I'm going to be reading here
in 1st John chapter 5 again verse 14 and 15 and then we will proceed
with our study. In 1st John chapter 5 verse 14
John says to the church, and this is the confidence that we
have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears
us. And if we know that he hears
us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petition that
we have desired. We started last week dealing
with the subject of prayer in the context of John saying that
the believer may be confident that God hears them. And I called
your attention to the reality that the statement that John
is here making is a very profound statement that I think that most
believers in the context of prayer do not believe. And so I want
us to think through the proposition carefully and we're gonna work
through our outline verses 13, 14, and 15, and then next week
we'll get into the next subject that verse 16 and 17 anticipates. I want you to think about with
me for a moment what John says because I know it doesn't resonate
with us in our experience, and that's this. John says in verse
14, after all that he said in 1 John 5 from chapter 1, verse
1 to the present, he says, and this is the confidence that we
have in Him. This is the assurance. This here
is the steady confidence. This here is the trustful, confident
assurance that we have in Him. that if we ask anything according
to his will, he hears us. And what I've said before is
that that statement is a guarantee that God's people will be heard
by God, but only to the extent that we meet certain conditions. So you would be wrong to draw
the conclusion that you can ask God for anything at any time
in any way and expect God to do it. Conditional clauses are
just as important as unconditional clauses. Qualifiers upon promises
are just as important as non-qualifying statements upon promises. And
this I think is where the believer often struggles or is negligent. And I want us to work through
this. If you read your Bible carefully, here's what you may
know, that the Bible teaches what we call unconditional promises. Really they are conditional,
but they are unconditional in terms of their requirement of
you. There are unconditional promises
by which God determines to bless his people in spite of who they
are, are the circumstances with which they are engaged, their
temperament or their frame of mind. There are what we call
eternal and unconditional promises. They are rooted in God's own
determination, God's own will, God's own prerogative. And thus
people end up being the beneficiary of God's favor and God's grace.
For instance, when a man or woman becomes saved, they are not saved
upon conditions of which they themselves personally have to
meet. We call salvation an act of grace. Is that true? It is
an act of pure grace by which God in his own prerogative comes
into the life of the sinner and does something for the sinner
that the sinner cannot do for themselves. so that salvation
is not a conditional promise on the part of the center. But
there are times when God speaks to us about conditional promises. If you do this, I will do that. And what those conditional promises
are, are relational concepts of which the believer must come
to understand if he is to enjoy God on the level in which those
conditional promises are rendered. You will find in your Bible running
from Genesis to Revelation conditional premises. I'll share one with
you in the context of prayer while we begin to work through
this text. I think I said this last week,
most of us know that a lot of our prayers go unanswered. Is that true? And many of us
are honest to know that often we are um, reticent are slow,
are timid about God in prayer for several reasons. One is we're
not quite sure what to pray for. We're not quite sure how to pray
and we're not quite sure of our motive when we go to God is true. So I want to say that again because
this subject of prayer is so very important. I think if there's
one area in which the Christian church, and the believer is woefully
inadequate, it's in the area of prayer. I think your own personal
life will admit that you are not a person of great prayer. There's a lot of reasons and
evidences for which that is the case. But here again, my point
is that When we talk about something like prayer and being able to
be as confident as John states it in verse 14, this is our confidence
that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his
will, he hears us. Now, as I said, you see that
here very clearly as a conditional promise, right? And a very clear
stipulation upon which we are called upon to be confident that
God's ear is open to us with a predisposition of listening
to us is predicated upon something very important, and the text
calls it the will of God. Isn't that what it says? The
will of God. So now, be honest, child of God.
Hasn't the concept of the will of God been something that has
been vague and difficult for you to grasp in your own life?
So this actually adds to the difficulty of the conditional
promise. For if God says He hears us and
we can be confident that He hears us, but only in the context of
the will of God, and if I am struggling to know and be able
to define and to be able to operate in the context of God's will,
then it only follows that I'm going to struggle in the context
of prayer. Because I cannot be sure if my
prayer is heard, if I don't even know that I'm praying, according
to the will of God. So that's why this is a very
important subject because by the way, there are only a certain
category of people in the world for whom God will hear their
prayers. God does not hear the prayers of every human being.
Does your Bible teach you that? God does not hear the prayers
of the ungodly. God does not hear the prayers
of the hypocrite. God does not hear the prayers
of a proud man. God does not hear the prayers
of the wicked. That's what the Bible says. Now,
if you are new with us, you might as well write this down. If you
are actually a thinking Christian and you are wanting to be taught,
write this down. God hears everything because
he is omniscient. But when we say he does not hear
things that are not according to his will, we are saying that
God does not respond to them. He does not engage those requests
simply because you make the request. Now, I don't really need to argue
that. That's self-evident, isn't it? There are people, you know,
and I know who have a very strong rift with God. Division with
God. I'm working on a thesis right
now called being angry with God. You'll hear it in a few weeks.
People are angry with God. And because of that, they don't
talk to God. because God doesn't answer their
prayers. You know, people like that. Now,
they may not tell it to you like that if they're religious, but
they really have a problem with God and they don't talk to God
much because God really doesn't do what they say. This is true. Now, let me bring it home a little
closer from time to time, that's you and me, too. You might as
well be honest. One of the things I've told people
over and over in this church and it blows you away an honest
person won't go to hell But they're all kind of dishonest Christians
who will perish under the wrath of God Because they don't deal
with God honestly God wants honesty. That's Psalm 51. God desires
truth from the inward part and from the hidden part He'll make
you to know wisdom. You just got to be honest with God and
And so what I am saying is that the idea of John making the statement
that we can be confident that God hears us. is a profound promise,
but it must be met with the conditions that are stipulated to it, and
that is knowing God's will. So what we wanna do tonight is
run through our outline and actually try to acquiesce what the will
of God is so that we can be confident that we pray, that when we pray,
God will at least, what? Be predisposed to hear what we
say. OK, that's what we want to work through. That's what
John is assuming. Let's say that you and I were
part of that first century church to which John was the pastor.
He was the pastor of many churches in Asia Minor. in the first century. And let's say you were a member
of this church and you were reading this epistle that was written
to your local church somewhere in Asia Minor, Ephesus or Asia,
the church at Ephesians or the church at Philippi, around those
regions. And you read that letter, there would be some insight given
to you that you and I in the 21st century don't have. because
you would have had a relationship with John and you would have
understood some things that John is saying by way of assumption
because you would have had some prerequisite knowledge and information
of which we in the 21st century don't have. John would have already
known that when he says to them, you can be sure that your confidence
can be that God will hear you if you ask anything according
to his will, because John would have taught them what Jesus taught
him. Okay. And that church would have
been grounded in the premise upon which prayer is to be answered. And that's what our first point
is. And that's what we're studying tonight. The prayer that is heard.
