Let us begin our service opening
our Bibles to the book of Philippians. Philippians chapter 4. I didn't have room to put this
in the bulletin, but just let me remind you, daylight savings
time does begin next weekend, so set your clocks appropriately,
so everybody be here. I got a clock that automatically
does it for me, so I don't want to be the only one here, so everybody
set your clocks right. Alright, Philippians chapter
4, we'll read a few verses beginning in verse 4. Rejoice in the Lord always, and
again I say rejoice. Let your moderation, let your
kindness, your gentleness, your forgiving attitude, let your
moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be
careful, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving, Let your request be made known
unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally,
brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things
are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there
be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things which ye have both
learned and received and heard and seen in me do. And the God
of peace shall be with you. We'll end our reading there.
All right, let's stand together as Mike leads us in singing our
call to worship. Not saved are we by trying, from
self can come no aid. Tis on the plot relying, once
for our ransom paid. Jesus, the only one and just. Tis his great work that saves
us, it is not crime but trust. All the ends of hours are needed
to make Christ's merit more. No frames of mind or feeling
can add to His great store. It is simply to receive Him,
the Holy One, and just. Thank you, you may be seated. Turning our hymnal to page 376. We've said that our brother Henry
has taught us well. He told me one day, he said,
I've always had trouble with the title of that song. So he said, let's change that
to take time to be prayerful. Because he knows and we know
that we can't be holy upon this earth in ourselves. But in him,
we are holy. And we are holy in him. so Make time to be prayerful, speak
oft with thy Lord. Abide in Him always, and feed
on His Word. Make friends of God's children,
help those who are weak. Forgetting in nothing is blessing
to seek. Take time to be prayerful, the
world rushes on. Spend much time in secret with
Jesus alone. Take time to be prayerful, let
Him be thy guide. In joy or in sorrow, still follow
thy Lord. And looking to Jesus, still trust
in his word. Take time to be prayerful, Be
calm in thy soul, Each thought and each motive Beneath His control. Thus led by His Spirit, Let's
turn back to 176. 176. Break thou the bread of life,
dear Lord, to me, As thou didst break the loaves beside the sea. Beyond the sacred page, I seek
Thee, Lord, My Spirit, and store Thee, O Living Word. Bless thou the truth, dear Lord,
to me, to me, as thou didst bless the bread by Galilee. Then shall all bondage cease,
all fetters fall, And I shall find my peace, I all in awe. Thou art the bread of life, O
Lord, to me. Thy holy word, the truth, hath
saved me. Give me to eat and live with
Thee above. Teach me to love Thy truth, for
Thou art love. O send Thy Spirit, Lord, now
unto me, that He may touch my eyes and make me see. Show me the truth concealed within
thy word, and in thy book reveal thy seed, the Lord. Pastor has asked us to read in
the book of Ephesians Ephesians chapter six, beginning
in verse 10. Ephesians six, again, beginning
in verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God
that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For 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. Wherefore, take
unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand
in the evil day and having done all to stand, stand therefore
having your loins girt about with the truth and having on
the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace above all, above all taking the shield
of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery
darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation and the
sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. praying always
with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching there
into with all perseverance and supplication for all saints and
for me that utterance may be given unto me that I may open
my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for
which I am, for which I am an ambassador in bonds and therein
I may speak boldly as I ought to speak and are reading there. Let's pray together. Our Father, what a privilege
it is to come before your throne and to make our supplications
known, to make the desires of our heart known that in Christ
we can approach unto your throne as children. What an amazing
privilege and right that is. And it's one that we don't take
lightly, and it's one that we give you all the credit and all
the glory. for that right in Christ, for his work, for his
sake. We do ask that this time this
morning be a true time of worship as it was in Sunday school. We
pray that you bless the message, bless the word according to your
will. Pray that you bless our pastor as he delivers the message,
and I pray that you bless us as we listen. Give us ears to
hear what you'd have us to hear, and give us a heart Father, increase
our faith. Father, you know we're weak.
