In this sermon, the preacher discusses the importance of not losing heart in prayer, even when we don't see immediate results. He shares the parable of the unjust judge and the persistent widow to illustrate this point. The unjust judge, who had no regard for God or people, eventually grants the widow's request because she continually comes to him. Jesus uses this parable to emphasize that if an unjust judge would answer a persistent plea, how much more will God answer the prayers of His people. The preacher encourages believers to have faith and continue praying, trusting that God will avenge them speedily.

This message is one of the Times Square Church Pulpit Series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge, PO Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 903-963-8626. You are welcome to make additional cassettes of this message for free distribution to friends. However, for all other forms of reproduction or electronic transmission, existing copyright laws apply. I have a message tonight that's called the heaven side of an unyielding prayer. That means the prayer that doesn't give up. There's a heaven side to it, and I'm trusting the Holy Spirit to make that known to us tonight. This was put on my heart in Latvia. Luke chapter 18, if you go there with me, please, Luke chapter 18, and we'll pray together. The heaven side of unyielding prayer. Now, Father, I thank you, God, from the depths of my heart. I thank you for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Now, Holy Spirit, if you don't come, this word is powerless, it's fruitless, it's only knowledge. There's no transformation if you don't come. Lord, I thank you that you've never failed us, that your manifested presence is here in this house, and Lord, you reveal yourself. Not just by your word, but by your actual presence, you reveal yourself. And God, you change lives, you transform people. I thank you for the anointing that causes those that speak, including me tonight, to go far beyond natural ability, far beyond any natural intellect, God, into a realm of eternity, the realm of divine life. I thank you for quickening my mind and physical body tonight. I thank you, Lord, for quickening the hearers. Jesus, we love you. Now, Holy Spirit, we honor you. We bend our knee before you tonight, O God, and we acknowledge your presence and we ask you to do what only you can do. Lord, we can talk about you, but it has to be you that comes and does the miraculous. Lord, the kingdom does not advance by argument. It's your presence, it's your power. And I ask you tonight, O God, to so work with us, work with us, Holy Spirit. Draw us, mold us into the image of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I cry from my heart and say, O God, let your kingdom come, let your will be done in us here on earth as it is in heaven. God, let your will be done. Father, I thank you for the anointing. Break every yoke of darkness. Father, I praise you from the depths of my heart in Jesus' name. Luke chapter 18, beginning at verse 1, one of the several instructions that Christ had on prayer, in the beginning of verse 1, it says, He spake a parable unto them to this end, or for this purpose, that men ought always to pray and not to faint. Now, the word faint in the Greek text means to lose heart. Now, this was the purpose that He spoke this parable, so it's important to understand that as we read it. He's saying, I want you to pray and I don't want you to lose heart. And he says, There was in a city a judge which feared not God and neither regarded man. And there was a widow in that city, and she came to him saying, Avenge me of my adversary. And he would not for a while, but afterwards he said within himself, Though I fear not God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith, and shall not God avenge his own elect, which cried day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? That's incredible truth. In these eight verses of scripture, it's going to be difficult really to unlock it all, but there's incredible truth here about prayer. Now, Jesus said in the beginning, I want you to pray and I don't want you to lose heart. Now, many, many people lose heart. They begin to pray. And because we don't see instantaneous results, we draw some wrong conclusion perhaps about God or our own walk with him and simply cease to pray. There's an absence of faith when that gets into the heart. There's an inability to even trust God or to believe what he says. And we can end up like Mary in the story of Lazarus, just sitting still in the house. Christ comes. His glory is manifested. We sing songs about him. His word is open. But there's just that stillness in the heart, because there are those who can say, I have prayed, but I lost heart. I didn't see it. I didn't see the manifestation of what I was asking for. And I didn't see it come when I thought it should or in the way that it ought to. Now, he shares a parable. And every time Jesus shares a parable, it's something about God. It's about his heart. It's about his kingdom. He said there was in the city a judge which didn't fear God and neither regarded man. In other words, this man was, in a sense, complete in himself. He didn't have any reverence for God and couldn't care less about individual people. But and he was placed in a position of authority. And there was a widow in that city. And she came to him and said, avenge me of my adversary. Now, this becomes the first key of this particular parable. Avenge me. The word adversary in the Greek text means an opponent in a lawsuit. This man, perhaps a man of influence and some power, had brought a lawsuit or a legal argument against a widow who was a type of a person who's defenseless. She had no financial backing, perhaps no family backing, no authority. Nobody could fight for her. So finally, she comes to this unjust judge and she says, I'm being opposed by someone who's found fault with me according to the law. I'm being constantly accused and I'm without power to withstand the force of these accusations. Now, I think many people, we could stop there tonight and many people would say, you're preaching right where my life is. I find myself constantly being accused by an accuser and I have no power to withstand these accusations. And now this widow stands before this unjust judge and says, I call you. You have authority for this purpose. I call you to deliver me from my accuser. I call you to take away his legal argument and to break his power over me. Verse five, verse four tells us that the judge for a while hesitated. He really wasn't about to do anything about it. But then he said eventually in verse five, he said, because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her. Lest