I believe that when we work through these one, two, three, four,
five, six points in verses 14 and 15 in our outline, I believe
you will have all the information necessary for you to be confident
that God will hear, hear your prayer. but you're gonna have
to pay attention. And if you don't, by way of being tired
tonight, just get the CD and listen 10 times. I recommend
that because the one thing that I would love to know is that
particularly the people that are part of grace know how to
pray and be heard. I would love to know that every
member at grace knows how to pray and be heard. So the first
one that we wanna deal with that's in your outline under verse 14
is praying according to his will. We're under the task, the privileged
task of knowing what it means to pray according to God's will.
The first and foremost thing that you and I must know is God's
will in the context of prayer is that God requires faith when
you pray. Hebrews chapter 11, verse six.
Just look at it with your eyes on your text because it's important
for you to see it. Here's what he says in Hebrews
11 verse 6. We quote it all the time, but
I want you to see it. But without faith, it is impossible
to please him. You guys see that? Now, obviously,
then, in the area of pleasing God, the fundamental condition
by which pleasure is experienced by God on our part is that we
must address God in the context of faith, right? Now, the Hebrew
writer has helped us in terms of defining faith. In Hebrews
chapter 11, verse 1, faith is the substance of things, what?
Hope for. It is the evidence of things,
what? A future expectation based on past promises becomes the
foundation upon which the people of God negotiate with God. A
future expectation based upon past promises that God himself
has met becomes the basis upon which we negotiate with God.
In other words, I am coming to God on the grounds of past things
and future things. Got that? That's what faith is. Faith is believing what God said
he did in the past in the person of Jesus Christ to establish
a relationship with you by the merits and righteousness of Christ,
which means now I stand in God's presence. The future is that
God will come and receive me to himself so that I am with
him forever or within what we call the near future tense. God
will work with me daily to conform me to the image of Christ so
that I might be able to do the will of God and bring glory to
his name. Both of those are aspects of
the faith that God gives us as believers. Now that's all biblical
knowledge. That's something you got to know
by reading your Bible. You gotta know what faith is by reading
your Bible and then operate out of the knowledge of faith. Does
that make some sense so far? Very important for you to understand
that. The believer comes to God not on the grounds of who he
is, but on the grounds of who Christ is and what Christ did
for him. And who Christ is and what Christ
did for him is both a past and a future reality. It is out of
the merits of that past work of which you and I were not there,
we didn't see it, but we believe it, that's called faith, Out
of the merits of that, do we approach God? And that's the
idea of coming to God by faith. And one of the prominent and
the most practical and the most personal ways by which we come
to God is in prayer. The most prominent, most practical,
personal ways that we come to God is in what? Prayer. Well, a man that doesn't pray
doesn't come to God. Because he does not believe that
God is. But when a person believes that
God is, he is believing in the ever present omniscient God who
is everywhere, knows all things, is all powerful, and is available
for them based upon the conditions by which we have access to God.
That person is functioning on the assumption that God is present
to hear them when they talk, right? Now, when we have a biblical
understanding of God, we know that prayer doesn't require us
to move physically, right? We have a biblical understanding
of God. You don't say, well, you know what? I'm getting ready
to do. I'm getting ready to go climb in my car. I'm going to drive the grace
Bible church so I can pray to God. You know, better than that,
right? When you have a biblical understanding
of God, it's not where you go to pray. It's how you go to pray. Am I making some sense now? And
that becomes critical also to the concept of prayer, because
Jesus taught it in John chapter 4, 24. In fact, prayer is going
to be something we deal with on Sunday. Jesus told the woman
at the well, woman, the hour is coming and now is when those
that worship me will worship me in spirit and in truth. They
will neither worship me at Jerusalem nor in this mountain. It will
not be based upon a certain location by which you are able to get
a hold of God. It will require the dimension
And the access and the process of faith by which you apprehend
God, God will be apprehended by faith through the spirit. Does that make some sense? So
then when, when, when John says, if we pray according to his will,
the scriptures are very clear that God requires faith. When you come to him, listen
to it again. And in Hebrews chapter 11, six, he says, um, He that
cometh unto God must believe that he is, and is a, what? Rewarder of them that diligently
seeks him. That's verse six. And it means
when we come, we come to God believing that he is and that
he rewards. Not only do we believe in his
person and in his attributes, but we also believe in his promises
and his performance. So verse six of Hebrews 11 is
really also a promise that if we come to God believing that
there is a reward in that, that ought to be a motivation to come
to God, right? All right, now go with me in your Bible to Matthew
chapter 11, because I want you to see it explicitly established
by our Lord. Now what we're talking about,
and I want to make sure this hits home, is the subject of
faith. You know what's interesting about
what we are dealing with now, again, at the core of what you
and I are talking about in the context of prayer really is whether
or not a person truly believes that God is. I've said it for
years, prayer is the purest, most simple, most fundamental
form of faith there is. It's the purest, most simple,
most fundamental form of faith there is. You and I can pretend
that we believe God on all sorts of levels, But at the end of
the day, if there isn't communion between us and God based upon
the testimony of scripture, we have every reason to wonder whether
or not we believe that God is. Matthew chapter 11, now the Lord
Jesus is gonna give us a particular stipulation around this subject
of the first component to prayer being heard is that we gotta
believe that he is. Now listen to what our master says. This
is absolutely important. Mark 11, I'm sorry, Mark chapter
11. I'm in Matthews, Mark chapter 11. Mark chapter 11, listen to
the language here. Now this here is a very instructive
portion of scripture that our master gave the disciples. And
I want to unpack this just a little bit in the context of prayer,
because he knew that he was going to be passing the kingdom to
these disciples who, in our own public view, in the view of the
whole church, The Holy Spirit allowed these things to be written
down. These guys fumbled all over the place when it came to
prayer. The apostles, the disciples,
they struggled in prayer. Have you ever been there? They
struggled in prayer. They fell asleep on the master.
