It's always a bit of a challenge to follow Dr. Olinger, but we have this little deal worked out. He does his best to make me look tall, which he does well, and to make me look hairy. And that's not hard for him, neither of those. And I do my best to make him sound intelligent and entertaining, which is not hard for me. Let me get you to turn please to Luke chapter 18. More than any other gospel writer, Luke often tells us exactly why, sometimes particularly to whom, what target audience Jesus has in mind for certain parables. In fact, if you look at Luke 18 verse 9, he does that in connection with the parable of the Pharisee and the publican. When Luke tells us that he spoke this parable into certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. He does the same thing in Luke chapter 19 before a parable there. He does the same thing back in Luke chapter 13. Our focus this morning is on the previous parable in Luke 18. So look, if you would, please, at Luke 18, verse 1. He spoke a parable unto them, to this end, that men ought always to pray, ought to keep on praying, and not to faint, not to lose heart. In his book, Knocking on Heaven's Door, A New Testament Theology of Petitionary Prayer, the author David Crump opens with this personal illustration. These are literally the first words in this book. He says, The young woman entering my church office was a stranger to me, but it took only a moment to discern she'd been crying for a long time. Her sobs were more groans than sighs. I sat waiting and praying, asking for wisdom. After a few moments, she told me why she why she had come to my door. Only the day before, her best friend had died of cancer in the prime of life, leaving behind a husband and several small children. That's something worth crying over, but that's not all. This young woman now found herself mourning not one, but two shocking deaths, for she discovered that her own Christian faith had begun to die soon after her friend. Both women had attended the same church, Once the cancer was diagnosed, only a few months earlier, the pastor had organized an around-the-clock, seven-days-a-week prayer vigil. He told everyone that they would storm the gates of heaven, claim their sister's healing in the name of Jesus, and if only they had enough faith, they would prove that God who brings healing is still more powerful than the devil who breeds cancer. So the church prayed, and the woman died. And now this broken, deflated woman stared at me through swollen eyes and asked, Pastor, why did God lose? How can the devil be more powerful than Jesus? Luke 18, 1. He spoke a parable unto them to this end that men ought to keep on praying and not lose heart. In other words, the parable that Jesus teaches here is designed to teach us to be persistent in prayer. We're familiar with that terminology. That people should keep on praying and never give up praying. Why would we need to be encouraged to keep on praying? Why would we need to be encouraged not to become disheartened? What does that terminology imply? That nothing seems to be happening when I pray. That it doesn't seem to be doing any good. That God doesn't seem to be answering or moving or even hearing from all appearances. Have you ever felt like that? Some of you have. Some of you felt like that this morning. Some of you may feel like that now. So why should we keep praying under those kinds of circumstances? What does the Lord say to motivate us to keep praying under those kinds of circumstances? Well, let's look at it. Verse two, here's what he said. There was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither regarded man. In other words, he didn't care about God, he didn't care about people. And there was a widow in that city, and she came to him saying, avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while, 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." Let me pause there and just kind of back out of it for a second. Why does Jesus tell this story in this context? Why is it placed right here in Luke? To get a sense of the context, let me get you to look back at verse 17 and verse 20. That's a natural break in the context, and what you find in 17 verse 20 is that they were demanding, the Pharisees were demanding of him when the kingdom of God should come. Look at verse 24 of chapter 17. As the lightning that lighteneth out of one part under the heaven shineth under the other part under heaven, so shall also the Son of Man be in his day. That's referring to the coming of the Son of Man, the return of Christ. Verse 26. And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days also of the Son of Man. And verse 30, even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. He's been talking about the coming of the Son of Man, His own return. So the overall topic here is the coming of the Son of Man. Now look how Jesus ends the parable that we're focused on. Look at verse 8 of chapter 18. