Let thy goodness find a better,
find a wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel
it, prone to lead the way. That's one of my favorites, if
not my favorite. I hope someone will remember
that, and we sung that, if we make it to the top of that mountain. I am fixed upon the mount of
thy redeeming love." Hope somebody will remember that. And that
rock, Ebenezer? Samuel's story is that the Lord
spared and helped Israel, and he set up a rock. He called it
Ebenezer, the rock of God our help. hither by thy help I have
come." We make it up to the top of that mountain, see those rocks
piled there, and think of Ebenezer. Hither by thy help, we've come
all this way, we've made it. How? Ebenezer. All right, go with me to Luke
11. Luke 11, and read verse 9 and 10 with me again. Luke 11, verses
9 and 10. The Lord says, I say unto you,
ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock,
and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone, look at it with
me now, every eye that has a Bible, look at it with me. Verse 10,
the Lord says, Everyone that asketh, receive it. And he that
seeketh, find it. And he that knocketh, it shall
be opened. Now prayer, this is our subject,
this is our Lord's subject, prayer. Prayer is absolutely the most
important thing you and I can do. Prayer, but prayer is not a thing. Religion has its little cliches
like this, prayer works. That makes prayer to be like
a rabbit's foot or a tool, something you do. Prayer is simply calling on God
who must work. Prayer is simply calling on God
who alone must work, must move, must act, without whom we can
do nothing. Prayer is simply calling on God
to do something. Asking God for something. Seeking
God. knocking, or that is, wanting
entrance. And I'm going to keep saying
this, and I want you to notice it. Prayer is calling on God
in Christ, in Christ. You cannot call on the God of
the Bible except through Christ, in Christ. God will only be heard
through Christ as one mediator. between God and man, the man
Christ Jesus. Only through Christ will God
hear us. So I say that, in Christ, because
God has made him the judge of all flesh. All things are in
the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I am the way, the truth,
the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. God doesn't hear anybody but
through me. Christ is God. He is God. But prayer, as I said,
is the most important thing that we, by God's grace, can do. I'm talking about everyone. The
Lord said everyone. Everybody in this room, old and
young, male, female. Everyone. This is for the unbeliever,
for the believer. It's an absolute vital necessity. that every person in this room,
you yourself, personally, importunately, call on God Almighty. Turn with me to James chapter
4. These are not my words, these
are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, okay? The Lord said, Ask, and it shall
be given unto you. Everyone that asketh. Everyone
that asketh. Everyone that asketh. Didn't he say that? Everyone
that asketh receiveth. That's how merciful and gracious
and true our Lord is to his Word. Everyone at Ascots. To the unbeliever, I don't know really who you are. You know, one preacher said to
me one time, he said, there are either more people saved than we think
or a lot less. According to our Lord that we're
going to see in Luke 18, I believe it's a lot less. But to the unbeliever,
if you do not ask God to save you, he's not going to. He's
not going to. If you do not seek the Lord with
all your heart, you're not going to find peace, joy, you're not
going to find it. That's how important it is. You
say, Preacher, you're all the time saying that God sovereignly
works and men are not seeking him and calling on him, but he
calls on them. That's true. That's absolutely
true. None will call unless God Almighty
calls them. The only way you know is when
that person starts calling on God. God Almighty chose Paul, didn't
he? Saul of Tarsus. He told Ananias, he said, you
go to Saul of Tarsus. He's a chosen vessel of me. I've
chosen him for the foundation of the world. And now I've called
him by my grace. And how do you know? Ananias
was afraid, but the Lord said, this is how you know. He's praying. He's calling on me. This honors God's word. It honors
God's promise, and it makes us accountable. It makes us responsible. Nobody can blame God. Anybody
that doesn't call on God cannot blame God for their damnation. This importunate prayer is not
a fancy word that I made up. You notice our Lord said, importunity. This fellow, not because he's
his friend. He's not going to open because
he's his friend, merely. is importunate, meaning he won't
quit. He won't quit. He's going to open because he
won't quit. He won't quit asking. He won't quit knocking. He's
going to open the door. Not just because he's praying, but because
he keeps knocking. He's going to open. So what we're
talking about this morning is not just the act of prayer, some little
formal thing you go through, we're talking about a constant
attitude, a constant state of the heart. Everybody calls on God when they
get in trouble. That's not asking, knocking yourself over. And I say to the believer, so
I said to the unbeliever, if you do not ask God to save you,
he will not. If you do not seek the Lord with
all your heart, you're not going to find him. If you do not knock,
keep knocking. We've come here, that's what
we're doing. It's not going to be open to
you. To the believer, those who profess to be believers, if you
do not ask God to help you, he's not going to do it. He's just
not going to do it. If you don't keep asking God. to bless you. He says, but he blesses me anyway.
