Good morning, church family. If you would take your copy of God's Word, open with me this morning to Luke's gospel, Luke's gospel chapter 18. Chapter 18, as we continue to work our way through the gospel according to Luke on the Lord's Day mornings, and we find ourselves here in this passage as we turn the page to a new chapter this morning in our study. And we give attention to this parable in verses one through eight. Luke's gospel chapter 18, verses one through eight. And as you give attention to the reading of God's word, you can follow along with me as I read aloud as we continue now in a posture of worship through the preaching and teaching of God's word. Verse one reads as follows. And he 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 feared 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 man, 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. And 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? And this morning I'm preaching on this subject, the persistent widow and prayer. And you may be seated if you would pray with me. Heavenly Father, now as we continue to come before your throne and as we continue to worship in a gathered Church, assembled for the very purpose of bringing praise and honor and glory to your name through the preaching of your word, we ask that you would teach us. We ask that as we turn the page in our study according to the gospel according to Luke, that you would strengthen our faith. That we would learn the sense and the meaning and the intent of this passage. that it would be not only rightly preached and explained, but also applied to us. And I pray this morning that as each of us in this room under the hearing of this text preached, and as we consider the truth and the intention of it, and as this text is applied to each of us, that we would submit to the truth of your word. that you would move us, shape us, change us according to your divine word. We ask all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. This is a well-known parable. We turn now the page to Luke's gospel in chapter 18 this morning, and this is a parable that is known by really a couple of different names, depending on whatever the heading might say in your chapter division there. It might be said it's the parable of the persistent widow. It might be said that it's the parable of the unjust judge. Both are true because both are contained in this little story. But as we turn the page here in this passage, what we learn is that this is a parable that is taught by Jesus to his disciples for a very specific purpose. And the interesting thing is, is that right out of the chute, Jesus tells us, even before he tells the story, I'm gonna tell you the meaning of a story I'm about to tell you. And then he tells that the story is about prayer. And then he moves on and he tells the story and then he concludes with a piercing question, something that we should all take to heart this morning. The interesting thing is, is that there are a few different parables that Jesus tells, little stories that he would use for the purpose of instruction. Sometimes he would use a parable for the purpose of judgment, as he would conceal truth from the rebels, but at the very same time as he would reveal truth to his little band of followers, the disciples. And what we find here is that, like the parable of the prodigal son, he tells the meaning of the parable before he tells the parable. Because oftentimes what you find is that people read the parables of Jesus and then they misunderstand them, and then as a result of their misinterpretation, then they abuse people with their own perverted misrepresentation of Jesus' teaching. We have seen this with the prodigal son. It's one of the most difficult parables in many ways to apply and to understand, yet Jesus explains it clearly, and yet people continue to rip it out of its context. We see this with liberals, with the social justice movement. They took the prodigal son and they twisted it into something that it's not. In fact, Nancy Pelosi, in a filibuster before representatives, stood and ripped the parable of the prodigal son out of its proper context and then used it for her own political, devious motivations. Therefore, at times, Jesus provides the key to interpretation and the key to understanding what he's teaching in his parables before he tells the story. And that's exactly what he does here in this little story known as the parable of the persistent widow or the parable of the unjust judge. Let's give attention to this parable as we're going to see. It's a parable not just about justice, although that's certainly taught here. It's not just a parable that teaches us about being persistent, although that's taught here. It's a parable to teach the disciples how they should pray. So we see, first of all, in verse number one, the parable about prayer. And he told them a parable to the effect so that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. So there it is, verse 1, right out of the chute. Jesus is not concealing the truth. He says, this is what this little story is all about. This little story that I'm about to tell you is about how you should pray and not lose heart. And so this morning, as I work through these