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth? In other words, Jesus is tying this parable right into that context of the talking about His coming. There's a significant point of contact here. So against that backdrop, let's look a little bit more closely at exactly what Jesus is teaching in chapter 18. Verse 1, Luke tells us why He tells the story. Verses 2 to 5, He tells the story. And we tend to emphasize verse 3. We tend to turn our attention to the widow, right? And make the widow and her continual coming the message of the parable. But that's not what Jesus does. He does not call our attention to the widow. If we focus on the widow, we are missing Jesus' point in telling us this parable in the first place. What specific part of the story does Jesus draw our attention to? Look at verse 6. The Lord said, not look at the widow, listen to the widow, watch the widow, but hear what the unjust judge says. Listen to the words that come out of his mouth. Rewind the tape and listen to that. Hear what he says and what it reveals about his character. Jesus doesn't direct our attention to the widow. He never mentions the widow again. He wants us to listen to the unjust judge. in 4b and 5. So let's do that. Let's do what Jesus said to do. Let's listen to him again. Go back to verse 4. He said within himself, though I fear not God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her lest by her continual coming she weary me. And some of you have a marginal note that weary me has the idea of a hit in the eye, a black eye, lest she make me look bad or just annoy me to death. Now, why does Jesus call attention to that part of the parable? We want to look at the widow. We want to take the widow as our example. Jesus wants us to listen to the judge. Why does he draw attention to that? What does he do with that? How does Jesus interpret and apply his own parable? Isn't that what we want to know? Look at verse 7. Hear what the unjust judge says. We've replayed that. We've rewound that. Now, and verse 7, and shall not God, in contrast to the judge, avenge his own elect, in contrast to just a random widow? These are his elect, these are his chosen. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with them? I tell you, when Jesus says, I tell you, that arrests our attention, I'm telling you, he shall avenge them swiftly. And the word there can be translated soon. It can mean soon, but it's very clear here that it can't mean soon. If you don't notice in the text why that's the case, I'll point it out in just a moment. But I want you to hear the tension, almost the contradiction in those lines in verses seven and eight. You've got this urgent, ongoing request crying out to him day and night. Which obviously implies what? If we're asking and asking and asking day and night, we keep asking, we keep asking because we haven't received yet. He hasn't answered yet. There's delay. Like the unjust judge delays and yet not like the unjust judge. Delay is implied. Delay is why we need to be exhorted to keep on praying and not become disheartened. So here's the tension. On the one hand, you've got divine delay, verse 7. God's elect crying out to Him day and night and God's bearing long with them. And on the other hand, at the same time, divine eagerness in verse 8. I tell you, He will avenge them swiftly. He can't wait. to right wrongs, to do justice. The assurance that God will avenge speedily, swiftly, because they are His elect ones. How do you reconcile those two? I mean, if God is so eager, why does He delay? How do we make sense of that? If God really cares that much about justice, and really cares about his chosen ones, then why doesn't he always answer immediately and intervene right away, especially when his children are in genuine danger or pain or suffering? Why didn't he deliver John the Baptist? Yeah, well, John the Baptist was old. He was ready today. John the Baptist was not old. John the Baptist was six months older than Jesus. He died when he was about 30. Sounds old to some of you, I'm sure. Why didn't he intervene and deliver James in Acts 12, who was executed by Herod? Why didn't he step in and deliver Robert Murray McShane, who died at the age of 29? Godly young pastor, Scottish pastor. Why didn't he intervene and deliver your brother who died in a car accident? And if we're talking about believers, my question is, didn't he? Didn't he deliver in all those cases? He did, if you understand and believe that this little window of time that we call life and that we are so all fired obsessed with, as all there is to real reality, If you understand and believe that this little box of time, this little window of time that we call life, is not all there is. It is a fractional part of reality. It is a fractional part of the scope in which God works and operates. Meaningfully. That's part of the answer. But we're not done with Jesus' teaching from the parable yet. Look at verse 8. I tell you, He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? That question that he ends with raises doubt, but it's an open-ended question. It's not a foregone conclusion. We know that because the whole reason he's telling us all this in the first place is so that we will not give up praying and not become disheartened. But the real failure that the passage is seeking to counter here is not merely a failure to pray, as though God is really concerned just to keep us busy. The activity of prayer is important to keep us busy and preoccupied and distracted. It's not prayer for prayer's sake that's significant. And the failure that the passage is trying to counter is not merely a failure to pray. That's an important issue. But it's only an external symptom of a deeper issue. Because when you get to the end of Jesus' application of the parable in verse 8, what you discover is that the root failure Jesus is addressing is a failure of faith that leads to a failure to pray, a giving up on prayer, a disengaging from God. A failure of faith in what? Well, the text literally reads, Will he find the faith on the earth? And I would argue, suggest to you that the article there, the, is functioning as a demonstrative pronoun. Will he find that faith? What faith? Faith in, confidence in, belief in the truth that he has just been communicating about the character of God. It reads like this, shall not God avenge his own elect who cried day and night to him, even