by her continual coming, she weary me. Her continual coming. Now here's a powerless person as it is, who's under the condemnation of an accuser. But she comes to this unjust judge and she acknowledges his power. She acknowledges his position. She says, you have the power and you've been placed in authority over my accuser. That's why you've been put there. It's an amazing thing. I can picture this in my mind, this widow coming in every day, this man of influence and power, who's sort of self-occupied. And she comes in and says, listen, I'm being accused. Somebody is taking me to law. I have no power over it, but I know who you are. I know where you've been placed and why you're there. And my cause is just. She says, I know my rights and I will not be denied. I will not be denied. And the judge eventually says, well, she's going to weary me. This woman just won't go away. And so rather than have her come here every day and point out my position and my authority and her cause, I will avenge her. Now we'll leave that for a moment. We'll come back to it a little later on. Now a lot of people today faint in prayer. Jesus told this parable so that people would not faint. And many, many people today, they get all zealous for God to go out to the occasional prayer meeting and just scream and rant and rave at heaven and then just give up eventually. Oh, I've been there. I tried that. It didn't work. Now I'll talk to you about three reasons why people faint in prayer. Firstly, they are reluctant to completely follow Christ. Paul, the apostle, said in Romans 10, 16, they have not all obeyed the gospel. And the word obeyed means that it denotes the continuous subjection of faith under the preached word. They've not all obeyed. There's been a reluctance in them. They've had a double mind, a double heart, want to be called by Christ's name, love the idea of heaven, but are not too crazy about the idea of a surrendered life to the purposes of God. So then Paul says faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the word of God. In other words, if the word of God is not cherished, if the word of God is not adopted as truth and an absolute and indispensable guide in the Christian life, then there is little chance that faith will ever find a place of in your heart. In other words, if there is no there's no surrender, there will be no victory. You cannot have faith until you get to the place of saying, I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to yield my life. I have decided because the word means nothing. The word can't be understood if your heart is divided. It can't be comprehended. There will be all types of scriptures that will mean absolutely nothing to you because your heart is not surrendered. You cannot live with one foot in the world and another foot in the Christian church because you end up among those that say, well, I tried Christ. It didn't work. Folks, you don't try Christ. He is God. He's the God of the universe. We don't try him. We don't try him. We bend our knee to him and say, God Almighty, God Almighty, thank you for your mercy. I deserve hell. But you became a man and went to a cross and paid the price for my sin. And you invite me to your table. We don't try Christ. That's foolishness to even speak that way. We yield to Christ. We give him our lives. We acknowledge that not only has he come and become our savior, but he has the lawful right to every one of our lives. He has the right to our future. He has the right to everything we are and everything we will be. And he has a plan for our lives. The only plan that unlocks the word of God. Every other plan will cause there to be when we try to interject our plans and ambitions into God's pattern for our lives, we end up with confused minds. We end up twisting scripture, as Paul says, to our own destruction. We end up deceived and being deceived because we're trying to take another agenda and cause it to fit the call of Christ. And it doesn't. There's no other agenda that can produce faith but the agenda of God. When we are fully yielded to God, then faith begins to unlock in each one of our lives. James said, if a man, for example, lacks wisdom, let him ask, but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. He goes on to say that he that has a double mind is unstable in all his ways. Double mindedness produces a great deal of instability. I can't help but wonder how many people we counsel in the church who are simply just double minded. There's nothing else. They come in and they're they're confused about this. They're confused about the direction of God. They're confused about their homes. Just confusion seems to reign and abound in their lives. And we're always trying to patch up all the little issues of confusion. I often wonder, is it not just double mindedness? Is it right at the root of it? In their heart, deeply in their heart, they have not they have not yielded their lives to the purpose. They don't trust God. They don't believe that yielding to Christ is a richer life than taking our own plans and objectives and somehow trying to cram them into the kingdom of God. They don't believe it, that fulfillment is found on the mission field, if Christ should so lead in that direction. They believe that fulfillment can be more found in the in their personal pursuits and objectives that they have always thought that we're going to bring them happiness. And so they move in that direction and an instability, a deep spiritual instability gets into their heart. They can never hear the word of God and they can't pray because if they to pray, you have to live in truth to pray. If you're not living in truth, how do you pray? How do you convince God to yield to your will? Try it sometime. It's absolutely impossible to get God to change his mind. He's given the full revelation of his mind. Try it. You can't get him to change his mind. It's futile to even try. How do you pray if you're following your own path and spending all of our time trying to get God to agree with a false path, a false theology? It just doesn't work. It's the yielded life that begins to praise the yielded life. It's the man or woman who says, Christ, you gave me your life and you've given me you've given me your life to live on this side of eternity. And God, my fullness is found in you. My hope is in you. My life is in you. Paul said it in the book of Acts. In him, we live and move and have our being. It's all about Jesus Christ. It's Christ in us. That's the hope of our life and the hope of the glory that God wants to reveal in us. People have a hard time to pray or they cannot pray or they faint in prayer because they're not fully convinced to yield their all to Jesus Christ. And