WEBVTT 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:07.440 Hello everyone. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:08.880 This is Pastor Benjamin. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:12.000 You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City Orlando. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:15.439 At New City, we long to see our Father answer the Lord's Prayer. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:20.079 For more resources, visit our website at Newcity Orlando.com. 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:23.760 Please join me in the prayer of illumination. 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:30.800 God of mercy, the covenant promises and your eternal word do not change. 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:41.039 Holy Spirit, enable us to respond to your gracious promises with faithful and obedient hearts through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:42.000 Amen. 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:47.520 Today's scripture reading is taken from Luke 18, beginning in verse 1. 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:53.920 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 00:00:53.920 --> 00:01:00.560 He said, In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:08.719 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, Give me justice against my adversary. 00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:26.400 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. 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:39.040 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? 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:41.599 Will he delay long over them? 00:01:41.599 --> 00:01:46.480 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. 00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:53.200 Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:56.799 This is God's word. 00:01:59.519 --> 00:02:05.280 My life is one long hourly record of answered prayer. 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:07.120 That's not my words. 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:07.920 I wish it was. 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:11.199 That's the words of Mary Slesser from her journal. 00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:15.439 She was a Presbyterian missionary who brought the gospel to Nigeria. 00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:20.319 And while she was there, she fought, advocated for the rights of women and children. 00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:30.240 She says elsewhere in her prayer journal, I can testify with a full and often wonder-stricken awe that I believe God answers prayer. 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:32.479 I want to be able to say that. 00:02:32.479 --> 00:02:34.240 I want you to be able to say that. 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:42.159 And so as we take up this text this morning, I want to start by telling you some answered prayers from 2025 in my life. 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:43.680 Three to be exact. 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:50.719 The first one is, you know, in Seek prayer, which was every Wednesday we gather for uh from noon to two and we pray. 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:59.039 And in Seek Prayer in 2025, we we prayed that God would bring 25 not yet disciples to Jesus in 2025. 00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:05.520 And a friend of mine was in that prayer meeting and she reached out to my wife, Alana and I, and she said, Hey, will you pray? 00:03:05.520 --> 00:03:08.879 I've got a meeting with a friend who's not yet a disciple of Jesus. 00:03:08.879 --> 00:03:17.280 And at the end of that conversation, after we prayed, she texted us and she said that the woman indicated, she said she wanted to begin a relationship with God. 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:21.759 Her exact quote was this This is years of waiting and praying. 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:23.680 The Holy Spirit is at work. 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:27.439 I felt encouraged and empowered from our Wednesday prayer time. 00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:29.759 I want her to be one of the 25. 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:31.599 God is on the move. 00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:35.280 I followed up with her actually last month to say, hey, how's it going? 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:39.439 She said, quote, we've continued to meet weekly to study God's Word and pray together. 00:03:39.439 --> 00:03:42.719 We've read through Romans, Ruth, John, and now we're reading Acts. 00:03:42.719 --> 00:03:45.919 She's so hungry for the Word and for the Holy Spirit. 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:48.319 She overflows with thanks each time we meet. 00:03:48.319 --> 00:03:55.439 I see God's goodness on display through her so often, and my faith has been so fueled by this experience. 00:03:55.439 --> 00:03:57.360 That's the first answered prayer. 00:03:57.360 --> 00:04:05.439 The second one is in December of 2024, I had a friend who is same-sex attracted text me, and he's a follower of Jesus. 00:04:05.439 --> 00:04:09.120 And in that text, he said, basically, I'm giving up. 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:10.800 It's too much. 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:12.639 Celibacy doesn't work. 00:04:12.639 --> 00:04:14.719 I don't think it's possible for me. 00:04:14.719 --> 00:04:18.560 He said he was loosely deconstructing his faith. 