Importunity in prayer and its effect (Quality: Very good)

[0:00] Now this evening, as the Lord may help us, shall we turn together in the Gospel by Luke in chapter 18, and I will announce by way of text the 6th and 7th verses.

[0:14] Verses 6 and 7 in the 18th chapter of the Gospel by Luke. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith, and shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?

[0:43] I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

[0:58] I meant to announce 6, 7 and 8 as the text for this evening. Now, never man spake like this man.

[1:11] We read in the opening of this chapter, And he, that is Jesus, spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint.

[1:28] No idle words there. The counsel of the perfect Counselor, who enjoins us to continue praying.

[1:40] One of the great blessings of God's covenant and his favour toward his people is the institution of prayer.

[1:55] That there is a way of access into the very presence of the Almighty God, who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or even think.

[2:11] Who knows nothing of frustration or disappointment. He doeth as he will. In the armours of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest thou?

[2:29] What a wonderful privilege it is for sinners like you and I to have under the words of the Lord Jesus Christ this gracious exhortation that men ought always to pray and not to faint.

[2:49] saying, There was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither regarded man.

[3:00] An atheistic judge. And in consequence of his fearlessness in regard to the solemn and comprehensive things of God, he coupled with this lack of the fear of God a due regard for man.

[3:34] My friends, isn't it solemn when we think of the couplet that here the Lord joins together that the absence of the fear of God makes for a disregard of our fellow men.

[3:54] And this man was such a character in the parabolic teaching of the Lord that the Lord puts those two things hand in hand, the lack of godly fear and the disregard of our fellow men.

[4:14] And do you not see in society today that the lack of the fear of God is producing a disregard for fellow men?

[4:27] the very spirit of selfishness savors of that spirit. You remember the teaching of the Lord was that we should love God with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our mind and with all our strength and our neighbour as our self.

[4:53] Now this tyrant in the city to which the Lord is directing our thoughts was such a man he didn't fear God and he was as it were destitute of that regard for his fellow men.

[5:12] And to be under the authority of government of such a character is indeed a terrible position to be in and some of the nations of the earth with us today seem to be under the control of such characters who have these characteristics absent from their minds and attitudes and responsibilities of high office.

[5:48] Well now in that city the teaching of the Lord refers us to the fact that there was a widow.

[6:02] Now we do appreciate the interpretation of this teaching to be in somewhat different circumstances for those that obtain in our society today.

[6:23] Thank God there has been some pity practical pity taken toward those who lose their husbands in earlier years and sometimes left very exposed and destitute to face the needs personal and the family needs which some of these widows have to endure and one would be always supportive of a tender regard for the widow and her practical needs in that experience.

[7:11] But here was this woman under the authority of this judge who feared not God nor regarded man.

[7:25] So her approach for some measure of authoritative protection didn't meet with any respect.

[7:38] Initially he turned a deaf ear to her pleas. He wouldn't take into his heart as it were a sympathetic approach to her extremities.

[7:53] He was a selfish self-centered tyrannical personality in all the dealings that he showed toward this woman in initial reaction.

[8:11] And poor woman she as it were had every reason to sink deeper and deeper into the mire because of the rejection of her entreaties.

[8:24] And the Lord goes on and he said and he would not for a while put her off and disregarded as it were her approaches until a situation arrived where he said within himself though I fear not God nor regard man yet because this widow troubleth me I will avenge her lest by her continual coming she weary me.

[9:00] Now you see self-interest was still very much to the fore he was wanting to be free from that measure of trouble that followed her recurring entreaties you know selfishness it's a terrible thing when left to exercise itself in positions of authority and whatever may be our position it is surely wise and gracious that we should regard any need in our circles and do what we can to assist those that are under the terrible pressures of poverty and need well now the parable goes on and the

[10:08] Lord says and the Lord said hear what the unjust judge saith self was as it were hindering any relief because his own interests were to the fore and the woman's interests were relegated to such a degree that it was only that she would continue to worry him that caused him in any measure to relent well now the Lord said hear what the unjust judge saith though I fear not God nor regard man yet because this widow troubleth me

[11:08] I will avenge her lest by her continual coming she weary me and we're exhorted to hearken to that aspect of the character of this exalted judge in the city and the exercise of his ability or lack of ability to respond to the entreaties of this poor widow in the city with him and it is good in the principle of Christian charity to take notice of the teaching that the Lord sets before us and the consequent testimony that he bears with respect to the

