Jesus was urging us to never give up vol 2

JESUS WAS URGING US TO NEVER GIVE UP VOL 2
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
New InternationalVersion
Then Jesus told his disciplesa parableto show them
that they should always pray and not give up.
WHEN SHOULD WE PRAY?
NO. 2519
A SERMON
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD’S-DAY, MAY 30, 1897,
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE,NEWINGTON,
ON THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER22, 1885.
“Menought always to pray, and not to faint.”
Luke 18:1.
MY mind alights with greatjoy upon the simple truth which gleams on the
very surface of our text—
then, man may pray. If men ought to pray, they may pray. Whatevera man
ought to do, it is clearthat he
has the right and the privilege to do, and though this may seema very
common-place truth to those of us

whose hearts are at ease through faith in Jesus and who enjoy daily
communion with God in prayer, yet
there is an exquisite sweetness aboutthis fact to a man who fears that he may
not pray. He has come into
such a miserable state of heart that he feels as if he could not pray and he
fears that he may not pray.
Satantells him that the door of mercy is shut againsthim, that his day of
grace is over, and that the time
of hope for him is now pastand gone. But our text says, “Menought always to
pray.” Then, men may
always pray.
Your knee may be bent before the altar of God, though they are stained
through many a fall into sin.
Though it is many years since you ever thought of praying, yet you may pray.
Though, perhaps, you
have even denied that there is a God, still you may pray. Though you have
ridiculed the very notion of
prayer, you may pray. God does not refuse to you the permission to come to
His mercy seat. Thoughyou
have committed every crime in the catalog ofsin, you may pray. And though
you have gone on in those
crimes and involved yourself yet more and more deeply in iniquity, you may
pray. Though you are
within a few days of death and of damnation, unless the grace of God shall
visit you, yet you may pray.
It is clearthat you may pray because men ought always to pray, and what
they ought to do they may

do. Grasp that truth, O despairing one, and grip it fast and sayyou to despair,
“Getawayfrom me. It is
not possible that I am denied the right of praying unto the Lord while such a
text as this still stands in
Holy Writ, ‘Men ought always to pray.’”
Now, just look at the text again, and lay stress upon the first word of it, “Men
ought always to pray.”
I feel so grateful to the Holy Spirit that this text does not say, “Saints ought
always to pray,” because
then I might ask myself, “Am I a saint?” And perhaps, I might have to
answer, “No, I am far from it.”
But the text does not say, “saints,” andit does not even say, “Tender-hearted,
penitent persons, who are
in a very gracious state, oughtalways to pray.” No, there is no description of
charactergiven in the text,
for which I am deeply grateful. Those exhortations that leave the characteras
wide as possible are all the
more full of grace and condescending love.
Who ought always to pray, then? “Men.” And the word, “men,” is generic and
includes the race.
“Men.” Thatis, men and women and children, old men and fathers, young
men and maidens, all who
belong to the race of mankind ought always to pray. Perhaps you say, “So-
and-So is not a good man.”
No, but he is a man, and men ought always to pray. “He is a long way from
being a commendable man,

a man of mark, a man of note, a nobleman in the truest sense ofthat term.”
Ah, but he is a man, and men
ought always to pray!
Go down the back streets into the dark alleys, where there are men who
scarcelyseemto be men,
and women who are scarcelywomen, and tell even them that they are still
included under this head,
“Menought always to pray.” Go upstairs and stand by the bed where death
has his victim by the throat.
2 When Should We Pray? Sermon #2519
2 Volume 43
The man yet living is still a man, that poor creature lying there is not yet a
corpse, but still a man. Say to
him, “Men ought always to pray.” They who curse and swearought always to
pray. They who live
without any regardfor God, or even in disbelief of His existence, and
detestationof His Gospel, yet they
ought always to pray. And as I said at the beginning, the “ought” implies a
permission, for what a man
ought to do, he may do, and therefore, whoever you may be, if you are in the
shape of a man, you ought
to pray.
If you have a head on your shoulders, and lungs that heave, and a heart that
palpitates—if you are
still in the land of the living and can be numbered among the sons of men—to
you this text rings out a

grand and glorious Gospel. Even though it seems to be put in the form of a
law of God by the use of that
stern word, “ought,” yet it really is in the form of the Gospel. You may pray if
you are either man or
woman, if you are of the race of mankind, for, “Menought always to pray.”
Oh, that some poor heart might catchat this sweetword! That womantalked
of throwing herself
over London Bridge, yet even she may pray. That man thought of crossing the
Atlantic and hiding
himself from his fellow-men, leaving his kith and kin, to get awayfrom the
place where he has
dishonored his name. Do not think of such a thing, my dear sir, but pray, for
you may pray. There is not
in heaven or earth anything that forbids you to pray. There is an actof
amnesty and oblivion passedin
the court of God and you are not exceptedfrom it. There is no book inspired
of Him that denies you a
place at the mercy seat. There is no messengersentof God who will say to
you, “Thus says the Lord,
you shall not pray,” but on the contrary, bringing before you the living and
inspired Word of the living
Christ of God, we sayto you, “Menought always to pray.” Therefore you
ought to pray and therefore
you may pray.
Now let us turn the text around a little and put the emphasis on another word.
“Menought always to

pray.” Therefore, men may pray now. If they ought always to pray, they
ought now to pray, and if they
ought now to pray, they may now pray. Is not that a precious, blessedtruth?
Here you sit, poor sinner,
and I am talking to you. Nevermind that very respectable personwho is
sitting next to you. I am not just
now thinking of her, I am not speaking to him, I mean you, poor, sad, guilty
one. Perhaps you say, “I do
not feelin a state of mind in which I canpray. I hardly know why I came in
here. I am very sad, I am
very troubled, I am very sinful, I am very hard-hearted.” But my dear friend,
you may pray.
Let me stop a minute. In this solemn silence, you may breathe your first
prayer to God. May God
help you, my poor brother, to sayfor the first time, “Godbe merciful to me, a
sinner!” May He help you,
my dear sister, who has lived so long without prayer, now to say, “Lord,
receive me, and forgive me,
and let me be Your daughter, Your child, henceforth and forever!”
Do you not see this? If men—and you are in that category—ifhuman beings
ought always to pray,
then they may always pray. And “always,”must include this presentmoment.
So you may pray now.
You ought to pray now, for you are in the list of men. Therefore, do pray now,
for “now,” must be
included in the word, “always.”

“Well,” someone says,“Iwill hasten home and pray.” Do not do that. Sit
where you now are and let
your soul breathe itself out to God. “But I would like to getdown on my
knees.” Yes, I would like that
you should if it were fit and proper, but there is no need of it. Get on the knees
of your soul. Many a
time, when the body is on its knees, the soul is not really praying and there is a
way in which the soul
can be prostrate before God even though the body stands.
Even now, into the very dust I throw my own spirit before the thrice-holy God
and prostrate before
Him, I pray, “Lord, help some who are here now to pray to You. Forthe first
time in their lives, even
now, while these words are escaping from my lips, may their hearts confess
their sin and cry unto You,
greatFather, for the exercise of Your infinite mercy.” Why should it not be
so? I believe that the Spirit
of God is at work here at this moment and is leading some of you into this
blessedactof prayer. If so, let
His name be praised for it.
There is one thing more to be noticed before I plunge into the text and that is,
pray, and not to faint.” Then it is clearthat prayer is always—ifit is true
prayer—an effectualand
Sermon #2519 WhenShould We Pray? 3
Volume 43 3

profitable exercise to any man who prays, for if men ought to pray, it is plain
that there is something in
prayer that is helpful to the spirit, for men ought not to do that which is a
mere vain and empty thing.
God cannot require us to do that which will end in smoke or which will be a
mere nothing. God does not
ask any of us to go and talk to the winds and whistle to the waves. There must
be some reality in prayer,
it must be His intention to hear and to answerprayer, or else He would not
put it thus, “Men ought
always to pray.”
Would He give us permission to do a thing that would have no value in it
whatever? Nay, would He
exhort us to do it, would He command us to do it, when He knew that, if we
did it, it would just be a
mere form? Does Godsendus to act like the daughters of Danaus, to fill a
bottomless vesselwith
leaking buckets? DoesHe tell us, like Sisyphus, to spend our lives rolling a
huge stone up the hill, which
will only roll back again upon us? Does He make fools of us? Has He spoken
in secretand said to the
seedof Jacob, “Seek ye my face in vain”? It cannot be.
I hold that if God does not hear and answerprayer, it is a piece of foolery.
And I cannotconceive
that God would set any of us to do what would be an insane, or at leastan
idiotic thing. No, if men ought

always to pray, there is something real in prayer and when the Lord says that
we ought to pray, it is
because He stands ready to grant the desire of our hearts and to send us away
with a blessing.
I. With this preface, dear friends, we come to our text, and I notice concerning
it, first, here is A
PERPETUALDUTY, OR PRIVILEGE, OR BOTH. “Menought always to
pray.”
It means, of course, first, that men ought to pray habitually. There should
be—and where the grace
of God is, there will be, the habit of prayer. There will be the prayer at set
times. It is necessaryto mark
out the plots in the garden, to keepthem from the path where you walk, so
that growing plants may not
be trodden down by the busy feetof toil. We need some settimes, some little
enclosures, some hours
and periods marked off for prayer. These should be regularly attended to.
Our private prayers—it is a
greatloss to our souls if these are ever neglected. Ourfamily prayers—I am
sure it is a grievous injury
to a Christian householdif it is not gatheredregularly for prayer. Our
prayers in the house of God among
our brethren, too, must not be forgotten.
We love the assemblies forprayer. We have given heed to the apostolic
injunction, “Forsakenotthe
assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is.” All these things
ought you to do, yet there

is a habit of prayer that is higher than all this. The Jews prayed three times a
day. There have been some
holy men who have prayed at leastseventimes a day, but I take it that the
man who lives near to God
could not tell how many times a day he prays, for whether he has three or
seventimes of specialand
notable prayer in word, he will have seventytimes seventimes in a day in
which his heart speaks with
God about everything that occurs. I think that it is well before every actionto
breathe a prayer, and
during every actionto breathe a prayer, and after every actionto breathe a
prayer.
“Salt,” says the Old Testament, “without prescribing how much.” So is it to be
with prayer—prayer,
without prescribing how much. You cannever overdo it. Possiblythose
matters which appear to require
leastprayer are the very things which require most prayer. “Menought
always to pray.” You do not
have to leave off your business to pray, or turn aside from domestic labor or
public service, all of which
must be attended to. You can do that and pray just the same, and this is the
way in which Christians
always should pray.
But I do not think that this text so much intends to teachthe continuity of
prayer as the pertinacity of
prayer. I mean not so much the always praying, as the keeping on praying for
any particular thing that

