LUKE 18:1-8 KEEP ON PRAYING2013 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 18:1-8 Keep On Praying

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You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2013. We begin now in chapter 18, looking at these verses, verses 1 through 8. I want to ask you if there is anything that you have given up praying for.

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Is there anything that you, maybe at one time you prayed for something quite regularly and it was something important to you and precious to you and it was on your heart. But now that you look back, you realize, I don't really pray for that anymore. It's not really a priority any longer. It's not on my heart any longer. Is there anything that you've just kind of given up where you didn't see it fulfilled? You didn't see the prayer answered and you just thought,

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What's the point? And so you've given up praying for that spouse or praying for that deliverance or praying for that situation or that person that you've just kind of been discouraged and given up in prayer for that thing that once was on your heart and you prayed much for. The title of the message this morning is Keep On Praying.

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And the Lord wants to encourage you this morning to keep on praying, to not give up, to not be discouraged, to not let those things go, but to be faithful and persistent in your prayers that you would keep on praying. And so there's five points that we'll see from this parable that Jesus teaches here. And the first point we find in verse one, and that is that we need to pray because it is a necessity. Why?

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Why do we pray? Well, Jesus is teaching us here that it is a necessity. It's not an optional thing. It's not a luxurious thing. It's something that we absolutely need. Again, in verse 1 it says, Then he spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart. Jesus is bringing forth this teaching in a parable.

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Now, the lesson of this parable is that we are to pray always and not lose heart. That's the point that Jesus is making. Now, how does this parable teach that point?

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Well, the thing we need to remember about parables is that sometimes they're parallels and sometimes they're contrasts. So when Jesus talks about the sower and he goes to sow the seed and he's saying this is a parallel, but there's some spiritual truth that goes in parallel with this account. And so he says the seed is the word of God and the different types of soil or different conditions of people's hearts and

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He gives this parallel to help us understand the spiritual truth.

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But sometimes parables do the opposite of that, that they're a contrast. Here's a story, here's an illustration, and the spiritual truth is the opposite of that illustration or that parable that Jesus is telling. And so this is one of those parables that is a contrast. And as a contrast, it gives us great insight into the subject of prayer.

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And so the lesson that Jesus is seeking to teach is that men always ought to pray and not lose heart. He is declaring to us that we always ought to pray.

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That word ought means that it is a necessity, or I like how one dictionary defined it. It is an unavoidable, urgent, compulsory necessity. That it's a necessity, absolute necessity that we can't live without. It's something that needs to be, that must be a part of our lives. This is what Jesus thinks about prayer.

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This is how Jesus feels about prayer. Now, as you begin to look at these things, it should cause us to ask, is this how I look at prayer? Do I look at prayer as this absolute necessity that must be a part of my life? It's unavoidable. It's urgent. I need to be in prayer. You ought to be in prayer is the point that Jesus is declaring.

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Now, talking about the subject of prayer, I'm sure you have wondered in your Christian life why we pray. Sometimes people ask, and maybe you've asked out loud or maybe just in your heart, but the question is, why pray if God's going to do whatever He wants anyway? I mean, it seems like, you know, God's on the throne. He's going to do what He wants.

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So why do we even pray? What is the point of prayer if God is sovereign and going to do what he wants? Now sometimes this question comes up because we've been praying for something and praying for something and then it didn't happen. Even though we prayed for it,

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It didn't happen the way that we expected. You know, there's the saying, the bumper sticker, the signs. I don't see them as much as I used to, but we used to see them all over. Prayer changes things, right? Prayer changes things. And I remember having a conversation with Dave Burnt. He called me up one day. We were talking on the phone. He's like, you know, I had that bumper sticker on my car, but now I'm thinking about the sovereignty of God, and I'm wondering...

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So God's sovereign and he's going to do what he wants. So does prayer change things? How does that work? I mean, it's a question we all wrestle with, right? We've all had this question. Now, there's two basic extremes when you come to the subject of prayer. You come to one extreme which says, God has to give me whatever I ask for.

