The Prayer of Faith

One of the most devastating sports
injuries that there is, is a torn Achilles tendon. I’ve never experienced
it. I did have an uncle that tore
his Achilles just out for a jog one day. And it is devastating
because it does so great a damage to the tendon itself and it takes
such a great long time to heal. more than a year to really get
back to 100 percent, even with modern medicine. And it has become
almost a proverbial expression, hasn’t it? We say that such and
such is the Achilles heel of some such discussion, and we
know that immediately to mean that that is the sore point,
that is the weak point, the most delicate, the most crucial point. Well, it’s interesting that prayer
has been called the Achilles heel of the Christian life. It
is a delicate spot. It is a very fragile spot. And
it is a spot that if damaged or weakened, takes a long time
from which to recover. Every time that I’ve preached
on prayer, I get people coming to me at the end of it saying,
oh, that was so convicting. I was so convicted. It is our
weak spot. It is the Achilles heel of the
church. We don’t pray enough. There were
times past where revivals were brought on through this spirit
of prayer. One of the books that Some of
you men and I have interacted on is is Ian Murray’s book, Revival
and Revivalism. What Ian Murray does in that
book is essentially point us back to a prayer life. He points us back to and he wanders
through more than 100 years of Christianity that degenerated
from this spirit of prayer that saw God move on his timetable
in his way. It saw God move and then it degenerated
into this movement that sought to bring God’s movement and God’s
working whenever our human whims desired, not whenever God desired. So, Ian Murray used that book
to point us back to Habit, a life of prayer. And we rekindled that. A couple of years ago, me and
some of the men went through the book. We began to wrestle
with those things. We would embrace prayer, at least
as an argument. The argument is certainly a plausible
one that God is God, that God is sovereign, that we can’t manipulate
Him or turn His hand. We would say that. We would say
amen to those things. And we have begun to implement
certain things. We pray before the service and
we certainly seek to pray more. But J.C. Ryle said it this way,
said nothing is easier to take up. And nothing is harder to
continue in than prayer. We will start prayer meetings.
We will start a new prayer life. I mean, haven’t you done that
yourself as a Christian? You’ve laid hold of this. You’ve
heard a sermon or you’ve read a book or you’ve seen a life
and you’ve said, man, beginning tomorrow, Monday morning, I’m
going to pray more. I’m going to I’m going to start
a new prayer ministry. Nothing is easier to take up
than prayer and nothing is harder to sustain. It’s exactly what Christ tells
his disciples in Luke, chapter 18, A passage that I’ve preached
before, but I have to confess I’ve preached in ignorance after
I studied it again. Because in its context, it is
a powerful, powerful message that Christ gives to His disciples. Let’s pick it up. Read along
with me silently as we look at Luke 18, beginning in verse 1. Now, He was telling them a parable. to show that at all times they
ought to pray and not 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 for 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 cry 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? It’s interesting in
the gospel of Luke, it could be well called the gospel of
prayer. Dozens of times in the Gospel
of Luke, there are either these very direct or at least indirect
lessons on prayer. I think one of the most poignant,
remember, was when Christ snuck away and intentionally spent
the whole night in prayer. It wasn’t laid out for us as
a lesson by Christ per se, but it’s one of the clearest messages
on prayer. And there are, as I said, dozens
of those lessons on prayer in the Gospel of Luke, none more
intentional than this one. I want to consider, first of all,
I want to go back and let’s just consider this so-called parable
of the unjust judge. A parable, as I told you before,
it’s a combination of two words, para and bole. Bole means to
cast. Para means alongside, to cast
alongside an image, an analogy, a story that means something
much greater. It has deeper meaning. And as
is always the danger with parables, you get these people that want
to go in and massage and extract out of every nuance some deep
meaning. And I tell you that of all the
parables of Christ, this one may be the simplest to observe
and understand. Let’s go back to verse one. Jesus said or Luke records that
Jesus was telling them a parable to show that at all times they
ought to pray and not lose heart, saying there was in a certain
city a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man.
