If you would like to first locate Malachi chapter three, and then Luke chapter one, we'll be looking at those to open the message this evening. And as you're locating those, let me tell you what a great blessing it is for me to be able to be with you two weeks in a row, two Tuesdays in a row, feel a little spoiled. And I'm very delighted to be here. It is my earnest, earnest plea God will speak to us through His Word this evening. I've titled the message tonight, God Finally Speaks Again.

Malachi chapter 3 verse 1, the last, now this is the last book in the Old Testament, the last prophet here through the Old Testament. Chapter 3 verse 1, behold I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple. even the messenger of the covenant whom you delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. Now look over at chapter four, the last two verses of the old Testament.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers. Lest I come and smite the earth, with a curse. The Old Testament ends with that promise of the forerunner coming before the savior comes.

Now look over at Luke chapter one. Now from Malachi until here in Luke chapter one, 400 years has gone by. This nation has existed for 250 years. You just think about another 150 years, 400 years has passed. And God's been completely silent. He hasn't said another word. And if that happened to you and me, we would think God's forgotten us, hadn't we? God made us this promise. And we would think after 400 years, God's forgotten his promise. We would think God's not going to keep his word. But now after 400 years of silence, it's time for God to act and do what he promised that he would do.

And you know, that's what God always does. God always does what he promised to do and what he purposed to do before he created anything. Before God ever said, let there be light, he purposed everything that would happen in human time. And all human time is, is the unfolding of God's purpose that he purposed in himself before the foundation of the world. Now it's time to act. And after 400 years, when God speaks, What do you reckon he says? He says the exact same thing he said 400 years ago. Look at Luke 1 verse 16.

And many of the children of Israel, so he turned to the Lord, their God, and he shall go before him and the spirit and power of Elias. Now this is not Elijah coming. It's John the Baptist coming with the spirit and power of Elias, the same message that Elijah had. And he's coming to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

When God spoke again, He said the exact same thing He said before. Nothing has changed. So I wanted us to look at this about what happens when God speaks. God has finally spoken again. What happens when God speaks? Well, number one, I see here that when God speaks, He speaks in grace to believers.

In verse five says that there was in the days of Herod, the King of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias of the course of Abia and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth. Now, oftentimes, when I read about people in scripture, you know, I wonder, well, you know, were they believers? I mean, are they just used as an example or an illustration to us? I know for sure Zacharias and Elizabeth were believers because look what the scripture says about in verse six.

And they are both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless. Now, you know, Zachariah and Elizabeth were just like us. They're not on some higher spiritual plane than us. They're exactly like you and me. They're a son and daughter of Adam, just like we are. But the scripture here says that they were righteous before God. Now, there's some good news in that statement. That tells me that God has provided a way for sinners to be made righteous. Zacharias and Elizabeth didn't make themselves righteous. They didn't make themselves righteous by obeying God's law and keeping all the ceremonies. They're made righteous the same way any sinner is made righteous. It's not by our works.

It's by faith in Christ, by trusting Christ. When Christ was made sin for his people, The scriptures tell us he made his people the righteousness of God in him. And his blood that he took, he took the sin of his people into his own body upon the tree. He made that sin his, and he put that sin away by the sacrifice of himself. His precious blood washed it all away. Now, what does that leave his people? If their sin's gone, they can't be anything but righteous, can they?

Isn't that amazing? The gospel, it never ceases to amaze me. I mean, I've known the gospel in my head, in my head, as long as I can remember. And it still amazes me. It still thrills me. I'll sit in my study sometimes and just laugh out loud. It's just, what an amazing story. To be made what we're not. To be made righteous. Now, don't you love that?

Here's a pretty good hint of telling if a man's preaching the gospel or not. If the message that a man preaches takes all the pressure off of you, takes all the responsibility off of you, and puts it all on the Savior, that's the gospel. And don't you love that, having all the pressure taken off of you? Have you had enough pressure today? How about we have something taken off of us by looking to Christ? That's what this story is about. And it says Zacharias and Elizabeth, they walked in God's commandments and ordinances the same way that you and I can do that.

Not by our works, but in Christ our representative. If you trust Christ, you have walked in God's commandments. If you trust Christ, you have obeyed every commandment of God in the person of Christ your representative. The same way Adam made you a sinner, because you did what he did, Christ made his people righteous, because when he obeyed the law, so did his people.