[12:10] Lord reigning over all and exercising his sovereign prerogative for the relief of his people I tell you that he will avenge them speedily now I want to just look a little closer at this parable the Lord helping me in regard to the value of prayer especially in importunate prayer the Lord in his wisdom uses conditions of need sometimes to the degree of the desperate to bring us to an appreciation of his sufficiency to deal with any of our problems whatsoever whether they be temporal or whether they be spiritual the Lord is able to make crooked things straight and rough places plain and this woman was in no position to relieve herself she absolutely depended upon the good offices of the man in charge this judge in the city to use his authority and to provide her with relief we must need project the principle that there are cases of needs both temporal and spiritual wherein the Lord himself only has the power to provide deliverance for us and my friends it is sometimes said our extremities are God's opportunities and how often it pleases the Lord to wait in his graciousness and things appear to progress in the wrong fashion detrimentally before the

[14:31] Lord turns in his sufficiency of grace and mercy and power and appears for our deliverance but the exercise that is brought before us in a very powerful way through this parable is the importunate prayer the importunate prayer and shall not God avenge his own elect which cry day and night unto him do you know to have what it is to have a burden that is with you very much in the day your mind revolves not only around what you're responsible for doing but from time to time it embraces what is on your heart as a great exercise and your mind goes back to it at any moment of relief in your responsibilities as it were your thoughts immediately center in this problem this problem this burden this deep exercise and

[16:09] I speak of the daytime and the moments perhaps of relief from our temporal responsibilities as our minds go to the sore place the difficult circumstances the tangle that is so worked that you can't begin to pull the threads apart the more you try to resolve the situation the more difficult and impossible the situation seems to be well now the parable of the Lord and there's none teachers like him speaks to us that there is such a thing as day and night now sometimes our problems prevent us from sleep don't they and we become so wearied and yet we can't switch off and we may be so weakened as it were in our feelings and our fears that physically and mentally we become exhausted by the pressure of this appointed circumstance which God has brought to pass in our experiences and remember troubles don't rise by chance he performeth the thing that is appointed for me and many such things are with him but what about the night what is sometimes you're under such pressure that as soon as you as it were arrive at the point of consciousness that is your sleep is broken and you surface in consciousness for a little period maybe the first thing your thoughts go to is a certain trouble this certain weight this terrible difficulty day now the

[18:38] Lord comprehends the night season as well as the day season in this that the judge says and shall not God avenge no sorry the text says and shall not God avenge his only elect which cry day and night unto him day and night sometimes it seems an unending burden doesn't it and whether awake or asleep you'll be set with the pressure of the trouble which is troubling your heart and maybe involving your circumstances to a great degree that you feel you can't go on as you are unless some relief is granted you know the depth of our troubles is as much under the government of heaven as the length of our troubles the

[19:50] Lord can make a little thing a great trouble and sometimes relating our circumstance we may somewhat feel a lack of sympathy from our fellows because they don't understand just what this thing means to us I remember and I'm going to refer to a little experience in my own life I visited a good woman gracious soul was a member of the church at Coventry some of you will remember her Miss Ruth Greenway and she lived in a lovely house with a big orchard in Coventry and I went along to visit her well the boundary between her garden and the premises next door was a wooden fence and there was for some reason a neighbour that disregarded her need that the fence should be repaired and such a difficulty arose between these neighbours that when some effort was made by Miss

[21:18] Greenway to repair the fence it wasn't long before certain blemishes appeared and obviously the neighbours were antagonising this good woman with their reactions and I remember at that time I personally was in great trouble great trouble and I went to visit Miss Greenway and she took me down the garden and she showed me this fence and she showed me the sort of antics that her neighbours were exercising to her detriment and I thought to myself as she poured out her complaint if I'd only got a wooden fence to worry about I shouldn't be very worried I should just ignore the attitude of the neighbours let them get on with it and do their worst and try and live with it and you know I dismissed her trouble as if well your trouble

[22:22] Miss Greenway is nothing compared to mine but I was selfish really in my judgement because her trouble was to her what the Lord made it to be the weights in the bag are his and he can make a little thing a great trouble to a person and those that are as it were informed of the nature of the friend's trouble would almost despise it as I felt to despise Miss Greenway's reaction to what I considered to be a little incident in her experience but I was brought by the Lord I believe to see that that trouble in that dear woman's experience was taking her to the Lord antagonistic neighbors with working I was going to say as God's servants to put that dear woman to prayer that she should pray another spirit should prevail or deliverance should come howsoever the

[23:31] Lord saw fit to work and so on and she would be delivered it was all in the hands of God and the burden the weight and burden of things that was on that dear woman's shoulders I comparatively disregarded and how wrong I was oh I felt so condemned when I realized that that woman's burden was just as the Lord made it to be for her spiritual good and for his own honor and glory my friends the lot is cast into the lap and the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord the Lord makes our troubles to be what he purposes they shall be both in the weight of them the length of them as well as in the nature of them well now the wonderful thing is isn't it the spirit of the text is that we should cry day and night unto the

