Before we pray I just want to make a comment about why we're dealing with this. You know in our Sunday school we're dealing with the larger catechism and we're at the point at the last part of the larger catechism in which it expounds the Lord's Prayer and the doctrine of prayer. And one of the things that I started thinking about from the last week's lesson was the point that was made in the larger catechism about persevering in prayer. So that's what drew me to this text. I had mentioned this in Sunday school. I wanted to unpack it today for our spiritual encouragement and benefit. Before we read this passage, let us seek God in prayer. Our father, we give you thanks that we may come and read your word. We pray that you might, by your spirit, apply it to our hearts. In many ways, this is a very simple passage, and yet it is a very difficult thing for all of us to apply. So Lord, help us to be those men and women and children driven into your presence to pray and to persevere. And we do ask that you would bless it, this reading and preaching for your namesake, in Jesus' name, amen. Chapter 18, verses one to eight. They told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said in a certain city there was a judge who neither fear God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, give me justice against my adversary. For a while he refused. But afterward he said to himself, though I neither fear God nor respect men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming. And the Lord said, hear what the unrighteous judge says. It will not God give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night. Will he delay long over them? I tell you, He will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth? Thus ends the reading of God's word. May the Lord bless it for His glory and our spiritual benefit. As I mentioned in the larger catechism 185 last week, the question was asked, how are we to pray? And we're to pray with understanding, faith, sincerity, fervency, love, and perseverance, and other things are listed. These are the graces that should accompany our prayer as we pray. And one of it is to persevere in our prayers. And last week, as I mentioned, I referred to this passage. And I think even the week before, we mentioned it. But prayer is an interesting thing because in many ways, everybody prays. Even the non-religious people pray, and I've seen people make comments like, I'm not a praying man, but because this is such and such, I'm going to pray. Sometimes sickness, sometimes something that made you afraid, or perhaps your conscience was pricked, or you simply feel you need to do this, you feel that you need to pray more, so many people are driven to prayer for various occasions. And they may hold it for a week, or two weeks, three weeks, maybe a month, or a little bit longer. Many people have gone through situations like this where certain circumstances drive them to prayer, but they don't persevere in it. They start, but then they kind of give up. J.C. Ryle made this comment in his exposition on this passage. Before I go, I want to commend, if you can ever get your hands on them, they've been reprinted by Banner of Truth. One of the finest expositions on the Gospels is J.C. Ryle. His very practical exposition on the four Gospels, I commend them to you. I've read chunks of it, and it has always been satisfying and edifying. He makes this comment about this passage. Let it then be graven deeply in our minds that it is far more easy to begin a habit of prayer than it is to keep it up." Far easier to begin in prayer than to keep it up. And he's making a simple and yet important observation that many people start in prayer. But how many of you actually persevere? One of the interesting things is that as I look at you guys, and I've seen some pictures of you when you were like 30, 40 years ago, we are getting older. That's not revelation, we all know that. But have you been praying all that time? Or has it been spasmodic, meaning you kind of go into spurts and then there are just seasons of non-praying. There are people exercising, dieting, entering into various projects or hobbies. They all begin, but very few finish. They do not persevere. And statistically, almost everyone prays. But who actually perseveres in it? Is this actually a problem? It seems to be because Jesus actually gives this parable to address that very issue. Now you know there are certain things that you there are debates over an interpretation of a parable because it's Jesus focusing on this or that and you can have commentators debating but certain things in certain passages there's it's very clear and this is one of them. We don't have to figure out what Jesus is trying to teach us from this parable. Notice what it says in verse 1, and he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. That's the purpose of this parable. The key is very easy to see and you can get in and you can understand. He wants us to persevere. So that's the first point I want to make. Jesus encourages you to persevere in prayer in verse one. Jesus encourages you to persevere in prayer. This parable is very simple. We see it, we understand it. And why does this even need to be mentioned? Because it is a struggle. Notice that word loose heart. What does that mean? It has a broad meaning, but it kind of has the same idea. It connotes the same idea. To lose one's motivation, lose enthusiasm, be discouraged, be disappointed. This is something that happens to all of us. We kind of give up. We lack enthusiasm. We lose heart in praying. He's telling us this parable so we do not lose heart, we do not stop praying. Romans 12.12, be constant in prayer. Colossians 4.2, continue steadfastly in prayer. 