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And that is not at all what the Bible teaches. Okay? Name it and claim it. You know, you pray for it so God has to give it to you. That is not at all biblical. But then there's the other extreme on the other side where people say, you know, God knows what I need so I don't need to ask. I'm not going to ask God for anything because He knows what I need.

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On the one extreme, you say, God, you have to give me everything that I ask for. On the other hand, you know, the other extreme says, I'm not going to ask for anything because, God, you know what I need. Now, the biblical truth about prayer falls in between those two extremes. Yes, God knows everything that you need, but he also tells you, look what Jesus says. This is what he feels about prayer. You always ought to pray. You do need to pray.

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Not that God will give you everything that you ask for, but you do need to pray. There's a lot of misunderstandings about prayer. And so I want to encourage you to try to let go of things that you've heard about prayer that you can't attach a Bible verse to. That you can't, you know, say this is where this is taught in the Bible.

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What are we taught? You know, hey, if you grow up in the church, you have to fold your hands and close your eyes and bow your head, right? And if you grow up in the church, if you've grown up in the church, you know this is true, right? Then as kids, then there's someone tattling on somebody else, right? Hey, she's not closing her eyes. She's not, her hands aren't folded, right?

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Or he's eating, you know, while you're praying, you know. And the funny thing is, you know, then the parents or the Sunday school teacher says, well, how do you know his eyes were open in prayer if your eyes were supposed to be closed in prayer? You know, we have these traditions, but where does it teach in the Bible to fold your hands, close your eyes, and bow your head?

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It's traditions that we've been taught. And so we need to be careful not to hold too tightly to those traditions. There's some practical, you know, good elements to some of those things.

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But let's stick with what the Bible actually says. And so I want to encourage you as we look at these verses to try to let go of some of the things that you've heard and maybe some of those things that you've believed for a long time. And let's stick to what the Bible actually says. So what is being taught here is that we always ought to pray. It is a necessity for us. Jesus says so. The Bible teaches that it is a necessity. And so you need to pray regularly.

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And you need to pray always. Now, this idea of praying always is connected to the final part of the verse where he says that we always ought to pray and not lose heart. The idea of always is not that every second of the day you should always be on your knees. The idea of always is that you should not give up on praying for things. The idea here is to keep on praying. Don't give up

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Praying, the word lose heart, it means to be utterly spiritless, to be wearied or exhausted. And I'm sure you know that feeling where you're just tired of praying for something. It's just like, I'm exhausted. I'm tired of praying for this and not seeing it happen, not seeing it fulfilled. What things have you given up praying for? Maybe you've been praying for a long time for the salvation of someone that you love.

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And it can be quite exhausting and frustrating and discouraging. And it's very easy to lose heart. Now, Jesus is giving this parable. He's giving this teaching to the very effect that we would not lose heart. Don't give up praying for that person. Or maybe you've been praying for, well, the situation with your finances. And man, things are really tough. Things are really difficult. It seems impossible. What are you going to do?

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And it's exhausting to continue to pray. And maybe you just want to give up and say, forget it. Well, I might as well just make things worse and just enjoy myself financially because it's never going to happen. It's never going to come. But Jesus is giving this teaching so that you would be encouraged to not give up in that prayer. Or maybe you've been praying about a situation in the workplace. Maybe there's some tension. Maybe there's some issues and you're not seeing a change as you've been praying and

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And it's just discouraging. It's exhausting. Maybe you've been praying for God to bring you someone that you could spend the rest of your life with in great joy and marital bliss. And you've been praying, but it really doesn't seem to be happening. And so you can be discouraged and exhausted. God often does not work according to our timelines and our expectations. How long is too long to pray for something?