It’s interesting. You get these commentators that
actually tried to figure out which city this is. And then
they go further than that to try and figure out, well, which
judge this could have been. It’s absurd because at the very
start of it, Luke identifies this as a story. It’s a story
made up for the purpose of illustrating spiritual truth. It’s a parable. But he says that in a certain
city, there was a judge who from everybody else’s opinion, as
they looked at the man, they realized he didn’t fear God. This is objective data. This is everybody’s opinion,
including God’s. He didn’t fear God and didn’t
respect man. I mean, what else is there? This man is a complete moral
failure. He doesn’t have any regard for
God, no regard for his law. He doesn’t respect him. He doesn’t
reverence him. He does not fear God. That simple
term of denoting that basic respect that we are to have for Almighty
God. He didn’t fear God. And He didn’t
respect man. I mean, there’s only two equations
to life. How we treat God and how we treat
men. He didn’t respect man. The basic
dignity of man of knowing that this is one of our fellow creatures. That this other individual is
created in God’s image, just like me, and that as such, I
am supposed to give him basic dignity. Regardless of whether
I like him. There’s another individual in
the parable. It was a widow. Verse 3 says there was a widow
in that city. And most of us would gloss right
over that. But not in God’s Word. You can’t
gloss over that word because in that context, a widow in biblical
terms, a widow was among the most protected of all of God’s
children. There was need of special justice
and kindness for the widows because they were particularly vulnerable
and time and again in God’s Word, God called his people into account
over this very thing, the treatment of widows. I want to take you
just on a very quick but thorough tour of what Scripture says about
widows. In your mind’s eye, we’re going
to go quick, so don’t bother trying to turn. Exodus 22. You shall not afflict any widow
or orphan if you afflict him at all. And if he does cry out
to me, I will surely hear his cry. I mean, what could begin
the study of widows more clearly than that into what God’s view
and God’s concern for them was? And so when we come to the law,
Deuteronomy, we see just a continuation of this concern. He executes
justice, Deuteronomy 10, 18, for the orphan and the widow,
and he shows his love for the alien by giving him food and
clothing. Deuteronomy 14. 1429, the Levite, because he has no
portion or inheritance, the alien, the orphan and the widow who
are in your town shall come and eat and be satisfied. They were
to be especially and particularly cared for. Deuteronomy 24, you
shall not pervert the justice, do an alien or an orphan, nor
take a widow’s garment in pledge. Do you hear what they’re saying?
Here is a widow. who has no money and she goes
to the pawn shop and all she has to give them is her shawl,
her poncho. And they took it. To do so is to do so against
God’s word. Deuteronomy 24, special provisions
made in the harvest to leave some in the field for the widow.
Deuteronomy 26. More considerations given to
the widow, Deuteronomy 27. Cursed is he who distorts justice
for an alien, an orphan and a widow. Cursed. Strong words. The Psalms also speak of the
care of widows. Psalm 146, the Lord protects
the strangers, he supports the fatherless and the widow. God
has a special eye upon the widow and the orphan, it says. No wonder
the prophets, the prophets in dealing with Israel, one of the
most severe rebukes that they ever gave them was how they treated
the widows in their midst. Malachi 3.5. I will draw near
to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against
the sorcerers and against the adulterers. Look at what kind
of company those who abuse widows are in. Sorcerers, adulterers
and against those who swear falsely and against those who oppress
the wage earner and his wages, the widow and the orphan. What
dreadful company. No wonder the constant exhortation
of the prophets of Scripture itself. Learn to do good. Isaiah chapter one. Seek justice. Reprove the ruthless. Defend
the orphan. Plead for the widow. Basic human
kindness. And a particular love, practically
speaking, for the woman who is bereft of her husband. You might
remember our study In 1st Timothy 5, almost an entire chapter devoted
to the care of what Paul calls their widows indeed. A very needy woman. And note
what happens in this poignant little story, it says that she
kept coming to him. In the form of that verb, it
just means that she was perseverant, incessant. Tenacious. She would come and she would
leave and she would come back and she would leave and she would
come back and she would leave and she would come back. She
was always there, always asking the same thing. Give me protection
from my opponent. This was some kind of a legal
case. Either the man had a lawsuit
against her trying to take what was rightfully hers, or she had
a lawsuit against him trying to take back what was rightfully
hers. Some kind of legal protection.