1 Thessalonians 5.17, pray without ceasing. This is an encouragement from the entire New Testament. This is something that people struggle with. And were I to go and ask each one of you, you can ask me, we can ask, you know, have you kind of given up in prayer? Well, I know I need to, and I don't think I've ever heard someone, you know, this is the one, I've knocked it out of the park. Prayer, I gotta master. Almost every saint says, I need to pray more. They struggle with prayer, but they've given to themselves, but do you persevere in prayer? This must be an issue because Jesus is actually addressing it so that we do not give up in prayer. Why would someone actually give up on prayer? Why would they lose heart and why don't they constantly pray? Sometimes people say there's no answer. They feel like they're asking and it seems to be, heaven is brass and there seems to be no response and they believe God is not answering. or sometimes they're disappointed. They get the wrong answer that they wanted this, but God gave them this. I mean, help me. Why even pray? Because every time I pray for this, I get the exact opposite. And some people draw the conclusion, I don't want to even bother. Or even the worst part is I've actually heard people say this. You know Mark, I haven't been praying. Because I'm mad at God. And they're going to give the Lord of Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts, the silent treatment? And so they won't pray. Sometimes they have the wrong expectations about prayer. They think, just like we read in 1 Samuel 4, somehow it's magical. If I just do these prayers, things happen. Of course, it doesn't work that way. Other times the Christian life is too hard and prayer just seems to be an added burden in the Christian life for some people. So they don't pray. And then some, being frank they say, prayer is kind of boring. I could do a thousand other things but prayer seems to be utterly futile and boring. These may be some of the reasons. And there's another reason people stop praying. Because they find that prayerlessness seems to work. Let me explain. They haven't been praying for a while, but life seems to be going on just fine. In fact, they got a raise. They're losing weight. the doctor's report on his health, it turned out really well. I haven't been praying and look at my life. It seems to work. Whatever the reason, if the end result and whatever argument you might have, you give up in prayer, you are destroying your soul. Satan has won. Remember, he is more powerful than you. And through prayer, God defeats him. If you don't, you are putty. You are nothing before him. Whatever the reason you might have used, if you end up not praying, your soul will rot. You are in spiritual danger. My wife, there's some debate in our house with the amount of flowers at the kitchen table. My son and I think there's too much, and she thinks they're wonderful, and we think they bring in ants, and all those things. But what's amazing is this happens every year, and we all go through this. Once you cut the rose, once you cut the flower, they bloom, they're beautiful, but they begin to shrivel. The stem, the leaves, and the flower just seems to fall apart. Or you can sustain it by putting it in the water for a while, but you know and I know eventually that just dies. To not pray is to have a cut flower just like that. You will die. And the delusion is that somehow you think you're living, but actually you're spiritually inside, you're rotting. Like that flower, you will shrivel up. Jesus encourages you to persevere because you need it. It's required of you. And this is a means that he has appointed for your spiritual benefit in which God deals with you and blesses you. If you don't pray, there's no benefit in non-praying. There's nothing to be gained by that. Everything to lose if you don't pray. You will not read a book. The best way to grow spiritually is to not pray. You will never read that. It will never benefit you at all. There's just simply no category in which not praying will help you. It is destructive to your soul. You are declaring not only that, you're declaring you have no need, spiritual, material, relational, emotional, financial. You can actually stand on his own. Like our brothers mentioned, a proud man, they can stand on their own. Do you really have no needs to come before God? Does he need to make you feel your need? Surely there are a hundred, a thousand things for which you can cry out to God, God, for my health, for my spiritual life, for my struggles with sin, the temptations. Lord, I feel down, all these things. Do you not have needs? And one of the things in how to pray, one of the first parts of the larger catechism is to sense your need. That's why you go, you need him. Like this widow, you're begging, you need help. To not pray is to say you don't need it. And to not pray is to neglect the very privilege which Christ has purchased in your behalf. He shed his blood by which you can have access to the throne of grace. It is something that you did not have access to, which he purchased. And sadly, The Bible says we've been given a spirit of supplication from Zachariah. We've been given the Holy Spirit by which we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit prompts God's people to pray. If you're not praying, it raises a question about the presence of the Spirit in your life, which means you may not be a Christian. You may be no different from the world. He encourages you to persevere because this is what you need. It is amazing how, I struggle with this because in many ways I can be very disciplined in certain areas. This is one of those areas, but I can find a thousand things to do than pray. Every day. a thousand different things to do than pray because I know the devil knows that once I get into that that's where a spiritual engagement occurs in which God uses that to console my soul and encourages me and by which he uses it to affect his purpose. If he can stop that he has stopped a good amount of work. He doesn't want us to give up. Jesus encourages you to persevere in prayer. Keep on praying. That's why he's given this prayer book. Don't give up. No matter how you, whatever reasons or rationale you have, it's never good. If the end result, if you don't pray, you've been defeated. The second point I want to bring out after first Jesus encourages you to persevere in prayers is, Jesus assures you that God will hear your righteous prayers in verses six and seven. And the Lord said, hear what the unrighteous judge says. It will not God give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night. Will he delay long over them? Tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Here's an unrighteous judge. He could just simply push away, but he's bothered by this widow that keeps on calling. And he gives in. This happens in human life. We see people persistent. Notice the cause for which she is petitioning the king is good. It's not a petty thing. You know, can I sit with you in the throne, you know, when you go to the golf course or anything like that? It's nothing petty. It's justice from her adversary. That's what she's asking for. It's a legitimate concern. And if even an evil judge like this or evil ruler like this, an unrighteous judge, would grant her petition, If they can do it, how much more a good God, a Heavenly Father who loves you, who cares for you, among whom you are an elect. That's the reasoning Jesus has in this passage. If an unrighteous judge and if an evil person can be so generous and give in for the wrong motives, how much more a righteous judge, a holy Heavenly Father, a gracious, tender Heavenly Father. hear you and answer you. That is an important point. He assures us that God will hear you. That's the encouragement. Now, we can talk about the mechanics, as it were, the spiritual mechanics of how that works out, and we don't have to deal with the little bits here and there, but the idea is he will hear in his own wisdom, in his own timing. He will answer your prayers, and that's the point here. Will he delay long over them? You see, that's the other thing. He delays. but not without a purpose. The delay is not like, I don't have time, and I can do that, well, I'll do it later. Honey, can you just fix this? Honey, I'll do it later. The delay is just silliness or laziness on my part. God's delay is nothing like that. It is purposeful, it's wise, it's good. He knows exactly why. Think of how it is. That you see a little child, Dad, can I, can I, can I? And they want that candy. Can you give it to me now? Can you give it to me now? Parents give in. All right. But God is not so foolish. God knows exactly what we need when we need it. And sometimes our hearts are not even right there. The delay is purposeful. His delay is purposeful, but it is not forever. Often he delays to draw you to himself. He delays to strengthen you that you might grow at that time. He delays to sometimes rebuke you to say what you're asking for is not right. He delays to test you. Will you hang on? Will you persevere? Will you look to me? Or will you be like Saul who will wait and wait and impatiently disobey God? He delays for his own purpose. God has his purposes. You're saying, well, why can't he answer it? God has his purposes, infinitely wise and good. But ultimately, it will be answered. And it's an important thing. You will be answered in the way God sees fit. He determines how it's answered. You know what's amazing about some of the things you think are so good and so necessary. God just help me in this. And we think God should deliver me from this. And God says actually I'm going to use this very thing you're delivering, you want deliverance from, I'm going to use that to change you. We have an example of that in Corinthians where Paul asked that his thorn in his side would be removed. And God chose not to. God was going to use his weakness to demonstrate his power. And Paul gloried in that. And so his delay may simply be to change you, to make you suitable in such a way that he would glorify his name through you. But he will answer. During that time you need to exercise faith. You believe what he has called you to do. With patience you wait. And with stamina, with endurance, you keep on praying. During that delay, one of the things you should do is often review your petition. Could it be that what I'm asking for is not righteous? Could it be, you know, sometimes, you know, like when you guys put on their ties or the women, their dress, and they're getting ready to go out or makeup or something, they quickly look at the mirror one more time. Is it straight or whatever? The makeup, whatever. They kind of quickly look and realign. Okay, I'm okay. I can go out in public. I'm not