All right, brethren, let's turn to Luke chapter 3. Luke chapter 3. Both of our messages this morning are going to be out of these two verses. But the first message we're going to do some turning. We're going to look at some scripture. Let's begin here in Luke chapter 3, verse 21.

Now when all the people were baptized, And when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized and praying, the heaven was open. And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him. And a voice came from heaven which said, thou art my beloved son, in thee I am well pleased.

Now, a way of introduction, I want to just point out a couple of things here in these verses. First of all, this is another example of how that the word all does not mean everybody without exception. Here's an example. Not all people without exception were baptized. There were a lot of people that were baptized, but not all without exception. When you come to a verse that uses the word all or uses the word world, always look to see who it's written to and see what the context is. And it means all God's elect. When you find the word world, it means all God's elect scattered throughout the world as opposed to only his elect among the Jews.

The second thing I want to point out is we see clearly here there are three persons in the Godhead. Here you have the Son of God, the God-man being baptized. You have the Spirit of God descending upon him, and you have the Father speak from heaven. There are people that deny there are three persons in the Godhead. 1 John 5-7 is omitted in a lot of Bible translations. It says, there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. But there are many other passages, just like our text, that shows God the Father, the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit all in one setting. There's several like that.

The third thing I want to point out is the importance of baptism. Our Lord walked three days. It was a three-day walk to get from Nazareth to Galilee. Now that tells you something of the importance of baptism. Baptism is only for those God's given faith in Christ. Baptism does not regenerate, and it does not put away sin, and it does not save. The thief on the cross was not baptized for obvious reasons, the one the Lord gave faith. He wasn't baptized for obvious reasons, and the Lord said, today you'll be with me in paradise. So baptism doesn't save, but baptism is commanded by the Lord to everyone that he's given faith. If the Lord's given you faith that you're the sinner, and Christ alone is all your salvation, he commands us to be If the Spirit of God has regenerated you, given you faith, and you trust Christ as your only righteousness, he commands you to be baptized. It's confessing him. It's confessing we're saved by him and committed to him by his grace. And he said, whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my words, He said, of him shall the son of man be ashamed when he shall come in his own glory and in his father's and of the holy angels.

So these two verses, our Lord's entering his public ministry. That's why he was baptized. We'll look more at that in the next hour. But what I want to focus on now is we learn from our Lord praying why we should pray without ceasing. He was praying when this happened. And I want to show you some cases where he was praying before, during, and after an event or a trial.

I want to show you first of all, just look at the fact. Secondly, some examples of his prayer. And then thirdly, some examples of his prayer for us. Now first of all, note here that he was praying. It says, when all the people were baptized, It came to pass that Jesus also being baptized and praying, the heaven was open.

Now while he walked this earth, the Lord Jesus was often praying, and he would go off away by himself to pray. Several times we find him praying publicly, but there's no indication that he did anything outwardly bodily so that people around him knew he was praying. And I say that because he taught us don't pray in public to be seen of men. That's what the Pharisees, he said, they loved to stand in the street corners and pray so people look at them. You can pray before you eat in a restaurant and nobody ever know you did it. And it's better to pray from the heart without the bodily exercise do take some form and pray and the heart not be in it. If it's for, to impress men, Lord said don't do that.

But secondly, let's see that when the Lord was preparing for a work, something he was about to do, or during it, or then after it, he prayed. And I want you to see this, we find him and we find the father answered him when he prayed. We see it here, now let's go to Luke 6. Luke 6 and look at verse 12. This was before he called his apostles. Luke 6, 12, it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray. And he continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called unto his disciples, and of them he chose 12, whom also he named apostles.

Now these men had been with him from the beginning. He had called them long before this. They'd been with him a while. And our Lord knew their heart. He knew their heart. But before he called his apostles, He went off alone and prayed to the Father, and then the next day he called him. Now, he's holy, he's righteous, he's all-knowing as the God-man. And if he prayed before such an important choice, don't you think we should? If he did that, we certainly should, without a doubt. I tell men in the preacher's class, before you go to commentaries, Go to the one who wrote the book and ask him for the message that he'd have you preach for his people. Then go to him and ask him to give you the ability to preach. Then ask him to bless it to the hearts of his people. Then afterwards, thank him for doing it. Whatever we're doing, anything you're doing, whatever it is, especially if it's some important thing, We should go to the Lord, go to the Father through Christ Jesus and ask, and ask.