you have askedfor. You are to continue to pray. Let me try and open this up a
little. “Menought always
to pray,” that is, to pray under all circumstances. Whateverthe difficulty or
the trouble is, pray about it.
It is a domestic trouble, pray about it. It is a business trouble, pray about it. It
is a church difficulty, pray
about it.
I wish to bear my personalwitness upon this matter. I have had and I still
have, more burdens to
bear, I think, than any other man who lives—heavy burdens, not my own, but
for others and for God’s
glory—that which daily comes upon me, the care not only of this huge church,
but of so many other
4 Volume 43
churches as well. And I have found that I never have a burden of any sort but
it is my wisdom at once
to—
“Take it to the Lord in prayer.”
I have had burdens that have so troubled me that I have been quite baffled. I
have thought my best
and I have done my best, but the trouble has remained and at last, I have
takenit bodily and put it up on
the shelf, and I have said to the Lord, “I will never touch that trouble again, I
will leave it in Your hands,
my blessedMaster.”I believe that, generally, it has been the best mode of
dealing with it, to put it

entirely into His hands. There are certain things for which, after having done
all else that can be done,
the only remedy is prayer.
Let it be definitely acceptedamong us Christian people that whatever the
difficulty is, whatever
shape it takes, secularorsacred, “Menought always to pray,” that is, they
ought to pray about
everything. This is the remedy that will cure all diseases. This is the sword
that shall cut the Gordian
knot if it cannot be untied. This is the key that fits the wards of every lock in
the prison house of our
sorrow. We shall get cleanout if we do but know how to use the key of prayer.
pray.”
There may be a brother who is likely to make discord, shall I go and battle
with him? No, I will tell
the Lord about him. He will deal with him better than I can. Oh, but that man
has begun to preach flat
heresy! Shall I have a fight with him? Well, I may controvert with him if I am
driven to it, but I will first
tell the Lord about him. The Lord can settle him far better than I can.
“Straightahead makes the best
runner.” Instead of going round to the servant and trying to curry favor with
him, go straight to the
Master. Go at once to headquarters about everything. “Menought always to
pray.” Oh, to learn this
lessonwell!

And dear friends, we ought to pray under all oppositions to prayer.
Sometimes we say to ourselves,
“Really, I could not pray about that matter.” Well, then, if you cannot pray
about it, do not have
anything to do with it, it is a sure sign that there is a leprosyin it, so touch it
not. The cankerwormof
hell is in it if you cannot pray about it. Flee from it as you would from
Gehenna itself. It must be a foul
and filthy thing if you cannot pray about it.
Nay, beloved, there cannot be such a thing, but whateverseems to be in the
way of your praying,
believe that, whenever it is hardest to pray, it is most necessaryto pray.
Whenever it seems to you that
you cannotpray, then you must say, “Now I have seven times more need to
pray about this thing than I
have about other matters in which prayer comes more easyto me.” It is a
danger signalwhen you cannot
pray. It is the rattle of the rattlesnake whenyou cannot pray, there must be
some deadly mischief near at
hand. Whateverthe difficulty in prayer, you must, by the help of the divine
Spirit, break through all
barriers, for you must pray.
“Menought always to pray.” Then they ought to pray even if there has been a
long delay in answers
to their prayers. I objectvery greatly to the practice of some of whom I have
read, who have setGod a

certain time during which they will pray. I have heard of a womanwho said
that she would pray for her
husband for twenty years and according to the story, at the end of twenty
years he was converted, but if
he had not been convertedjust then, it would have been at her peril to leave
off prayer, even at the end
of the twenty years.
Our dear brother, Mr. George Muller, has on his “prayer book” the name of a
brother for whom he
has prayed, I think I heard him say, some thirty-six years. That was some
years ago, so it must be a
longertime than that now, unless, indeed, the prayer has been answered. But
he has the inward
persuasionthat this person will yet be brought to the Savior’s feet and
therefore he daily mentions the
case before Godin prayer.
By the way, he tells us of a very admirable plan of his for booking his requests
in prayer and
marking them off as they are heard, and those that are not answeredhe lets
stand until, in process of
time, he finds that some of them were not proper requests and he puts that
againstthem. But he finds
Volume 43 5
that God does hear prayer and he likes to keepa recordof it. If we did the
same, we would have much

more holy commonsense confidence in God, and our praying would be a more
business-like matter as,
indeed, it ought to be. But do not sayto yourself, “I shall pray just so long for
this thing.” If what you
are asking for touches the kingdom and the glory of Christ, persevere in the
prayer with this text to
encourage you, “Menought always to pray.”
If it is something which concerns only your ownpersonal comfort, then God’s
Spirit may teachyou
to limit your prayers. “Concerning this thing,” said Paul, “I besoughtthe
Lord thrice.” Yes, and then he
had not the answerthat he desired, but he had one with which he was
perfectly satisfied. The Lord did
not take awaythe thorn in the flesh, the messengerofSatan to buffet him, but
He said, “My grace is
sufficient for thee.” Paul still had to bear the trial, but he receivedfrom the
Lord the grace to enable him
to bear it.
Ask with bated breath when you are asking something temporal for yourself,
for you are but as a
silly child in that which relates to yourself. A boy might fall in love with his
father’s razors or wish to
eat some delicacythat would be most dangerous to his health, and you would
not have your child
persisting in asking for that which would injure him. You are not angry with
him for asking, for he

knows no better, so you say, “My child, that would not be goodfor you!” If
your son be a goodchild, he
will not ask again, or asking, he will not be angry if he is refused.
So often, you know not what is goodfor you. If God had really put it within
our reachto have
whateverwe chose to ask for, it would be a very dangerous powerindeed. If
the Lord should say to me,
“You may have whateveryou wish for,” I would straightwayget to my
chamber and say, “O my Father,
divest me of this dangerous privilege! I ask You, of Your tender mercy, never
to give me anything
which Your greatwisdom does not see to be goodfor me. Do not trust me with
so dangerous a poweras
this. You are omniscient and I am foolish. You are altogethergoodand Your
will for me is better than
my will for myself can ever be. Not, then, as I will, but as You will, let it be
done unto me.” But if it is
anything concerning the kingdom of Christ, anything for the glory of God,
continue in prayer, even
though it be for fifty years, and let this little sentence cheeryou, “Menought
always to pray.”
Pray on, also, dear friends, despite all temptations and all personaldifficulties.
When you feel, “My
prayer is dull and feeble,” still pray. When Satan says, “There is no use in
praying about that matter,”
still pray. When others round about you say, “It is not a fit subjectfor
prayer,” still pray. When at lastit

seems to be despairing work and you have to cry, “Has God forgottento be
gracious.?Has He in anger
shut up the heart of His compassion?”stillpray, for “Menought always to
pray.”
II. Now I must say just a few words upon THE GROUND OF THIS
OBLIGATION “Menought
always to pray.”
Well, we ought always to pray because we have always some sin to confess, we
have always some
goodthing for which to bless God, and we have always some want that needs
to be supplied. I must own
that I have never yet been in a condition in which I did not need to pray. He
who is down in the valley
needs prayer that he may be able to climb the hill. He who is up the hill needs
to pray twice as much that
his head may not grow dizzy and that he may not fall from his high position.
He who has not should
pray till he has and he who has should pray that he may be blessedin the
having. If your cup is empty,
pray the Lord to fill it. If your cup is full, pray Godto make your hand steady
that you spill not its
contents. If you cannotsee your way, pray God to guide you. If you can see
your way, pray Godto help
you to follow it. Are you young? Pray God to help you againstthe sins of
youth. Are you in the middle
of life? Pray God to help you in the middle passage,where trials are so
numerous. Are you almostinto

heaven with age? Praythat you may enter heaven with prayer. “Menought
always to pray.” It is always
an incumbent duty for one or other of these reasons.
Men ought always to pray because Godcommands them to pray. “Pray
without ceasing”is a clear,
clean-cutcommand. There is no getting over that passage, “Praywithout
ceasing.”It lies wrapped up
within the heart of the first commandment of the law of God, “Thou shalt love
the LORD thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
strength.”
6 Volume 43
“Menought always to pray.” It is always the wisestthing they can do. “Men
ought always to pray.”
It is sometimes the only thing that they can do. “Menought always to pray,”
or else they take the matter
out of God’s hands. “Men ought always to pray,” for they always need God’s
help, whether they think
they do or not.
III. I will not go into further reasons, though there are very many for this
obligation, but I shall close
by noticing THE ALTERNATIVE, “Menought always to pray, and not to
faint.” If you do not pray,
you will faint.
There are some who faint fatally. They set out upon the Christian profession.
Perhaps there are some

here who once did that. Years ago, you were a member of a church, where are
you now? Years ago, you
used to speak sometimes on the village greenin the name of Christ, you do not
do that now. How have
you come to be where you are—eithernot even making a professionof
religion, or certainly doing
nothing in Christ’s service? I shall not make a guess, but I shall pronounce a
certainty, you went wrong
and you beganto faint in your spiritual course, becauseyourestrained
prayer. You fainted because you
did not pray. Ah, a religion that does not begin with secretprayer is not worth
the label you put on it! A
religion that is not sustained by secretprayer is a lie. A religion that does not
grow through secretprayer
may be puffed up, but it is not truly built up by the hand of God.
No, no, young man, if you seek to join a church, to be baptized, to come to the
communion table,
and all the while, you do not pray, your religion is but the baseless fabric of a
vision and will disappear.
We have had a great many men whom I have seenand known at different
times, who could speak very
fluently and did labor in the service of God for a while, but the greatmischief
with them was that they
did not live to God in private. If it is so with any of you, your religion may be
built up very loftily, like
some high tower, but it will come down very speedily because the foundations
have been badly laid.