I mean, isn't that embarrassing? The people that were going to
turn the world upside, that were going to convert much of the
Gentile world and point them to Christ, They went to sleep
on the master in the context of prayer. Over the three and
a half years of the Lord's working with his disciples, one of the
things the disciples came to discover was that the master,
who is God in the flesh, prayed a lot. Okay? So if he is the word made flesh
and dwelt among us, And we behold him gaze upon him the oreo that
is observed to learn How god is based upon the revelation
of god in the person of christ and if christ is praying a lot
i.e You and i are called upon therefore if in fact, that's
what he had to do We ought to be doing it even more Right. No, that's the reason the revelation
is given And so the disciples learned something over three
and a half years. Here's what they learned. They learned several
things that they weren't as passionate and talking to the father as
the Lord Jesus. They should have been, but they
weren't. So on occasions, like in the gospel of Matthew, you
know what they would say, Lord, increase our faith. You got that? Well, last time you actually
got to do that. Now, if you've never asked them to do that,
you have presumed dangerously upon your own adequacy to believe
God. See, they were driven to ask
God to increase their faith because they were given missions and
assignments that they failed to achieve, or they partially
achieved, or they were so inept in their achievement of it, they
realized that they were inadequate. And when we are inadequate in
something, it naturally tends to drive us to ask for help,
right? Ah, one of the secrets to and
prerequisites to prayer is inadequacy. Let me say it again. If a person
is not seeking God in the context of prayer, it's either because
they don't believe God is, God answers prayer, or they don't
believe that they have a problem. And that would be a grave misconception
on our part, wouldn't it? And we'll see that when we get
to James chapter four, but listen to the language. Our Lord has
just left the temple. And having left the temple, his
disciples are walking with him and they observe a fig tree that
our master in the morning had cursed on his way into Jerusalem,
which was an omen and a sign. and a testimony to the disciples
of our Lord's rejecting national Israel as the steward of the
kingdom of God. The fig tree often in the scripture
represents national Israel and he came to national Israel seeking
fruit and all he found on the tree was what? Leaves. So he
cursed the tree because it wasn't bearing fruit. He said, from
here on, no man eat of thee forever. He went into the temple, put
some switches together and whipped all the false prophets and the
money changers out of the church. Remember that? And then he left
with the disciples after he tore up all the false prophets. And
the disciples are jazzed because you know, your testosterone is
rising up when that alpha male kicks in, you know, the master
getting down and they walk back by the tree and the tree is withered
from the roots up and the disciples are master. Do you see that tree
that you cursed? And then our Lord goes into what
we call the exegetical, or the explanation. And notice what
he says over in verse 23. Verse 22, here's how it opens
up. And Jesus answering said unto them, listen to these words,
ladies and gentlemen, have faith in God. Do you see it? Have faith in God. Because what he was telling the
disciples is, what I did to the fig tree was based upon me believing
God. You got that? that the fig tree
was not just a miracle that he exercised on the basis of his
omnipotence and his deity, but the fig tree was an act of Christ
believing God in removing an obstacle that was hindering his
glory, of which it typified Christ's objective to save sinners being
hindered by a religious institution that had not submitted to his
will. He's teaching his disciples they are going to have to operate
in the same type of faith because they're going to be met with
the same kinds of obstacles. Does that make sense? Good. Now
listen to what he goes on to say. For verily I say unto you,
truly I say unto you that whosoever shall say unto this mountain,
be thou removed, be cast into the sea and shall not doubt in
his heart, but shall what? That those things which he said
shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he says. Tremendous promise, isn't it? Isn't that a tremendous promise?
Now, we can make the same mistake that everybody tends to do, particularly
in this consumer age, in this egocentric age, in this self-centered
age. We can take it out of its context
and make it kind of a passage for us to demand that God does
something for us in the removing of our obstacles, right? But
that would be a wrong application because it's actually not about
obstacles that are in our way, but they're about obstacles that
are in the way of the glory of God. So you and I only want to
request of God to remove those things that are hindering us
from glorifying God as God has called us to. That means we have
to be able to discern rightly whether a thing that is actually
blocking us is from the Lord or from the enemy. That means
I need to be in the will of God and knowledgeable about God's
will concerning that hindrance. Am I making some sense? All hindrances
are not from the devil. That's important to know. I don't
want God to remove something that He is putting up as a safeguard
against my foolishness, presumption, arrogance, assumption, or my
own ego-driven agenda. I want God to stop me from my
ego-driven agendas. I don't want Him to remove anything
that's gonna cause me to stumble, or deny His glory, or obscure
His glory, or hinder His glory. So, again, this here is framed
in the context of the disciples already being clear on their
mission. And this is gonna be the big part of the lesson I
want us to get. Prayers can be confidently asserted and expressed
to God when you and I are clear on our mission. If we're clear
on our mission, we can ask God what we ask Him because it's
gonna be asked in the context of our mission. Do you see that? It's not gonna be just a nebulous,
empty prayer. Now watch how he puts this, and I want you to
get this. This is gonna be critical to the other aspects of the will
of God. He goes on to say, therefore
I say unto you, what things so ever you desire when you pray,
when you pray the context of prayer, isn't it? When you pray,
believe that you receive them and you shall what? That's incredible. That's incredible. I've just
say that for myself. It's just incredible because
listen, saints, this is not our everyday experience. Is that
true? It's not an everyday experience
that we pray, believing, and believing in such a way that
we are confident that we have what we prayed for. I hear the
saints talk like that all the time. I don't believe it. I hear
them talking like that all the time. Lord, we believe you for
it. Just because we say we believe you for it doesn't mean you really
believe him for it. We like to be religious and say, I believe
you for it. Listen, you don't have to say
you believe him for it. believing for it. See, we don't
have to manipulate God with our words. We don't have to tell
God, God, I believe you. No, God knows whether you believe
him or not. See, we got to stop being religious
because God is, he's not like a, uh, you know, he's not a bellhop.
He's not a cosmic. He, God is not a megalomaniac.
God doesn't, he doesn't get stroked by our merely talking. God judges
our heart, not our words. Am I making some sense now? This
will straighten out our prayers too, because our prayers are
often manipulative. We're trying to twist God's arm.
God's looking and he knows whether or not we actually believe him.
But what our master said to the disciples is, If you're praying
in the context of your mission, because Jesus is on a mission.
If you're clear on your mission, then you know God sent you, and
you know that God is with you, and you know that you are praying
consistent with your mission, you can be sure that God is going
to respond to that. Now listen to what he says in
verse 25. This is a key component too. This is going to move us
into the next coordinate conditions of praying according to God's
will. So I'm saying this, our Lord
is saying in verse 23 and 24, you gotta believe God. You gotta
have faith when you pray. You can't pray not believing. We'll see
that in James 1 here in a moment. But in verse 25, he sets another
condition. Are you ready? And when you stand praying, do
what? Wow. See? You better write that
down. I'm gonna help you. One of the
reasons you don't pray as you ought to one of the reasons you
aren't confident in your prayers is because we got issues Isn't that true And that'll stop
you right in your track right there that'll stop you dead in
your track Now what our lord said to the disciples at this
time who would become apostles shortly hereafter And they would
be equipped by the holy ghost to go and do their work What
he was saying to his disciples is what I want to say to you
right now. He was saying to his disciples, as you go out into
ministry and dealing with something that is infinitely larger than
your capacity to fulfill. Go ye into all the world, preach
the gospel, make disciples of all nations, teaching them whatsoever
things I have commanded you, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. And Lord, I am with you
always to the end of the world. That's huge. The disciples couldn't
even get their minds out of Jerusalem. That's like some of us growing
up in West Oakland, never going to East Oakland. You got that?
