Pastors Jim and Marie Watt
(From: LUKE #32 - 18:1-17)
C. 18:1-8 PARABLE: POWER OF IMPORTUNATE PRAYER
a. 18:1-3 THE DUTY OF PERSEVERING IN PRAYER
Ele-gen de pa-ra-boLEN [3850]auTOIS pros to dein PANto-te proSEUches-thai auTOUS, kai meenkaKEIN;
And he spoke a parable to them to the end that they :ought always to pray, and not to faint;
LEgon, KriTES [2923]tis en EN ti-ni poLEI,
2 saying, In a certain city was a certain judge,
ton TheON me phoBOUmenos [5399], kai ANthro-pon meen-trePOme-nos [1788]: CHEra de
who feared not :God, and regarded not man: 3and a widow
en en te POlei eKEIne; kai ERche-to pros auTON, LEgou-sa, EkDIkeSON [1556]me aPO tou an-tiDIkou mou.
was in that :city; and she would be coming unto him, saying, Avenge me of my :adversary.
b. 18:4-5 THE UNJUST JUDGE
kai ouk Ethe-len ePI chroNON: meTA TAUta de EIpen en he-auTO,
And he would not for a time: but afterward he said within himself,
Ei kai ton TheON ou phoBOUmai, ouDE ANthro-pon enTREpo-mai,
Though I do not fear :God, nor regard man,
diA ge to paREchein [3930] moi KOpon [2873] ten CHEran TAUten, ek-diKEsoauTEN,
5yet because this :widow troubles me, I will avenge her,
HIna me eis TElos er-choMEnehu-po-piAze[5299]me.
lest she wear me out by her continual coming.
c. 18:6 And the Lord said, Hear what the judge of :unrighteousness says.
EIpen de ho KUri-os, A-KOUsa-te ti ho kriTES tes a-diKIas LEgei.
d. 18:7 GOD CONTRASTED WITH SUCH A JUDGE
ho de TheOS ou me poiEse ten ekDIke-sin ton e-klekTON [1588] auTOU,
And shall not :God avenge his :elect,
ton boONton [994] auTON heMEras kai nukTOS, kai ma-kro-thuMEI [3114] ep' auTOIS?
that cry to him day and night, and he longsuffering over them?
e. 18:8a I say unto you, that he will avenge them speedily.
LEgohuMIN, HOti poiEsei ten ekDIke-sin auTON en TAchei [5034].
f. 18:8b Nevertheless, when the Son of :man comes, shall he really find the faith on the earth?
plen, ho huiOS tou anTHROpou elTHON, Ara heuREsei ten PIstin ePI tes ges?
D. 18:9-14 PARABLE: JESUS SCORES SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS
a. 18:9-10 RIGHTEOUSNESS CONTRASTED
EIpen de kai PROS ti-nas tous pe-poiTHOtas eph' he-auTOIS HOti eiSIN
And he spoke also this :parable unto certain who trusted
DIkai-oi, kai e-xou-theNOUNtas [1848] tous loiPOUS, ten pa-ra-boLEN TAUten:
in themselves that they were righteous, and set the rest at naught:
ANthro-poi DUo aNEbe-san eis to hi-eRON proSEUxas-thai; heis Pha-riSAIos, kai ho HEte-ros teLOnes.
10Two men went up into the temple to pray; one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
b. 18:11 THE PROUD PHARISEE
ho Pha-riSAIos staTHEIS TAUta pros he-auTON proSEUche-to, Ho TheOS,
The Pharisee stood andprayed thus with himself, :God,
eu-cha-riSTO soi, HOti ouk eiMI hos hoi loiPOI ton anTHROpon, HARpa-ges [727],
I thank you, that I am not as the rest of men,
Adi-koi [94, moiCHOI [3432], e kai hos HOUtos ho teLOnes.
extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this :publican.
c. 18:12 I fast twice a week, tithe all that I get.
neSTEUo[3522]dis tou sabBAtou, a-po-de-kaTEUo[586]PANta HOsa KTOmai [3932].
d. 18:13 THE HUMBLE TAX-COLLECTOR
ho de teLOnes, maKROthen heSTOS, ouk Ethe-len ouDE tous oph-thalMOUS ePArai eis ton ou-raNON,
But the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his:eyes unto :heaven,
all' Etup-te [5180] to STEthos [4738] he-auTOU, LEgon, Ho TheOS, hiLAStheTI [2433] moi to ha-mar-toLO.
but beat his own :breast, saying, :God, be merciful to me the sinner.
e. 18:14 JESUS' CONCLUSION
LEgo huMIN, kaTEbe HOUtos de-di-kai-oMEnos [1344] eis ton OIkon auTOU
I say to you, This onewent down unto his :house justified
par' eKEInon: HOti pas ho huPSON he-auTON ta-pei-noTHEse-tai [5013];
rather than that one: because every one that exalts himself shall be humbled;
ho de ta-peiNON he-auTON hu-psoTHEse-tai [5312].
and who humbles himself shall be exalted.