Yes, he does, doesn't he? But a lot of the time, he's going
to leave you alone. He might leave us alone to the
point where we don't know if we're one of his or not. We're
just absolute misery for a long time, left in doubt with no assurance
whatsoever. Why? Look at James 4. Look at verses 1 and 2. James 4, verses 1 and
2, he says, From whence come wars and fighting among you? Come they not hence, even of
your lusts, that war in your members? Where do these battles,
these constant fighting, struggling within us come from? Everybody
has them, people of the world mostly. constant wars and struggles
that people have within and without. Why? Where do they come from?
What's it all about? Well, he tells us. Lusts, that
warn your members, that is desires. Lust means much more than sexual
desires, but it means desires after anything. It means fervent,
unfulfilled, absolute, consuming desire after anything, everything. everything. Selfish desires, in verse 2 he
says, you lust and have not, you kill and desire to have,
and cannot obtain, you fight and war, but you have not, why? Why? Because you ask not. In other words, and the thing
that most everyone is seeking, believer and unbeliever alike,
is happiness. People the world over want happiness. Happiness is what most desire. And the things we think we need,
everyone, believer and unbeliever alike, the things we think we
need. He says we generally are wrong about
it. He says we ask not, men and women
are not calling on God, from whom all blessings flow. All
true blessings. I mean real blessings. real happiness,
lasting happiness, joy, peace, these things that only come from
God Almighty. A man can receive nothing except
it be given him from above, and people don't have it because
they don't ask for it. They're not asking for it. Are you with me? Everyone's seeking
happiness and joy and peace, but they're not asking God for
it. They're seeking it themselves. But when they do ask, look at
verse 3, he says, you ask and receive not because you ask amiss,
that is, asking wrong, that you may consume it upon your lust.
Now I'm talking to me, I'm not, God wrote this, you, you. I'm
not saying it, he's saying it. It's to me, too. But it says we ask if we do ask,
but we ask wrong. And it's to get what we want.
Come on now, wake up. I said this is the most important
thing there is. Our Lord said, ask and you will receive. Seek
and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened
to you. Everyone that does. If you don't, forget it. Forget
it. Right now, as you listen to this,
you need to be asking the Lord, don't let me sleep the sleep
of death. Let me be asking right now. Let me seek you right now.
Let me knock right now. If this is what you want, if
this is what you're seeking, seeking happiness, peace, Joy,
real lasting? Does it only come from God? Ask
right now. All right, we need, we need,
what do we need? What is our chief need? Scripture is plain. Look at verse
5 and 6, here in James 4. He says, do you think the scripture
saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
Do you think the scripture saith in vain, all the way through
the book of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, that this stuff is vanity? That everything in it is vanity?
Vanity of vanity, all is vanity. Do you think the scripture says
that in vain? God is too wise and too good
to say something that is not absolutely vital and important.
It's life and death. Everything in this world, every
relationship, everything, except the relationship of God with
Christ and his people. It's vanity. It's not lasting.
It's not fulfilling. Vanity means there's nothing
to it. It's not going to give you anything. It's not going
to give you like a soap bubble. It's not going to improve you.
It's not going to help you. It's not going to give you peace, joy, happiness,
any of those things. It's vanity. It's a soap bubble.