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:20.319 So I prayed. 00:04:20.319 --> 00:04:27.279 And about six months later, he texted me and he says, This, so I'm hopping back on the celibacy train. 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:30.720 I tried the relationship thing and I'm not comfortable with it. 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:33.439 I cannot reconcile it with my faith. 00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:41.120 Third, I have a friend who is a not yet disciple of Jesus, and I was praying all of 2025. 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:46.560 I was in the Wednesday Seek prayer meeting saying, Lord, would you just bring him in here? 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:50.639 I want to pray with him in this prayer meeting before the end of this year. 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:54.319 Before the end of 2025, Lord, please, every Wednesday. 00:04:54.319 --> 00:04:55.839 That was my prayer. 00:04:55.839 --> 00:05:04.480 And on December 31st, at an event we have called Seek First, he came. 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:09.600 And he stayed with us for two hours and he prayed with my friend Ryan, and he met a bunch of you all. 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:15.680 And one of the guys in my circle heard this answered prayer and he said, That's called a buzzer beater. 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:18.399 And I agreed. 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:33.759 Listen, that's just three answered prayers, not to mention the countless requests I've had for to give me daily bread or to forgive me daily sins and for power in preaching, for patience in parenting, for peacemaking meetings, on and on and on. 00:05:33.759 --> 00:05:42.800 I think from this angle, I can agree with Mary Slesser and say, I can testify with a full and often wonder stricken awe that I believe God answers prayer. 00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:44.560 Why do I tell you all this? 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:55.279 Well, because verse one, Jesus told them this parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 00:05:55.279 --> 00:06:04.959 But listen, I know as soon as somebody starts talking about God answering prayer, what happens is all of our unanswered prayers flood to the front of our minds. 00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:05.839 I get that. 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:07.040 And Jesus gets that. 00:06:07.040 --> 00:06:14.879 Why else would he need to tell them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart if that wasn't a temptation? 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:20.959 If it wasn't a real lived experience for people to not pray and to become disheartened. 00:06:20.959 --> 00:06:26.480 And so I want to just take Jesus' stated purpose here as the two points of this sermon. 00:06:26.480 --> 00:06:31.839 I want us to resist losing heart and I want us to pursue persistent prayer. 00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:34.079 Those are two sides of the same coin. 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:41.199 If you have a Bible or a device, let's look at don't lose heart, verses two through five, together. 00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:44.079 Luke 18, verse 2. 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:52.000 Jesus said, In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:58.639 Those are the two proper motives for justice: a a fear of God and a concern for our fellow humans. 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:00.560 This judge had neither of them. 00:07:00.560 --> 00:07:14.560 He had no vertical accountability, he had no horizontal responsibility, which means as a judge, a man with authority, he was dictated by his own inclinations and feelings, which makes him unpredictable. 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:19.519 Jesus goes on in verse 3, and there was a widow in that city. 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:33.600 Now listen, no one was more powerless and alone than what one commentator calls the quartet of the vulnerable, which is made up of the orphan, the immigrant, the poor, and the widow. 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:38.639 No one is more likely to lose heart than a widow. 00:07:38.639 --> 00:07:44.399 This widow is a symbol of helplessness in her society. 00:07:44.399 --> 00:07:47.519 But what about being a widow in our society? 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:52.000 Well, I happen to know we have two women in our congregation who've experienced widowhood. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:52.959 And so I reached out to them. 00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:56.000 I sent them a text, said, Hey, I'm preaching on Luke 18, 1 through 8. 00:07:56.000 --> 00:08:01.439 Would you read it and tell me how you identify with the widow in this passage? 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:07.360 And I actually had half a mind just to read their responses, say amen and sit down and shut up. 00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:11.759 But I'm not going to do that, but I will quote at length from the responses that I got. 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:17.839 The first woman said this with a widow, the need, if you're paying attention, is evident. 00:08:17.839 --> 00:08:20.240 The widow is the one left behind. 