The Persistent Widow: Jesus’ Comparison by Contrast for the Provocation of Faith-Filled Prayer

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0:15Father, we say amen to the public reading of your word. And I personally invite you to take the floor now to help me. If you don't come, I'll be nothing more than a resounding gong up here. This will be nothing more than just, uh, a, a gearhead cranking out raw mechanical doctrinal information. So, Lord, I I just, I pray that you would be pleased to edit and revise this sermon even as it goes out. You would make it the process through my own affections by the power of the Holy Spirit so that it might land on your people for their own upbuilding, for the exaltation and the honor of your name for the joy of all peoples through Christ and whom I ask it.

0:58Amen. So my name is Jason Vaden and I am the pastor for community outreach and connection. This morning we have the, the exciting opportunity to close the final page, turn the final page on the year 2024 and open the page on a brand new chapter of life at the North church here in the year 2025. As we do this, you might be wondering of all the places we could have gone to scripture this morning, why Jesus parable on the persistent widow in Luke 18, one through eight? Well, I'm glad you asked one for one. We here at the North Church, particularly as pastors, are very convinced that ringing in the new year with a deliberate focus on pursuing the face of God and Bible saturated prayer is a really, really good thing.

1:58Two, this parable from Jesus beautifully compliments and illustrates much of Jesus teaching on prayer back in the Sermon on the Mount, which Lord willing will, will resume next Sunday. Then third, and perhaps most importantly we share some striking parallels with the earliest recipients of this paril. The gospel of Luke was, was written somewhere around 80 60, which means that Jesus Christ himself had long since been crucified, buried, resurrected, and seated on his throne of glory in heaven above. As a result, the the first century Christians at this time when the letter of the gospel of Luke was written, where in desperate need of persevering through the ugly injustices being heaped on them by a hostile PA in society as they earnestly awaited the return of Jesus Christ.

3:02Just like some of you, And I think if we use our sanctified imagination, we might even see a striking parallel between some of ourselves and Jesus' original disciples. Jesus had already turned his face, set his face towards Jerusalem back in Luke 9 51 here just prior to to our sermon text in the previous section of scripture, we learned that Jesus was, had passed through Samaria and Galilee on his way to Jerusalem and as he neared that passion week, even here in Luke 1725, he told his own disciples that he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. Nevertheless, these guys, Jesus own disciples, were by and large oblivious to the horrific scene and awaited them.

4:04And I think in a similar way, some of you here today, some of us here today are maybe free from the gross crisis of any kind of severe injustice. And yet for some of us as we round the corner into 2025, it's coming. We just don't know it. So whether you're currently bearing up under some massive injustice that's threatening to squash the life out of you or or whether you are simply needing to be equipped for what may lie, uh, lie ahead in 2025 and beyond, the ultra urgent word Of the hour for everyone in the room according to Jesus in this parable is that we would always pray and not lose heart.

4:54That's the big main idea and aim of Jesus in the parable and that's my unapologetic aim this morning in the sermon. In order to help us get there, I want to try to break this parable down and put it back together at three points. First, I want to interpret the content of the parable largely in verses one through five. Then I want to illustrate the contrast in the parable verses six through seven. And God helping me, I hope to identify Jesus' conclusion to the parable specifically in verse eight. So let's begin with interpreting the content of the parable.

5:36The first place to begin here is just to identify what a parable is. A parable is not an allegory, and by that I mean not every element, not every component or or person character in a parable can can have a one to one corresponding equivalent meaning with the spiritual truth of some sort. The word parable itself is, is just our English word parable is transliterated from a New Testament. Compound word para means alongside by all means the throw. So a parable is literally an illustration thrown or strewn alongside truth or a principle of truth to bring it into sharper focus. For us that understanding frees us up to understand or or to see that the judge, for instance, is not necessarily a one for one with God, rather most parables.

6:32And this one is no exception or given to us to illustrate one main idea or one principle of truth. And as I said, this one's no exception, the narrative of verse one says in he meaning Jesus told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. So as I said, we have biblical warrant to recognize that not every element in the parable has to correspond to a spiritual, spiritual truth, which means we shouldn't see this judge as someone who paints a picture of God or even paints a picture of an exemplary earthly ruler. I mean, look at this guy in verse six. Jesus dubs him as being unjust or unrighteous.