In essence, what she says is, settle my case. Free me from
the tyranny of this wicked man. And who better to go to than
a judge? Christians have a funny opinion
sometimes of lawsuits. Scripture never forbids Christians
from exercising their legal rights in court as long as it’s not
against another Christian brother. That’s what the courts are for.
In other words, arguments are going to come and I’ve seen Christians,
you know, say that it’s because of their testimony that they
don’t take so and so to court. and exercise their legal rights,
that’s not biblical. You have that prerogative to
say, you know what? Go ahead and take it. That’s
fine. But you certainly have the legal right, the biblical
support to take them to court and to ask the judge, Judge,
what do you think? What is your opinion about this
matter? It’s not an evil thing. It’s not a greedy thing. In fact, some would argue that
that is just good stewardship. If it’s yours and he took it,
go ask a judge. And that’s what she did. This
woman wasn’t being harsh or unkind in essentially bringing a lawsuit
against this man. She was doing what the law allowed
her to do in the circumstances. There’s a warning here. I want
to give you a warning about taking. I told you that the tendency
on these parables is to take them too far, to make them overly
literal and to take them beyond what Christ intended. Well, here’s
one example of what not to do. There was a one commentator that
said the church here is viewed as the widow. And the church
is constantly looking up to this judge pleading for justice, from
the unjust world in which they live, from the persecuting world,
from the devil. And you know what? I just don’t
get it. Either he had a version that we don’t have or I don’t
I don’t know what I don’t know what he was reading, because
the problem with that, if the widow represents the church,
then the judge to whom she appeals must be God. And when you read
this description of so-called judge, it’s not God. It’s not the God that I know
from Scripture. Look at him in verse four, for a while he was
unwilling, didn’t want anything to do with her, sent her away
repeatedly as many times as she came, almost he sent her away
empty handed. I don’t want anything to do with
your case. I don’t want to hear it. But after a while, he said
to himself, even though I do not fear God nor respect man,
you know how objective this consideration of this man was? He knew it.
He knew what he was like. He doesn’t argue, but you know
what? I go to church. I’ve read the Bible. He doesn’t
even offer any kind of an argument like that. He doesn’t say, you
know what? I treat people pretty good. Nothing of the kind. He knows. He knows who he is.
I do not fear God nor respect man. One person called that the
creed of an atheist. They know in their heart, they
know in their heart, they don’t believe God. At least they’re
honest enough to say it. At least they’re honest enough
to say that really, when it comes right down where the rubber meets
the road, I don’t like you or care for you because I am an
atheist. One Puritan noted that this is
a tolerably finished specimen of depravity of temper. Did you
get it? Neither did I. What I take him
to mean is that you have here a perfect example of one who
does not believe in God. I mean, he’s practically living
out exactly what he believes. He’s living however he wants. There is a reverence that belongs
to God as our infinite superior. And there is a respect that is
due to every man as our fellow created being. But not for this
man. He appeals to his conscience
and there’s no conscience there. He looks to natural affection
and caring for somebody who is made in God’s image just like
him and there’s nothing there. And so what motivates him? What
prompts him finally to move? It isn’t God. It isn’t his love
for fellow man. It’s his love for self. That’s what makes him move. He’s
tired of listening to her and he wants some sleep. He wants
some peace. How you could ever conclude that
the woman in the parable is the church and God is this unjust
judge is beyond me. One person said, in contrast,
that the unjust judge stands in the sharpest contrast to the
Lord. The judge has no reverence for
the commands of God and does not pay any heed to the opinion
or interest of his fellow men. The Heavenly Father, however,
is perfectly holy and just in everything and aims at the highest
well-being of those that call to him in prayer. Isn’t that
the God that you know? And so we see what motivates
this unjust judge in verse five. Yet, because this widow bothers
me, I will give her legal protection. I mean, it isn’t because he saw
the clear command of God to care for the widows. It isn’t because
he saw in this woman, a faithful, godly woman who had served her
family and now suddenly, for who knows what reason, is completely
alone in the world and being harassed. By some evil man, nothing
of the sort motivated him. Because this woman bothers me.