Think the Scripture saith in vain. And do you think the Scripture
saith in vain that this spirit or this natural man within us
just wants, wants, wants, wants things that are vanity? You think
the Scripture says that in vain? Oh, got to have this, got to
have this, got to have that, I need that, I need that. No,
no, no. There's one thing needful. One thing needful. It's what
the Lord said about Mary. One thing is needful. Martha
was all taken up doing some good things. But the Lord said, you're
careful and troubled about many things. But Mary had chosen the
best parts. And it'll not be taken from her.
It'll not be taken from her. It's going to be rooted in her
heart and her soul and bring forth happiness and joy and peace. My joy which no man can take
from me. My peace which nothing and no
one can remove. My happiness, which goes much
further than the veneer, is just downrooted in your heart, rooted
in the matter. Where is it? At my feet, listening
to me. We need, here's what we need,
verse 6, he giveth more grace. Here's what we need from God
Almighty. The one thing needful is grace.
You need the grace right now to hear this message, which is
life and death. Everybody in here needs the grace.
I need the grace to say it, to tell it. I need the grace of
his word to be recalled in my mind. The grace of salvation. Salvation is a gift. Salvation
is by grace. God gives salvation to who? Everyone that asks it. You see how important it is?
God give it to everyone that asketh. Salvation is a gift. Salvation is a gift. And everyone
that asketh, everyone that asketh, everyone that asketh, Lord save
me for I perish. Everyone that asketh. Everyone
that asketh. You have not? And I don't mean one
time. The Lord says, keep asking, and
keep asking, and keep asking, and keep asking, and keep knocking,
and keep knocking. I'm not going away. Well, then
open the door. Then give him what he wants. He keeps seeking, he keeps looking.
Well, then let him find it. Let him find that peace. Let
him find that joy. Everyone that asks you. You have not because you ask
not. And if you're asking, it must
be a miss. Must be asking for the wrong thing. Lord, give me
that. If you seek first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness, he said, I'm going to add all
that to you. I'm going to add all that to
you. You don't have to worry about
that. Oh, you're going to ask for it to give me the glory, to give
me the honor, to see clearly that I'm the one that gave it
to you after you asked. I won't give it to you yet. But
now that comes after the fact. After the fact. After the one
thing, David. We need the grace of salvation. Salvation is about grace. God
gives it to who? Everyone that asks. I wish the Armenians could hear
me preaching this message. Whosoever will. And we give God all the glory.
We know they're willing in the day of His power. We keep saying
that. Why do we keep saying that? Why do we keep insisting that?
Why do we always say that? That they won't call us God called.
Because God must get all the glory and salvation. He will
not share it. We must not leave anything in
doubt. We must have every single human being that hears us understand
perfectly. The salvations of the Lord. That
he gets all the glory. That if anybody calls, it's because
he made them call. That gives him the glory. But
now, God holds men accountable for that which they don't do. He won't do it. He's clear. He said it. Now, David said that
in Psalm 51. You've got to be clear when you judge men. I did
what I wanted to do, I did not do what I didn't want to do.
I go where I want to go, I do the things I choose to do, and
you're going to be clear when you judge me. I can't blame you. We need the grace, oh grace,
he giveth more grace. What kind of grace do we need?
All grace, he's the God of all grace, and he gives it freely,
gives more of it. James said there in chapter 1,
he doesn't upbraid when you throw away everything he gave you.
He doesn't upbraid you for that. He doesn't say, what did you
do with the grace I gave you yesterday? He doesn't say that. We may do
that as ignorant fathers and mothers. Son, I gave you a hundred
dollars yesterday, back when I was young, I was ten. Now,
I gave you a hundred. What did you do with that hundred
I gave you? I spent it. I wasted it. Now, here's another
one. No, no, God doesn't upbraid.
He gives us more. He gives us more grace. What
kind of grace do we need? Number one, grace of salvation. Everyone is asking, forgive me.
Lord, save me. Please reveal yourself to me.
