Think about this and put yourself in the mind of the disciples and others living at this time. You’ve spent time with Jesus and He says that there’s coming a time for Him to leave. Looking back, we know He died, was buried, resurrected, and ascended to be with the Father and sits at the right hand of God in Heaven. He was no longer walking with the disciples. Jesus is saying, "This is going to happen in the future but I’m going to come back. In between, you will have the Holy Spirit," which we talked about last week. So that’s what this first statement is about.

Do you understand why they should pray and not give up? If they relied on Jesus’ being there and He left, what would be an easy thing for them to do? After a while, they’d get despondent and disappointed. He was taking care of everything, calming the storms, healing people, etc. This "pray and not give up" extends from Jesus’ resurrection to us today. We should pray and not give up. That’s the point. We should always pray and never give up. We want Jesus, the Holy Spirit, God, to intervene in our lives. That’s what He’s talking to them about.

Think about that. The judge didn’t care about God. He didn’t care about men. He was a kind of "island unto himself."

In other words, even though he does not fear God, he says, "I’m not getting any external pressure. Nothing is going to pressure me to do this,"

This is a parable of contrast as opposed to a parable of comparison. It’s pretty easy to identify. In this parable, who is the "unjust judge"? We want to answer "God," but it’s a parable of contrast. It’s a contrast between an unjust judge and a just judge who is God. He is saying, "If this unjust judge (who cares less about man and God) is willing to listen and grant justice to this widow, how much more will a just God listen to you pray?" Do you see that? That’s the parable. That’s what He’s saying. Jesus is encouraging people not to give up. He says, "Don’t give up!" Prayer should be a part of your life from the time you understand prayer and talking to God till the time you die. It’s part of your life. It should be there. You never give up on praying. You should always be praying.

You can understand why He says that. What are we apt to do today as Christians with prayer? Not pray. It’s very easy to go through a day and not communicate with God. "Communicating with God" is prayer. It’s very easy. The world distracts us. He’s saying, "If I come back, will I find faith on earth?" Prayer is based on faith. You have faith that God will listen. There are several places in the Bible where it says that God will hear every prayer. In Psalms 4, it says that He will grant everything you ask for in accordance with His will.

Now let’s get to the story we want to look at this morning—the Pharisee and the Publican.

These are people who say, "Here are my laws and rules and I obey them all. Others don’t but I do. I have my own self-righteousness."

Sounds like a Southern Baptist, doesn’t he? Ha ha.

I explained the first parable. What does this second one mean? What’s He trying to get across to His disciples? <We’re all sinners.> What about prayer? <Humility. "It’s not about me."> What did the Publican do? It’s actually a parable of contrast between the Pharisee and the Publican, isn’t it? How would you describe this Pharisee? Can you imagine the words he’s using? "Oh God, Father in Heaven, I beseech you therefore, and I want you to know that I am not like these other men—evil-doers, tax collectors, etc." Can you hear him? He’s trying to justify himself before God in his prayer. We’ll talk about the Publican in just a moment.

What was the result of the two prayers?

Did God hear the prayer of the Pharisee? He heard it, but it wasn’t a righteous, pure prayer. So what was the result of the Pharisee’s prayer? <Well, everybody got to hear a nice prayer. Everybody around him thought, "Boy, he has his stuff together."> But Jesus said that he was not justified before God.

What did the Publican (tax collector) pray about? He asked for mercy. What’s behind that mercy? He knew he was a sinner. He knew he needed God. He didn’t even want to look to Heaven. He was sincere, pure, and honest. God heard his prayer and Jesus said, "This man went home justified before God."

So Jesus is telling them not to give up praying. And when you pray, do what? What’s the heart of it? What should be the focus? It should be sincere and pure and should focus on the most important thing—your relationship to Him. The tax collector wanted that relationship but what did he think his relationship was with God? He thought, "Hey, I’m a sinner. God have mercy on me!" Do you understand? He knew that God was going to have that mercy but do you see the understanding he had? Do you see the depth at which the tax collector prayed to God? Do you see his attitude? Do you see the difference between the heart of the Pharisee and the heart of the tax collector?

