Go with me if you would now to
Matthew chapter six. Matthew chapter six. Our Bible study this morning
was part one to this message. Effectual Fervent Prayer, Part
One. Tonight's message is titled Effectual
Fervent Prayer, Part Two. The Bible study was an intro.
It was an intro to what our Lord had to say here. And we looked
at the burden that we need to have for ourselves as a congregation
of God's people. The burden of being vigilant
and being, as we just read for a scripture reading, sober about
these things, fervent about the things concerning the ministry
of the gospel. Vigilant and sober and fervent
in these things. And the reason is because if
we're not, if we take what God has given to us for granted,
we'll lose what God has given to us. We will lose our fervent
heart for the ministry. We'll lose our fervent heart
for the gospel. Now I'm not talking about salvation. We won't lose our salvation. The blood of Christ has secured
that for his people. The flesh constantly has it in
its mind that Christ secured everything from this moment past,
and now it's up to me to keep myself. No, Christ secured all
of His people for all of eternity. That's a glorious work that He
accomplished. All of them are secured. And
that's never gonna be taken away from God's people, never. We'll
never be able to do anything that could remove us from the
covering of the blood. We're under the covering of the
blood. And if God put us there, what
God has done is forever. It's forever. Now he has not
put every soul under the covering of the blood. But for every soul that He put
there, they're going to be kept there. Salvation is in His hands. It truly is. We're completely
at His mercy, completely. But for every soul that He shed
that mercy on, they're gonna be kept in that mercy. They're
gonna be kept in His blood. So that's not what we're worried
about losing. As God's people, that's not what
we're worried about losing. All right, well then what is
it? What should we be burdened about losing? And this is a real
burden. This is a real concern that all
of us can enter into. All of us can understand. We
should be burdened about losing our fervent heart for Him. We should be concerned about
that. Thank God He will never lose
His fervent heart for us. Never. Like Paul said Wednesday night
in Philippians 3, he said, I don't count myself to have apprehended.
He apprehended me. Now I just want to in turn lay
hold of him as he has laid hold of me. And thank God he will
never lose his fervent heart for his people. That's good news. That really is good news. But
my concern in my burden is that in my sinful flesh, I might lose
my fervent heart for him. And the fervent heart that he's
given for his ministry. We talked this morning about
where we are right now as the Kingsport congregation. And there's
so much going on and there's just, you don't have a choice,
but to be mentally and, and, uh, heartfelt, physically committed
to the ministry. There's just too much to do,
but we could lose that heart. We could lose that fervent fervency
for the ministry that he's raised up and lose that fervency for
the hearing of his gospel preached. hearing the message that he's
given to us of scripture. I don't ever want to lose a heart
for that message. I don't ever want to lose a fervent
heart for his people. I'm so thankful to the Lord for
saying he's put a love in me for you. I love you. I want to
be with you and I don't want to lose that. I don't want to lose that fervent
heart of worshiping Him with you. When that fervent heart is in
a congregation, happiness is in that congregation. When that
is there, happiness is there. When that ferventness is in the
hearts of God's people, joy is inside the hearts of God's people. Peace is inside the hearts of
God's people. Comfort is inside the heart of
God's people. So having a fervent heart for
the things of God is a privilege given from God. It's not a right
just because He chose us and redeemed us, that's not a right,
it's a privilege that we have. and it's a privilege that we
don't want to have taken away from us. The most miserable place
that a child of God could possibly be is that place of lukewarmness
that we were talking about this morning, that just state of lukewarmness. Someone who is spiritually dead
in sin has no warmness, not even lukewarmness, cold and dead.
But a believer who knows these things and has bowed to these
things, fallen into a state of lukewarmness, a state of complacency,
just a state where there's just nothing going on in the heart.