You must either pray or you will faint.
If you are a child of God, the same alternative lies before you. You will either
pray or faint that is to
say, sometimes you will get bewildered. I do. I wish to do the right thing, but
scarcelyknow which is
right out of twenty things. I would deal with this brother kindly, but with that
other brother firmly. How
shall I mix firmness and kindness? If you are pastorof a church—and you
may be, my dear friend—you
know how many puzzles we have before us in dealing not only with our own
poor human nature, but
with the human nature of God’s people, for there is a lot of human nature
even where there is spiritual
nature, and there are very odd ways even in goodmen. What are you to do in
such cases? Well, if you
cannot go back within the veil, and speak with the Holy Oracle, you will faint.
I have before told you that when I was coming to London, there was a strange
old man in the prayer
meeting who, when the people were praying that I might have a blessing in
going, askedthe Lord that I
might be helped to “swallowbush-faggots crossways.”ThatI have done many
a time. Another prayed
that I might be “delivered from the bleating of the sheep” and for the life of
me, I could not make out
what he meant. I am not sure that he understood it himself, but I quite
understand it now. There is no

leaderof the flock who will not occasionallywish to be delivered from the
bleating of the sheep, for
they bleat such different tunes sometimes. You may listen to the bleating of
one sheepand another,
some, perhaps, that are not bleating in the right style, but it is a greatthing to
feel, “Now, I am not going
to be guided by the way these sheepbleat. I am setto guide them, rather than
to let them guide me, but I
am going to be guided by a higher voice than the bleating of the sheep,
namely, the voice of the Great
Shepherd.”
I believe that every man who seeks to win souls—andI am addressing many
who are in charge of
Bible classes, orat the head of Missions, orin some way serving the Lord—
will faint, I am sure he
will—in the managementof his work unless he gets right out of it sometimes
into prayer and lays it all
before the Lord and waits upon Him. “Menought always to pray, and not to
faint” in their ministry for
God, in their service on behalf of the souls of their brethren. They will faint
from very bewilderment if
they do not pray.
Volume 43 7
And you will be sure to faint, at times, through wearinessand depressionof
spirit, through a sense

of your own powerlessness. “Oh!” you say, “would God I could give it all up!
Oh, that I had the wings
of a dove, that I might fly away and be at rest!” It is a greatmercy that the
wings do not grow when we
ask for them, for they would be of no use to us, what should we do, flying
awaylike doves? If God had a
messagefor us to carry like a pigeon, He would give us the wings and then it
would be right for us to
fly.
But what we generally mean is that we want to getawayfrom hard work, we
are looking for
Saturday night. How do you like the workmanwho says, on Tuesdaymorning,
“O sir, I wish it were
Saturday night!” And when it gets on towards Thursday, he meets you and
says, “Goodmorning, sir, I
wish it was Saturday night”? “Oh!” I think you would say, “next Saturday
night will be the last I shall
want to see you.” You want a better workmanthan that and if we getto
fainting in that style, we should
say to ourselves, “Come, this will not do! I must go and tell the Lord all about
my difficulty and my
trouble.”
Wait upon Him for fresh strength and then you will come out as though you
had bathed your face in
the dew of heaven, the light of God had entered your eyes, and you had come
fresh from a vision of

angels to talk with men with new tongues as the Spirit gave you utterance.
“Wait, I say, on the LORD,”
for this it is that will keepyou from fainting and make you to renew your
strength like the eagle’s.
I have come to deal with God’s people in the close ofmy subject, but I almost
wish I had not—that I
could have kept on in the first strain and talked with those who are beginning
to pray. Dearfriends, do
begin tonight, I pray you, with your eye on my Lord on yonder cross, all
bestainedwith the streaks of
crimson blood flowing down His precious body. Look at Him. There is life in a
look at Him. Look at
Him as He dies for you and you shall live. God help you to do so, for Christ’s
sake!And when you have
believed in Him, come and be baptized in His name, as these dearfriends are
about to be. Godbless you
all! Amen.
THE IMPORTUNATE WIDOW
NO. 856
A SERMON
DELIVERED ON LORD’S-DAY MORNING, FEBRUARY21, 1869,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE,NEWINGTON.
“And He spoke a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to
pray and not to faint, saying, There
was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither regardedman: and there
was a widow in that city;
and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of my adversary. And he would
not for a while:
but afterwardhe saidwithin himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lestby her
continual coming she wearyme. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust
judge says.
And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him,
though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them
speedily.”
Luke 18:1-8.
REMEMBERthat our Lord did not only inculcate prayer with great
earnestness, but He was Himself
a brilliant example of it. It always gives force to a teacher’s words when his
hearers know that he carries
out his own instructions; Jesus was a mighty prophet both in deed and in
word, and we read of Him,
“Jesus beganboth to do and to teach.” In the exercise ofprayer, “cold
mountains and the midnight air”
witnessedthat He was as greata doer as a teacher. When He exhorted His
disciples to continue in
prayer, and to “pray without ceasing,” He only bade them follow in His steps.
If any one of all the

members of the mystical body might have been supposedto need no prayer, it
would certainly have been
our CovenantHead, but if our Head abounded in supplication, much more
ought we, the inferior
members! He was never defiled with the sins which have debasedand
weakenedus spiritually; He had
no inbred lusts to struggle with; but if the perfectly pure drew near so often
unto God, how much more
incessantin supplication ought we to be! So mighty, so great, and yet so
prayerful! O you weak ones of
the flock, how forcibly does the lessoncome home to you! Imagine, therefore,
the discourse ofthis
morning is not preachedto you by me, but comes fresh from the lips of One
who was the greatmaster of
secretprayer, the highest paragonand pattern of private supplication—and
let every word have the force
about it as coming from such a One!
We turn at once to our text, and in it we shall notice, first, the end and design
of the parable;
secondly, we shall have some words to say upon the two actors in it, whose
characters are intentionally
so described as to give force to the reasoning;and then, thirdly, we shall dwell
upon the powerwhich in
the parable is representedas triumphant.
I. First, then, considerour LORD’S DESIGN IN THIS PARABLE—“Men
ought always to pray and
not to faint.”

But can men pray always? There was a sectin the earlierdays of Christianity
who were foolish
enough to read the passage literally, and to attempt praying without ceasing
by continual repetition of
prayers. They, of course, separatedthemselves from all worldly concerns, and
in order to fulfill one duty
of life, neglectedevery other! Such madmen might well expectto reap the due
reward of their follies.
Happily there is no need in this age for us to duplicate such an error! There is
far more necessityto cry
out againstthose who under the pretense of praying always, have no settled
time for prayer at all, and so
run to the opposite extreme. Our Lord meant, by saying men ought always to
pray, that they ought to be
always in the spirit of prayer—always readyto pray; like the old knights,
always in warfare—notalways
on their steeds dashing forward with their lances in position to unhorse an
adversary, but always wearing
their weapons where they could readily reach them, and always ready to
encounter wounds or death for
the sake ofthe cause which they championed. Those grim warriors often slept
in their armor, so even
when we sleep, we are still to be in the spirit of prayer, so that if perhaps we
wake in the night we may
The Importunate Widow Sermon #856
Tellsomeone today how much you love Jesus Christ. Volume 15
2

2
still be with God. Our soul, having receivedthe divine influence which makes
it seek its heavenly
center, should be evermore naturally rising towards God Himself; our heart is
to be like those beacons
and watchtowerswhichwere prepared along the coastofEngland when the
invasion of the Armada was
hourly expected, not always blazing, but with the wood always dry, and the
match always there—the
whole pile being ready to blaze up at the appointed moment; our souls should
be in such a condition that
ejaculatoryprayer should be very frequent with us. No need to pause in
business, and leave the counter,
and fall down upon our knees—the spirit should send up its silent, short, swift
petitions to the throne of
grace. WhenNehemiah would ask a favor of the king, you will remember that
he found an opportunity
to do so through the king’s asking him, “Why are you sad?” But before he
gave him an answerhe says,
“I prayed unto the King of heaven.” Instinctively perceiving the occasion, he
did not leap forward to
embrace it, but he halted just a moment to ask that he might be enabled to
embrace it wisely, and fulfill
his greatdesignin it. So you and I should often feel, “I cannot do this till I
have askeda blessing on it.”
Howeverimpulsively I may spring forward to gain an advantage, yet my
spirit, under the influence of

divine grace, should hesitate until it has said, “If Your Spirit goes not with me,
carry me not up.” A
Christian should carry the weaponof all-prayer like a drawn swordin his
hand; we should never sheathe
our supplications;never may our hearts be like an unloaded gun, with
everything to be done to it before
it can thunder on the foe, but it should be like a primed cannon, loadedand
ready, only requiring the fire
that it may be discharged. The soul should not always be in the exercise of
prayer, but always in the
energy of prayer; not always actually praying, but always intentionally
praying.
Further, when our Lord says men ought always to pray, He may also have
meant that the whole life
of the Christian should be a life of devotion to God—
“Prayerand praise, with sins forgiven,
Bring down to earth the bliss of heaven.”
To praise God for mercies receivedboth with our voices, and with our actions,
and then to pray to God
for the mercies that we need, devoutly acknowledging that they come from
Him—these two exercisesin
one form or other should make up the sum total of human life. Our life psalm
should be composedof
alternating verses ofpraying and of praising until we getinto the next world,
where the prayer may
cease, and praise may swallow up the whole of our immortality! “But,” says
one, “we have our daily

business to attend to.” I know you have, but there is a wayof making business
a part of praise and
prayer. You say, “Give us this day our daily bread,” and that is a prayer as
you utter it; you go off to
your work, and as you toil, if you do so in a devout spirit, you are actively
praying the same prayer by
your lawful labor! You praise God for the mercies receivedin your morning
hymn, and when you go
into the duties of life, and there exhibit those graces whichreflecthonor upon
God’s name, you are
continuing your praises in the best manner. Remember that with Christians to
labor is to pray, and that
there is much truth in the verse of Coleridge—
“He prays best who loves best.”
To desire my fellow creatures’good, and to seek afterit; to desire God’s
glory, and so to live as to
promote it is the truest of devotion! The devotion of the cloisters is by no
means equal to that of the man
who is engagedin the battle of life; the devotion of the nunnery and the
monastery is at best the heroism
of a soldier who shuns the battle—but the devotion of the man in business life
who turns all to the glory
of God is the courage ofone who seeksthe thickestof the fray, and there bears
aloft the grand old
standard of Jehovah-Nissi!You need not be afraid that there is anything in
any lawful calling that need