Let’s talk about the different kinds of prayers that we have. I don’t want to ask the blanket question, "What kinds of prayers do Christians pray today?" because I’m afraid of the answers I might get. We have some prayers that are "rote." Do you know what rote prayers are? "God is great. God is good. Let us thank Him for our food. By His hands we are fed. Thank you, Lord, for daily bread." Is there anything wrong with rote prayers for children? No. Absolutely not. You’re teaching them about God. There comes a time when you have to dwell on what you’re saying with the rote prayer. What’s the heart? What’s behind it? The tax collector had something behind his prayer, "I need God." The Pharisee said, "Hey, I have to justify myself to myself, so I’ll say this prayer."

We don’t have time to cover it but here’s an acronym to remind us of the kinds of things and attitudes we should think about during prayer:

This is one way of remembering how to pray. A lot of us grew up with the rote prayers and no one ever taught us really how to pray. Could each of you stand up and say a prayer for the rest of us? What goes through your brain when I ask that? Ahhhh!!!

He knows what your heart is like. To those who don’t know how to pray or what to say in prayer, look what He says in Romans 8. When I discovered this verse, it really took the pressure off of my praying. Many years ago, I’d write out a prayer before Sunday School and read it at the end of class with my head bowed. I wanted to make sure I said the right things and remembered everything. That’s o.k. if you’re trying to remember to pray for certain people. I don’t have a problem with that but when you’re trying to remember fancy words for other people to hear, that’s wrong. That’s what the Pharisee was doing.

Weakness: I don’t know how to pray, God. "How can I pray?"

How about that!? We don’t even know what we ought to pray for.

Do you know what that says to me? The way I understand that verse is that whenever I pray or whenever you pray, we sometimes don’t know how to pray or what to pray for. For example, we’ve learned a spiritual truth: someone going through difficulty is experiencing character-building and should give thanks to God. So we say, "Whoa! What should I pray for? Relief from this difficulty?" or "God, keep pouring it on till they build character!" How do you pray? God searches and knows your heart. The Holy Spirit intercedes for you. In other words, when you pray on this earth, the Holy Spirit is interceding for you before God, the Father, with groans, utterings, and spiritual words that worldly words cannot express. He knows your heart.

I hope that takes the pressure off you for your praying. You don’t have to worry about what words you use. You don’t have to worry about what you pray for. Like this tax collector, we should be praying for God’s will, mercy, grace, His work to be done. The Pharisee was praying for all of his self. That’s why I didn’t want to ask, "What kinds of things do we pray for today?" because, unfortunately, the first thing that usually pops into our minds is, "What can help me?"—"God, help me do this. God, help me do that. God, intervene for this. God, take care of that. God, would you remove that?"

When you look at Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication, where is the "me" and the "I" in it? It might be a sub-heading under Supplication. But what we should be concentrating on is thanking God for who He is (Adoration), confessing our own sin before God like the tax collector (Confession), thanking Him for what He’s given us and what we’ve been through (Thanksgiving), and finally, prayer for others (Supplication). "God, would you remember this person who’s going through this financial difficulty and that person who’s not saved and needs a touch from you, God. Someone needs to intervene and tell them about the Lord, Jesus Christ." That’s Supplication. Do you see what our prayers should be about versus what, maybe, they are about?

Pray with Romans 8 in mind. Remember that you don’t have to worry about your words or what you’re praying for. The Holy Spirit will look inside your heart and see where you are. Now if He looks in there and He sees a Pharisee heart, according to that parable, what’s going to happen? Nothing. You’re not justified. There’s no power. There’s no action. But if He looks in your heart and sees humility, sincerity, and selflessness, here’s exactly what’s going to happen: He sees it, intercedes for you, and God’s power is released when you pray. That’s what happens with prayer. You are asking God to intervene. You are asking God to lead, guide, and direct. You are asking for the Creator of the Universe who created everything and sustains everything to intervene. Do you see how awesome that is? What you’re doing with a pure motive is saying, "God, I want your will to be done in that person’s life—whatever it takes, God."