And boy, what an interesting picture this is. It literally
means, the word literally, it was used in boxing of bashing
somebody in the eye. To blacken the eye literally
is what it means. It was derived from the boxing
arena, and technically it means to strike below the eye, but
it speaks of the end result, the blackened eye as a result
of a punch. Now, you say, was this guy fearful
that the woman was going to come, this little old lady, you know,
was going to come and beat him up? I don’t think that’s even the
case. I think it’s a euphemism. The whole thing is this kind
of extracted Jewish euphemism. We speak from time to time of
a brow beating. Have you ever received? Now,
I’m talking literally. Have you ever really received
a brow beating? You know, I mean, what would
that feel like? But when we talk about a brow beating, you know
what I mean? It means to really let somebody
have it verbally. Now, was this guy verbally afraid
of this woman? No. You know what I think? I think the euphemism and the
support for this from the commentaries was almost unanimous. The guy
was losing his sleep, losing sleep from this woman pestering
to the point where he’s getting dark circles under his eyes.
That’s the euphemism in mind here. And he finally says enough
already, enough knocking at my door, enough coming repeatedly,
enough. I’m tired. Whatever you want,
let me take care of it. And I can go back to bed. That’s
essentially what he says. That’s what motivated him. Now, I want to go. I want to
go back to the beginning, I want to go back to verse one, because
what I’ve recognized from that little statement is three aspects
of persevering prayer that I want to close with this morning. Three
simple observations that Christ in teaching this parable that
it recognizes about perseverant prayer. We are called to perseverant
prayer. We are called not to just initiate,
to start up some new thing, but to see it through to the end,
to persevere in that until God answers, much like Jacob wrestling
with the angel. Not to just pray, utter a prayer
once and to go back to what we were doing. But to really dig
in and persevere in that prayer. First of all, Christ’s parable
recognizes an occasion to pray. An occasion to pray, firstly.
There in verse one, he was telling them a parable and it gives us
the very reason that he told them the story to show that at
all times they ought to pray and not lose heart. Now, you have those exhortations
in Scripture, pray without ceasing. Right. And you’re going to say
this is just another one of those that fits right along in that
parallel with pray always pray without ceasing in all things. I pray just like Paul does almost
every letter that he opens. And there’s an element of that.
But I want to take you back to the context, and here’s where
I say, having studied Luke now from beginning to where we are,
And then some. Now, I begin to see what Christ
really had in mind in telling this parable. Because if you
look back over your shoulder, what he had just talked about,
remember, was the second coming, the return of the Lord, thy kingdom
come, as we spent almost five weeks on. And what happened was
you had these critics of Christ Think that they were going to
trip him up by saying, OK, you keep talking about this kingdom.
So where is it? And what Christ did was use that
for one of the most detailed discussions outlining the nature
of the kingdom recorded in Scripture. We saw there that the kingdom
of God is subtle and it’s spiritual. It’s hardly perceptible. It begins
in the heart and the life of each believer. It’s surprising.
It comes suddenly. Like a bolt of lightning, we
saw, and it is severe. When it comes, it is over. There
is no going down to gather up your possessions. There’s no
going and having one last Bible study. There’s no more of anything. It’s over. It’s severe. And as such, it’s separating.
That’s the context of these words. He says to them, in essence,
he gives this detailed account of what the kingdom is like.