make you desistfrom vital prayer! But, oh, if your calling is such that you
cannot pray in it, you had
better leave it! If it is a sinful calling, an unholy calling, of course you cannot
present that to God! But
any of the ordinary avocations oflife are such that if you cannot sanctify
them, it is a lack of sanctity in
yourself, and the fault lies with you. Men ought always to pray. It means that
when they are using the
lap stone, or the chisel; when the hands are on the plow handles, or on the
spade; when they are
measuring out the goods;when they are dealing in stocks—whateverthey are
doing, they are to turn all
these things into a part of the sacredpursuit of God’s glory! Their common
garments are to be
vestments; their meals are to be sacraments;their ordinary actions are to be
sacrifices andthey
themselves a royal priesthood, a peculiar people zealous for goodworks.
Sermon #856 The Importunate Widow
Volume 15 Tell someone todayhow much you love Jesus Christ.
3
3
A third meaning which I think our Lord intended to convey to us was this—
men ought always to
pray, that is they should persevere in prayer. This is probably His first
meaning. When we ask Godfor a
mercy once, we are not to considerthat now we are not to trouble Him further
with it, but we are to

come to Him again and again! If we have askedof Him seventimes, we ought
to continue until 70 times
seven;in temporal mercies there may be a limit, and the Holy Spirit may bid
us ask no more, and then
must we say, “the Lord’s will be done.” If it is anything for our own personal
advantage, we must let the
Spirit of submissionrule us so that after having sought the Lord thrice, we
shall be content with the
promise, “My grace is sufficient for you,” and no longerask that the thorn in
the flesh should be
removed. But in spiritual mercies, and especiallyin the united prayers of a
Church, there is no taking a
no for an answer!Here, if we would prevail, we must persist! We must
continue incessantlyand
constantly, and know no pause to our prayer till we win the mercy to the
fullest possible extent. “Men
ought always to pray.” Week by week, month by month, year by year—the
conversionof that dear child
is to be the father’s main plea; the bringing in of that unconverted husband is
to lie upon the wife’s heart
night and day till she gets it; she is not to take even 10 or 20 years of
unsuccessfulprayer as a reason
why she should cease—sheis to set God no times nor seasons, but as long as
there is life in her, and life
in the dear objective of her solicitude, she is to continue to plead with the
mighty God of Jacob. The
pastor is not to seek a blessing on his people occasionally, andthen in
receiving a measure of it to desist

from further intercession—he is to continue vehemently without pause,
without restraining his energies,
to cry aloud and spare not till the windows of heaven are opened, and a
blessing is given too large for
him to house! But, brothers and sisters, how many times we ask of God, and
have not because we do not
wait long enough at the door? We knock a time or two at the gate of mercy,
and as no friendly
messengeropens the door, we go our ways. Too many prayers are like boys’
runaway knocks—given
and then the giver is awaybefore the door canbe opened! O for divine grace
to stand foot to foot with
the angelof God—and never, never, never relax our hold, feeling that the
cause we plead is one in
which we must be successful, for souls depend on it, the glory of God is
connectedwith it, and the state
of our fellow men is in jeopardy! If we could have given up in prayer our own
lives, and the lives of
those dearestto us, yet the souls of men we cannot give up, we must urge and
plead again and again
until we obtain the answer—
“The humble suppliant cannot fail
To have his needs supplied,
Since He for sinners intercedes
Who once for sinners died.”
I cannot leave this part of the subject without observing that our Lord would
have us learn that men

should be more frequent in prayer; not only should they always have the spirit
of prayer and make their
whole lives a prayer, and persevere in any one objective which is dear to their
souls, but there should be
a greaterfrequency of prayer among all the saints;I gather that from the
parable, “lestby her continual
coming she weary me.” Prayerfulness will scarcelybe kept up long unless you
setapart times and
seasonsforprayer. There are no times laid down in Scripture exceptby the
example of holy men, for the
Lord trusts much to the love of His people, and to the spontaneous motions of
the inner life. He does not
say, “Pray at seveno’clock in the morning every day,” or “pray at night at
eight, or nine, or 10, or
eleven.” He says, “Praywithout ceasing.”Yetevery Christian will find it
exceedinglyuseful to have his
regular times for retirement, and I doubt whether any eminent piety canbe
maintained without these
seasonsbeing very carefully and scrupulously observed. We read in the old
traditions of James the
apostle, that he prayed so much that his knees grew callousedthrough his long
kneeling, and it is
recordedby Foxthat Latimer, during the time of his imprisonment, was so
much upon his knees that
frequently the poor old man could not rise to his meals, but had to be lifted up
by his servants. When he
could no longerpreach and was confinedwithin stone walls, his prayers went
up to heavenfor his

country, and we in these times are receiving the blessing!Daniel prayed with
his windows open daily,
and at regular intervals. “Seventimes a day,” says one, “will I praise You.”
David declared that at,
“evening, and morning, and at noon,” would he wait upon God. O that our
intervals of prayer were not
4
4
so distant, one from the other! Pray that God will grant us grace that on the
pilgrimage of life the wells
at which we drink are more frequent!
Our Lord means, to sum up the whole, that believers should exercise a
universality of supplication—
we ought to pray at all times. There are no canonicalhours in the Christian’s
day or week;we should
pray from cockcrowing to midnight, at such times as the Spirit moves us; we
should pray in all
circumstances—inour poverty and in our wealth, in our health and in our
sickness, in the bright days of
festival, and in the dark nights of lamentation; we should pray at the birth
and pray at the funeral; we
should pray when our soulis gladwithin us by reasonofabundant mercy, and
we should pray when our
soul draws near unto the gates ofdeath by reasonof heaviness;we should
pray in all transactions,

whether secularor religious. Prayershould sanctify everything! The word of
God and prayer should
come in over and above the common things of daily life. Pray over a bargain;
pray over going into the
shop, and coming out again. Remember in the days of Joshua how the
Gibeonites deceivedIsrael
because Israelinquired not of the Lord? Be you not deceived by a specious
temptation, as you may well
be if you do not daily come to the Lord and say, “Guide me! Make straighta
plain path for my feet, and
lead me in the way everlasting.” You shall never err by praying too much!
You shall never make a
mistake by asking God’s guidance too often! But you shall find this to be the
gracious illumination of
your eyes, if in the turning of the road where two paths meet which seemto be
equally right, you shall
stay a moment, and cry unto God, “Guide me, O greatJehovah.” “Menought
always to pray.” I have
enlargedupon it from this pulpit—go and expound it in your daily lives!
II. In enforcing this precept, our Lord gives us a parable in which there are
TWO ACTORS, the
characteristicsofthe two actors being such as to add strength to His precept.
In the first verse of the parable there is a judge. Now here is the great
advantage to us in prayer.
Beloved, if this poor woman prevailed with a judge whose office is stern,
unbending, untender, how

much more ought you and I to be instant in prayer and hopeful of success
when we have to supplicate a
Father! Far other is a father than a judge. The judge must necessarilybe
impartial, stern; but the father is
necessarilypartial to his child, compassionateand tender to his own offspring.
Does she prevail over a
judge, and shall not we prevail with our Father who is in heaven? And does
she continue in her
desperate needto wearyhim until she wins what she desires—andshall not we
continue in the agonyof
our desires until we getfrom our heavenly Father whateverHis word has
promised?
In addition to being a judge, he was devoid of all goodcharacter;in both
branches he failed; he
“fearednot God”; consciencewas searedin him; he had no thoughts of the
greatjudgment seatbefore
which judges must appear. Though possibly he had takenan oath before God
to judge impartially, yet he
forgothis oath, and trod justice under his feet. “Neitherdid he regard man.”
The approbation of his
fellow creatures, which is very often a power, even with naturally bad men,
either to restrainthem from
overt evil, or else to compelthem to righteousness—this principle had no
effectupon him! Now, if the
widow prevailed over such a wretchas this; if the iron of her importunity
broke the iron and steel of this
man’s stubbornness, how much more may we expect to be successfulwith
Him who is righteous, and

just, and good—the Friend of the needy, the Fatherof the fatherless, and the
avengerof all such as are
oppressed? O let the characterof God, as it rises before you in all its majesty
of truthfulness and
faithfulness, blended with loving-kindness, and tenderness, and mercy excite
in you an indefatigable
ardor of supplication, making you resolve with this poor woman that you will
never cease to supplicate
until you win your case!
The judge was a man so unutterably bad that he even confessedhis badness
to himself, with great
contentment, too! Without the slightesttinge of remorse, he said within
himself, “Though I fearnot God,
neither regardman.” There are few sinners who will go to this length; they
may neither fearGod nor
regard men, yet still they will indulge in their minds some semblance of that
which is virtuous, and cheat
themselves into the belief that at leastthey are not worse than others. But with
this man there was no
self-deception;he was as coolabout this avowalas the Pharisee was
concerning the opposite, “God, I
thank You that I am not as other men are.” To what a brazen impertinence
must this man have come;to
what an extent must he have hardened his mind, that knowing himself to be
such, he yet climbed the
judgment seat, and satthere to judge his fellow men! Yet the woman
prevailed with this monster in

5
5
human form who had come to take pleasure in his ownwickedness,and
gloatedin the badness of his
own heart! Over this man importunity prevailed—how much more over Him
who spared not His own
Son, but freely delivered Him up for us all? How much more over Him whose
name is love, whose
nature is everything that is attractive and encouraging to such as seek His
face? As we look at him, the
more evil this judge appears, and he could scarcelyhave been painted in
blackercolors, the more does
the voice of the Savior seemto say to us, “Menought always to pray and not
to faint.”
Note with regardto the characterof this judge, that he was one who
consciouslycaredfor nothing
but his own ease. Whenat last he consentedto do justice, the only motive
which moved him was, “lest
by her continual coming she wearyme. “She stun me,” might be the Greek
word—a kind of slang, I
suppose, of that period, meaning lest “she batter me,” “she bruise me,” and as
some translate it, “blacken
my face with her incessantconstantbattering.” That was the kind of language
he used—a short quick

sentence ofindignation at being bothered, as we would say, by such a case as
this! The only thing that
moved him was a desire to be at ease, and to take things comfortably. O
brothers and sisters, if she could
prevail over such a one, how much more shall we speedwith God whose
delight it is to take care of His
children? Who loves them even as the apple of His eye!
This judge was practicallyunkind and cruel to her, yet the widow continued;
for a while he would
not listen to her, though her household, her life, her children’s comfort were
all hanging upon his will.
He left her by a passive injustice to suffer, but our Godhas been practically
kind and gracious to us—up
to this moment He has heard us, and granted our requests. Setthis againstthe
characterof the judge, and
surely every loving heart that knows the power of prayer will be moved to
incessantimportunity!
We must howeverpass on, now, to notice the other actor in the scene—the
widow, and here
everything tells againthe same way—to induce the church of God to be
importunate. She was
apparently a perfect stranger to the judge; she appeared before him as an
individual in whom he took no
interest; he had possibly never seenher before; who she was, and what she
wanted was no concernto
him. But when the church appears before God, she comes as Christ’s own
bride! She appears before the

