Always Pray and Do Not Be Discouraged

Luke chapter 18. We're going back in time tonight.

Luke 18 · chapter mention

We were in verse 9 the other day. But tonight

we're going to be in verse 1. It's a real short

and real simple little parable. I say short,

it's a few verses, but it's really, really simple.

And in verse 1, that's really the message. When

we just read the first verse, that's really the

message that Jesus wants us to know. But we'll

pray, and then we'll get started. In Luke chapter

Luke 18:1

18, verse 1, let's pray. God, we come to you.

We thank you for a good day. We thank you for

all the people that are here tonight. I thank

you for this church. I thank you for the love

that you have for us and the love, God, that

you have placed in this place that we would...

have and do have for one another and i pray that

you just would free us from the distractions

and the worries and the things of the world and

and god whatever whatever may be on our heart

sin or worries or fears or whatever it is i pray

god that we would just give those things to you

right now and that you would just give us a good

good few minutes that your holy spirit would

help us to be encouraged by these words and i

ask these things in jesus name amen luke Chapter

Luke 18:1

18, verse 1. He then told them a parable of the

need for them to pray always and not become discouraged.

Now, this idea of praying constantly, we see

this theme throughout the New Testament in particularly.

The idea that as a people, that we as humanity

need to call out to God. Well, that's... That's

pretty evident through Scripture. God has created

everything. He is in control of everything. And

who else are we going to call out to? Now, that

doesn't mean that we don't call out to someone

or something else. There may be plenty of things

that we trust or seek or turn to in our times

of trouble. It may be another person. It may

be our wealth. It may be some substance that

we use to try to cope with whatever we're going

through. But really, what does the Bible say

repeatedly? That we need to go to the Lord. That

we need to follow him. That we need to seek him.

That we need to live in obedience to him. And

so we need to pray to the Lord. And Jesus tells

us that in this parable. It says that he wanted

to teach them to pray always and not become discouraged.

We probably, I would venture to say, every one

of us in here has prayed. And I would also venture

to say that there has probably, if we're honest,

been a time in our prayer life that we have become

discouraged. Now, why is that? Well, sometimes

God doesn't appear to hear our prayer or God

doesn't appear to be listening. God doesn't appear

to grant our prayer. And we can become discouraged,

especially if we've prayed for something for

some amount of time. If you pray for something

today and you don't get an instant answer, you

don't get the answer you want, okay. But then

what if you pray for that for a day, for a week,

for a month, for a year? What if you've been

praying that for somebody or for something in

your life for 10 years now? And you say, God,

should I still keep praying? God, I'm so... I'm

so discouraged, Lord, I have called out to you.

God, I trust you. I know you can do it. I'm seeking

you, dear Lord, with all my heart, and I've called

out to you repeatedly and repeatedly. And God,

you just, you haven't answered. And sometimes

we can become discouraged. Jesus tells us in

this parable, do not give up, because God is

good. I'm summing up what he says. But that's

essentially what Jesus is telling us. In verse

2. He tells us the story. There was a judge in

a certain town who didn't fear God or respect

man. And a widow in that town kept coming to

him saying, give me justice against my adversary.

Okay, so we have kind of the main character in

this story. It is the judge. Now, the judge in

this story is going to be the one that Jesus

is ultimately going to connect with God. Now,

the judge in this story is a bad guy. So don't

misunderstand. Jesus isn't saying that God's

a bad guy. Not every aspect of every parable

is a direct connection to the person the parable's

about. But at the core, it is talking about God

as the judge. God is the ultimate judge. Here

in this parable is an earthly judge. But Jesus

is making a contrast to bring about or bring

out the goodness of God more clearly. And so

what do we see is the character of this earthly

judge? Well, he's a bad guy. We see that in that

he does not fear God or respect man. So he's

a bad guy, but nonetheless, he is the one who

has the power. So you would assume that a bad

guy is going to make bad choices and that a bad

person, especially somebody who doesn't fear

God, would not ever do what is right. But here

we have the other character in the story, and

it is this widow. And what does it say? That

the widow kept coming to him saying, give me

justice against my adversary. Now, we don't know

what the situation was. It doesn't matter. There

probably wasn't one. The point is, this woman

had a problem. Somebody had wronged her in some

way. And she goes to the judge and she says,

judge, this person has wronged me. Rule in my

favor and give me my just reward or give them

their just punishment for what they have done.

I have been wronged. I'm in the right. You have

the power to deal with that, Judge. Not so unlike

what we see in our court system today. Hopefully

none of us ever have to go before a judge in

this life. We will one day in the life to come.

But hopefully in this life, we're not ever going

before a judge. Hopefully not for anything bad,

but sometimes disputes break out, and sometimes

you have to go before a judge. Sometimes you

are wronged. And the legal system, God has put

these people into place, the scripture says,

to carry things out the way they should. Now,

they don't always do that now. There are plenty

of bad judges today that don't fear God and don't

respect man. But nonetheless, with this judge,

he has the decision to make. A wrong has been

done, and he has the decision to make it right.