going to bring shame. You know, we do that, a quick look, right? That's what delay does. It allows you to quickly look at the petition. Is this something that pleases God? Let me rethink this. And I've shared this, and I'm not going to repeat it. But I've gone through that in my life. For three years, I prayed for something. And in the course of those three years, my petition changed because what I thought I wanted was not what God wanted me to have. And I began to realize God wanted to change me. If the delay is there, begin to reflect and review. During the delay examine your thoughts about God. Are you unbelieving? Do you not believe God or do you have harsh thoughts of Him that God is narrow and harsh and resistant? Is He loved? Is a good and gracious Heavenly Father? See that's what you do during this time. You review your prayer. But Jesus said, but I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. God defines what speedily is. Never before it's time. We don't like that. We have a timetable. You know, I would like it before I'm 70, God, or something. People will have all kinds of different timetables. No, God, at the right time, if your petition is righteous and good, if it's according to God's will, you pray and you don't give up, and he will answer. Think of it this way, and I'm going to ask this again at the end. Think of some of the things you earnestly petitioned earlier on that you just kind of forgot. And you've gone to something else. You've seen children do that. Dad, I really want this. Then 10 minutes later, Dad, I really want that. And another 15 minutes later, Dad, I really want that. You're kind of watching what do you really want. But He will answer at the right time. Be assured. And that's the point that you don't give up because you know God will answer you. You can be assured. Your Heavenly Father to whom you can cast all your burdens, He cares for you. He will answer you at the right time. That's the encouragement. And that brings us to the third and last point. Jesus challenges you. to persevere in the face of prayerlessness and unbelief in the world. Nevertheless, After saying He wants you to continue to pray, He will answer you nevertheless. When the Son of Man comes, when He returns, will He find faith on the earth? This is not a throwaway verse. It's contextually very important because at the beginning of this, at the end of chapter 17, but in this whole context, He's talking about His return. Once again, he brings this up again, that when he comes back, the world is not going to be suitable or encouraging you to pray. That's the point of this. That's Jesus' point. Things are not going to be hospitable to encourage you to pray on. The world is not going to say, go, go, go, Mark, pray. You should be more into prayer. No, he's not going to fight that. That's the whole point of his statement in verse 8. One commentator put it this way, many will give up on God and prayer because of the seeming silence of God. When Jesus returns to the earth, he predicts it will be a desert of unbelief where little praying takes place. That's the context. When he comes, will he, no, don't give up, don't give up. The world's not gonna help you. These are challenging things. He challenges us to persevere. You're not going to get the inducement, encouragement there. You get it from God in his word. You are encouraged by this parable that Jesus says. He assures you that God will hear. Persevere. A dear friend of mine, Nick Wolborn, is a pastor in Tennessee. adjunct professor at Greenville Seminary. He lives in a hotter part of the country than we do. One of the things he tells me that he says he's very careful about, he has a dehumidifier running in his office all the time, 24-7, and makes sure it's air-conditioned. Because in the South, with that humidity, mold grows on your books. So he makes sure this happens. And I said, well, it's not that bad up here. He said, you've got to be careful about this. And that's true. See, I hear about this for some people living in Florida. You put it in the garage, guess what's going to happen to your book? All of a sudden, it's going to be all green. That's what humidity does. And why do I bring that out? Because what Jesus is saying, the world is like this. It's going to bring mold into your life. That's what the world will do. It will not encourage you. And you have to have, as it were, the air conditioning of prayer. That prayer has to kind of get rid of that mold that's going to come and ruin everything. That's what the world will do. But you need to pray it away, as it were. You need to grow and to persevere in prayer. When the Son of Man comes, Will he find faith on earth? Let me bring out some quick applications. The first question is, are you praying? And the question assumes that some of you are not praying. Oh, I know I need to. But are you praying? We've been talking about persevering in prayer, but are you praying at all? Well, you know, I pray a little bit before I go to bed. But do you set aside time at all to pray and to fellowship with God and to call upon Him? This is a spiritual response to God's mercy to you, the access which He has purchased through His Son. The question for you is, are you praying now? People say, well, you're giving me a guilt trip. Yes, I am. The Bible requires that you pray and you're going to actually spiritually die. You must pray. The second thing I want to ask you is, ask yourself why you gave up praying for certain things that you used to pray