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I would suggest to you this morning, there's only two reasons to stop praying for something. Two reasons to stop praying. Number one, stop praying when your prayer is answered. That's a good time to stop praying, right? Your prayer is answered. God has done what you've been asking Him to do and working with Him, you know, praying and lifting up these things. Then stop praying when your prayer is answered. Secondly, stop praying when God tells you to stop praying.

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Maybe that sounds a little strange, but I really believe these are the only two times that you should stop praying for something that is on your heart. Something that you need. Something that you desire. Stop praying when God answers it. Or stop praying when God tells you to stop praying. Think about Moses. Remember, he messed up. He struck the rock. And so God said, Moses...

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I'm sorry, dude, you're not going to go into the promised land. Joshua is going to lead the people. And it tells us in Deuteronomy that Moses was begging God. He kept coming back to this. God, please let me go into the promised land. Please. He kept coming back to this, kept coming back to this until finally God said, that's enough. You're not going in. I'm not changing my mind. Stop asking.

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And so at that point, it's appropriate for Moses to stop asking because God said, stop asking. Or think about the Apostle Paul, 2 Corinthians chapter 12. He has the thorn in the flesh. It's bugging him. It's bothering him.

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And as he is praying for it, he says, I prayed three times. Now that doesn't just mean, you know, three times he prayed this prayer, but the idea is like three seasons of prayer that he was praying. He was just, it was intense on his heart. He was praying. And God responded the third time and said, no, I'm not taking this from you. My grace is sufficient for you. God says, stop praying. I'm not taking this away. And so when God tells you to stop praying, then you can stop praying for it. Otherwise,

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Keep on praying. Men always ought to pray and not lose heart. Don't give up on those things that you are praying for. Pray because it is a necessity. Pray because Jesus says you ought to keep on praying. Don't lose heart. Don't be discouraged. Keep praying until your prayer is answered or until God tells you to stop praying for that thing.

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Well, moving on to point number two, we see this in verses two through six. And what we learn from this is that pray, we ought to pray because God is better than a judge. God is better than a judge. Now, as we go through these verses again, I want you to remember this parable is making the point that

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by contrast. And so keep that in mind as we go through these verses, that this parable is to illustrate the point in the opposite way. And so we start in verse 2, it says, saying, So this judge that Jesus is referring to in this story, this parable,

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This judge is a picture of what God is not. This judge is the opposite of God. And as you can see in the following verses, this judge that Jesus is talking about only cares about himself. He is selfish. He's not passionate about justice. He's doing what he wants to do. This is the opposite of God. Because God is passionate about justice.

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And He's not selfish. He cares so much about man. He cares so much about you and me that He gave His only begotten Son to be a sacrifice for our sins. And so God is the opposite of this judge. He has great care and concern for people. And He will, He promises to make all things right. Justice will be done. Verse 3, Now there was a widow in that city.

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And she came to him saying, get justice for me from my adversary. The judge is the opposite of God. The widow is the opposite of you and me. Now widows in those days...

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were typically in desperate conditions. Women were not highly regarded in the society, and so they really didn't have legal rights. They usually did not have provisions. They relied upon generosity and what other people would give. There wasn't many opportunities for them to make a living on their own. All of that about widows describes us pretty well. But we are different than this widow because of our relationship with

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to the one that we are requesting things of. This widow is approaching to the judge and they don't know each other. They're not related. They don't know each other. And the judge does not care about this widow at all. Now, in contrast to that, we know God and we know a lot about God because he's revealed himself to us. We know that he is good and loving and perfect and holy. And so we know God and also God knows us.

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And he has given us the right to become children of God because we believed in Jesus Christ. And so as opposed to being a widow, we are the children of the one that we are praying to. Jesus also refers to the church, you and I, as his bride. And so that's quite a contrast. You have a corrupt judge dealing with an unknown widow.

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and a perfect and holy and loving God dealing with his precious children or his bride. So this is a contrast. Now, I would point out here, notice that the widow is asking for justice. She's asking for the judge to do what is right, what is good. And that is an important aspect of the prayer that we pray as well. It needs to be for things that are good. It needs to be for the things that are right.

