The Gospel of Luke (#77) Always Praying,or, the Parable of the Persistent Widow September 8, 2024

First Baptist Church Leominster

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Our New Testament reading today, I think is Acts 26. After that earlier trouble,

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I began to doubt myself. Paul has been in jail in Caesarea for two years, and King Agrippa came into town, and so Paul had an opportunity to testify before King Agrippa, the faith of Christ, and interestingly this is the third occasion in the book of Acts in which

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Paul gives his personal testimony of having met Christ on the road to Damascus.

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Acts chapter 26. Acts 26.

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So Agrippa said to Paul, you have permission to speak for yourself. Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense.

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I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I'm going to make my defense today against all the accusation of the

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Jews, especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the

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Jews. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently. My manner of life from my youth spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem is known by all the

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Jews. They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion,

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I have lived as a Pharisee, and now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, to which our 12 tribes hope to attain as they earnestly worship night and day, and for this hope

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I am accused by Jews, O King. Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?

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I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth, and I did so in Jerusalem.

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I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death,

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I cast my vote against them, and I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them,

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I persecuted them even to foreign cities. In this connection, I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.

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At midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven brighter than the sun that shone around me and those who journeyed with me, and when we had all fallen to the ground,

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I heard a voice saying to me in the me,

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It is hard for you to kick against the goads. And I said, Who are you, Lord?

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And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but rise and stand up on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me, and to those in which

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I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles, to whom

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I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.

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Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but I declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the

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Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds and keeping with their repentance.

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For this reason, the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. To this day,

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I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass, that the

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Christ must suffer and that by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the

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Gentiles. And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice,

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Paul, you are out of your mind. Your great learning is driving you out of your mind. But Paul said,

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I'm not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words.

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For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner.

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King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe. And Agrippa said to Paul, in a short time, would you persuade me to be a

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Christian? And Paul said, whether short or long, I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me this day, might become such as I am, except for these chains.

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Then the king arose and the governor and Bernas and those who were sitting with them, and when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, this man is doing nothing to deserve death or punishment.

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And Agrippa said to Festus, this man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.

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Let's pray. Our Father, as we read this passage, we see the boldness of Paul.

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He is utterly convinced that what he saw is true.

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And Lord, we thank you for his testimony. And Lord, we recognize that this should be our view as well.

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We need to be bold in our proclamation of the truth. We know this to be true. And Lord, the

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Scriptures proclaim it to be true. And so, like Paul, I pray, Lord, that each one of us would be able to proclaim your truth in a way that glorifies you and clearly presents the truth of your word.

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And Lord, we thank you that you have entrusted this tremendous gift to us, that we are your ambassadors, that we are to beg others to be reconciled to you.

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And so, Lord, help us in this endeavor. And Lord, please help us as we open up your word to study your truth.

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We pray that we would see things clearly, that we would see you, that we would see Christ, that we would see our sin, and what we need to do in order to please you very clearly.

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Help us in all these things. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, today we begin a new chapter in Luke's gospel, chapter 18.

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Including this chapter, we have seven chapters remaining in the gospel of Luke. I don't know how long it'll take us, but we're at, what, number 77 today?

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You know, we commonly think of the Apostle Paul writing most of the New Testament, but actually the combination of the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts that Luke wrote has more content than all of Paul's epistles put together.

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Luke wrote more of the New Testament than anyone else. Let's give a consideration to our

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Lord's word set forth in Luke 18, one through eight, in which we'll consider the parable of the persistent widow.

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And the subject, of course, is praying principally. Then he,

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Jesus, spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,

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King James says, and not faint. Saying there was a certain, in a certain city, a judge who did not fear

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God nor regard man. And now there was a widow in that city, and she came to him saying, get justice for me from my adversary.

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And he would not for a while, but afterward he said within himself, though I do not fear

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God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.

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Then the Lord said, hear what the unjust judge said, and shall not

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God not avenge his own elect who cry out day and night to him, though he bears long with them?

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I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the

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Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on the earth? Our Lord had been teaching his disciples regarding the kingdom of God.

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He spoke of a period of time after his death and departure that they would miss him greatly. He longed for one of the days of the

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Son of Man, but he would return and doing so suddenly, and therefore his disciples were to be always ready and watching for his appearance.

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Our Lord gave this parable on the same occasion when he was speaking of the kingdom of God. In fact, really this parable concludes this present discourse on the kingdom of God.

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The last verse of this parable confirms this, which reads, nevertheless when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on the earth?

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This is an allusion to the manifestation of his kingdom in the future. In this parable, the

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Lord described a widow who harassed an unjust judge until she finally received justice from him.