eight verses, and I seek to explain this little story to you, all along the way, always be mindful of verse one. This is a story about prayer. And this is a story so that you would learn how to pray. And this is a story so that you... So the church at Praise Mill Baptist this morning, gathered here for the purpose of worshiping God, would learn how to pray in such a steadfast way that you would not lose heart. That's the meaning of this little story. The phrase, lose heart, actually in the Greek text means to grow weary. It means to be discouraged. It means to be faint-hearted. And so as we think about that, Jesus says, I'm going to tell you a story so that you would learn how to pray in a way that you would not lose heart. And the interesting thing is, as you read the New Testament, you see passages like in Galatians chapter 6 verse 9 that says this, and let us not grow weary of doing good. For in due season we will reap if we do not give up. statistics show us that as we look at the statistics of Scripture as it pertains to prayer, the subject of prayer, we find, really in many ways, we find prayer that's mentioned a number of times, about 132 times in the Bible, just the word prayer. But if you look at the total subject of prayer, and you see the various different ways in which prayer is described, or taught, or modeled, you find more than 600 times throughout the pages of Scripture, you see God's people praying, or Jesus modeling it, or the apostles teaching it, and so it's an extremely important subject for us to understand. We find verses in the Bible like Jeremiah 29 verse 12. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will hear you. It's a wonderful thing when we think about the way that Jesus teaches on prayer. We find the model prayer there in Matthew chapter number six, also repeated there in Luke chapter 11. Jesus teaches his disciples, pray this way. Sadly, many people have taken the model prayer to be some sort of formula that they repeat over and over and over again. It's not that you shouldn't memorize the Lord's Prayer, you should, but it's not some sort of little potion that you can just repeat with words and empty phrases and expect God to just shower down blessings upon you. The Lord was teaching His disciples how they should pray. We also see in Matthew chapter number six, We see Jesus teaching about private prayer versus hypocritical prayer. We see the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. We're gonna get there here in this very chapter, in chapter number 18, as Jesus teaches something of great importance about prayer, even in that very parable. We also see Jesus teaching in Mark chapter 11 on forgiveness and how we should pray. We also see Jesus teaching about encouragement in prayer and how we should seek and we should be persistent in seeking God. Praying in faith, Mark chapter 11, and of course we see Jesus's prayer in the garden. We see Jesus's prayer as he prays to the Father in the high priestly prayer of John chapter number 17. In fact, in the model prayer, the Lord's Prayer, we often call it, in Matthew 6, verses 9-13, and Luke 11, verses 2-4, we see that the Lord's Prayer is both a pattern and it's also a doctrine of prayer. It demonstrates the fact that we should have a posture of dependence upon God, and we should be praying in a very specific way. We see that modeled before us. We also see that Jesus teaches about praying in such a way that we would have communion with the Father. Key text for this would be Matthew chapter 6, verse 6, or Luke chapter 5, verse 16, or even the high priestly prayer of John 17. Jesus modeled, personally modeled in His own earthly ministry, what it was like to separate Himself from the busyness of ministry and to be alone with the Father in prayer. We should follow in His footsteps. We see Jesus teaching about the importance of trusting in God's sovereign will as we pray. Matthew 6, verse 10, your will be done. Or Matthew 26, 39, not as I will, but as you will. Again, as I repeated last time we were together in Luke's gospel in the previous chapter, We should not read verses like this when Jesus is saying this, not as I will, but as you will, and then think, well, I thought Jesus is God. So when he prays like that, is he somehow saying he's separate from God? No, we have to remember the two distinct natures of Jesus, both his human nature and his divine nature. And we see that in Jesus's prayer life. We also see Jesus praying in such a way that he demonstrates humility. Prayer must be offered up from a humble spirit. We see this in Luke chapter 18, verses nine to 14, the Pharisee and the tax collector. The contrast could not be greater. We see in Matthew chapter six, verse seven, do not heap up empty phrases as the Pharisees do. Because, and you've all sat through prayer services where you heard someone that's standing up and it's almost as if they're trying to impress you with their vocabulary, they're trying to impress you with their knowledge, they're trying to impress you with the way that they sound so spiritual in how they pray. We have to pray with a humble heart. Prayer must be offered up in faith. Mark chapter 11, verses 22 to 24, Whatever you ask in prayer, believe. We have to believe