In fact, in and of ourselves, we're dead. But Father, strengthen
us. Be with us. Keep our hearts and
our minds focused solely on Christ, that you may be glorified in
this place this morning. And I pray that you keep us,
not just this morning, but in the days and the years in the
time to come that, Father, don't let us stray. Don't let this
message stray. Don't let us as a people and
as a congregation, Father, don't let us stray. That this place
here, this message here might be here for our children and
according to your will for our children's children, never changing,
never straying from Christ, our foundation. May this message
from this pulpit always only be Christ, our salvation, his
work, his glory. I pray for those that are undergoing
trial, whatever that trial may be at this time. Heartache or
fearfulness or cold hearts or sickness of body. Father, I pray
that you comfort according to your will. For those of our congregation
that can't be with us today, for whatever the reason, pray
that you give them traveling mercies Restore them unto us
according to your word. Bless this time together, Father.
We thank you for it. Thank you for Christ. It's in
his name that we pray. Amen. Well, we are very delighted to
have visiting with us the whole troop from down at College Grove. And Amber Jennings is going to
come and bring us a special song. I've asked her just bring her
ukulele and come play this thing every time she comes and I did
get advance warning this time so she didn't sneak in so she's
gonna come bring us a special song. We're looking forward to
it. Just as I am with you God, I come, I come Just as I
am and waiting not to rid my soul of one dark part To Thee
whose blood can cleanse each spinal limb of God Just as I am, though tossed about
With many a conflict, many a doubt Bidings and fears within, without
O Lamb of God, I come, I come As I am, thou wilt receive, wilt
welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve. Because thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come. All right, let's open our Bibles
again now to Hebrews chapter 13. My title this morning is A Prayer
for Restoration. The subject of prayer, we've
read a few passages of scripture having to do with prayer. And
our text is just two verses, which I thought I would read
to open our message this morning. Hebrews chapter 13, verse 18. Pray for us, for we trust, we
have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.
But I beseech you that rather to do this, that I may be restored
to you the sooner." Now the writer here begins, pray for us. Prayer
is a very important part of every believer's spiritual life. Just
like the physical body must breathe, the spiritual man must pray.
We must talk to our Heavenly Father. We must make our petitions
known to Him. If we're going to receive anything,
He's going to be the one to give it to us. We have to make our
petitions known. And the believer has to thank God in prayer. The believer has to praise God
in prayer about everything in our life. And Scripture is full
of instruction on prayer. Romans 12, verse 12 says, rejoicing
in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer. Just every time anything happens
to be instant in prayer. First Thessalonians 5 verse 17,
the apostle says, pray without ceasing. Don't quit just because
you don't get an answer from God right away. Don't quit. Don't
quit praying. Don't stop when you don't get an answer. But
keep calling on God. And also don't stop praying when
God blesses you and everything's going well. Continue instant
in prayer. Pray without ceasing. Always
stop, be able to give thanks and praise God. Philippians 4
verse 6, which we read earlier, be careful, anxious for nothing,
but in everything by prayer, supplication, with prayer and
supplication, with thanksgiving. Let your request be made known
unto God. Pray about everything, by specific details. in your
life, things that you need, things that is on your heart, pray about
those things. Remember what James said, you
have not because you ask not. Pray about things in specific.
2 Corinthians 1 verse 11, ye also helping together by prayer
for us. Oh, you help me if you pray for
me. What a help to this ministry
by praying for it. The writer to the Hebrews says
what every one of God's pastors everywhere of any generation
have always said, Brethren, pray for us. The Apostle Paul, 2 Thessalonians
3 verse 1 says, Finally, brethren, pray for us. Pray for us that
the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified,
even as it is with you. Jonathan just read there in Ephesians
6, Brethren, pray for me. Pray for me that I would preach
the gospel like I ought. Oh, pray for me. Pray for this
ministry, you help one another by praying for one another. Prophet
Samuel said, he said, it'd be a sin against God if I cease
to pray for you. Pray for one another. You know,
after all his trial, after everything was said and done, you know when
God blessed Job? When he prayed for his friends. Then God blessed Job, that's
what scripture says. And the prayers of God's people matter.
You think, oh, I'm so insignificant. God's never going to notice me.
Wait a minute. Wait a minute. The prayers of God's people matter.