Another example, look at Luke 9. Luke 9. This was before he was transfigured on the mount. Luke 9 and verse 28. It came to pass about eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered and his raiment was white and glistering." And our text says he was praying when the Holy Ghost came upon him at his baptism. And here he's praying and he's given light and he's transfigured so that his raiment's white and glistering I expect the Savior was praying those three days when he was walking from Nazareth to Galilee. I figure he was praying the whole time there. And then he was praying when he was there. Then in the mount here, he's praying when he was transfigured.

Now brethren, God has ordained what he shall do. Nobody's gonna change that. He's ordained what he's gonna do. He ordained it from before the world was created. Everything that's coming to pass in this world is God bringing to pass what he willed before this world was made. And he already knows what he's going to do in the salvation of his people. He's going to bring his people under the gospel. He's going to give them hearts to hear, give them life and hearts and faith.

But he did say in Ezekiel 36, he said, I will be inquired of you to do this for you. He's gonna do what he's gonna do. Prayer's not changing God. Prayer's bringing us to his feet to submit to his will, to ask him, to ask him. And he answers, he answers.

The Lord, the Father, was in complete agreement, and he was in complete agreement with the Father when he chose the 12. And you can be sure that He's gonna answer His people. When you pray, if it's His will, He's gonna answer. And He even answers us when He doesn't give us what we ask for, because He's not gonna give us what we will, He's gonna give us what He will. So if He doesn't give you something or doesn't do what you ask, He's answering you, He's just answering it in a negative way. He's not gonna do something that's not for the good of His people or for your good personally.

So, We see here that his raiment was glistering in white. If you want light, there's only one place it's coming from, and that's from the Lord. Go to him and ask for more light. If you need more light on a passage or you need light on a decision or whatever, go to him.

All right, go with me to Matthew 14. Matthew 14. This is an example, after he fed the multitude, And before the Lord walked on the sea and calmed the storm for his apostles, here's what he did. This was after he fed the multitude and before he went to them on the sea and calmed the storm. Look at Matthew 14 and verse 23. It says, and when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray. And when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.

Now, I'm not gonna say that if you pray, the Lord's gonna give you the ability to walk on the sea or to calm a storm, but I will say this. Christ being our wisdom and the power of God, Paul said he's able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us by Christ Jesus to the praise and glory of God. But without him we can do nothing.

So he's in control of the storm. He's in control of the trial. And the purpose of the trial, I don't care what the trial is, the purpose of the trial is always to bring us to Christ. It's always to bring us to his feet, to subdue us, to humble us, to stop us from looking to our will and our way and to bring us to his feet. That's the trial that first started was when he began to reveal you were the sinner. and made you see your need of Christ. And how did that trial end? He brought you to Him. That's whatever trial is for. And He's gonna teach us more and more of Him.

So go to Him, go to Him. Before the trial, in the trial, go to Him. Get along like He did and pour out your heart to Him.

All right, let's go to John 11. John 11, verse 39. This was when he was at Lazarus' tomb. Lazarus had been dead, was it three, four days now? And he waited, he loved him, so he waited. He didn't go right away, because he's gonna wait till he was dead and show that he really raised him. Now look here, John 11, 39, Jesus, said, take ye away the stone. And Martha, the sister of him that was dead, said unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead four days. Jesus said unto her, said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?

Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me, and I knew that thou hearest me always. But because of the people which stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin. And Jesus said to them, loose him and let him go.

If any sinner is regenerated from the dead, given life, it's gonna be by the Lord Jesus Christ speaking. It's gonna be by his word speaking and giving you life and faith to believe him. It's gonna be by him praying for his child before the father, interceding, and the father sending the spirit, and him giving you life, and it's gonna be through him speaking the word of the gospel. He said the words, I speak their spirit and their life. The flesh profits nothing. It's the words he speaks.