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:22.800 No partner, no protection, no companion. 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:32.480 I think as a widow specifically, when you don't have your person to discuss and process, you come to the realization that prayer is the only avenue. 00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:41.200 If you've been married and it's taken away, there is a loneliness and emptiness that defines the singularity of your prayer life. 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:44.799 There's a tangible realization that there's nowhere else to turn. 00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:53.440 I also think that as a woman, when the one who protects you is no longer with you, you experience the desperation of realizing it's all on you. 00:08:53.440 --> 00:09:04.879 There's a profound awareness of not being sure where you belong, no longer having a family in the earthly sense, so you feel a desperation in the vertical level that is profound. 00:09:04.879 --> 00:09:06.799 Wow. 00:09:06.799 --> 00:09:11.679 What makes the widow persistent is her desperation. 00:09:11.679 --> 00:09:16.720 It's not her strength, it's not her tenacity, it's not her ability. 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:25.039 When every other earthly support disappears, prayer stops feeling theoretical and it becomes, quote, the only avenue. 00:09:25.039 --> 00:09:28.960 You see, if we're left to ourselves, we are all desperate. 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:35.600 The widow just feels it acutely and publicly, what is true for all of the rest of us. 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:45.039 Eugene Peterson in his fantastic book called Answering God says it like this: the human condition teeters on the edge of disaster. 00:09:45.039 --> 00:09:48.000 Human beings are in trouble most of the time. 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:51.919 Those who don't know they are in trouble are in the worst trouble. 00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:59.200 Prayer is the language of the people who are in trouble and know it and who believe or hope that God can get them out. 00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:00.879 This is interesting to me. 00:10:00.879 --> 00:10:13.200 Said differently, the only way that you will pray is when you realize how precarious your life really is. 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:20.639 An author named Isaac Singer says it like this I only pray when I'm in trouble, but I'm in trouble all the time, so I pray all the time. 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:22.799 That gets it right. 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:24.480 Look at verse 3. 00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:28.720 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him. 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:30.559 You see, the widow was powerless. 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:34.879 She was in no position to bribe the judge, and the widow was alone. 00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:37.600 She had no advocate to put pressure on the judge. 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:43.360 And so she kept coming because she was hopeless unless she prevailed on the judge. 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:48.320 But listen, I know some of you are exhausted in your desperation. 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:53.600 Like you are losing heart like a slow leak in attire. 00:10:53.600 --> 00:11:00.960 You find yourself in this place where desperation is becoming despair in the face of unanswered prayer. 00:11:00.960 --> 00:11:07.600 And I know, I know my own experiences of unanswered prayers that I'm about ready to give up on. 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:14.639 Prayers for my own character, like asking God, take away the desire that I have for more than enough. 00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:17.840 The desire I have for more than what I have right now. 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:22.159 Deal with my tongue, the sins of my tongue. 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:24.559 James says, if you don't sin with your tongue, you're perfect. 00:11:24.559 --> 00:11:25.279 Congrats. 00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:26.960 I'm not there yet. 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:31.919 I asked the Lord, would you repair marriages of the people around me? 00:11:31.919 --> 00:11:36.000 Some people I love deeply, not seeing it happen. 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:46.960 I have beloved friends and family members who struggle with chronic pain, mental illness, cancer, not healed. 00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:54.799 I've got a desire to parent out of gentleness, and yet I find myself irritable and disciplining in anger. 00:11:54.799 --> 00:11:56.159 Lord help me. 00:11:56.159 --> 00:11:57.919 There I go again. 00:11:57.919 --> 00:12:04.720 Listen, I know the experience of unanswered prayer, and I know we all have the experience of unanswered prayer. 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:16.720 For some of you, it's singleness, childlessness, underemployment, chronic unhealth, wayward children, dysfunctional parents, on and on and on. 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:22.799 And listen, every faithful widow knows at least one unanswered prayer. 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:24.960 God, don't take my husband. 