And he tells his disciples immediately afterwards, don’t give up praying. Their world was already seemingly
coming apart at the seams. Where were the numbers? Where
were where was the populist movement that was going to bring in the
king? Where was this? universal acceptance of Christianity
that no doubt the disciples had to expect wasn’t there. What Christ calls them to is
this habit, this perseverance in prayer that was going to wait
for him until his return. And I tell you, if the disciples
struggle with it, how much more have we? We keep hearing now
2,000 years later that Christ is coming back. Ho-hum. And we hear from some that it’s
going to be a long time in the future and first we must perfect
society. And we give up. We stop praying. We lose heart. And you know it’s
true because if we do it in the little things… You know what’s
embarrassing or convicting? And sad. Go back into your prayer
journal. I don’t know what means you use.
I used to use three by five cards. And then at one point I transitioned
to this other deal. But it’s always convicting to go back
and see what were those things that I was praying so intensely
for then that still are not answered. But I’ve long since given up
praying. What are those for you? And you know that if we do it
in the little things, you know, You know we’re not really earnestly
praying for the return of Christ, for the salvation of mankind, for the judgment of the world.
We know we’re not praying for that like the disciples had already
fallen off. And Jesus says at all times,
not only when times are good, but when times are difficult,
when it’s a struggle, When the world seems to be coming apart
at the seams. When the world is persecuting
and persevering in their harsh treatment of us. It’s tied to the Lord’s return.
You know what? There’s another occasion almost
identical to this one. Jesus had just finished talking
about his return in Luke chapter 21. And note how he puts a capstone
on that little discussion. Luke 21, 36. Keep on the alert
at all times, praying that you might have strength to escape
these things that are about to take place and to stand before
the Son of Man. I say from time to time, almost
tongue in cheek, you know, one of my seminary professors said
that, you know, the pastor ought to be ready to preach, pray or
die in a minute. And I guess for you, I guess
maybe you just have those two things to do. Pray or die. And
the question is, are you ready? Are we really ready? We’ve said
it before. If the Lord burst through the
skies just now, are we really ready or will we say, oh boy,
oh boy. Let me pray real quick. J.C. Ryle. I mentioned it a moment
ago, said of prayer, the subject of prayer is always to be interesting
to Christians. Prayer is the very life breath
of true Christianity. Here is where religion begins.
Here is where it flourishes. And here is where it decays.
Prayer is one of the first evidences of conversion and neglect of
prayer is the sure road to a fall. Jesus says there’s an occasion
to pray and the occasion is always at all times, but especially
now in anticipation of the Lord’s return. Secondly. Secondly, the
second aspect of persevering prayer. Is in Christ’s parable
here, it recognizes not only an occasion to pray, but an obligation
to pray, an obligation to pray. Look at verse 1. He was telling
them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray
and not lose heart. We have totally, totally… I wouldn’t be a bit surprised
if there aren’t young people in our midst that don’t even
know what that word ought means. It indicates an obligation, a
priority. It indicates something that is
to be an absolute determined factor in our lives. It points
to the character of the one to whom we pray. That’s why. When
it says that we ought to pray, it points back to God, and when
you know his character, that’s what the whole parable is about.
When you know the character of God, how can we not pray? Because of God’s nature, we’re
obligated to persevere in prayer. The bottom line is how we pray
and whether we pray speaks volumes about our theology proper about
what we really think of God. Do we really think that he’s
a God that will answer? Then how can we not pray? Do
we really think that he’s a God that is concerned? Do we really
think that he’s a God who’s able? Do we really think that he’s
a God who hears? Look at verse six. This is how
Jesus concludes it. It’s simple. Here what the unrighteous
judge said, literally the judge of injustice, which is I mean,
it’s a total. What do you call those things
when they don’t fit like jumbo shrimp, whatever? Here it is.