as we pray. We have to have faith that God hears us. These are not just empty prayers that we're just offering up. We're calling upon the Lord. We're begging God to intervene. Sometimes I think that we as cessationists, we've lost the art of what it means to beg God to intervene. so as to not sound charismatic, we're not gonna like weep when we pray, we're not going to cry out to God and beg God to intervene, trusting that God is sovereign and that He hears the prayers of His people, so we try to stay very calm in how we pray. You have to be careful. We have to pray with a real genuineness in how we approach the throne of grace. Not every situation demands that we weep incessantly when we pray, or that we're crying out in utter desperation. No, if you're weeping in utter desperation as you're traveling on your way down I-20 into the city tomorrow to work, you probably need to pull off the exit ramp for everyone else's safety. Not every type of prayer that you pray deserves that type of emotional response or engagement, but it's not always wrong either. Not every way in which we approach the throne of grace should be cookie cutter and the same. If I'm praying for my loved one who's on the street of Scotland on the sidewalk and I think that she's about to die, my daughter, I'm gonna pray very differently there than I am when I'm traveling down the road on a sunny Monday morning on my way to work. just talking to God and praying that there's a different context. And I think you know what I'm driving at there. We should pray to God, asking God to forgive us, and we should also pray asking for God to help us to forgive others. We should also be persistent and bold in our prayer. Remember that Jesus taught this after he modeled what prayer looks like in Luke's gospel chapter number 11. He then goes on and tells the story about a friend who goes to his neighbor at midnight. because he needed bread, because someone had come on a long journey to stay with him and had arrived in the dark of night. And so he goes to his friend at midnight and asks for bread. And then Jesus says something of great importance. In Luke chapter 11, verse nine, he says, and I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. You see, this is how Jesus has already, in Luke's gospel, taught his disciples to pray. And now we come to chapter 18, and we see this little story about the persistent widow, and it falls into the very same context of praying consistently, persistently, and with boldness. You see, faith and perseverance are linked together like a golden chain. You wanna persevere in the faith? Well then pray in the faith. Prayer, in many ways, is a means of grace. And God has called us to be consistently walking with him in prayer. Prayer is essential for the Christian life. So we see this in verse number one. He tells that this story is a story about prayer. So that we would not grow weary. so that we would not throw in the white towel, so that we would not be fainthearted. Now let's look at the story itself. We see the parable of the persistent widow in verses two through five. Now context always matters. When you're studying the Bible, you always have to pay attention to the context. Anyone can just rip something out of its context, twist it, and then apply some other meaning to the passage. So this very story, keep in mind, has a context. In the previous section, in chapter 17, what was Jesus doing? Remember the whole context in the previous passage? You remember that the Pharisees asked Jesus a question about the days of the coming of the Son of Man. And then Jesus responds, He says something to the Pharisees, and then He turns to His disciples and He explained what it would be like when the Son of Man returns. But if you'll remember, not only does he explain what it would be like in those last days when the Son of Man returns, but he also made a very clear statement. He said, but, he then talked about the fact that the Son of Man must suffer many things by this present generation. In other words, yes, this is what it's going to be like when the Son of Man comes, and you shouldn't be looking for all these signs and wonders and seasons so that you can name the day or the hour when the Son of Man comes. But by the way, before all that comes, something else is going to happen, and then he talks about the fact that he's going to be persecuted. He's going to be crucified on a cross. And so context matters. And what's happening in this very context, remember in the original Greek, there were no chapter divisions. There was not chapter 17 of Luke, and then after you get to the end of chapter 17, now there's a division, and there's chapter 18. He talked about the coming of the Son of Man in chapter 17, and now a new chapter, fresh and anew, completely disconnected from that other stuff. Chapter 18, he tells a little story. It's not the way you should read the Bible. It's connected. You see, Jesus said that he must suffer at the hands of this present generation. If you back up from chapter 17 to Luke chapter 9, he had already told his disciples that if you want to follow me, you have to deny yourself and take up your cross daily and follow after me. So he's been teaching his disciples that the cost of