7:23Before we get to that, just look at verses two through five leading up to that and how Jesus describes this guy. This judge, this unrighteous judge is an absolute walking violation of the two greatest commandments. Verse two, in a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. One really concrete expression of this is how he had utter disregard for some of God's most vulnerable, namely widows, right? That shows up in verse three. There was a widow in that city. She, she kept coming to him. She was persistent in demanding justice from him. And verse four says, initially at least he flatly refused her.

8:07And look at this guy's motivation. Uh, when he does eventually grant her justice, it's not out of real deep heart level concern for the widow nor a love for supreme righteous justice in God. But instead it's purely from a motive of self-protection. He's trying to preserve his own convenience. And this guy's such a rotten, sorry scoundrel that he knows this to be true of himself. He's having a discussion with himself here, but when he does, he's not repenting of it. He only wants relief. You see, Jesus says this about him in the parable in verse two, but then down in verse four and five, verses four and five, this guy on the heart level of his thought life knows this to be true of himself.

9:00For a while he refused. But afterward he said to himself, though, I neither fear God nor respect man yet because here's the underlying big whopping motive because this widow keeps bothering me. I will give her justice so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming. So this guy is an absolute or a complete antithesis if you would to God and the standard of God. But I submit to you that the widow herself is not necessarily intended by Jesus to champion the Christian voice of biblical justice. Notice what the woman here is devoting herself to her whole life mission, at least in this season of her life, is devoted to righting all the wrongs that had been committed against her.

10:01Look at what she's saying. Look at the, the focus of her mission here in verse three. Give me justice against my adversary and notice that she's marshaling all of her resources and spending all of her time on this mission. Verse three, the way it's constructed signifies that it's a, it's an ongoing coming to the judge and that when she's there, she's repeatedly saying over and over again to him, give me justice. There's no hint in this text. Jesus doesn't even suggest here that this woman has faith that she devotes herself to God in prayer. Instead, what's really clear from Jesus is that this woman is unburdening her heart regularly to an unjust judge.

10:58And you say maybe someone saying at this point to me hold the phone. Wait a minute. You told us, you showed us in verse one that this parable is told to the effect that we ought pray. We ought to pray always and not lose heart. We ought to pray at all times. And and now this is an illustration to show that, right? And of course the answer is yes, of course it is. But here's the catch. Just because Jesus is urging us to imitate the persistence of the widow that doesn't assume we're to imitate her agenda, and this isn't unique to Jesus teaching, this isn't the only time he does this kind of a comparison by contrast, rewind to Luke 16 verses one through 13 and there he tells a parallel about an unrighteous steward.

11:53He instructs a corrupt scenario between two carnal people. Obviously we're not, we're not being told to imitate the unrighteous steward, are we? But instead what Jesus does is he grabs a just a normal everyday scene in everyday life that anyone could have related to and he plucks out, so to speak, this trait of trueness and baptizes it into or sanctifies it for his own kingdom minded purpose. And this is exactly where the contrast in the parable comes into play verses six and seven. That is back in Luke 18.

12:36One thing to note about this parable is Jesus doesn't introduce it with the kingdom of heaven is like.do. I'm arguing that it's a comparison by contrast, not a comparison of likeness. And just by sheer juxtaposition here, Jesus is showing us the stark contrast. Listen to verses six and seven. Jesus said, hear what the righteous judge says and will not God give justice to his elect who cried to him day and night. And start contrast to the unjust judge. Jesus sets down a description of his heavenly Father who who's very thrown, is founded up on perfect justice and infinite righteousness. This is sort of a rhetorical question that assumes a universal axiomatic response of you bet your bottom dollar this great God will give justice, will execute justice for his elect.

13:37It's reminiscent of Abraham's words in Genesis 1825. Shall not the judge of all the earth do what is right. There's a contrast here, even with the elect at this point and the widow, I would argue the widow doesn't have any advocate as far as we can tell. She seems to be advocating all for herself. Unlike the widow, God's elect have an advocate. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our eternal high priest forever, ever making intercession for us at the right hand of the Father. We have a counselor and a comforter. He is the Holy Spirit. In fact, he intercedes for us in our times of injustice with groans that words cannot express.

14:21The scripture says, unlike the widow, God's elect to vote themselves to crying aloud before their great God and Father in heaven based on the blood box promises of Christ night and day, the Texas as opposed to marshaling all their resources and spending all their time beating on the door of an unjust, corrupt judge in a human court. Now let me be really clear about something here. At this point, Jesus is not teaching passivism, nor nor am I. Jesus wasn't a pacifist and nor am I see inevitably some Christians are gonna find themselves in a unavoidable, in unavoidable litigation with the world. We need salt and light.