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And so the parable really stresses three points, three points of emphasis. There are others, but these are the major points.

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First, God will save and answer the prayer of his elect, God's chosen ones.

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They are to be persistent in their prayer to God as the widow was persistent in her pleading with the judge.

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Second emphasis, the elect should view their God in contrast to the judge.

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Whereas the judge was unwilling to grant the widow what she needed, God is very willing to answer the request of his people.

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So it's a parable of contrast. And third, whereas the judge of the parable finally acted out of his own interests, in contrast,

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God acts out of deep love and concern for his chosen ones. So that's the emphasis of the parable.

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Now most people, most interpreters deal with the passage with only the

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Christian's prayer life in view. They would say Jesus was simply teaching his disciples not to give up praying for something.

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For if they persist in prayer, they will surely receive from God what they requested.

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May not always pray and faint not or lose hope, lose heart.

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However, there's another lesson which must supplement the first or even ascend to primacy.

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Jesus was teaching the need to be faithful. One must persevere in faith on to the end.

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This is his teaching concerning the believer's perseverance. And we'll consider both lessons.

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First, persevering in prayer, always pray, never ceasing. And then secondly, persevering in faith, always believing, never fainting.

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The losing heart has to do with losing your faith and not just losing hope that your prayer might not be answered.

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And so let's consider persevering in prayer, always pray, never ceasing. Jesus said men ought always pray and not lose heart.

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Why should this be our practice? Well, not only because our Lord Jesus Christ gave us this command always to pray, but because we're a needy people.

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We are ignorant. We're in need of understanding. We are helpless. We are in need of assistance.

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We are often downcast. We need encouragement. We are powerless. We need enablement.

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We're prone to wander. We need recovery. We are sinful. We need forgiveness.

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We ought to be a praying people. And so we need grace to help,

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God's grace to help in our time of need. The means that God has ordained to receive grace from him is for us to pray, asking the

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Lord to enable us by his grace to address every challenge, meet every need that we encounter.

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Men ought always to pray. The writer to the Hebrew Christians wrote, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

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And you're always in need. And you're always in need of grace. And so you should always be coming to the throne of grace, praying for the grace you need.

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The fact is true Christians are a prayerful people. B .B.

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Warfield wrote of the apostle Paul when the Lord had sent Ananias to him, right after he was converted.

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We read about that in Acts 26. He said to Ananias, or the

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Lord said to him, arise, go to the street called straight and inquire at the house of Judas for one called

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Saul of Tarsus, for behold he is praying. When our

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Lord met Paul on the road to Damascus, shortly before that, we read that Paul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the

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Lord. And now after Paul saw the Lord was gloriously converted, it was said of him by the

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Lord, behold he is praying. That's what Christians do. Here are

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Warfield's words. It is impossible to conceive of a praying man therefore as destitute of grace.

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If he prays, really prays, he draws near to God with heart open for grace, humbly depending on him for his gift.

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And he certainly receives it. To say behold he prayeth is equivalent then to saying behold a man in Christ.

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Dr. Charles Hodge, who was Warfield's mentor, used to startle us by declaring that no praying soul was ever lost.

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It seemed to us a hard saying. Our difficulty was that we did not conceive praying purely enough.

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We can no doubt go through the motions of prayer and not be saved souls. Our Savior tells us of those who love to pray on the street corner and in the synagogues to be seen of men.

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And he tells us that they have their reward. Their purpose in praying is to be seen of men, and they are seen of men.

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What can they ask more? But when we really pray, we are actually in enjoyment of communion with God.

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And is not communion with God salvation? It is. This is eternal life, knowing

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God and his Son whom he sent, John 17 1 and following. The thing for us to do is to pray without ceasing.

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Once having come into the presence of God, never to leave it. To abide in his presence and to live steadily, unbrokenly, continuously in the midst of whatever distractions or trials with and in him.

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God grants such a life to every one of us. Amen. B .B.

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Warfield. And so Warfield was saying that Charles Hodge, a highly regarded professor of systematic theology at Princeton Seminary, back when

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Princeton Seminary was a really sound reformed seminary in the 19th century.

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Warfield was arguing that true Christians are true praying people. But 150 years before Hodge expressed this understanding,

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Jonathan Edwards said the same thing. Only much more forcefully.

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The title of his sermon was, Hypocrites Deficient in the Duty of Prayer. It is a hard hitting sermon.

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I re -read it yesterday. Edwards said the same thing. Of course, he meant hypocrites were those who are not true

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Christians, but only pretend or deceive themselves. And perhaps others that they're true Christians, but hypocrites are not true

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Christians. And Edwards argued biblically, true Christians are faithful in their duty and privilege to pray.