Lord, you want me to go to East Oakland? I ain't never went to
East Oakland in my life. No, I don't want you to go to
East Oakland. I want you to go to the East Coast. So what I'm doing
is showing you how in their mind, they weren't even ready for the
largeness of the mission. And yet what he was saying, it's
going to be fulfilled, but here's going to be some of the major
obstacles in your life. Are you ready? Forgiveness. You're
going to be distracted from your mission by the petty horizontal
stuff that goes on down here. That's going to hinder you from
being able to do my will on this transcendent level because you're
going to lose your vertical focus. It becomes a critical key to
successful and continuous prayer. in the life of the people of
God. And so the disciples are a nucleus of the church. They
are the foundation of the church. Jesus Christ being the chief
cornerstone along with the prophets. These apostles are the foundation
of the church. And what God is saying is, you guys can't leave
here, engage in ministry and have strife and contention among
yourselves and expect to advance in the cause of the kingdom.
Moving mountains? Moving mountains? And when you
can't remove attitudes, you're not going to remove mountains.
If you can't remove attitudes, are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? And again, on Sunday, this is going to be drawn into
in a very profound way, because I really want us to get this,
uh, this aspect of it. When you stand praying, forgive,
if you have an art against any that your father also, which
is in heaven may forgive you of your what? Verse 25 therefore
teaches me that God stops my advancement intentionally until
I work out the conflicts on a horizontal level. Got it? God stops my advancement intentionally
until I work out the horizontal issues. He stops my advancement
because he wants me to understand that relationship is important.
that I don't get to just have an ego that is driven by self
that is willing to destroy everybody else including my brethren in
the accomplishment of my goals in the name of Jesus. Am I making some sense? Because
people do that. It blows me away, blows me away. How we this is what we do. This
is why god gonna have to tear our butt up. I know that that's
my language I grew up in the hood. He's gonna have to tear
our butt up He's gonna have to get in our butt. He's gonna have
to get in our tail till we learn it We will Set aside the members
of the body and just run with me and jesus alone You got that
Jesus, I just want you. I don't need the members So really
all you're asking for is the head. That's all you want is
the head. You don't want the body Now, I don't want the body,
I want the head. I can roll with the head. The
Central Intelligence Agency, you tell me what to do, and I'll
roll with you, you roll with me. But I don't want the members.
Now, that's oxymoronic, right? That's antithetical to the whole
concept, right? Because it works through the body. But this is
an area in which I know the church is stuck. Stuck. Totally stuck. So, the next point
in our outline is the concept of obedience. He requires faith,
and of course, faith is a form of obedience, and it is certainly
obedience that God calls for. I want you to turn in your Bible
to John chapter 15. We're going to deal with two
or three verses around this too. He requires obedience. Now, I
know this statement is not bizarre to you. It's not strange to you.
It's only logical that God would answer the prayers of the obedient,
right? Because he doesn't answer the
prayers of the disobedient It would only follow then that believers
are those who walk in the obedience of faith But it's always to be
understood that when you are dealing with commandments coming
from our Lord Jesus Christ Who is the second person of the Godhead
and is speaking to us about his goals and agenda? Obedience must
always be understood in the context of the gospel. It cannot be a
nebulous kind of obedience It's obedience in the context of the
gospel Every true believer is called to the obedience of faith,
Romans 16, 25 and 26. So we are called upon to obey
God based on the principle of faith with the objective of the
gospel being the issue at hand. Faith with the objective of the
gospel being the issue at hand. If I'm not believing God, if
the gospel is not the central objective of my life, I'm not
obedient. God's not going to hear me. Because
see what I'm doing is now I'm trying to get God to sign on
to my agenda, rather than me succumbing to God's agenda. Right? Okay, so I just want to make
sure you know, when you read New Testament imperatives, and
our church is very clear on this, I'm speaking specifically to
those of you who are new and visiting, our church is clear
on this. When we talk about obeying God, we're talking about obeying
God by the Spirit, according to Jesus Christ on the grounds
of the gospel. For us, it's always gospel obedience. It is never legal obedience.
It is never meritorious obedience is never obedience rooted in
a fear of going to hell are seeking rewards from God on the basis
of our own Mary we are always talking about obeying God because
we love him because he first loved us and our obedience is
always gospel-centered you guys got that that way you
don't have to Obedience over against faith that would be a
faulty bifurcation or a faulty as it were antithesis faith and
obedience are not antithetical And I know a lot of Christians
have to work through that what it means to obey God and at the
same time trust God What do you mean obey God and at the same
time trust God? That's exactly what trust is
and that's exactly what obedience is to Is moving out in no faith
in faith doing what God has told us to do. They are not contradictory
concepts. Are they? So now listen to what
our Lord says. This is what I meant by obedience.
I want to make sure you get it. This is John chapter 15 verse
7. Are you there? If you abide in
me, the first line is what we call
a conditional clause. It's a subjunctive. It's a conditional
clause. You guys got that? That's what
a little word if comes in. Got that? If you abide in me,
and what he's talking about is if the condition is that you
have a relationship with me, this is what we call a subjunctive.
If the reality is that you have a relationship with me. Now,
a lot of people say they do, they don't. But if in fact you
do have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, you are in
Christ and Christ is in you. Got that? So if you abide in
me now watch what he says if you abide in me and my what? Words abide in you here becomes
the fruit are the evidence that christ abides in you and you
abide in him So let me help you with that before we go on with
that verse The indicative or the state of being when a person
is truly born again is that they are in christ and christ is in
them You cannot be alive in God apart from being alive of God
in Christ. Christ must be in you. Christ
is the life that lighteth every man that comes into the world.
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes unto the
Father but by me. The reason why we are alive is because He
lives. Because I live you shall also what live and so what we're
talking about is union you got that that's the word We've already
established that by the metaphor of the true vine at the beginning
of the text, right? I am the true vine you are the
what branches my father is the what husband men. We're talking
a unity here It is predicated upon the analogy of being in
union with God through Christ who is a tree So this is a an
organic living organism and union. That means that the Christian
is vitally united to God through Christ as a branch is connected
to the tree. Y'all got the imagery? And so
if you and I are in union with Christ, then it will be evident
because His words will abide in us. Now watch this now. We're
talking about the words that Christ just preached. We're talking
about the word of God as a whole. We're talking about the word
of God that reveals to us the gospel of God's glory and the
promises that come through the gospel. When the word of God
is in us, it's going to shape how we think. Got it? When the Word of God is in us,
it's going to shape how we think. Is that true? That was very weak. When you question a person in
terms of the authenticity of their relationship with Jesus,
I'm a Christian, and they never talk about Him, or never demonstrate
a hunger for His Word, or never manifest a knowledge of His Word. We meet people like that. Oh,
I know I'm a Christian. Well, okay, good. But how come
I don't see any evidence? Well, it's personal. Well, it
can't be that personal. You understand? It may be personal,
but it's not private. We're going to learn that on
Sunday. There's no such thing as a private Christian. Just
like a branch can't be privately in a tree bearing fruit privately
that nobody sees. because you weren't made for
just you and God alone when he saved you. And so Jesus says,
if you abide in me, my words abide in you. Now watch this.