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Verse 4 now, it says, And he would not for a while. But afterward he said within himself, Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. So this account that Jesus is giving, this illustration for us, the widow is going back and going back and going back. And day after day, she's going before the judge. And finally, the judge decides,

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What else am I going to do? He says, I don't care about God. I don't fear God. I don't care about man. Not important to me. What is important to this judge? He cares about himself. And she's bugging me. And I care about me. And she's bugging me. And so I better do something because she's bugging me. And I don't want her to keep bugging me because I care about me. She's going to wear me out. Now, I like this word. It says, lest by her continual coming she weary me.

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Literally, you could translate this, lest by her continual coming she give me a black eye. Now, not suggesting that the widow is violent, but he's thinking, you know, she's going to damage my reputation. She's going to give me a black eye. You know, we still use that term to talk about the damage of reputation.

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She's going to damage. I care about me, the judge is saying. She's bugging me. She's going to damage my reputation. So I better take care of this just to keep her quiet, just to keep her from damaging me.

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what I have worked so hard to establish. So I'm going to act, the judge says, because I care about me. Then verse 6, then the Lord said, hear what the unjust judge said. So Jesus says, okay, pay attention to this. Pay attention to what this judge is thinking. Pay attention to what he has said and consider the contrast. This is the opposite of your situation with God as you come to him in prayer.

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So we ought to pray because God is better than a judge. He is far better for us than a corrupt judge. Now, we've seen earlier in Luke, in Luke chapter 11, we saw two other comparisons where Jesus was teaching the same point and he compared...

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to a friend and compared God to a father. In Luke chapter 11, verses 5 through 8, when we went through that portion, we saw that God is better than a friend. It talked about Jesus gave the parable of a friend, a neighbor, going next door at midnight, knocking on the door, hey, can I have some bread? Because I had some guests come in and I need some food to be able to feed them.

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And the neighbor responds from inside the house, hey, go away. It's midnight. I'm already in bed. The door's already locked. Everything's shut down. Go away. But as Jesus goes on, he says, the neighbor keeps knocking. Hey, I need some bread. I'm sorry. I know it's midnight. I know you're in bed already. But I need some bread for my guests who have come. And Jesus there is making the point in Luke chapter 11 that that person, that neighbor, will finally get up

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Not because they're friends, not because they're neighbors, but because of the persistence. Because they keep on knocking, they won't go away. Okay, fine, I'll get you the bread. Not because I like you, but just to make you go away. Again, Jesus is using that as a contrast. The importance of persistence in prayer. God's better than that friend. You don't have to force him. He's better than that. But then he also went on in Luke 11 verses 9 through 13 to explain that God is better than a father.

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He talked about the son asking for, hey dad, can I have some bread? And the dad doesn't give him a rock and say, here, you know, chew on that, enjoy that. No, he would give him some bread. He says in Luke chapter 11 verse 13, if you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? So he gives this contrast. God is better than a friend. God is better than a father.

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And here, God is better than a judge. And so the point is, what's the point of the parable? Keep on praying. Be faithful. Be persistent. Even your friends won't grant you your requests because you're their friends unless you're persistent. You as parents, you know how to give good gifts to your children. You've already been thinking about that because Christmas is coming. You know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more?

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Does God know how to give good gifts to His children? The unjust judge, only thinking about himself, thinking about his reputation, thinking about what bothers him, grants the widow's request because of persistence. How much more will God, your Heavenly Father, answer your prayers as you keep on praying? Pray because God is better than a judge.