[24:48] Lord though he bear long with us you know in our nature we want deliverance don't we we want deliverance and we're we're impatient we're impatient in our prayers we want the Lord to open the gate and let us through my friends the gate remains closed for as long as the Lord who is perfect in wisdom and who has a perfection in his workings sees fit for us there's a time of trial and there's a time of relief and those times are in the hands of the almighty well now day and night prayer and the sufficiency of God to relieve is beyond dispute not that

[26:18] God can't and it's not that God won't but it's in God's own time and in God's own way one of the great blessings of the spiritual life is to be maintained in an exercise of dependence upon God and a spirit of prayer heavenward whatsoever presses you to your knees and enables you to appreciate that the almighty God is the only way of help is most profitable most profitable though most trying in the flesh to live out and I do believe and I've probably said this to you before that I believe that when we see as God sees as we reflect upon life and its experiences with a new eye and a new heart in glory we shall see that those things that were the greatest trouble to us have been among the greatest advantages in our spiritual life and had we been able as it were immediately to gain relief by exercising ourselves in prayer before

[27:57] God we should shrink so to speak the benefit that God ordained to give us in waiting to be gracious waiting to be gracious my friends the Lord uses time and there's a set time to favour Zion and the Lord doesn't appear for us prior to the set time it's all decreed it's all ordered and the Lord waits to be gracious ye have need of patience that after you have done the will of God ye might inherit the promises now listen and shall not God avenge his own elect which cry day and night unto him though he bear long with them though he bear long with them that's not time wasted that's time profited by the sanctifying grace of God and sometimes we get so down has God forgotten to be gracious will he be favourable no more is his mercy clean gone forever oh do you and the reality and sincerity of your prayers are brought into question you don't believe that really your prayers have any place before God you don't really think that in due time

[29:54] God will regard your prayers and my friends you know it's a total negative short of the appearing of the almighty to deliver we have to wait we have to wait we have to be weaned from every and any alternative there's no good looking to men there's no good trusting an arm of flesh because they are weak and sometimes made to be totally helpless but God is the deliverer God is the deliverer he is the one upon whom we must continue to wait believing believing and then we're into the conflict of the morning flesh against spirit and spirit against flesh because we get so sometimes so spent in in waiting that we almost despair of ultimate deliverance and almost embrace the question that none of our prayers ever get above the ceiling in which we are found the Lord said shall not

[31:43] God avenge his own elect which cry day and night unto him though he bear long with them I tell you that he will avenge them he will avenge them so prayer is not even I was going to say the prayer of the destitute those that are reduced to hold in question the reality of their prayers the graciousness of their approaches to the most high who fear that they're strangers to this time honored approach to the majesty on high who has responded in numerous occasions in the extremity of his people in the scripture to encourage us through his own word that he is a prayer hearing and a prayer answering God but I return to the principle he comes in his own time he comes in the right time the right time never is before his time and he never is behind the Lord works to a meticulous schedule schedule a perfect wisdom perfect wisdom for he knows everything about everything and nothing can take him by surprise he's in control well now the text says and this is the

[33:33] Lord speaking and oh he knew so perfectly the council of the most high he says I tell you that he will avenge them speedily speedily you say well you've been talking to us for a long time about waiting and the necessity of continuing to pray with an importunate spirit not to be discouraged because you don't seem to get any answer that you as it were knock on the door of heaven and there's no turning of the latch you begin to feel that the cause is lost well now know my friends know my friends the Lord is a prayer hearing and answering God and blessed be his holy name it glorifies him for his people to involve him in their difficulties whether temporal or spiritual it's honouring to God to seek his face and his favour well now speedily you know the Lord can resolve long standing matters in a moment and I do believe in the exercise of grace and godliness there is such a thing as almost a lifelong fear in the hearts of some of the children of God that there's something missing in their religion there's something lacking that without that the testimony of that one thing surely the rest is in doubt and in consequence they're beset with unbelieving fear that when they come to the moment of decision and are called to present their souls before the scrutiny of heaven they'll be found on the wrong side of the line but what a wonderful thing it is to consider in the context of that remark he will avenge them speedily he will avenge them speedily not by saying depart from me ye cursed which has been the awful fear that ultimately that terrible sentence will fall from the lips of the most high and into the darkness and wretchedness and ruin of hell they will spend their eternal future but rather the

[36:42] Lord come ye blessed of my father enter into the glory prepared for you from before the foundation of the world and my friends what what a wonderful deliverance from all the temptations of Satan and the operations of unbelief in their hearts when those that fear are immediately set right and acknowledge that the Lord has been good and the Lord has been gracious and they haven't been deceived in their experiences as the devil so readily suggests in a negative approach to their standing before a holy God well now speedily isn't it wonderful how the