Father as one whom He has loved with an everlasting love! And shall He not
avenge His own elect, His
own chosen, His own people? Shall not their prayers prevail with Him, when a
stranger’s importunity
won a suit of an unwilling judge?
The widow appearedat the judgment seatwithout a friend. According to the
parable, she had no
advocate, no powerful pleaderto stand up in the court and say, “I am the
patron of this humble woman.”
If she prevailed, she must prevail by her own ardor, and her ownintensity of
purpose. But when you and
I come before our Father, we come not alone, for—
“He is at the Father’s side,
The Man of love, the Crucified.”
We have a Friend who always lives to make intercessionfor us! O Christian,
urge your suit with holy
boldness!Press your case,for the blood of Jesus speakswith a voice that must
be heard! Be not,
therefore, faint in your spirit, but continue in your supplication.
This poor womancame without a promise to encourage her;no, with the
reverse—withmuch to
discourage!But when you and I come before God, we are commanded to pray
by God Himself, and we
are promised that if we ask, it shall be given us; if we seek, we shallfind! Does
she win without the
sacredweaponof the promise, and shall not we win who can setthe battering
rams of God’s own word

againstthe gates of heaven—a battering ram that shall make every timber in
those gates quiver? O
brothers and sisters, we must not pause nor cease a moment while we have
God’s promise to back our
plea!
The widow, in addition to having no promise whatever, was even without the
right of constant
access.She had, I suppose, a right to clamor to be heard at ordinary times
when judgment was
administered, but what right had she to dog the judge’s footsteps, to waylay
him in the streets, to
hammer at his private door—to be heard calling at nightfall, so that he,
sleeping at the top of his house,
was awakenedby her cries? She had no permissionso to importune, but we
may come to God at all
times and all seasons;we may cry day and night unto Him, for He has bid us
pray without ceasing!
6
6
What? Without a permit is this woman so incessant? And with the sacred
permissions which Godhas
given us, and the encouragementof abounding loving-kindness, shall we cease
to plead?
She, poor soul, every time she prayed, provokedthe judge! Lines of anger
were on his face. I doubt

not he foamed at the mouth to think he should be weariedby a person so
insignificant! But with Jesus,
every time we plead we please Him rather than provoke Him! The prayers of
the saints are the music of
God’s ears—
“To Him there’s music in a groan,
And beauty in a tear.”
We, speaking after the manner of men, bring a gratificationto Godwhen we
intercede with Him; He is
vexed with us if we restrain our supplications;He is pleasedwith us when we
draw near constantly. Oh,
then, as you see the smile upon the Father’s face, children of His love, I
beseechyou faint not, but
continue still, without ceasing to entreat the blessing!
Once more, this woman had a suit in which the judge could not be himself
personally interested. But
ours is a case in which the God we plead with is more interestedthan we are!
For when a church asks for
the conversionof souls, she may justly say, “Arise, O God, plead Your own
cause.” Itis for the honor of
Christ that souls be converted; it brings glory to the mercy and power of God
when greatsinners are
turned from the error of their ways!Consequently we are pleading for the
Judge, with the Judge—for
God we are pleading with God! Our prayer is virtually for Christ as through
Christ that His kingdom
may come, and His will may be done.

I must not forget to mention that in this woman’s case, she was only one. She
prevailed though she
was only one! And shall not God avenge His own electwho are not one, but
tens of thousands? If there
is a promise that if two or three are agreedit shall be done, how much more if
in any church hundreds
meet togetherwith unanimous souls anxiously desiring that God would fulfill
His promise? These pleas
castchains around the throne of God; how they, as it were, hem in
omnipotence; how they compel the
Almighty to arise out of His place, and come in answerto His people, and do
the greatdeed which shall
bless His Church, and glorify Himself!
You see, then, whether we considerthe judge, or considerthe widow, each
characterhas points
about it which tend to make us see our duty and our privilege to pray without
ceasing.
III. The third and last point—THE POWER WHICH, ACCORDING TO
THIS PARABLE,
TRIUMPHED.
This powerwas not the woman’s eloquence, “I pray you avenge me of my
adversary.” These words
are very few. They have the merit of being very expressive, but he who would
study oratory will not
gather many lessons from them. “I pray you avenge me of my adversary.”
Just eight words. You observe

there is no plea, there is nothing about her widowhood, nothing urged about
her children, nothing said
about the wickednessofher adversary, nothing concerning the judgment of
God upon unjust judges, nor
about the wrath of Godupon unjust men who devour widows’houses—
nothing of the kind. “I pray you
avenge me of my adversary.” Her success, therefore, did not depend upon her
powerin rhetoric, and we
learn from this that the prevalence of a soul or of a church with God does not
rest upon the elocution of
its words, or upon the eloquence of its language!The prayer which mounts to
heaven may have but very
few of the tail feathers of adornment about it, but it must have the strong wing
feathers of intense desire!
It must not be as the peacock, gorgeousforbeauty, but it must be as the eagle,
for soaring aloft, if it
would ascendup to the seventh heavens. As a rule, when you pray in public,
the shorterthe better.
Words are cumbersome to prayer. It often happens that an abundance of
words reveals a scarcityof
desires. Verbiage is generallynothing better in prayer than a miserable fig
leaf with which to coverthe
nakedness ofan unawakenedsoul.
Another thing is quite certain, namely, that the woman did not prevail
through the merits of her case.
It may have been a very goodcase—thereis nothing said about that. I do not
doubt the rightness of it,

but still, the judge did not know nor care whether it was right or wrong; all he
caredabout was that this
woman troubled him! He does not say, “She has a goodcase, andI ought to
listen to it.” No, he was too
bad a man to be moved by such a motive—but, “she worries me”—that is all.
“I will attend to it.” So in
our suit—in the suit of a sinner with God, it is not the merit of his case that
can ever prevail with God.
7
7
You have no merit! If you are to win, Another’s merit must stand instead of
yours, and on your part it
must not be merit but misery; it must not be your righteousness,but your
importunity that is to prevail
with God! How this ought to encourage those ofyou who are laboring under a
sense ofunworthiness!
Howeverunworthy you may be, continue in prayer; black may be the hand,
but if it canbut lift the
knocker, the gate will open; yes, though you have a palsy in that hand; though
in addition to that palsy,
you are leprous, and the white leprosy is on your forehead, yet if you can but
tremblingly lift up that
knocker, andlet it fall by its own weight upon that sacredpromise, you shall
surely get an audience with

the King of kings!It is NOT eloquence!It is NOT merit that wins with God—
it is nothing but
IMPORUNITY!
Note with regardto this woman, that the judge said first she troubled him;
next he said she came
continually, and then he added his fear, “lestshe wearyme.” I think the case
was somewhatafterthis
fashion: the judge was sitting one morning on his bench, and many were the
persons coming before him
asking for justice, which he was dealing out with the impartiality of a villain,
giving always his best
word to him who brought the heaviestbribes, when presently a poor woman
uttered her complaint. She
had tried to be heard severaltimes, but her voice had been drowned by
others, but this time it was more
shrill and sharp, and she caught the judge’s eye. “My lord, avenge me of my
adversary!” He no sooner
sees from her poverty-stricken dress that there are no bribes to be had, than
he replies, “Hold your
tongue! I have other business to attend to.” He goes onwith another suit in
which the fees were more
attractive; still he hears the cry again, “My lord, I am a widow, avenge me of
my adversary.” Vexed
with the reneweddisturbance, he bade the usher put her out because she
interrupted the silence ofthe
court, and stopped the public business. “Takecare she does not getin again
tomorrow,” he says, “she is

a troublesome woman.” Long before the morrow had come, he found out the
truth of his opinion! She
waited till he left the court, doggedhis footsteps, andfollowedhim through
the streets, until he was glad
to get through his door, and bade the servants fasten it lest that noisy widow
should come in, for she had
constantly assailedhim with the cry, “Avenge me of my adversary.” He is now
safelywithin doors, and
bids the servants bring in his meal; they are pouring water on his hands and
feet; his Lordship is about to
enjoy his repastwhen a heavy knock is heard at the door, followedby a
clamor, pushing, and a scuffle.
“What is it?” he asks. “Itis a woman outside, a widow woman, who wants
your Lordship to see justice
done her.” “Tellher I cannot attend to her, she must be gone.” He seekshis
rest at nightfall on the
housetop, when he hears a heavy knock at the door, and a voice comes up
from the streetbeneath his
residence, “Mylord, avenge me of my adversary.” The next morning his court
is open, and though she is
forbidden to enter, like a dog that will enter somehow, she finds her way in,
and she interrupts the court
continually with her plea, “My lord, avenge me of my adversary.” Ask her
why she is thus importunate,
and she will tell you her husband is dead, and he left a little plot of land—it
was all they had, and a cruel
neighbor who lookedwith greedyeyes upon that little plot, has taken it as
Ahab took Naboth’s vineyard.

And now she is without any meal or any oil for the little ones, and they are
crying for food.
Oh, if their father had been alive, how he would have guarded their interests,
but she has no helper,
and the case is a glaring one; and what is a judge for if he is not to protect the
injured? She has no other
chance, for the creditor is about to take awayher children to sell them into
bondage;she cannot bear
that. “No,” she says, “Ihave but one chance;it is that this man should speak
up for me, and do me
justice! And I have made up my mind he shall never resttill he does so; I am
resolvedthat if I perish, the
last words on my lips shall be, ‘Avenge me of my adversary.’” So the court is
continually interrupted.
Again the judge shouts, “Put her out! Put her out! I cannot conduct the
business at all with this crazy
woman here continually dinning in my ears a shriek of, ‘Avenge me of my
adversary.’” And it is no
soonersaidthan done. But she lays hold of the pillars of the court so as not to
be draggedout, and when
at last they gether in the street, she does but wait her chance to enter again!
She pursues the judge along
the highways;she never lets him have a minute’s peace. “Well,”says the
judge, “I am worried out of my
very life. I care not for the widow, nor her property, nor her children; let
them starve, what are they to
me? But I cannotstand this, it will wearyme beyond measure; I will see to it.”
It is done, and she goes

her way; nothing but her importunity prevailed!
8
8
Now, brothers and sisters, you have many other weapons to use with Godin
prayer, but our Savior
bids you not neglectthis master, all-conquering, instrument of importunity!
God will be more easily
moved than this unjust judge if only you are as importunate as this widow
was;if you are sure it is a
right thing for which you are asking, pleadnow! Pleadat noon! Pleadat
night! Plead on—with cries and
tears spread out your case!Put your arguments in order! Back up your pleas
with reasons!Urge the
precious blood of Jesus!Set the wounds of Christ before the Father’s eyes!
Bring out the atoning
sacrifice—pointto Calvary—enlist the crownedPrince, the Priestwho stands
at the right hand of God!
And resolve in your very soul that if Zion does not flourish, if souls are not
saved, if your family is not
blessed, if your ownzeal is not revived, you will die with the plea upon your
lips and with the
importunate wish upon your spirits! Let me tell you that if any of you should
die with your prayers
unanswered, you need not conclude that God has disappointed you.