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But hypocrites are not faithful in this duty to continue to pray to God. Edwards based his sermon on Job 27, 7 through 10, which reads, for what is the hope of the hypocrite?

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Again, a false Christian. Though he may gain much if God takes away his life, will

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God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him? Will he delight himself in the Almighty?

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And then here's the clause that Edwards zeroed in on, will he always call on God? In other words, will he always pray?

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The hypocrite, no, he won't, is what Edwards asserts. And so will he always call on God as a reference to prayer?

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And so the rhetorical question implies, no, the hypocrite will not always delight himself in God.

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No, the hypocrite will not always call on God in prayer. And so Edwards wrote these words, that it is not the manner of hypocrites to continue always in this duty.

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Will he always call upon God? It is in the form of an interrogation.

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But the words have the force of a strong negation, or of an assertion, that however the hypocrite may call upon God for a season, yet he will not always continue in it.

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And in the typical Puritan fashion, he then set forth a doctrine from this passage, the doctrine or the teaching, the truth.

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However, hypocrites may continue for a season in the duty of prayer, yet it is their manner after a while, in a great measure, to leave it off.

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In other words, they only pray temporarily for certain seasons.

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And in a section of his sermon, Edwards addressed this matter. He wrote of hypocrites, that is, false

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Christians, but they in a great measure leave off the practice of secret prayer. They come to this pass by degrees.

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In other words, they come to their state of prayerlessness gradually, by degrees. At first, they begin to be careless about it under some particular temptations.

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Because they've been out in young company, or have been taken up very much with worldly business, they omit it once.

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And after that, they're more easily, they more easily omit it again. Thus, it presently becomes a frequent thing with them to omit it.

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And after a while, it comes to that pass. In other words, they give off praying that they seldom attended.

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Perhaps they attended on Sabbath days, Sunday when they go to church, sometimes on other days, but they have ceased to make it a constant practice daily to retire, to worship

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God alone, and to seek his face in secret places. They sometimes do a little to quiet conscience, and just to keep alive their old hope.

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In other words, their old hope that they have salvation. Because it would be shocking to them, even after all their subtle dealing with their consciences, to call themselves converts, and yet totally to live without prayer.

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Yet the practice of secret prayer they have in a great measure left off. Hypocrites, not true

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Christians. And then Edwards went on to explain why only Christians persevere and pray, and hypocrites do not.

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Hypocrites never had the spirit of prayer given to them. They may have been stirred up to the external performance of this duty, and that with a great deal of earnestness and affection, and yet always have been destitute of the true spirit of prayer.

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The spirit of prayer is in Holy Spirit, a gracious spirit. We read of the spirit of grace and supplication.

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In other words, God gives the grace to pray. Zechariah 3 10, I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplications.

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Wherever there is a true spirit of supplication, there is the spirit of grace. The true spirit of prayer is no other than God's own spirit dwelling in the hearts of the saints, and as this spirit comes from God, so it does naturally tend to God in holy breathings and pantings.

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It naturally leads to God to converse with him by prayer, and therefore the spirit is said to make intercession for the saints with groanings which cannot be uttered.

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But it's far otherwise with the true comfort. His work is not done, but he finds still a great work to do, and great wants to be supplied.

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He sees himself still to be a poor, empty, helpless creature, and that he still stands in great and continual need of God's help.

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He is sensible that without God he can do nothing. A false conversion makes a man in his own eyes self -sufficient.

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He saith he is rich, increased with goods, and at need of nothing. An allusion to the letter to the

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Laodiceans in Revelation. A false conversion makes a man in his own eyes self -sufficient.

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He's wretched, miserable, and poor, blind, and naked, but after a true conversion the soul remains sensible of its own impotence and emptiness as it is in itself, and its sense of it is rather increased than diminished.

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It is still sensible of its universal dependence on God for everything. A true convert is sensible that his grace is very imperfect, and he is very far from having all that he desires.

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Instead of that, by conversion are begotten in him new desires which he never had before.

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He now finds in him holy appetites, and hungering and thirsting after righteousness, a longing after more acquaintance and communion with God, so that he had business enough still at the throne of grace.

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In other words, a praying man. Yea, his business there instead of being diminished is since his conversion rather increased, and I trust that's true of us that are in the

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Lord. We pray more now than we used to pray. We pray better now than we used to pray.

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We grow. Well here in Luke 18 .1, Jesus said man ought always to pray and not lose heart.

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This parable was to both encourage and stir up the prayer life of his disciples, that they continue praying without ceasing.

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This should characterize you and me as Christians. Now because of our great need of grace, we must always be praying to him, not only for ourselves, but for others also of course.

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We need much grace to be and to live the kind of lives that our Lord has ordained for us, but how do we receive these needed graces?