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Well, point number three, we go on into verse seven and we see that we are to pray because God avenges. Here's what verse seven says. And shall God not avenge his own elect who cry out day and night to him, though he bears long with them? So Jesus now is making the point from the parable. If an unjust and uncaring judge will avenge an unknown widow, how much more

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Will your heavenly father avenge his child? The word avenge, it means to get justice. If the unjust judge who doesn't care about justice provides justice for this widow that he knows nothing about, how much more will God, your heavenly father, who is passionate about justice, who will make things right, who loves to give good gifts, give you the things that are good and needed in your life?

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God is not here promising to give you something that is wrong, no matter how much you ask. This isn't about, you know, making God give you what you want, even if it's bad for you, right? Just as you as a parent, there's some things that you would not give your kids. Maybe your kids would ask, and maybe they would ask repeatedly, every day, several times an hour, all day long. Please, please, please. No matter how much they ask, there's some things that they ask for that you would not give them.

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Because you know it's not good. It's not right. In the same way as we come to God in prayer, He is not saying that your persistence will overcome God's reluctance to give you things that He knows are bad for you. That's not the point of this. The point is be persistent because God loves to give you the things that are right and good. So keep on praying. If it is good for you,

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God will give it to you. If it is a real need, God will give it to you. If it's a blessing that He wants you to have, He will give it to you. James tells us in James 1.17, He gives us good and perfect gifts.

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And every good and perfect gift that we have, every blessing that we have in our lives is from God because he loves to do good in us and for us. So God does not give us everything that we want because that would not be good for us. And there's some things that we ask for that we would pray about that would not be good for us.

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Not only that, but God does not give us everything we want when we want it. Some things are good for us and God wants to give them to us, but the timing might not be good for us. It's amazing, you know, looking ahead, we always feel like God's answering too late. But when you look behind, so many times it's easy to see that, well, God, you answered right at the perfect time. It wasn't too early. It wasn't too late.

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Even though I felt like it was too late at the time, looking back, having some perspective, I can see it was the appropriate time. It was the right time. And it wouldn't have been good if it was before that or after that. But you answered that prayer at the perfect time. Now again, the question comes up. If God gives us what is good for us, and He loves to give good and perfect gifts, then why do we need to pray for it? Won't He just give it to us?

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Remember those two extremes? God has to give me whatever I ask for. Yeah, that's not biblical. That's not what the Word teaches. God knows what I have, so I don't even need to ask. That's because I'm so spiritual. I have such faith. I'm not even going to ask for it. That's not biblical either. We need to ask. Jesus is teaching us to ask. Pastor Chuck says, I'm convinced that

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That there are many things that are accomplished as a result of prayer that would not have been accomplished had there not been prayer. He's saying, look, I can look back. I can see. I believe there's many things that if we wouldn't have prayed about it, if we wouldn't have prayed for it, it wouldn't have happened. Now, is that biblical? Absolutely. James chapter 4 verse 2.

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James says, He goes on to say, So he's dealing with both sides. There are some things that are not good for you, and so you ask, but God doesn't give them because they're not good for you. But there's also the other side where sometimes you miss out. Think about that.

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There are things that God would like to do in your life if only you would pray, if only you would ask. Sometimes you don't have because you don't ask. So keep on praying because God avenges. He will do what is right for his children. He gives his children what is right and good. He takes care of his children, but he doesn't want you to have the attitude like,

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Well, God, you know what I want. You know what I need. So just you take care of it and I'm not going to ask. Especially when that's attached to some spiritual pride saying, you know, I'm so spiritual. I'm so holy because I don't even ask for my own needs. I don't even present my own needs to God because that's what kind of faith I have. Well, that's an unbiblical faith because Jesus is teaching you to ask. He says it's necessary to ask.

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And so again, what is it that you've given up praying for? Or what is it that you need to start praying for and then to keep on praying? Don't lose heart. Keep on praying until God answers it or until God tells you to stop praying for it. Keep on praying. Well, point number four, we're going to stick in verse seven still. Point four is that we should pray because God chose us. Pray because God chose you.