Please. I don't know you. Please reveal
yourself to me. Keep asking. Grace of worship. I've been in these services too
many times where I didn't worship, and I... You want to worship? You want to hear from God? You
want to hear from God? He gives us more grace. Lord,
give me ears to hear. Lord, let me come in this worship
service. Let me hear Your Word as if You're
speaking to me. Let the Word actually work on
my heart. I'm tired of hearing sermons.
I'm tired of singing these songs like they don't mean anything
to me. Oh, will you let me enter into the Spirit and the message,
the life of it? Let me just glory in your mercy. Let me truly be touched by the
sound of your grace, of your love. Would you let me one time? Yes, I will. You keep asking.
I want you to do it. The grace of worship. The grace
of wisdom. Any man like wisdom, what does
he say? The same asks. God give us liberty. Lord, I don't know what I'm doing
or where I'm going or what to do or who. I'm so ignorant after
all these years. Now, here I am, 60 years old
and there's 70 and I just feel like I'm so illogical. Would
you teach me? Would you lead me? Would you
guide me? Would you give me wisdom to know what to do? I'm making
the same mistakes. Would you please? Sure will. He that asketh, every one that
asketh. There you go, there's some wisdom. Strength. Lord,
I'm a coward. Lord, I'm so weak. Lord, I'm this. Lord, I'm that.
Would you get, would you, would you, would you, please? Every one of that. Ask and you
will receive. Well, what's the problem? Why, I am asking. Now
wait a minute. Either Christ is a liar, or we
are. The key is this word, importunity. This is the reason the scripture
keeps saying, without ceasing, without ceasing, pray without
ceasing, pray without ceasing. Men are always to pray. Look
at Luke 18. Luke 18. Our Lord gave this another,
shortly after this parable, he gave another parable of this
widow. You know this story. This is
an importunate widow. Look at it now. And one of these
verses here is the most striking verse to me, one of the most
revealing yet striking verses in all the Bible. I made that
comment and preached about that preacher that either more people
saved or less, and we have the answer right here. Our Lord gave
this parable, verse 1, unto them, to this end, that men ought always
to Keep praying. Keep calling on God. Not think.
Don't quit. Importunity means, I'm not going
away. I'm not going away. I know some of you are like me.
You've probably obtained jobs, got a job before because you
just kept bothering people. Kept going, kept going. As a
young boy, 17 or 18, went up on a job site,
and they were building several track houses. I asked where the
boss was, and they told me where he was. I went to him and told
him who I was. I told him I was looking for
a job. He said, What can you do? Now, here I was, 17. I said,
I'm a carpenter. I remember now, he kind of argued.
Yeah, I am. Can you name it? Well, OK. And he said, see me
tomorrow. And I kept coming back, kept
coming back. And he gave me a job. Gave me a job. Importunity, that's
what it means. This woman, this widow, kept
coming to this judge. And he said in verse 5, this
widow troubles me, I will avenge her, I will answer her, lest
by her continual coming she weary me. She keeps coming, I'm going
to give her what she desires. And he says in verse 7 and 8,
Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night
unto them, though he bear long, that is, though he seem to be
not listening? God does have other things to
do, you know. And stop and attend us. And I'm
speaking as a man. There are other people, you know. But he will answer every one
of them. Every one of them. I tell you
that he will avenge them speedily. It's going to be quicker than
you think. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, when Christ
comes back to this earth, he said, shall he find anybody like
that? That's what they say. When the
Lord comes back to this earth. People say one out of every two
adults is a Christian now. Not according to that. When he
comes back, will he find people Ask Him. Ask Him. Ask Him. We need the grace
of patience, endurance, longsuffering. We need every grace there is.
We need grace. By the grace of God, we'll stand. We'll walk. We'll do anything.
You know, that's the intro to this message. Go back to our text very quickly.
My, my, my, my, my. Let me just give you very quickly
the subject or the message in prayer, what our Lord tells us
to pray. He teaches us here what to pray
and how. I've been talking about how.
