Hebrews chapter 13. Now, if you'll
look here with me, we'll read verse 18 and 19, our text this
morning. Hebrews 13 verse 18. Pray for us, for we trust we
have a good conscience in all things, willing to live honestly. But I beseech you, the rather,
to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner." Now, it appears
here that the Apostle Paul, when he says this, he is practicing
what he just exhorted the brethren to do. You see back there in
verse 17 that we saw last time, obey them that have the rule
over you. We said that was an inward an
inward spirit of obedience, an inward willingness. And then,
submit yourselves. That was the outward carrying
through of that which is begun in the heart. And it says, them
that have the rule over you. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ has
the rule over Paul. And so he says here, we trust
we have a good conscience. He's talking about that inward
obedience. We trust we have a good conscience in all things willing
to live honestly or to behave well outwardly. And then he says,
but we beseech you the rather. It's not that conscience and
that inward willingness that Paul has that he's saying I beseech
you to pray for. But we beseech you, though rather
to do this, to pray for us that I may be restored to you the
sooner." Now, here's what it appears that Paul is saying.
We trust our conscience is pure in God's sight, that we're willing
to submit outwardly to whatever God will have us to do. And we beseech you, therefore,
to pray for us that we may be restored with the fullness of
His grace so that we can make a straight course in submitting
to Him and coming to you." Now, let me tell you where I get that.
This word, the sooner, the sooner, it would probably be better interpreted
rather than a statement of time, meaning we'll get there quicker
than we would if you didn't pray for us, it should probably be
translated a straight course. You remember whenever the Apostle
Paul was heading out on his second trip to go out and preach the
gospel, and he was determined to go to a couple of places,
but the Holy Spirit forbid him to go there. But then the Lord
gave him a vision of a man in Macedonia praying for him to
come there. And the scripture says, And after
he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia,
assuredly gathering. The Lord had called us for to
preach the gospel unto them, and therefore we came with a
straight course. He's saying here, I think, that
Paul is asking them, pray for us that we may assuredly gather
where it is the Lord would send us and that we might be restored
to go there and make a straight course there to do His will.
Now, I want to point out a few things to you this morning. First
of all, I want you to see the manner in which Paul prayed. Paul said here, if it be the
Lord's will, Do you see that in verse 10? I'm sorry, do you
see it there in verse 19? But I beseech you, the rather
to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner. You know the
difference between the word can and the word may. If you can
do something, only you know if you have the ability to do it,
when you have someone that has the rule over you, it has authority
over you, you ask them if you may do something. You have a
permission. And so that's what Paul is saying
here, pray for us so that with assurance, if it's the Lord's
will, we may be restored to you with a straight course. Then
look at the second thing here, motive. At the second thing is
motive. Paul's motive And I use that
for lack of a better term. Paul's motive here was the glory
of God, of God's Son, and of the church. If you go through
the scriptures and you study Paul's prayer requests, when
he says, pray for us, you'll find it to be this. In Ephesians
6 to 19, he was requesting prayer and he said, and for me that
utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly
to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I'm an
ambassador in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought
to speak. In Colossians chapter 4 and verse
3, He says, pray also for us that God would open unto us a
door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ for which I
am also in bonds, or a willing bondservant. 2 Thessalonians
3 verse 1. He says, Finally, brethren, pray
for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified
even as it is with you. So his motive is if it's the
Lord's will, if I may come to you. And the motive is that God's
gospel be preached, that the gospel of Christ be set forth
so that Christ's people be edified. Now, look with me at Romans chapter
15. Romans 15. I want you to see
this one. It says the same thing, but this
one is just so full of what I'm calling here the manner and the
motive. I want you to see it with me.
Romans 15 verse 30. Romans 15 verse 30. Now, I beseech
you, brethren, For the Lord Jesus Christ's sake. There's his motive. You see that? And for the love
of the Spirit. There's his motive. That ye strive
together with me in your prayers to God for me that I may. There's that manner again. That
I may be delivered. Who's going to deliver him? God's
going to deliver him. Christ's going to deliver him.