This is what Romans 10 means when it says, it says that we have to be born of the word and we have to, the faith comes by the word of God. It's by the word of the incarnate word, Christ Jesus speaking the gospel. So if we wanna see brethren called out, we wanna see them given faith. you wanna see your faith increased, go to Him and ask Him. This is how He's gonna do it. He's gonna do it by Him interceding with the Father and the Father sending the Holy Spirit.

So we should go to Him and ask Him to call out our children, to call out our friends and loved ones that don't know Him. That's the reason the Holy Spirit quickened us to life and faith is because He said, I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever. So that's how we were born the first time, born again, I mean. And so we should go to him and ask him, ask him. He's glorified when we ask him. He's glorified when we pray. And it may be that he's brought you into a situation to give you faith or give you more faith like he did Mary and Martha. And it's gonna be by him praying that your faith is increased.

And it's no different, us asking him to increase our faith is no different than the apostles asking him when he was standing there on the earth. He's in heaven now, but when we ask him, it's just like when he was standing there with them and they said, Lord, increase our faith. We have that kind of access to them.

Now, go with me to Luke 22. And I want to show you an instance where he prayed for his people right here in a trial, Luke 22. There's only one reason, one reason alone, that Peter's faith did not fail when the devil tempted him, and it's because the Lord prayed for him. Right here, Luke 22, 31. The Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. I like how he said that. There's no possibility that Peter wasn't gonna be saved from this trial, could be converted from his pride. He was in pride. He's a believer already. He'd been converted in that sense. But he's in pride and he's saying, I won't deny you. And he's exalting himself over his brethren. They will, I won't. He's denying the scripture because the Lord said, it's written, Peter, that I'll smite the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. He's denying the very word of God. But Peter said, no, I won't.

That's what our unbelief and our pride, that's all the things we're doing when we're in our pride and unbelief. We're denying the scripture, we're denying Christ's witness to us, we're exalting ourselves, we're exalting ourselves over our brethren, all the things that were involved there. And there's only one reason Peter's faith didn't fail. Christ said, I've prayed for you. That's the only reason our faith doesn't fail in the trial, is our Lord interceding for us and keeping us.

Whenever we see a brother or sister entering a trial, or you hear that some brother or sister has fallen and they're in a serious trial, rather than talking about them, go to the Lord and pray for them. I'm so thankful for brethren that prayed for me during my recent trial. I'm thankful for that. I'm so very thankful for that. Go to the Lord and pray for them. And pray for one another often. I mean, if somebody comes to your mind, your brother or sister comes to your mind, pray for them right then. And if you're driving down the highway, just pray for them. As soon as they come to your mind,

All right, now let's go to John 17. This is a passage that we all know very well. This is the true Lord's prayer right here. This is his high priestly prayer. He spent a lot of the time here praying for his people, praying for his people. He said in John 17 9, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine. That's security right there, brethren. God's elect are His, the Father's, and they're Christ's. All mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I'm glorified in them. That's security, because His glory would be tarnished if something happened to one of His people. If they were allowed to be separated from Him,

And he says, and now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I am come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are. In verse 15, he asks, Father, keep them from the evil. And he even prayed for us right here. He prayed for us right here. Verse 20, neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that they, these are his elect he calls out of the world, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.

You and me believe because he prayed for us. That's why we believe. He interceded with the Father on our behalf. That's what he does for all his people. We are sanctified by the Lord Jesus and we're kept sanctified. by Him interceding for us and God keeping us separated in Him.

Now, here's what I want you to see from all of this. Go with me to Hebrews 4. Christ laid down His life for His people. He came into this world and lived, pleased God, fulfilled everything that was written, And He went to that cross, and He laid down His life, and He made His people the righteousness of God in Him. And He sent us the gospel, and we believe because He interceded for us with the Father, sent the Spirit, gave us life and faith. And now because of His blood, and because of His righteousness, because He's our high priest, He has opened the way for us. We're commanded to come to Him to find grace and help in time of need. Mercy, grace, all the help we need. But we're commanded to come to Him.