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Well God has ordained that they come to us through prayer. He wants us to come to him and ask him for everything we need.

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He wants us to be dependent on him. He wants to be generous toward us, his chosen ones.

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He wants to care for us and so he orders in providence that we will come to him.

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There is no other place we can go. The woman in the parable was in a similar situation.

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This woman had no recourse but come to this judge and we have no recourse or frankly desire but to come to our heavenly father.

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But again how unlike our father is this judge and so let's consider this one of the main points of the parable.

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Again a parable of great contrast, the unjust judge. He was corrupt.

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One commentator whom I consult weekly on Luke made this comment, the parable concerns a widow who at first fails to get a judge to take up her case, no doubt out of deference to a wealthy opponent and his bribes.

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That seemed to be rather creative on the part of this commentator. I really have high regard for him but I don't know if I would go so far as to say without doubt it was the unjust judge who was corrupted by somebody else.

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The fact is the judge was unconcerned for this widow. The judge was unjust certainly, right and wrong were not his concerns and the judge was selfish.

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He was only concerned about himself, an unjust judge. He tended to think of himself only.

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He didn't see his role and responsibility before God to bring forth justice on behalf of the helpless.

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How like many political authorities today but how unlike our father in heaven is what

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Jesus is saying. And let's consider the helpless widow.

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In this parable the widow symbolizes the elect. Jesus himself compares her to the elect.

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It's the nature of fallen man to react and reject the thought of God electing sinners unto salvation.

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People will fight you over it. People refuse to come to this church because they have heard the doctrine of election is read and taught here.

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They hate it of course because it is confrontive of their own self -worth, self -righteousness.

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But it's clear in a present teaching of God's inspired word and here the Lord Jesus himself refers to God's elect.

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Who are the elect? Well they are all the ones of the human race that God the Father in his sovereign grace chose in Christ before the creation of the world.

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All of the human race was fallen and God sovereignly chose some out of the fallen human race to save from their sin.

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He purposed that they would be his people and that he would be their God. He chose them to be the recipients of his saving mercy and grace in Christ.

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His election or choice of them was not conditioned on anything in them.

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That would make God a respecter of persons and the Bible clearly denies that. Nothing due to something performed by them or seen in them by God.

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It was God's sovereign will to choose these sinners in Christ and in history he purposed that he would save them from sin and their state of damnation before him promising to deliver them into his eternal presence forgiven sanctified and glorified.

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Being reformed is to assert we believe in God's sovereign grace.

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The number of the elect is finite and fixed. It was determined by God in eternity.

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The Reformation Study Bible contains a series of theological notes and it has one entitled election and reprobation and it includes these words.

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To elect means to select or choose. According to the Bible before creation

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God selected from the human race those whom he would redeem, justify, sanctify and glorify in Jesus Christ and then a number of verses are cited.

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The divine choice is an expression of free and sovereign grace. God wasn't under any obligation.

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There wasn't anything about you okay other than he saw you in Christ to move him to save you.

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It's not merited by anything and those who are chosen. God owes sinners no mercy of any kind.

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God is free to bestow mercy on anyone he chooses. No one can feel that God is obligated to have mercy on them and so it's a wonder that he should choose to save any of us.

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We're all guilty and deserve damnation. If you and I got what we deserve it would be eternal hell.

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Like every truth about God the doctrine of election involves mystery and it sometimes stirs controversy but in scripture it's a pastoral doctrine and this is important.

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Helping Christians to see how great is the grace that saves them, moving them to respond with humility, confidence and praise.

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We do not know what others God has chosen among those who do not yet believe nor why he chose us in particular.

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We do know that we believe now only because we were chosen and we know that as believers we can rely on God to finish the good work he has begun and again a number of verses cited for these reasons the knowledge of election is a source of gratitude and confidence.

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Never a basis of self -righteousness or boasting, arrogance, thinking you're better than anybody else.

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Just the opposite Paul reasoned to the church of Corinth. Okay look at yourselves he says you know not many wise, not many noble are called but he's called the foolish things of the world.

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You and I are the foolish things of the world and God purposed in his infinite grace to glorify himself in Christ by saving you and me who deserve hell but he freely grants us salvation.

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J .C. Ryle wrote these words regarding the biblical doctrine of election. Election is a truth which should call forth praise and thanksgiving from all true

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Christians. We shouldn't be ashamed of it. We rob

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Christians of the ability to be at peace and know the joy and love of God that he showed you and me in spite of who we are not because of who we are.

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Except God had chosen and called them Ryle wrote they would have never have chosen and called on him except he had chosen them of his own good pleasure without respect to any goodness of theirs they would never have been anything in them to make them worthy of his choice.