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:28.799 So why? 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:30.639 I don't know why. 00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:36.960 I don't know why God doesn't answer prayer sometimes, but I do know that we have some insights in our text. 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:39.360 So look with me at verse 3. 00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:47.120 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, Give me justice against my adversary. 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:52.480 This word adversary, the Greek word only shows up three times in the New Testament. 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:53.759 This is one of them. 00:12:53.759 --> 00:12:57.039 Another one is in 1 Peter chapter 5. 00:12:57.039 --> 00:12:58.240 And let me just make this plain. 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:04.080 We don't know anything about the widow's adversary, but we know something about ours. 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:14.720 1 Peter 5 8 says it like this: Your adversary, same word, your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:24.159 Listen, the biblical worldview understands that there is an adversary who is hell-bent on destroying anything that represents God in this world. 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:27.039 That begins with you, image bearer. 00:13:27.039 --> 00:13:29.679 I love this story in Daniel 10. 00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:38.240 Daniel is fasting and praying for three weeks straight because he sees that there are promises of God that are not yet realized in his time. 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:52.799 And in the 24th day of fasting and praying, an angel, some people think it was Gabriel, comes and says to him, O Daniel, man greatly loved, stand upright, for now I have been sent to you. 00:13:52.799 --> 00:13:59.600 Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you humbled yourself before God, your words have been heard. 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:02.879 And I have come because of your words. 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:06.639 So why the three-week delay? 00:14:06.639 --> 00:14:10.080 If God heard on the first day, why three weeks later? 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:19.919 Well, he goes on to say that there was some sort of a battle in the spiritual realm between the angel Gabriel and another spiritual being just called the Prince of Persia. 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:27.519 And it wasn't until the archangel Michael comes in, like air support wreck shop, that Gabriel is able to be released to finish his mission. 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:29.679 This is in the Bible, it's an amazing book. 00:14:29.679 --> 00:14:30.320 Read it. 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:42.879 But listen, if you don't have a category for malevolent spiritual beings that resist God and want to destroy you, you'll find yourself having to blame everything, either on people or on God. 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:45.200 There is an enemy. 00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:51.600 You have an adversary that prowls around seeking someone to devour. 00:14:51.600 --> 00:15:00.399 But I love the language in Daniel 10 because it deals with not just the adversary's works, but the adversary's words, the accusations we hear. 00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:03.519 We hear things in unanswered prayer like God doesn't care. 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:10.080 To which Daniel 10, the angel says, From the first day that you humbled yourself before God, your words have been heard. 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:13.679 Or we think to ourselves, I must not matter. 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:15.120 I love the address here. 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:21.679 Oh Daniel, greatly loved, the beloved of God. 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:30.799 Or we think sometimes, I'm I must not be worth listening to, to which the angel replies, I have come because of your words. 00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:35.200 Listen, some unanswered prayers are because of our adversary. 00:15:35.200 --> 00:15:39.840 But some unanswered prayers are because of unwilling humanity. 00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:41.600 Look at verse 4. 00:15:41.600 --> 00:15:44.799 For a while the judge refused. 00:15:44.799 --> 00:15:49.039 The judge's refusal delays her request. 00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:54.799 Elizabeth Elliott tells this story of a conversation with a friend of hers named Gladys Aylward. 00:15:54.799 --> 00:16:01.120 And Gladys was a missionary in China for several years before she found a desire for a husband. 00:16:01.120 --> 00:16:04.879 And it was stirred up in the way that I'm sure it is for plenty of other people. 00:16:04.879 --> 00:16:15.679 It was stirred up because she saw a couple that came to work nearby her in China, and she saw their marriage, and there was something wonderful and beautiful about it, and she desired it for herself. 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:19.679 So being a woman of prayer, she just made a straightforward request to God. 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:24.799 She said, God, call a man from England, send him straight to China, and have him propose. 