Alright, brethren, let's turn
in our Bibles to Colossians chapter 4. I thought I was going to preach
from two or three verses tonight, but I'm just going to preach
from one. Colossians 4 verse 2. Continue in prayer and watch
in the same with thanksgiving. Continue in prayer and watch
in prayer with thanksgiving. When the Lord regenerates a sinner,
gives us a new heart, before out of our fleshly heart our
mouth spoke and we spoke against the Lord. But by the Lord creating
a new heart, now we pray to Him completely dependent upon Him.
You know, when the Lord sent Ananias to Paul, that was the
one thing that the Lord declared to assure Ananias that the Lord
had regenerated Paul. He said, Behold, he prayeth. That means We can only pray by
the Lord. It's only by the Spirit of the
Lord that we pray. Our Savior said, without me ye
can do nothing. That includes prayer. John answered
and said, a man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much. Know what that word effectual
means? It means the inwrought, the inwrought work of God. It means God effectually working
in you to make you pray. Effectual means inwrought prayer
by the Spirit of the Lord. Go with me to Romans chapter
eight. Romans chapter eight. And I want you to look at verse
26. Paul begins, likewise, the Spirit
also helpeth our infirmities. Now that means something came
before this. He was declaring that believers
mortify the flesh only by the Spirit of the Lord. It's by the
Spirit of the Lord that we are made to mortify our flesh. He
declared that the Spirit of God leads the children of God. And
then he declared it's by the Spirit that we call upon God
our Father. He said, in verse 15, for you
have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but
you have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry,
Abba, Father. We cry, Abba, Father. Father,
Father, by the Spirit. The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. Now look at
verse 26. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for 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. So those that God's regenerated,
you and I who believe by his grace, we give God the glory
for even our prayer. Even being able to pray, we give
him the glory. Everything about it is due to
God's grace. By the blood of His Son, by the
Lord Jesus Christ, we've been made holy and righteous so that
we can approach holy God. Christ is risen and ever living
to make intercession for His people, and the Spirit of God
gave us a new holy heart, and He leads us to pray, helping
us to pray, And now because of all of that, we have boldness,
we have welcome access to God in prayer. So everything about
prayer is to the glory of God's grace. Everything about it. I read Psalm 27, mainly for this
verse right here. Psalm 27, verse eight, he said,
when thou saidest, seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee,
Thy face, Lord, will I seek. When you go pray to the Lord,
when the Lord commands you in spirit, pray unto me. Pray unto me. It's not gonna
come as a audible voice. It's not gonna come as some powerful, overbearing thing.
It's gonna be that still, small voice just turning you to the
Lord. and causing you to pour out your
heart to him. So having said that, I wanna
look now at three parts of prayer, three parts of prayer. First
is continuance, secondly is watchfulness, and thirdly is thanksgiving.
These are three parts of prayer. Now back there in Colossians
chapter four, first of all is continuance. He says continue
in prayer. That means pray and keep praying. Pray and keep praying. You know,
God does not always answer our prayer when we pray to him. He doesn't always answer it immediately. He hears us and he answers the
prayer of his saints, but it's not always immediately. But we're
to continue asking, we're to continue praying to him And by
the Holy Spirit, that's what we will do. The Lord illustrated
this with a parable. If you wanna look at it in Luke
18, it was a parable of an unjust judge and a widow. He's using
this unjust judge as a extreme example. And he said in verse
one, Luke 18, one, he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men
are always to pray and not to faint. Men are to continue praying
and don't cease. Saying, here's the parable, there
was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither regarded man. And there was a widow in that
city, and she came unto him saying, avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while.
But afterward he said within himself, though I fear not God,
nor regard man. Yet because this widow troubleth
me, because she keeps coming to me, she just keeps on coming
and asking me this, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming
she weary me. Now here's the Lord's point.
And the Lord said, hear what the unjust judge saith, and shall
not God avenge his own elect which cry day and night unto
him, though he bear long with him? I tell you that he will
avenge them speedily. So keep praying, keep praying. Go to the Lord, keep praying.