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Is there anything about you that makes you worthy of God's choice? If you think so you're in great error, ignorance, and you're self -righteous.

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The worldly and carnal minded may rail at the doctrine of election. The false professor may abuse it and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness

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Jude 4 but the believer who knows his own heart will ever bless God for election.

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He will confess that without election there would be no salvation and I was an

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Armenian for about eight years after conversion and I used to preach against Calvinism as I wanted to argue that no it you know

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God's done everything he can to save you but now it's your decision. You save yourself essentially

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I was saying but even in my grossest Armenian days arguing against the reformed faith

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I knew regarding my soul it was sovereign grace that there was nothing nothing about me in me that I wanted anything to do with it.

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It was it was God's grace but then Ryle went on to describe the evidence of one's election.

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How do you know you're one of the elect? We're told in scripture to make sure you're one of the elect examine yourselves whether you be in the faith.

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We're told make your calling and election sure that is certain to yourself that you're one of the elect.

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How is this done? What are the marks of election? By what token shall a man know whether he's one of God's elect?

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Well these marks are clearly laid down in scripture. Election is inseparably connected with faith in Christ and conformity to his image.

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It was when Saint Paul saw the working faith and patient hope and laboring love of the

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Thessalonians that he knew of their election of God. He said I'm convinced of your election brethren and then he gave the reasons.

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Above all we have a plain mark described by our Lord in the passage before us here in Luke 18 1 through 8.

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God's elect are a people who cry unto him night and day like the woman. They are essentially a praying people.

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No doubt there are many persons whose prayers are formal and hypocritical but one thing is very clear a prayerless man must never be called one of God's elect.

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Let that never be forgotten. Very good point. Now how like the elect is this poor helpless widow?

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The widow of this parable illustrates in some ways the life of the elect as a prayerful people who should continue in faith and faithfulness and pray to their

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God. This widow was powerless. She had no resources of her own to defend herself against her foe.

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She was given little respect in that society as a widow. She was regarded with little concern.

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It would have been bad enough if she were only neglected but she was taken advantage of, trodden down by others.

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She was forced to go before an unjust judge who had no regard for her or her position.

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She knew he had authority to help her but she also knew he had no desire to do so.

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She had to resort to nagging him. Avenge me, she cried, defend me, I'm helpless.

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And so it is Christians are no friends to this fallen world. There is common hatred and hostility toward them.

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The deference shown to others is often not shown to them. Jesus told his disciples, remember the word that I said to you, a servant's not greater than his master.

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If they persecuted me they will also persecute you. Just this week we read of the terrible treatment of Christians in Nigeria.

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The killing, persecution, displacement of Christians in Nigeria is unrelenting and a time bomb according to a major new report.

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Christians are deliberately targeted as well as Christian communities, their livelihood, faith leaders, and places of worship according to the report by Open Doors International, a faith -based non -profit working to raise awareness of global persecution aiming to mobilize prayer, support, and action among Christians.

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Christians are reportedly becoming an endangered species there, the report says.

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Last year alone in Nigeria there were more people that were killed because of their Christian faith than any other places in the globe combined.

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Ryan Brown, CEO, told Fox News Digital, adding to be specific there were 4 ,998

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Christians that were killed because of their faith in Nigeria last year.

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Well as with this widow, it's been the common experience of true Christians through history to receive this kind of treatment and were given little hope for true justice.

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They are in some ways like this poor widow who had denied simple human courtesy and compassion, who should have been able to obtain a hearing in justice, but she was denied these blessings from an unjust judge.

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We live in a fallen world and and unconverted people, the

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Bible says, are actually God haters. Well let's consider

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God the just judge. The judge refused to help at first but then changed his mind.

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In sharp contrast, the Lord Jesus describes God who hears our prayer and shall

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God not avenge his own elect who cry out day and night to him, though he bears long with them,

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I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Last night

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I had it all completed. I had 10 pages and I came across a reference to Thomas Boston, volume 6, in his complete works and he gave two sermons on this passage and I wish

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I could distill this down and give it to our people. It was quite quite amazing but he he spoke about this matter.

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God the just judge, perhaps some of us can sympathize greatly with this widow.

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You only desire to see justice and righteousness administered, that which has been denied you.

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You're forced to go before others, perhaps bureaucrats who obviously have no concern for your case, rather than ask

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God how can you allow this to happen to me? You might rather the outlook, I am thankful that my heavenly father is not an unjust judge like these.

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I will cry to him for he will preserve me and by the way you might be advised to follow this widow's example to get justice.

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Neg the judge. That's what Jesus is exhorting us, encouraging us to do, right?

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To be as persistent with God in prayer as this woman was and yet we can be so much more assured and confident.