secondly, people have a difficulty or they faint in prayer because their cause is not just. And there are many, many people praying unjust causes. Remember the James and John, I believe it was, they said, Lord, should we call down fire on this city because they've not received you? And there would be their cause in their sight, in a sense, was just, but it was totally unjust in the sight of God. He said to them, you don't understand what spirit you're up. How about if you go to the Lord in prayer and say, oh, God, just cause that awful neighbor just to get hit by a car, just do something nasty to them. Well, folks, people pray like that. They pray for destruction over their enemies. When Jesus clearly says in the word, you're to bless them. You're to pray that God's hand of goodness comes on their lives. And even beyond that, you're to pray that perhaps God will make you the instrument of that goodness to your enemy. That's the way that the word of God says we're to pray. Any other way that people begin to pray is not a just cause. Jesus said it this way through James or James actually said it. He said, you ask and you don't receive because you ask you to miss that you may consume it on your lusts. Well, you think about the lust of the flesh. One of those, of course, is envy. There's so many of these lusts and you ask for something, but you're asking to consume it on your lust so you will eventually faint in prayer. You will not receive anything that's of the life of Christ. It's tragic today that in much of the Christian church of our generation, the enemy has succeeded in focusing the minds of the body of Christ on their own lusts, their own desires. The concept of the yielded life, as we heard so well this afternoon, is gone from so many people and false prophets have arisen and convinced multitudes that the whole reason to exist, the whole reason to come to Christ is because he's some kind of a cosmic Santa Claus that you can just command and he just gives you things and he makes you he takes you to your destiny. But, you know, the concept of destiny is always greatness, influence, power. It's the slice of the social pie as it is. What if your destiny is jail? I preach this in Ireland. How does the theology fit then? How does it fit Paul's life, whose destiny was to go to prison and ending up writing some of the most powerful epistles that we have in the New Testament today? That was his destiny. And thirdly, people faint in prayer because they're unpersuaded of God's heart for them. You see, a persuaded man or woman cannot be turned aside. Go to the book of Luke. Just go backwards to Luke chapter 11. They're not persuaded of God's heart. Now, Luke chapter 11. Verse one, it says it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples. Then, of course, he goes on from there and teaches them what we know today to be the Lord's prayer. And then he goes on in a further way of illustration of that request in verse five. And he says to them, and which of you shall have a friend and shall go to him at at midnight and say to him, friend, lend me three loaves for a friend of mine in his journey has come before me and I have nothing to set before him. And he from within shall answer and say, trouble me not. The door is now shut and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee. I say to you, though, he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity, he will arise and give him as much as he needs. In other words, the word for importunity means is recklessness. He just simply will not go away. Christ said this is that. And then he goes on. He says, Now I say to you, verse nine, ask and it shall be given you seeking you shall find knock. It shall be open. Everyone that asks receives. He that seeks finds and he that knocks, it shall be open. He said, if anyone of you ask bread of a son, ask bread of a father, will he give him a stone? If he asked the fish, will he give him a serpent? If he asked an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you know, then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more shall your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? He said, this is how I want you to pray. God, I have a neighbor that's moved in next door to me who needs to be experience your love. But God, I don't have it. I can't do much more than tolerate the person. I don't have your love. I need three times more than I have. I need 30 times more than I have. But God, you've got to somehow put within me that which I don't have. He comes and he said a friend is before me and I've got nothing to set before him. I'm bankrupt in this area of my life. Lord Jesus, I come to you for that which I need. And he says, even though he won't get up and give him because he's his friend, yet because of his recklessness, that's what importunity means. It's shamelessness. It means a recklessness. He will rise and give him as much as he needs. And he said, I say to you, ask. I say to you, come to the throne. I say it's important that you understand my heart for you. God's heart is to give us himself. It's not knowledge about himself. As wonderful as that is, his heart is to give us himself. The love that we need is Christ. It's his love in our heart. It's his ability to surrender to the will of God. He's the one that won the victory over death in the flesh and sin. And he comes to live that life out through us and within us. And he says, I tell you to come recklessly to the throne of God. St. Father, I will not be turned away. I will not take no for an answer. I will not go away because I have read my legal rights. I have read what is mine. I know my heart is in line with your heart. I'm asking for something that is according to your will. It is your will that I love my enemies. It is your will that I have a generous spirit. It is your will, O God, that I have the courage to be a bold witness for you. It is your will. And there are many, many things we can point to in the word of God, say, God, it is your will. And the Lord says, I want you to come to me. If you find yourself with nothing to set before those that are before you in the midnight hour, I ask you to come to me and come boldly, come knowing what is yours and don't be turned aside from it. Jeremiah, the Lord said to Jeremiah, I know my thoughts that I think towards you, thoughts of peace and thoughts of good to give you and to bring you to a desired end. John 15, 7, Jesus said, If you abide in me, my words abide in you, you will ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, if my truth, if this the revelation I've given to of myself, if it has found a dwelling place in your life, if you are yielded and if you are willing to make that transference from your