All right, verse 4. For while he was unwilling...

But later he said to himself, even though I don't

fear God or respect man, yet because this widow

keeps pestering me, I will give her justice so

she doesn't wear me out by her persistent coming.

Okay? So here's the judge. Doesn't fear God.

Doesn't respect man. But he said, I'm tired of

this woman coming to me all the time saying,

give me justice, give me justice, give me justice,

give me justice. And so he says, look, even though

I don't fear God, I'm going to do it just so

this woman will shut up. I'm tired of hearing

from her. And my translation says she keeps pestering

me. Your translations may say something different.

But you may have experienced this in your life.

You may have been on the being pestered end of

it, or you may have been on the pestering end

of it. But a lot of times, if you pester somebody

long enough, they will cave. Maybe you've got

kids or grandkids and they have pestered the

stew out of you about something. And eventually,

maybe you've just given in. Or maybe you've been

the one that pestered your spouse or that pestered

somebody in your life. And finally, you just

cave. Sometimes it's better to just give in.

I remember when I was a kid and I wanted this

Lego set, a hot rod car. It was blue and it was

great. And my mom said, I'll buy it for you,

but you can't have it until your birthday. And

so she bought it, and my birthday was like two

or three months off. And guess what I did? I

pestered her. Oh, can I please just have it early,

please? I won't forget that I already got it.

I won't ask for anything else on my birthday.

And I pestered and I pestered and I pestered.

And guess what? I got the car. Not because I

deserved it, but because I pestered her. And

so even this judge right here, even though he's

not a godly man, even though he really doesn't

even care about people, really doesn't even care

about too much of anything, he still does what

is right because this woman kept coming to him

and making her request known to him. And Jesus

is making a point. Listen to the point he made.

Then he says in verse 6, Then the Lord said,

Listen to what the unjust judge says. Will not

God grant justice to his elect who cry out to

him day and night? Will he delay to help them?

I tell you that he will swiftly grant them justice.

Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will

he find that faith on earth? Now Jesus says,

look, I just told you a story about a judge.

He wasn't even a good guy. He was kind of a bad

dude. And yet he did what was right because someone

made their request known to him. And Jesus says,

how much more so will God, a good and gracious

God, how much more so does he hear our request?

How much more so does he pay attention to us?

How much more so will the God who created the

heavens and the earth do what is right? If we

would only call out to him. And what did Jesus

say? When the son of man comes. Will he find

that kind of faith on earth? Will he find it

among us tonight? Are we those who will be persistent

in prayer? I'm not talking about like nagging

God. Like for the next hour when you go home.

God do what I say. God do what I say. God do

what I say. God do what I say. It's not really

what Jesus is talking about. But we do need to

continue to make our requests known to God. So

therefore, as we see in the first part of the

verse, don't be discouraged, but be constant

in prayer. God has heard your prayer. And maybe

he's answering it in a way that you don't see.

Or maybe he's answering it in a way that you

don't like. We pray for things as best as we

know how they need to be handled, but we don't

see the big picture. We're not God. We only see

a few pieces. God sees the big picture. He sees

all the pieces. And we pray for what we think

is good, but maybe if God granted what we thought

was good, maybe it wouldn't be what was best

for us. Or maybe it wouldn't be what was best

for our loved one. Or maybe by God not granting

our request, or not granting it in the time that

we want, or in the way that we want, maybe there's

something that God is teaching us through that.

And so we need not be discouraged. Do you know

tonight that God is good? That God loves you?

He hears your prayers. He does not always answer

them as quickly or in the way that we would like.

But he's a lot better than this old earthly judge

that we just read about. And even this old earthly

judge did what was right. So God's going to do

what's right. He's going to do what's right.

But he's going to do it in his time. So don't

be discouraged tonight, but continue to pray

to the Lord. Continue to seek Him. Continue to

make your requests known to Him, but always pray

that the will of God be done. Because sometimes

if our will was done the way we wanted, it wouldn't

be good. So we seek and we pray the best we know

how, but ultimately we know that God is the one

who makes the right decision. So we have to trust

Him and keep praying. and not be discouraged.

Let's pray. God, we come to you. We thank you

for your good word. I pray, dear Lord, that you

would help us to be persistent in prayer, dear

Lord, that we would pester you, so to speak,

in a way like this widow did, dear Lord, to just

continue to make our requests known to you. Whatever

they may be, dear Lord, whether it's something

in our life or something for... A friend or a

family member, God, we just want to continue

to lift those things up and we pray that your

will be done. Help us to be content with your

will, dear Lord. Even if we don't always like

how you work or when you work, we know that you're

right. And when we don't, I pray that you'd remind

us of that. I pray that you'd be with each one

in here, each one listening online, dear Lord,

that you would strengthen our prayer lives. that

you would help us to continue to seek you in

everything and to not be discouraged. And I ask

these things in Jesus' name. Amen.