Let us turn again to God's Word
and we continue in Ephesians chapter 6. Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians
chapter 6 and I direct your attention this evening to the words that
we find here in verse 18. Praying always with all prayer
and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all
perseverance and supplication for all saints." In Ephesians
chapter 6 and verse 18. What we have of course in this
verse is that final part of the believer's spiritual armor, which
is the weapon of prayer. The hymn writer says put on the
gospel armour, each piece put on with prayer and we've considered
over these past number of weeks something of the various parts
of that provision that God has made for his people in this terrible
conflict that they have. Whilst in this world we wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places. Remember similar words
spoken by the Apostle back in the second epistle to the Corinthians,
there in 2nd Corinthians chapter 10. And verses 3 to 5, we see how Paul says something
very similar. Though we walk in the flesh,
he says, we do not war after the flesh, for the weapons of
our warfare are not carnal. They are not fleshly, they are
not of this world. but they are mighty through God
through the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and
every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge
of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ." What a calling is that of the Christian believer. He is to be found a good soldier
of Jesus Christ and how he is to be aware of the nature of
that conflict that he is engaged in. It is, as I said, a spiritual
warfare, not the sort of warfare that we might be familiar with
in this world. We constantly hear of wars and
rumors of wars, but it's not that physical warfare. that nations
so often indulge in one against another but it is a fearful conflict
with Satan and with sin and with every power of darkness and of
wickedness and so there is this provision and we've considered
the various parts of the armour that he's spoken of here from
verse 14 through to verse 17. And as I said, we come now to
this final piece of the armour. Praying always with all prayer
and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all
perseverance and supplication for all saints. And I want us
simply to look tonight at the four Auls that are spoken of
here. We have all prayer, we have all
perseverance, we have all thanks, and we have all ways. And so
by turn, we'll consider these four alls. We begin then with
all prayer. He says, praying always with
all prayer. praying always with all prayer. Now this is not tautology. There's no vain repetition. We
know that. There are not any words that
we might say are idle words in Holy Scripture. The Lord Jesus said that we must
give account for every idle word. and the one who says such a thing
himself has never spoken an idle word. There's nothing idle, nothing
of vain repetition anywhere in God's words. What this opening
statement reminds us of is simply the necessity of us praying,
and not always to pray, We are not ever to cease praying. We're to give ourselves through
prayer, praying always with all prayer. Oh, there is a necessity
there. And we're reminded of that right
at the outset. As I said, if the warfare we're
engaged in is spiritual in its nature, we need that spiritual
power. and that can only come from God
Himself and so we must be those who would call upon Him. We stand
in need daily of God's gracious aid and His enabling. There is a necessity then that's
implied here in the opening part of our text tonight and how we
need that gracious help of the Holy Spirit Himself. You will see how here He says,
it is to be in the Spirit. Praying always with all prayer
and supplication in the Spirit. We need the help of the Spirit
if we're going to pray. We need to know Him as that Spirit
of prayer. It's remarkable how He is spoken
of. He is God. He is the third person
in the Blessed Trinity. God the Holy Ghost and we see
him sometimes as the Spirit of Truth. We're thinking of that
this afternoon at Hedgen there in that 14th chapter of John. He is the Spirit of Truth and
he bears witness to the truth. He shows us the truth concerning
ourselves and our real condition when He comes to reprove or to
convince us of our sins, but then also He is the Spirit of
Christ. He comes not to speak of Himself,
He comes to speak of Christ, He comes to reveal the things
of Christ. His ministry during this Gospel
day is very much that self-effacing ministry. He doesn't draw any
attention to himself. But he comes to exalt the Saviour
of sinners. Though this day in which we're
living, this Gospel day, as I said last week, might be called the
dispensation of the Holy Spirit, yet his ministry is one in which
he, in a sense, conceals himself. Those you see who would want
to make much of what they call spiritual gifts, I think of charismatics
and the like, they completely misunderstand and misuse the