With one story I will finish. I have heard that a certain godly father had the
unhappiness to be the
parent of some five or six most gracelesssons. All of them, as they grew up,
imbibed infidel sentiments,
and led an evil life. The father, who had been constantly praying for them,
and was a pattern of every
virtue, hoped at leastthat in his death he might be able to saya word that
would move their hearts. He
gatheredthem to his bedside, but his unhappiness in dying was extreme, for
he had lost the light of
God’s countenance, and was besetwith doubts and fears; and the last black
thought that haunted him
was, “Insteadof my death being a testimony for God, which will win my dear
sons, what if I die in such
darkness and gloomthat I shall confirm them in their infidelity, and lead
them to think that there is
nothing in Christianity after all?” The effectwas the reverse. The sons came
round the grave at the
funeral, and when they returned to the house, the eldestson thus addressed
his brothers—“Mybrothers,
throughout his lifetime our father often spoke to us about religion, and we
have always despisedit; but
what a sermon his deathbed has been to us, for if he, who served God so well,
and lived so near to God
found it so hard a thing to die, what kind of death may we expect ours to be
who have lived without God
and without hope?” The same feeling possessedthem all, and thus the father’s
death had strangely

answeredthe prayers of his life through the grace ofGod! You cannot tell but
what, when you are in
glory, you should look down from the windows of heaven and receive a double
heaven in beholding
your dear sons and daughters converted by the words you left behind. I do not
say this to make you
ceasepleading for their immediate conversion, but to encourage you!Never
give up prayer; never be
tempted to cease fromit; as long as there is breath in your body, and breath in
their bodies, continue to
pray, for I tell you that He will avenge you speedily though He bears long with
you! God bless these
words for Jesus’sake.Amen.
PRAYERFUL IMPORTUNITY
NO. 2836
A SERMON
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD’S-DAY, JUNE 21, 1903
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON
AT THE 100THANNIVERSARYOF AMERSHAM BAPTIST CHAPEL
IN NOVEMBER, 1857
“And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him,
though he bear long with them?”

Luke 18:7
YOU remember this is the conclusionof the parable of the importunate
widow. Her husband was
dead, he had left her perhaps a little property, and some adversary, very
probably a lawyer, seizedhold
of it, and took from her all that she had. What was she to do? She went
straightwayto the judge, the
appointed minister of justice in the city. The first time she went, she met with
a cold repulse. She went a
secondtime, her poverty drove her, her necessitycompelledher to face the
man again.
Now the judge “neither fearedGod, nor regardedman,” but at lastseeing the
vehemence of the
woman, feeling that he should be exceedinglytroubled by her constant
importunity, he granted her
request, and he did avenge her of her adversary. Jesus usedthis to show the
powerof importunity—
“Hearwhat the unjust judge saith”—“And if the unjust judge did this, shall
not God avenge his own
elect, who cry day and night unto him?”
Now, in trying to discuss this text this evening, I shall first show what I believe
to be the primary
application of it, and secondly, I shall try to enlarge upon the generalprinciple
involved in it—that
importunity is very prevalent with God.
I. To begin then—WHAT WAS THE ABSOLUTE AND CLEAREST
MEANING THAT OUR

SAVIOR WOULD CONVEYTO HIS DISCIPLES BY THE PARABLE?
Well, now, I think the whole sense of the parable, as far as we can make any
specialapplication of it,
hinges upon the meaning of that word “avenge.”Whatis it that Christ’s
church is always praying for?
The answeris they are praying spiritually for that which the poor widow
prayed for actually—they are
praying to be avengedof their adversary.
Now what did this mean in the poor woman’s case?Forin some degree, it
means just the same in the
church’s case. I do not believe that that poor widow woman, when she went to
the judge, went for mere
vengeance’ssake. I cannotconceive that our Saviorwould have exhibited the
perseverance ofmalice as
an example to His people. I do not think that when she applied day after day
to the court of the judge to
be avenged, she applied to have her adversary punished. for the mere sake of
his being punished.
It strikes me there was no revenge whateverin the poor woman’s spirit, and
that what she went for
was simply this, her husband was dead, he had left her a little property, it was
all she had to bring his
babes up and support herself, someone had seizedthis property, and what she
wanted was, that the
property might be restoredto her, that that which had been unlawfully taken
from the weak by the

mighty, might at once be taken from the clutches of the strong, and restored
unto the rightful owner. I
think any intelligent personreading the passagewould at once conceive that
that was what she was
seeking.
Now the church of Christ is seeking the very same thing. Those that cancry
day and night in heaven
before the throne of God, do not cry out of a spirit of revenge. The saints,
when they pray to God on
earth, and girdle the globe with supplication, do not pray againstthe wicked
out of a spirit of hatred.
God forbid that any of us should ever fall on our knees and ask Godto avenge
us of our adversary in the
common acceptationofthat phrase!
2 Prayerful Importunity Sermon #2836
2 Volume 49
I am sure there is no Christian actuated by the Spirit of Christ, who would
ever ask for vengeance,
even on the head of the bloodiestpersecutor, for if he should do so, I think the
lips of Jesus might rebuke
him, for we know what Jesus saidwhen He was dying, He did not wish to be
avenged, for He said,
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Christ’s church is seeking afterjust what the poor widow womanwas seeking
after, and we are to
understand our text, “Shall not God avenge his own elect?” in that modified
sense which the parable

would convey to us. The fact is, Christ’s church is a widow, it is true her
husband is alive, but she is in a
widowedstate because he has departed from her. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who
is the Bridegroom, was
once with His people, and the church could not mourn or fastwhen the
Bridegroomwas with her. But
He said, “The day shall come when the Bridegroomshall be taken away, and
then she shall fast.”
These are the days, “Our Jesus has gone up on high,” He is not with us in
person now, He has left
His church in the wilderness, it is true He has left the Comforter with her, but
His own absolute,
personalpresence is not vouchsafedto her, He is not yet come a secondtime
without a sin offering unto
salvation.
Well, then, taking advantage of the absence ofChrist, the church’s Husband,
the kings, the princes,
the rulers, spiritual wickednessin high places, have sought to rob the church
of her rights and her
privileges, and what the church is always crying for is that God would restore
her her rights, that He
would give to her the portion which her Husband left her in His last legacy,
and which, in due time,
when God shall have answeredher prayers, He shall restore unto her. And
what is that legacy?
My brethren, there are many things that Christ has left to His church of
which the world has robbed

us. The church was once a united church. When Christ was in this world, His
prayer was that they all
might be one, even as He and His Father were one. Alas! the world has robbed
us of our unity, and now,
behold, the church cries day and night, “Restore, O Lord, the scatteredof
Israel, and bring us into one
fold, and let us have one Shepherd!”
The spirit of the world has crept into our midst, and split us into many
denominations. God’s
children are not now called Christians, but they are calledBaptists and
Independents, Churchmen,
Dissenters, andsuch-like names of distinction. Their oneness, althoughit
really exists in the heart, yet is
lost, at leastin the outward appearance of it, and to some degree, it is entirely
lost. But the church is
crying for it every day, the true hearts in the midst of God’s Zion and the
glorified spirits above are
crying, day without night, “O Lord, make Your church one!”
Again, the church was sent into this world to bring the world to a knowledge
of the truth, and one
day, the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of
His Christ. We may say
that all the world is Christ’s, though heathenism has a part of it, Mohammed
has another, and the Pope
another. The world is divided into different sections, under different false
systems of religion, but all the
world belongs by right to Christ.

We cancastour eye around the world, from the river even to the ends of the
earth, and we can say,
“The kings of the isles shall bring tribute; the princes of Sheba and Seba shall
offer gifts; kings shall yet
be the nursing fathers of the church, and queens the nursing mothers.” But
the world has robbed us of
this, the different false religions have spoiled the church’s inheritance, the
wild boar of the wooddoes
waste her, and does devour her borders. Zion’s banner should wave
everywhere in every kingdom, but
instead thereofthe priests, the kings, the idol gods have takenthe kingdoms
unto themselves.
Now this is the great thing, I believe, that the church is praying for. You know
the church is one day
to weara crown. Christ’s church is Christ’s royal bride, and she is to have a
crown, but she can never
have it until her prayer has been heard, until her Lord comes to revenge her
wrongs. For, lo! the church
of God is trampled on and despised, the precious sons of Zion, comparable
unto fine gold, how are they
esteemedas earthenpitchers, the workings ofthe potter! God’s chosenpeople
are counted as the offscouring of all things, instead of being, as indeed they
are, consideredas the blood royal of the
universe—the princes among men.
Sermon #2836 PrayerfulImportunity 3
Volume 49 3

Now, because ofthese lost rights, Christ’s church cries day and night unto
God, crying out, “O Lord,
avenge us of our adversary, and restore unto Your widowedchurch her
rights!”
Put the Jew whereveryou may, and he will always declare that the promised
land belongs to his
nation. There is a pride about the Jew, whereverhe may be, he believes
himself still to belong to that
chosenfamily whose were the covenants and the oracles. Thatis true of the
Christian, he may be never
so poor, never so despised, but knowing himself to belong to the chosenbody,
he claims that all things
are his own.
You may clothe him in fustian, and you may feed him on bread and water, but
he will still say, “All
things are mine.” You may thrust him into a dungeon, and let no light come to
him exceptthrough iron
bars, but he will still declare, “Mine are the valleys and the hills; mine by
sacredright, my Fathermade
them all.”
There is a royalty in a Christian which persecutioncannot burn out, which
shame cannotcrush,
which poverty cannot root up, there it is, and there it must be forever, and
conscious ofhis high rights
and distinctive privileges, the Christian, the believer, will never cease to cry
unto Christ, that he may yet
have his rights and possess whathis God gave him.