You shall ask what? What you will. Now, do you understand
the preconditions, the foundation for the nature of the questions
or the requests that you're going to render now? That your Desires
and your passions and your requests before God are not going to be
desires and passions and requests that are merely rooted in your
own ego-centric agenda. But they are going to be shaped
by the Word of God that has entered into you and have now prioritized
your thoughts, affected and rearranged your affections So that now you
are thinking God's thoughts after him and desiring the same things
that God desires Am I making some sense? So then when you
articulate and express yourself, they are going to be in accord
with you with what you know Pleases God Right There we go So our
Lord says if you abide in me and my words abide in you you're
going to be praying according to my will Same thing, isn't
it? gonna be praying according to
my will now watch this here it is and it shall be what done unto
you in that profound remember what we learned John is simply
echoing what Jesus said when you read 1st John 2nd John 3rd
John John never says anything other than what he heard Jesus
say So John can be confident when he says back over in 1 John
5, our text verse 13, we have this confidence that if we ask
anything according to his will, he hears us. Why did John have
that confidence? Jesus just said it. And do you
know what? He said it repeatedly over and
over and over and over again. Verses, chapters 14, 15, and
16 were constant repetitions, constant repetitions that if
we prayed in faith, if we asked in obedience, in union with Christ,
the word transforming our mind and our thoughts, so that we're
praying God's will as our will, we can be sure that God hears
us. Therefore, turn with me in your Bible to Matthew 6. This
is gonna take us back to our Lord's fundamental prayer, and
I want you to see two articles in Matthew 6 around this again. Now, if at this time you are
thinking that, well, basically what Pastor Jesse is saying is
that my prayer life really must be a consequence and fruit of
a knowledge of God's word. You would be right. What he's
saying is my prayer life is basically going to be an expression of
my knowledge of what the Bible teaches. You will be right. You guys got that? That when
I pray, I'm not going to be praying at a loss of what to pray for
because my prayers are gonna be based upon what the word of
God teaches. You know what's beautiful about
that statement as I get ready to deal with Matthew chapter
six, you will hear two kinds of prayer. If you are used to
folks praying around you, you will hear the person that's praying
from the context of their troubles and their issues and their desires
and their wants. And they may be waxing eloquent,
asking God, or even sometimes commanding God to do something
for them. Like somehow they just have access to the elbow of God.
And you're sitting there listening to these prayers, right? And
these prayers are not really doing anything to edify your
soul. It's almost like a religious
gossip that you're engaging in. As you listen to people tell
God what they want. And then you will hear another
kind of prayer. where the individual's prayer
is rooted in a sound knowledge of God's word and their prayers
are constantly sprinkled with clear biblical text around the
issues with which they are compelled to communicate to God. That kind
of prayer draws you in and edifies you and builds you up because
that prayer is rooted in the very Word of God that is framing
the desires and the passions that are being set forth. Am
I making some sense? That kind of prayer edifies you because
that prayer is rooted in God's Word. That's what I'm talking
about. That's what I'm talking about. That becomes an edifying
prayer. So in Matthew chapter 6, of course,
as you know, our Lord, uh, speaking to the disciples in the, in the
prohibition of wrong kinds of prayer, like in verse five, he
says, and when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites,
right? So that's something we got to
learn. Don't be a hypocrite when you pray, because God's not going
to hear you. That's clearly what Job said. This is what the Psalm
says. God's not going to hear the hypocrite. For they love
to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets.
Now here's how you know you're a hypocrite. Are you ready? That
they may be seen and heard of whom? That's right. That's right. That's right. Check out on people
when they go to praying to be seen and heard of men. You know,
yeah, let's, we're going to pray. I remember one time I was going
to get me some red velvet Cake Happy sunny day feeling good. Don't get me some sweets. It
was on a Friday So I pull in at the bakery off on Bancroft
a little bakery on the corner Bancroft and Dutton then close
now. I feel so sorry feel so bad Anyhow,
I pull up and there are three or four Christians that come
out of the restaurant and they standing in the middle of the
street In the middle of the street, they gonna pray in the middle
of the street, holding hands in the middle of the street.
I said, be just like the Lord to let a car run by and just
nip him in the butt. In the middle of the street.
In the middle of the street. You know why they did that? To
be seen of men. To be seen of men. There was
nothing but ego in that. Somebody had taught them the
wrong kind of praying. Are you guys hearing me? There
was no reason to be standing in the middle of the street praying.
That's just religion. It doesn't please God. It doesn't
honor God. It doesn't boast in his glory.
And it actually impedes people from coming to Christ because
if they think they got to do that kind of embarrassing stuff
to please God, they're not going to do it. Listen to our master,
listen to him. For they love to pray standing
in the synagogues, in the corners of the street, that they may
be seen of me. And verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
You can see them standing there and somebody looking. Anybody
watching? That's all you get. Soon as one person sees you,
that's it. That's your reward. Because the angels didn't hear
you. Heaven didn't hear you. But that one person's, oh, look
at those religious folk. Oh, look how religious they are.
That's your reward. That's it. That's all you get.
I'm going on. Verse 6. But you, when you pray,
enter into your what? Classroom. And when you have
shut your door, pray to whom? The Father. See, we're talking
about a sense of exclusivity that requires faith, right? Which
is in secret. And your Father which seeth in
secret shall reward you openly. Doesn't mean that we don't do
public prayers. It's simply saying that authentic prayer is not
about people seeing or hearing you. Verse seven. But when you
pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do. That's a problem.
For they think that they shall be heard because they pray long When they pray long check out
on Just like check out on check out on go get you a cup of coffee
Because see they they praying anyway, they go and they pray
and they go get you a cup of either sandwich Time it so they
should be done in about 20 minutes. Okay? Then slip on back in. Amen. Amen. Amen. Because see, God, he didn't know
what they were praying for, so he had to wait too. In your private prayer closet,
you can pray all you want. You can pray for hours. But if
your motive is wrong, you wasted your time. Got it? So now notice what our Lord says.
What I want you to get back is to the model prayer that we all
been praying very much in many ways, like the pagan, like the
heathen, a mantra prayer of what we call the Lord's Prayer, right?
