall have a friend and go to him at midnight'" How many of you are normally in bed by midnight? How many of you are in bed by 9 o'clock? You're afraid to raise your hand, aren't you? "Which of you shall have a friend and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves.'"
Now, he hasn't gotten in the house. He's doing his talking from outside. The next verse tells us that he hasn't gotten in the house. Verse 6: "For a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him." Who in the world is eating at midnight? Young people! It's midnight, and he is asking for three loaves of bread.
When I was growing up, you could go next door and borrow a cup of sugar or bread. Today, you can get up, drive a block and buy whatever you need. Does anybody remember walking to a little mom and pop store? So, he needs some food, and he goes to his friend's house.
Verse 7: "And he will answer from within" He didn't even come to the door. "And he will answer from within and say [to you on the outside], 'Do not trouble me, the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give to you.'" He isn't getting up. That means he is hollering from his bed. Verse 8: "I say to you, though he will not get up and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence" He is going to get out of bed, not because they are bosom buddies, but because of his persistence. He is going to get out of bed and give him three loaves of bread because of his persistence.
We're quitters. There is an epidemic in the church, and let me tell you what it is. It's not cancer. It's dropping out. Where is so and so? Well, you know, it's rough and it's tough. The valley is too deep. Jesus said the man got what he came for for one reason. He was persistent. He would not take no for an answer.
Well, I guess the Lord doesn't want me to have it. I guess I'll just die like this. How are you doing? Well, just pray for me that I'll hold out to the end. It was one thing: persistence. He's not talking about praying. He talking about being persistent.
Now He shifts gears and says in Verse 9, "So I say to you" His only point was persistence. Persistence means "never ceasing to continue to try." That's all it is. Perseverance is going forward even though conditions around you may be adverse. "So I say to you, ask" That Greek word means "continue to ask." It does not mean to ask one time, and you will get it. It means that you must consistently continue to ask until you receive. It says here, "If you have not, it is because you don't ask."
"So I say to you, ask [continual action], and it [that's what you're asking for] will be given to you" We're not talking about fast food. God knows that persistence always reveals sincerity in our hearts. If it doesn't mean much to you, why should it mean much to God? If it's just a casual thing to you, why should it mean much to God? This was just three loaves of bread. He could get by without it, but he was persistent. He wasn't leaving without the three loaves of bread.
So Jesus says, "If you have that kind of tenacity and persistence with God who loves you" "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." This is true in every facet of your life. People say, "Oh, I wish I could do this or that." Wouldn't it be great if I had the gift of praying for people, and they would lose 20 pounds immediately? I heard where people said that this preacher would pray for people, and they would lose 20 pounds. May I tell you how you lose 20 pounds? Take in less and walk more.
People say, "Well, I work out." You do? What do you do? "I change channels." People don't even get up anymore. I've got people who think the tribulation has hit because their cable is out. Come on, church. I asked Babu how long it would take him to get back to India. He flies from here to Washington, DC, then flies from Washington to India which takes 12-14 hours. When he gets to India, he still has about 16 more hours before he gets to his home.
"Knock" It means to keep knocking. They're in there. Don't ring the doorbell. Take your shoe off. "Knock, and it will be opened to you." Verse 10: "For everyone" Does your Bible say, "everyone?" Tell your neighbor, THAT MEANS YOU, and tell your neighbor, THAT MEANS ME. "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."
Verse 11: "If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?" Verse 12: "Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?" Verse 13: "If you then, being evil" What He means there is "being human flesh." "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children" I want to add something here--grandchildren. They can get about anything they want from me.
Christian James called the other day and said, "Papa, we need a sand bucket, because we're going to the beach." Now, when he asked for a sand bucket, guess what he got a sand bucket! "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more" Get that in your spirit. "How much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Ghost to those who ask Him!"