following Jesus was gonna be a pathway of pain. It's gonna be suffering, there's gonna be trial, there's gonna be tribulation, there's gonna be difficulty. Then he moves his way along, fixes his face towards the city of Jerusalem, and then scene after scene, Jesus is teaching his disciples that they're gonna have to suffer too. He's preparing them. But then we see he talks about himself suffering in chapter 17, and now he, in chapter 18, tells a story about prayer, and you say, how is all that connected? Look at verse number eight. If you look at verse number eight, what you see is, nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth, you see the link here? Here's how the son of man's gonna return, chapter 17, tells a little story, says in verse one, this is all about prayer, and then you come down to verse eight, and then he says, when the son of man comes, will he find faith on earth? He asks the question. This story is connected to what he just talked about in chapter 17. And what he's doing here is he's preparing this little band of disciples that they would know how to endure through trial and tribulation and difficulty and persecution, and how, what is the golden key? The golden key, according to Jesus, is that you would learn how to pray. That you would learn how to pray. You see, all of these All of these disciples that he's looking into their faces and telling this little story about the persistent widow and the unjust judge, they all suffered greatly. Every last one of them. And almost every one of them were martyred for their faith. You see, this is what Paul would say in 2 Timothy 3, verse 12. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. It's connected, what Paul is saying there to Timothy as a young pastor in a very difficult context of Ephesus is very much connected to what Jesus was teaching his disciples in this very text. You see, we have to learn to persevere through difficulties, and the golden key is prayer. Well, let's look at the scene of this little story that Jesus tells. Jesus introduces two contrasting characters, a judge who neither feared God nor respected man, contrasted with a widow who persistently was seeking justice in the face of her adversary. Notice the evil judge. In many ways, the evil judge represents the unjust authority. and the difficulty of his people who would find themselves walking through very difficult circumstances. Just read the book of James. Just read other passages of scripture. Read what Peter writes in the New Testament. And so, what we find is that this evil judge is a judge who had authority, but he did not love the things that God loves, and he did not hate the things that God hates, and he refused to love God supremely, and he did not love his neighbor as himself. The interesting thing is, in the history of Israel, in the Old Testament, you see examples of this type of thing that's being put on display in this little story. In 2 Chronicles chapter 19, Jehoshaphat appointed judges. And notice what it says here about the appointment of judges in 2 Chronicles chapter 19 in the history of Israel. Notice. He appointed judges in the land, in all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city, and said to the judges, quote, Consider what you do. For you judge not for man, but for the Lord. He is with you in giving judgment. Now then, let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with the Lord our God, or partiality, or taking bribes." Israel knew exactly what it was like to have righteous judges, And they also knew what it was like to have unrighteous judges. For if you go to the book of Judges in the Old Testament, what you find in chapter 21 is a very sad commentary of Israel's history. For what does it say about that time period? For everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes. Another example of this type of thing in Israel's history is the well-known Shema. You find that prayer that's recited every single day by faithful Israelites in Deuteronomy chapter number 6. It's repeated by Jesus in Mark 12 when one of the scribes came up to him and asked a question of Jesus. And the question was this, which commandment is the most important of all? And in verse 29 of Mark chapter 12, Jesus answered, the most important is, and then he quotes the well-known text from Deuteronomy chapter 6, the Shema. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. In other words, that's the totality of who you are. Love God supremely. Fear him, love him. But then he goes further and says, the second commandment is this, verse 31, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. You come from that Old Testament text to the New Testament when Jesus cites Deuteronomy chapter six, and now you come to Luke chapter 18 and he tells this little story, and the judge in this story that Jesus talks about is the exact opposite of the way that this judge should be. He was a wicked ruler, one who did not love and fear God. and a judge who refused to love his neighbor as himself. He wouldn't have treated that widow that way if he did what Jehoshaphat said to the judges in 2 Chronicles 19. Remember when you go out to judge that the Lord is with you, Yahweh is with you. There's no partiality with Him. It's