Word of God and abuse the Spirit of God. He is the Spirit of Christ,
as He is the Spirit of truth, but He is also the Spirit of
prayer, and how we need to know Him in that blessed capacity,
the Spirit of grace and of supplications, how He must help us in all our
praying. We have those words, we often
quote them in the 8th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans,
how the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. For we know not
what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit maketh intercession
for us. with groanings that cannot be
uttered. Now, the believer so often is
made to feel that. We cannot find words really that
adequately express the feelings of our hearts when we want to
come before God and we're burdened. How can we vent those deep feelings? It's by the Spirit that we come
with those groanings that cannot be uttered. But he that searcheth
the heart, we're told, knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit,
because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the
will of God. Oh, then we need this ministry
of the Blessed Spirit. Himself, if we're going to be
those who give themselves to all prayer, praying always with
all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. But it's not only
the Spirit that we need. In prayer, the Scriptures make
it plain that we need to know all the persons in the Godhead. We need to know Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit. And are we not reminded of that
in this very epistle to the Ephesians? In chapter 2 and verse 18 we
are told, through Him, He is speaking clearly of the Lord
Jesus Christ in the context here in that second chapter, through
Him, We both, that is Jew and Gentile, have access by one Spirit
unto the Father. Now in this short verse, here
in chapter 2, verse 18, we see what prayer involves. There is
access. And how is he accessed? It is
in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. He only is the mediator. the
one through whom we can approach God, the name that we must plead
and implore in God's presence. Or there is access, and that
is by the Lord Jesus Christ's boldness and access with confidence
by the faith of Him we read. But then there is that blessed
ministry of the Spirit, It is by one Spirit. The Spirit must
come. He must indict all our prayers.
And then there is that blessed meeting with the Father. We come into His very presence.
We come to the throne of grace. We are enabled there to pour
out our souls, to make all our needs known unto God. We need all the persons, you
see. We need God. in all the fullness of his triune
being if we're going to be those who know what real prayer is. We cannot even pray left to ourselves,
poor feeble creatures that we are, but all to come in that
blessed one by that gracious ministry of the Holy Spirit through
the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ and that blessed meeting
with the Father and to call upon him as our Father which are in
heaven, even as Christ himself taught in that pattern prayer
that we read in Luke chapter 11. William Gurnall, in his great
work on this Christian armour, says of prayer that it is the
silver trumpet, the silver trumpet by the sound of which the believer
is to alarm heaven and call God to his succor. That's what we
do when we pray. We blow the silver trumpets.
We alarm heaven itself. And we call God to us that He
would come and strengthen us and support us. Look at what
we read back in Numbers. In Numbers chapter 10 and verse
9, doubtless it would seem is the particular verse that the
good old Puritan was thinking of when he penned those words.
In Numbers chapter 10 and verse 9 it says, "...if ye go to war
in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye
shall blow an alarm with the trumpets, and ye shall be remembered
before the Lord your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemy."
So we need to blow an alarm that God Even God in heaven would
be aroused and come to our support and to our succor. All the importance
then of this great weapon which is called ALL PRAYER. ALL PRAYER. And we have an example
do we not? We have it there in the life
of the man Moses. Remember in Exodus chapter 17,
that awful conflict between the Israelites and the Amalekites? We have the record of it, I say,
in Exodus chapter 7, and it's to be found there at verse... Exodus chapter 17, rather, and
it's to be found there at verse 8 and the following verses. Returning to that particular
portion in that 17th chapter of Exodus, as I say, it runs
really from verse 8 through to the end of the chapter. And what do we read? Well, a
part of it reads this, verse 11, we read, When Moses held
up his hands, Israel prevailed. And when he let down his hands,
Amalek reviled. Here is Moses lifting up his
prayer with holy hands to God in heaven. But Moses' hands were
heaven. And they took a stone and put
it under him, and he sat thereon, and Aaron and Hur stayed up his
hands, the one on the one side and the other on the other side.
