May God be pleased to bless us
together this morning as we meditate in his word. Well, we'll preach
this morning, God willing, for just three words. Three words
which you'll find in the first epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians,
chapter five and verse 17. The first epistle of Paul to
the Thessalonians, chapter five and verse 17. And the three words
are pray without ceasing. Pray without ceasing. I suppose we could commence by
asking the question, have we, have you, have I ever prayed? And you may say, well, of course
I've prayed. I've asked for this and I've
asked for that. Well, that may be so, but I wonder
if we can all come and say, well, we have prayed because we have
a spiritual need, because we've prayed to God that the Lord God
would have mercy upon us. I can't answer that question
for anyone else. I can only answer it for myself. And you can only answer that
question for yourself. But it's an important question
as to whether you have prayed to God that your sins might be
forgiven. You might ask the question, well,
why is that important? It is very important for all
of us, young and old, and especially you young people, to realise
that we are living on this earth, but we won't live forever. It's
impossible. All of us, every one of us, will
die in a hundred years' time. None of us will be alive. The
world may have ended by then. But if not, none of us will be
alive. We should all be dead. And then the great question will
be whether we are then in heaven or in hell. And again, there's
no escaping, no escaping. You and I must find ourselves eventually either
eternally in heaven or eternally in hell. Now, if our sins are
not forgiven, if we have not truly prayed, then we shall end
up in hell. And that is a most terrible and
awful consideration. There's no turning back. There's
no escape. And that for eternity. So you and I should be very thankful
that we today are found on this earth and able to read the Bible
and able to hear the gospel preached and are able by the grace of
God to pray to almighty God that he would have mercy upon our
soul and grant that we may have the wonderful evidence that the
Lord Jesus Christ has died upon that cross at Calvary to take
away all our sins. Now it's a great and wonderful
blessing if the Holy Spirit has come into our hearts and given
us a concern to pray to God for mercy. You and you alone can answer
that question. But every one of us must come
to that position before we die. and receive an answer to such
a prayer. And we are to pray in that right
way. And that right way is spelt out
for us in the Epistle of James. It's a very simple statement. And the word of God tells us,
I'll read the fifth verse first, If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God, and you may wonder how to pray. Well, you can ask
God to help you to pray, to teach you to pray. Let him ask of God,
that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall
be given to him. And then we're told we are to
pray. Let him ask in faith. Faith is the gift of God. Faith is to come to God, believing
that he is God and he is a God who hears and answers prayer. And so we are told, let him ask
in faith, nothing wavering, nothing wavering. And then we're told
for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea. driven with
the wind and tossed, for let not that man think that he shall
receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable
in all his ways. So what a blessing it is if God,
by His Spirit, gives you and me faith, God-given faith, to
truly pray to Him and pray to Him that the Lord Jesus Christ
may truly be our Saviour and that truly our sins may be forgiven. You know, it'll bring you and
me to that wonderful place that we read of when the Lord Jesus
Christ gave that parable of the publican and the Pharisee. And
he gave the two examples of people that pray. One really prayed,
the other one didn't pray. He prayed verbally, but we're
told he only prayed with himself. And that was the publican who
was very proud of his religion. He was very proud of all that
he did. And you and I can be very proud what we can do. We can be proud of perhaps even
reading the Bible. We can be proud of going to chapel.
We can be proud perhaps of speaking about things of God and speaking
to other people about the things of God and perhaps almost conning
them into believing that we're a Christian where in fact we're
not. The reality is to have the evidence
of the work of God in our heart and to come praying like the
publican for mercy. He prayed a very simple prayer,
one I often repeat, you know, those who worship here regularly,
and the simple prayer was this, God be merciful to me, a sinner. You see, he realised he was a
sinner. He didn't just say, God be merciful
to me. He said, God be merciful to me,
a sinner. So the great blessing is if the
Holy Spirit has convinced us of our sin and caused us therefore
to pray to God. And this very simple statement
here, to pray without ceasing, if you and I are really concerned
about our spiritual state. We won't just pray such a prayer
once. God be merciful to me, a sinner.
We will continue to pray unto God that he will remember us,
that he will have mercy upon us. And we will need to know
the Lord has had mercy upon us. And the Lord Jesus Christ did
come into this world to save sinners, as the Apostle Paul
says, of whom I am chief. And again, the evidence of the
work of the Spirit of God in our souls will be that we won't
be worried about looking all round to think what people think.