15:12Christians lobbying for righteous legislation. The Bible gives us ample warrant for confronting doctrinal error and unrighteous conduct both in the church and in the world. As you heard in the announcements this morning, come Wednesday, January the 22nd, Christians from all over the state are gonna stream to our capital to fight for the lives of the unborn in a march for life. I commend it to you. But here's the thing I'm arguing for from the text. The difference between the elect and the widow as far as I can see this widow and this parable is that we don't push any of those agendas forward by marshaling the power of our own resources.

16:04We push them forward with a bigger, higher, deeper driving force. An agenda called prayer, spirit rot, gospel soaked Bible saturated Christ exalting prayer. 'cause that's what God himself gets the glory. And again, I would point out the very contrast and juxtaposition of these things speaks to this, that the parable here, more or less argues for a lesser to the greater reality. In essence, here's what I hear the Lord Jesus saying, if even a modicum of justice can be translated between a wicked judge and a pesky widow and a corrupt judicial system, how much more will a God of infinite righteousness make good on divine justice For all those he has chosen for salvation before the foundation of the world as they're crying out to him night and day, this same kind of reasoning from the lesser to the greater happens in other contexts with Jesus teaching regarding prayer, right?

17:30You can rewind again back to staying in the, in the gospel of Luke back to Luke 11, verse 13. Or you can go back to Matthew seven, verse 11. And they're both of those texts, they're making this same kind of argument contrasting earthly evil fathers and their natural children with God, the Father and his adopted children. If you then being evil dads, if you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more so will the heavenly Father give What is good or according to Luke's version, give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.

18:11So one thing to drop in here is it maybe you're wondering what what is the big deal? Why is this so critical? This is why I think this is so important. This is why I think it's critical that we see this not as a comparison of likeness, but as as one of contrast. Inevitably, if we see the players in this parable as a one for one, we're going to take from Jesus' teaching that we are to cajole and badger our father in heaven. And until he eventually gets worn down caves in and gives us our request. When, um, when Jesus talks about the unjust judge not, uh, not wanting to be beat down by the widow, that phrase is literally hit under the eye.

19:02I metaphorically means just smooth, worn out. And when we take that approach in prayer, whether we know it or not, we're suggesting that God is reluctant to give good gifts to his children. We're framing him after the image of the unjust judge. And not only does that distort the character of God, but that actually leads to a very frustrating, discouraging prayer life. And I'll just point out again, the single-minded purpose of this parable has a two-pronged thrust to it, right? It's, it's not just that we ought always the prey, it's that we ought always to pray and not lose heart. It's this argument from the lesser to the greater in this contrast is helping us to get there.

20:00And I think the conclusion that Jesus brings us to in verse eight helps us to see that so clearly. So let's identify it together. If Jesus was urging us to imitate or emulate the widow's agenda, I submit to you that his conclusion would sound something like this. Therefore, keep pounding the door of your heavenly Father by, by faith through prayer for justice against your adversary until the son of man returns. But that's not how the parable ends is it? Look at verse eight. He says, I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily then here comes the marker of contrast. Nevertheless, when the son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

21:02You see, the widow is pounding on the door in this parable of an unjust judge begging for her pound of flesh against her adversary. You get to the conclusion of the parable and Jesus takes a hard detour and is talking about faith. His big concern is, will there be faith on the earth when the son of man returns? And I, I am convinced that this creates just a whole trail of implications, but we only have time to touch on about three of 'em. So here's the first, I think in a really big way this, this suggests that God's justice prioritizes justification. When I, when I see how Jesus ends the parable, here He, he's talking, he's given his explanation in verses six through eight and raising the questions about God, bringing about justice for his elect.

21:59And he eventually connects that in his conclusive contrasting thought to faith. Justification is the first place that my mind goes in the wider body of scripture. And if that sounds like a stretch, just consider that right after this scene. And the next, Jesus told another parable contrasting two sinners, one kind of sinner that trusted in himself that he was righteous and another kind of sinner that truly gets justified. And what's that sinner saying, God have mercy on me a sinner. Justification is that supreme act of mercy by which God declares even the worst of sinners when there are awakened to the beauty of his son, Jesus by faith to be not guilty, to be righteous, that is in the divine courtroom of law.

22:45The supreme mercy of God in justification clears that sinner of all sin, past, present, and future. That's right at the heart of the gospel and it's glorious. That's what we focused on all during the advent, right? The need for God in a manger. And it gets back to this, the biggest issue with our sin problem Is not the extent or size of our sin. Hear this loud and clear.