pure justice. There's no judge taking a bribe. And then we go to the well-known text that was greatly debated during COVID, Romans 13. What is Romans 13 all about? It's about righteous judgment, and it's about the way that a peaceful society should operate under the powers that have been instituted by God. Romans 13 verses 1 through 5, let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Stop there. Every single ruling authority, every single representative of the state of Georgia, every president of the United States of America has been instituted by God. Therefore, verse 2, Whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment." Stop there. If those who are in power understand that their power has been given to them by God, and they rule righteously, and they judge with pure justice, then those who would resist such leadership are in opposition, not just to that ruler, but to God. But the problem becomes when they judge unrighteously, like they did during COVID. Notice verse three. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Stop there. Good conduct doesn't look like churches wanting to assemble on the Lord's day. Good conduct doesn't look like churches standing for the pre-born in the state capitol building in Atlanta, Georgia. Would you have? Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good and you will receive his approval. Stop there. Not necessarily. You will receive his approval if he's judging righteously, but what happens when he judges unrighteously? You will be under his judgment. That was the problem during COVID. It's the problem even at this present hour, as unrighteous leaders do not recognize that their authority comes from God. Verse 4, for he is God's deacon. You said, my copy of Scripture says servant. That's actually what it says, servant. In the Greek, it's literally diakonos, for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore, one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience. That's why there is a such thing as the death penalty. God has placed in the hands of those rulers the sword And he's not placed the keys, he's placed the sword in their hands. This judge in this text is an unrighteous judge. This judge in this text is not doing what he's called to do according to Romans 13. He's not doing what he's called to do according to the law of God. So here's what we need to be mindful of. Every judge, every lawmaker, every politician, every representative, every person in a seat of power and authority is placed there by God and will give an account to God for how they rule. Their duty is to uphold justice. But we live in a time, we live in a day and age where Pure, righteous justice has been replaced with false categories like social justice and DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion. It's a tragedy. That's why recently, there was a statement that was released by the White House, March 18th, 2025, with one of the headings at the bottom of the announcement that stated, Serving America, Not Ideological Agendas. President Trump is restoring fairness and accountability in federal hiring and terminating DEI across the federal government. In his first week in office, President Trump signed an executive order restoring merit-based hiring and promotions across the federal government. President Trump also signed an executive order ending radical and wasteful DEI programs and preferencing. President Trump went on record as stating the following, quote, we will terminate every diversity, equity, and inclusion program across the entire federal government, end quote. This past week, headlines in the newspaper, on your tablet, on your iPhone, pop-ups that read this way, quote, K-12 schools must sign certification against DEI in order to receive federal money, end quote. And this is a good thing. And if anyone should be shouting from the rooftops, amen, it should be the church of Jesus Christ. Because DEI, social justice, those radical leftist ideologies are from the sewer of hell. And they are, at their very core, racist to the bone. And we should be the ones saying amen to it. True biblical justice is impartial. It's righteous. You should not walk up to Delta and say, I'm here, you should hire me because of my melanin percentages. You should not walk into some Mayo Clinic and say, I'm here as a surgeon. You should hire me not on the basis of my performance in the classroom, not on the basis of my performance as an understudy, not on the basis of my knowledge in the medical field, but simply on the basis of the fact that I have a different melanin percentage. You should not walk into a school system and say, I should be promoted and I should be brought up the ladder of achievement on the basis that I have a different melanin percentage or on the basis that I'm female and I'm not a male. That's injustice. And we've had unjust judges in our history of our nation. In 1857, the Dred Scott decision of the Supreme Court stated the following, quote, that slaves were not persons under the Constitution and were to be treated as mere personal property of their owners, end quote. That's a tragedy, and that's what unjust judgment looks like. In 1973, Roe v. Wade decision of the Supreme Court legalized abortion across