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God is not like this, this man, this corrupt man but we must come to God continually and not faint, not lose heart.

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We're to come to him in an importunate manner, importunate prayer, unrelenting prayer and so we must not stop praying and actually there are three kinds of persons respecting prayer.

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There are first there are those who do not pray very much and now we're speaking about true

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Christians here. Some foolishly rely on divine decrees and providence as an excuse not to pray.

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What will be will be whether I pray or not. God's sovereign but if the

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Lord Jesus, God's own son, did not take that attitude but always prayed to his father with groans and tears should not we?

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I would think so. God is always ready to give us our petitions but he's also willing to stand back until we ask of those things that come freely from his hand.

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It's foolish not to pray but secondly there are those who pray for a while then cease.

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Why do people give up pray? Do they give up praying all the time? They stop praying for several reasons perhaps due to laziness, perhaps due to fatigue or despair, a sense of hopelessness.

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What's the use? They've prayed and not received answers so they stop praying.

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Perhaps they've conjured up in their minds an image of God somewhat like this unjust judge.

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I once received a note from a Christian who seemed to be quite upset with God for not having answered his prayer in the manner and timing that he thought

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God should have done. His words reflected charges against God that could have been leveled against this unjust judge.

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God's not concerned about me. God's power is not doubted but his concern is.

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This cause of prayerlessness is due to doubting the goodness of God which is a great sin.

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Some stop praying because they doubt God's concern but God's a good

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God. We ought always to pray not to think. We are to be as the widow but we come but we come with no bribe in our hand that will move

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God. That's not possible. Neither our commitment nor our persistence moves him to act for God acts out of his love and concern for us not because we pay him with our devotion or commitment or resolve.

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We are to be as persistent as this woman but we are not to have the same outlook toward God as she had toward that judge.

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God is not unwilling to hear and grant your petitions. That's the whole point of the parable that Jesus was emphasizing.

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God is not like this man but there are those who pray and they do not faint they persevere in their petitions and these are the ones who see and receive great blessings from God.

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May the Lord help each of us be like that. However we must remember that God is just but sometimes he delays the response.

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One of Boston's entire sermons was about this why does God delay in answering prayer and he gave all the reasons why biblical reasons.

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Many times God answers our prayers immediately. Thankfully we read in Isaiah it shall come to pass that before they call

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I will answer and while they're still speaking I will hear but then

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God often waits to answer our prayers and there are just reasons for him to do so and we should trust him that in his wisdom that he knows best and has our best interest on his heart and besides it's during this waiting this struggling our prolonged difficulty that spiritual growth occurs and godly character is developed patience faith and hope and the measure of joy which will be experienced in the end will be proportional to the severity of the trial and the duration of waiting.

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We're to be as Jacob and wrestle with God in prayer and prevail Genesis 32. Jacob arose that night took his two wives his two female servants his 11 sons crossed over the four jabbok he took them sent them over the brook sent them over what he had and Jacob was left alone a man wrestled with him until the breaking of day it was the pre -incarnate

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Christ now when he saw that he did not prevail against him he touched the socket of his hip and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as he wrestled with him and he said let me go for the day breaks but he said

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I'll not let you go unless you bless me so he said to him what is your name he said Jacob and he said your name shall no longer be called

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Jacob but Israel for you've struggled with God and with men that prevailed prevailing importunate prayer is illustrated in this wrestling with the

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Lord and so in the context of Genesis 32 the same thought might arise that God was reluctant to bestow blessing but his real goal was to prove

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Jacob's persistence and perseverance and desiring that thing from him sometimes

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God will forego answering our prayer in the time that we would hope or think a lot of prayer that gets offered is only offered for a while because we really don't want that thing we only pray because we feel we should pray for that thing but it's persistent prayer that reveals the true desire for a thing

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God wants to grant us our requests but he also wants only to grant those requests that are sincerely offered time delays in receiving answer to prayer weeds out the superficial request from the true heartfelt petitions time bears it out the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much however sometimes it's after prolonged petition that a sense of victory is given to one's soul in other words you don't see evidence but the

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Lord just gives a sense of assurance you know that he's going to answer you favorably it's the peace of God that passes all understanding it would seem that God grants a gift of faith for a particular prayer request the requesting of God at that point can cease really or shifts from request to thanksgiving because there's a sense of certainty that the request has been granted although it's not been seen yet that happens he grants faith and here's an incident of Charles Spurgeon I read years ago but quite as remarkable illustrations of the efficacy of believing faith are constantly occurring in spiritual things describing his church some two years ago a poor woman accompanied by her two her neighbors came to the vestry in deep distress her husband had fled the country in her sorrow she went to the house of God and something

