I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Matthew chapter
6. Matthew chapter 6. Lord willing in the second message,
I want to preach out of Psalm 26. Actually, I want to preach, say
a few comments out of verse eight in the second message. Psalm
26, verse eight. And in preparation for that message
this morning, my heart was drawn to preach what I want to preach
first. So I'm saying all that to say
this, what I want to preach concerning the mercy of God in prayer. I want to preach to prepare our
hearts for what we shall, Lord willing, look at in the second
message. There's a glorious privilege
that is possessed by the people of God concerning their communion
with the Lord. And this is the blessed privilege. They pray. In Matthew 6, verse 5 and 6, the Lord said,
and when thou prayest, now listen, I pray that God give us some
understanding here. When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites
are. They love to pray, standing in
the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may
be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward. But when thou prayest, enter
into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy
Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret
shall reward thee openly. Prayer is personal. Now, I know that when we come
together as an assembly of believers, as Brother Neal just did, he
read some scripture and led us in prayer. But we're here as a family. We're
here as a family. We're the family of God. And
we fellowship together as God's people. And if one leads in public,
I mean in private prayer in this assembly, we're all in fellowship
one with the other. And we agree in what's being
said. But when we are in public, our
Lord is teaching us something concerning prayer. When it comes to public prayer,
I'm talking about just out, out in the public, not here, not
here. Thou shalt not be as the hypocrites
are. Now that's pretty plain, isn't
it? Don't be as the hypocrites. They love to stand in the synagogue,
which is a place that you would think it would be Offered in
prayer. They love to stand, though, and
here's the reason. They want to be seen of men. They want to stand on the corners
of the streets. They want to go into places where
people meet. They want to go where people
eat. They want to... And they're going to have a... They say,
we want to be a witness. No. No, you want to be seen of
men. That's what the Lord said. This
is the reason you're doing it. They want to be seen of men.
Can we not thank our Lord for our food while we prepare to
eat? Don't be as the hypocrites are. But while God's people truly
pray, they do. Turn over to Romans 8 while I'm
making this statement here, 8, 26, and 27. While the Lord's
people truly pray, the Holy Scriptures reveal something of our inability
concerning prayer. But also in our inability, there's
a great blessing from the Lord that is declared to be happening
in the very hour of our inability. When we go into our closet to
pray, don't be as the hypocrites are. Don't do that. When you
pray, you go into your closet, and you shut the door, and you
pray to your father in secret. Your father would hear it and
see it from secret. He's gonna reward you openly.
But even while we're praying, Romans 8, 26, and 27 sets forth
something of our inability, and the blessing in the midst of
our inability. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray as we
ought. But the Spirit itself maketh
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And
he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the
Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the
will of God. He that searches the hearts,
the Lord God Himself. Man looks on the outside, God
looks on the inside. And the Spirit of God, because we don't
know what to pray, we don't know what to ask. We don't know what
to say. We've got things that truly are
on our hearts, and we do call upon the Lord, but we don't know
what to ask. But the Spirit of God helpeth
us with groanings that can't be uttered. But in the midst of praying and
struggling, while we pray and struggle in prayer, I want to
consider for a moment the mercy of God toward us. Listen, we have turned to Hebrews
7, 7, 24 to 27 is what I'm going to read. We have a great high
priest, Hebrews 7. And our great high priest approaches
the throne of God as our mediator, as our advocate,
one who was made flesh, God himself, who was made flesh and walked
this earth in perfect obedience, who satisfied the law of God
on the behalf of his people, put away their guilt. And now
our great high priest, scripture declares, according to his own
merit and his own shed blood, he's for us. Hebrews chapter
seven, verse 24 to 27. But this man, because he continueth
ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore he is able also to
save them to the uttermost, that cometh to God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest
became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,
and made higher than the heavens. who needeth not daily as those
high priests to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins and then
for the people's. For this he did once when he
offered up himself. God's people pray. God's people struggle in prayer
because they don't know what to pray. The Spirit of God makes
intercession for us. Our great high priest ever liveth
to make intercession, pleads his own merit on the behalf of
his people. Now I want you to turn with me
to Revelation 8. Revelation 8. There's a precious passage of
scripture we've considered it before, I want to consider it
for a moment longer. That wonderfully opens unto us
the glory and the preciousness of our Lord's intercession. It's a passage which reveals
God's blessing to his people in our prayer that we don't know
what to pray. We don't know what to pray. We're ignorant people. We desire
to pray, we want to pray, and we do pray. But we don't know
what to pray. But our Lord takes the prayer,
the prayers of His people. And here's what happens. Revelation
8, I want to read verses 1 to 4. And when He had opened the
seventh seal, Now here's the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember that
book back in Revelation 5. There was a book that was held
in the hand of him that sits on the throne. It was sealed
with seven seals. He took the book out of the hand
of him that sat on the throne. And the four and twenty elders
and four beasts fell down before him praising him. You've redeemed
us out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. You're worthy.