for a lot. Is it for the right reason? Or is it unbelief and fatigue? What I mean by that is there are things that you used to pray for that you just simply gave up. Why? Well, I realized I didn't need that and I was wrong. That's good. That's a good response. Well, I've been doing it for five years and I thought it was a waste of time, so I stopped praying for it. That's the wrong reason. You're to persevere. If the petition is good and righteous, there's no reason to stop. In our family prayer when we're praying, one of the things I pray for are some unbelievers that are related to the church and family members and friends that we know. There's this one young man I mention almost every night. He's the son of one of the girls I went to college with, a good Christian lady who's married, and she asked me many, many years ago to pray for him. I haven't even kept up with her for probably 10 years. And he's, I think, like 40 years old or something, the son is. But we petition God and pray for him. Because as long as he is an unbeliever, I have every reason to pray for him until he dies. When he dies, I will stop praying for him. Our dear friend whom we loved. Our churches prayed for him in our prayer meetings and all. Rudy Depard, a dear friend of ours. We prayed for him for years. When he died we stopped praying. There was a few times it came out because it's so natural to pray for him. There are things you don't give up. There are people you love, you earnestly seek their salvation. Continue to persevere. Do not give up. God is mighty to save, and who knows, you may be the very means that God uses to save that man, woman, or child. Just don't lose heart. If the cause is good, if the petition is right, then do not give up. Storm the gates of heaven, and like that widow, be persistent. So if you ask yourself, why have I given up? It's because I've grown tired of asking these things, and nothing seems to happen. Just like a parent looking at a child, sometimes they wonder, is he really earnest or not? Because you know, kids are fickle. They want this, they want that. I remember once, well, I won't tell the story. But parents are very astute. They figure out what a child really wants most of the time. So ask yourself why you have given up praying for certain things. And the other question is this. In your prayer life, is there a persistence like the persistence of this widow? In your prayers, is there that persistence, that perseverance that you find in this widow who continually wore out this unrighteous judge? Or are you one who prays detached, indifferent, and uninterested? In other words, it's time to pray. You say the words, but your heart is not there. That's not true perseverance. One of the things about how to pray, it talks about being very entreating and not efficacious, earnestness that needs to be in prayer. If this is a true concern, that you should be persistent with all your heart, not with indifference, not with mere words. Like Jesus at the garden, where he prays as if blood was coming out, the sweat that was coming out of his blood, this rigor that's involved in persistence, that should be found in your prayers. You wrestle, that's the image. In Genesis, there's a persistence that requires the rigor of wrestling and praying. You see, it's not a cavalier event. Is there that persistence of this widow? You come to Him over and over. And the last question is this. Whatever the outcome, as you're praying, as you're persistent in praying, Have you found relief even there, not receiving what you asked for, relief just being in the presence of God? There is something refreshing just being in His presence that is good for your soul where you commune with God. You know it is done, the matter is concluded as you petition Him. That's where you want to come to, where you continually cry out, but you know all is well. Even as you cry out to him. And here's why I bring this out. Yes, you're asking for X, Y, and Z. And those are legitimate things. And as you do that, you're saying, I am looking to the Lord and I will petition, I will storm the gates of heaven for them. But in the meantime, there is something sweet and beneficial in coming before my heavenly Father. Lord, if you don't answer in this way, I don't know what to say, but it is good to be in your presence. Can you say something like that? You see, that encourages you to go on more and more. There's something sweet about praying and crying out to him, knowing he hears you, and as you cry, it is not in vain, and the consolation, the encouragement, the joy you receive in coming into his presence. And he told them a parable to the effect that they are always to pray and not lose heart. Brothers and sisters, do not lose heart. He assures you that God will answer. He assures you the world's not gonna help you, but God will answer. And he wants to encourage you to pray and persevere. Let us pray. Our gracious God, you have made this point very simple in this passage. But we confess our flesh is weak and at times so often our spirit is not even willing. But be the God that you are and move all our hearts that we might go to the throne of grace and be the men and women who stormed the gates of heaven to enter into your presence and to cast our burdens upon you because you care for us. O Lord, no matter what, drive us to you, that we might know the sweetness of being in your presence. In Jesus' name, amen. In your hymnals, turn to 531. Come, my soul, thy suit prepare. 531 in your hymnals.