James said in James 5 verse 16, the effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much. The prayers of God's children
matter. I mean, I could go on and on and on. Scripture's full
of instruction on prayer. Yet most of us feel like we're
not very good at praying, don't we? I think about myself, I,
you know, begin every, every day in the study of prayer and,
you know, my, my prayers sound pretty much the same, seems like,
you know, every day. It's a, I don't want to use vain
repetition, but I mean, how can you not begin in prayer thanking
God for righteousness? I can never make myself righteous.
I can only be in Christ. How can you not thank God for
the blood of Christ? My sin couldn't be forgiven any
other way. Thank God for Christ. The only
way I can expect God to hear my prayer is in Christ, is for
Christ's sake. How can I not pray for you? How
can I not pray God bless His word? How can I not pray God
give me a message? I can keep looking at God's word
and expect I'm just going to find a message like God gives
it. I can pray for the... Yeah, I'm just not... I mean, those are good things
to pray for. I'm not satisfied. Are you? I mean, there's just
too much flesh in there. mind wanders, I'm just not satisfied
with it. Well, if you find yourself in
that same boat as I am, let me give you three words of instruction
from our text here, three words of instruction on prayer that
could be helpful. Number one is this, why pray? Why should I pray? Well, the
answer is because God's commanded us to pray. Now we know that
God is sovereign. I don't think there's, I know
there's not. There's not one soul here that doesn't at least
know that up here. You've heard it time and time
and time and time again. God is sovereign. God rules over
everything. There's not anything that happens
in this creation that doesn't happen by God's will. He rules
it, he directs it, everything. God does as he pleases. And what he pleases to do is
never in reaction to us. What God is doing is always his
eternal will, what God purposed that he would do on this day
in eternity, March the 1st, 2020. God determined it before the
time began. God is just doing his eternal
will. Nebuchadnezzar learned that, didn't he? Nebuchadnezzar
says God does according to his will in the armies of heaven.
and the among the inhabitants of the earth, and nobody can
stay his hand. Nobody can stop it. Nobody can change it. Nobody
can even ask him, what doest thou? I mean, not only can we
not stop God from doing his will, we don't even have the right
to question God. Why are you doing this? God's
sovereign. He is sovereign over all doing
his will. Well, then why pray? Why bother
praying? I mean, God's just going to do
his eternal will anyway, isn't he? I mean, nothing's going to
change God's will. So why bother praying? Because
God told us to. That's all the answer we need.
God told us to. Yes, God is sovereign. Absolutely he is. But God also
answers prayer. Look in the book of Ezekiel.
Ezekiel chapter 36. You know, before God does anything,
almost always and maybe always, but There may be a time this
doesn't happen, but almost always, at the minimum, God puts it in
the heart of His people to pray for something, to pray for His
will, and then He does it. It's the way God works. I'll
show you an example of that here in Ezekiel chapter 36. This is
God giving the promise to His people. He's going to bring His
people out of captivity. He's going to bring them back
to Jerusalem. He's going to reestablish the kingdom in Ezekiel chapter
36, verse 32. Not for your sakes do I this,
saith the Lord God, be it known unto you. You be ashamed and
confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. You didn't
do anything for me to deserve this. This is my will that I'm
doing, for I'm doing this for the glory of my name's sake.
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 pass by. And they shall say, this land
that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden. And the waste
and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced and are inhabited. Then the heathen that are left
around about you shall know that I, the Lord, build the ruined
places. And I plant that that was desolate. I, the Lord, have
spoken it and I will do it. Now that's God's promise. That's
God's will. This is what God's going to do.