will to the will of God, your life to the life of Christ, if you have embraced Christ as the pearl of great price, if you're willing to sell all that you might have them, ask what you will and it shall be done. Now, I've lived this. I've seen this. I've known this to be true. I've seen God do the miraculous in my own life over the years. I've asked that he might use me for his glory when I had no ability to be used, no natural ability whatsoever. And I saw God do it. I asked him to deliver me from fear and I watched God deliver me from fear. I asked him to help me to love my wife. And he taught me how to love and to cherish my wife as Christ loves and cherishes his church. I asked him to help me be a father to my children. I had little knowledge of how to do these things. And God gradually opened his heart to me and opened my heart to my own children. I asked him to give me courage to trust him when all hell seemed to be against me and all adversity seemed to be blowing on every side. And he did. And he has proven himself to be faithful. I know this word to be true. There were times when hell said, give up. There were times when my accuser said, you'll never change. Don't bother asking for this anymore. Oh, I'm telling you, I've been down a corridor of darkness and times in my life, especially the younger years as a Christian, when hell came against me and tried to tell me everything that hell has in its arsenal that I'll never change, never amount to anything. But I read something in the word of God and I was willing to exchange my life for this life. Back in Luke 18, again, verse seven, Jesus says, well, verse six, he said, now here, hear what the unjust judge says. Remember the unjust judge said, I'm going to answer this petition because this woman is going to weary me by her continual coming. And Jesus said, I want you to hear what the unjust judge says. And he says now shall not God. In other words, if an unjust judge will answer a continual plea, how much more will God answer it? That's really the inference he's making. He said, shall not God's avenge his own elect, which cried day and night to him, though he bear long with them? Now, the word avenge has two meanings in the New Testament. Number one, it means to avenge. It means just to pronounce a judgment. But the second meeting means to endow a person with a certain quality, to do something once and for all. The producing and bringing forth is something which when produced has an independent existence of his own. The avengeance, the way God avenges us is to cast down our accuser. And he does it by bringing forth the change once and for all. That's how he avenges us. Oh, yes, the devil accuses us. The devil says you're this. The devil says you're that. And quite often he's right. I mean, he has a lawful accusation against us. We're stingy or mean or we're fearful. He comes and says, this is what you are. And the reality is, if you were under the law, we're not today. But he has a legal accusation against some because that's in effect what we are. So we come to Christ, say, cast him down, cast him down, avenge me, avenge me of this accuser. I have no power before him. And the way he avenges him is by casting him down, by giving you and I the very thing the accuser accuses us of not having. That's how he avenges us. He gives us the very thing the accuser says we don't have. It's amazing. The accuser comes, says you are fearful. God says, all right, we come to the Lord. We pray, say, God, I've read it in your word. You've not given me a spirit of fear, but power, love, and a sound mind. Cast him down. He's accusing me. Cast him down. Avenge me of my accuser. He's got something on me. This is a reality at this point in my life. Avenge me. And God says, I come and I avenge you by giving you the very thing that he says that you don't have. And he said, shall he not avenge his own elect, which cried day and night to him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Now, this seems to be a contradiction when you look at it. He says he will do so. You remember the unjust judge for a season didn't do anything. When we read verse seven, it appears to be that the elect come and cry day and night. So this is an ongoing prayer. It's not just a one time thing. And there seems to be a long time or long time of bear long means to be long suffering as opposed to being hasty and acting in anger or punishment. He will avenge his elect, though he bears long with them. But I tell you, he said he will avenge them speedily. I don't understand how that comes. Sometimes when we pray, things don't happen the way we think they should. You see, God's ways are not ours. His thoughts are not ours. I'd like it now. Lord, you've heard that prayer. Lord, I want patience. I want it right now. I want patience, though we bear long. There are often things in us that are not quite in line with Christ. And as we approach his throne asking him for things, he said, well, I'm going to do it. As a matter of fact, I'm doing it. But there's something I have to get at in you. You see, if we get things too easy, quite often they're not appreciated. That's a reality. We tell our own children, I don't just hand money to you. You're going to work for it because you won't appreciate it. It would be it would produce a deficiency in you if it's handed to you all the time too easily and you never have to earn it. Now, I'm not talking about our salvation. Please don't misunderstand me. We obviously don't earn that. I remember when I about over a little over 20 years ago, maybe 21, 22 years ago, I was touched by the Holy Spirit in an incredible way. It's only been a one never happened again nor before. A wonderful one time touch of God's spirit that I will never forget for eternity. I was at my home and I was praying and I was praying a specific prayer, just sitting in my kitchen. My wife was with me and I said, oh, if you'll just set me free, I will give you all of my life. You can use me for your glory. You can do whatever you want with me if you'll just set me free from all of the bondage and everything that oppresses my mind and everything else. And I cried out to God and I can't quite explain to you what happened other than to say God touched me. I had an encounter with Christ. It was the most terrifying moment of my entire life, but it was a strange kind of a terror. I was never more afraid in my life, but yet there was a deep sense that I was in the hand of God. I knew that if he didn't lift his hand off of me, I would die. There was a strange experience, just God's presence just came all over me. I ended up on the floor shaking like a leaf. And when I stood up, something had so happened in my life. It was incredible. The next