The importunity. Keep going. All right, the disciples
said, Lord, teach us to pray. And he said, when you pray, look
now, this is This is our Lord here, verse 2. This is life. The Lord says, When you pray,
not if, it's when. When you pray, say, Our Father
which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Holy God. Holy God. Holy Father. Holy. Holy. Holy. Holy. Holy. Holy. Do we emphasize this
too much? Do we say this too much? Christ said don't call on him
without saying it. He's more holy than we know he
is. The whole world's going to find
out. The whole world that thinks God is nothing but and only and
principally love. It's going to find out. He's
holy, holy, holy. Hallowed be thy name. be thy name. Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done." You know, prayer, I told you this story. Brother Barnard one time was
driving along, had a young preacher with him in the car, and the
young preacher, Barnard was a man of few words, a wise man, and
the young fellow wanted to strike up a conversation. He said, Brother
Barnard, he said, what's your thoughts on prayer? And Barnard just kept driving,
and didn't answer. A few minutes went by, and the
young fellow said, Brother Barnard, did you hear me? He said, yeah,
I heard you. He said, well, what's your thoughts
on prayer? See, Barnard's thinking of what
we ought to do before we answer. And he finally said this, after
another pause, he said, Prayer has something to do with the
will of God. This is what John teaches all
the way through, if you ask anything according to my will. Prayer has something to do with
the will of God. Listen to me now. God created
all things for his pleasure. God created all things for his
glory and his pleasure. God created all things for his
purpose, to fulfill his purpose, to glorify himself, to glorify
his Son. God created all things on this
earth, everything that rises or wriggles, for his glory and
the glory of his Son, for his pleasure. Not for us. Nothing was created primarily
for us. God does not exist to serve man. God did not create man to make
man happy. If you're listening to what I'm
saying, you're getting the essence of what our Lord said. Everything
is for his will and his purpose. We exist to serve the purpose
and the will of God Almighty, not vice versa, like modern religion
has today. Modern religion has God as nothing
but a sugar daddy. who's waiting and wanting to
do things for men and women, to make them happy and give them
thanks. He's just waiting, hoping they'll
call on him so he can give them another sugar tit. That is not
the God of this Bible. We live and move and have our
being for some reason according to His purpose, His law, His
will. We need to find out what that
is. Now listen, let me give you an
illustration of this. I have dogs, and you've heard it all
before. I'm going to tell it again. It's
the best demonstration there is. I have dogs. What good are
dogs for anything? Now, I know you
hunters and all that, they're dogs. They're just dogs. I don't
care what kind of dogs they are. For instance, I have a real high-pedigree
dog that came from China. The Chinese highly valued this
dog, saying it has noble instincts, it has almost human qualities.
We call it a shih tzu. Isn't that ironic? What the Chinese
think is wonderfully noble is about the lowest thing we laugh
when we come. It's a dog. It's a dog. I don't care what kind of dog
it is. We're human beings. Worms. I don't care if it's got—Brother
Scott said there's dogs with ribbons and bows, and there's
dogs with collars, and there's dogs that don't have any. Pound
dogs and lap dogs. Dogs. Well, that's a fact. That's a fact. Well, this little
shitsuit of ours, for a long time, And still, sometimes
now, it would not come to me. It wouldn't do anything, I said. I did not like that dog. Honestly, that dog, what good
is that dog to me? He won't even come to me. Won't obey me, won't do anything.
Only eats and plays. For a long time I thought he
is appropriately lame. That's all he does. The fact is, and he knows this,
listen to me, he knows it, I wasn't happy and he wasn't happy either,
buddy, around me. Neither one of us were happy. Why? Why? And things, Ron, things are just
not going to get along until Charlie starts toeing the line. I told Hannah, I said, when she
finally left the house, I said, Charlie's going to boot camp.
I'm going to put a pack of his back and march him ten miles
a day. Things are going to change. Have they? At any rate, the illustration
I'm trying to make is, that dog's no good to me, and I'm not happy
with it, as long as it's not in my will. Not in my will. It's not serving
me. Now, I've got another dog that
sleeps outside all the time. Oh, I like that dog. I'm happy
with that dog. Every time I go out there, he's
waiting on me. If I say come, he comes. If I say sit, he sits.