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I said in the sermon made her think I was personally familiar with her case I've had husbands go home and blame their wives for communicating with me secretly and informing me of their condition you know it happens of course

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I had known nothing about her it was a general illustration that fitted a particular case she told me her story in a very sad when it was

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I said there's nothing we can do but to kneel down and cry to the Lord for the immediate conversion of your husband we knelt down and I prayed that the

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Lord would touch the heart of the deserter convert his soul and bring him back home and when we rose from our knees

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I said to the poor woman do not fret about the matter I feel sure your husband will come home and that he will yet become connected with our church she went away and I forgot all about it some months after she reappeared with her neighbors and a man whom she introduced to me as her husband he had indeed come back and he returned a converted man on making inquiring comparing notes we found that the very day on which we had prayed for his conversion he being at that time on board a ship far away on the sea stumbled most unexpectedly upon a stray copy of one of my sermons about that he read it the truth went to his heart he repented sought the

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Lord and as soon as possible he returned to his wife and to his daily calling he was admitted a member and last

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Monday his wife who up to that time had not been a member was received among us that woman does not doubt the power of prayer all the infidels in the world could not shake her conviction that there is a

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God who answers prayer the point of that story though is that God granted Spurgeon faith that he had answered her answered their prayer and he assured her the

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Lord does that sometimes it doesn't happen frequently but it happens that's just one reading out of a book

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I have that was published in 1895 touching incidents and remarkable answers to prayer and it contains probably 200 stories about miraculous things that God had done for his people it's quite an amazing book and it's been reprinted

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I've seen it reprinted of late well we've considered this passage from the perspective persevering in prayer always praying never ceasing but in the time we have remaining let's consider persevering in faith always believing never fainting as we first said when

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Jesus said men always ought to pray and not lose heart he was saying something more than simply do not stop praying until God answers your prayer what

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Jesus was saying is that his people were to always be praying and never abandon their faith due to discouragement or what may seem to be an absence of the love and concern of God for them as one expressed the thought here is of continual prayer rather than continuous prayer the fear is that men will give up before they are answered hence ought a scholar rightly concludes that the verse is concerned with praying throughout the period until the parousia remember that's the greek word for appearing rather than continuous prayer and so it's persevering in prayer through life as a

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Christian man ought always to pray and not lose heart to lose heart is to apostatize from the faith

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Jesus is urging his disciples to be a prayed people throughout their lives until he returns and not to give up that is not to abandon their faith in him in other words it's an exhortation to persevere the faith through life continue to believe without quitting without losing heart without forsaking

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Christ and I did happen to insert a comment of Thomas Boston from those two sermons he wrote he tells them what they must be aware of they must not faint that's the

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King James language the word signifies a succumbing or yielding under the pressure of evils or hardships as one sinking under a burden or giving over by reason of the badness of the way so whatever hardships are met with we must not be so outweighed with them to give over in other words to give up we give over we are gone if we faint and break off our course all is lost and he's talking about apostasy a temporary believer is not a true

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Christian of course the Bible teaches that once the person is saved he is saved for eternity the true

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Christian cannot lose his salvation but the Bible also teaches that a person must continue to believe throughout life persevere in faith unto the end if he's to enter the state of glory all true believers will believe or endure on to the end for God's grace will see to it but that does not diminish the responsibility for each one of us to purpose to believe on Christ until he comes for us either at our death or a second coming the

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Lord will preserve us but we're commanded to persevere and this has been the teaching of churches throughout the ages until this past century it's always been understood that a child of God is one who believes on Christ not who didn't once believe believes on Christ present tense he who believes on the son has everlasting life present tense there was a time when he first believed he believed still and he'll believe unto the end a person who says he did once believe but has forsaken faith in Christ has stopped following Christ in his teachings has always been regarded by churches throughout this age as lost without hope he was never converted if he dies in that state of unbelief some have taught that the person who stops believing lost his salvation like the

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Methodist the Armenians Church of the Nazarene teaches that there are others

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Pentecostal churches others have taught that he never had true salvation that's what the

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Bible teaches that's what Baptist Presbyterians Calvinists Reformed people teach and 1st

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John 2 19 prove the latter John wrote of apostates temporary believers they went out from us they became

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Gnostics they rejected the person of Christ they denied us humanity but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that none of them were of us see true

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Christians persevere phony Christians come to an end where they no longer believe the understanding that one can believe for a while stop believing forsake the faith in word or life and still be saved has never been a prominent position until recent history it's always been acknowledged a true child of God may struggle perhaps stray far from the