And God, in his infinite wisdom, goes a step further and causes his people to be born again, born again with a nature that obeys the commandment of God. Of all the commandments that you read, pages and pages and pages of commandments and the Mosaic law, this is the commandment of God. This is where every commandment of God points us to. believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the commandment of God. Now, God commands us to obey that commandment, and he gives us a nature that will obey it, that can't do anything but trust Christ.

They were made righteous, same way we are. This is the point I'm trying to make. And it says here they were blameless. And we're going to read a little bit about Zacharias here in a minute, and you're going to be able to tell plainly, Zacharias is not blameless by what he has done or doesn't do.

He's blameless in Christ. If you trust Christ, you know why you're blameless? Christ took your sin away. There is not one sin you can be blamed with. Not one sin that God will blame you with at any rate. We can blame each other. Satan will blame us and charge us. But there's not one sin Almighty God will blame you for. And that's all that matters is what God will do, what God sees, what God says. And he will not blame his people for any sin because Christ took your sin away.

Look at Colossians chapter one for a moment. Colossians chapter one, verse 21. And you, even you, us, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight."

Now, that's a miracle. It's a miracle I'm thankful for. to be blameless in God's sight, to be holy in God's sight. And the only thing you can say is, that's all God's doing. I didn't do that. That's all God's doing. And I lay hold on that by God-given faith.

God speaks in grace to his people. And number two, when God speaks, he speaks in grace to a tried people. says back in Luke chapter 1, and they had no child because Elizabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years. It was past the time that naturally that Elizabeth could give birth to a child. And you know at that time being childless was considered pretty much the worst trial that somebody, particularly a woman, could suffer. It was just considered a curse or a judgment from God. And even today, with all of our medical advancements and knowledge and all these things, there's still couples who are childless.

And that's a trial. I mean, that's a trial. I mean, it's just the sadness of having no children. When I got here tonight, what did we talk about, Shelby? Our children, our grandchildren. I mean, it's such a joy. But at this time, I'll tell you what made this trial even worse.

Everybody in Israel was looking for the coming Messiah unless they'd given up on God's promise and they're tired of waiting 400 years anybody with any sins was still waiting on God to fulfill his promise and send the Messiah and Everyone in Israel wanted to be the woman that gave birth to the Messiah and if you can't have a child you're not going to be able to give birth to the Messiah and This is a great trial Now I'm not poor mouth in here Believers are blessed beyond words. I mean, blessed beyond words. God has given his people faith to lay hold on Christ, to see Christ, to believe Christ, so that you can't quit believing him. So that you receive a blessing for your soul when you hear Christ preached. I mean, we are the most blessed people. I mean, it's just, human words just can't express it, can it?

But that will not exempt us from heartaches and trials. Matter of fact, it's the guarantee that they'll come to us, isn't it? What our Lord tell his people, in this world, you shall have tribulation. And it's the Lord that brings them. It's not like he's saying, well, you're going to have trials and tribulations because I can't stop them from coming. No, the Lord's the one who sends them. He sends trials and troubles our way. And they're hard ones. They're hard ones.

And there are many reasons, I don't know all the reasons why the Lord does what he does, but I do know a few things. This is the Lord's way to keep us dependent on him. You know, just a minute, God, I mean, I just barely touched the surface on how blessed we are. I mean, people who trust Christ, I mean, so blessed. And if the Lord didn't send us trials to humble us, to constantly remind us we are completely dependent on him, that we can't do anything for ourselves, our heads would be so big we couldn't walk through that door. He keeps us dependent. He humbles us so that people can stand to be around us, so that we can be of use to one another.

He sends us trials to keep us looking to Christ. Boy, I tell you, you don't look to Christ with any more focus than when the Lord just lays you flat down. Boy, that's when you're looking to Christ, aren't you? You're looking to Him, you're trusting Him. He sends us trials to wean us from this world.

As much as I have grown to dislike this world, Still pretty good place. I mean, you got family, you got friends, you got brethren. You just, you know, I look forward all day to seeing y'all. I mean, you know, if the Lord doesn't wean us from this world, we'll never want to leave.