week or two, it's like I walked in another realm. I can't quite explain it. It seemed to have the ability to see right into people's hearts. I led. I don't know how many people of Christ. It seemed everybody I talked to came to Christ. They break down weeping and I'd be able to speak right into their heart. I walked into a room one time of 28 people and 27 broke down weeping and gave their lives to Christ. It was an amazing time with God. I understood the scriptures. I opened the Bible and just everything was just just jumping off the page. I saw revelation, understood some things about the scriptures that it's like he had unlocked my mind and opened my spirit. And one day we were driving in the car, my wife and I, and I said to her, it's been such a strange couple of weeks for me. It's been such a transformation that I find myself missing my old self. No, that was the most foolish thing I think I've ever said in my life, because I woke up the next morning and guess who was back? And I cried. I wept. I went before God. I said, God, you knew how stupid I was when you touched me. Lord, forgive me for this. Oh, God, just I don't want my old self. And and I would I would sit in the same chair in the same spot. OK, do it again. God, I will. You'd be surprised how many times over the years that I've done this. And the Holy Spirit came and told me clearly, you will have that touch of God again in your life, but you will have it when you appreciate what I had done for you. You'll have it when there's a little bit of a knowledge inside of you that you don't ever take for granted the holy things, especially the Holy Spirit. You don't take for granted the anointing of God, the touch of God that comes into your life. Even up to several years ago, I'd lay prostrate on my floor and weep and cry and do everything in my power to even try to imagine being touched by God like that again. And I'd stay until I'd sweat. But nothing happens. God says, no, you're it's not going to happen. But he says, I will avenge them speedily, though he bear long. It's not good to have things sometimes happen too fast. There has to be issues of character worked in. And the Holy Spirit knows how to do that. And here's where it gets interesting. He says, I will answer them speedily, even though there seems to be a long time between when the prayer is prayed and the answer comes. The only best way I can explain it is if you go with me to the Old Testament, Psalm 18. This is a psalm of David. Now, this psalm is written in retrospect, which means that the battle is over. The victory has been won and David is thinking back. Now, this has been a long standing battle. He has been pursued by Saul. He's had enemies all around him. He's gone for days, seemingly in his own mind, without number in the wilderness, fleeing around mountains, running into foreign king's territories, behaving like a madman, even at one time at a king's gate to save his own skin. All these things that he had to go through. But now, in retrospect, he looks back. And if you believe the word of God is revelation, then you have to believe that God gave revelation to him, that when he prayed, there was something going on. I'm talking tonight about the heaven side of unyielding prayer. Something happens in heaven when we pray. That is how he answers us speedily. He avenges us speedily, even though for a season there seems to be a long suffering that's going on as God is dealing with some issues in our character before we actually see the manifestation of our prayer. We see that which we're asking for actually come to us and we can say, I've got it. And David's at that point now, and he writes a song about a longstanding battle, and he's looking back over a long period of time, and the Holy Spirit gives him an incredible revelation. And this is what has to be in our hearts. This is what goes on in heaven when a son or daughter of God goes to the throne and says, Lord, I will not give up. I will not go away. I will not let hell have my sons and daughters. I will not let my family perish into eternity without Christ. I will not be brought under the power of fear. I will not spend my life in Christian mediocrity. I will not come before the throne of God with an empty basket when it's all over. I will not be bound by this issue of the devil or the flesh or whatever it is. I will not be held captive by it. I've read the book. My life is yielded. God, I'm believing that these promises belong to me. And that type of person comes to the throne and says, I will not be denied. I remember reading about revivals of old, and I've shared this several times here. But I remember one account of a particular revival. It was marked by the older saints of God, he said, rising up in the church. And he said, I've never heard people pray like that. He said, I've been raised in that environment. And all of a sudden, the spirit of God began to grip people who had been in the church for years and they began to pray in a different way. And he said they began to pray like they could not and would not be denied. People began praying for lost loved ones, began praying for their towns. They began praying that God do something in them, began praying that they might be usable for his kingdom. And they prayed like they could not be denied. They would not be denied. They came to the throne of God and they said, I've read this. It's in your book. It's my legal right. Avenge me of my adversary. Avenge me of the devil that tells me I will never be different. I'll never change, never amount to anything. Avenge me, God. Avenge me of the unbelief that wants to grab my heart and steal your kingdom from me. David says it this way in Psalm 18, verse four, he said, The sorrows of death compassed me. The floods of the ungodly made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed me about. The snares of death prevented me in my distress. Now he's talking back quite a few years now. He said, But in my distress, I called upon the Lord. I cried unto my God and he heard my voice out of his temple and my cry came before him, even to his ears. Now, keep in mind, he's writing this by revelation. He's come through the battle. He's known the victory. Now he's got deliverance. But he said, I've cried way, way back. I was surrounded. I was in a cave. I was going through difficult times and I cried. And he said, you see, the revelation that God's giving David is the victory came long ago. You just didn't see it until this point in your life. He said, Then the earth shook. Verse seven. At the time of his cry, he said, the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the hills were moved and were shaken because he was wroth. In other words, God's anger was was kindled