23:19It is the greatness of the God whom we sinned against. And because that's the real issue, the real crux of the matter, the most terrifying thing about death is not death itself, but it's coming face to face with this great God when we die in our own righteousness. So we saw in the advent, we were being reminded that that the only candidate qualified to save us from our sins is one person with two natures. That means it's Christ and Him alone. He our our savior has to be fully human, born of a virgin conceived by the Holy Spirit so that he can go to the cross as a sinless substitute and die in our place.

24:09But he also has to be fully God, fully man and fully God because we need a savior who can supply the infinite righteousness that we don't have and can also bear the infinite stroke of wrath that we deserve and would otherwise have to bear it forever in eternal, the eternal misery of hell. But I submit to you, if all we have, all we have is Jesus Christ, the God man hanging and bleeding and dying in our place at the hands of murderous, unrighteous Jews and Romans, justice hasn't fully been satisfied and there would be no justification for any sinner who looks to Jesus by faith. 'cause the reality what's needed is someone big enough to deliver the stroke of infinite wrath that divine justice requires.

25:16That's Who we have in God, the Father. And that my friends is why Isaiah 53 10 says it pleased the Lord, meaning God the Father to crush him Jesus Christ, the Son. This is why Romans 5 25 doesn't simply say Jesus was put forward In his blood, put forward as his propitiation in or by his blood, but that God put him forward ultimately so that God himself could be just, and the justifier God could act in supreme mercy and clear sin is of their sins without ever compromising his righteousness and justice. And what does Romans 3 26 say about the one to whom that applies, the one who has faith? And so we boomerang right back to our text as far as this implication.

26:07And what it says to us is in a very real sense, in a very real sense, the most expedient necessary way that God execute justice for his elect who cry out to him day and night is the justifying justice that he unleashed on his son at Calvary. So that by faith we might enjoy justifying mercy in the power of the Holy Spirit through Jesus' blood. Without this, there is no foundation for prayer. So many times people will say prayer doesn't work. And that's right. It doesn't work unless you're made alive in Christ, unless you're born of the Holy Spirit through the shed blood of Jesus. And this is where the second implication comes in God's justice utilizes injustice.

26:58Go back to the main point of the parable again, is that we always to pray and not lose heart. I wanna argue at this at this point that in order to not lose heart, we have to be heartened. We have to be, have our hearts enlarged. And it's my argument this morning that that actually takes the pain and suffering and the crisis of injustice for us to get there. That's one way that God gets us there. Think about the worthless common composition of, of carbon like materials. They're not worth anything on their own. But once they're subjected over protracted seasons to immense extreme heat and pressure, precious rare diamonds are Formed.

27:55And I think the way Jesus ends this parable when he says, hear what the un unjust judge says, will not God give justice to his elect? That assumes that that God's elect, God's converted elect are facing all manner of injustice throughout their Christian pilgrimage on earth. And when it, when it, when he asks the the question or as to the question, who cry to him day and night, will he delay long over them? That assumes that those seasons of horrible injustice can be quite protracted or at least feel that way.

28:35If we hold our place here and we cut over to Luke 11, nine and 10, we get a tight angle shot of exactly how this works. You can hold your place, you can go there. But in this text, Jesus is, is explicitly commanding with present active imperatives to persist in the perseverance of prayer. Notice the, the, the how, the frequency and force increases. He goes from the weak, weaker, asking to the stronger seeking to the downright forceful knocking. And it's literally the construction of his keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking with each of these imperatives. Promises are attached asking it will be given to you, seek keep on seeking and you'll find, keep on knocking and it will be open to you.

29:25But notice if you would the ground of of of reason That That explains all this. In other words, why, why is Jesus calling us to keep on asking and keep on seeking and keep on knocking? Verse 10 explains it. First of all, there's an iteration of, of one of the same promises put on the very end of this thing to the one who knocks it will be opened. But before that door to to answer prayer opens. Notice what Jesus says in the first part of verse 10. He says, and he's not using future tense here, right? These are present active tenses, present active les for everyone who is asking literally is continually receiving and the one who is seeking is continually finding.

30:11In other words, God uses injustice to drive you to persistent prayer. And in the pressure cooker of persistent prayer, you are gaining from God. When you stay in the holding pattern of persistent prayer, God's adding spiritual fibers to your soul, God's engineering graces that you can't even see. He's enriching your soul. He's enriching your eternity. Two Corinthians four 17 says, creating an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. I know we got a lot of children in the room today. We have some, if you were to come to my house for dinner, you and your family and my wife served up a big platter and removed the lid and it was cow manure.