though he bears long with them? I tell you, he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the sentiment comes, will he find that faith, that confidence, that belief in the earth? Jesus taught this parable not to encourage us to be like the widow, but to remind us that God is not like this unjust judge, even when it seems like it sometimes. He wants to confirm our confidence in the character of God. Specifically what? Well, his compassionate awareness of his children, his chosen ones. You could say that's the emotional point of the passage of the parable. But also his passionate commitment to justice on their behalf, you could call that the theological point of the parable, that God is just. emotionally engaged in his people. He cares about his chosen ones. He's also a righteous, just God. So that, in spite of long delays where God does not seem to answer, we should never lose heart, but keep praying with confident faith in God's character. That's the applicational point of the parable. The parables function, as I'm sure you know, by making a point of contact with reality. Some parables focus on a point of similarity, some parables focus on a point of dissimilarity, some parables do both. In fact, any parable that focuses on dissimilarity has to have some points of similarity just to make the story work or there wouldn't be any points of connection. And there are actually three points of comparison, likeness between God and the unjust judge that make the story work. How is God like this unjust judge? Well, he's a judge like the unjust judge. In other words, he's in a position to do something about injustice, to intervene. God is a judge. But like the unjust judge finally does in the story, God will also do justice. There's a second point of comparison. The unjust judge does finally do justice in the end. He avenges the widow and God, we are assured, will in the end do justice. So there's a second point of comparison. And thirdly, as with the unjust judge, and this is the one that really bothers us, as with the unjust judge, there may be delay. God may delay intervening from our standpoint. But even those points of comparison underscored the vast differences between God and this unjust judge. The unjust judge is, well, he's unjust. And God is unfailingly, flawlessly just and righteous. Secondly, the unjust judge doesn't regard, he doesn't care about people, but God cares deeply, not only because he's righteous, but because he's dealing with his elect, his chosen ones, his children. The second point of dissimilarity between God and this judge. And thirdly, the unjust judge acts slowly and unwillingly and purely out of self-interest, but God is so eager to intervene that when the time comes to act, he will execute justice swiftly. I mean, boom! When the time comes, God's pent-up patience and long-suffering will burst forth into a flowing stream of justice and righting wrongs in a world in which dwells righteousness. God is not like an unjust judge who needs to be badgered and cajoled and begged into doing right or answering the cries of his elect. God is already deeply motivated by his own character by His care for His people so that pleading and begging and trying to persuade God and show Him how sincere we are and find the right words and God is not like Baal in 1 Kings 18. He's not waiting for you to jump up and down and figuratively cut yourself and do extravagant things to show your emotion and to try to get Him somehow to answer. God's not like that. He is not like that. You do not have to prove to him how sincere you are or how much you hurt to get him to answer. He's omniscient. He knows how much you hurt. He knows what you want. We don't have to inform him of anything. We don't have to persuade him of anything. That's not what this parable is about. Begging and pleading and trying to persuade and prompt him is not necessary, but confidence, faith, that is, in God's character and in his coming vindication is necessary so that we don't lose heart and quit praying and disengage from God. I'll say it again. It's not about the widow. It's about the unjust judge. So it's not about us and our praying and our persuading and how hard we pray. It's about God and how compassionate and righteous he really is that keeps us wanting to pray and confident in praying. I would describe the message of the parable this way. Never give up praying because God is just and eager and certain to vindicate his children swiftly. when the time comes. It may be in this life, it may not. But if it's not, that doesn't diminish the legitimacy of the justice and the vindication at all. So how do we apply this? Well, the specific context for this is really one of vindication. There are several words that indicate avenge, vindicate, unjust, all those are related terms. And the particular focus in the parable and even in Jesus application is one of vindication, one of God stepping in, intervening and righting wrongs, righting injustices. And there are places in the earth right now where those kinds of concerns are uppermost in some of God's people's minds because they're facing situations that demand that. And there have been and will be times, periods in church history, when such concerns and pleas are uppermost in the minds of God's people. Revelation tells us that during the tribulation, power, authority will be granted to the beast to fight, to make war against the saints, and to prevail. He's going to win for some time, and many of them are going to lose their lives. And I can promise you a concern for justice and righteousness in the earth is going to dominate their thinking at that time, the thinking of the people of