We will be concerned to know what God thinks about us and
to know that we are a saved sinner. Well, I don't know where each
of you stand spiritually today. You have to stand before a holy
God. But that holy God is a prayer
hearing and a prayer answering God for that which you should
be very thankful for. When the Lord Jesus was on this
earth, he spoke about praying. And he was asked by his disciples,
Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And
then, of course, the Lord spoke to them that which we refer to
as the Lord's Prayer. It's a very simple prayer It's
not a long prayer, but it's a very appropriate prayer. And you no
doubt have prayed this prayer. I don't know whether this prayer
is ever now recorded or spoken at schools, but it was when I
was a boy. Of course, things have changed
a lot since then, but it's a very wonderful prayer. And it comes
like this, our Father. You see, we can come to God as
our Father in heaven as we venture to come through the merits of
the Lord Jesus Christ, who presents our prayers to his Father on
our behalf. Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Again, you need to have a right
view of God as a great and holy God. Often people treat God as
just one like themselves. And yet the God that we come
to is a great God, an almighty God. He is the King of kings
and Lord of lords. He spoke the world into being.
How can anybody do that? God did. And God ever lived. How can that happen? You and
I can't understand that naturally. But He ever lived. And what a
blessing it is to realize We come to that God who is eternal. He ever lived and he ever will
live. Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come. That means in two
ways really that God's kingdom might come into this world more
and more and that the Lord might come into our hearts. What a
blessing that is if you and I pray that. Thy will be done, as in
heaven, so in earth. And again, it's good to pray
that, to realize that we want God's will to be done. Often
you and I want our will. We've got a plan. You've perhaps
got lots of plans, you young people. Plans of what God, you
want God to do, and you may pray those things. Well, there's nothing
wrong in doing that, but it's good to come in this way, And
pray, if we pray that, to say, nevertheless, thy will be done. The will of God. Because we can
be sure that God's will is best. Our plans may not be best. God's plans are. Thy will be
done, as in heaven so in earth. Give us this day. Give us day
by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins. Can we also forgive them that
are indebted to us? Well, I wonder if we do forgive
people. It's a fundamental statement that if we expect God to forgive
us, that we should forgive one another. We should never hold
anything against others. However wrongly we've been treated,
and sometimes we may be wrongly treated, But we are still to
forgive people. Because just think how badly
you and I have treated God. We haven't obeyed Him as we should.
We haven't walked before Him as we should. We haven't prayed
to Him as we should. And yet we expect God to have
mercy upon us. We expect God to forgive us.
So we should forgive one another. That's a good testimony, don't
forget that. And forgive us our sins, for
we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us. And then he
says, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. That's
a good prayer to pray every day as you get up and start your
day, to pray that God won't lead you into temptation. The devil
wants to lead you into temptation. and to tempt you, and to make
you sin. He puts things in our way, in
our lives, which are naturally very attractive. And that's why
we need to constantly remember this. This word, pray without
ceasing. Pray to God that he will not
lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. What a
good thing, what a good prayer that is. We know that's recorded
here and in other parts it's extended but nonetheless we'll
leave it just at the moment because then he comes on to the 8th verse
in this 11th chapter of the Gospel of Luke and he says this, I say
unto you this, he speaks about this man who was kept on asking
or came to God and he said I say unto you though he will not rise
and give him Because He is His friend, yet because of His importunity,
He will rise and give as many as He needs. That means to encourage
us to continue in prayer. And then He says in 9th verse,
And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek,
and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. For everyone that asketh, receiveth. And he that seeketh, findeth. And to him that knocketh, it
shall be opened. Well, what a blessing that is.
Now, we must always remember that notwithstanding such a glorious
statement, we must always pray, God willing. Because God knows
what is best for us. but we should realise that we
do have a God, and it's a very humbling thing to think that
God, who is so great, so mighty, so powerful, yet looks upon us
as small, insignificant sinners on this earth, and he does hear
and answer prayer. Well, may we be encouraged then
to come to God and pray that He will look upon us, that He
will indeed have mercy upon us, that He will remember us with
that wonderful favour that He bears to His people. So here
we have this statement this morning to pray without ceasing. Pray without ceasing. I hope
you followed this chapter as we read it down this morning.