Now, dear friends, very often we are low-spirited and down-hearted,
sometimes the Christian
minister goes back from his pulpit and says, “Ah! the Gospelseems making
very little progress, I do not
see how the kingdoms of this earth are to belong to Christ.” The Sunday
schoolteachergoeshome from
his class andsays, “This is weary work, if things go on as they do now, we
shall always have to say,
‘Who hath believed our report?’ and how canthe church prosper if things be
so?” And there are times
with eachof us when a kind of sicknessseizes ourspirits, we look at
everything with a sadeye, and we
say, “Ah! the millennium is many years off.”
Indeed, unbelief says it is quite impossible. “How shall the heathen bow before
Him? How shall they
that dwell in the wilderness lick the dust?” Now, you who have thought thus,
and you who are thinking
so now, hear the Savior’s argument for your consolation, the argument
couchedin the text—the church
of God is crying unto Him day and night. There where the burning lamps of
heaven perpetually light the
skies, high in the seventhheaven, above the stars, where angels casttheir
crowns before the MostHigh,
the saints forever cry to God, “O Lord, avenge Thine own elect!” for prayer is
made in heaven. The
saints under the altar cry aloud, “O Lord, how long?” There is never a
moment when the saints cease to

pray, they have—
“Vials full of odor sweet,
And harps of sweetersound.”
And we remember that the saints on earth are always in prayer. You meet
togetherin the evening for
prayer, you scatterto your houses, and then your family fires begin to burn,
and when your family fires
are put out, and your private devotions have ceased, the sun is just rising in
the other land across the
westernsea, and there they are beginning to pray again, and when the sun has
set, then it rises
somewhere round the world in the far east, there by the Ganges river, there
by the Himalaya steeps, the
saints of Godbegin again, and when the sun winds on its course, and again
shines somewhere else, then
the saints of the Lord offer incense and a pure offering, so that there is never
an hour when this world
ceases to offer its incense, not one moment, even in the darkestshades of
midnight, when prayer does
not ascendfrom this lowerworld.
And it would be ill for the world if there were a moment when prayer should
be suspended, for
remember what a poet says, “Perhaps the day when this world shall be
consumed will be a day unbrightened by a prayer.” Perhaps it may be so, but
certainly such a day as that has not yet rolled over the
world, for day without night the world is girdled with prayer, and one sacred
belt of supplication winds

the whole globe round.
4 Volume 49
Now, saidChrist, if God’s electin heaven and on earth are day without night,
without ceasing,
crying to God to give the church her empire, her reign, her splendors, her
victories, restassuredthe
church shall have what it asks for. Shall not God avenge His own electthat
cry day and night unto Him?
Yes, beloved brethren, we may not live to see it, though sometimes I think
there are some alive in
this world who will live to see that bright day, and yet, if we live not to see it,
the day shall come when
Christ, who is the truth, shall have all powergiven unto Him under heaven, as
He has even now really,
He shall then have it given to Him in the form and symbol and fashion of it
also.
The day is coming when Christ shall come in the clouds of heaven to reign
upon this earth in the
midst of His people. Then, when He shall come, the kingdoms of this world
shall be converted to Him,
all people shall flock to His colors, everyknee shall bow before Him, and
every tongue confess thatthe
Lord is God.
I have sometimes thought that I may yet live to see that day, and some of you
perhaps. We cannot

tell when Christ shall come. We are very apt to forgetthat He comes as a thief
in the night, in such an
hour as we think not. It is a pleasing thought sometimes to recollectthat there
may be some standing
here that will not die, for we know the Scripture says, “Behold, I tell you a
mystery. We shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be changedin a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at
the lasttrump.”
When Christ shall come, we shall be alive and remain, perhaps, some of us,
for He may come
tomorrow, He may come tonight, before the word I am speaking reachesyour
ear, the trumpet of the
resurrectionand jubilee may startle us all, and we may behold Christ come in
the clouds of heaven.
But whether He comes or not in our lifetime, there will be some alive when He
shall come, and they,
if they are His people, shall not die, they shall be changed, “the dead shall be
raisedincorruptible, and
we shall be changed.” “Thenwe which are alive and remain shall be caught
up togetherwith them in the
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
O work on, minister; toil on, teacher;weepon, mourner; pray on, intercessor;
hope on, believer; the
hallowedday is coming! Some of the streaks ofthe grey light alreadymark
the horizon, some of the
sweettidings of the Master’s coming have alreadybeen announced to God’s
favorite people, some that

have dwelt high on the mountaintop of communion have declaredthat the
time is approaching near. The
chariot wheels of Christ are drawing nigh. But be it near, or be it far off, it
must come, it shall come, the
church shall triumph, the world shall be subdued beneath her feet. God shall
avenge His own elect, who
cry day and night unto Him. Now, I take that as the absolute meaning of the
passage, the nearestand
most appropriate way of explaining it.
II. And now I am going to try to work out THE PRINCIPLE OF THE TEXT.
It is this—Importunity will prevail. Now you must not smile while I give you
two pictures, the
pictures that Christ gave His disciples, workedout a little, so as to be more
plain to you. Jesus Christ
says if you want anything of God, if you do not getit the first time, try again,
and if you do not getit
then, continue in prayer, for long continuing in prayer, you will prevail with
God, and He gives you two
pictures that we have had this evening.
The first is the goodman who had no bread in his house when his friend came.
You may picture the
scene. He says, “I am very glad to see you, but I have not a morsel of food in
the house. If I had the
richest dainties in the world, you should have them all, but I have not any.”
“Well, but,” says his friend,
“I have come a good many miles this day, I cannot go to rest without
something to eat. I shall faint.”

“Well, but,” he says, “I have nothing for you.”
“My dear friend,” says the other, “cannotyou obtain a morsel? I am famished
by the way, I expected
to have got to my resting place at noontide, and now it is midnight, I have
been travelling these twelve
hours, and have had nothing at all to eat.” “Well,” says his friend, “I have
something for your horse to
eat, but I cannotgive you anything,” but at length he says, “There is a friend
of mine who lives down the
street, I will go and getsomething from him. You shall not starve. I will not
come awaytill I get
something.”
Volume 49 5
Away he goes, andfinds his friend asleep, he gives a greatknock, the man is
upstairs in bed, and he
says, “My wife and my children are with me in bed.” He does not want to hear
that knock, and so he just
sleeps on. Then there comes anothertremendous knock. Says the man, “I
cannot think who that canbe.”
The question is askedby those who are upstairs, but he does not feelat all
inclined to get out and look. It
is a cold night, and why should he get up?
Then there comes another rap. “Well,” he says, “there is somebodyat the
door.” He still turns in his
bed, and will not getup. He doesn’tsee why he should rise at such an untimely
hour as that. Besides,

after all, it may be only some drunken fellow going home late.
Then there comes another tremendous knock. He goes to the window, puts his
head out, and asks
what is the matter. “Oh!” says the man, “I want some loaves of bread, a friend
of mine has come to see
me, and I have nothing for him.” “What do you come to me for at such an
hour as this? I cannot come
down, my wife and my children are with me in bed, I cannot give you bread at
this hour of the night.”
“But,” says the other, “I must have it, and I hope you will give it to me. What
a friend you have been to
me in times past!” “Friend or no friend,” he says, “I shall not give you
anything at this time of night.”
“He will not rise and give to him because he is his friend.”
Then what does the poor man do? He says, “I will not go back.” He thinks he
sees that poor hungry
man, and he cannotbear the thought of going back and saying that he has
nothing for him. That was the
only house where he could get bread, and so he knocks again. “Oh, dearme!”
says the man, “I thought I
had gotrid of that fellow. I told him I couldn’t getup at this hour, and I
won’t!”
But then there comes anotherrap—a tremendous one, and a child says
“Father, we can’t go to sleep,
hadn’t you better go and give that man his bread?” but the father says, “No, I
shall not, why does he

trouble me in this way?” Then there comes anotherrap, and he goes to the
window in greatanger, and
asks him, “Whateverdo you want coming knocking here in this way? I tell
you once for all I shall not
give you anything!” “Well,” says the man, “you must give me bread, I cannot
go till you do, if you do
not give me any, I mean to stop here and knock all night.”
“Well,” says Jesus,“Itell you, though he will not arise and give it to him,
because he is his friend,
yet because ofhis importunity he will arise and give him as many as he
needeth.” So he comes
downstairs, gets the loaves, opens the door, and says to the man, “Here, take
as many as you want, and
be off with you, and never come to disturb me any more at nights.” So off he
goes, andimportunity gets
what even friendship could not obtain.
Well, then the Savior gives another picture. Importunity can get what even
justice ought to get, but
cannot. There is the poor widow, she is robbed of all she has, she had a little
plot of ground, and a little
cottage with just enough to keepher children through the winter, and there
was a little field, or two, that
she could let out for rent sufficient to keepher all the year, and now it is all
pounced upon.
She does not know what she is to do. Somebodywill come in to claim it who
has no right to it. She

is turned out of house and home, and she and her poor children are on the
streets. She goes offto the
judge’s house to see him—a rather wild errand that, for when she gets there,
there stand the porters at
the door, and the men with halberds, and they say, “Woman, what do you
want?”
“I want to see the judge.” “You cannot see the judge, he has gotplenty to do
without seeing you.”
“But I must see him, here is a man that has been taking”—“Ido not want to
know anything at all about
it, you cannot see him.” “But I must see him,” says the woman, and somehow
or other, though the
porters repulse her all day long, she manages to getinto court, and just when
some witness steps down,
up comes the woman and begins, “My Lord.” “What case is that, sergeant?”
says the judge. “Oh, it has
nothing to do with the court business today, my Lord!” “Getdown with you,”
says the judge to the
woman. “O my Lord,” she replies, “there is a man that has come and taken
away”—“Now, youhave no
right here, I tell you, you must go,” and she goes down, sad at heart.
But the next morning she comes again. As soonas ever the court house is
open, there is the woman
at the door. Before anybody can be found to enter, there she is. She had
establishedherselfthere as soon
as the people came to getthe place ready. Well, before they can begin the
business of the day, the