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He selected you. It says, shall not God avenge his own elect? Again, it's emphasizing the contrast, the widow unknown to the judge, as opposed to you, a child of God who have been selected by God. The word elect, it means chosen. You're chosen. You're not an unknown widow. You were chosen. You're special to God.

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He loves you more than you know, and he wants the absolute best for you. So keep on praying because God will work. God will avenge. He will do what's good and what's right for his own elect. Notice, who cry out. Again, we see the need here to cry out, to lift up the request, to bring the petition to God. The word cry out, it means to shout, shout to God, cry out to God.

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Sometimes that needs to be audible. Sometimes take this literally and say, Lord, please work in my life. Please do this. It's a cry to God. It's often used, this word cry out, it's often used as the idea of a crying out for help. Think about that. Okay, so you're in a bad spot. You know, the fire is around you. You need rescued. You say, hi, please, can you come help me?

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But you say, I'm not going to ask the firemen because, I mean, they see me here. They know my need. I just let them come get me when they want to. No. Cry out. Shout to God. Ask Him. Let your requests be made known to God. You are chosen. God loves you greatly. So cry out to Him because He knows you. He selected you. He loves you. And He says, you need to pray. I want you to pray. You need to cry out to God.

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Don't just suffer silently and think that it's some kind of spiritual trait, you know, like it's a good trait. No, He wants you to cry out. Lift up your voice and call upon the Lord. It is a necessity to pray, to cry out, and to keep crying out. Don't grow faint. Don't lose heart. Don't give up because you've been crying out and it's not happening. Keep on crying out.

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Notice he says, who cry out day and night to him. So he's making the point, bring a request to God over and over, day and night, every day. Now some people begin to have some concerns. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I remember there's a teaching, vain repetitions. You're not supposed to bring a request to God more than once. Again, that's some prayer myths that a lot of times we hold on to, but

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That's not what the scripture actually says. Now, this idea of vain repetitions, it comes from Matthew chapter 6, where Jesus says in verse 7, when you pray, do not use vain repetitions, but then notice what he goes on to say, as the heathen do. So first of all, he's talking about what the heathen do. So that's one aspect. He says, for they think they will be heard by their many words.

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The point Jesus is making there in Matthew chapter 6 is not that you can't pray for the same thing repeatedly. He's saying, don't try to impress God and think that you're going to be heard because you have really long prayers. Now, the thing about heathens and their long prayers is they don't have much to say because they don't know God because they're heathens. And so what they do then is they fill that length with repetition, right?

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Because they don't have much to say. Now listen, your prayers, longer or shorter, doesn't make them more spiritual. And so if you really are praying for something night and day, it doesn't mean that it has to be three hours of prayer every day. I mean, hey, if God puts up on your heart and calls you to pray for three hours, then pray for three hours. But don't think that you're heard because you fill up lots of time with prayer. It's always important to remember, God is never more pleased with you

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than when you believe in Jesus Christ. You got that? God is never more pleased with you than when you believe in Jesus Christ. And when you believe in Jesus Christ, God is fully pleased with you. And you don't have to impress Him. And saying the same thing over and over and over and over and over again doesn't make Him more pleased with you. He's already pleased with you when you believe in Jesus.

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So the point is that you can't, not that you can't bring the request to God repeatedly, but that you're not to just fill it up with nonsense words, with meaningless words. That's what vain repetitions is all about. Remember, there's two reasons to stop praying for something. Number one, when your prayer is answered. Number two, when God tells you to stop praying for it. Otherwise, Jesus says we need to be crying out day and night because God will avenge us.

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We had the example as we've been reading through the Bible in three years. We went through Daniel chapter 6 where the law was passed. You cannot pray to anybody except for the king for 30 days. Daniel heard about the law. He goes back to his room. He opens up his windows. He got down on his knees and he prayed. And it says that that was his custom since his early days. Three times a day he would spend some time, take a moment and pray.