And he has a way of doing it, doesn't he? He has a way of doing it. I have watched a number of believers and I've sat at their deathbed. And they know it. I mean, it's not just like I'm sick. I don't know what's going to happen. They know I'm dying. And I've never heard one of them say, never wish I could stay here longer. Every single time they said, I'm ready to go be with the Lord. I sure wish he'd take me now. Every single time he, the Lord has a way of, of, of making us feel that way.

So we don't like trials, do we? But they're for our benefit. I can look back at the trials that I've gone through and Jan and I have gone through over the past 38 years of our marriage, and I look back and I see the Lord brought a benefit from that trial. It was painful, it was awful, but I see the benefit that the Lord brought from it. And as much as I can possibly say this, truthfully, I'm thankful for them. I'm thankful for them, for what the Lord used them to teach me. Now that doesn't mean I want the next one, because I don't want pain and suffering and heartache any more than anybody else. But when the Lord sends it, it's still going to be for our benefit. It really will. And you know what?

It could be that that trial is going to lead us to some blessing that we could not have and could not enjoy Were it not first for going through that deep Valley without going through that refiners fire, we had to go through that first before we can enjoy this, this blessing that, that God has in store for us. That's certainly the case here for Zacharias and Elizabeth. Well, here's the, now they're tried people, but thirdly, when the Lord speaks, he speaks in grace to his people. He speaks to a tried people. And he speaks to give them a precious promise. This book is full of precious promises for God's people.

In verse eight, it says, it came to pass that while he executed the priest's office before God and the order of his course, according to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went in unto the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense, And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him, fear not Zacharias for thy prayers heard and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son and thou shall call his name John and thou shall have joy and gladness and many shall rejoice at his birth.

For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and he shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb, and many of the children." Zacharias is going to recognize this scripture. He understands this. This angel is telling you his son's going to be the forerunner of Christ. Many of the children of Israel, shall he turn to the Lord their God, and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

Now, Zacharias walked in to do his job of putting incense on the coals on that altar of incense, something he'd done hundreds of times probably before. I'm sure he approached it reverently and carefully, but he sees an angel standing beside that altar of incense And it says, fear fell upon him. He was troubled. What that means is he was terrified. He saw this angel, he was terrified.

You know, people are so fascinated with angels, aren't they? And it just shows, that shows you something about our fallen nature. People are more fascinated with angels than they are with Christ, with God. And they just want to see an angel and oh, this angel, you know, they talk about angels appearing to them or something, you know, Tell you this, every time in scripture, somebody saw an angel, they were terrified. They were terrified. And the angel told Zacharias this sweet message of the gospel.

Fear not. Fear not. That statement, fear not, is in scripture 63 times. Fear not. I'm going to read you just a couple of them. Joel 2 verse 21. Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice, for the Lord will do great things. If you're a great sinner with a great need, doesn't it thrill your heart to hear the Lord will do great things?

Fear not. Isaiah 43 verse one, fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. Now, if Almighty God has redeemed you, he's called you by name and he says, you belong to me, fear not. What do you have to be afraid of? If you belong to God, God's going to take care of his own. Fear not. Isaiah 43 verse five, fear not for I am with thee. Now, if the Lord's with you, what do you have to fear?

You know, I was a little boy living here in Danville. On our street, there was a bully who had decided to beat me up once or twice. And when I would go out to ride my bike, if I'd get to the end of my driveway, his house was left. I never turned left. I always turned right. Always. Well, I went out one night riding bikes with my dad. Dad turned left. You know what I did? I turned left too with absolutely no fear because of who was with me.

How much more? I mean, that illustration maybe even ought not be used as a, as a, as a picture of our God. But if our God's with you, what do you got to fear? Huh? Luke 12 verse 32, fear not little flock. for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." He's given you the kingdom. He's put you in the kingdom of His dear Son, translated you from darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son. If you're in the kingdom of Christ, what do you fear? Who can attack His kingdom? Who can affect His kingdom?

Nobody. Fear not. In Revelation 1 verse 17, When our Lord appeared to John on the Isle of Patmos, John said, when I saw him, I felt his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me saying, fear not. Now the sentence doesn't end there. Fear not. Now that's true. But the Lord tells him, why you don't fear?

Because I'm the first and the last. I'm the alpha and the omega. I'm the beginning and the ending of salvation and everything in between. It's all my responsibility. It's all on me. I've done it all. Fear not. Fear not. You don't have to fear facing God in judgment if Christ is your alpha and omega, do you? If he's all of your salvation, you have nothing to fear.

