So the reading this morning, which we've just heard, was of a powerble which Jesus told and the story was about two people. The first person was the judge, and the judge cares only about himself. You may remember the two greatest commandments in the Bible are firstly to love God and secondly to love your neighbor. But the judge in this story loved neither God nor his neighbor. Take a look at verse two. Certain times there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. The judge cared only about himself, and to him he was the only person that mattered. The second person in the story is the widow. Now in those days, widows were vulnerable people and quite defenseless, and this widow in the story had a particular problem. We're not told what the problem was, but it does seem that someone was taking advantage of her in some way. So she was being treated badly, and she wanted justice. Take a look at verse three. There was a widow in that town who kept coming to the judge with a plea. Apparently, grant me justice against my adversary. Now it's said of the supermodel Naomi Campbell that she was once offered ten thousand pounds to do a photo shoot, and she was incredulous. Ten thousand pounds, she said, I wouldn't even get out of bed for ten thousand pounds. Well that's what the judge in this parable is like. His job was to dispense justice, but faced with a widow his attitude was one of arrogance. Justice for poor widow? I wouldn't even get out of bed to deal with her problems, he says. Then if you read in the newspaper this week of that woman who was trying to get her washing machine fixed, and the washing machine that she had was less than twelve months old, so it was still under guarantee. And when it broke down, she expected it to be fixed promptly. However, when it did break down, there were lots of delays. You know the story, don't you? First the repairman says he'll come and then he doesn't come and then when he comes he hasn't got the parts and then when he goes back to the depot, they haven't got the parts in stock and they've got order. And it just went on and on and on. Well eventually after a long delay without her washing machine working, the washing machine was finally fixed. Only for it to break down again. And by this time the woman was very annoyed and the same excuses started coming out from the company. Well one day when the engineer did turn up, what she did was she parked her car blocking his on the drive. He came into the house and she locked all the doors and closed all the windows and told him that she was taking him hostage. And she was hostage and he wouldn't be allowed to go free until she had a new washing machine. We've all felt like doing that when, haven't we? Now, I could have cut a long story short but the longer short of it is, is that having taken hostage the next day she was given a brand new washing machine and no more hassles, no more delays. I thought it was interesting though when I read in the paper that story that she said it was okay for her because she had the strength and the courage to take someone hostage and insist upon her rights. But that she felt sorry for more vulnerable people who perhaps wouldn't have been able to do what she had done. Now the widow in our story is a vulnerable person like that who is unable really to press her own rights and her own case. Jesus says she was totally dependent on the judge for mercy. She had nothing and all she could do was plead with the judge. So she kept going back to him, it says in verse 3 doesn't it, again and again to plead with him, verse 3 she kept coming to the judge with the plea, grant me justice. Well eventually the story goes on, the judge realised he wasn't going to get any peace from this lady until he gave her justice. He didn't care about her, he acts from the low motive of just self-interest. But if you take a look at verse 5 it says, because this widow keeps bothering me I will see that she gets justice so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming. So the widow's persistence pays off and justice is granted at last. When we have a story like that we may sometimes feel that God is a bit like the judge. We might sometimes pray to God and feel that he's not listening to us, we feel that he's not responding to what we're saying to him. We can say things like Lord I've got all these problems in my life, why don't you resolve them? Or Lord I've got so much suffering, if you're so loving why don't you take the pain away? And so we feel that God is rather like the judge in this story, not listening and not caring. But actually Jesus says that that's not how things are, God is not like the judge. Take a look at verse 7, Jesus says, will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? The rhetorical questions aren't they? Of course God will bring justice for those who call to him. Of course he won't keep putting them off because God is unlike the judge in the story. He hears the prayers of his people, he cares about them, he always responds and he does not delay. Now Caroline and I have obviously recently moved into the area and we've moved into a house in south fields. On Friday night we went home and tried to get the gas boiler going, thought we'd get some hot water and whatnot. We realized that we could smell gas and it wasn't long before we worked out, we actually had a gas leak. So my phone, the gas company, and they took all my details and said to me, will be with you within two hours. Now of course I asked how much it was going to cost and they said don't worry, there's no charge, will be with you within two hours. Well that was great and it didn't take very long before a guy came from Transco and fixed the leak. And when he arrived at our house he was very efficient. He didn't say perhaps I could have a cup of coffee before I start. He didn't stop to chat about how the tennis was going, he went straight to the gas leak and immediately fixed it. And similarly when we call out to God Jesus promises here that God will respond and that he will do so quickly. Look at verse 8, Jesus says I tell you God will see that they get justice