The Persistent Widow, Part 1

If you have your Bible, I would invite you to turn with me to Luke chapter 18 as we continue our study in the parables search lights for the soul as God shared sheds light on your soul and mine By helping us to understand what the word of the Lord has to say for us, but tonight We're just going to talk about the persistent Widow let me read for you the parable and then we'll begin by looking at our outline the one that's been the same throughout our study of the parables the Introduction the instruction and then the implications, okay?

Luke chapter 18 verse number one now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart saying There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man And there was a widow in that city and she kept coming to him saying give me legal protection from my opponent and for a while He was unwilling But afterward he said to himself even though I do not fear God nor respect man yet because this widow bothers me I will give her legal protection lest by Continually coming she wear me out and the Lord said hear what the unrighteous judge said Now shall not God bring about justice for his elect who cried to him day and night And will he delay long over them?

I tell you that he will bring about justice for them speedily however, when the Son of Man comes Will he find faith on the earth? By way of introduction this evening I want to talk to you number one about the priority of prayer and number two the problem of prayer Prayer is a pretty big thing in the life of the believer believe it or not Maybe you didn't pray today Maybe haven't prayed since Sunday.

I don't know but prayer is a great privilege of the believer I mean the greatest privilege that we have is to be able to go before the throne of grace and Go boldly before that throne and and and go to our God and talk to him about our situations Talk to him about our lives Knowing that he is the high priest who can sympathize with us in our weaknesses and that we can trust in what he's going to do I mean, that's the great privilege of the believer I mean I can't think of a greater thing that you and I can do individually then go before the throne of grace and pray to God And beseech him and plead with him for our situation Not only that prayers is that aspect that was that was a priority in the early church I mean when you open the book of Acts, you got 120 non-descript disciples up in the upper room praying they're having a prayer meeting and Before you know it the the Spirit of God descends upon them and and great things begin to happen and the next thing, you know 3,000 souls are saved and the church is born because 120 people decided to get together to have prayer meeting You see prayer is a is a priority you go through the books of book of Acts You realize in Acts chapter 2 that that this this this people was were devoted to prayer They were devoted to the Apostles teaching they were devoted to the breaking of bread and the fellowship and they were devoted to prayer because that was an important part of their life and so you can read all through the book of Acts and See where these people were committed to praying on a regular basis if somebody was in prison, they pray Somebody need help.

They pray. They didn't know what else to do, but pray. That's all they that's all they knew They couldn't watch TV. There was no TV. They couldn't go to the ballgame Well, so what do they do? They prayed They prayed wouldn't be great to be on an isolated island with no TV and no radio and and and no ballgames and just nothing Wouldn't be great We'd have to pray we have to read our Bibles God forbid, huh? That we'd that the that our lives would come to praying and reading the Bible But as you read on the book of Acts you realize that those who led in the church were committed to Prayer in the ministry of the word that was a priority to them And you can read through the Bible and and you can see how Paul would would exhort the church to be as Romans 12 12 says devoted to prayer He says over in the book of Ephesians the sixth chapter these words down in verse number 18 with all prayer and petition pray at all times in the spirit and with this in view be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the Saints and Pray on my behalf that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth to make known with boldness the mysteries of the gospel Over in Colossians chapter 4 verse number 2 Paul says this He says devote yourselves to prayer keeping alert in it with an attitude of Thanksgiving praying at the same time for us as well that God may open up to us a door for the word so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ for which I Have also been in prison You can read about it in Colossians chapter 1 Philippians chapter 1 2nd Timothy chapter 1 Acts chapter 6 Ephesians chapter 1 all throughout the Bible you read of people coming together and praying and the Apostle Paul or or the Apostle Peter or or John himself Exhorting us to to a life of prayer I love what Ian bounds has said in his classic work on prayer when he says there is Not the least doubt that much of our praying praying fails for for lack of persistency It is without the fire and strength of perseverance Persistence is of the essence of true praying it may not be always called into exercise But it must be there as a reserve force Jesus taught that perseverance is the essential element of prayer men must be in earnest when they kneel at the footstool of God Too often we get faint-hearted and quit praying at the point we ought to begin We let go at the very point where we should hold on strongest our prayers are weak because they are not impassioned by an unfailing and resistless will the Lord says in Luke 18 men ought always to pray and not to faint You have one or two options You can pray or you can faint you can pray or you can lose heart If you're losing heart You're not praying if you're praying you won't lose heart Jesus says the end time is coming.