You say, Brother Wright, I'm praying for my house to sell. I'm praying for a new job. I'm praying for a raise. Hey! We need the power of the Holy Ghost in us. Once you get the Holy Ghost in you, He teaches you how to pray, teaches you what to pray for, and teaches you when to connect. When you don't have the power of the Holy Ghost in you, you're just shooting out there in the dark. We need the power of the Holy Ghost!
Let's look at Luke 18:1. Persistency is the key from Luke 11 to Luke 18. "Then He spoke a parable to them that men [and women] always ought to pray and not lose heart." Ten ladies prayed from 6:00 p.m. Friday until 6:00 a.m. Saturday morning. Twelve hours of prayer. People say, well, why would you have a 12-hour prayer meeting? It's because we need some stuff. Thank God for all we have, but this is nothing, because nothing is done in the Kingdom of God unless it is preceded by prayer. Things just don't show up. Things show up because you have prayed about them. God opens the door when we make the request.
God is giving us the privilege of yoking with Him, co-laborers together in the work of the Kingdom. He could just do it anyway, but He gives us the privilege of being a co-laborer with Him. This is awesome, church. If you could only realize the value, the power that is in prayer; but it also has to be connected to persistence. So He says, "Men always ought to pray and not lose heart." What does that mean? It means don't lose your courage.
The devil tries to convince you and me that it's not going to happen, and then we become discouraged. When you have courage, you get in there and cry out for it; but when time passes and nothing seems to be happening, we become discouraged and lay our courage down. "Don't lose heart" means to not give up your hope. Hope is a lively word. It's not an anemic word. Hope is actively believing that what you're hoping for is going to show up.
The Apostle Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, "Pray without ceasing." It's the same thing. You can pray in the car. You can pray at work. You can pray in church. You can pray out of church. You can pray everywhere. You can pray in school. No one can stop you from praying. Now, I'm not telling you to get out there and start screaming and hollering and disrupting things, but you can pray. We can be in prayer in an instant.
Now He starts the parable. Verse 2: "There was in a certain city a judge" These judges had power. In those days, the judge was the law. These judges didn't go by the law. They WERE the law, and they weren't in a courtroom. They were in a tent, and their tent moved from place to place. That judge ruled and reigned over that district, and they had assistants. The only way you got to the judge was by going through the assistants. So, if you didn't have money, you couldn't influence the judge; and he only ruled by those who had appointments with him, and the only way you got an appointment was to grease the hand of one of his assistants.
"There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man." He didn't care what God thought, and he didn't care what anybody else thought. He only cared about one thing, and that was himself, and he was a judge with power and authority. If you're going before that judge, you had better get a good lawyer; and you had better have some money to grease his assistant's hands, because, if you don't, you're in trouble.
We're talking about persistence. We're talking about a corrupt judge who doesn't regard God nor human beings. He doesn't care if you're right or if you're wrong. He's calloused. He has no concern for human suffering. He is only worried about getting something for himself.
Verse 3: "Now there was a widow in that city" She has a problem already. A widow has certain disadvantages. (1) She has no husband. A widow cannot speak in court. She has no voice. She is not allowed to utter a word in a courtroom. She is at a disadvantage. She is a widow with no husband, she has no voice in a courtroom, and she has no status in society. Widows were always considered helpless. If you will read the Bible, it always puts widows as being helpless.
She is, no doubt, poor. She doesn't have a lawyer. She doesn't have any help, and it says here that she came to the judge and said, "I want justice from my adversary." That means she has an enemy that is coming after her. I'm preaching on persistency. We don't know what the situation is, but I would say her adversary was like a lion trying to devour her. It could have been trying to devour her kids or her possessions.
You don't even realize that you have an enemy. You come to church and look cute and don't even realize that there is a real, live, walking, talking devil. Jesus talks to him. Jesus knows where he is.