And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek
and his people with the edge of the sword. Oh, they were triumphant,
you see. How were they triumphant? As
Moses' hands were constantly held up in all prayer. There was victory then on the
side of Israel and Moses built an altar there and called the
name of it Jehovah Nisai, that is, the Lord my God. The Lord
my banner, our God has given her a banner to them that fear
him, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Here is this weapon then, and
the example written there in the Old Testament, the importance
of prayer, all prayer, and that is written, is it not, for our
learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures
might have hope in all our own conflict with sin and with Satan. really lends prominence to the
idea of a sense of need. The basic meaning of the word
that is rendered supplicate is to want or to need. And then you see it develops
into the idea of asking and imploring. so that that need and that want
will be met. But the basic meaning is to have
that sense of great need. Where there is a great sense
of need before God, there will be these prayers of supplication
to Him, this calling upon Him. And how the believer often feels
himself to be in such need is so weak. He's so unable he cannot
even fashion a right prayer. Again, what does the hymn writer
say? Though to speak thou be not able,
always pray and never faint. Prayer's a weapon for the feeble.
Weakest souls can wield it best. Are we those weak, feeble souls
who feel that we have such a need? We are to pray, we are to call,
we are to cry to God. You see here at the end we come,
what we might say, to what is really the principal weapons
of the spiritual warfare that the people of God are engaged
in. We were looking last week at
the end of verse 17. The sword of the Spirit, which
is the Word of God. That's one of our principal weapons,
is it not? And we thought about the significance
of that weapon of the sword of the Spirit and we see the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself as one who employs that weapon in His conflict
with Satan. Remember when He is led of the
Spirit into the wilderness there in Matthew chapter 4 We read about how the devil assaults
him. Oh yes, the devil will come sometimes
with scripture, but he misquotes the scripture. He misuses the
Word of God, but how Christ uses the Word of God properly. Now
does he answer the temptations of Satan? Three times there at
the beginning of Matthew chapter 4, we read those words where
Christ answers the devil by saying, it is written, it is written,
it is written again. Oh, that is the sword of the
Spirit, that principal weapon in our conflict. And how it was
discovered, of course, at the time of the Reformation. The Word of God was let loose,
was it not, at that time of the Reformation. There was Luther
in Germany translating God's Word into the German language. There was Tyndale here in England
translating the words into the language of the common people.
It was the Word of God. And what does Luther say in his
paraphrase of Psalm 46, that great hymn, Ein Festerberg? God's
Word for all their craft and force, one moment will not linger,
but in spite of hell shall have its cause. It is written by His
finger." It is the Word of God that is such a principal part
of the believers' spiritual armor. As we said last time, how do
they overcome? There in Revelation chapter 12
and verse 11, they are overcome by the blood of the Lamb. They are overcome by that great
work that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished when He shed His
precious blood, when He laid down His life for His people. The blood of the Lamb it says,
and by the word of their testimony. The word of their testimony. or the sword of the Spirit, you
see, which is the Word of God. There in Pilgrim's Progress,
in his fight with Apollyon, how Christian gave him such a deadly
thrust and a mortal wound, it says, with his sword, with his
sword. But there are these two principal
weapons, I say, not only the swords of the Spirit, the Word
of God, but there's also this weapon, this great weapon of
prayer. This great weapon of prayer,
all prayer. Praying always with all prayer
and supplication in the Spirit. Again, remember our Christian
as he continues to tell of the progress of Christian, the pilgrim's
progress. He speaks of him there in the
valley of the shadow of death. And now he was forced to give
up his sword and betake himself to another weapon called all
prayer. And so he cries, O Lord, I beseech
Thee, help me. There is a weapon, you see. There
is that great weapon of all prayer. Oh Lord, help me. And we see it again in that portion
that we read in the 18th chapter of Luke where the Lord speaks
of the man who goes to his house justified. He is that man who
prays. And what is that man's prayer?
