Parable of the Unjust Judge

Today on Renewing Your Mind. She said Your Honor. I will have anybody to plead my case before my adversary. We please hear my case.

Don't you get it lady I care about you.

I'm interested in God.

I don't care about justice. This woman would not take no for an answer is referred to in Scripture as the persistent widow kept asking asking until she wore the drugs down throughout his earthly ministry, Jesus use stories like this to instruct his disciples.

People gathered from near and far to hear what he had to say this week on Renewing Your Mind, Dr. RC Sproul takes a look at several of these parables to help us see what Jesus revealed about himself and what he came to accomplish before I look at the first of the parables of selected found which is the parable called either the parable of the unjust judge or also the parable of the important widow before I do that I want to make one other further observation about the nature of parables and their interpretation in the early centuries of Christianity. The church fathers.

The lighted and adopting what they called the allegorical method of interpreting the parables as well as the whole Bible. And in that method of interpretation. They try to find some hidden meaning in every element of the parable.

Just as we think of the allegory of Pilgrim's progress each person that he meets along the way has a significant representative of what type of person that we encounter, and so on. So the church father tried to interpret the parables in that manner.

However, since that time. It's become almost universally accepted that for the most part not in each and every case but for the most part the meaning or the significance of a parable is one central decisive point.

There are a few parables that might have two major points and even three in terms of their complexity, but they are not to be handled as allegories where we try to find some hidden significance for every item in that when we do that we stumble into all kinds of silliness really and so the question we have in the problem. We tried to unravel is to discover the single important central point of the parable. Having said that, let's look now at the parable of the unjust judge we find it in Luke chapter 18 and before I comment on it. I'm going to read it in its entirety to you, Luke 18 beginning at verse one. Then he spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying there was a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man.

Now there was a widow in that city and she came to him saying get justice for me from my adversary. And he would not for a while, but afterward he said within himself, though I do not fear God nor regard man yet because this widow troubles me. I will avenge her less by her continual coming she weary me. Then the Lord said here what the unjust judge said, and saw God knots avenge his own elect who cry out day and night to him, though he bears long with them. I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.

Nevertheless when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on the earth of all of the great speeches that were given by Sir Winston Churchill to the people of England during the crisis of World War II, the shortest speech that he ever day was one of his most provocative came when he was invited to speak at his alma mater at Eaton and after he was introduced Sir Winston got up and in his inimitable fashion, said to the students who were assembled on that occasion Navistar avatar give any setback had to be maybe the second shortest message in all of history. Only the Jesus was at the synagogue when he said today.

This text is fulfilled in your midst, but in any case, what Churchill was trying to instill in the students was this indomitable spirit persevering even in times of difficulty in times of persecution in times of apparent defeat as he rallied his people after France fell to the Germans and saying we will fight them on the beaches will fight them on the seas will fight them in the villages fight them wherever we meet them so again he was calling people to persistent fidelity that in times of trouble.

They would not think they would not surrender to despair will hear were blessed the very beginning of this parable Jesus tells us in central point, we read here that he spoke a parable to them that man that is in order that men ought always to pray and not faint.

And so the parable is about persistent prayer persistent prayer in the mists of trouble persistent prayer in the midst of difficulty persisting in prayer, even when it seems as if our prayers go no higher than the ceiling and so to communicate that truths of constant prayer Jesus tells the story of two people, one who is a widow who has no one to represent her no one to defend her in the courts.

No one to find vindication for her against her adversary.

I think you're aware that throughout the Scriptures. There's a special place in the heart of God for widows that they seem to be the most vulnerable of all people in the world. James tells us that the essence of true religion is the care of widows and orphans. Because, particularly in the ancient world, the widow was helpless and so for his purpose and for his story. Jesus elects to tell the story of such a person. A person who is a widow who is been unjustly treated.

She's been wronged, and now she's suffering and her only hope is to find chassis at the hands of the courts, and so she wants to present her case to the judge, but Jesus tells us about this judge that there wasn't a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man or two things this judge didn't care about it and care about God and he didn't care about people. So if you put those two together how much to think he cared about justice now one of the things we see in our own culture.

Again and again and again and it's featured in movies and television programs in novels house so often when a person is on trial the outcome of that trial will depend on the sophistication of the lawyers who are trying the trial and the debate will go on and on and on with respect to points of law and again using casual mystic law that is case law appealing to precedents that have been established in similar court decisions and sometimes in the midst of that complex system of trying cases that which is lost is the fundamental question of justice. I want to be involved in a theological case that involved charges that were brought against the minister by some elders in his church. The commission was formed by the Presbytery and the chairman of the commission came and we interviewed the minister we interviewed the assistant minister, we interviewed the elders, we interviewed members from a car engaged a large and everybody had a different story. So when we met after the hearing, chairman of the committee said well we had to be very careful here. We need the wisdom of Solomon because we have to find a way to vindicate this minister, we have to find a way to maintain the dignity of the elders and we gotta keep the congregation unified and together over this point, and after he elaborated all these things that we needed to accomplish this commission.

He says, is there anything else we need to be concerned about and raise my hand. So what's that isotopic justice what we're here to do is to discern who's at fault and not just make the assumption that everybody's at fault.

Equally and we have to deal with that but nobody wants to deal with that and I'm afraid we've come to that place so often in our culture where we have judges who really don't care about justice. I don't care about God. I don't care about people with a care about is their own office their own prestige, their own job security. That's the kind of man that Jesus describes here so is sitting on the bench.

The supposed to be bringing justice to this poor widow who had nobody to plead her case. And so she comes and asks the judge to hear her case. Please get justice for me from my adversary. And he would not. Jesus said for a while the first time she asked him restaurant for you when you doing here cannot hear the voice. Micah could care less about your predicament.