This adversary she had hated her and was trying to take advantage of her. Widows were easy targets for con artists to take advantage of. They were easy targets. So she goes to a corrupt, calloused judge and asks for justice, and that judge isn't worried about justice. He is concerned only about how it is going to benefit him. She wasn't even allowed in the courtroom, because she had no voice. She is speaking from outside that tent. I believe she was out in his front yard when he was trying to sleep hollering, "I want justice!"
She is desperate. She is disadvantaged, but she is desperate. She knows that if she doesn't get help from the judge, she isn't going to make it. She has no other source. She doesn't have Plan A, Plan B, or Plan C. Some of you have God as your Plan B. Now if the doctor doesn't do this, I'm going to Plan B. Let me tell you something. This woman had only one plan. Why don't YOU make God your one plan?
Have you ever had a situation you were desperate for? You were praying about it. Your back was up against the wall. You were hard-pressed and were doing everything you could, and your church buddies come along and try to discourage you. You're praying and crying out, and then you throw in the towel. You quit praying about it. There is only one thing I'm trying to tell you today. There is only one key word: persistency.
"Now there was a widow in that city, and she came to him, saying 'Get justice for me from my adversary.'" Verse 4: "And he would not [do it] for a while" What does that mean? That means he eventually caved in. He would not do it for a while, and then this calloused, corrupt judge caved in. Why did he cave in? "And he would not for a while, but afterward he said within himself, 'Though I do not fear God" I'm not a Christian. I'm not in this thing because of some type of religion. I don't even regard the feelings of people.
Verse 5: "Yet because this widow troubles me" How had she troubled him? The trouble was, everywhere he goes, she shows up, and he is finally convinced that this woman is not leaving without an answer. If he expects her to get out of his life, he is going to have to grant her request. "Yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me."
"Continual coming" meant everywhere he went she showed up, and she didn't show up one day and miss three days. She was there every day with the same request, same petition; and this cold-hearted, calloused, corrupt judge says, "Man, she is going to wear me out!"
I looked up the words "trouble" and "weary" in the Greek, and "trouble" means "constant blows above the neck." The word "weary" means "to beat until the eye is black." That means he said, "She is giving me a black eye." It doesn't mean a literal black eye, but what he is saying here is, "If I'm not careful here, this woman is going to make me look bad to society." See, he is worried about his reputation; because everywhere he goes this woman is crying out, and people are going to start saying, "This judge won't even help a widow. This widow is asking for help, and he won't help her." People are going to start looking upon him as though she has beat up on him. So he says, "I don't fear God, and I don't care a thing about her, but I'm going to give her her one request because of one thing: persistence."
Verse 6: "Then the Lord said, 'Hear what the unjust judge said.'" Verse 7: "And shall God not avenge His own elect" Is anybody here saved? If you're not ashamed, raise your hand. That means you belong to God. Our God is not an unjust judge. Our God is not like some human friend that likes you one day and dislikes you the next day. "God is a friend that sticks closer than a brother," and our God can hear your cry. That is what He is saying. He "hears those who cry out day and night."
God rewarded this woman who only had three weapons. She had persistence, she had patience, and she had perseverance. That's all she had. She had no money, no husband, no status, no power; but she had persistence, patience, and perseverance. Jesus says, "And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?" That means the answer just doesn't come instantly.
I read this in the first service, and I'm going to read it in this service. John Wesley was the founder of the Methodist church. He preached, in his 80's, five times a day on horseback; and he encountered many types of refusal, trials and hardships during his ministry. I'm going to quote from John Wesley's diary. "Sunday a.m. service, May 5. I preached in St. Anne's Church. Asked not to come back. Sunday p.m. service, May 5. Preached in St. John's Church. The deacons said, 'Get out and stay out!'"
Let me say something to you boys who want to be Preachers. Get out of it if you can get out of it, because if you can get out of it, you're not called. I'm talking straight to you. You watch this TV stuff. No, no, no. I'm talking about being kicked out and told to stay out.