It wasn't very long. I know often the habit is to
not follow the reading at all, but it's good if you did read
this morning as I read it to you, because what the Bible tells
us, it gives us wonderful truths. And he tells us, let us not sleep
as do others, but let us watch and be sober. The devil wants
you and me to sleep and to never pray, to ever ignore the blessing
of prayer. You must never forget that we
have a great enemy in the devil and he hates to see you praying
to God and he would do everything possible to stop you praying
to God. And should I say something which
is surprising? Prayer, true prayer, is one of the hardest things. And it's hard because the devil
doesn't want you to pray. And even when you're praying,
or trying to pray, the devil will often distract your thought
and bring other things into your mind. and you wonder what you're
really doing. We have a great enemy and we
have to be very aware of the enemy of our soul when we come
to pray. And we might need to start by
praying that God will help us to concentrate in our prayer. And of course our prayer doesn't
have to be long. But it's important that we pray
in faith. Pray in faith. And so it says,
let us not sleep as to others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep in the night
and they that be drunken in the night are drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day
be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith, that's to believe,
and love, love to God, and from Helmut, the hope of salvation. That means in our mind, in our
spiritual mind, to have that hope that God will have mercy
upon us. Well, what a blessing it is if
God gives you a hope. And then the Word of God tells
us, for God has not appointed us to wrath. Well, there are
those who will not obtain mercy, who are in opposition to God,
but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for
us, that whether we wake or sleep, we shall live together with him. The purpose of our life on this
earth, your life and my life, is to bring honour and glory
to God and to prepare us for our eternal life. Now I wonder if I was to ask
you the question, have you received any preparation from God for
your eternal habitation. Have you had any encouragement
from God? Has God spoken anything to your
heart? A word? A sentence? Has he come to you? Has he spoken
to you? God does speak to his children. God comes and speaks to their
heart and reminds them what they are and reminds them what they
need. It's a great blessing then to
realise that we have a God so great yet doesn't just pass us
by, pass his children by. He doesn't ignore them. And so
what a mercy to realise that this truth applies to us, that
the Lord Jesus Christ died for us. Every one of us, every one
of us, must know that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has died for
us. That means He stood in our place
because we were convicted of our sin as sinners. We were condemned
to die and we were condemned to never go to glory. What a
blessing if we have the evidence that Jesus Christ, as I already
said, came into this world to save sinners of whom I am chief. and have that wonderful hope
that Jesus has died for me. My friends, it is so important. The devil will tell you it's
not. He will say, oh, you can get on without that. Anyway,
you're young, you needn't worry about that. Coming back to what
I said earlier, one thing is needful. And you and I need to
know that Jesus Christ is indeed our Saviour who as the Apostle
said, the Apostle knew it he was telling us from his own spiritual
testimony who died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should
live together with him he's looking forward to heaven at last he's
looking forward to that time when he should have finished
his life on this earth and he's able to say when we should live
together with him. That's a wonderful thought, isn't
it? You may not think so. You may not want to be in that
position. You know, when I was a young
man, or a teenager I think it was, I remember very clearly
there was this situation put before me And I realised I didn't
want to die and go to hell. And also, I didn't want to die
and go to heaven. You might say, well that was
a strange situation. Well it wasn't really, because
I didn't really want to go to heaven. which I knew was a holy
place and where there was worship and praising God, it didn't really
attract me at all. And so you might say, well, what
was the position? Well, I was really in no man's
land. Well, you may be in no man's
land. But what was I able to do? Well,
I remember a preacher directing me what to do and it was very
simple and it was this that he advised us advised me to pray
for a desire to pray after heavenly blessings so I don't know whether that's
suitable for anyone here this morning you may never have had a desire
after spiritual blessings you may have just wanted the
things of this world and perhaps when you came to chapel you were
glad when the service ended you want to get on with your life
well if that is a situation then here
we have a wonderful word to pray without ceasing that the Lord God would give
you a spiritual desire after spiritual blessings. And if that
is truly the work of the Spirit in your heart, the Lord will
grant that. It may not be instant, it may
not be all at once, And usually the Holy Spirit works slowly. Here a little and there a little. Line upon line and precept upon
precept. But the great blessing is to
know that God is working in our hearts. That's the great blessing, isn't
it? And that encourages us. to pray and to pray, to pray
therefore without ceasing. Well, may it be our great privilege
and great favour to know that God is working in us and that
God is giving us a real desire to pray to Him, to pray without
ceasing. when the same apostle wrote to
the Romans and on the 8th chapter, it's a beautiful chapter to read
but it's good also to read some of the truths that he wrote here
and he tells us this we might read in the 26th verse and it
shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto
you, ye are not my people, there shall they be called the children
of the living God. Well, what a blessing. If you
and I are called the children of the living God, that is indeed
the great and wonderful blessing. And this is what We read in the
8th chapter and in the 26th verse, it reads this. 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. You know, maybe if
God has convinced you or is convincing you of your sin, you find that
you groan to God, groan to God, and you're perhaps very capable
of putting good words out, not even framing sentences, but you
can groan to God. Well, here we have that encouraging