Remember the story about the young, Christian student at Columbine High School. She prayed, "Whatever it takes, God, make it such that I impact other peoples’ lives for you." That releases power. That’s what prayer does. When you want to see God work, pray. Ask God and the Holy Spirit will interpret, translate, and tell God exactly where you’re going with your request.

There are tons of verses on prayer. I want to give you some examples of prayer. Parents, you should be praying for your children. If you don’t do that now, I don’t know what to tell you other than you should stand guilty before God and be ashamed of yourselves. Think about what you’re doing when you pray for your children. Do you understand that as parents, every day you should be praying for your children? God-power is released in their lives to protect them from the world. That’s what you’re doing. You should be praying for your children every day. You should have a deep desire to get up in the morning and pray, "God, before I take a breath, let me pray for my children. God, take care of them. Be with them. Help them with this and that."

This reminds me of the first prayer I ever prayed that I remember. I was about ten years old. I remember this prayer. It is so vivid. It’s unbelievable. This was before I became a Christian. I didn’t become a Christian until I was twelve. But I remember talking to God. I had just hit my brother in the head with a rock. He was bleeding profusely. I ran into the carport of the house next door. I heard my father yelling for me to come to him to get beaten within an inch of my life. I still remember this. I looked up to Heaven and I said, "God, this is the time I’m leaving home." I remember that prayer. I didn’t leave home. I took my lickings.

My prayer life started from that. It developed from there just like we’re talking about. The more you pray, learn about how to pray, and learn that the Holy Spirit is taking care of it, the more your communication with God is developed.

I remember several other prayers but one I remember in particular was when my son was about to be born. My wife was in the hospital. The doctors came out and asked, "Which one do you want to live? Your wife has problems. Your son is turned around in the womb and there are complications. We’re going to have to perform a C-section." Everything up to that point was completely normal. She had been in labor for 18 hours and had been sedated. So the doctors asked me to make a decision. I prayed, "God, what do I do?" He said, "Do a C-section. Take care of your wife and I’ll take care of your son." And He did. But that’s releasing power. That’s what happens with prayer. You get to that point where you say, "God, intervene." We must be praying. Don’t give up on prayer. Pray without ceasing. Keep praying, praying, praying for everything.

Do you have any prayers like that in your life where God intervened?

Prayer releases power.

If you’re ever talking to someone on the phone, in the hallway, or at work, there’s nothing wrong with saying, "Let’s pray about that right now." And pray. You’re asking God, the Creator of the Universe, to intervene. No matter where you are or what you’re doing, pray right then.

My wife prayed for me. You all would not see me here today if it wasn’t for my wife’s persistent prayer. She didn’t give up through our first 7-8 years of marriage. I finally started talking to God. I was having all kinds of physical health problems. I was shutting out my whole family; they were totally alien to me. Things were not going well at work. I was a mess. I finally said, "OK, God, whatever you want. I have to get back to you." He took me down to the lowest level one can get. That’s why I’m standing here today. He picked me up right then. He raised me up. That’s what God will do—He will change your life but you have to ask. God will not force Himself on you. Ask through prayer. That’s how you get God’s attention. That’s how God’s power comes into your life. He will not force Himself on you. You have to ask through prayer. During the next few days, ask God to show you something through the Purpose Driven Life that you’ve never seen before about your own life. You have a purpose here that has nothing to do with the world, material possessions, or wealth but everything to do with a spiritual journey.

That’s what we do during this two year study of the Old and New Testaments: we take a spiritual journey together and see what God has in His Word. It’s not just about stories and characters. It’s about what He has for you. Ask God to intervene for you.