E. 18:15-17 CONDITION FOR KINGDOM ENTRANCE: CHILD-LIKE HEART
a. 18:15 THE DISCIPLES LACK UNDERSTANDING
ProSEphe-ron de auTOkai ta BREphe[1075], HIna auTON HAPte-tai [680]:
And they were bringing to him also their babes, that he touch them:
iDONtes, de hoi ma-theTAI, e-peTImon [2008] auTOIS.
but the disciples, seeing it, rebuked them.
b. 18:16 JESUS CORRECTS THEM
ho de IeSOUS pro-se-kaLEsa-to [4341] auTA, LEgon,
But :Jesus called the[m]babes unto him, saying,
Aphe-te [863] ta paiDIa [3813] ERches-thai PROS me, kai me koLUe-te [2967] auTA:
Suffer the little children to come unto me, and hinder them not:
ton gar toiOUton esTIN he ba-siLEIa tou TheOU.
for of such is the kingdom of :God.
c. 18:17 A SERIOUS REVELATION
aMEN LEgo huMIN, hos an me DExe-tai ten ba-siLEIan tou TheOU
Amen I say unto you, Whoso shall not receive the kingdom of :God
hos paiDIon, ou me eiSELthe eis auTEN.
as a little child, shall in nowise enter into it.
NOTE: (2010-12-18) - 18:1-8 - Importunate Prayer! This is one of three examples of importunate prayer. The first is Daniel 10. Here Daniel prayed to God for 20 days with no answer. But he continued steadfastly in prayer nonetheless. Then Gabriel's most important insight was shared. God heard Danielthe first day! But the prince of the power of Persia (present Iran), an evil archangel, knew from Satan the seriousness of Daniel's request, and effectively hindered Gabriel from getting through for 20 days. Then because of Daniel's importunity God sent Michael, who effectively knocked Satan's prince out of the way, and Gabriel got through! How many of us are notlike Daniel, and failto persevere until the answer comes through? How many undelivered answers to prayer are in heaven because wegave up too soon? General Booth of the Salvation Army was taken to heaven in vision, and shown all these undelivered prayers! It transformed his life and ministry!
We must remember 1 John 5:14-15 - “And thisis the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anythingaccording to his :will, he hearsus; 15and if we know that he hearsus whatever we ask, we know that we havethe petitions which we have asked of him.” But let us remember again, that every scripture verse is like a drop of the ocean. It contains within itself in trace form, every constituent element of the ocean. And the element of Importunityis to be understood as necessary at this point! So - we mustremember that when God hears us immediately when we pray according to His will - yet - like Daniel and the widow woman above - they are examples of Importunity and Perseverance - for us!
The third example we have already covered in Luke 11, where the man wouldn't give up at midnight requesting bread from his neighbor for his late-arriving guests. Because of his Importunity and Perseverance - he got his bread! We must also remember at this point, that it is the reception of the gift of the Holy Spirit- that Jesus is using in this illustration. Don'tgive up the ship! Continue in prayer until the Holy Spirit as God's Promise and Gift has come upon you. He is inus at salvation. He is uponus for empowerment and witness. We need both and all. Oswald Chambers used this passage again and again in leading souls first into the Kingdom - and then in full surrender for God to use them as disciples anyway He sees fit!
George Muller in his 5 points of how to persevere in prayer, has “Importunity” as the last of these five. Heso practiced this principle - that 50,000answers to prayer came to him in behalf of his 10,000 orphans and other needs; exactlyas he spelled out the needs. I do not have a copy of his Journals of some million words - but there he meticulously sets forth the example of his own Importunityto God in prayer.
18:9-14 - What is God'sthinking on pride and humility? Here you see it in Jesus - clearlyset forth. God hatespride - make no mistakeabout this - and he pays attention to humility, and to such a one he offers full justification!
18:15-17 - And lastly - God in Jesus treasures babes and little children, and their mother's desire for Him to touch them. He loved to do so. He rebuked His disciples for seeking to turn the mothers away. J.A.W.