Look here, Hebrews 4 and verse 16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. It's been a little while since I looked up that word boldly. So I looked it up and it's translated in different ways in the scripture. That's where I like to look because that shows you more accurately what a word means. You just take the number that's in the lexicon and you can enter it and you can look and look for it by number. and it'll show you all the different places that word's translated, because it's not always translated boldly.

Here's how it's translated, and this is what it means. Freely, openly, plainly, with all confidence, with boldness of speech. Now brethren, here's the lexicon's definition. Freedom in speaking, unreservedly, openly, frankly, without concealment, without ambiguity, free and fearless confidence, cheerful courage, and assurance. That's all that fit into that word, boldly, and that's how he says, come to me, freely, openly, without fear, come to him, cheerfully, come to him.

And now look at Hebrews 10. All of this is because of what Christ has accomplished for His people and because He's risen and He is our new way to the Father. Hebrews 10 verse 19. After He tells us in Hebrews 10 that He sanctified us by fulfilling the will of God and He perfected us, made us righteous by His blood, And the spirits revealed this to us, giving us a heart to believe. Now he tells us in Hebrews 10 verse 19, he says, having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest. If you can enter the holiest, that means he's made you holy. There is no other way you could enter unless he was your holiness before God.

We can enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and a living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil. It's a new and living way. That veil was not new and it was not living, but he split that veil from top to bottom because that, we don't come through the law now, we come to God through Christ, the new and the living way, Christ Jesus. He did it, that is to say, his flesh, his broken body. And having a high priest over the house of God, we have a high priest over the house of God. This is why I'm always telling you, you don't have to come to me, you don't have to come to any other preacher, you don't have to go to him. There's no priest to go to. He's our high priest over the house of God. We go to God through him.

And he says, having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. That's what it took for Christ to lay down his life and make us righteous and holy and then give us this holy, perfect access through him, through faith in him. That's what it took to give it to us, to give us this access. That's the reason we ought to be praying all the time. Well, that's why we should pray without ceasing, because we can. You couldn't come to the holiest, you couldn't come to a holy God unless he'd done this work for you, and because he has. We see him, you see, and here's something else, that's what I just showed you, looking to Christ and seeing him pray and the occasions he prayed, and then what he's accomplished for us and why we have access to go to the Father.

You're not gonna learn that going back to the law. You're not gonna learn that trying to come to God by the letter of the law. You learn it looking to Christ. Everything that he's doing is in Christ, through Christ, and by Christ. That's how we come to the Father.

So pray without ceasing. Pray for one another in every occasion. Ask him. Ask him.

All right, let's go to him now. Our Heavenly Father, come to you through our great high priest, through his blood, his righteousness, through his holiness. Lord, we come thanking you for giving us this access. We come thanking you for teaching us to come to you, draw near to you, giving us this welcome, entrance into your presence.

Father, teach us to pray. Our Savior, we ask you, teach us to pray. Teach us to draw near and pour out our burden to you and leave it with you. And Lord, we do, we ask you to bless your word wherever it's preached, Lord. We ask you to give your preacher the ability to preach, and your people the ability to hear.

Lord, save your people. We ask you, Father, to save those that are in trials and draw them to cry out to you. And Lord, we pray for our children and our family and our neighbors that do not believe. We ask, Lord, if they're yours, We, Lord, exalt Yourself and glorify Yourself in calling them, giving them faith to believe.

Lord, we have what we have and are what we are only by Your grace, by Your power, by Your gift to us in Your Son, and we thank You. We ask You, Lord, to bless us now by this word. Keep us ever dependent, ever calling on you to save. And forgive us, Lord, for not calling on you, for not praying when we ought, not calling on you when we have decisions to make and face trials.

Lord, that's sin, and we're guilty of that, and we pray you forgive us for Christ's sake. And teach us and be patient with us in long supper and keep us drawing near for everything we need, for mercy, for grace, to help. Thank you, Lord, for all these things. In Christ's name we ask you, amen.