because a son of his was crying out. A son who had a legal right. A son was saying, listen, God, I know I was anointed to be king. That word has been spoken over my life. I know you have a purpose for my life that involves somehow sharing and understanding the joy of your heart, the delight of your life being manifested among your people. David said, I've known it since I was young. I've known it since I was a child. But oh, God, I'm surrounded now. Death is all around me. The ungodliness is making me afraid. Hell is surrounding me. I call out to you in my distress. And he's saying in retrospect, the moment I called, my voice came to him. Jesus said he would deliver them speedily. The moment I called, my voice came to the temple. When you cry out to God, you may not see the manifestation of the deliverance. But I can tell you on the authority of God's word tonight, if you are a yielded vessel to Christ, the moment you call your voice is right at the throne of God. The moment you call God's anger will be raised against your enemies. He said the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of the hills were shaken because he was wroth. The anger of God was risen up because the power of darkness was coming against the son of his. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils and fire out of his mouth devoured. Coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens, David says, and came down and darkness was under his feet. He rode on a cherub and did fly. He flew on the wings of the wind. He made darkness his secret place. And as I as I read that, I was I was interpreting that to be he came down in my deepest darkness and I didn't see him, but he was there. He was there all along. He was there in the fullness of his power. He was there fully intent on delivering me from all of my enemies. His pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies and the brightness that was before him as thick clouds past hailstones and coals of fire. In other words, there's this mammoth battle going on in the spiritual realm. God's anger has been roused. He is raised up and he's coming for the deliverance. The moment he heard the voice of David cry, the Lord also thundered in the heavens. Verse 13 in the highest gave his voice. In other words, in the middle of that struggle, God was beginning to make pronouncements. He was avenging me of my enemies, hailstones and coals of fire. Yeah, he sent out arrows and scattered them. He shot out lightnings and discomfited them. Then the channels of waters were seen in the foundations of the world were discovered that I review, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils. He sent from above, David said. He took me, drew me out of many waters. You see, I saw the channel of water. I saw what it is, verse 15, that God has spoken. I understood what truth is. And he took me out of these many voices. He took me out of this confusing thoughts, these confusing accusations that were wanting to govern my life and my mind. He delivered me, verse 17, from my strong enemy and from them which hated me, for they were too strong for me. They prevented me in the day of my calamity that the Lord was my stay. He brought me forth also into a large place. He delivered me because he delighted in me. He delighted in me. Oh, you might be going through the battle of your life, but if you are a genuine child of God, I can tell you tonight that God delights in you. God delights in you. When he sees the devil trying to rob you of your inheritance in him, the life of Christ that is yours, this scripture is yours. He's going to rise up with the fullness of his wrath and his power and come against your enemies and bring a deliverance that will astound you. It may not happen the way you think it should. It may take time. There are issues. You see, God was molding a king and he had to do things in David's life. There were issues he had to mold in his life. Some of the most wonderful Psalms came out of the deepest trials that David had ever gone through. He was working something into this man, just as he works it into you and I, because we are raised to rule and reign with Christ. We are raised to be kings and priests and examples of his love and kindness on this earth and in our generation. David goes on in verse 32 and he says, this is this is what God will do. That's how he avenges us. You remember from our enemies, he puts things in us. This is why it doesn't happen in a day. Your character is not built in the day. The life of Christ is not just all of us. You know, we just don't sort of get saved. Add water and there's the plant. There's work that God does within us. He said it is God, verse 32, that girds me with strength. He makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like hinds feet and sets me upon my high places. He teaches my hands to war so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. Thou has also given me the shield of thy salvation, thy right hand that's holding me up and thy gentleness. In other words, your long suffering towards me has made me great. God, you have you've dealt with my failure. You've understood my weakness and my off misunderstanding. But you've been so gentle with me and I cried out to you in faith. And when I cried out, you came and avenged me and you strengthened me and you showed me the way to walk. You gave me the power to climb in difficult places. You taught my hands to war. You gave me your strength and your authority so that I could even break a bowl of steel by my arms. And you gave me an understanding of my salvation. And David says you were gentle with me the whole time you were doing this. You see, God will always be gentle with you, even in your misunderstanding of prayer. The gentle hand of God will be on you and the gentle hand of God will lift you. And if you ascribe or amount to anything, if you and I amount to anything in the kingdom of God, it's been because of his tenderness. It's been his gentleness towards us. He has been so kind. He's been so long suffering. It's amazing when we get to heaven. No wonder we'll throw our crowns at his feet when finally we will know, even as we are known, we will all look and see how undeserving we have been. We've been just absolutely undeserving of his mercy. We'll see how we've misunderstood him so many times over the years, even doubted or examined his motives. And yet in the midst of it all, we cried out to him and he came. I can't fully grasp that. Maybe someday I know when I get to heaven, I will fully, fully, finally understand that. And then finally, in verse 47, David said, it is God that avenges me and subdues the people under me. It's God. He delivers me from my enemies. Yea, thou that liftest me up above