"Sunday a.m., May 12. Preached in St. Jude's. Can't go back there anymore. Sunday p.m., May 19. Preached in St. Somebody." He didn't even know what the church was called. He had been kicked out of so many churches, the names just began to run together. "Deacons called a special meeting and said I could not come back. Sunday a.m., May 26. I finally went to the streets, preached on the streets, kicked off the streets." As a matter of fact, they turned a bull loose on him. So he can't preach in the churches, and he can't preach in the streets of the cities.
"Sunday a.m. June 2. I preached at the edge of town, kicked off the highway." This ought to be read in every Methodist church in America. Somebody ought to tell that boy he ought to try another occupation. It doesn't sound like the saints are accepting him, but he didn't give up. He was persistent. "Sunday p.m., June 2. I preached in a pasture field. 10,000 people came to hear me preach." What would have happened if he had given up at St. Anne's or St. Jude's or St. Somebody's?
Why are you even thinking about quitting? Joseph was thrown in a pit, but he didn't quit. Daniel faced a literal lion's den, but he didn't quit. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego faced a fiery furnace. The only thing they had to do was denounce God and bow down before an idol, and they said, "It is not difficult for us to answer you. Our God is able to deliver us, but even if He does not, we are not bowing down." That's what they said.
They did not give up, facing a fiery furnace; but, best of all, Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, did not give up in the Garden of Gethsemane. He did not give up when they whipped Him. He did not give up as He carried the cross and fell under the load of it. He did not give up when they nailed Him to the cross. He did not give up when they suspended Him between Heaven and Earth. As a matter of fact, He went all the way and finished [someone ought to shout right now] the job!
Then in Verse 8, Jesus says, "I tell you that My God will avenge them speedily." That means the answer is on the way. The answer is coming. It could be today. You're closer to it now than you were yesterday. Don't give up. The children of Israel gave up. They didn't think Moses was coming back, and on the 39th day built a golden calf, and the next day he came back. This may be YOUR 39th day.
"Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" What is He telling us here? He was talking about persistency, and then all of a sudden He's talking about finding faith when He comes back. Let me tell you what He is saying here. (1) You have to remain focused. Hebrews 12:2: "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." Whatever you're going through, keep your eyes on Jesus. You say, well, the church failed me. You took your eyes off Jesus. I hear people say, well, I would become a Christian if it weren't for Christians. Well, I'm sorry, but that's our lot.
If you think you know me, talk to her [Virginia]. When I set down to eat, I like to pray and eat. When I get ready for church, I get in the car. It's a waste of time to blow the horn. You didn't hear me. If you look to Preachers Remain focused.
(2) Until He comes, remain faithful. Remain faithful to His Word. Stay in His Word. If you read Field and Stream more than you read the Word, you're out of balance. If you read Country Living more than you read the Word, you're out of balance. You have to remain faithful to God's Word. You have to remain faithful to God's will for your life. You have to remain faithful to God's work. That's church. That's worship. You have to remain faithful.
You come in and don't feel well. Let me tell you something. I have done this privately, but I've not done this publicly. You can say what you want to about Nichole Stewart, but whether it's Sunday morning, Sunday night, or Wednesday night, she is at the same level of enthusiasm. She doesn't come in here one day all droopy and the next day excited. No, no, no. There is a consistency there that stirs me up. You come in here down and then up, down and then up. You had better remain a worshipper no matter how you feel.
You say, but Brother Wright, I don't see the outcome yet. Don't go by what you see. Don't go by what you feel. Don't go by what you hear when other voices are telling you to give up. That giant is not that big. That storm is not that big. Remain faithful to His work, His worship, His Word, and to His will.
This is the last thing that will get you to the Second Coming. (3) Remain fearless! God has not given us the Spirit of fear. That Spirit has tormented and paralyzed your faith. If you haven't battled fear, then you don't know what fear is. How do we remain fearless? This is it. Hebrews 4 says, "Come boldly to the throne of grace in your time of need."