I'm going to return So let me give you a parable as to what you need to be doing in light of my return You ought always to be in prayer and not lose heart unfortunately most of us find ourselves fainting and losing heart and giving up It was Andrew Murray who said little of the word with little prayer is death to the spiritual life Much of the word with little prayer gives a sickly life much prayer with little of the word gives an Emotional life but a full measure of both the word and prayer each day gives a healthy and powerful Life he was right but unfortunately Most of us are like Robert Brown has said Prayer is like a foreign land When we go there we go as tourists Like most tourists we feel uncomfortable and out of place Like most tourists we therefore move on before too long and go somewhere else Isn't that true?

we go to prayer and it's almost like we've never done this before and So in instead of living a life of prayer we find ourselves going somewhere else Doing something else Instead of doing what God said we ought to be doing and that is praying the alternative Is to lose heart Remember the story of disciples and in the Garden of Eden on the eve of the crucifixion Christ takes the the the inner group of men with him to go into the garden to pray Peter James John Says you pray Wait here a while and pray Lest you enter into temptation What would you do I'd be praying man What do they do?

They fell asleep How do you fall asleep on the eve of the crucifixion? How is it you're not interested in the future life of your Savior, how is it you lose heart Simply by not praying So Jesus comes back and says hey guys wake up Well, you could you not pray with me for one hour and they're like, oh groggily eyes, you know, I'm sorry Lord, man We were but we fell asleep So he goes away again and what fall back asleep What is that? He says pray lest you enter into temptation may not always to pray and not lose heart So what happens?

that night and the next day and the next day and The next day they've all lost heart Right. Why because he didn't pray how many times does that ring true of us? God says did you pray?

I'm sorry. I got too much to do. I like what one author said no time to pray. Oh who so fraught with early care as Not to give a humble prayer some part of day no time to pray What heart so calm so pure within that needeth not some check from sin needs not to pray No time to pray Mid each stage dangers what retreat more needful than the mercy seat who need not pray No time to pray Must care or business urgent call so press us Press us as to take it all each passing day What thought more drear than that our God his face should hide and say through all life swelling tide No time to hear No time to pray.

Oh Lord. We got so much to do if you knew my schedule Lord You'd let me off the prayer thing for a while Then God says on the contrary because you have so much to do because you have so much Responsibility because you're under such great pressure You need to spend the bulk of your time talking to me about how you're gonna handle all those things May not always to pray and not faint may not always a pray and not lose heart That's the priority in prayer, but there's a problem.

What's the problem in prayer? There are several of them, but there's one main one that I will share with you from the text one of the problems in prayer is that we have Unconfessed sin in our lives and that causes a great problem in our prayer life Another one would deal with the fact that we have an unforgiving spirit in Matthew 6 14 and 15 talk about the problem in our prayer life when it comes to having an unforgiving spirit If if a husband and a wife have a bad relationship first Peter 3 7 says that God's not going to hear the husband's prayers if he's not treating his wife as the most precious vessel that He has that's a big problem in prayer Lack of faith according to the Bible is is another problem in prayer But all those problems that I just mentioned come under one category Let me read it to you It's in verse number nine of our text and he also told this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with Contempt, you know what the problem prayer is.