00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:36.559 Elizabeth Elliott telling the story says she leaned toward me on the sofa and she pointed her finger at me and she said, Elizabeth, I believe God answers prayer. 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:38.080 He called him. 00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:43.519 And then in a whisper of keen intensity, she says, But he never came. 00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:48.159 God called the man, but he never came. 00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:54.320 You see, maybe God is answering prayer, but maybe someone's not answering God. 00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:57.679 Maybe that's part of what's going on here. 00:16:57.679 --> 00:16:59.600 Notice Gladys doesn't accuse God. 00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:02.559 She believed that God cares about her longings. 00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:05.359 So then why does God allow this? 00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:12.000 Well, one of the other women in our congregation who knows the experience of widowhood said it like this. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:17.599 When suffering forces this upon us, there's a unique ministry of desperation. 00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:21.279 The experience of desperation gives you permission to be persistent. 00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:22.720 You have no other option. 00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:26.799 Almost like a survival instinct, you cling to God, you cry out to Him. 00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:32.799 It's to the lifeboat of God's love or drowning, and drowning's not an option because then darkness wins. 00:17:32.799 --> 00:17:42.079 This desperation-fueled persistence forges a unique depth in us, a capacity to feel not just suffering, but also hope. 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:49.599 And once you've been stretched to this greater capacity, your heart is able to hold more of both the hard and the good. 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:59.920 She goes on community becomes richer, relationships are more honest, and even more our relationship with God is purer and more intimate. 00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:05.279 We release our efforts to bring anything to the table because desperation forces our hand. 00:18:05.279 --> 00:18:09.279 And we find that God's hands were more than enough to hold us all along. 00:18:09.279 --> 00:18:15.519 So ultimately, what I've said and believe, God trusts us with suffering. 00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:23.680 It's ultimately a gift He extends to those He's inviting into a level of intimacy that cannot be obtained any other way. 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:28.640 It is a form of waking us up to live for the things that truly matter. 00:18:28.640 --> 00:18:31.920 The frivolity and pretenses are forced to the wayside. 00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:35.200 Surrender becomes survival until it becomes a habit. 00:18:35.200 --> 00:18:44.480 And once you've tested the love of God to these depths and found him proved faithful and true and good, life, all of life is transformed. 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:46.079 We are transformed. 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:49.839 It comes from this desperation-induced persistence. 00:18:49.839 --> 00:18:50.799 End quote. 00:18:50.799 --> 00:19:05.519 For a while the judge refused. 00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:13.440 But afterward he said to himself, Though I never fear God nor respect man, three cheers for self-aware politicians, right? 00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:14.480 I mean, anybody? 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:15.039 Okay. 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:23.359 Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice. 00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:27.359 So that she will not beat me down by her continual coming. 00:19:27.359 --> 00:19:31.440 Notice this, he finally says, I will give. 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:32.480 Why? 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:33.759 Why? 00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:38.000 Because she didn't lose heart even when he refused for a while. 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:41.200 She didn't lose heart but keeps bothering the judge. 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:45.519 She didn't lose heart but nearly beat him down by her continual coming. 00:19:45.519 --> 00:19:50.960 Even the judge is astonished at the widow's desperation-induced persistence. 00:19:50.960 --> 00:19:53.440 That's the parable. 00:19:53.440 --> 00:19:55.599 Now, this is the most important part. 00:19:55.599 --> 00:19:58.319 What does Jesus have to say about the parable? 00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:00.000 How does he interpret it? 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:03.359 Well, point one was don't lose heart. 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:04.880 Point two is always pray. 00:20:04.880 --> 00:20:06.559 Look with me at verse six. 00:20:06.559 --> 00:20:11.039 And the Lord said, Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:17.519 Notice this that Jesus draws our attention to the judge at this point, not the widow, interestingly. 