those that rise up against me, for thou has delivered me from the violent man. And that means from the accuser. David said, God, you avenged me and you delivered me from my accuser. Therefore, I will give thanks to the Lord among the heathen and sing praises to thy name. Great deliverance he gives to his king and shows mercy to his anointed, to David and to his seed forevermore. We are the seed. The seed of David, of course, is in the lineage of Christ. And he says he gives deliverance and great mercy to his seed forevermore. Jesus concludes by saying and shall not God's avenge his own elect, which cried day and night to him, though he bears long with them, I tell you, he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? Now we look at that scripture quite often, like it's we preach about the last day when Christ comes, will there be faith? And I've looked at it that way for for most of my Christian walk. But Jesus said in John 14, 28, to his disciples, I go away, he said, and I come again to you. I was before the cross and before the cross. He he did, in a sense, go away. He died, but he came again. He rose again from the dead and he came to them physically as a physical man and ate with them and sat and communed with them. Then he went into heaven and came back again as as the Holy Spirit. And he says, when the son of man comes, shall he find faith on the earth? He has come. He came as a physical man, he died, he came back from the grave and he's come again. And he comes to us time and time again. You see tonight, if you can understand his word, he's come to you. He's come. If I've opened this word and the Holy Spirit has anointed it to your mind, then he's come to you. And he's he's he's talked about prayer, he's talked about avenging you of your accuser, he's talked about giving you life that you don't possess, he's talked about casting down your enemy and raising you up. He's talked about prayer that should persist and never give up. He's open in a sense, an understanding of what happens on heaven's side when we pray and will not be denied. Something happens on the side of heaven. Folks, I've I've seen it, lived it long enough now to know this is the absolute truth. Something happens that you and I can't necessarily see. But he says when he comes, will he find faith on the earth? He's come here tonight. We've worshipped. We've we've known his presence. The word of God has been opened. He's come. He's revealed something to us of his heart. But then he says, well, will he find faith on the earth? Will there be a people that will not be denied? Will there be a people that say, Christ, it's your life that I want. It's your will that I want. I'm yielded to you and I've seen what is mine. I see my inheritance. I see that it's mine for the asking. I see that there's a purpose in your withholding, even though you've answered it. Oh, folks, I prayed for my father's salvation and two or so years after beginning to pray, the Holy Spirit told me clearly one day, clearly it came like a shockwave into my car. I've given you your answer. I prayed another 20 years, but my prayer changed. It wasn't saved. My father was God hastened the day. I know what you've spoken to my heart. I know what you've revealed to me and I will not be denied. I will not be denied his soul. God, you've told me that you're going to bring him home to you. And most of you know the story. The Holy Spirit, 22 years late, 20 years later, led me into his hospital room in the last conscious hour of his life to lead him to Christ, to see that man finally bend his knee and confess with his tongue that Jesus Christ is his Lord. Oh, yes, there was a transaction that happened somewhere along the line because God said it's done. I received it at his word. And he's told me many things about my own family, which I believe with all my heart this day as I'm speaking to you. But he said when he comes, will he find faith? Will he find faith? Will he find a man or woman or a young person, an older person that simply says, Christ, I hear you and I know you'll answer my prayer. I believe you. And really, it's as simple as that. When he comes, will he find that kind of persistent faith or are we going to be living in an instant society that if I pray a little prayer and it doesn't happen, I give up on God? Am I going to find people who are going to press in and they will not take no for an answer? They've seen it. It's theirs. And they say I will not take no. This is mine. I claim this is my very own. And I tell you, as you begin to do that, there's quite often the Holy Spirit will take a passage or a promise and make it as real as your own. Will he find that kind of faith? We have hyper faith preaching today that says you pray once. And if it and then just believe and never pray again, it's folks, it's ridiculous. There's no character formed in that. And eventually it leads to unbelief because it never happens the way we think it should. Will he find faith? Tonight he's come and opened his word and we've known his presence. Will he find faith for you to believe that you could be forgiven your sin if you're here tonight and you don't know Christ as your savior? Will he find faith to believe that you can be forgiven? How about every backslider here tonight? Is finally God opening his word to you going to bring you to the place of saying, Lord, this is enough. This is enough of the accuser dominating my life. I'm getting up and taking what is mine and I'm coming to you because you're a just judge and you will avenge me of my adversary. You will put something in my life that is not there and you will cast down my accuser. You will prove him wrong by putting something in me that I don't even possess. Will he find that kind of faith? I pray, God, with all my heart that he does tonight. I pray that every backslider here tonight come home to Christ, come home to Christ to say, God, forgive me for my ignorance in prayer. God, forgive me for misunderstanding how your kingdom works. Remember, David said his gentleness made me great. His gentleness picked me up and gave me power. I tell you tonight, God will be gentle with you. I specifically feel a leading to appeal to everybody who's been under the voice of the accuser. You've been so brought down by accusation. But you've yielded to the accusation, you've yielded, you've said, I guess it's right, I guess I never will change. I guess I'll always be like this. I guess I'll never amount to anything. I guess I'll never be free. I guess I'll just have to learn to live with this. I appeal to you tonight. The Holy Spirit has spoken in this house. If you will rise up, you will take what is yours. God says I will give it to you. If you'll have a yielded heart