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will vindicate His own and He. requires th a t men shall do the same. (Micah 6 : 8 .) “ H e hath shew ed t h e e » O m a n » w g oo d ; a n d w ha t d o th th e L o r d re q thee, hu t to d o j us tl y , a n d t o lo v e a n d t o w a lk h u m b ly w it h t h y G o d
me.” (John 14:6.) The Lord opens His parable by saying th a t men ought always to p ray and no t to faint. The tru e attitu d e of a belieyer is the continuation of th e child life in rela tio n to the F ather. Lips do not have to move in offering our prayer in private. Our lives should be breath ing prayer. We are always as dependent upon our heavenly F ath e r as the child is upon th e earth ly father, and He wants to keep us in th a t position. He loves to have us come and ta lk w ith Him. He loves to h ear us ask in H is Son’s name. H ear Jesus say, “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name th a t will I do, th a t th e F a th e r may be glorified in th e Son*” (John 14:13.) Every though t we have of Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord is pleas ing to the F ather. Every meditation we have upon Him and His sacrificial work in our behalf is gratifying to th e F ath er. “We are made nigh by th e blood of Christ.” (Eph. 2 :13.) P ray er is a gracious privilege granted to believ ers as His children, and prayer is th e power invested in us as His rep resen ta tives. To fain t is to lose faith in Him. Let us never do th a t. How can we? The illu stration Jesus uses is also simple. A widow had been wronged, as so many thousands of widows have been wronged and are being wronged today by designing persons. She w anted ju s tice and was entitled to it. The busi ness of a judge is to judge righteously, not to play politics as th is judge was do ing. God keeps hooks and when they are opened th ere will he some strange accountings demanded from men. (Rev. 6:9-11.) This judge had no fear of God and no regard for men’s opinions, bu t he finally yielded to her plea because she annoyed him. It was a peevish, selfish, relu c ta n t favor he granted. It is not to be supposed th a t God must be annoyed. F ar from it. God
We can tru st our F ath e r always to do the rig h t and righteous thing. Listen to the appeal of our Lord: “N everthe less, when the Son of man cometh shall He find faith on the e a rth ? ” W hat faith ? Is it not faith in His precious promise, “ I will come again and receive you unto myself” ? (John 14:3.) Will He find you and me faith fu l to the faith of th e apostles and the early church? (Matt. 24:22; 2 Thess. 1:5-12.) (2 ) THE PARABLE OF THE PRO PER POSITION IN PRAYER, vs. 9-14. “God be merciful to me, th e sinner.” Here is a lesson in relationship. The New Testament m irrors the Old. P rin ciples established in the Old are eluci dated in the New. The P harisee and publican are antitypes of Cain and Abel. God never changes. His holiness, H is righteousness, are always the same. Access to God is always th e same and always upon the same basis. It is very essential to see this. These two men illu strate a g reat tru th . H ere th e Lord lifts us up and allows us to look through His eyes a t th e h earts of men. Here are two Jews, standing in th e temple, th e place of worship. Note th e points of sim ilarity between them : Both are praying men; both free from idola try ; both go to the same church; both enjoy the same privileges; both reflect th e ir h eart life in th eir prayers. (a) The P h arisee’s P rayer. The Pharisees, as a sect, accounted themselves as the elect of th e Lord. They loved th e chief places, prided themselves upon th e ir superiority to o ther men. They were exceedingly re ligious. Let us look a t an analysis of the Ph arisee’s prayer:
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