If I say roll over, he rolls over. If I say stay, he stays.
It hasn't always been that way, but I trained him. He's in my
will. He's willing, obedient, and I'm
happy, and he's happy. I give him the biggest bones.
I give him the most attention. I never abuse him. And so that person who begins
to realize, that human being who begins to realize that, I
don't live for myself, I was created for God's glory,
begin to worship Him, submit and bow. That person who begins
to realize and desire God's will and God's glory is now in the
will of God, is now on the road to happiness. What does God require? His commandments aren't grievous.
What does He require? Sit. Listen. Come. If you'd just be
willing to obey it, you ain't too good of a man. Come to me. I'm not going to thrash you.
I'm not going to put hard things on you. I'm going to feed you.
I'm going to teach you. You'll be happier. I told you about that one dog,
you know, Abner, when he was young, I thought
I had him trained, I did. He was happy at home and so forth,
but one time he ran off. What it was, was he got with
a bunch of the neighborhood dogs, not my dogs, other dogs, and
started chasing a deer. Now you listen to this illustration.
He got with the neighborhood dogs, but not my dog. I did not train them. They do
not hang around where I am, but they chase after deer. And Abner got with that bunch.
He shouldn't have been with them. He chased them across Forty and
all the way up into Coles Creek, and he was gone. And for about four days, he was
gone, wasn't he? But I found him. I put out a
ransom. I paid the price. I found him.
He came back. To this day, he won't leave that
property. Oh, he's run off a little bit,
but not very far, buddy. Not very far. I guarantee you,
while he was out there, he was miserable. He was away from his
master that loved him. It was kind of all I ever did
for him. Treat him well. I guarantee you, Stan, he was
just as miserable as I was. I was grieving. I paid the ransom price and got
him back, and buddy, he's right there. I've been running after
him dearly. At least he won't run too far
after me. If I get with these other dogs
who don't know you, my master, and they go to run, and I may
get caught, and I'm like, where am I going? Your love and your
mercy and your grace, and what happened to me when I did this
before, comes flooding into my mind. Yeah, even a dog. Flooding
into my mind. What have I done this for? In
my father's house, a wonderful thing. I'm going to get in trouble.
I'm going to get in trouble. I might not get back. Come yelping
back. And like a good master, I come
on home. Where you been? Been in trouble, haven't you?
Been following other dogs, haven't you? Oh, and he does. He grins at me, you know. I hug him like he never left. Our Father. He's our Father. Thy will. What does prayer have
to do, something to do with the will of God? People are always
asking that. What is the will of God? I just
told you. Just told you. will of God. If you live for
self, if you live for yourself, that's what you're going to get. Boy, that's a miserable companion.
Those that live for themselves are going to die by themselves. Those that live for things, that's
what they're going to get. And they'll get what things are
going to get. They're going to perish. Now, the Lord does tell us to
ask for things. Look at it. Verse 3, he says,
Give us day by day our daily bread. The Lord tells us to ask
for our daily bread. That means our daily sustenance. That means bread. It really does. Bread. But you know, we in this
country are so overfed We go through these motions,
don't we, saying a blessing. That's sad, isn't it? But it's
a fact, a sad fact. Now, down in Mexico, where people,
I mean believers, live from day to day, wanting, hoping for a
meal, they're asking for bread. Back then, they didn't work jobs,
they didn't earn money and all that. They depended every day
on the Lord to provide them with actual bread that they ate. One
time they said, Lord, everybody's hungry. Shall we go in town and buy?
No. No. Kroger doesn't give you that
bread. I know you think that. Winn-Dixie doesn't give you that
bread. I give you that bread. And I filled you like the children
of Israel, huh? The children of Israel had that
manna and after a while it kept coming down from the sky. It
kept coming and they took it for granted, didn't they? And
they thought, we're tired of this. We want some leeks and
onions. So the Lord tells us to even
ask for that which is least to give him the glory for. Right? But now the bread goes much deeper
than this. Because man doesn't live by bread
alone. You can get this bread and eat
this bread, but it passes out in the draft. We need bread.