God be merciful to me, a sinner. That's how we find justification
before God. That's how we find salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ, when we cry out for mercy. And as
we find our salvation there, our justification there, that's
where we're to find all our help, all our aid. How we need, like
the pilgrim, to take ourselves to that other weapon called all
prayer, and so often cry out when we find ourselves being
assaulted by Satan, when we find our old nature aroused within
us, all the wickedness of the lust of the flesh, we have to
cry out, O Lord, deliver me! Come, Lord God, save me! Visit
my soul! There is then this weapon of
prayer, all prayer. But then also we read here, with
all perseverance, all perseverance. Remember the words of the Lord
Jesus, men ought always to pray and not to faint. What is it
not to faint? Well, it's to persevere. It's
not to give over, but to carry on, to continue, to press forward. We're not to fight. What hope
is there for those who fight? He that shall endure to the end,
says Cross, shall be saved. There is a need for endurance. And so we see the importance
of the perseverance of the signs, do we not? When we think in terms
of that that mnemonic, tulip, that reminds
us of the five points of Calvinism as we call it, the five points
really of the doctrines of the sovereign grace of God. And remember
what that letter P stands for at the end. It stands for the
perseverance of the saints. We speak in terms of their perseverance,
although we could understand it in terms of their preservation,
because the God who has made choice of his people, and the
God who has come to save his people, and the God who has come
to regenerate his people, the great work of the Trinity, and
the election of the Father, and the redemption of the Son, and
the regeneration of the Spirit, surely God will preserve his
sons. And God does preserve his people,
they're kept. They're kept by the power of
God, through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. Or they will endure to the last
time. But we don't speak of preservation. We lay the emphasis, rightly
I say, upon the importance of perseverance. And we have it
here in the text, you see. And watching thereunto with all
perseverance. What are we to do? We are to
be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication,
with thanksgivings. were to make our requests known
unto God. O friends, that we might be those
who persevere in the way. How sad it is. And we do from
time to time read or learn of some who did run well. They did run well and they're
hindered. It's very solemn. Very solemn when we hear such
things of those who have given up. thrown off religion how sad
it is how important that with those who are persevering the
Lord Jesus says to his disciple watch and pray that ye enter
not into temptation those are the words that the Lord Jesus
Christ spoke to those disciples are they not there in the Garden
of Gethsemane where He Himself is agonizing in prayer and He
returns to those favoured three and they are so weary and the
Lord addresses them and tells them watch and pray that ye enter
not into temptation the Spirit indeed is willing but the flesh
is weak. Oh how weak we are friends, how
we need God's constant aid, His help We need to be awake, to
be alert, to be watchful, to be persevering, to be enduring. If we're going to be those who
are good soldiers, if we're going to be those who would fight that
good fight of faith, we're to be sober and to be vigilant. Says Peter, because your adversary,
as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour to
be sober then and vigilant that's what we're called to as we're
called to all prayer it must be with all perseverance we just
keep pressing on we just keep on praying we're never to give
over praying but then what do we read in the third place all saints. For all saints, it says at the
end of the text, praying always, with all prayer and supplication
of the Spirit, watching thereunto, with all perseverance and supplication,
for all saints. Now Paul himself Is he not an
example of this praying for all saints? He says to the Philippians
in chapter 3 and verse 17, you have asked for an example. He's
a pattern. As he writes these words and
gives this exhortation to prayer, he's not a man who is requiring
them to do something that he was a stranger to. He is a pattern
of what it means to be praying for all saints. How Paul himself
would pray is a pattern, you see. He's a
pattern. I like the way he addresses the
Philippians there in in chapter 4 and verse 9 he says
those things which ye have both learned and received and heard
and seen in me do what a pattern is this those things which ye
have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do now
what did Paul do as I said is a pattern of praying for all
saints and we have it you know in this very epistle we have
the prayers of the apostles I think we did once look at some of these
prayers of the apostles probably on a Thursday evening but we
have we have prayers of Paul in this particular epistle in