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And he continued to do that even if it was against the law. But notice that example. Three times a day, he devoted time to pray. Three times a day. There was a portion in Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 62, that I really liked. God in Isaiah chapter 62 is talking about his promises for Israel that are yet to be fulfilled.

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And he says in verse 6 of Isaiah 62, I've set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem. They shall never hold their peace day or night. They're going to keep calling out. He says, you who make mention of the Lord do not keep silent. And notice what he says. He says, and give him no rest until he establishes, until he makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. God says, look, I have these promises that I'm going to fulfill in Jerusalem.

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And until that happens, he says, give God no rest until that promise is fulfilled. Give God no rest. I like that idea. It's the picture of what this widow did with the judge and her persistence. She gave that judge no rest because she repeatedly, persistently came back and came back and came back and came back, presenting her request. Jesus is saying, cry out.

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Because you're chosen. You're selected. You're loved. So day and night, bring your request to God. Because God chose you. And these are some incredible truths about prayer. It should be great encouragement for you to keep on praying. To not give up. To not lose heart. But I think it's appropriate to point out there is a condition here. These promises are for God's chosen.

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for his elect. And it's appropriate for you to consider, are you chosen? Because these promises are for believers, for those who have chosen God back, for those who have turned to God by faith in Jesus Christ, turning from sin, believing in the completed work that he accomplished upon the cross, dying for our sins, paying the full price of judgment that we might have forgiveness.

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And Jesus says, if you believe in me, you have new life. You're born again. He says, you have the promise of eternity. You become a child of God by believing in Jesus, by turning away from sin and turning to him. And so if you're not in that condition, then these promises are not for you. You can keep on praying, but God is under no obligation to respond because you're not his child. And so the encouragement to you this morning would be,

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Become his child. Believe in Jesus Christ. Repent of sin and turn to follow God by faith in Jesus Christ. And as you do, there's some great privileges in being a child of God because you can bring your requests to God. It's a necessity for you to do so. But he's better than a judge. He's better than a friend. He's better than a father. He avenges. He does what's right. He loves to do so because you're his chosen one.

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So choose God. Choose life that he offers to you by faith in Jesus Christ. Well, the final point is here in verse 8. The point is that we need to pray because God answers. Verse 8 says, Jesus says, He says,

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He will avenge them speedily. The point is God answers prayer. Now, God's speedily is not necessarily our speedily. He works on his own timeline. Again, based on what is best for us. So do not be discouraged if you do not see something happening right away. That's the point Jesus is making.

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You always ought to pray and not lose heart. Just because you don't see it fulfilled immediately, don't lose heart. Now, in chapter 17, I know it's been a long time since we were there, but we finished off the chapter and Jesus was talking about the future, the end times, the things that are to come. And as we pray and we look for the return of Jesus, sometimes it could be discouraging because it seems like, you know, a lot of time has passed and

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He said, I'm coming quickly, but it doesn't seem to be very quick. Because again, his timeline is not exactly our timeline. But that doesn't mean we should give up and lose heart and be discouraged and say, he's never coming back. Why bother praying? It's not happening. I don't see it taking place. Listen, just because you don't see anything happening, it doesn't mean that God is not working.

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It doesn't mean that God's not working. Just because you don't see that prayer answered immediately doesn't mean that God's not answering that prayer. Many times God is working behind the scenes. Now, I got to be honest. I wish God did things differently when my wife and I are texting each other back and forth on our phones.

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There's a little indication that pops up when my wife is texting me something. She's typing. It pops up an indication. So then at least I know, okay, she's saying something back. Sometimes I wish God had that. You know what I mean? Just pop up the three little dots. Let them blink. Okay, God, you're working. Okay, okay, I know you're working. I don't have the full message yet, but you're working on it. Okay. But even if you don't see that, God is working. God is working. Many times it's behind the scenes. We don't see it.