6 Volume 49
woman begins crying out, “O my lord, my husband is dead”—“Didyou not
come here yesterday?” says
the judge. “Yes, my Lord.” “Well, I thought I told you this was not the proper
time and place to apply. I
cannot attend to you.” “O my Lord, if you would but just hear my case a
little”—“Bring the next case
up,” says the judge, and there is a case brought up, and the judge proceeds.
There happens, however, to be an interlude in the business, such as the poor
widow has been looking
for a long time, and his honor is just going out of court for a little
refreshment, and as he is leaving, the
woman steps up and says, “My Lord”—“Now take thatwoman away, she is
always coming here and
disturbing me.” The poor woman is takenaway, but she returns, and all day
long the poor soulis there.
She comes the next day, and when the judge arrives, there is the apparition of
this poor woman to
startle him again. What is to be done all day long? He knows that at every
possible opportunity she can
get, she will be down upon him to ask him to avenge her of her adversary.
At length he says, “Well, what is your case?”And as soonas it is stated, he
thinks to himself, “I
know that man very well, that has takenawayher property. He is a friend of
mine. I shall not interfere in

the case.I neither fear God, nor regardman, but as a friend of mine has got
her property, I shall not
interfere,” and then, addressing the woman, “I absolutelyforbid you ever to
come to this place again.”
But she comes again, and again, and again, until one day she steps into the
witness box, and says,
“My lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit”—“Now Ido not want any
more of that, you are always
giving me your long sermons in court.” “My lord,” continues the woman, “I
will have a hearing today. I
am a womanof a sorrowfulspirit, I have been here many times before, and
you have sent me away,
when I ought to have had justice at your hands, and now this day, unless I am
draggedout of court by
force, I will stop until I get justice.”
Well, the judge thinks to himself a moment or two and says, “If I were just to
decide this woman’s
case, Iwould getrid of her. Well, come, my goodwoman, let us hear about it.”
So she tells the whole
history of the case, the judge sends the officerof the court to inquire into it,
and at last he says, “Though
I fear not God, nor regardman, yet because this widow troubles me, I will
avenge her of her adversary.”
He accordingly sets all her accounts square, and she goes home to her cottage
with a joyous heart, and
her children are fed, and all is happy, for the judge has sether free from all
her dilemmas.

Now, friends, there you have a case ofimportunity even going before the
claims of justice, as in the
other case it went before the claims of friendship.
Now what are these two pictures to teachthe sinner? They are to teachthe
sinner that if the
importunate woman could prevail with an unjust judge, you will prevail with
a loving Savior, to teach
you, that if by constantknocking the friend who at first would not rise, at last
did rise and give bread, by
your repeatedprayers you shall at last find the salvationthat you need.
I am certainthat somewhere within the compass ofmy voice, there is one who
has been for weeks
and months seeking the Savior, but he or she has never yet found the Savior,
Satanhas whispered
perhaps, “Godwill never have mercy upon you, you may as well give up
prayer, prayer is a useless
employment if it has no answer, never attend the house of God again, there is
no mercy for you, never
againcome to the throne of grace, forGod’s ears are deaf to you, He will not
hear your supplication.”
Now, poor heart, listen not to the temptation of the devil, but listen to this that
I have to say unto
you—go againseven times, and if that suffice not, seventy times seven, God
has not promised to answer
you the first time, He will answeryou, however, at the end, so continue your
prayers.

When, with deep anxiety of spirit I sought the Savior, many months I prayed
before I could getan
answer, and I heard my mother sayone day, that there never was a man in
the world, she believed, so
wickedas to say that he had soughtGod truly and earnestlyin prayer, and
God had not answeredhim.
“Many black oaths,” saidshe, “have been sworn, but I never heard of any
man who was allowedto utter
a sentence so derogatoryto the love and mercy of God as that—‘I have sought
God, and He would not
save me.’”
At once the thought struck me, “I will saythat, for I know I have sought God,
and I feelHe has not
heard me.” I resolvedthat I would say it, and that she should hear me, for I
felt my spirit vexed within
Volume 49 7
me. I had sought God, and I thought, with all my heart, and He had never
vouchsafedto hear me. But
then it occurredto me, “Would it not be better to try againbefore saying it?”
That time I sought as I had
not soughtbefore, and that time I found and rejoicedin hope of the glory of
God, because my
supplication had been answeredin my own heart, to my own soul’s comfort.
Now, if you are in the same position, and are laboring under the same
temptation, try again. If your

knees have been bent seventy times in vain, remember you have seventy times
the fewerto pray in vain,
so try again, you are so much nearerthe appointed number which you must
reachbefore God will hear
you, give not up your efforts. In fact, I know you neither will nor can give up,
if God the Holy Spirit has
taught you praying, for that is one of the things that Satancannot do—he
cannot effectuallystop a
praying tongue—he cannot foreverquench the desire of the soul, though he
may for a time do it by
despondencyand despair, yet he cannotdo it in the end.
I want, before I have done, to take the hand of that young man, or that young
woman, who is tonight
seeking the Savior, but as yet, without having found Him to his heart’s joy,
and I want to say a kind
word to him. Dearbrother, God will hear you, be of goodcourage, but in the
meantime to keepyour
spirits up I will tell you a few things.
Considerwhat a great being God is, and what a little creature you are, and
then you need not wonder
that you have to wait. Why, poor people, when they go to see a rich man, will
stop in his hall for hours,
and if they are going to see a greatlord, they will not mind waiting in the
antechamberwhere there is no
fire, till their feet are cramped with cold, so long as they have a hope that they
shall get an audience at
last.

The pertinacity of the beggarin the streets is sometimes astonishing, you
cannot getrid of him, you
walk a little faster, and he walks a little faster too, he keeps talking to you
about his wife who is sick,
and tells you that he is a poor man, that you will never miss what you give
him, that God will bless you,
and all that.
Well, if a beggarwill wait upon his fellow worm, if we would be content to
wait upon the greatof
the earth for so long a season, oh!we need not murmur againstGodif He bids
us wait in His halls, for
we are poor miserable sinners who are goodfor nothing, and He is the eternal
God. There is such a
distance betweenHim and us, that we need not murmur if He keeps us
waiting.
Besides, letus recollectwhata greatblessing it is we are asking for. The
beggarwill stop at your
door half an hour with the hope of getting perhaps a crust of bread, and men
will go and wait in the halls
of princes just to geta word. But ah! my friends, that which we are seeking is
more than that, we are
seeking forthe salvationof our souls, we are seeking forthe blood of Christ,
for the pardon of sin, for a
seatin paradise, for deliverance from the flames of hell, and for such a gift as
this it were worthwhile
waiting a thousand years if we might be sure of getting it at last.

But again, poor soul, be willing to wait, because letme tell you this, you are
sure to get what you
seek. “Oh!” cries one, “I would not mind what I did if I thought I could be
savedat last.” Well, you will.
There was never a soul that perished praying, never one who soughtthe
Savior who was at last cast
away. Oh, if the Lord should keep you waiting till your head is silvered o’er
with grey, His mercy would
not come too late, He would be sure at last to give an ear to your supplication,
and bestow upon you the
blessing. Therefore be patient, though the promise tarry, wait for it, for it will
be sure to come.
But while you are waiting, do not do as some people have done. I had a hearer
once who used to tell
me that he was waiting, and I could never get him out of that idea say what I
would, until at last I had to
use a goodillustration in order to prove to him that he was not waiting.
“Now,” saidI, “suppose I came to your house one day to tea, and you said to
me, ‘My dear sir, how
late you are! we have been waiting for you.’ And suppose there was no fire in
the grate, no kettle singing
on the hob, and no tea made, I should say, ‘I do not believe you.’” Waiting
implies being ready, if a man
is waiting for another, he is ready for him. If you are waiting for the coach,
why, you have your hat on
and greatcoatand your gloves, andyour bag is packedup, and you are ready
to start, if you are waiting

for the train, you are standing on the platform, and looking out for its arrival.
8 Volume 49
And when a man is waiting for Christ, he is ready for Christ. But when they
say they are waiting,
and they fold their arms in unconcern, it is a gross falsehood, they are waiting
for Godto destroythem,
and nothing else.
When men do really wait for the Lord, this is the way they wait—they go
where they hope to meet
Him. If they hear that Jesus is in the house of God, they go there; if they hear
that He is to be found in
the reading of the Word, they read it day and night; if they hear that some
minister has been specially
blessedin the salvationof souls, they will go many miles to hear him, in order
that they may see Jesus;
they will go where Jesus goes,and when they get near Jesus, theywill cry after
Him. They will do as the
blind man did when he heard that Jesus ofNazarethpassedby.
Let us describe that scene, fora moment. A poor man sat by the wayside one
day, he could see
nothing, but he heard a greatnoise and a lot of people coming his way, so he
said to some of the crowd,
“What is that?” and they replied, “It is Jesus ofNazareth that passes by.”
That he thinks is a fine
opportunity, and he cries out as loud as ever he can, “Jesus,thou Son of
David, have mercy on me.”

Jesus Christ is preaching to the crowd as He walks along, working miracles,
and He takes no notice
of the cry. Then there is another shout, “Thou Son of David, have mercy on
me!” The disciples come
and tell him to be still, that he is disturbing Christ in His preaching, and that
he must not make so much
noise—but so much the more, a greatdeal, he cries, “ThouSon of David, have
mercy on me!” And that
shout prevailed over the voice of Christ, and the tramping of the feet of the
multitude, then Christ stood
still, and lookedat the blind man, opened his eyes, and gave him sight.
Now you must do the same, you must cry to Christ, you must agonize in
prayer, and wrestle on your
knees before Him when you think that you are near to Him. Above all, study
His promises, and read His
Word.
And if this sufficeth not, hear then the lastadvice and the best, go to your
chamber tonight, you that
have sought the Savior long, and as you think, sought Him in vain—go to your
upper chamber, shut to
thy doors, fall on your knees, openHis Holy Word, turn to that passage which
describes the death of
Jesus, and when you have meeklyand reverently read through the story of the
crucifixion, shut up the
Book, sitdown and picture to your mind’s eye the hill of Calvary—see the
cross in the midst of those

Jesus was urging us to never give up vol 2

Jesus was urging us to never give up vol 2

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Jesus was urging us to never give up vol 2

Similar to Jesus was urging us to never give up vol 2 (20)

More from GLENN PEASE

More from GLENN PEASE (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Jesus was urging us to never give up vol 2