This is something else I told Shelby earlier when I got here. When I was a young man, we had young children. I didn't have good sense. I just wasn't afraid of anything. I wasn't afraid of nothing. I mean, you know, if the girls fell down the stairs or whatever, you know, we'll patch them up and they'll be fine. I mean, I just, I'd had no fear. If, you know, I lost my job or whatever, I had no fear. I'll just outwork it. I mean, no fear.

Now I'm afraid of everything. I mean, if I'm with my little grandson, I'm afraid of everything. I'm afraid of any, I mean, I'm just so full of fear. It's awful. But when I read those scriptures, I can't remember what I was afraid of. See, it all depends on where you're looking. It all depends on the message that you're hearing, doesn't it?

Fear not. Don't fear being condemned. The Lord your God is your Savior. Don't fear being left alone. I'd say loneliness is one of the most difficult things. Long-term loneliness is such a difficult thing to endure. But don't fear it. Our God has promised to be with his people. He said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. He'll be with you.

Some years ago, one of our dear ladies, her husband passed away and I preached his funeral and loved them both so dearly, so dearly. And, uh, I was so worried about her being all alone in the world. They had no children as I was just so worried about her. And, uh, Every couple of days, I'd call her. I'd drop by to check on her, you know. I called her one day and asked her, you know, how you doing? She said, I'm doing so good. She said, I'm sitting here propped up in bed talking to my best friend. She said, my best friend's with me.

He'll not leave you nor forsake you. And don't fear trials or troubles like we talked about earlier, because the God who loves you The God who made you his, the God who redeemed you with his own precious blood, he's the one that's ordained them, and he's ordained them for good.

And this is what the angel came to tell Zacharias, you're in a trial now. I understand, I understand that you're downtrodden, you're heartbroken, it's such a difficult thing to endure, but you're gonna rejoice. You're going to rejoice in the son that God's going to give you, and you're going to rejoice in the Savior that's coming right on his heels. You're going to rejoice. And that's what the gospel is to us. The gospel is given to us to reveal Christ to us, to give us faith in Christ, and it ought to cause our hearts to rejoice. It really should.

And Zacharias should have been rejoicing. But to prove to you what I said earlier, that Zacharias and Elizabeth are just like us, this is the fourth thing. Even though God speaks, there's still unbelief in every believer. Verse 18, as Zacharias said unto the angel, whereby shall I know this?

For I'm an old man and my wife well stricken in years. Now that might sound like an innocent question, but it's not. It's plain old unbelief. Plain old unbelief. And unbelief, if I can say it this way, is the worst sin. There's really no sin worse than another. But the only sin that'll damn a man or a woman is unbelief. When God sends people to hell, He's not going to do it for breaking the Ten Commandments. He's not going to do it for not observing the ceremonies.

It'll be because of unbelief. That's why. Unbelief. Now, that being said, this was a bad question by Zacharias. What he's saying is, how can I know you're telling me the truth? I don't really trust you. How can I know you're telling me the truth? Now, that question ought not be asked, but that doesn't mean you can never ask God a question. It doesn't mean that at all.

If you look over a page, Luke 1 verse 34, here's a question somebody asked. The angel came to Mary and told her she's going to give birth to the Savior. And verse 34, then said Mary unto the angel, how shall this be, seeing I know not a man? Now there's a big difference in the two ways that those questions are asked.

One is, well, I believe you, but how's this going to be? I'm a virgin. A virgin can't give birth. How can this be? which is much different than saying, okay, you're going to have to prove to me you're telling the truth before I believe you. So that we can ask God questions and we ought to do it, you know, in the right way.

But this is going to be something all of us always struggle with. Every believer has two natures in one body. And those two natures are the polar opposites of each other. The flesh and the spirit, the old man and the new man, And those two natures are always going to fight.

That old man is always going to ask the question, how can I know you're telling the truth? He's always going to be pushing us to trust in our own works, to not trust Christ, to not believe that the promise of God, he's always going to do that. And from time to time, we're going to listen to him and we're going to act a fool. But you know what?

Even that sin to the believer is forgiven. It's forgiven, but God will still correct us for it. You know, this is the example that I use, uh, frequently, um, your sins forgiven. If you're a believer, your sin is forgiven, but that doesn't mean that you're free from the effects of sin.