00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:23.440 And it's important to see what Jesus is doing here, and maybe more importantly, what he's not doing here. 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:30.319 And we're gonna we're gonna look at that because Jesus asks three questions in the remainder of the text, which is very on brand for Jesus. 00:20:30.319 --> 00:20:33.759 And the point is, is he's helping us to always pray. 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:41.519 And so these three questions draw attention to three principles, three details that really matter for us to always pray. 00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:46.319 First, God's character, second, God's timing, and third, our own faith. 00:20:46.319 --> 00:20:47.519 Those are the three questions. 00:20:47.519 --> 00:20:49.039 Let's look at God's character. 00:20:49.039 --> 00:20:51.039 This first question here in verse 6. 00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:57.279 And the Lord said, Hear what the unrighteous judge says, and will not God give? 00:20:57.279 --> 00:21:02.000 If the unrighteous judge gives, will not God give? 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:03.200 This is key. 00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:07.680 He's not comparing the judge and God, he's contrasting them. 00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:10.240 That's of utmost importance. 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:13.519 If you miss this, you miss everything Jesus is trying to teach here. 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:22.240 Jesus says, essentially, there's nothing good in this judge inclining him to do good for this woman, yet still she got what she asked. 00:21:22.240 --> 00:21:28.400 There's nothing but good in God inclining him to do good for you. 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:30.240 Will not God give? 00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:32.240 That's the point he's making. 00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:35.519 The judge acts despite his character. 00:21:35.519 --> 00:21:38.400 God acts because of his character. 00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:47.119 In verse 7, it says this, and will not God give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night? 00:21:47.119 --> 00:21:49.519 Why use the word elect here? 00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:50.640 That's interesting. 00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:51.920 Slow down. 00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:53.680 Pause where scripture gives you pause. 00:21:53.680 --> 00:21:55.519 That's a that's a fascinating term. 00:21:55.519 --> 00:21:59.519 Well, because I think Jesus isn't just contrasting the judge and God. 00:21:59.519 --> 00:22:03.279 He's contrasting the widow and his elect. 00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:13.119 He's showing us God's elect in scripture are his chosen people, his chosen people that he has invited in to share his purposes for the world. 00:22:13.119 --> 00:22:14.960 That's what it means to be God's elect. 00:22:14.960 --> 00:22:19.039 The elect are those who join God in what he's up to in the world. 00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:23.200 That's begun began in Genesis 12 with his call of Abraham. 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:28.960 And so the primary way that we join God's work in the world is through prayer. 00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:46.720 And so listen, if the widow who had no claim on the judge through sheer tenacity got what she wanted in the end, how much more shall God's elect his chosen co-conspirators against the regime of darkness? 00:22:46.720 --> 00:22:51.599 How much more will they have their prayers answered by a God who's willing to vindicate them? 00:22:51.599 --> 00:22:53.839 That's the argument of the text here. 00:22:53.839 --> 00:22:59.680 The widow pleads as an outsider, the elect cry as beloved insiders. 00:22:59.680 --> 00:23:04.160 The widow is alone, begging from isolated desperation. 00:23:04.160 --> 00:23:07.359 The his elect, quote, is plural here. 00:23:07.359 --> 00:23:13.119 His elect is plural because we are a praying people who share dependence. 00:23:13.119 --> 00:23:16.079 The widow wants justice for a wrong done. 00:23:16.079 --> 00:23:17.920 Her prayers are defensive. 00:23:17.920 --> 00:23:20.079 The elect want the kingdom to come. 00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:22.240 Our prayers are on the offense. 00:23:22.240 --> 00:23:28.480 We are pushing back the domain of darkness wherever we can with our prayers. 00:23:28.480 --> 00:23:34.799 We don't cry to him day and night because he does not listen, but precisely because he does listen. 00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:40.720 Now, remember Jesus' aim here is to get us to always pray. 00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:46.559 And you will always pray when you know God and you know yourself in relation to God. 00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:50.480 When you know that he is your father and you are his chosen people. 00:23:50.480 --> 00:23:52.799 But here's the thing you need that. 00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:57.440 You also need you need to understand the delay. 00:23:57.440 --> 00:23:59.759 Why does God delay? 00:23:59.759 --> 00:24:01.119 That's the second question. 00:24:01.119 --> 00:24:03.279 God's timing is the second question. 00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:04.720 Look at verse 7. 00:24:04.720 --> 00:24:10.480 Will he delay long over them? 00:24:10.480 --> 00:24:14.480 Jesus says of the judge, for a while he refused. 