word then for you this morning. The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. You see, God knows where you
and I are in our spiritual life. And He can come and help you
and encourage you and strengthen you. So don't be disappointed. And don't think, well, if you
can only really groan, as it were, there's no hope for you. be encouraged and read the Bible
and read this 8th chapter to the Romans and realise what it
says what a blessing it is that the Spirit itself God himself
makes intercession for you 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. You see we have such a kind and
such a gracious and such a wonderfully kind and gracious God so never
be distracted and never realize or never think that God doesn't
hear. God knows exactly the position
that you are in and you should be very thankful and grateful
for that in the second epistle to Timothy. Timothy was of course
someone who was converted under the ministry of the Apostle Paul
and we should be very thankful for that. And he tells us in
the second epistle and the first chapter and the third verse he
says, I thank God whom I serve from my forefathers with pure
conscience that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in
my prayers, day or night and day. You see, the Apostle obviously
was a great man of prayer. Yes, and how we fail by comparison. But we have these glorious examples
for us to indeed come and to pray without ceasing. The Apostle
had many answers to his prayers. And that's a great blessing and
may you and I have great answers to our prayers. Well, I wanted
just to make one or two comments on this fifth chapter because
it is a very wonderful chapter. And a very blessed word it is
for us to take to heart. And so, as I've said, the Lord
who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live
together with him. And he goes on to say, wherefore,
comfort yourselves together and edify one another even as also
ye do. And that's a good statement for
all of us, old and young. for especially believers, those
who have had the answers to their prayers, and who have the evidence
that their sins have been forgiven, to walk in this way and this
path, to edify one another, even as also ye do. It's good
to speak the things of God one to another. In the day and age
in which we live, there's a great lack spiritual conversation,
a great lack of spiritual conversation. There's plenty of worldly conversation,
plenty of worldly conversation, and you young people, it's so
easy isn't it to speak about the things of the world, speak
about the football matches and the cricket and all those kind
of things which occupy your minds, but it's good you know, to think
about the things of God, and to speak about the things of
God, and perhaps to speak very simply and say, one to another,
well, look what God's done. Look at the weather God sent.
We've had a lot of rain in the last few days, which we're thankful
for. We should realize it's God who's
done that for us. edify one another about spiritual
things you know in heaven you won't be speaking about football
you won't be speaking about cricket you won't be speaking about the
things of time you'll be speaking about the things of God and therefore
it's good to realize this we're walking through this world the
devil never wants you to speak about the things of God he never
wants you to edify one another, means to encourage one another
in the things of God. He wants you to shut your mouth.
And it's good to speak to one another when God hears and answers
prayer. To give God thanks for the prayers
he has heard and has answered. It may be in your school examinations. It may be in the work you do
at school, or at college, or university, or wherever it is,
or in the workplace. If God has helped you, you may
have had a very difficult situation. And God's heard your prayer and
helped you. But don't let it lie there, forgotten
in unthankfulness, and without praises die. But edify one another. Encourage one another. by the evidence that God has
heard and answered your prayer. And then he says, And we beseech
you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over
you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very
highly in love, for their work's sake. So that means, really,
not to ignore what preachers say. Not to treat them as though,
well, they're just speaking a load of rubbish. Remember this. Every
true preacher is a servant of God. Every true preacher is a
servant of God. And as I come before you, time
by time to remember, my desire is only and only to speak God's
Word, that which God puts in my heart to preach. I don't want
to preach my words at all. And so realize, and realize solemnly
and truly that as you hear the things spoken, They're not my
words, but I'm just God's servant. Just his mouthpiece, preaching
his words. And don't come and complain,
and say, well, the minister today didn't suit me at all, and he
didn't preach that what I wanted him to. He's God's servant, and
he's preaching God's word. And if you criticize what God's
speaking, you're criticizing God. So be very careful. how you address such statements. And so here we have this wonderful
word from the Apostle, And we beseech you, brethren, to know
them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord,
and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for
their work's sake. And he said, Now we exhort you,
brethren, warn them that are unruly among you, And feeble-minded,
support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none
render evil for evil unto any man, but ever follow that which
is good, both among yourselves and to all men. And then he says,
and I'll just make this a final comment, rejoice evermore. Bless God if you and I have reason
to thank and to praise God for his goodness toward us, for his
mercy toward us, that he's remembered us in our lowest state. He hasn't cast us aside. And
the admonition is for all of us to rejoice evermore in the
greatness of God's love an unmerited favor, His grace. Oh, my friends,
how great it is to have such a kind and gracious God who doesn't
deal with us as our sins deserve, but it is because of His love
toward us. Well, if the Lord touches your
heart and causes you to truly pray, it'll be because of His
love toward you. And let me tell you this, the
response will be, and not the other way around, the response
will be that you then, through His grace, will love Him because
of what He's done for you, unworthy and wretched sinner. Well then,
the message this morning is, in all these things, to pray
without ceasing. And remember, you and I have
a prayer hearing and a prayer answering God. What a mercy,
what a blessing. It is cause to rejoice evermore. Amen.