[37:45] Lord can relieve in a few seconds as it were a situation that seemed to be beyond resolve yes you've done all you felt at liberty to do in attempting to resolve the situation but all your efforts have fallen to the ground all your endeavours have miscarried and it seems as though the cause is lost but suddenly the Lord can bring deliverance my mind goes again to the history of scripture in regard to

[38:50] Joseph he's a lovely character in the Old Testament history you know that dear man he went down and down sold by his brethren and then falsely accused in the house of Potiphar and into prison he goes and there he's beset with the leadings and dealings that he thought initially would be his experience and he goes down forgotten of the baker forgotten of the butler and it seems forgotten of God doesn't it as he languishes there in the bondage of the prison in Egypt and suddenly God gives Pharaoh a dream there's only one in the whole kingdom that can give the answer and who gave him the answer God gave Joseph the answer God gave Joseph the answer and Joseph could tell

[39:51] Pharaoh just exactly the interpretation of the matter and so Joseph I was going to use that expression zooms from the lowest part in Egypt languishing in a jail and apparently forgotten of all to the right hand of Pharaoh a tremendous exaltation speedily speedily speedily my friends the Lord can and I believe I'm a living experience of this the Lord can speedily deliver in his own time and in his own way it may be in a time most unexpected and a way never thought of but speedily the deliverance comes with the hallmark of heaven upon it and you say I know the

[40:55] Lord did this I know this is the gracious intervention of the almighty in which you're given a real token aren't you a token that your fears sometimes are groundless the temptations of the devil are a lie and the benefit and blessing of deliverance is a token for good a token for good it's put as it were into the very breast of the recipient as a jewel of heaven written upon the fleshy tables of their heart never can they forget it and never will well now dear woman she went through this in the parabolic teaching of the

[42:00] Lord in such an adverse situation but ultimately delivered ultimately provided for ultimately as it were set free by the intervention of her heavenly father who could meet any and every necessity that presented itself before a creature upon the face of the earth he's able to make crooked things straight and he's able to make rough places plain well now hear what the unjust judge said and shall not God avenge his own elect oh God is not troubled by the prayers of his people when you call upon him in the night it doesn't disturb his rest he's always alive waiting to be gracious ready to hear and in his own time and way to exercise omnipotency to open prison doors and to let poor bondage harassed sinners go free oh what a different world it is when the

[43:37] Lord appears in his miraculous sufficiency to take beggars from the dumb hill and set them among the princes of his people I admire my friends how wonderful is the very experience of it and you look back over the trouble and you say I wouldn't have been without that for anything I wouldn't have been without that for anything let the world sing and rant in their so called happiness and pleasures but I've got something that's real happiness I've got the token in my own soul that the Lord is mindful of me and that the Lord condescends in the face of all my unworthiness to regard my petitions and to hear my cries well now I'm going to close there's everything in the scripture to encourage us there's much in our hearts to discourage us oh we're not the best judges of our own prayers in the value of them the groaning of the prisoner sometimes is of more value in the sight of

[45:00] God than a long oration at the throne of grace my friends Lord help me is a wonderful key in the exercise of prayer to the worship and benefit of the worshipper and shall not God avenge his only let oh he arises to their help he sets his hand to the situation the hole is speedily resolved as he sees fit so to command deliverances for whom for Jacob Jacob Jacob unworthy personally a deceiver a man whose character according to the scripture is not a good example in certain respects but the

[46:19] Lord hears the prayers of sinners as in faith they come nothing in my hand I bring simply to thy cross I cling pleading the name of Jesus for our acceptance before a holy God is indeed effectual to our reception and in due time and I underscore this in due time to receive answers to our prayers go on crying fellow sinner if there are sinners here tonight with burdens they don't know how to sustain I say go on crying go on crying there's a great difference between the unjust judge and the just and holy almighty Lord of hosts who can resolve the greatest problem on earth without coming to earth in that sense that the

[47:26] Lord speaks from heaven he commands deliverances and deliverances circumstantially are effected to his own glory and to his people's good and comfort may the Lord teach us all to pray we're in a situation nationally that needs the prayers of every praying soul within our realm my friends oh do do remember if the Lord shall help you to ask the Lord to appear once more to our deliverance you know the Spaniards were coming up in their galleons up through the Bay of Bisque to take England under their control and the control of the papacy at one particular point in the year 1588 they came and the

[48:26] Lord heard the prayers of the people of our country and he sent the armada the Spanish armada to the bottom of the sea to a great degree and gave victory to our inferior navy at that particular time this is our God may he avenge us as day and night we're led from time to time to plead that the God of our fathers will appear and deliver us from the condition that threatens us at the present moment of our history I commend the principle to you the united cries of the people of God are stronger than all the designs and purposes of our adversaries may the Lord help us

[49:27] Amen