And the example that I use is you could go out on this road out here and, uh, Just try running about a hundred miles an hour up and down that road for a little bit. You're going to pay the price. Policeman's going to see and you're going to pay the price and it's going to be your fault.

God will not cast his people out. Their sin is forgiven, but he will correct us for it. Look here at verse 19. And the angel answering said unto him, I'm Gabriel, the stand and the presence of God. And I'm sent to speak unto thee, to show thee these glad tidings. I'm coming to tell you, this is what God said. I just came straight from the throne of God. And behold, thou shalt be dumb and not able to speak until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.

Now, Zacharias paid the price, didn't he? God corrected him for this sin in questioning God. But here's the good news. God didn't cast him off. God didn't say, oh, well, if that's the way you feel, then I'm going to strike your name out of the land's book of life. You're out.

No, he didn't do that. And Zacharias' unbelief didn't change the purpose of God. And it didn't change the promise of God. God didn't say, Oh, well, you know, you don't believe me. I'm going to pick somebody else to desire the, the, the forerunner of Christ. It didn't change God's God's will. It didn't change his promise. Our sin does not affect God's purpose. It doesn't, God is not reacting to us.

Like, you know, we have the example that I use as a, or heard as a plane flying from, you know, here to California. And that thing's on autopilot. And if the wind will blow or whatever, you know, it'll get a little off course and the autopilot will correct it to keep it on course. God's not using little corrections to keep creation on course. He's not, that would be reacting to you and me.

He's always doing exactly what his will and purpose is. And one of the things that I know is God's will is it pleased him to make you his people. And if you're one of his children, he'll never cast you off. He'll never write you off. He'll never change his purpose of mercy and grace for you.

And here's the fifth thing. When God speaks, there's a message of the forgiveness of sins from God. That's the message of John the Baptist. You're the message of John the Baptist. Number one is to repent. John came preaching repentance. Now repentance is not just being sorry. The word means a radical change of mind. It means to turn 180 degrees and believe the exact opposite of everything that you used to believe. You're going to turn and trust in the exact opposite of everything that you used to trust in.

Anything other than Christ alone is an idol. If it's Christ plus your works, or Christ plus your baptism, or just plain old works, earning your way to God, that's an idol. And we've got to turn from that and turn to Christ. But here's the problem with you and me. It's not a problem for God, it's a problem for you and me. We can't do it. We cannot turn from our idols and turn to Christ. We cannot make ourselves do it.

God's got to grant repentance. Well, you know what we can do? I can't make myself repent, but you know what I can do? I can ask God to grant me repentance. Isn't that what Jeremiah said? Lord, turn me and I'll be turned. You turn me to Christ and I'll be turned. So Lord, grant me repentance. This is the message of John the Baptist. God's going to grant repentance to somebody. I'm going to ask him if he can grant it to me.

Second, John's message was, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Now John is the last Old Testament prophet. He came just like all the other prophets in the Old Testament saying, Christ is coming, Christ is coming, Christ is coming. When Janet used to teach three, four and five year olds in the Sunday school class, she would tell them that the Old Testament said, someone's coming, someone's coming, someone's coming, someone's coming. And that's what John the Baptist was saying.

Someone's coming. The Savior's coming. You prepare to meet him. You prepare to fall at his feet and beg him for mercy. You prepare to fall at his feet and worship him. And John had the blessed privilege of doing something no other Old Testament prophet could do.

Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Look at Him. This is the Lamb of God. This is what all those Passover lambs pictured. This is what all those sacrifices pictured. Behold, look to Him. He's the Savior. And He's so great. He's so mighty. The only thing we can do is reference Him. He is so much greater than me. John the Baptist was somebody. Our Lord says there's not risen a greater born among women, greater than John the Baptist. John said, I'm not even worthy to bend down and untie his shoe. Oh, he's great.

You prepare to meet him. You prepare to worship him. You prepare to bow down and beg him for mercy. Behold, the Lamb of God, here he is. Now you look to him. You trust him. Look to him. Here he is. Rejoice in him. He has come to save his people from their sin. He's not, he's not come to show you how to be saved. He's not come to give you an example that if you follow it, you'll be righteous. He's come to save his people from their sin and make them righteous. David said, there is forgiveness with thee. John the Baptist said, here's how he's going to do it.