the nation, giving mothers the freedom to murder their pre-born child. That's unjust. That's what an unjust judge looks like. And those two cases alone cost millions of people their lives. If you take the Civil War into consideration, and if you take all the pre-born babies that have been slaughtered, millions of babies have died. That's what this unjust judge looks like in this story. And then there's a widow, the scene. Widows were the most vulnerable people in Israel's history. They were overlooked as women. They were overlooked as widows. They did not have a husband to care and to provide, and if they did not have children that could care for them, then they were neglected. And so here's the contrast. Powerful, unjust, unrighteous, wicked judge who refuses to bow to God and refuses to love the widow as himself, which was his duty. That's the story. Here's the sentence in verse number four and five. Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming. The Greek phrase here, beat me down, is actually a word in the Greek that could mean two different things. One, it means to punch someone right up under the eye and leave a big black eye. Or it could be used to mean someone who is so persistent in their appeal to an individual that it wears them down through relentless annoyance. Obviously, I think if you're a parent in this room today of teenagers, you probably don't necessarily identify with the first definition of being punched under the eye to leave a black eye, hopefully. But you do identify with that second definition at some level, right? persistently trying to wear you down. Dad, please, can I do this? Mom, can I please? Dad, please, will you give me this? Mom, will you just allow me this opportunity, this privilege? This was the intensity of her persistence as she would come before the judge because she had been wronged. I just want justice. I just want justice. Will you give me justice? And the judge was ignoring her. She's just a widow. And when I read this story, I can't help, my mind just goes there. It goes to the scene when John Bunyan was placed in prison for 12 years for preaching the gospel. Bedford, England. The tinker, a metal worker, a poor man, a preacher, powerful preacher, placed in prison for what? Preaching the gospel. His wife had died. As his wife had died, he had children to care for, and so he marries another woman named Elizabeth. And so she's the stepmom to these children, one of which is blind. And here she is trying to care for these little children. She's a peasant woman. She's not married to a CEO of a Fortune 500 company. She's married to a tinker, a metal worker. And so she's just having to live on the benevolence of others. And she goes to beseech the judges on behalf of her husband, John Bunyan, who's in prison. And this is the scene. She's begging for his release, and one of the judges, as she's there before a panel of judges, says, would he stop preaching? Elizabeth says, my Lord, he dares not leave off preaching as long as he can speak. The judge says, What is the need of talking? Elizabeth says, there is need for this, my Lord, for I have four small children that cannot help themselves, of which one is blind, and we have nothing to live upon but the charity of good people. One of the judges, Matthew Hale, with pity, asked if she really has four children, being so young, and Elizabeth said, my Lord, I am but mother-in-law, or stepmother to them, having not been married to him full two years. Indeed, I was with child when my husband was first apprehended, but being young and unaccustomed to such things, I, being smade at the news, fell into labor and so continued for eight days, and then was delivered, but my child died. Judge Hale was moved, but other judges were hardened and spoke against him. He is a mere tinker, they said. Elizabeth, yes, and because he is a tinker and a poor man, therefore he is despised and cannot have justice. One Mr. Chester is enraged and says that Bunyan will preach and do as he wishes. In other words, he's just a lawless individual. And Elizabeth responds and says, he preacheth nothing but the word of God. Mr. Twisdon, in a rage, says, he runneth up and down and doeth harm. Elizabeth, no, my lord. It is not so. God hath owned him and done much good by him. And then an angry man, one of the judges said, his doctrine is the doctrine of the devil. And this is the boldness of his wife, young as though she might have been. This is the way she looks into the face of that judge and says, my Lord, when the righteous judge shall appear, it will be known that his doctrine is not the doctrine of the devil. Bunyan's biographer comments, Elizabeth Bunyan was simply an English peasant woman. Could she have spoken with more dignity had she been a crowned queen? When she says, when the righteous judge shall appear, she's not only putting that judge on notice that the righteous judge shall appear, but she is contrasting him with the righteous judge. In other words, you are an unrighteous judge. Scripture reminds us that judges hold a divine mandate for justice. And yet we find that even in our present day, that there are representatives and judges who refuse to do what is right. Even in recent days, as more than 60 members