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Lord but the grand mark of the child of God is that he will not continue in his rebellion the proof that he's a child of God is that his heavenly father chastens him and brings him to repentance and restoration and I tell you what as a pastor that is sure a sure assuring promise of the word no matter how far you know a person strays or wanders and a true

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Christian can go a long way down a path of destruction you know in praying if I was convinced that there was evidence of true saving grace

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I'm confident that the Lord will reclaim him and I pray to that end with faith but this is important although God's eternal decree and a sovereign grace will see to it he loses not one of his chosen ones nevertheless it is our responsibility to continue to believe on the

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Lord battle any force the world the devil our own flesh any doctrine or temptation which would divert us from our straight and narrow path of faith which leads to eternal life and so we are to take steps ordered by the word of God in doing so the

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Lord will keep us safe and secure and one of those of course is praying

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I went through and spoke about some of the dangers that we face as Christians the danger of the devil the danger of temptations and trials the danger of cares riches pleasures of this life and how we are to identify the remedy that God has provided which we have here in Luke 18 one and following and that is prayer that's what that's what it's all about we need to pray continually each one for his own case may we pray

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Lord I'm as a helpless widow this helpless widow I come to you empty -handed

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I've nothing to bargain with I've no righteousness of my own with which to plead but I need you

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I need your grace or this temptation or this sin is going to crush the life out of me or pray

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Lord my heart has grown so hard that I find myself completely indifferent to your word is no longer a delight to me

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I no longer hear your voice in it in fact your commands have become burdensome to me

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I resist instruction I refuse correction I'm self -willed and rebellious if you don't come to my rescue

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I know that I'm going to forsake you completely break my stubbornness created me a clean heart

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David prayed that renew right desires in me give me a love your laws give me a hatred for sin give me a fresh glimpse of your face give me grace that I might seek you and find you unless he does it it's not going to happen and of course we should pray continually for one another we're to pray for one another daily lest we become hardened through the deceitfulness of sin

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Hebrews 3 13 some people become hardened because sin has deceived them when we see indifference when we see lack of church attendance we know there's a problem we go to pray

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Lord don't let this happen do not let so -and -so stray so as to be not be recoverable woo him with your spirit do not let her difficulty overwhelm her chasing him to awaken him to his condition don't let him continue in this course yes

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God keeps his own but he has ordained how this is done and it's through warning encouraging teaching preaching and prayer and if you neglect these appointed means

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God has ordained there's hope for you if you believe in the

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Lord today it's because God has answered somebody's prayer that was offered on for you in the past and if you're going to abide in the faith today tomorrow it's because God answers a prayer today and tomorrow offered on your behalf and I've always said you know you're in trouble when somebody else is more concerned about your soul than you are watch out look out and there are some here

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I do not doubt that if so neglected prayer for yourself the only reason you're standing in faith is because others have prayed or are prayed for you and we should be doing this one for another

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Lord may you and your grace keep this one or that one Lord I sense indifference even opposition to you and your word there's a hardness toward you for there's an attraction to them of those things that are opposed to you father do not let that one persistent as folly chasing them father for Jesus sake tenderize his heart and do a new with the things of Christ keep that one from utterly forsaking you

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Lord draw that one back do whatever it takes use whatever means necessary but bring him back men ought always to pray and not lose heart now we ought to pray for one another beseeching the

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Lord that he preserve us unto his heavenly kingdom and this he'll do by his grace he's predestined all his chosen ones to be conformed to the image of his son

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Jesus Christ and they will be you can cut it in stone it's going to happen but he's appointed how this is done men ought always to pray and not lose heart not faint and so we must not stop praying the analogy of breathing is a good one prayer for the

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Christian is a natural as breathing you must not stop praying in the same way you must stop breathing the results either way are not pleasant each one is serious believing is like breathing it's good that you believed yesterday it's good that you were breathing yesterday but there's not enough is it you must be breathing today to have life and so you must be believing today and tomorrow and this we will do as the

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Lord permits us for not only do we need the Lord to impart spiritual life in the beginning to our dead souls in order that we live he needs to continually impart life to us even now if that life is to be sustained improved and developed and strengthened men ought always to pray and not lose heart amen may the

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Lord help us to be faithful in these matters we attempt to do so on your behalf as elders and as a church you know praying on Wednesday night but may the

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Lord help us to be more faithful in all of these matters it's the means that he's given us let's not neglect it let's pray thank you our

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God for your word help us to take these matters to heart and Lord there are some for whom we're very concerned we're grieved and burdened our

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God and we pray for their recovery and full restoration to sweet fellowship with you and your people give wisdom to us elders give wisdom to all of us as Christians as we seek to serve one another in Christ may the blessed

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Holy Spirit do a wonderful work of grace in all of us our God help us to be a faithful praying people may we see you working in wonderful ways our