The blood of the lamb. Now you look to him, you look to him and be saved. And just like Just like repentance, faith is the same thing. Faith is the gift of God. I can tell you as a commandment from the word of God, right now, right where you sit, you trust Christ. You believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And I know that you can't make yourself believe Christ because I went years trying to make myself believe it. Couldn't do it. then ask God to give you faith. Ask him to give you faith, to trust Christ.

You know, it'd be just like God to do it. Wouldn't it be just like a merciful and gracious God to give you faith in Christ? Be just like him. Be mighty good idea to ask him. He doesn't have to, but be a good idea to ask him because he delights to show mercy to sinners.

That's good news. Now, There's one more thing, and I can't end without touching on this. When God speaks, it is an answer to prayer. It's an answer to prayer. In verse 10, it says, well, Zacharias was in there to burn incense. The people had some idea that this was very important because it says the whole multitude of people were praying without at the time of incense. In verse 13, the angel said unto him, fear not Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard.

Now, you know, we only pray about something that we know we're helpless to affect. I only pray and ask God to deliver me when I know I cannot deliver myself. And that's just the way we are. The only time we truly pray is when we're helpless. And the second thing I know about prayer is this, the Lord answers prayer. He answers prayer. Now, he doesn't ever answer every prayer immediately, and that's for our good, because how many times do we pray foolishly? But he does hear prayer, and he does answer prayer.

Now, we know that. Every person in this room knows that. God answers prayer. All of us have prayed today, I'm just sure of it. Why do we pray that way? Because we know God answers prayer. But how often do we pray and not believe that God's gonna answer our prayer? You know we do that?

Look at Acts chapter 12. I mean, this is so, I can identify with this so clearly, it's almost comical. Acts chapter 12, verse five. And Peter was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. Now look over at verse 12.

This is after the angel came and has answered that prayer and delivered Peter from prison. And verse 12 says, and when he considered this thing, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken named Broda. And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in and told how Peter stood before the gate. Now she runs in telling this to people who at that very moment are praying that the Lord will set Peter free.

You got the picture? And they said unto her, you're crazy. You're mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, it's his angel. It can't be Peter. It's his angel. But Peter continued knocking. And when they'd opened the door, they saw him and were astonished. How many times do we do this? We pray thinking that God's not going to answer our prayer. God help us to pray believing, to pray believing.

And this passage, particularly the way I wanted to deal with it tonight is about God saving his people. And if God saves anyone, anyone, anytime someone comes to me and says, you know, Frank, I would really like for you to baptize me. The Lord's done something for me. I want to confess him in baptism. I know this. Somebody's been praying for that person. Every single time. Sometimes I even know about it. Somebody will tell me, you know, so-and-so.

The Lord's just really laid it on my heart. And I said, pray for him. If the Lord's laid that on, pray for him. If the Lord's laid that on your heart. If the Lord saves anybody, somebody's praying for him. If the Lord delivers somebody, from a trial, from a heartache, somebody's praying for him.

Our sister Charlotte's getting ready to go meet the Lord. When she goes, it's going to be because somebody's praying for her. And I know one person that did. Father, I will that all those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am. that they may behold my glory." And when our sister goes to glory, it's going to be an answer to that prayer, isn't it? It's going to be an answer to that prayer.

Now, here's what I know. Somebody might be thinking, wait a minute, it sounds like Frank's contradicting himself from earlier. I'm not. The Lord has an eternal will and purpose, and He's going to do it. He will do it, and He won't do anything else. He'll not vary the slightest degree from His eternal will and purpose.

Then someone will ask, well, why pray then? I mean, if God's only going to do what he's already purposed to do long before I ever came on the scene, long before I ever prayed, then why pray if I was just going to do what he purposed to do anyway? Well, here's the best answer that I can come up with because the Lord told us to pray. That's why the Lord told us to. We're not to question him. He told us to pray. He taught us to pray. Then we're to pray.

I'll show you a wonderful scripture, Ezekiel chapter 36. The Lord is going to do his will. Absolutely. Always and only. But before he does it, he's going to put it in the hearts of his people to pray for it. And then he's going to do it. That's what the word says. Look here at Ezekiel 36 verse 21.

But I had pity for mine Holy name. which the house of Israel hath profaned among the heathen, whether they win. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the heathen, whether you win. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which you have profaned in the midst of them.