and quickly. But sometimes for us it doesn't feel as though God is responding quickly. Sometimes it feels as though he's delaying. But remember that when I found the gas company I still had to wait before the engineer came, they said they'd be there within two hours. The engineer did come quickly but I still had to wait for his arrival. Now suppose that after 15 minutes of waiting I decided to give up because 15 minutes later the gas leak still wasn't fixed so perhaps no one was coming at all. Perhaps I'd phoned the wrong number or perhaps the gas company didn't exist perhaps it was all just in my imagination. Well that would be stupid if I thought like that. They had promised to come within two hours and I just had to wait until they arrived. And the same is true here with God though the promise is given that he will always respond quickly. He sometimes responds in a time that makes us feel as though there's been a delay whilst we wait for his response to appear. You can see this more clearly if you look closely at verse 8, Jesus says God will see that they get justice and quickly. And wherever when the Son of Man comes will he find faith on earth. So the word quickly at the end of the first sentence there is linked to when the Son of Man comes at the start of the second sentence. Jesus is saying that God does hear our prayers that he does respond quickly but that for some things the earliest point at which we will see the response is when Jesus comes again. That is the ultimate quickly that he's talking about. So even a quick response from God may not be revealed to us until Jesus comes again which leaves us in this present world sometimes having to patiently wait and endure suffering whilst we wait for the answer to be revealed. We may find that we're married to someone that we don't get along with, we may find that we have to live with cruel and harsh words being spoken to us by our parents. We may speak up for Jesus at work and be ridiculed and we may wonder where is God in all of this. But in this world we live with the pain, knowing that God will certainly resolve it when Jesus soon comes again. And notice in verse 8 how certain it is that Jesus will come again. Verse 8 says when the Son of Man comes not if he comes but when he comes and having assured us that God hears our prayers and that he will come again. Notice also how Jesus turns the table around on our questioning. See where we were questioning God saying God do you hear us God are you listening God are you going to respond? Now it is Jesus who questions us look at the second half of verse 8 Jesus says when the Son of Man comes will he find faith on earth? Because we don't actually need to question God about whether he hears us God certainly hears us and always answers our prayers. But the question that is asked is not us asking God but him asking us when the Son of Man comes will he find faith on earth will he find faith in us? And that's the question here that really matters. I don't know if you've had the experience like me have been talking with people and they've said something like this don't tell me about God because when I was in trouble when I had problems I prayed to God and he didn't answer me. So I've given up on God now don't you tell me about God I want nothing to do with him now when in this passage Jesus is asking of us is our attitude like that. When he comes will he find that we've given up on him because we weren't willing to wait for his arrival? When he comes will he find faith in us? I don't know you you may have been Christians for many years you may be regular church goers you may belong to house groups and whatever you may show all the signs of being faithful believers and yet inwardly it is still possible to give up on God. And when Jesus comes again he's saying here that he won't be looking for the external signs of being believers but we'll be looking at the inner person and he'll be asking is there currently true faith? Note that the question verse 8 is not did this person once have faith but does this person now show faith? Well perhaps you'll say to me thinking about this but this is actually quite hard because sometimes I have lots of faith but at other times I'm not so sure. So what sort of faith is it that Jesus is expecting of me? Well if you want to know what sort of faith Jesus is expecting from us then the answer is given in the passage at the start of it. Take a look at verse 1 explains the purpose of the parable in verse 1 Jesus told his disciples the parable to show that they should always pray and not give up. What Jesus expects of us is that we will always pray and not give up. He expects us in this passage to be like the widow. See the widow knew that her only hope for justice was in the judge even though he didn't care about her her only hope was in the judge. Unfortunately we don't call on an uncarving judge but we call out to our loving Heavenly Father. That as the judge was the only hope for the widow so we are to acknowledge that God the Father is our only hope in this world. And as the widow persisted in bringing her case to this world to bring her case to the judge so we are to persist in bringing all our concerns to God. It's no good simply to say well I have faith in God but when problems come along when I have worries when I have concerns I don't bother him with them I just sort them out myself. Because faith is expressed in dependence on God and dependence is shown when we always pray and never give up. So don't be disheartened this week if it seems that God isn't responding to your prayers but from this passage we can be assured that God does hear and is quickly bringing an answer though it will be in his time and not in hours. Jesus promises that God does hear and that he is bringing an answer. In the meantime though as we wait for Jesus to come again let us be faithful and persistent in prayer each day bringing our concerns to him. We know that he hears us and by calling to him we can acknowledge our dependence upon him. This week then whatever concerns we have let's not fall away but let's always pray and never give up.