God. Read Revelation 6 and the cry of the souls of the martyrs under the altar. But the principle, I think, is certainly more widely applicable than that, that men ought to keep on praying and never quit praying in light of certain realities of his character and his promises. So this parable is not about believing in prayer. It's not about the power of prayer. It's not about any special power of persistence in prayer that finally hammers on God's door long enough to finally get Him to answer. That's not what's going on here. Jesus draws no more attention to the widow. His focus is on the unjust judge and how unlike God is from that. This is about believing in God. It's about believing in the character of God. That's what gives prayer all of its power and efficacy in the first place because of who we are praying to. and the nature of our relationship to Him and His to us. We need confidence in the character of God. We also need a broader understanding of the scope of reality in which God operates. What is real and meaningful is not limited to this fleeting little life that we are so focused on and so obsessed with. David Crump, the author I mentioned at the beginning of the message, writes about this passage. Luke's setting tells us that the parable of the unjust judge and the persistent widow is not about the power of repetitive prayer to move God. If it were, he would have called attention to the widow, if that was the point. It's not about the power of repetitive prayer to move God. The story confronts the desperate pastoral situations arising any time that prayer seems unanswered. Will we stop believing? Will we give up on prayer or on God? Consequently, he says, the parable also resoundingly shuts the door against any suggestion that increased repetition is the solution to our problems. Now, nobody wants to discourage anybody from repeatedly praying. After all, the whole parable assumes crying out to God day and night. It assumes repetition. But the point is, it's not the persistence that gives the prayer its power. It's not the persistence that finally gets God to answer because God's not like that judge. He is already eagerly on your side. He is flawlessly righteous. and fully aware. So it's not that we just have to pray more and louder and more agonizingly finally to get God to answer. The parable resoundingly shuts the door against any suggestion that increased repetition is the solution to our problems. Faith in the character of God, that's the solution to our problems. confidence in the character of God and his relation to us. And then he says this, this is much later in the book, he's talking about, he's working through the theology of this parable, David Crump is, and then he says this in this context, the young woman mentioned in this book's introduction, draped over a chair in my office, weeping because her dearest friend had died that night, faced just such a challenge. No doubt her pastor would suggest that the church had not started to pray early enough, that they had not pleaded earnestly or forcefully or frequently enough. God, God is not stingy. God is not, you know, I would have saved her if you just prayed one more time. That is so unlike God. The pastor would suggest no doubt that they had not started to pray early enough, that they had not pleaded earnestly or forcefully or frequently enough, and yet she had begged God for healing. Desperately, persistently shedding tears night and day while fasting and renouncing any and all earthly pleasures, if only God would restore her friend's health. Had she been flogged in a communist prison, her pain could not have been more palpable. But the young mother had died. And now my visitor found herself trapped in the parenthetical position of waiting blindly between the ages. Would she continue to believe in the ancient gospel promises of a father who saves each of our tears in his bottle, of a savior whose coming will redeem all our waiting? I feared that my visitor was teetering on the precipice, ready to let go of prayer as she slowly toppled into the darkness. And when you let go of prayer, that's where you topple. When you disengage from God, you end up in darkness. And then he concludes, when the Son of Man comes, will he find her praying? It's exactly what the parable is asking and what it's urging. He says, I pray that he will. Persistence in prayer is our calling, but it's not our confidence. Christ grounds our confidence in prayer, not in our persistence, but in our God. Not merely in his power, his ability to answer, but more specifically in his character, his willingness, his eagerness to vindicate his chosen ones. Jesus throws all the weight of his teaching and application onto one side of this parable, how we view God, especially when he seems to be inactive or uncaring. And Christ is urging us through this parable. When it looks that way, it's not. It is as if Christ is saying, I can't tell you how invested God is in you, in your life, in your concerns, in your pains, how eager He is to intervene and side with His children when that time comes. So when, if He does delay, it is always for other just and loving reasons. And we can rest prayingly in that confidence. We can pray restingly in that confidence so that when the Son of Man comes, he will find that faith in us. Lord, we ask that you would grace us, your chosen ones, to keep on believing these truths to keep on believing in the character of God when appearances around us seem to say the opposite about Him. And that you would help us, Lord, to never quit praying so that when you come, you will find that faith in us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.