So he says over in verse nine, after this manner, therefore
pray, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom
come. What's the next line? Thy will
be done. as it is be done on earth as
it is in heaven. And then he goes on to explain
the character of the prayer that the believer is to render to
God. First you are holy. Secondly
the most important thing is that your kingdom come in relationship
to the kingdom coming. Your will be what. Now what we
are asking for God to do from his high throne in heaven seated
in glory. as the king of the universe is
to bestow the empowerment of the kingdom upon us in order
that his will be done. Got that? So in order for the
will of God to be done, the presence and power of the kingdom of God
must be among us in order for the will of God to be done. So
I'm not going to ask God that his will be done where the power
of his kingdom is not present to execute that will. So I'm
recognizing God as a sovereign. I'm recognizing him as a source
of all power. And I'm asking that he would
allow the kingdom to manifest itself among us or in me personally,
so that his will can be manifested in my life. You know what I'm
doing? I am saying to God, I recognize that I cannot do your will in
my own strength. Got it? I can't do God's will
in my own strength. And God's will will not be done
merely in the flesh. Flesh and blood won't enter into
the kingdom of heaven and the scripture says no flesh shall
glory in his sight So the execution of God's will must be based upon
the presence of his kingdom manifesting and fulfilling his will through
us and Then God gives us some very simple instructions Ladies
and gentlemen, they fall under a couple of categories Lord take
care of my basic needs. That's verse 11. You guys see
that Take care of my basic needs Secondly, Lord grant me to maintain
a healthy open relationship with you by helping me to maintain
a very clear and honest and sincere relationship with my brothers
and sisters. That's verse 12. Got that? See,
cause I know that my relationship with you is also contingent upon
my relationship with people on a horizontal level. I know that
you've already told us that. So I'm not going to pretend that
I can come to you when I'm tearing things up down here. So help
me to maintain a proper perspective of how to relate to people down
here so that I have free access into your presence. Otherwise,
my prayers are going to be fruitless as we're going to see here in
a moment. Then he goes on to say, forgive us our debts as
we forgive others and lead us not into temptation. See that
phraseology? And really the way that this
language is constructed should be, and father, don't let me
go. Got that? Don't let me go. Well, God does not tempt any
man because he cannot be tempted, but we are tempted when we're
drawn away by our own lust. So what he's saying is, meet
my daily needs. That means I'm not going to be
praying for obnoxious, over the top, flamboyant, excessive things. I just want the daily necessities,
which means I have a predisposition of contentment. Godliness with
contentment is what? And so I have to check myself
in terms of my lusts and my passions. Because if I'm a train wreck
in terms of what I want, then I'm exceeding the fundamental
principle of godliness with contentment. If I'm asking God for a billion
dollars, I'm saying to God, you're not enough. You got it? If I'm asking God
for stuff way over the top, what I am saying is God himself is
not enough to satisfy my soul. I need to fill the vacuum of
my avarice and lust up with material things. Got it? And that kind
of prayer is going to indicate that my relationship with God
is amiss somewhere. Because godliness with contentment
is what? That's what the Bible says. So now notice what he goes
on to say. Don't let me go. Deliver me from evil. Now watch
this. The last line here really corresponds
to the first line. For with you is the kingdom. And with you is the power. And
to you belong the what? Got it? With you is the kingdom. With you is the power. And to
you belong the glory. Forever And so what the what our lord
is teaching us how to pray is pray according to god's will
matthew chapter 6 33 You guys should know it by heart Seek
ye first the kingdom of god and all of his righteousness and
everything else will take care of itself That should become
a verse committed to memory because that should be the thought that
you have once you go to prayer This will help us retain the
principle if we ask anything according to His will. Now, immediately,
saints, I want to deal with one more thing immediately now. Immediately,
as we think through this idea of praying according to His will,
praying in faith, praying in obedience of the gospel, immediately
in our mind we are asking some serious questions. Go with me
to James 4. I'll deal with that as we get there. We're asking ourselves, so where
am I at in my prayer life? Where am I at in my thought life
with God? Am I even remotely in the ballpark
of these principles that we're talking about tonight? Has God
at some point developed my understanding and my relationship with Him
so that my prayer life is Practical it's concise and consistent So
I want to say that again Because really what I'm talking about
is when the Word of God actually is doing the work of transforming
us cutting away stuff hedging us in and and Forming our thoughts
shaping our desires and What we come to discover is a lot
of the things that we may have prayed about in our youth when
we were younger and very ignorant of the nature and character of
God were useless prayers that were really just infantile. But as we get older, we come
to understand that prayer is much more practical and not as
mystical and evasive as we thought. Now based on what I'm talking
to us about, I really am talking to you about being practical.
First, you pray believing God. And if you don't have that kind
of faith, ask him for it. That's what James chapter one
is getting ready to deal with. Then you pray in the obedience
of faith in terms of your walk with God, letting the word of
God dwell in you richly, so that your thoughts are being transformed
and your affections are being renewed, so that what comes out
of your mouth corresponds with what you are learning to read
in the word. That being the case, you shouldn't be struggling to
pray long periods of time with God. So your prayer life is very
practical. I believe that the average Christian
would be doing fine if we are praying every day in the morning,
maybe throughout the course of the day as situations come up
where we need God's wisdom and guidance. And then as we close
out our night in preparation to go to sleep. But it does not
require long lengthy prayers. with the exception of when we
get in trouble and there are pressing issues of which God
is forcing us to have to deal with that issue and seeking His
face for wisdom as to how to respond to that issue or wait
on God. Sometimes He will shut you up
to a matter that will require you to persistently call on His
name from the depths of your soul, but it's not going to be
an issue of many things. It's gonna be one or two things
that you are compelled or rather impaled to talk to God about
consistently until he gives you relief. Relief. Am I making some sense? Really,
this then is a subjective dynamic that's based upon a relationship.
Because when God gives you relief, you have that confidence that
your petition has been brought to God based upon the Word of
God and based upon the reality that God has kind of let you
go. He's taken that burden off you. You can move on to something
else. This then becomes a very practical aspect of our walk
with Christ. So I want to share with you two
more verses that I think is critical. This one goes back to the point
of faith, just in case you didn't already have this in your mind.
This is James chapter one. I'm going to read verse three
through eight and you will hear it. My brother encountered all
joy when you fall into different what trials. That's the, that's
the legacy of our life, isn't it? Knowing this, that the train
of your faith work is patience. Do you see that? You know what
that means? If you have faith, God's going to take that faith
and throw it in a crucible. You know what that crucible is
called? Life. Got that? If God has given you
faith, he's going to take your faith and throw it in a crucible.
That crucible is what? Just everyday life. Now, in the
context of that crucible, God is going to teach you what verse
three says, patience. You and I talked about that in
our ladies class last night. Patience becomes a critical component
that God develops in the life of the believer. Isn't that true?