That's the most miserable place a child of God could possibly
be. And we know it. So when we realize it happens,
when God in mercy sends the cold and we realize I'm cold, that's
what we say. I feel so cold. I feel so dead. That's the beginning to warmth
again in life. You've heard the story. of a
man in a certain congregation a long time ago who fell into
complacency, lukewarmness, that indifference, you know, well,
should I go, should I not go? You know, and it started out
slowly, it started out very subtly, missing, and became more and
more, and you convince yourself that something's more important.
Well, I don't have a choice. Well, it's too late now, you
know. Piddle until finally it's too late, I can't go. Congregation got to a place where
they just didn't see him anymore. So one day the pastor went to
see the man at his house and he was sitting in his living
room by the fireplace and the pastor went and sat down next
to him and without saying a word, he grabbed a shovel by the fireplace
and he reached into the fireplace and got one red hot coal and
took it out and set it on the hearth. And that red hot coal
went, got dimmer and dimmer until it became black as coal. Still a piece of coal, just like
all the other coal. But after it was just black as
coal, the pastor picked it back up and set it back on the rest
of the coals, and it started glowing red hot again. And that
was an illustration to that man, and as the story goes, he said,
yeah, you're right, I understand what you're saying, and I'll
see you Sunday. Now that's a great story, and
that's a great illustration. But do you know that that can
happen right in the pew? You know, we hear something like
that and say, well, that's not me, I'm here. We don't have to leave
for that to happen. That can happen right here in
the pew. You could see me here every single
service and I, even as the pastor, could be going through the very
same thing. Nothing is more miserable for
a child of God than losing that fervent heart for everything
that God has done for us and given to us. When he lets us
enter into what the almighty eternal God has done for us and
given to us, there's nothing better. Nothing more miserable
is losing the heart for it. And nothing more glorious is
having the heart for it. Nothing more glorious. After
hearing the gospel of Christ preached, if a child of God can
say with those two on the road to Emmaus did not my heart burn
within me. That was the greatest heartburn
I've ever had in my life. What a blessed privilege it is
to be able to say, I was glad to be in the house of the Lord. That's a privilege. It's a privilege
to be able to say, behold how good and how pleasant it is.
That's a privilege from God to his people. It's one that we
need to be burdened about keeping. Very, very burdened. We need
to vigilantly guard against losing it. Now, how do we do that? How do we do that? Our Lord said,
pray this prayer and mean it. If this is going to be done,
it's not something I can do for myself. This is a privilege from
God. It's not, it's not the result
of my work. If it's going to happen, he's
going to have to do it for me. He's going to have to do it in
me. He's going to have to put something in my heart. Therefore, the thing that I need
to do is ask him for it. Pray to Him for it. Our Lord
said, pray this prayer in this way, from the depths of your
heart, ask your heavenly Father to do this for you. And that's
what I wanna make real at this moment. Let's do this. Let's do this. This is a critical
thing to understand about everything that comes from our heavenly
Father, every good and perfect thing. He said in Ezekiel 36,
every promise that I've made to my people, his people that
he chose and died for and saved and it's done. Everything I promised
to do for them, I'm going to do it for them. But he said,
they are going to ask me to do it for them. They're going to
ask me to do it for them. James 4 verse 2 says, you have
not because you ask not. For that reason, he's telling
us right here, ask and you'll receive. Ask and you will receive. Now with all that being said,
understanding everything we've said today, may God burden us
with this desire and this prayer in this manner. Our Lord said,
pray, pray this and pray it in this manner. For the sake of
our fervency for our Lord Jesus Christ, our fervency for his
gospel and the ministry of his people, let's pray. Some will say, I'm just not a
big prayer. We need to be, we desperately
need to be. If we belong to Him, we need
to be. Let's be prayers privately in our hearts. You know, I'm
not good at praying. That's irrelevant. Nobody's good
at praying but the Lord of glory. Let's pray. If we are going to
receive anything, it's gonna come from Him. So let's cry out
to Him. And when we do, our Lord said,
when thou prayest, Pray in this manner, pray in this way right
here. If you want to be heard by God, this is what he's saying.