Be sure to get this now. I say this every time I preach
on prayer. Prayer is not us turning God. Prayer is God turning us. Prayer is God doing something
for us. He's in one mind. Who can turn
him? Job said, what and what his soul
desireth, even that he doeth. We're not turning God by our
prayer. Prayer is God turning his child. Prayer is God keeping us at Christ's
feet, keeping us at his feet. This is one reason God doesn't
answer us immediately, is to keep us at Christ's feet, growing
us in dependence upon him, causing us to cast all our care upon
him, begging mercy of him. It's to humble us, it's to keep
us at Christ's feet, conscious of the truth that we depend upon
the Lord Jesus for everything. That's what the Lord's teaching
his child through prayer. He's keeping us begging for mercy. You know, sometimes we ask amiss,
James said. We're wanting something fleshly.
We're wanting something that appears to us to be good. When
that mother came to the Lord and asked that one of her sons
sit on one side in heaven and the other sit on the other side
in his kingdom, she asked amiss. That was not something that would
be good. When Paul prayed three times
that the thorn in the flesh be taken from him, he asked amiss.
And the Lord taught him By not taking that thorn away, the Lord
taught him the sufficiency of his grace. My grace is sufficient
for thee. And made Paul glory even in his
infirmities, because he saw that God's grace is sufficient. When
he was weak, that's when he was strong, because that's when he
saw Christ was all his strength. So we can ask a myth and the
Lord doesn't answer, but God's gracious in that. That's the
graciousness of God. He's gonna keep his child humbled
at Christ's feet, begging the Lord, looking to Christ alone. So prayer's not us turning God.
Prayer is God turning us. Prayer is God working something
good for us, bringing us to his feet to ask the Lord grace and
mercy. I've heard preachers use Jacob
as the example of wrestling with our Savior in prayer. You've
probably heard that. Remember when it was the Son
of God, the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus, that came to Jacob? And
we know that because Jacob named that place Peniel, because he
said, I've seen God face to face. That was the pre-incarnate Lord
that wrestled Jacob. But Jacob did not prevail by
wrestling with the Lord. To have this attitude of you're
gonna wrestle with the Lord in prayer to get him to give you
what you're asking for is amiss, that's wrong. How Jacob prevailed
is he was fighting in his own strength and he wasn't prevailing. And the Lord touched Jacob and
put his thigh out of joint so that Jacob had to stop wrestling
in his strength. And the only thing Jacob could
do was hold on and beg the Lord for mercy. And Hosea said, that's
how he prevailed with God. That's how he wept and he made
supplication unto him. That's Hosea 12.4. That's how
Jacob prevailed. Who made him prevail? The Lord
made him prevail. The Lord stopped him from having
this prideful thought that he could wrestle the Lord. The Lord stopped him from that.
The Lord made his thigh out of joint so that the only thing
he could do was beg the Lord to supply his need. That's how
you prevail with God. And the Lord makes us prevail
that way, just like He did Jacob. Now, God's already purposed what
He'll do. He's already purposed from eternity
what He shall do. He elected a people under salvation
in Christ. Our Lord Jesus came and He redeemed
His people by His precious blood. and made us righteous, the righteousness
of God in Him. God shall call each one out at
the appointed time. He predestinated the exact time
when Christ will send the gospel to each one and Christ will pray
the Father and send the Holy Spirit, give us the spirit of
adoption so that we can start praying to the Lord. God has
purposed this, he knows what he shall do. And all providence
is under the hand of our absolutely sovereign God. Christ our Savior,
the risen God-man, is absolutely sovereign. He's upholding all
things by the word of his power. God already purposed what he
shall do. Jeremiah 29, 11, he said, I know
the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts
of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end. Then shall
you call upon me, and you shall go and pray unto me, and I will
hearken unto you, and you shall seek me and find me when you
shall search for me with all your heart. So the Lord knows
what he's gonna do, he's already purposed it. That's not, you're
not gonna turn the Lord from working what he's purposed, what
he's willing to do. But he will have us ask him to
do for us what he's already purposed to do. At home, read Ezekiel
36. The Lord was declaring he's gonna
restore these cities that were destroyed and he said, Then the
heathen that are left round about you shall know I, the Lord, build
the ruined places. And I plant that that was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it.
I, the Lord, will do it. He told them what he was going
to do, and that was coming to pass. He said, I've spoken it.
I will do it. And then he said, I will yet
for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for
them. He said beforehand, I will increase
them as men like a flock. That's what he purposed to do.