God's going to deliver his people from captivity. He's going to
bring them back to Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the whole surrounding
area is a waste place right now. But God's going to bring his
people back. He's going to cause that place to be fruitful. He's
going to cause the walls of the city to be built. His people
are going to dwell there in peace. That's God's will. God told them
that's what he's going to do. Now he's going to do it, isn't
he? Well, 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. God said, this is what I'm going
to do and I'm going to be inquired of it. I'm going to put it in
my, the hearts of my people to pray for my will. And then I'm
going to do it. See, that's how God works through
the prayer of his people. So don't be shy when you pray,
pray for whatever it is that God's laid upon your heart. Whatever
it is, it's on your heart. You pray for it. Could be God
put it there and we're going to pray and he's going to accomplish
his will. You pray for it because that's what God's commanded us
to do. Now, back in our text, something I don't know what it
was, but something was stopping the writer from coming to these
Hebrew believers. Maybe he was in prison. I don't
know. Maybe he had some sort of sickness
and couldn't travel. I don't know. Jonathan just prayed.
for those who are sick, that the Lord will restore them back
to us, that they'd be able to come back to the worship service
with us. That's what the writer's saying here. He said, something
has happened here that's stopping me from being restored to you.
So he says, pray for me. And look what he says. Here in
Hebrews 13, verse 19, I beseech you, the
writer, to pray for me, that I may be restored to you the
sooner, the sooner. The writer could have said that
I will be restored to you when the Lord wills it. And he'd be
right, wouldn't he? He'd be absolutely right. But
would that have really been true? Not really. Not really. It wouldn't
have been obedient to the Lord's command for us to pray, would
it? He says here, I will be restored to you the sooner if you pray
for me sooner than if you didn't pray. A preacher, can you reconcile
that? No, I cannot. No, I cannot. But I don't feel any need to
apply human logic to explain the word of God. God's sovereign.
I mean, God is sovereign. He does according to his will.
He does exactly what he's purposed to do. Yet this is also true. God works through the prayers
of his people. Both of those things, both of those statements
are true statements. And the truth of one doesn't detract
from the other. I give you an example, another example. It
was God's eternal will that he would deliver Israel from Egypt
after exactly 430 years. And when Abraham had no children,
God told him, you're going to have a people and they're going
to be in Egypt after 430 years, I'm going to deliver. That was
God's purpose that God told Abraham, that's what I'm going to do.
And after 400 and some odd years, we read Israel cried to the Lord
and the Lord said, I've heard the cries of my people. Moses,
Go down there and set them free. Go down there and tell Pharaoh,
I said, let my people go. And Pharaoh would not for a while.
And when Pharaoh relented and the people left Egypt, it was
430 years from the day they went down there. That was God's eternal
will and purpose. But he did it when Israel cried
unto the Lord, when they prayed. Would they have been delivered
if they didn't cry unto the Lord? No, they wouldn't have. But God
put it in their heart to cry at that time. Hannah was barren. She wanted a baby more than anything
in this world. Oh, my soul, she wanted a child.
She was barren. Couldn't, I mean, she could not
produce life in her womb. She had no power over it. And
one day, I'm sure she did often, but one day, Hannah, I mean,
I'm sure she asked God for a child every single day. And one day,
Hannah prayed. I mean, she prayed. She prayed
for a child. A little boy, she named Samuel. Now, would Samuel have been born
if Hannah didn't pray for him? No, he wouldn't have. Would Israel
have had the prophet Samuel if Hannah didn't pray for him? I
mean, it was God's will that Samuel be one of the greatest
prophets in all of Israel. It was God's will. Would he have
been born if Hannah didn't pray for him? Look here at 2 Kings,
the book of 2 Kings. 2 Kings chapter 20. 2 Kings 20 verse 1. In those days was Hezekiah sick
unto death. And the prophet Isaiah, the son
of Amos, came to him and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord,
Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live. Then he turned his face to the
wall, and he prayed unto the Lord, saying, I beseech thee,
O Lord, Remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and
with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy
sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. And it came to pass before Isaiah
was gone out into the middle court that the word of the Lord
came to him saying, turn again and tell Hezekiah, the captain
of my people, thus saith the Lord, the God of David, thy father. I have heard thy prayer. I've
seen thy tears. Behold, I will heal thee. On
the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord. And
I will add unto thy days fifteen years. And I will deliver thee
and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. And I
will defend this city for mine own sake and for my servant David's
sake. And he's not talking about David
the son of Jesse there. He's talking about his son David.
I'm going to do this for Christ's sake. The king prayed. The Lord
added 15 years to his life. Now, you know good and well that
was God's eternal purpose. Hezekiah was never going to die
that day. But the Lord put it in his heart
to pray, and the Lord added 15 years to his life. Would he have
had 15 years added to his life if he didn't pray? No, he wouldn't
have. Jonah, after some time of rebellion,
finally came to the land of Nineveh, and he declared unto them the
word of God, thus saith the Lord. God's going to destroy this place.