Answered by God, come to him in prayer in this way. This is
instruction from the Lord himself on how to approach him. We may approach him. And this
is instruction on how to approach him. He said, approach in this
way. All right, verse nine, Matthew six, verse nine, it says, After this manner, therefore
pray ye our father, which art in heaven. Our Lord said, pray
to him, pray to the father and approach him as a child of the
father. Approach him. When you pray,
he said, pray in this manner. Approach him as a child of the
father. In your heart, when you go to
him, go to him as a child of the father. Go to him in love. I'm very thankful
I still have my father here on this earth. A child can go to
his father about anything. I can go to Him in love, I can
go to Him in faith, believing He'll receive me. When you go, go as a child of
the Father. Hold your place right here and
turn over to Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11 verse 9 says,
our Lord said, and I say unto you, ask and it shall be given
you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened
unto you. Now our Lord is stating definite
facts, not maybe, not could be, not that's your best odds. He's
saying this is how it will be. Verse 10, he said, for everyone
that asketh receiveth. and he that seeketh findeth,
and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask
bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or
if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or
if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you
then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to
them that ask Him? Our Lord said, go to the Father
in prayer, and when you do, go to Him as the child of His that
you are. and ask him for his Holy Spirit. Ask him, go as his own child. You know, the Lord said, my father
and your father. Go to our father. When you pray,
you say our father, which art in heaven. A child to the father. All right, go back with me to
Matthew six. Verse 9 says, after this manner
therefore pray ye, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed
be thy name. Holy is your name. Holy, holy,
holy. He said when you approach him
in your heart, in absolute sincerity, approach him as a worshiper of
the holy God. I have given examples before,
and I'm not going to take the time to do it again, of people
that I have heard over the years who have approached him so flippantly,
too casually. They brought him down blasphemously,
brought him down so low, just talking to him so low. I've heard
people just start their prayers out with God. Don't do that. Don't do that. Don't come to Him casually. Don't come to Him flippantly.
Don't come to Him irreverently. Come in fear, holy fear and reverence
before the holy God, acknowledging His judgment, acknowledging His
justice. Come to Him crying, holy and
reverend is Your name. He said, come as a child of the
Father, but He said, come as a worshiper of the Holy God.
Our Lord said, after this manner, come to Him, verse 10. Say, thy kingdom come. Approach Him as a subject of
the King. Come in lowliness, come in meekness,
acknowledging His Highness, His absolute Highness. That's what
people say to Kings. Your Highness. Approach Him in His Highness. Approach Him in His glory. Approach
Him in His honor. Approach Him in His praise. I
love how Peter said, we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. His majesty, the King. We sing,
oh, worship the King, all glorious above. Verse 10, he said, thy kingdom
come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Thy will
be done. Thy will be done. He said, approach
as a servant of the master and mean it. Say to him, thy will
be done, and mean it. Let me repeat that. Say to him,
thy will be done, and mean it. As you wish. That's what servants
say to their masters. As you wish. As you wish. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto you. Not my will, but thine be done. He said, Approach as a child
to the Father. Approach as a worshiper of the
Holy God. Approach as a subject of the
King. Approach as a servant of the
Master. In verse 11, He said, Give us
this day our daily bread. He said, Approach as a beggar
of bread. All of our food and our physical
nourishment, all of our sustainment comes from Him. Everything we
have, everything we need comes from Him. We do go to Him for
physical things. I do pray the Lord will provide
for us everything we need. Like David said, don't give me
so much that I forget about you, but so little that I have to
go steal. We do go to Him for these things. But a true child
of God cannot live by physical bread alone. He must have the
bread of heaven, which is every word that proceeds out of the
mouth of God. Now, let me just say something
here. I want to strongly say this,
so strongly, for the sake of our fervency, for the sake of
the ministry, for the sake of all these things. Based on the exhortation of our
Lord himself, Every time that you come into a service and sit
down in a pew and are getting ready to hear the gospel preached,
go to him in prayer as a beggar of bread. Every single time. Every time before the message
starts, before the worship starts, start on the car ride over. Turn
the radio off. That's a good practice. Whenever
we're coming to a service, turn the radio off and go to him in
your mind and ask him to give you your daily bread. Ask Him
to feed you with the heavenly bread of the Word. Don't let
the spiritual manna be doled out by the Spirit of God Himself.