That's what he's going to do in his church. We're the destitute
places. We're the ruined center. We're
the one that fell in at them. And like those ruined cities
he talked about, those ruined cities were populated with ruined
people, ruined centers. That's us. And the Lord is the
one who's going to provide everything for those he chose to save. make us know and give us a heart
contract to come before him and ask him to save, ask him to do
what he purposed to do. That's what he's gonna do. He
said in Isaiah 65, 24, he said, and it shall come to pass that
before they call, I will answer. And while they are yet speaking,
I will hear. How is that? He's already answered
us when the Lord, the Holy Spirit quickens you inwardly, renews
you inwardly, and puts prayer in your heart to pray to Him. He's already answered you, because
we wouldn't have done that without the Spirit of the Lord. We are
that helpless as sinners, and God is that glorious and that
deserving of all the glory that we can't even pray without the
Spirit of the Lord. So when you have a heart to truly
pray, I mean truly pray to the Lord, the Lord's already answered
you. And he said, before they call,
I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. He knows what we need. He gave
us the need. He knows what we need. He put
us in the providential circumstances that we're in, and he gives you
the heart to pray, and then he answers it. He answers it. So he said, I'll hear, I will
hear, I will hear. Sometimes God's answer though
is to wait. His answer is to wait, to keep
us crying more fervently, more dependent upon him, humblest
at his feet. That's why you saw Psalm 27,
after the Lord said, when the Lord said, seek my face, that's
when I sought his face. And he ended that Psalm by saying,
wait, I say on the Lord. Wait, I say on the Lord. So continue
in prayer. That's the first part of prayer.
Continue, continue, pray, pray to the Lord, pray to the Lord.
All right, here's the second thing. As we pray, watch. As you pray, watch. He said in
Colossians 4.2, continue in prayer and watch in the same. Continue
in prayer and watch in prayer. The word watch means be awake,
be vigilant, be cautious, be alert, give all your attention
to the Lord. is because we have so many enemies.
We have so many enemies. Through prayer, God brings our
hearts into communion with the Lord Jesus. He keeps us having
communion with Him. You know, this is, I was talking
with a pastor about this this week. When the Lord Jesus said,
without me you can do nothing, He, in that same context, right
before that, He said, abide in me. and I in you. And then he
said, for without me, you can do nothing. That includes abiding
in it. We can't even abide in him without
him. We can't pray to him without
him. I know people will hear this and they'll say, you act
like a believer can't do anything. Is that what that means? Isn't
that what that means? Without me, you can do nothing? That means without Christ, we
can do nothing. That's exactly what it means.
This is why we're to watch is because we have so many enemies.
Our old sinful flesh is an enemy. The devil is an enemy. There's
men and women in this world that don't know the Lord that are
enemies as far as being able to turn us this way or that. Trials can be troubling to us,
turn us from him, temptations. But you remember how the Lord
in the Garden of Gethsemane, now He was facing the largest
trial that anybody ever faced. Our Lord was made sin for us,
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. He's facing the cross. And He told the disciples, He
told His apostles, watch and pray, lest you fall into temptation. His soul was exceedingly sorrowful
even unto death. Our Savior really was a man.
He was God, He is God, but He was a man and He was serving
God in place of His people. And He knows the weakness of
our flesh. He experienced it. And His soul
was exceedingly sorrowful even unto death. And He told them,
watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. and he went
away and he prayed to the Father, and he prayed, Father, not my
will, but Thine be done. If at that most critical point
in our Savior's work, in that most critical point in the Garden
of Gethsemane, if his prayer to God was, not my will, but
Thine be done, you just mark it down, that'd be a good thing
for me and you to pray to the Lord anytime. Not my will, Lord,
but Thine be done. but he came back to his apostles
and they were asleep, they weren't watching. But our Savior watched,
so when the soldiers came, he knew, he was aware, he saw, but
the apostles had to be awakened. Now what, can you imagine if
the Lord hadn't awakened them? The soldiers would have come
upon them and probably slain them. And that's why he said,
watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. The spirit
indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. So when we're watching,
brethren, everything the Lord commands
his child, the Lord works in his child. When he tells you
continue in prayer, you're gonna continue persevering in prayer,
because he's gonna make you do it. When he says watch in prayer,
you gotta watch because he's gonna keep waking you up to keep
you watching. But we have to watch because
we have so many enemies in this world. Peter said, the devil
walks about seeking whom he may devour, like a roaring lion seeking
whom he may devour. Whom resist, steadfast in the
faith. Watching, being sober, being
vigilant, watching, watching. Where are you watching? You're
looking to the Lord Jesus. You're having your affection
set on Him. You have your heart set on Him. And another reason
He tells us to watch is because we don't know when He's returning. It could be any time that our
Lord is returning. Any time. He told us to watch,
therefore. We want to be found in Him alone. We want to be found trusting
Him alone. having His righteousness alone,
not any righteousness that we think we've worked up by our
obedience. We don't want that. We want to
be in Him alone, in Him alone. So Christ is going to keep our
affection set on Him, single on Him, single on Him. That's
what this word watch is about. watching with your affection
set on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's your life, Paul said. Your
life's in Christ at God's right hand. Set your affection on things
above, not on things of this earth. And the Lord illustrated
this with the parable of the five wise virgins and the five
foolish virgins. They all slumber and slept, the
scripture said. The flesh is weak. It's not that
you're not gonna slumber. It's not that you're going to
always be awake, but who's going to make the difference? The grace
of God and the power of God. He's going to keep his child
watching. But the foolish ones had no oil in their lamps, and
so when the bridegroom returned, The wise virgins entered in.