00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:17.519 But of God, will he delay? 00:24:17.519 --> 00:24:20.799 No, there's an obvious answer to this rhetorical question. 00:24:20.799 --> 00:24:21.519 Of course not. 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:22.880 Of course he won't delay. 00:24:22.880 --> 00:24:24.960 To which I wonder, really? 00:24:24.960 --> 00:24:27.759 Like I wrestle with this. 00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:29.839 Pastor Eric Mason helps me a little bit. 00:24:29.839 --> 00:24:31.759 He says, slow doesn't mean no. 00:24:31.759 --> 00:24:32.240 Okay? 00:24:32.240 --> 00:24:33.279 I hear you. 00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:34.559 But Jesus doubles down. 00:24:34.559 --> 00:24:35.440 Look at verse 8. 00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:39.759 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. 00:24:39.759 --> 00:24:41.920 Speedily? 00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:43.519 Really? 00:24:43.519 --> 00:24:48.240 Here we are, still waiting, 2,000 years later. 00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:49.440 Speedily? 00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:53.839 How do we make sense of the fact that there's so much injustice in the world? 00:24:53.839 --> 00:25:00.000 How do we make sense of the fact that Jesus says that God will answer those cries and bring justice speedily? 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:02.880 What do we do with God's seeming delay? 00:25:02.880 --> 00:25:07.519 Well, we have to notice in the text that Jesus is talking here about his second coming. 00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:09.599 Verse 8, look at it again. 00:25:09.599 --> 00:25:30.000 Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, I've learned by practice from praying day in and day out that all of my prayers, answered and unanswered, kind of come tied together into this culminative moment called the coming of Jesus. 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:38.000 Everything I ache for, God gives us four tastes of justice now, but full justice will come when Christ returns. 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:45.119 And listen, the New Testament authors, they predicted that we would wrestle with this seeming slowness of God. 00:25:45.119 --> 00:25:48.319 Second Peter chapter 3, verse 8 says this. 00:25:48.319 --> 00:25:51.119 This is a long quote, but bear with me because I think it's pertinent. 00:25:51.119 --> 00:26:00.079 Do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, in a thousand years as one day. 00:26:00.079 --> 00:26:02.559 With that time scale, it's been a couple days. 00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:05.119 That's decently speedily, I guess. 00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:16.960 Verse 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:22.240 But the day of the Lord, that's when Jesus comes back, the day of the Lord will come like a thief. 00:26:22.240 --> 00:26:24.480 In other words, speedily. 00:26:24.480 --> 00:26:34.160 And then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 00:26:34.160 --> 00:26:42.640 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness? 00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:53.200 Waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn. 00:26:53.200 --> 00:27:02.400 But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:06.480 See, the judge delays because he does not care. 00:27:06.480 --> 00:27:15.519 God delays because he's patient, redeeming, gathering, saving, preparing final justice. 00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:19.599 Don't interpret divine delay as divine indifference. 00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:30.079 There's a Jesuit priest named Tear Deshardon, and he says it like this above all, trust in the slow work of God. 00:27:30.079 --> 00:27:35.359 Above all, trust in the slow work of God. 00:27:35.359 --> 00:27:37.920 All of that, though, takes faith. 00:27:37.920 --> 00:27:42.799 And that's the third thing Jesus addresses: our faith with this final question. 00:27:42.799 --> 00:27:44.480 Look at verse 8. 00:27:44.480 --> 00:27:52.319 Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? 00:27:52.319 --> 00:28:03.200 Nevertheless, basically, Jesus is saying, despite everything that I've just said, even though God will answer his people, the question still remains: will his people answer God? 00:28:03.200 --> 00:28:05.839 Will they continue trusting him while they wait? 00:28:05.839 --> 00:28:07.599 Will he find faith? 00:28:07.599 --> 00:28:14.160 You wonder here, why doesn't Jesus say, Will the Son of Man find prayer on earth? 00:28:14.160 --> 00:28:18.480 Well, because persistent prayer is what faith looks like in the delay. 00:28:18.480 --> 00:28:28.160 John Calvin taught us that prayer is the chief exercise of faith, which means if you want to know how strong or weak your faith is, look at your prayer life. 00:28:28.160 --> 00:28:30.480 It's the best indicator of your faith. 00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:32.160 Now, what is faith? 00:28:32.160 --> 00:28:39.279 Well, notice that Jesus teaches us to pray, to not lose heart, by telling us a parable about the character of God fundamentally. 00:28:39.279 --> 00:28:45.039 Jesus goes to tell us about who God is rather than giving us prayer techniques or endurance tactics. 