You're worthy. Here's these seals. It's sealed.
Here's a seal. The revelation of God's mercy
to his people. And here, when he had opened
the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of
a half hour. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God,
and to them were given seven trumpets, and another angel came,
stood at the altar, having a golden censer. And there was given unto
him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of
all saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne.
And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of
the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. Now, here stands great high priest
himself. Here is the messenger, the angel
of the covenant, whom the bride finds all of her delight. Here's
the intercessor of the church. And the Lord Jesus himself is
the one who stands at the altar of incense. And the scripture
declares that he holds a golden censer. Now there was a golden
censer. There was one used by Aaron on
the day of atonement. And so we here see that which
was pictured. We see here in the book of Revelation
that which was placed, it was given unto him. It's a marvelous
thing. Another angel, verse 3, came
and stood at the altar having a golden censer, the Lord Jesus. And that was given unto him.
The whole work of redemption was given unto him. There was
a work given by the Father. All that was required for the
acceptance of the saints, the people of God, was laid into
his hands. All power is given unto the son. Why? That he should give eternal
life to as many as the father's given him. This is the marvelous
declaration of the gospel. As I've said before, everywhere you go, it's an offer
to be accepted. I'm not offering you anything.
I'm declaring unto you that which God Almighty has set forth is
what He's done. And if the Spirit of God takes
the truth of this and takes out a heart of flesh and gives you
a new heart, God's going to regenerate you. He's going to save you.
I'm telling you this is what happens. This is what happens
before the throne of God. Much incense was given unto Him. All these herbs, beautiful fragrances,
all characteristics setting forth the glory of his person. And
here this angel comes and stands before the throne with the much
incense, which is his merit. That's what that incense set
forth, that sweet savor under God. And here he is, the one
scripture says in John 17, four, I've glorified thee on the earth.
I finished the work, which thou gavest me do. That's the essence
of that incense right there. And verse four of revelation
eight says, and the smoke of the incense, which came with
the prayers of the saints ascended up before God out of the angels
hands, Lord Jesus. the exalted savior of the bride. He now, his work, his finished
work, him perfumes heaven with the savor of his obedience and
his shed blood. Hear the smoke of his incense
and merit ascends up before God and fills Heaven itself with the work of
His atonement, the work of His grace, how wonderfully comforting
and cheerful it is to behold the love and the care that the
Lord Jesus Christ has for His bride. These angels sound trumpets. Now this Almighty God is going
to judge this world. But before he pours out judgment
upon this world, all those left to themselves in disobedience,
he's gonna pray for his people. He's gonna pray for them. And
the scripture says, and here's the marvelous, verse four, and
the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the
saints. Are you talking about those prayers
that they didn't know what to pray? They were ignorant in prayers
and the Spirit of God helped them with groanings that they couldn't
utter, couldn't be uttered. You're talking about those prayers,
prayers that you and I try to pour our hearts up to God and
we don't know what to say and we stammer. Yes, those prayers. that none of us know what to
pray. Those prayers are taken and they're presented before
God in His merit. And that which we didn't know
what to say, the Spirit of God who helps us, represents it before the throne. And they're accepted according
to His merit. That's the very foundation of
praying. We pray. God's people pray. They
don't know what to pray. They don't know what to say.
They don't know what to ask. But the Spirit of God helps them. And those prayers that are truly
from a heart of love toward him are taken by the great high priest
and in his glorious merit that prayer is offered unto God according to his work, his obedience,
his faithfulness and they're accepted in the beloved And I
pray that God bless just this thought, that little thought.
Not a little thought, glorious thought. Those few words, let
me say it like that. Because Lord willing, in just
a few minutes, I want to preach out of Psalm 26. And there we,
by the grace of God, shall behold our great high priest as he prays
for us. And I pray the Lord bless it,
for his glory and our good. Okay.