A straight course. set him on a straight course,
take out all the hindrances from him, that I may be delivered
from them that do not believe in Judea, and that my service
which I have for Jerusalem may, there's that manner again, if
it's the Lord's will, my service be accepted of the saints, that
I may, there he is again, that I may come unto you with joy
by the will of God, And may, there it is again, with you be
refreshed. Five times here, Paul reminds
them to pray if it be the Lord's will. And the whole motive was,
is that I might be able to be set on a straight course to come
preach the gospel. Now, back in our text there,
this word restored teaches us a great deal. I looked that word
up. And in each case that I saw, this word restored has to do
with Christ. And let me give you, I'll just
read these Scriptures to you. You have your outline there.
You can look them up tonight at your leisure. But let me tell
you what they are. There was a blind man that the Lord took
him out of the city and the Lord plugged up his ears and put some
spit on his eyes. And it says, and he asked him
what he saw, and it says, that man said, I see men as trees. They were blurry to him. And
then he did it again, and after that, he put his hands again
upon his eyes and made him look up, and he was restored and saw
every man clearly. This is an example of Christ
giving someone spiritual sight, and their sight being restored.
That which they lost in the fall in Adam is being restored that
they may see clearly. And who do we see? We see Christ.
And then it's used again in Galatians 6.1, and the word is, Ye which
are spiritual, restore such a one. If a man is overtaken in a fault,
Our fault is when we don't see Christ, when we're removed from
Christ because of our infirmities, or this world, or our sin, our
rebellion. And it says, you which are spiritual,
restore such a one. Restore him where? It's not a
where, it's to whom, it's to Christ. And then in Numbers 35,
25, it says, And the congregation shall deliver the slayer out
of the hand of the revenger of blood. And the congregation shall
restore him to the city of his refuge. That city of refuge,
if a man killed somebody, and the revenger of blood was going
to take vengeance on him and kill him, that man had but one
option, and that was to flee to the city of refuge. And the
word here is for the congregation to restore him to that city of
refuge. Take him to that city of refuge.
That city of refuge is Christ. So we have three instances here
of this word restored and every one of them have their end in
glorifying Christ and being brought to see Him and to behold Him.
So if Paul will be restored, it's going to be by Christ because
He's our help in time of need. If Paul's going to be restored,
it's going to be in Christ because He's our bread and our strength.
And if Paul will be restored, it's going to be for Christ because
when he gets to them with the Gospel, it's going to be, I was
determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. And so how would that be a restoration
unto them? Why does he say that I may be
restored unto you? Because if he's restored personally
by Christ, in Christ, and for Christ, when he gets to them,
It'll be a restoring for them because it'll be by Christ, in
Christ, and for Christ. You see that? Now, I've got one
more thing I want to show you here. The reason that He beseeches
them to pray, the reason that we pray. In Ezekiel 36, the Lord
said, it says this, Ezekiel 36, 33. Thus saith the Lord God,
in the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities,
I will also cause you to dwell in the cities and the wastes
shall be builded. And then he gives a whole list
in great detail of things that he's going to do in building
the waste places and restoring the people. He gives a whole
list of things he's going to do. And then he says this, Thus
saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the
house of Israel to do it for them." In other words, I'm going
to do this, God said, but the house of Israel is going to ask
me to do this. They're going to inquire of me
to do this. Now let me tell you something.
Those men and women who were sitting there, they didn't know
They didn't have any idea the intricate details of how God
was going to do what he was going to do or really specifically
of what he was going to do. But they did know this. They
did know that everything that he did was going to be done by
Him, it was going to be the pouring out of grace upon His people,
it was going to be to glorify His name, it was going to be
to save them from their enemies, it was going to be for their
edification, and it was going to bring them to rejoice only
in Him. And this is what God makes us
to realize we need. No matter what the specific details
are, these are the general particular things that God always makes
us understand we need. We need Him to do His will. We
need grace. We need mercy. We need His name
to be set forth, honored, and glorified. We need that because
we need to be edified, and only He can edify us. We need Christ
to be exalted in our midst. We need more grace continually. And when He brings us, He says,
but yet, I'm going to be inquirative for these things. You're going
to inquire of me, you're going to ask me for these things. Why
is that a good thing? Because God requires us to ask
Him because then we are continually reminded that inward obedience
and outward submission is something that only God can create. You have this happen in your
houses sometimes. You have to ask mom and dad for
something that you want, or something you need. And sometimes we get
to asking things, and mom and dad begin to give us the things
we want, or the things we need, and every time we ask it. And
we get a little full of ourselves. And so we start asking, but we're
not really asking, we're really demanding it. And your father
will say, ask me that again. Stop now and ask me that again.