chapter 1 for example at verse 16 he can say to the Ephesians, how He does not cease. He says, Cease not to give thanks
for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the
eyes of your understanding being enlightened, and so on. He tells
them what is the content of His prayer for them. There, from
verse 16 to the end of that first chapter, we have one of the prayers,
as it were, of the apostle. He prays for all the saints that
he's writing to. But not only in the first chapter,
we see something very similar in the third chapter. He prays
again for them. There, in chapter 3, at verse
14, He says, For this cause I bow
my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the
whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant
you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened
with might by his Spirit in the inner man, and so forth. He's
praying for them. And so when we come to the end
of that third chapter, he says his Amen. What do we have there? From verse 14 through to verse
21 we have a prayer. And what is Paul doing? He is
praying for all saints. And we are to pray. For all the
saints we are to pray for one another. Are we not those who can confess
with the ancient church in the words of the Apostles Creed,
I believe in the communion of saints. or there is such a precious
truth as that, the communion of saints, that one true Catholic,
in the right sense, universal, one true holy Catholic Church. We believe in it. Don't let the
Romanists, you know, steal the word from us. We believe that
there is such a body of people who are the true Church of God,
and that to be found amongst all the nations of the earth
and with the pride for all the saints and we can be encouraged, can
we not? Remember when we read in Hebrews in chapter 11 that
tremendous chapter that gives us an account of all those who
have gone before the great heroes of faith in the Old Testament
And when Paul comes to the end of that 11th chapter and we move
over into the next chapter, what does he say? Wherefore seeing
we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. All this great cloud of witnesses. And as you know, the word that's
rendered witness here is really the word for martyr, it's the
Greek word, from which our English word martyr is but a transliteration. All those who suffered, who bled
and died in the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ, that noble
band of martyrs, We don't pray to them, we don't pray for them,
they are now in heaven, but we draw encouragement from them
because we believe in the communion of saints, even those who have
gone before. Oh, there is comfort you see
in all saints. Peter says, Beloved, think it
not strange concerning the fiery trial that doth try you as though
some strange thing happened unto you. There is nothing strange.
This has always been the lot of the people of God. In the
world it says, Christ ye shall have tribulation. And Paul echoes
that, we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom. Can we
not draw comfort that we're in this awful conflict, we're in
it together. we are in it together and God
himself is aware of our conflict there is no temptation taken
you but such is as is common to man and God will not suffer
you to be tempted above that you are able but with the temptation
shall make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it what we experience then is not
peculiar to us God's children often think that they are so
different to everyone else. How often like the Psalmist we
imagine that we're a sparrow alone on the housetop. There's
no one quite like me. No one has the trials and the
troubles I have. Friends, it's not true, is it? There is such a doctrine as that
of the communion of saints, and we're to pray for all saints.
We're to pray for one another, we're to encourage one another.
And that's all part of the conflict you see. It's supplication for all saints. And then finally the last all
is that that stands first of all in the verse, praying always. Praying always, with all prayer. Well you know how there are a
multitude of texts we could refer to here because we find as he
writes his epistles to these various churches Paul is speaking
throughout with one voice, he's encouraging them in exactly the
same conflict is he not, he writes to the Colossians There in chapter
4 and verse 2, continue in prayer, he says. Continue in prayer. Praying always. Continue in prayer
and watch in the same with thanksgiving. Writing to the Thessalonians
in his first epistle in chapter 5 at verse 17, that short verse,
he says, pray without ceasing. Or don't give over, pray. keep
on praying keep on praying how effective it is Satan trembles
when he sees the weakest saints upon his knees the Lord Jesus
Christ himself said it men ought always to pray men ought always
to pray and not to faint. Long as they live, should Christians
pray, for only while they pray, they live. And what of this prayer? Why, it is a mark of the favour
and the blessing of God. Shall not God avenge his own
elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with
them, says the Lord Jesus? What is the mark of the elect?