We need manna, all right. We need bread. Christ said, He
that eateth and drinketh mine, eateth my flesh. Man does not
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God. This is the bread we need. We
need to be crying for this bread. We've got plenty of that other,
don't we? Plenty. It will last us a long time. What we really need and need
to ask for is daily bread, the bread of His Word from God. Bread to strengthen us, to lead
us, to guide us, to give us wisdom, to restrain us from evil, to
walk by. Bread, God's Word. If God will
implant His Word in us, it will be a spring of life. It will
be like a cow chewing its cud. You'll be able to chew on it.
You'll go in the nourishment of it. It'll keep you. It'll
give you strength. It'll give you courage. Do we
need bread or what? You can't do anything without
fleshly nourishment, can you? You can't do anything spiritually
without this bread of God's. You can't do anything. Give me
bread. Lord, just give me a morsel to
chew on today. I'm going to be weak without
it. You understand what he's saying? Bread, give me bread.
Now, look, everything he tells us to ask for, he says, give
us, give us, give us, doesn't he? He tells us to pray for us,
not pray for you. He doesn't say, give me, give
me. He says, pray this way, us, us. The Lord delights in, the
Lord answers those who intercede for others. Those who pray for
others, those who pray for themselves. This is what James will say,
that you ask a myth. Lord, bless me, bless me. Why
should I? Lord, bless him. Bless him. I will, and I'm going to bless
you for asking. That's exactly the way the Lord
works. Exactly. Give us, everyone that
asks it. to bless somebody else. Forgive us our sins as we, because
we forgive those who are indebted to us. Forgive us. Forgive us. Our greatest need is this right
here, forgiveness of sin. Pardon. Mercy from God. Will
God pardon? Will He pardon? Forgive us our
sins, and there are many. There are many. perform many, we have many, we
will have many. Sinful. Will he forgive us our
sin? Oh, he will. He'll abundantly
pardon. The chief of sinners. Yes, he will. But not unless
we forgive somebody else. That's what he said. Not unless.
To the merciful. Oh, he'll show himself merciful.
I'll never forgive you for that, Dan. There was this true story. A
preacher was on a ship years ago, two or three hundred years
ago, one of these sailing vessels, and there was a hard captain
on that ship. And a man did something wrong,
and he was going to flog the fellow for it. This preacher
was there and saw it, and he didn't think the punishment fit
the crime. He went up to the captain and
said, Captain, this is too severe. Don't you think there's another
way to deal with this man? He's too severe. The captain
said, I never show mercy but strict judgment. And the preacher wisely said,
then you better hope you never need mercy from God. You better hope. You never need
forgiveness. Only the merciful. He'll show
himself merciful. Forgive us. Lead us, he goes
on to say, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Notice
what we're asked for. You notice this, Teresa? Would
you give us? Would you forgive us? Would you
lead us? Would you deliver us? give us bread, that's about all
we need, having food in arraignment, but our great need, forgive us,
lead us, deliver us. That's all he says to us. Lead us, not into temptation. There's some horse people in
here. Every one of you know that a
horse must learn to be led. A horse that won't lead, what's
it good for? Nothing. The meat market. Where's
it going to go? A horse that will not ever be
led. Where's it going? To the slaughterhouse. Same with a dog, same with human
beings, same with dumb old human beings. If they won't be led,
they're going to the slaughterhouse. We've got to be led. Why? Because
we're headed toward temptation. He's going to have to lead us. When you teach a dog to lead,
you never let it run in front of you. Never let it run in front
of you. And there's a reason for that.