without asking your heavenly Father to feed you too. Even
me, even me, let thy blessing fall on me. If we leave, and
I'm talking about me too, as I preach, whether I'm hearing
or preaching, I want to be fed too. I want the Lord to speak
to my heart too. It's not gonna come through my
nose, it's gonna come through his spirit. And he said, whoever
asks of my spirit is gonna receive it. And if we leave and feel
that we weren't fed and we that's happened to all of us, even under
our, you know, favorite preachers, everybody has their favorites.
It happens to all of us. If we leave and feel we weren't
fed, may it not be because we simply didn't ask him to feed
us. Our Lord said, make sure you say for this fervency, make
sure you say, give us not just me. Give us this day our daily
bread. Pray this on behalf of yourself
and all your brethren. Pray for each other. Pray for
me. Before the service starts, pray
for me. For your own benefit, pray for
me. And I pray for you. I don't want
to be a hindrance. I want all of you to be fed.
It's gonna take our Heavenly Father to feed us. And I just
pray He'll keep me from stealing the food and ruining everything. But pray, pray for me, pray for
you. Pray, give us this day our daily
bread. Verse 12, and forgive us our
debts as we forgive our debtors. Our Lord said, when you approach
the Father in prayer, approach Him as a sinner in need of mercy. Don't approach Him like that
Pharisee we looked at this morning in the temple that was just so
proud of what he's done and just so ready to run up to the throne
and show God and Approach Him as a sinner in need of mercy. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself
said to those that He had died for and put away their sins.
He said, when you approach the Father in prayer, approach Him
as a sinner in need of mercy. Forgive us our debts as we forgive
our debtors. Every sinner who has ever cried
out for mercy has gotten it. all the more reason to cry out
for mercy. Only God's people will cry out for mercy. Only
God's people have been caused to see what they are and see
what they need. So our Lord said, when you cry out, cry out for
what has been revealed to you. I'm a sinner in need of mercy.
I need mercy. Verse 13, he said, and lead us
not into temptation. He said, come to the father in
prayer as an ignorant, ignorant, helpless sheep. in need of a great shepherd.
Lead me, lead us. If you don't lead me, I'm going
to go astray. Temptation is anything that leads
us away from Christ and the ministry and the gospel and God's people.
Say to him, the Lord said, say, I'm so prone to wander. I'm so
prone to fall away, please don't let me be taken away because
of temptations. Everything this world has to
offer is a temptation. Every single thing. Lord, please,
please don't let me be led away. Lead me in paths of righteousness.
Verse 13, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Deliver us. deliver us. He said, cry out as a captive
in need of a deliverer, a bond slave in need of a savior. Verse 13, he said, for thine
is the kingdom. You have all the authority. Acknowledge him in that. He said,
thine is the kingdom and the power. You have all the ability,
all the authority and all the ability. Therefore, he said,
you're gonna get all the glory. Thine is the kingdom and the
power and the glory forever. Forever. Amen. For our good and for his glory,
Lord, put this heart in us, because this is not of our nature. Put
this heart in us, put this prayer in us, put this manner in us,
and please don't ever let us lose the fervency of it. Isn't
that our prayer? Don't ever let us lose the fervency
of it for Christ's sake. May God keep us right there all
of our days here. Please, let's keep crying, please,
please, please, for Christ's sake. Amen. All right, let's all stand together.