30:53Would you partake if you raise your hand, if you would eat that? I don't. I see smart people in the room. No one raised their hand. That's toxic, right? But how many times have you enjoyed big, healthy, lush vegetables, fruits, and vegetables? And how many times has that very produce come out of a farmer's market or farmer's garden? A farmer's field that's been fertilized with cow manure. God and his genius and his sovereignty and his provides has a way of deliberately taking the manure pals of life and creating beauty from ashes.

31:38It's says psalm th Psalm 37 verse four, reality. The more and more we delight in God, the more and more God shapes our hearts and souls after his desires so that we eventually get the desires of our heart. And this brings us to a third and final implication. God, not only prioritizes justification, utilizes injustices, God does indeed finalize judgment. When you hear this on the page about God executing justice for his elect, rest is short, it includes final judgment. That's actually one very necessary component of consolation to the saints in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Right? But God, we, how is God a God of justice and righteousness currently executing justice?

32:34He seems withdrawn. Injustice abounds everywhere, but friends don't lose sight of the fact that Romans one 18 says, the wrath of God is currently presently being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth. Romans two, five goes on to tell us that people are getting away with murder. The longer stubborn unreputed unrepented hearts persist in their unrepentant sin. They're literally storing up for themselves that is welling up for themselves wrath on the day of wrath. That's why Romans 1219 reminds us not to take revenge, but to leave room for the wrath of God's vengeances mind.

33:13The Lord says, I will repay. And that's a comfort. He's much better at it than you and I are. One Corinthians 15 is there to say that Jesus is reigning so all of his enemies are put under his feet. So God is not passive and he's not dormant. He's actively working even exponentially increasing the wrath of his own adversaries, which have become our adversaries when we're united to him by repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as a result of the spirit's working in our hearts. But I just wonder that when Jesus closes out the parable with this question, this contrasting question, yes, he's, he's gonna give justice to his elect.

33:55He's gonna do it speedily. Nevertheless, when the son of man comes, will he find faith on earth? Is that only concerned about your personal faith being purged and pruned and you persevering by persistent prayer to the end? Or is it possible that through the persistent prayer, Jesus intends to redirect your prayers, to enlarge your heart so that you might authentically, genuinely pray from the the deepest recesses of your soul in ways that are authentically loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you? Could it be that Jesus intends one thing he intends by asking the question, when the son of man returns, will there be faith on the earth?

34:42He intends for you to persist in prayer for your biggest adversaries who have assaulted you with the ugliest injustices in hopes that God Almighty might spare them from the wrath to come at the end of the age to grant them a repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus, just like he done for you yesterday marked the third year of my father's passing. When we lost him, it wasn't just a Parkinson's. The Parkinson's was, was the cause of his fall.

35:19But what eventually got him is that he was admitted to the hospital as a result of the fall. He was given medicines that Parkinson's patients should never have and the medicine destroyed his ability to swallow so that every time he took in food and liquid, it went into his lungs instead of his, instead of his stomach. Consequently, we took him, him home from the hospital on hospice, fed him ice chips and watched him die. I would be lying to you if I said I'm not still battling impulses of self-centered revenge and retaliation. But at the same time, I can honestly say to you this morning, after three years of persistent prayer, persevering in the promises of God, in the wake of that whole thing, I would rejoice if the saving mercies of God broke in on those medical practitioners back in North Little Rock, Arkansas.

36:12And so Father, we pray that even right now in this moment, I pray for these and beyond them back in North Little Rock who are without you, that even one, even one would be awakened to the beauty of your son Jesus would turn and would, would know you would know your righteousness. I pray for your people in the room today that they'll be buoyed up and strengthened that the the injustices that have slapped them up against the ground so hard is not the air out of them. They would feel your undergirding consolations. And then for those who don't know what they're about to step into, would you, would you go ahead of them?

36:53Would you use this text to equip them so that when the fiery ordeal come comes, they have this and other great promises and texts to fall back on? And I pray it and ask it now in Jesus matchless, merciful, mighty name. Amen.

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The Persistent Widow: Jesus’ Comparison by Contrast for the Provocation of Faith-Filled Prayer

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The End Is Not Yet

Woe To Hypocrites!

The Persistent Widow: Jesus’ Comparison by Contrast for the Provocation of Faith-Filled Prayer

Surpassing Worth Of Christ

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