We are by nature impatient people, aren't we? One of the things
that faith requires is patience. It becomes the other side of
faith. And the word really means to
endure, to endure, to endure, to wait on God, to stay, to stay,
not to move out in front of God, not to act before waiting on
God. How many of you have learned
that when a situation comes up and you have the option of dealing
with it out of your own wisdom, out of your own resources, based
upon your own skill sets, manipulating it according to your own ingenuity,
But by God's grace, you feared him enough to wait. He came through. And the outcome was way better
than when you used to work that thing. Right, you know how you
used to work that thing. But there was no peace in you
working that thing. Because it wasn't you and God, it wasn't
God coming through for you. And some of us who have been
in Christ for a long time, what we have learned to do is to wait
on the Lord. In fact, it has become for many
of us such a precious method of relating to God that when
a thing comes, I just wait on the Lord. Jesse, we're not moving. We're going to trust God. He's
going to show up. He's going to manifest himself. He's going
to bring clarity to the situation. He's going to expose the situation.
You and I don't have enough knowledge. We don't have enough insight.
There's not enough evidence there. We're going to just wait on God.
And when he shows up, it'll be clear enough for us to make the
right decision. You learn that over many, many
years, don't you? And it's not being afraid. It's
learning how God works. I'm just going to pray on this
matter, and I'm going to pray that God keeps me in my place,
keeps my mouth shut, keeps me waiting on God so I don't run
out and do something and mess the thing up. And then God comes
through. You know what God calls that?
A wise person. Did you get that? That's a wise
person. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of what? That's
right. Good understanding. Have all
day that keep us commandments. So a believer is wise when he
waits on God. That's what's called wisdom.
Here it is. He says, but let patience have
a perfect work that you may be perfect, mature, entire, and
lacking nothing. This here's talking about character
development in relationship to God, how you and God correspond
in the everyday life. If you lack wisdom, let him,
if any, if any of you lack wisdom, let him do what? Ask of God. Now watch what God says, because
he gives it to all men freely and abundantly and without restraint. And it shall be what? Given to
him. Now, if a man or woman lacks
wisdom in a situation, what is the instruction for them to do?
Ask God. Now, why is God doing that? Why
is God setting us up for situations with which He knows we don't
have enough information or data or knowledge or wisdom to deal
with it? Why is He setting us up and telling us, what you ought
to do in response to that kind of situation is ask me. Why is
God doing that? to sustain and develop and maintain
a relationship with you. See what he's doing? He's telling
you, I'm not going to give you all wisdom at once because you'll
never talk to me again. You're just going on about your
business. But I'll give you enough wisdom in the situation upon
you talking to me so that we can do this thing together. For
God relationship is important. It is connected to the principle
of faith because faith is not just sort
of a commodity. It's a point of contact with
its referent faith in God. Got it. Faith in God. They're
not just a commodity. He gave me faith. Now I can just
run and do what I want to know. It's a point of contact with
a referent. The referent is God. It's faith in God. Faith in God
is designed for me to maintain a continuum, a continual relationship
with God where I seek God for my needs. Ah, every day now I'm
communing with God because every day I need him. And every day
then God communes with me. So it's communion with God. just
a basic functional relationship with God and here's the other
one but now if he asks that's verse 6 are you there let him
ask in what see it see here it goes the conditions again if
he asked let him ask in faith not what not wavering, not being
tossed to and fro, not being ambivalent, not being indecisive,
not going back and forth, not saying yes, not saying no. For
he that wavereth is like the wave of the sea, driven with
the wind and tossed. Have you ever met those people?
I ask God, but I don't know if he gonna do that. I pray, but I don't
know if he heard me. I sought the Lord on this seven,
eight, 10 times, but I don't know if I should seek him another
seven, eight, 10 times. Well, at that point, the problem is
not whether or not God has heard your petition. The problem is
whether or not you believe God's word. Am I making some sense? Because remember now, faith is
based upon knowledge. And that knowledge has as its
objective God's word and God's promise. And so if I'm going
back and forth, really the problem is I either don't know God's
word or I don't believe God's word. So our faith must always
be nourished. It must always be strengthened
by, must always be furnished with God's word. I have to hear
his word. I have to hear that promise concerning
what God says he will do in that particular circumstance. And
then once I put that request in based upon that principle
and that promise I have to rest in the fact that the black letters
on that white page didn't change Got that I can go away from the
book knowing that the book is gonna say today what it said
yesterday what it's gonna say tomorrow And trust God for it
And see if God will come through But let him ask in faith not
wavering for he that wavered is like the wave of the sea driven
with the wind and toss. For let not that man think that
he shall receive anything of the Lord. James is cold, ain't
he? He cold. James let you know. Don't be
trying to talk to God in stupefying unbelief. That's an affront to
God. You know what it says to God?
I can't trust you. You change your mind. You're
whimsical. You give and take back. That's
not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible does not
change. He does not lie. He does not fail. He comes through
every time. Is that what the book says? So
if I'm talking to God, like, oh, well, maybe I'm misrepresenting his character.
I make I'm making him a liar. That's wrong, isn't it? So that's why the disciples said,
not only Lord increased my faith, the disciples said, Lord, by
the time the Lord was getting ready to go to Calvary, you know
what they said? Teach us how to pray. That got to the point
where we don't know how to pray. Lord, if you don't teach us how
to pray, we gonna mess this thing up. And that's where you began
to hear all of those explanations on prayer. Verse eight, a double-minded
man is unstable in all his ways. Now go to chapter 4. This is
where I'm going to stop for tonight. And next week we'll deal with
verse 15 and move into our next subject. Chapter 4 actually gets
into a very important aspect of why our prayers will not be
heard and that we are way out of the way with regards to them.
And it actually gets into some core problems in our life that
we have to deal with. Verse 1, here it is. From whence
come what? What's the word? That's right.
And fighting's among you. See it? So James now is dealing
with a context that is all too frequent in the Christian church.
It's a bad situation, but unfortunately it's all too frequent. It's also
all too frequent in homes, in families. Aren't you amazed,
child of God, how much Christians fight? Aren't you amazed at how much
Christians fight? Well, you may not have been amazed
at it till now, but I want you to be amazed at it. I want it
to be a thing that bothers you, okay? I want you to be offended
by fighting among the people of God. I want you to be grieved
by your own innate capacity to endure arguing and fighting. That's what I want you to do.