The judge of injustice. Is there anybody that should
be about justice? Anybody more than a judge, but
here you have the judge of injustice. Hear what the unrighteous judge
said, shall not God bring about justice for his elect? The chosen
people of God that he cares for every day, shouldn’t he look
down if an unjust judge responds in time to a widow’s griping? What he urges here in so doing
is urgent, continued, persevering prayer because of the one to
whom we are praying. Remember the parable, I mean,
not the parable, the section of Scripture. Just hear me out
on this. Luke chapter 11, he said to them,
suppose one of you has a friend goes to him at midnight and says,
friend, lend me three loaves. Remember, he keeps knocking and
a friend says, go away, don’t bother me. And he perseveres. He keeps knocking.
And finally, because of his persistence, he opens. And this is Christ’s
lesson on that little section of Scripture. So I say to you,
ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock
and it should be opened to you. Everyone who asks and receives
and seeks, finds and who knocks, it will be opened. Suppose one
of you, and this is what he likens it to. Suppose one of you fathers
is asked by his son for a fish. He won’t give him a snake instead
of a fish, will he? I mean, Christ takes it to the
point of absurdity. He points to the character of
God. That’s exactly what Christ in
this parable does here. He points to the character of
God and says, if an unjust judge is going to respond, what more
would a just and holy, loving God do? That’s how he closes that passage.
If you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your heavenly Father? He points to the character
of God. And if we really believe that God is that kind of a God,
then we must pray. We must persevere. There is an
oughtness to this element of prayer. It’s because of the nature
of the character of God. There’s a third point. There’s a third aspect of persevering
prayer. Christ’s parable recognizes not
only an occasion to pray and an obligation to pray, but an
option to pray. Oh, and I don’t want you to misunderstand
me. I’m not saying that you can either
pray or not pray, because that would be to undo the very message
that I’m giving you. What I’m simply pointing out
is that just as the passage does, there is an alternative to persevering
prayer. And that is to not pray. It isn’t
a good option. It isn’t what God desires. It
isn’t that which is best for the Christian, but it is an alternative. It’s prayerlessness. It is feeble
prayer, it’s infrequent prayer, it’s interrupted prayer, it’s
inconsistent prayer, it’s anything but that hardy, perseverant prayer
that Christ is urging upon us. It’s an option. but it has a price. There is one way and there is
the other. There is persevering prayer or there is the feeble,
inconsistent prayer that ultimately loses heart. If you’re reading
King James, it says faint. It’s a word essentially that
means to give in or to give up through cowardice. You’re so
fearful. You’re so overwhelmed. You finally
just give up. You’re so tired of doing what’s
right. And as one pastor said, it’s a sad thing when prayer
grows silent on the lips and faint on the heart. For since
prayer is the vital breath of the Christian, without it, the
Christian life ceases. I mean, how can you live? This
is the vine and the branches, remember? How can you live the
Christian life without Christ? Great reminder to me One of my
favorite passages in Scripture, whenever I get beat up, I go
to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, right? 2 Corinthians chapter 4 uses
the same word. Therefore, since we have this
ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart. We don’t stop praying and we
don’t, because of our continued prayer life, lose heart. We don’t
become cowards in the ministry. Galatians 6.9 says essentially
the same thing. Let us not lose heart in doing
good for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. Jesus says, you know. He had
promised them he had just detailed the whole greatest description
of the kingdom there was, and he says, don’t quit praying for
it. Don’t quit praying for the Lord’s return. Don’t quit praying
about your circumstances. Don’t quit praying for the grace
of God to persevere. Don’t quit praying for lives
to be changed. Don’t quit praying for your respective
ministries. At all times, we should pray. And there’s an obligation to
do so because of the nature of God. There’s an option, but it’s
not a good option. Let’s pray. O Lord, our God, every one of
us knows there’s no one of us in this room that would stand
and say that we have this whole matter of prayer figured out.
We have no growing to do. Lord, it is indeed the Achilles
heel of not only the Christian life, but of the church. Lord
God, we pray We plead with you. Put this element,
as it were, in a cast and shore it up and strengthen it. Make
us to be known in time as a praying church, that one that tied any
success that we ever enjoyed purely and simply to the grace
of God brought about undeservedly through prayer. Lord, change
our hearts. Change our lives. Change our
perspective. Change our practice for Your
glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.