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But he is answering prayer and he is at work. Now, here's my experience. My experience is many times in my life when I've been praying for things, I don't see nothing. I don't hear nothing. It doesn't look like anything's happening. And it seems like it takes forever and then it takes longer and then it takes even more time and nothing's happening. But then when God answers the prayer, he does so in a way where it happens so suddenly. It's like, oh my gosh, hold on because I'm going to fall out of this ride.

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Because it's just like, whoosh. Because God has been working behind the scenes to line things up, to work out everything. And then when it's answered, boy, is it answered. That's how God works many times. You don't see it happen. He will avenge speedily. Now, you could also translate this word suddenly. So maybe it's not quick.

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And the idea of from the time you pray to the time that it's answered, you know, 30 seconds passed. Maybe it's not quick like that, but it happens suddenly. And when it happens, that prayer is

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I like what David Guzik says about this. He says,

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Those delays and why we need to keep on praying and not lose heart is because that is often time where God is working in us. And so God's doing a work in us to prepare us for the answer to that prayer. He's got to do a work in us. So keep on praying because God answers prayer. We may not see the results immediately, but

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But he's at work. He is answering. Now, Jesus ends with an interesting question. He says, nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on the earth? Now, remember, we ended in chapter 17 talking about end times, those promises that he has. Then he goes into this parable about prayer. I think connecting it back to that subject, to that thought saying, are we going to lose hearts?

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Because it doesn't happen? He doesn't return? All those end times prophecies aren't fulfilled when we think that they should be fulfilled? Are we going to lose heart and give up because he's not returned yet? Because he's not answered yet? I think this is also an important point because he's pointing us to the end, to his return. And that is when we will ultimately be avenged. Sometimes we get discouraged about prayer because...

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Well, we don't think it happened the way that we thought it should happen. God, why didn't you do it this way? Why didn't you do that? How can you let this go unpunished? How can you let them continue to treat me this way? How can you allow this to continue to go on? And we get discouraged. We begin to lose heart. But Jesus is reminding us, listen, I'm coming again. I'm going to make all things right. I'm going to bring justice. There's going to be

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correct, perfect judgment for every wrongdoing, for every issue. He is going to fix it. He's got that. The question for you and I is, will you be faithful? Will you still believe? Will he find faith or will you give up? Will you give up because it's not happening in the time frame that you desired? Because you don't see it at work. Will you give up? Jesus says, don't give up.

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Prayer is a necessity. So keep on praying. Keep on praying because God is better than some unknown unjust judge. He is your loving Heavenly Father. Keep on praying because God avenges. He does good. He does bring justice. He does do what is right. Keep on praying because God chose you. He selected you. He loves you.

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You are precious to Him. So keep on bringing your requests because He cares deeply about those things that are upon your heart. And keep on praying because He does answer. He does work. Maybe not in our time frame, but in His time frame. With what's best, with our ultimate good in mind, He answers prayer. And so this morning, I want to close the service with a time of prayer.

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I think it's appropriate for us to just put into practice what Jesus has just been teaching us. And I want to ask you to consider this morning, is there anything that you've given up praying for? And maybe this morning God says, you need to take that up once again. Let that be a burden on your heart once again and bring it before me day and night. Cry out to me because I avenge. I've chosen you. I'm better than a judge.

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And I will answer your prayers. I haven't told you to stop praying about it. So keep on praying. Or maybe you haven't given up and you've been faithful to pray. And so I would encourage you, don't lose heart. Continue. Keep on praying. Pray for lost people. Pray for victory over sin. Pray for deliverance or provision. Pray for healing. Whatever, whatever is upon your heart.

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Lift it up before the Lord. And so I'm going to start. I'm going to just pray a short prayer and I'm going to ask you to do likewise and just be bold and lift up your prayer. Cry out. Let's do it out loud. Not all at the same time. One at a time. Keep it short. Okay. No many words. We don't have a lot of time, but just simply lift your request before the Lord and let it be the beginning of you keeping on praying.

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for those things that are upon your heart.