Because to the degree that you tolerate it, you are affirming
it. And it fundamentally indicates
a great level of carnality and fleshliness and lack of spiritual
control. And that becomes the reason for
which God doesn't hear our prayers. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? So you and I have to learn to hate what God hates in order for us to be able to
love what God loves. Do you know what kind of transformation,
JR, that would be if our church hated fighting? Our families hated fighting?
that as soon as the level of conflict rolls beyond respect,
and decorum, and charity, into defrauding one another, and lying,
and distorting the facts, and gossip, and killing, that we
would never let it get to that point? Do you know how transformational
that would be? Do you know how much of an aroma
of Christ would emanate from your being towards others if
the law of love and the law of kindness dominated your life?
where you stopped it dead in the tracks. No, no, we ain't
fighting like that. No, no, no. See, it's okay to be able to
disagree. We don't have to be Mamby Pambys. But what I am saying is being
dominated by such a gracious disposition by which you are
able to know what the real enemy is in the context of a disagreement. Carnality is the real enemy.
Fleshly desires are the real enemy. They do not promote the
glory of God. That's going back to James chapter
one around verse 26, 27, or 19. The wrath of man does not praise
the Lord. It does not work the righteousness
of God. You and I know that, right? And yet we will get as
heated. We can straighten our own nappy
out as heated as we get. And then go to God in prayer
like God's listening to us. He ain't listening to us. All right, let me go on. I want
you to see this. That's a good metaphor. From whence come wars and fightings
among you? Come they not hence even of your
what? Love. See, now we got to check that thing, right? We got to check that thing. What's
that thing rising up in us that we want something? That motive. That war in your
members. You guys know that experience? Do you know that uneasiness in
you, that unrest when you are driven by your lust? Thank you,
my brother. So these folks here acting like
they don't go through no stuff. But I'm talking the uneasiness
of the almost demonic power of our carnal nature, the
uneasiness of it. And what I mean by that is the
spirit of God and the spirit of the flesh are diametrically
opposed to each other. They are radically and intensely
hostile to each other. Am I telling the truth? so that
when you give yourself over to your carnality, you are making
war with the Holy Ghost. Am I telling the truth? And there
has to be something at the base of that if we perpetuate that.
See, like I was saying, if God will give us grace to have the
kind of character and predisposition of knowing when to stop a level
of conflict that I'm in with my brother or my sister, because
we can all have misunderstanding. We're not perfect. Misunderstanding
doesn't mean you have grievously sinned. It's just a misunderstanding.
You got to learn how to work out those conflicts. You got
to do them in yourself, but here comes the war in your own members
before you even talk to anybody. If you can't get control of that,
you certainly are not gonna be able to resolve things with somebody
else whose will is independent from yours. Am I making some
sense? That's the proverb. He that hath
no control over his own spirit is like a city whose walls are
broken down. That means the enemy just comes
in at any time he wants to, take his seat on the throne and govern
that king. Am I boring you? I'm almost done. I'm almost done. So here's what
he says about prayers that he says, God's not going to hear
us here. He says in this less war in your members, James knows
that he's using what is called a double narrative. He's talking
about our physical body, but he's also talking about the church.
Okay. That's a double narrative. He's
talking about the physical conflict that goes on in our bodies, but
he's also talking about the conflict that goes on in the church. You
guys got that. It's the conflict that goes on
in the body, the conflict that goes on in the family, the conflict
that goes on in the body, that goes on in the church. It has
its core in our fallen nature. You lust, but you don't have. You guys
see that? So I'm dealing with a thesis
called anger right now. And my proposition goes like
this. The human race at the core of
their being hates God. Now stay with me. You do and
I do hate God. That's the core of our being.
I know when I start teaching, these people gonna just fall
all over the place, demanding with straight nuts. He didn't
just went straight off. But see, I received the revelation. Why doth the heathen rage? Can I prove my point with one
analogy? The little bitty baby that comes
out of the womb, bless his heart. He don't know anything from the
man on the moon, but he comes out with needs. You know what
that's called? Lust. That's the basic principle
of desire in all of us, right? That's what lust is, is a desire.
The reason why your body continues to pump is called desire. What
makes your heart keep beating? Lust. God designed it to pump
so that you would live. Are you hearing me? When old
people are ready to go, their desire wanes. The heart slows
down and they check out. The child comes in with a full
vital organ of lust to live. You with me so far? And that
cute little thing starts crying. And you think that's so cute. Look how cute he cries. Are you
with me? But a couple months into his
life, he's reaching up trying to snatch your face off. Now watch this. Now watch this,
Jan. This is the little bitty, cute
little baby, the little bitty angel, the angel. He can't say, this person calls
me to be this way or that person calls me to be that. We like
to blame all kinds of folks. I'm going to talk about that.
That's the other part of anger. We like to blame people. So who
this little baby going to blame? Are you ready? So he goes from
the little, eh, eh, eh, cute. Isn't that cute when that person,
eh? Two months later, ah! Right? It's profound how powerful
a little bitty thing like that does, right? And as they get
a little older, they're not even six months, they're raging when you don't give them what
they want. Am I telling the truth? Raging. Now you leave a human being in
his fallen nature like that to himself. By the time he's seven
years old and can pull a trigger, he will kill you. See the whole human race hates
God for the condition that we are
in. You lust, you have not. You what? Kill. See it? You desire to have and you cannot
obtain. You fight, you war. That's describing
a baby. That's describing a person that
doesn't have the ability to actually get what they want. That's a
child. Do you guys see that? That's
a child. Oh, yes, a metaphor for a human
being, because as human beings compared to God, we're children.
We're children. And when God doesn't give us
what we want, we want to kill him. And everybody around us. that does not capitulate to our
sovereign will. Got it? And watch this. You have not
because you don't ask. Now, if you get to the point
of humility in asking, the reason why you don't receive It's because
you're asking with the wrong motive. Isn't that true? Your objective is to get what
you get to utterly satisfy your own carnal passions. And you'll kill everything around
you to get it. That's the truth, isn't it? Isn't
that the truth? And I'm describing a baby. I'm
describing a baby. I'm describing a human being
who, when they grow up, they become part of gangs and mobs
and groups of killers of people, social groups, killing psychologically,
killing emotionally, killing rhetorically, killing in all
kinds of ways. Am I making sense? Murder is
taking place in all fashions everywhere, isn't it? And I submit
to you, It's because the human race hates God. Our problem is
with God. Let's pray. So father, we thank
you for this time. Thank you for this word. We've
got a big old mirror raised up in front of us. And we have not because we ask
not and we ask not because we're too proud to ask. And when we
do ask and don't receive is because we're all jacked up on the inside
and we have to be taught how to believe you and trust you
and let you provide for us in the way that you do so that we
can live a life of peace and righteousness and joy in the
Holy Ghost. And this is especially true for your people. We are
a horrible testimony around the world because we are as carnal
as everybody else in these matters. And so people don't believe our
gospel because they don't believe our testimony. We ask for mercy
to help us to rise beyond this. because it does blaspheme your
glorious name. Father, as we go our way, give
us traveling mercy. Prepare us to worship you. On
Sunday, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you.