The foolish had to leave. They had to run. And it says,
Matthew 25, 10 says, and while they went to buy, the bridegroom
came, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage,
and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other
virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and
said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Here's the Lord's
point. Watch therefore. For you know neither the day
nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh. Watch therefore. Watch. Go with me to Luke 12.
I want you to put your eyes on this. Luke 12. See, there's so many cares of
this world that we get our focus on those things and, you know,
Our sins, any fleshly thing in this earth, will turn us from
Christ. And we're to have our eye of
faith set on Christ, watching for Him. Look here, Luke 12,
verse 32. This is the Lord speaking. He's telling them, don't be worrying
about what you're gonna eat, what you're gonna drink, all
of those things. First, let's start with verse
30. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after.
This is what unregenerate, carnal men are seeking. He said, your
father knoweth that you have need of these things. And he
says, but rather seek ye the kingdom of God and all these
things should be added to you. Our Lord Jesus, God gave his
son, he gave his son to die for his elect. He will add to you
these lesser things you need. But he says, seek ye the kingdom
of God, all these things shall be added to you. Fear not, little
flop, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the
kingdom. Sell that ye have, and give alms. He's saying, live
upon Christ only. That's what he's teaching here.
Don't act as though they're possessions and your income, and don't treat
that as if that's really your life, because it's not. He said,
sell that you have and give alms, provide yourself bags which wax
not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief
approaches, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also. This is the point of watching.
This is the point of having our affection set on Christ, that
he's our treasure, not anything else in this world. Let your
loins be girded about and your lights burning, and ye yourselves
like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from
the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto
him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom
the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. Verily I say unto
you, that he shall gird himself and make them to sit down to
meet and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come
in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find
them so, blessed are those servants. And this know, that if the good
man of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he
would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken
through. Be ye therefore ready also, for the son of man cometh,
and an hour when you think not. We must be watchful, guarding
against false prophets, the cunning craftiness of the messengers
of Satan, who, our Lord said, if it were possible, they would
deceive the very elect. Not possible, not possible, but
be watching, brethren. Anything that would turn you
from Christ, anything that would take you away from the preaching
of the gospel, be watching it, you'll be carried
away before you know it. Stand fast in the faith. What
is that? Stand fast in Christ. Stand fast
watching for Christ, trusting Christ, depending upon Christ
as the one object of your heart. Watch ye, stand fast in the faith,
quit you like men. Be strong like men. Now, so the first thing we do,
brethren, is we pray continually. Second thing is watch. Keep your
heart set on Christ, on him alone. Here's the last thing. And as
you pray, thank God. Don't leave out this third part.
Thank God. Colossians 4.2, continue in prayer
and watch in the same with thanksgiving. With thanksgiving. Everything
we have is the gift of God. Everything. Everything God's
people have is the gift of God. Every good thing, every perfect
gift comes down from the Father of Lights. There's no shadow
of turning with Him. What He says, His calling and
His gifts are without repentance. He never takes them back. He
never changes His mind. We have Everything from the hand
of God. Therefore, we ought to give thanks
to God. The only thing that comes from a sinner, the only thing
that is of us, entirely of us, that comes from us is sin. That's all. Every good thing
that a believer has, God gave it. And he gives it by grace
to whom he will. It's all of grace. Salvation
is by the grace of God. So we're giving thanks to Him,
praising Him, glorifying Him, thanking Him as we continue praying
and as we watch. Thanking Him for all things.