Do you see people leading their dog? Walking their dog? You never let it run in front
of you. You teach it to heal. Right beside you. Why? There's
a reason for that. Because if it runs ahead of you, it's going
to get hit by a car. It's never supposed to go through the door
before you. Because if there's a criminal or something there,
it'll be beside you. You're the leader, not the dog. Not the dog. Lead us. Don't let us, if we run ahead,
right? Where are we going? We're going
after deer. Run off? He doesn't have a hold
on him. If he doesn't lead us, we'll get hit, get shot, kill
ourselves, something. Run with the wrong crowd? Lead
us not. Not into temptation. Lead us where? Into paths of
righteousness, for thy name's sake. Lead us beside the still
waters. Lead us into your house. Lead
us and deliver us. Deliver us from evil. Deliver us, oh Lord. Deliver
us. We fall and we do, we do run
ahead. And we fall into a pit, don't
we? We get a trap around our leg. Because we ran off. Get a trap around our leg. We
don't think we can get, we can't get out of it. We can't get out
of it. We're in a trap, we can't get out of it. How are we going
to get out of it? How are we going to get out of
it? You have not because you ask
not. Deliver me! Not a one-time thing. You know,
it wasn't a thing years ago. It's a daily, daily, daily importunity. Deliver me! Deliver me! Deliver
me! Now, she's my friend. She's my
elect. Yes, she is. But I'm not doing
this because she is. I'm going to do it because she
keeps asking. I tell you, he said because of
his opportunity, he'll rise and give him as many as he needs.
What do you need? Have as many as you need. God of all grace. A non-believer needs a new heart.
Lord, give us a new heart. He needs to know Christ. A believer needs to walk in grace,
God's will, God's way. We need so much. He knows so
much. So I say in conclusion, ask,
God said, everyone that asketh, everyone that receiveth. Ask
for what? Seek and you'll find. You ever
sought something? Really sought something? You
haven't unless you found it. Right? If you ever quit, You
are sick. You are sick. Knock. You ever been locked out of the
house? As I said, either intentionally
or unintentionally, you ever been locked out of your house?
By one that loves you? Have you ever locked somebody
out? How are you going to get back in? Did you get back in? How? Oh, they're asleep. I want
to bop. You want in? Bam, bam, bam, bam,
bam, bam. You're not going to quit. Not
going to quit. Let me give you this illustration
in closing. You've heard it. Some haven't. Ralph Barnard,
again. Brother Barnard, listen to me
now. Listen to me. I preached a little while, and
I want to tell you something. Brother Ralph Barnard, Brother Ralph Barnard went to
hold a meeting one some place years ago, and there were some
parents of a young girl who was a rebel, an out-and-out rebel,
in her early 20s. And everybody came to the meetings
back then. It was back in the 50s. And parents
were terribly concerned about this young girl. She had no...
She just a rebel. But she was there. She was at
the service. And the parents asked Brother
Byron, said, Brother Byron, would you speak to her, please? And he cornered that young girl
after service one day and said, young lady, this is all he said
to her. He said, young lady, you're a
rebel against God Almighty, and you're absolutely playing with
hell. So what I want you to do, I want
you to go home tonight. Bernard used to say, I double-dog
dare you. He said that all the time. I
double-dog dare you to go home tonight, get in your closet,
and ask God Almighty to show you yourself. To show you yourself. That's all he said. He didn't want to hear what he
was saying. A few months later, he was invited
back. And he came back. And that girl
was there. She was a wreck. She was distraught. She was just a mess. You could
tell she was just a wreck. Something happened. And the parents said, Brother
Barnard, you've got to talk to our daughter. She won't eat,
she won't sleep, she's a mess. Would you talk to her? He said,
yeah. And he went to her, he coined
her, and said, young lady, you go home tonight. I said, I double-dog
dare you. You go home tonight, and you
get in your closet. And you ask God to show you the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's all he said. You know
the rest of the story? You know the rest of the story?
Everyone that asks it. He came back a few months later.
She's sitting there, clothed in her right mouth, with a big
smile on her face, and he's preaching the gospel, and she's, Yes! Yes! Happy! Peace! Joy! Everyone asks it. That doesn't
just mean our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
It goes much deeper than importunately. You have not, so you ask not.
All right, let's sing a hymn in closing. What number do you
have picked out? 163. 163. Let's just sing two verses. Let's sing the first and second
verses, okay? 163. Let's stand. First two verses.