#147 Lu. 18:1-8 PRAYING TO GOD FOR HELP Introduction: In our previous text Jesus taught the Pharisees that the kingdom over which He rules is not a physical earthly kingdom. Rather, it is a spiritual kingdom. The subjects of His kingdom are the men, women, boys and girls who have trusted Him as Savior. He is their spiritual King. He is the King of their lives. He also taught His disciples a lesson about the trouble which would come to them down through the years. He especially taught them about the great trouble that will come in the Great Tribulation. He also taught them somewhat about His second coming when He will rule an earthly kingdom. In our text today He follows up on that lesson which dealt to a great extent on trouble by teaching His disciples a lesson on prayer. I. Two points that Jesus was trying to make V. 1, "And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint." In the presentation of this lesson, Jesus used a parable to illustrate what He was saying about prayer. There were two special points that Jesus was trying to make. The first point was that men ought always to pray. There are any number of good reasons why men ought to pray. Men need to pray for their daily bread, for clothes on their back, for shelter over their head and for all the other physical and material needs of life. Every good thing that they will ever have comes down from God above and, therefore, they ought to pray to Him about those needs. Then, too, the Scripture says in Job 14:1 that man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. This includes sickness and death. When sickness men ought to pray to God above who is able to help in every situation. When death comes and men's hearts are grieved, they ought to pray to God, for He is the God of all comfort. When any trouble of any kind comes, men ought to pray. But remember that in the previous lesson, Jesus had taught His disciples that He, Himself, must suffer and be rejected of men. This would likewise mean that they who follow Him would also suffer persecution at the hands of men. They, too, would be rejected of men. This was a suffering that would continue upon His people all down through the years and will eventually culminate in the Great Tribulation just prior to His return. The persecution which Christians face is one reason they will always need to pray. The second point that Jesus was trying to make in this text is that men ought not to faint. That is, they ought not to become faint hearted. They ought not to become depressed and despondent. They ought not to give up. They ought not to quit. quit. One of the great battles that even the strongest Christian in the world has to fight is the battle against depression and discouragement. When the sun is shining and everything is right, it if easy to be full of optimism and courage. But when everything goes wrong--- when there is one big problem right after another, then it is awfully hard even for the strongest Christian to be cheerful and optimistic. It is easy to get depressed and to feel like quitting. It is easy to say, "Oh, what's the use!" But Jesus does not want the Christian to get depressed. He does not want the Christian to feel hopeless. He does not want the Christian to feel like quitting. Especially, He does not want the Christian to lose faith in God and quit praying. God wants the Christian to keep on praying for help even when he sees no way possible that God can help. No matter how bad things get in this life, God wants the Christian to know that he should never stop praying for help. In our text, Jesus gives an example about a widow woman who needed the help of a judge in her city and she never gave up asking him for help. II. The parable about the widow and the judge Note the parable. V. 2, "Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God..." This judge was not anything at all like what a judge ought to be. A judge ought to be honest and just in settling the cases that come before his court. He ought is to weigh carefully all hear all the evidence. He ought to judge fairly between the two parties. He ought to make his decision without regard to who the people are and what their standing in the community is. He ought to administer justice in his disposition of each case. He is not only responsible to the people of the land, but he is responsible to God to be a fair and honest judge. He will one day answer to God for how he handled each case. Note that Jesus said that this man did not fear God. It helps to have a God-fearing man in this position. It helps to have a man who reverences God and wants to please God. It helps to have a man who is actually afraid to take bribes and base his decisions on his own special interests. But this judge did not fear God. He was not afraid that God would punish him for mishandling cases in his court. He put his own selfishness first and foremost. He did not look out for those who are oppressed and mistreated, but he looked out for his own selfish desires. (V. 2), "...neither regarded man." Not only did this judge disregard what God think him, but he also disregarded what people thought about him. He was not swayed by public opinion. So he disregarded both things which might restrain him and help be make him a good judge over the people. V. 3, "And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary." To put it simply, there was somebody who had done this woman wrong. It was no small wrong. I gather that it was some business man who was trying to swindle her out of her money or her property in a business deal. We are not told just what the offense was, but we have good reason to believe that it would have been obvious to any judge who hears the case that she has been badly wronged. The word avenge appears here in the King James Translation. The original language indicates that she was not so much interested in seeking punishment for her adversary, but just wanted the judge to correct the wrong that had been done her. I'm sure she also wanted the judge to make sure the person who had wronged her would not take advantage of her in the future. She, being a woman, could not deal with her adversary by physical strength. Her only recourse was to appeal to the legal authorities for help. The problem was that the legal authority in this case was this unjust judge who did not care about justice. He does not fear God. He is not moved with compassion for the poor. Neither is he swayed by public opinion. It would not bother him in the least if people accused him of dealing unfairly with this widow. He would never have to run for re-election and so he did not care what people thought. V. 4, "And he would not for a while..." When she carried her problem to this judge, she got nowhere. There