And the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. And I'll take you from among the heathen." Now this is the Lord saying this message to a people who are in horrible, horrible bondage. I'm going to take you from among the heathen and gather you out of all countries and will bring you into your own land.

Then while I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean. From all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I'll take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh, and I'll put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk on my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments and do them. And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

I will also save you from all your uncleannesses. And I will call for the corn and will increase it and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field that you receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.

Then shall you remember your own evil ways and your doings that were not good and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. Not for your sakes do I this sayeth the Lord God, Be it known unto you, be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.

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 waste shall be builted and the desolate land shall be tilled. Whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, this is the land that was desolate. It's become like the garden of Eden. and the waste and the desolate and the ruined cities are become fenced and inhabited. Then shall the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I, the Lord, build the ruined places and plant that which was desolate.

I, the Lord, have spoken it. I will do it." Well, hallelujah. I mean, what gracious, precious promises these are. I mean, I just cannot wait for the Lord to do what he promised to do. I'm just going to sit here and wait for him to do it and just do nothing. I'm going to sit here like a bump on the log and do nothing until he does what he promised to do. No, no, no, no, no. Look what he says in verse 37.

Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them. I will increase them with men like a flock. Before the Lord does anything, he's got an eternal purpose, eternal promise, eternal will. And before he does it, he's going to lay it on the hearts of his people to pray for it. And then he's going to do what he promised to do.

Now, the only thing I can tell you about that is this. If there is anything on your heart, no matter how insignificant you think it is, pray about it. If the Lord's laid it on your heart, pray about it. Pray that God will save you. Pray that God will save your loved ones. Pray that God will bless this community, that God will bless the gospel that's preached here to call people out, to call people to Christ. Pray that God will bless you when you hear the gospel, that you'll be fed, that you'll be instructed. Pray that the Lord will keep you faithful.

You know, the Lord never changes. He's still in the business of saving sinners and answering prayer the same way today in 2026 they did way back there when Ezekiel was the prophet in Israel. And here's the last thing I'll give you about prayer. I think that the best way to pray is to pray for what God's already promised. My dad used to tell me, if you're gonna argue with the Lord, use his word, use his word.

What has the Lord promised? Has he promised that he'll deliver us from every trial and trouble? No, he hadn't promised that, because one of them is gonna kill this body, isn't it? There's one he's not gonna deliver us from, something, you know. But this is what God has promised. And I say this to people who are in times of great heartache and trouble. If you don't need it now, put this in your pocket because if you're a believer, you're gonna need it someday. This is what the Lord's promised. I'll give you grace that's sufficient. My grace is sufficient for thee. That's a promise to you the same way as it was to the apostle Paul.

And rather than pray, now this is just me speaking, maybe this is not your experience, but based on my experience, I think this is good advice. Rather than praying that the Lord deliver from the trial and stop the trial and stop the pain and deliver me from this, instead of praying that, pray, Lord, would you give me grace that's sufficient for this hour, for this minute, for this second. I can't tell you how many times I've prayed that. And you know, other than that prayer, almost none of my prayers ever have been answered quickly.

But this one has. Lord, give me grace for the hour. And he always does. This is maybe a silly example, but it's very meaningful to me, and I think you'll understand it. I was in the hospital, and I mean, I was sick. I had never been that sick in my life.

And after I finally ended up getting out of the hospital, Janet was in physical therapy with the surgeon's wife. And she said, Janet told her her name, and she said, that name's familiar. And Janet said, well, your husband recently treated my husband. She said, oh, your husband's Frank Tate?

He could have died. I mean, I'm sick. I mean, just in the most utter misery, nobody could help me. I mean, it was just horrible. And Janet and I prayed. And I prayed, Lord, I can't take it. I mean, would you give us grace for the hour? Give us grace to get through these next few minutes. Just some grace. You promised your grace is sufficient. We believe you, but oh, would you give us grace sufficient just to make it through these next few minutes?

And I no more said amen, and that door opened, and in walked a nurse. Her name was Annie. I'll not forget her as long as I live. And Janet and I reminded her of her mother and father. And I mean the treatment I got. And she made things so much better. Now, later that day, I was praying for grace for the hour again. Does the Lord answer that prayer? Maybe will for us too. Maybe will. All right. Well, I hope that's it. I don't know where the end, and to say that's the end, I hope it's a blessing to you, all right? I appreciate y'all having me.