We know that there are some who all their lifetime are subject
to bondage. And some are subject to this
bondage, you see, they're fearful, they're unsure, they're uncertain
as to their election. Am I elect or not? It's a fearful
doctrine. It is a fearful doctrine, is
it not? The doctrine of God's absolute sovereignty. the doctrine
of a double predestination. Am I really amongst that blessed
company who are of the election of grace? Well, Peter says, brethren,
give diligence to make your calling and election sure. It's not wrong for us to be concerned
to know whether or not we are of that blessed company, the
elect, But how do we make it sure? Well, observe the order
that Peter gives there in his second epistle. He says, you're
calling. How can we know our election?
Election is secret. None can pry into the Lamb's
Book of Life. The Lord knoweth them that are
His. How can we know whether we're elect? By calling. And
what is that calling? It's God's effectual call. When
God comes and works in the soul of the sinner and calls the sinner
by His grace, that efficacious grace of God that makes the sinner
willing. And what is the first evidence
of that work of the Spirit? Well, look at Paul. Look at Paul
when he is called by the Lord Jesus Christ there at the very
gate of Damascus. And that man Ananias, the faithful
disciple of Christ, is sent to that street called Straits. And
he's going to that man who is the arch-persecutor, and he needs
to be reassured. And what does the Lord say concerning
this man who has been called? Behold he prayeth. God calls His people, and when
God calls His people, they call upon God. That's the evidence
of election. His own elect, says the Lord
Jesus Christ, which pray day and night unto Him. They pray
day and night. They're praying always. They're
praying always. Oh, it has been said that Prayer
is man's best weapon. It is both offensive and defensive. It is a preservative to ourselves. It is a dagger to our enemies. It has that twofold service,
you see. It defends the people of God, but it is offensive also.
Now, as we've gone through the armour, we've observed that much
of the armour is defensive. We said this last time. In those
verses from verse 14, we have the girdle of truth, we have
the breastplate of righteousness, the feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace, we have the shield of faith, the helmet
of salvation, or as it says in 1 Thessalonians 5.8, the helmet
of the hope, of salvation. And all of these parts are not
used for attack, they're not offensive, they're the defensive
part of the believer's armour. But there is that part that is
offensive, and what is it? Well, it's the sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God. And then we come to this final
piece, as I say, in our text tonight, this great weapon of
all prayer. And that is a weapon that is
both defensive and offensive. And God has provided it. God
has provided it, and it is the exhortation. How we need to be
those who would give ourselves to prayer and yet alas how slow
we are to pray, well I certainly am so slow to pray so slow to
pray and yet so much needing to be one who would call upon
God to be praying always with all prayer and supplication in
the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication
for all things. And then Paul asks this of them,
And for me, he says, 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 am an ambassador in bonds, that therein I may
speak boldly. as I ought to speak." He desires
that they would pray for him and he speaks of the need of
that prayer of the saints with regards to his own ministry of
the gospel, his own preaching of the Word of God. That's what
he's saying in verses 19 and 20, while the Lord willing We'll
come to consider what he has to say there as we conclude this
short series on the believer's armor. But tonight let me leave
you with this blessed verse, this gracious provision that
our God has made. He's made a way of access for
us. Oh the Lord Jesus Christ is that one who has come. He
is the mediator between God and man. He is the mediator between
man and God. Christ has come. And what has
he done? He's the image of the invisible
God. He's revealed God to us. Oh,
he's revealed God to us in all his grace and all his mercy. He has come and made that one
sacrifice for the sins of his people forever. He has reconciled
sinners to God. And now he is risen. Now he is
ascended. He's now entered into heaven
itself. where he ever lives to make intercession
for all that come to God by him. Oh, let us be those who would
come, and come, and keep on coming, praying always with all prayer
and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all
perseverance and supplication for all things. The Lord bless
to us His Word. Amen. what various hindrances we meet
in coming to the mercies yet who knows the worth of prayer
but wishes to be opted in number 395