was one delay after another. It appears that he was hoping that one side or the other in the case would offer him a bribe. However, this woman could not do so even if she had wanted to, and the other party involved in the suit made no move to offer one. So there was no action on the part of the judge to rule in favor of one or the other. Justice would have demanded that he rule in favor of the woman and he knew that. But he was not interested in justice. He was interested only in himself. V.4-5, "...but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me." What a man! What a self-centered good for nothing man! He finally decided to do what was right. He would rule this case in favor of the woman. But he was not doing so because it was the right thing to do in the sight of God. He was not even doing so because it was the right thing to do in the sight of man. He was doing the right thing, but it was totally in his own self interest. He was ruling in her favor because he did not want her to pester him with her continual coming. He knew that the sooner he would get this case behind him, the sooner he would be rid of this woman. Of course, as far as the woman was concerned, she didn't care. She didn't care what his motive was. All she cared about was that he finally ruled in her favor. Now this is a parable. It is probably a fictitious case, but it is a very real to life situation. Not all judges were like this, but it was well known to those disciples that some of them were. The disciples would very easily recognize this as being a true to life situation. III. Our Lord's interpretation of the parable The Lord, Himself, interprets the parable for us. V. 6-7, "And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?" There is a sharp contrast between this unjust judge and the God of Heaven. That man was not honest and fair in his dealings. God is fair and just in every respect. He is righteous and right in all His ways. The unjust judge was uncaring and had no compassion for that poor widow in her great distress. It was a distress that was brought unfairly upon her and a distress which the judge could so easily relieve. It was his duty before God and man to right the wrong that had been done her, but he did not care. But God is loving and caring and compassionate. The unjust judge cared only for himself, his greed, his convenience, his pleasure. Since he got nothing for himself by meeting out justice and helping this woman, he was not interested. He did finally help her, but it was only to serve his own selfish interest by being rid of her. But God goes to great length to help those in need. He is willing to suffer great loss to Himself in order to help others. His willingness to send His Son Jesus Christ to the cross to suffer and die shows this to be true. I tell you that God is not at all like that judge. Jesus said, "And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?" The answer is, "Yes, indeed, God will avenge His own. Down through the years, God's people have called upon for help both day and night. There are always some of God's people somewhere calling upon Him for help. They are in much the same condition as the poor widow woman. God's people do not usually have the physical power or the political resources to defend themselves against the oppression by the unsaved of the world. They do not usually have the financial resources to defend themselves. They are virtually helpless as that widow woman was against the oppression that she faced. But there is one thing that God's people can do. They can pray to the God in heaven and God is not like that unjust judge. It is true that even God sometimes delays in answering their prayers and rendering the help that they call for. Note again the latter part of verse 7. Jesus said, "...though he bear long with them?" God does sometimes delay in helping. He may sometimes delay so long that it will appear that He is not going to help at all. But when God does delay, He always has a good purpose. It may be to test the Christian's faith. It may be to demonstrate the Christian's faith. It may be to help the Christian to grow in grace. But whatever, the reason, when God delays in sending the help, He has a good reason. But the point is that God is not like that unjust judge. He will never delay simply because of lack of concern on His part. When God sends help, He will do so speedily. V. 8, "I tell you that he will avenge them speedily..." The delay may be long, but when the help comes, it will come suddenly and unexpectedly. The question is not whether or not God will hear our prayers and answer our prayers and send the help we need. God will most certainly do so. The question is: Will we have the faith in God to keep on asking as that widow woman kept on asking that judge? Will we have enough faith in God to just keep on praying? Jesus raised this very question in our text. (V. 8), "...Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" The answer to that question is: "Yes." Yes, there have been some down through the years who have that much faith in the Lord. There will be some even to the end who have that much faith. Even right up into the very worst part of The Great Tribulation, there will still be some who will call on the Lord and depend on Him for help. But I am afraid that there will be some Christians whose faith will play out. They will faint. They will give up in despair. They will quit praying. That is what Jesus was warning against. He was, "Don't do it. Don't stop. Do not quit praying." Conclusion: Now let me get personal with you who are Christians for a few minutes. What is the greatest trial which you face? What is the greatest burden that you bare? Have you ever prayed about the matter? I'm sure you have, haven't you? Do you still pray about the matter? Do you ever wonder if your prayers are doing any good? Let me remind you of that poor widow woman who just kept on going back to the judge and asking him for help. She finally got the help she needed. Won't you do the same thing with God? Won't you call on God once more about that matter right now? Won't you have enough faith in God to just keep on praying about it as long as it takes? Let me also get personal with you who are unsaved. No matter what other problems you may have in life, I know what your greatest problem is. You are headed for the fires of hell. That is your greatest problem. I want to give you good news. You do not have to pray and just keep on praying about this matter. All you have to do is to pray about it one time and really mean it. Listen to Romans 10:13, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." That's just one time---and mean it. Won't you call on Jesus right now and ask Him to be your Savior?