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:47.839 Those are fine, but it's just not what he does here. 00:28:47.839 --> 00:28:59.279 Because when Jesus wants to encourage you, strengthen your heart so you don't lose heart, he wants to tell you a story about what God is like, or better yet, actually, what God is not like. 00:28:59.279 --> 00:29:09.039 Because the reason we lose heart, the reason we don't always pray, it always fundamentally comes down to this we compare God to the judge rather than contrast them. 00:29:09.039 --> 00:29:10.880 We think he's indifferent. 00:29:10.880 --> 00:29:13.039 We think we gotta twist his arm. 00:29:13.039 --> 00:29:17.759 We think we've got to do enough, beg enough, be enough for God to listen. 00:29:17.759 --> 00:29:21.519 And Jesus is saying, your father is not like that judge at all. 00:29:21.519 --> 00:29:30.400 You see, notice it says, when the Son of Man comes, what is Jesus, who is the Son of Man, what is he doing in the meantime? 00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:32.319 Like what's he up to? 00:29:32.319 --> 00:29:37.119 Well, he's doing something for us that would have made all the difference for the widow. 00:29:37.119 --> 00:29:39.680 Jesus is our advocate. 00:29:39.680 --> 00:29:41.920 Let me tell you a quick story. 00:29:41.920 --> 00:30:04.000 There's a guy named Jamie Winship who tells this story of uh when he was serving as a professor in Indonesia, and Jamie offended some Muslim students by making a disparaging remark about the Quran, which in Indonesia violated a local law and exposed him to a punishment of 10 years in prison. 00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:06.799 Now, Jamie worried. 00:30:06.799 --> 00:30:09.759 He was like, I don't know what's gonna happen to my wife and kids. 00:30:09.759 --> 00:30:14.400 They can't go back to the U.S., they're gonna be stuck here for 10 years while I'm in prison. 00:30:14.400 --> 00:30:16.960 He struggled before God with this. 00:30:16.960 --> 00:30:19.359 Will God be enough to care for him? 00:30:19.359 --> 00:30:21.920 Is God enough to protect his family? 00:30:21.920 --> 00:30:27.440 There's this beautiful moment where he told his son, hey buddy, you remember how Jesus brought us here to teach? 00:30:27.440 --> 00:30:31.440 Well, you know, I think Jesus wants dad to do prison ministry now. 00:30:31.440 --> 00:30:35.839 But he felt completely powerless and alone. 00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:41.279 And so he goes to court, he stands there, clearly guilty of the charges. 00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:43.440 He had actually violated a real law. 00:30:43.440 --> 00:30:51.440 But since only Muslims were permitted to speak in court, he had no leverage and he had no one and no ability to defend himself. 00:30:51.440 --> 00:30:56.000 So he knew he was fine, he was going to be found guilty and sentenced to 10 years. 00:30:56.000 --> 00:31:05.920 But then in the middle of the proceedings, a respected Western educated Muslim professor walks into the courtroom. 00:31:05.920 --> 00:31:08.160 Jamie had never seen this man before. 00:31:08.160 --> 00:31:13.119 And the man asks permission to speak on Jamie's behalf. 00:31:13.119 --> 00:31:16.319 Now, listen, he tells his own story autobiographically. 00:31:16.319 --> 00:31:25.359 He says, Listen, I was years earlier studying at Arizona State University, and while I was there, my wife and I were really struggling. 00:31:25.359 --> 00:31:30.559 We were poor international students, we barely knew English, we were struggling just to survive. 00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:39.680 But two American Christians, they took him in, they fed him regular meals, they invited him to a Bible study, and they helped him finish grad school. 00:31:39.680 --> 00:31:47.119 In fact, he says he finished higher than them because of how much effort they put in to making him succeed. 00:31:47.119 --> 00:31:57.839 And so now he's standing in this courtroom in Indonesia and he told the judge, listen, if the Christians in America treated me so well, are we Muslims going to do less than them? 00:31:57.839 --> 00:32:01.359 Are we going to treat one of them worse than they treated me? 00:32:01.359 --> 00:32:03.200 I think we should let this man go. 00:32:03.200 --> 00:32:05.440 And he walked out of the courtroom. 00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:10.000 The court listened to him, and all the charges were dropped. 00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:16.799 Jamie Winship said he was convinced that this man was an angel until he walked out and found him smoking a cigarette. 00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:22.480 Apparently, that's where his angelology just like doesn't work. 00:32:22.480 --> 00:32:28.960 And so he talked to this man and he said, Hey, um, who are you? 00:32:28.960 --> 00:32:36.079 And the man told him how he was just appointed the head of a major Islamic association in Indonesia. 00:32:36.079 --> 00:32:43.680 And the reason why he was just appointed the head is because the day before, the previous head was killed in a car accident. 00:32:43.680 --> 00:33:01.599 And when he heard about Jamie's case, he flew the equivalent of LA to New York to make it to where this court was just in time to advocate on his behalf because he wanted to make sure that he could do for Jamie what those American Christians did for him. 00:33:01.599 --> 00:33:09.279 Listen, the widow had no advocate, but we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 00:33:09.279 --> 00:33:19.119 It is such good news that when the widow stood alone before an unjust judge, the elect cry out to a just God through his righteous son. 00:33:19.119 --> 00:33:25.440 Jesus is not, this is really important, Jesus is not continually kind of reconvincing God to go easy on us. 00:33:25.440 --> 00:33:26.880