The main problem in prayer is that we trust in ourselves That's our problem. We really believe in ourselves We trust in us. We really think that we can do it Christ says listen your prayers need to be marked by two characteristics one is they need to be Habitual and number two you need to be humble you need to be humble But the problem is we trust in ourselves as if we know what is best We trust in ourselves instead of trusting in God notice what the text says in verse number 10 of Luke 18 Two men went up into the temple to pray one a Pharisee and the other tax gatherer The Pharisee stood and was praying thus to who?

Himself, what is that? He's praying to himself You see that's what happens when you trust in yourself. You pray to yourself You see the Pharisee said a prayer, but the publican as we will see this week truly prayed there's a big difference between saying a prayer and praying Those who say prayers trust in themselves The Pharisee was praying but there was nobody at the other end of the line Because he was praying to himself. I love what what one author said He said the self-satisfied do not want to pray the self-sufficient don't need to pray and the self-righteous can't pray That's true Unfortunately, we don't think that's us Let me show you how that so easily becomes us turn with me in your Bible to Luke chapter 5 just turn back a couple Of chapters Luke chapter 5 we have a classic illustration of of how we trust in ourselves And I know that that most of you are not this way So let's just pretend that that this tape is gonna go to millions of people across the world and they're gonna hear it Because they need to hear it.

All right. I know you folks. You're not this way So just indulge me just for a moment Luke chapter 5 verse number 1 now it came about that while the multitude were were pressing around him and listening to Word of God He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret and he saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake But the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets and he he got into one of the one of the boats Which was Simon's and and asked him to put out a little while from the land and he sat down And began teaching the multitudes from the boat and when he had finished speaking He said to Simon put out into the deep water and let down your nets for catch and Simon answered said Master we worked hard all night and caught nothing but at your bidding.

I will let down the nets Now you have to understand the setting here. Here is Jesus. He's in the boat. He says to Peter. Who is the fisherman? That's his job. That's what he does and who knows fishing Better than a fisherman, right? I mean, I don't know anything about fishing but a fisherman He knows all about fishing and Jesus who by the way is is a carpenter. Okay Says Simon, why don't you just launch out there into the deep and cast your nets out on the other side? And and Peter says Lord, you don't understand been there done that ain't gonna happen We've already done that but Lord to indulge you just to make you happy This is what I'm gonna I'll do it just for you Lord because that's what you've asked I'll do it for you And when they had done this verse 6 they enclosed a great quantity of fish and the nets began to break and they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them and they came and Filled both of the boats so that they began to sink but when Simon Peter saw He fell down at Jesus's feet saying depart from me for I am a sinful man Oh Lord for amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had Taken, you know what Simon said Simon Peter said this Oh Lord Lord I see that even in those areas where I see myself Self-sufficient I still need you You see Peter was a great fisherman.

He didn't need a carpenter to tell him how to fish. He knew how to fish It's like us. We're great businessmen. We don't need Jesus telling us how to run our business We don't need Jesus telling us how to be a father how to be a mother. I mean, come on Lord and So the things that we think we're good at in our areas of expertise Those are the things that we don't even commit to the Lord what because I can do those things I mean, come on, how much difficulty can it be to prepare a sermon each week? I mean, I'm a pastor I work two days a week Wednesdays and Sundays, right?

That's what my kids say. Come on dad. You're not gonna work though. You're not preaching stay home You say so how much work gonna be to prepare a sermon come on Lord or or I mean all I do is sell cars I mean, what's the Lord know about selling cars, right? Or you know what? Oh, I do is stand behind a counter entering a cash register. That's no big deal I don't need God's help for that. Oh, yes, but you did see that's the point. See we trust in ourselves We don't need to pray and Christ says me not always to pray and not lose heart and not faint in every situation Not just in some situations and especially in the situation that you think you are great in That's where you need in the most.