of this congregation were there at the Capitol building in Atlanta, Georgia, and I was trying to watch and listen to that testimony on really, really, really bad quality internet in the Andes Mountains. and I was hearing my friends and I was hearing individuals like my brother Virgil here from this church giving testimony before those representatives, by the way, give a real good testimony of this legislation, you have 60 seconds, go. It's almost laughable. And while Virgil was sitting there in the hot seat to give a testimony before these representatives in the state of Georgia, one of those representatives who holds a seat of authority was sitting there with handwritten signs with her face over the top of it, mocking him. And I just hear the words of Elizabeth in my mind, when the righteous judge shall appear. There's not gonna be any more celebration of baby murder on planet Earth ever, ever, ever again. But how is the church today? You say, apply this. You're going off on all these tangents. I'm not running down rabbit trails. Bear with me. How does this church remain steadfast and stand for the pre-born when lawmakers and representatives mock the church? I'll tell you how. The golden key is prayer. That's what Jesus is teaching us this morning. Don't you see it? It's right there in verse one. When there's an unrighteous judge, when there's an unrighteous representative, when there's an unrighteous president, when there's an unrighteous king, when there's an unrighteous Supreme Court, the church is to persevere all the way to the very end with the golden key of prayer that unlocks every single lock in the dungeon. These representatives are evil. They do not fear God. We're called to fear God and we're called to love God supremely and to love our neighbor as ourself. Now, here's the lesson, the parable's lesson for the disciples. And will not God give justice to his elect? who cry to Him day and night, will He be long over them? I tell you, He will give justice to them speedily. In other words, when the Son of Man comes, it's going to be like a lightning bolt, and justice shall come. He's going to make all things new. There's not going to be weeping or crying or pain or death anymore for the former things have passed away. Justice in the purest of forms will come. He's going to separate the goats from the sheep, and He's going to welcome the sheep into His kingdom, and His throne will have no end. He's going to send the goats off into everlasting hell. And how do we persevere through trial? How do we persevere with the cross on our shoulder, walking in the footsteps of Jesus, denying ourself and taking up his cross daily and following after Jesus? Here's the golden key, it's prayer. Be persistent in prayer. Be steadfast in prayer. Pray in faith believing. Maintain a positive, not only a positive posture, but a posture of dependence in prayer. pray with confidence, knowing that God actually does delight in answering the petitions and the requests and the prayers of his people. So many times people in, so many times people in reformed circles, they get off on this tangent thinking, well now, if God is sovereign, and he's sovereign over all things, then why in the world do we pray? Because I mean, like, all things are gonna happen according to his perfect will anyways. And then there's another question that goes along that same lines. And it's like, well, if God is sovereign and he's going to save everyone according to his good and perfect will, then why do we even need to take up an offering this afternoon for missions? And why did we send that team to Ecuador last week? And why do we pray for the nations? And why do we pray for the church in Saudi Arabia? It's because God delights to answer the prayers of his people. When seasons of temptation arise, what do you do? You pray. John Owen said, if we do not abide in prayer, we will abide in temptation. When seasons of blessing abound and it seems like, man, I'm on the mountaintop of life, life is good, life couldn't possibly be better, what should you do then? You should pray. Rejoice in the Lord. When seasons of trial and tribulation encompass you, what should you do? You should learn to pray. And there are examples of this. Not only did Jesus teach us this, but what we see in Acts chapter 16 is Paul and Silas were doing what at midnight? We oftentimes say, they were singing. They were singing. but they were praying and they were singing. And they weren't just praying and then saying, okay, now let's stop and let's sing. They were praying and then they were praying as they were singing. Prayer is the key that unlocks God's treasures of mercy according to Thomas Watson. So here's the point. Pray when you feel like it and pray when you don't feel like it. Pray when things are good at your job, and pray when things are not good at your job. Pray when you get a good health checkup from your doctor, and pray when your doctor comes in with a very grim diagnosis. Pray when your politician that you support is elected, and then pray when your politician that you voted for is actually defeated. And pray when the stock market is high, and then pray like the stock market is right now, when it's low. Let your mornings and your afternoons and your evenings be marked with much prayer. And there's one more verse. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth? Hey church, we're gonna have a real big barbecue. It's gonna be lots of cakes on the dessert table, activities for the children. It's gonna be packed out. Hey church, we're gonna gather and we're not gonna have any entertainment. It's gonna be an hour of prayer. And church will be empty. And we forget that we live in a world where on February 22nd, the news headline of the morning was 70 Christians were beheaded in an African country because ISIS alleged militants went down and they dragged all the Christians out of that little community and took them down to a building that they worship and they beheaded them in the middle of that auditorium that they call a church building with machetes. And when the grim diagnosis comes, Oh, I remember, it's office at praisemill.com. Would you please put this on the prayer sheet? Every single Wednesday evening, we gather for prayer, and we pray for the church in other nations, the church in Saudi Arabia this month. We pray for our church needs. We pray for supplications. We petition God's throne on behalf of this body. And some people can't come. And some people can come, but don't come. And then once a month on the Lord's Day afternoon, We don't have anything else going on, and it's just a simple 60-minute prayer meeting in the church auditorium, and we pray over categories of president, politicians, local government, pray for the petitions and needs of our church family, and we pray for the church and other nations and missionaries and church planters, and then we go home. And I'll tell you why it is that in most churches, the prayer meeting either doesn't exist or it's very, very empty when they have one. Because it is easier to eat cake than it is to pray. It's easier to say, I'm all about koinonia. I mean, sign me up for that one. I want koinonia. I want real fellowship. I want fellowship in my homes. I want fellowship at church. I want fellowship groups. I want all this stuff. It's real easy to chop wood about your commitment to fellowship. It's not easy to pray. Praying is more difficult than going home and watching the race, or watching baseball, or watching football. Praying is more difficult than fishing. You have to deny yourself, deny your flesh, and be intentional about it, and say, I want to come, and I don't want to be distracted, I don't want to be entertained, I don't want to taste the wonderful cake, I just want to beg God for 60 minutes. And we live in a culture that says, I want to watch these reels on my phone, I want that body, what pill do I take? Because you don't want to go run. And you don't want to go to the gym at 4 o'clock in the morning. It's called discipline. And here's the point. Prayer is not only a means of grace, but it's a discipline. And it's hard. Dear friend, I recognize that there's some pointed application at the end of this sermon, but as your pastor, I'm looking at your face today because I know that I'm responsible for shepherding your soul. But I want to be dead level honest with everyone in this room, from the balcony down to the floor, from the front to the back row, in every section of this church this morning, not to make eye contact with just one person, but with the whole church. If you look at me, And you say, pastor, I really wanna disciple children. I mean, I wanna pour into them. I want those little children of this church to know the gospel and to know the word of God, and I wanna work in the nursery, and I wanna work in the catechism classes, and I wanna teach the children. and you don't ever show up for the prayer service, I don't believe you. I don't believe you. Spurgeon says, prayer pulls the rope below, and the great bell rings above in the ears of God. Some scarcely stir the bell, for they pray so languidly. Others give but an occasional pluck at the rope. But he who wins with heaven is the man who grasps the rope boldly and pulls continuously with all his might. And that is my dream for this church. That it wouldn't just be a full fellowship hall, smiling over barbecue chicken and wonderful cakes, but it would be a packed out church for the prayer service. If you're in this room today a genuine follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, ask yourself this question, have I been negligent in prayer? Have I prayed and learned to pray not only in public but also in private? Have I given myself over to pray the way that God has taught? And if you're in this room today and you say, I've never bowed the knee to Christ Jesus, the very first response to the grace of God in your heart in life is that you would pray, is that you would call upon the Lord who is good. Romans 10, 9 and 10, because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Turn to the Lord today. Call upon the Lord who is good, the righteous judge who saves sinners. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. May God grant us renewed strength and perseverance in prayer and genuine faithfulness as we await the return of the Son of Man. And when He returns, and if He returns this afternoon, may it be true that He would find this church in faith. Let's bow and praise