to Christ. You're determined in your heart to live for God, he'll give it to you. Let's all stand. The education annex to as well. If the Holy Spirit speaking to you tonight, would you slip out? Would you come and meet me at this altar? Education annex, we'll wait for you. We'll wait for you to leave where you are and come and meet us here. For those that are saying, I'm tired of being under the accuser's voice, I'm tired of yielding. I'm going to go to prayer now and I'm going to believe God. I'm going to believe him. He is not going to fail me. Slip out wherever you are. Balcony. You can go to either exit. Make your way down here. Main Sanctuary. Slip out. Make your way down here. Everyone who's lost in their sin. Who wants to give your life to Christ tonight, I encourage you as well to make your way down here. Give your life to him. Let him touch you. How many are here tonight because they pass your eye? I'm a sinner. I live apart from God because I never really believed that God would accept me and I never trusted that he would really change me. But tonight I'm willing to confess I am a sinner. I need a savior. This is the night that I'm going to bow my knee and give him my life. I'll receive his offer. It's an incredible thing that we're even given the choice, but I'll receive his offer of eternal life tonight. And I'm going to trust him to change me and to pass down my accuser. I've lived under such horrible condemnation all of my life. But I'm trusting that Christ is going to prove himself real to me. I say to you tonight, even if you have doubt in your mind, prove him, prove him. You'll find he's not going to fail you. He loves you enough that he became a man and died on a cross to give you eternal life. That's how much there's nothing more he could do to prove it to being nailed on a tree to pay the price for your sin. That means all the wrong things that you've done, that you might be forgiven tonight, forgiven. And then he says, not just forgiven, but I will avenge you. I will come and change in you. I will give you a new life, not just eternal, but a new life on this side of eternity. This is the greatest decision you will ever make. There'll never be a decision in your life greater than this one. And you can have the opportunity to make it tonight, to join the millions who've gone before you, who've raised their heart, their hand, their voice and said, Jesus, I believe you're the Christ, the son of God. You died for me tonight. I choose to live for you. I receive your offer of forgiveness. If that's in your heart tonight, you want to be a Christian. Now, it's not about you. All we do is believe he does the rest. That belief takes us into a walk and he provides everything we need for life and godliness. But tonight, if you'd like to give your life to Christ, I'm going to ask you to raise your hand with me right now, unashamedly, all over the sanctuary, up in the balcony. You to raise it up high, raise it up high, do it publicly. He died on a hill for you. Do it up front. I give my life to Christ up in the balcony, all through the balcony education. And actually, I know their hands are to God. Seize them tonight. Is there somebody else? You just raise a hand, say tonight is my night. I'm coming to Christ. I'm giving my life to Jesus Christ. I'm going to receive him as my Lord and Savior. This is marvelous. Hallelujah. There are many, many hands raised in the sanctuary tonight. We thank God for it. I'm going to pray a simple prayer. And if you believe this in your heart, he will receive you tonight and cleanse you from all of your sin. You'll be able to walk away from the sanctuary tonight saying heaven is my destiny and the life of Christ is my future. And God has a much better plan for me than I've ever had for myself. Let's pray together this whole church for those that are coming into God's kingdom. Lord Jesus, I am a sinner. Jesus, I believe you are the son of God. You are God become a man and you came to this earth because you love me. And you went to a cross to pay the price for all the wrong things that I have done. Tonight, I open my heart and I receive your offer of forgiveness. And Jesus, I ask you now to come into my life and be my Lord and be my Savior. I thank you for forgiving me. And I believe that you're going to give me the power to live a new life, a life of victory over all of my enemies, things within me and things without. I ask you now to lead me and guide me into this new life, this new salvation that you've given me. I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God who died to pay the price for my sin. I believe that on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead as living proof that my trust in him is not in vain. I believe at this very moment, my sins are washed away and I am saved. I am saved. I am saved. Save, save, save. Thank God. Say, say, say, say by the power of God. Say. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Now, for those that have come to Christ tonight, keep in mind, if you're if you're from another area, find a Bible believing church. If you're able to come back and fellowship with us, we have a new believers class every Friday night. We'll give you a Bible and help you get started in your walk with God. You never have to join anything here at Times Square Church. So don't be afraid of that. There's no pressure here. The walk with God is totally voluntary on your part. Now, for the rest that have come to this altar, are you tired now of giving in to the accuser? You don't have to anymore. You see, God's going to prove him wrong. God is going to prove your accuser wrong. That's what he's going to do. He's going to prove him wrong by putting in you what you don't have. It's going to be his life. And it's amazing. It's amazing. I believe that Jesus Christ loves rubbing the powerlessness of the devil in his face every time he changes something in my life. He's just rubbing it in his face. Oh, you like to accuse my servant, do you? Well, let me change this and let me change that. Let me put this in his life. Let me prove you wrong. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, I thank you that tonight you've shown me something in your word. I believe that when I cry out to you with an honest heart, you quickly answer, even though for a season I don't see that answer. But I believe it's coming because you have promised it to me. You will never let the devil reign over my life. You will never give him a lawful reason to accuse me. You will change me. You will use my life for your glory. I believe it with all my heart. And I thank you with all my heart. In Jesus name. Now, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This is the conclusion of the message.