See that's so Important the lady once asked you Campbell Morgan Do you think we ought to pray about even the little things in life to what you replied madam? Can you think of anything in your life that is big to God? Think about it. There's nothing big for God Everything is little to God. So we say don't we pray about, you know, you know our dog going to the vet Do we pray about you know, get my flat tire fixed. We pray about you know, the little things in life You know, I'm starting to lose my hair and you know The Lord says that all the hairs on my head are numbered and I don't want to lose all my it's like should I commit?

It's just a little thing. So I commit that to the Lord. Is there anything big to God? I mean, come on They're all little things to God. Even what you think is so great is just a little thing to God But he says men not always to pray and not lose heart. You see if you're losing heart tonight It's simply because you're not praying say well, I have been praying I have been and nothing's happening I'm glad you asked Because the parable tells us very simply in Luke chapter 18 about two characters. Let's move to the instruction point number two Two characters a judge and a widow the judge Is very clear about what he believes.

He has no fear of God and no respect for man. This guy is so autonomous He didn't care about anybody. He didn't care about God and the problem is if he's Jewish he missed the central element of his judgeship for it was King Jehoshaphat who said in the book of 2nd Chronicles 19 verse number 6 consider carefully what you do because you are not judging for man But for the Lord who is with you whenever you give a verdict Now let the fear of the Lord be upon you judge carefully for with the Lord our God There is no justice no injustice or partiality or bribery Jehoshaphat said listen if you're gonna judge and and render a verdict on Someone's life.

You must do it in the fear of God You must this judge had no fear of God had no respect for man In fact, he had no ethical code by which he was going to live by the other characters a widow in this poor widow She's got a problem She has an unjust situation That needs to be taken care of and the only way for it to be taken care of is for this judge to step in and Readdress the issue and make an unjust situation Just and he won't do that. He won't do that Now widows in in Hebrew society were basically defenseless people the Old Testament refers to them in Malachi 3 as as People who were oppressed excess 22 as as people who were easily taken advantage of in Isaiah 1 it speaks of them as Often as as as legal victims, which this widow was in Luke 18 in fact over Luke 20 Luke describes men as devouring certain widows Houses this widow had an unjust situation that she wanted to be made right This widow wasn't looking for vengeance wasn't looking for payback.

She was just saying hey, wait a minute. I need protection I need you to watch over me I need you to pass some kind of law where my life will be protected and I will not be taken advantage of anymore Will you do it? He said no, I don't fear God. I don't fear a man. I don't fear you lady. I'm done I'm out of here. Goodbye Very closed. She's waiting waiting. You can't do that And so this woman this widow she would go after him in the language is such that that she Continuously went after him. I mean she met him in the marketplace and said excuse me judge, you know I got the situation you saw me in court yesterday and and and I gotta get know what lady I'm not talking to you She go to his house judge.

Listen, I got an unjust situation. Something's gotta take place here. This is not right I need protect BAM shut the door. She she'd meet him in the office. She say judge. I need some help here Please you got to step in and he just wouldn't do anything Until until she wore him out. She wore this guy out He says very simply this and for a while he wasn't willing but afterward he said to himself Even though I do not fear God nor respect man. I don't care what God thinks and I don't care what anybody else thinks yet Because this widow Bothers me I will give her legal protection Lest by Continually coming she here's the word wears me out or in other words.

She gives me a black eye That's a little translation. It's a boxing term. I mean she literally wore this guy out She backed him into a corner and she gave him a spiritual black eye And that could mean that that he was looking bad in the marketplace He wasn't looking good too good in the judge's chamber this woman was Relentless she was banging on his door She was banging on his car door if he had one in his house door wherever he was He was all she was always there. He'd wake up open the door. He's gonna work there.

She'd be always there and He says this woman She has literally punched me right out She has worn me down And even though I don't fear God and even though I don't fear man. Let alone this woman I am so sick and tired of this woman banging on my door. I'm gonna give her legal protection get her out of my hair He does the old rogue Met his match Would see just to the contrast we'll have to cover the rest next week. Let's pray together