And this time, ask me like you really believe I'm the only one
that can give it to you. Well, God will make us ask Him
and inquire of Him, and He'll make us inquire of Him, meaning
it, knowing, assured that only He can give it. And He will withhold
the thing until we ask Him that way. until we come to Him asking
Him. That's what true prayer is. True
prayer is an inward obedience, and it is the outward submission
of us coming before God's throne at His feet and asking Him because
we can't provide for ourselves. We have to have it from Him.
I was thinking about this when I was preparing this, and I thought,
you know, let me set this forth for you about how that kind of
how that I have to, what I have to go through when I'm wanting
to try to prepare a message like this and bring it to you. Everybody
listening? Everybody listen. First thing
I have to do is, and I don't always do this, I say I have
to do it because if I'm going to get a word from God, I have
to do this, but I don't always do it. Foolishly, I don't always
do it. But the first thing I have to
do is I have to ask God, before I ever even open this book, I
have to ask Him to clear my mind, clear my thoughts, get the world
out of my heart, out of my attention, so that I can look into this
Word and try to hear, give my full attention to hearing what
He's saying. Then I begin, and I always include
in that prayer that I'm desirous of a message from God for you
for this hour right now. And only God knows what this
word says. Only God knows. We have a tendency
to open this book and go to looking on our shelves and finding all
these commentaries of what men in the past wrote. And there's
some helpful commentaries out there that will help you. But
brethren, we have a direct access to the one who wrote this book.
And we have a direct access to the One who knows the hearts
of His people. And He knows what His people
need. And so we can go to this Scripture
and ask God Himself by Christ Jesus the Lord and what He accomplished. We can go directly to His throne
of grace and ask Him, Lord, what does this mean? What does this
mean? So I have to ask Him for that
first. And then I get to studying. And He shows me something in
His Word. And I get excited. It blesses my heart and I'm thrilled
by it. And if I'm not careful, this
is what I'll do. I'll get up and get to walking
around the house and I'll get to preaching it to the air and
I'll just be so happy about it. I might pick up the phone and
call a a brother or sister and talk to them about it and tell
them what I saw and and we both talk about it and next thing
you know I've completely stopped studying and I've just sit back
and I'm just feeding on what I got but but I don't continue
I just stop and so I have to as soon as I start rejoicing
in something I find myself having to thank him Pour out my heart
to him, thank him, and ask him to keep me focused, keep me looking,
keep me staying the course in this thing. Well, then I get
tired. It doesn't take long. I can read
this book right here, and if you want to fall asleep, just
open up this book, start reading it. The flesh just is weary against
everything about God. And I get weary, I get tired,
and I have to pray to Him and ask Him, Lord, strengthen me,
keep me here, keep me going, strengthen me, keep me going
for Your honor, for Your glory, to edify Your people. And then
once I've got the message and I've got it all prepared, then
I've got to ask God, Lord, would you give me the grace now to
go and stand up and deliver it to the people? Would you speak
from your throne of grace into my heart, into their heart this
hour? Lord, will you do that? I had
to ask Him. He's going to be inquired of
for these things. And then once I've delivered it to you, It's
not over. Then I have to ask him, Lord,
would you keep me from being lifted up in pride? Keep me from
going home and thinking what a good job I've done. Teach me
that after everything, I'm still an unprofitable servant, that
this is all by your grace. Because if not, when tomorrow
comes around and it's time to start all over again, I'll be
so proud of what I've done, I'll pick up this book as if I don't
even need God and start looking into it to try to find a message
that only He can give. So it's a continual, and that's
an example I thought might help to show you that in anything
you do in this world, He said, seek ye first the Kingdom of
God and His righteousness. That means at the beginning,
all throughout, And all the way to the end, be continually asking
Him, Lord, would you restore me? Lord, will you keep me if
it's your will? Will you teach me so that I might
make a straight course with this good news? That it might be for
your glory, that it might be for the edification of your people,
that you might give me grace to do it? And I don't really
find anything in this scripture that tells us, anything in this
whole word that tells us we're here as believers for any other
reason. So I wonder why we pray for these
other things. This is the only reason that
this word says we're here for. The only sole purpose that we're
here for. So I say to you, I trust that from a heart of obedience,
I'm willing to submit outwardly to whatever God would have me
to do for you, but I beseech you, the rather, to pray for
me that if it be the Lord's will, He will restore me with the fullness
of His grace so that I might make a straight course to you
with this gospel.