Your plate go away lady. You bother me, but she wouldn't faint. She wouldn't give us. She came back a second time.

She said Your Honor. I'll have anybody to plead my case before my adversary.

We please. Here my case, don't you get it lady I care about you not interested in God. I don't care about justice get here for a while. This woman would not take no for an answer.

And afterwards, the judge said within himself, though I don't fear God nor regard man yet because this widow troubles me. I will avenge her last by her continual coming she weary me.

This woman was the important widow not important or unimportant, but important, means persistence on steroids. This woman would not give up. And so she Beating and bleeding and beating on the door of the unjust judge until finally out of pure expediency, not out of got conversion to the legitimacy of justice, but he just got sick and tired of this. He said she's wearying. Megan how hear her case all vindicate her social justice stop banging on the door. Jesus says these telling the story that we ought always to pray and not faint. One of the most important elements that we find in parable after parable. Not every parable is a contrast between the how fallen creatures behave and how God behaves and so often that contrast is spelled out in terms of the phrase how much more how much, and Jesus uses that principle here.

Listen to what he says. Then the Lord said here with the unjust judge said, and shall not God. Well, the other translation. I prefer shall not God vindicate his own elect who cry out to him day and night.

The God we serve is a God who vindicates his people a God who avenges his people now keep in mind that the Bible tells us that were wrong when were exploited.

If we persecuted and treated maliciously, unjustly, that what we are not allowed to do absolutely is to seek vengeance. Vengeance is not on the agenda for the Christian. So what this God say about that. Vengeance is a bad thing.

He is, he says, vengeance is mine, not yours. It's mine, I will repay, our God isn't avenging God our God will write every wrong that his people have ever experienced. We see this in the grand example of the Exodus where the people of God, cried, they after day after day, mixing their cries and are pleased with their groaning until God said, I have heard the grounds coming up to me from my people. Therefore, Pharaoh who was in unjust judge in Egypt who regarded not God or man. You're going to let my people go, so that they may come and worship me on my mom and the Exodus is a foretaste of the greater Exodus that comes to pass in the New Testament when God delivers his people from the world and the flesh and the devil, and from all of those who despitefully use us. That's why Jesus will say in the Beatitudes.

Blessed are those when men shall revile you and persecute you say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake when I was a seminary student in a seminary that was hostile to orthodox Christianity. I was selected to preach the senior sermon before the whole student body. The whole faculty and also the Presbytery who met there that day and I preached on that day on sin and I made reference to some of the definitions of sin that we learned in seminary that Cindy and I was so X substantial and authentic existence or sin was some kind of neurosis and and all these silly definitions of salmon. I said, you know, we may be neurotic and we may be doing everything that we know how to destroy what authenticity of existence. We may have but fellows, men and brethren. The meaning of sin. Scripture is our own confession says is that if any one of conformity to or transgression of the law of God, we sin because we break his law and we come under his indictment will the student body that was largely liberal.

When I finished, rose up out of their seats they came up to me and they congratulated me and they they were very positive. I go make my way to the back of the church and the Dean of the institution comes up to me and he's irate. He so mad at me that he throws me against the wall literally since distorted the Scriptures and on all of, stuff, and I wound that I do that so I went straight upstairs to Dr. Gerstner's office was my mentor my seductress that I distort the truth of God. He looked at me and he said, Blessed are you, Roberto Sweeney: he says every Christian in heaven. From Paul to BB Warfield is rejoicing at the sermon that you preached in this house for decades and I felt then I was so relieved to hear his evaluation will not God vindicate his elect who cry unto him day and night. This is a fantastic promise from our Lord said, give us tremendous consolation and comfort to know that even though sometimes we think he doesn't hear our prayers or doesn't care how we are persecuted and suffer his eyes on the sparrow, he counts every hair in her head and he is promised to vindicate his people who like this helpless important widow cry unto him day and night and so we ought not faint.

We ought not to lose faith as if we serve a God who didn't hear us anew didn't care and so Jesus ends the parable this way I tell you that he will avenge them or vindicate them speedily.

Nevertheless, strange ending to the prayer. Nevertheless, Jesus said, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth. We find faith in his church, or will little disintegrate into unbelief because people stop praying in the midst of adversity have fainted us a question that our Lord as he obviously knew the answer to that question. He notes that when he returns he will find faith on the earth. Not because we're so faithful because he is faithful to those father has been turns out there is much we can learn from a story about an unrighteous corrupt, unjust judge in a persistent widow today on Renewing Your Mind, Dr. RC Sproul shown us the importance of persistent prayer and not growing feet in times of trouble in his public ministry. One of the primary ways Jesus communicated was through parables this week.

Dr. Spruill was giving us an in-depth look at several of them. This is from a 12 part series that he taught in that we like to send it to you on two DVDs when you contact us today with your donation of any amount you can reach us by phone at 800-435-4343.

You can also make a request online@renewingyourmind.org if you downloaded the free link in your app you can take advantage of a helpful resource. So once you've completed your request for RC series. The videos will be available to watch immediately in the app you can do that at my learning library to download the app look for Lincoln here in your app store tomorrow. Dr. Spruill takes a look at what the Jesus best known parables good Samaritan go to the hospital emergency room and just leave them at the emergency room then go on about his business as he is appointment his whole day this whole journey is all business has to be put aside because the top priority for the Samaritans got it, see to it that this man is taken. But we will learn that this is not just a story about a man doing a good deed. We hope you'll join us Tuesday for Renewing Your Mind