This is the will of God concerning you, Paul said. Thank God always. This is the will of God concerning
you. Whatever God has put you in, in providence, as painful
as it may be, as much as you're weeping and sorrow over it, and
it's a painful providence the Lord has brought upon you, thank
God for that as much as you do for the good times. For this
is the will of God concerning you. It's God's will that we
thank Him and whatever providence he's brought upon you is God's
will concerning you. He puts you right where you are
on purpose, on purpose. Whatever he sends in providence,
thank him because it's the will of God concerning you. The providence
that brings comfort and the providence that causes you to hurt. God
worked it. It's God's will concerning you
and it's God's will that we thank him. Why does God, why would
he, we know he works all things together for good, for them that
love God, for them who are the called, on purpose, according
to his purpose. Why would he work something that
would cause his child sorrow? Why would he do that? Well, somebody
said it this way, I think this is a good quote. Affliction is
the godly man's shining moment. We don't look at it that way,
but it is. Affliction is the godly man's
shining moment. They serve to convince us more
deeply of our own weakness and insufficiency and to endear the
person, the grace, the promises, and the salvation of our Redeemer
more and more to our hearts. That's why they're good. That's
why we thank God for them. When God took Job's family, he
took all his children in one day, took his servants, took
his livestock and all the riches that he possessed, and then took
his health. And Job thanked God. He said, naked came I out of
my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither the Lord gave,
and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
When Paul and Silas were cast into prison, beaten, and then
thrown in prison, Acts 16.25 says, at midnight, Paul and Silas
prayed and sang praises unto God. Every time God afflicts his child,
in the end, you may not be able to do it while you're in the
affliction, but in the end, when God brings you out of it and
shows you a more, clear view of Christ and that he's worked
this for your good, every time we're gonna say what David said,
it's been good for me that I've been afflicted, that I might
learn your statutes. There's only two statutes the
Lord's teaching us, brethren. There's only two, and they're
really just one, because they're vitally united. What is it? This is his commandment, that
you believe on his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and love one another,
as he gave his commandment. And that's what He's teaching
us in every affliction, to believe Christ and love one another. Every time God afflicts us, that's
the cause. Go with me to Colossians 1.12,
Colossians 1.12. Giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints and light, who hath delivered us from the power
of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sin. Look at chapter 2 and verse 10. And you are complete in him,
which is the head of all principality and power. Do we have something
to thank him for at all times? At all times. At all times. And He's gonna keep each one
that He redeemed. He's gonna keep you and not lose
one. And He's gonna present us one
day to the Father, holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight.
That's what He's gonna do. By Him, therefore, by Him, therefore,
let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips
giving thanks to His name. You want to give an offering
to the Lord? He said, this will please Him better than an ox
or a bullock, to give thanks to His name. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you. I want
to end with 1 Chronicles 29.11. 1 Chronicles 29.11. Let's begin in verse 10. Wherefore
David blessed the Lord before all the congregation, and David
said, Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel, our Father, for ever
and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness,
and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty. For all that is in the heaven
and in the earth is thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord,
and Thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor
come of Thee, and Thou reignest over all. And in Thine hand is
power and might, and in Thine hand it is to make great and
to give strength unto all. Now, therefore, our God, we thank
Thee and we praise Thy glorious name. See, we only offer thanks. You got two or three hours. You got all day. We got a lot
to thank God for. We always have everything to
thank him for. Father, our God, thank you for
your unspeakable gift. Thank you for giving your own
dear son, for saving your people, for making us accepted, for doing
it in a way that's just so that you can be merciful and perfect
righteousness. Lord, thank you for keeping us
praying. Thank you for turning our affection
to Christ and keeping us watching. Lord, keep us remembering that
everything is of your hand. Everything's given us through
our Lord Jesus. And it's all that we might praise
and thank You. And we do, Lord. We thank You.
We don't thank You as we ought, but Lord, we do thank You. Keep
us, Lord. Keep us for Your sake, for Your
honor, for Your glory, for the sake of Your dear Son. In His
precious name we ask it. Amen. All right, Brother Adam.