He's going to wipe it out. And the king of Nineveh told all
the people, he said, let's cry unto the Lord. Let's cry unto
the Lord. If we don't cry, the Lord's going
to destroy us. Let's cry unto the Lord. Who can tell if the
Lord will turn his fierce anger that we perish not? Who can tell?
God turned his fierce anger, didn't he? He did not destroy
that place. Now this is such a blessing, such an encouragement
to God's people. God hears the prayer of his people. He hears. He always hears. God Almighty condescends to hear
our weak, feeble prayers. Those prayers that you think
are not very good. I wish I could pray better. God
hears them. Almighty God condescends to hear
those prayers. And that ought to give us confidence
to pray without ceasing. to continually come before God
in prayer. The Lord commands us to pray. That says something about you
and me, doesn't it? That says something about you and me. God has to command us to pray.
You'd think just naturally we'd cry out to our Creator. God commands
us to pray. And then He condescends to hear
us. That's an encouragement. Look at Acts chapter 12. So when
we pray, when we pray. We should not be surprised that
the Lord answers our prayer. We should pray expecting that
the Lord will hear us. I don't know if it's right to
say to expect the Lord to grant our prayer. I don't know about
that. Everything I've prayed for, the Lord has not granted.
He's done it wisely, I know, but We should pray expecting
that the Lord will hear us, and we ought not be surprised if
he grants our prayer. Here in Acts chapter 12, Herod
has put Peter in prison, and it is his intention to put Peter
to death. He had killed James, the brother
of John with the sword, and it pleased the people, and Herod
said, well, I'm going to do more of this, you know, and he put Peter in
prison with every intention of killing him. Acts chapter 12,
verse 5. Peter therefore was kept in prison,
but prayer was made without ceasing of the church of God for him.
Peter was there in prison. It was, it was Herod's intention
to put him to death, but prayer was made by God's people without
ceasing. And you know the story, the angel
came and miraculously walked Peter out of that place. And
Peter came to where the people were, the church was gathered
together, verse 12. And when Peter had considered this thing,
Peter thought, how did this happen? He came to the house of Mary,
the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many people were
gathered together praying. These people were gathered together
praying that Peter be set free from that prison, that somehow
Peter be set free. They're actively praying. This
is the whole reason they're together, praying that Peter be delivered.
And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to
hearken named Rhoda. And Rhoda listened. She didn't
open. She listened through the gate. And she knew Peter's voice. And she opened not the gate for
gladness, left Peter standing out there, but she ran in and
told how Peter stood before the gate. And all those people gathered
together, praying for Peter's release, said unto her, you're
mad. You're crazy. Here we're praying
for Peter's release, but you're crazy. Peter's not out there.
But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they,
well, it's his angel. I mean, we're praying for Peter's
release, but it's his ghost. We're praying for Peter's release,
but we don't expect God to answer our prayer. But Peter continued
knocking. And when they'd opened the door,
they saw him and were astonished. Have you ever been astonished
that God answered your prayer? And he beckoned unto them with
his hand to hold their peace. He declared unto them how the
Lord brought him out of the prison. He said, now you go show these
things unto James and to the brethren. He departed and went
into another place. How shameful. We're just utterly
astonished. We didn't think God could do
what we're praying for. And he does it anyway. Aren't you glad
it's not dependent on the strength of our faith? It is dependent
upon God. That's why we pray to Him. That's
why we pray. So let's pray, because the Lord
commanded us to pray and not be surprised if He does answer
our prayer. All right, here's the second
thing. That's why we pray. Now, here's something that you
can always pray for. Restoration. The writer to the
Hebrews says, pray for me that I may be restored to you the
sooner. Pray for me. Pray for me. Our prayers must always include
thanksgiving. That's what we read to open the
service. Let your requests be made known unto God, always with
thanksgiving and praise. Well, when you go to God in prayer,
how can you not thank Him? I mean, how can you not thank
God, all His blessings to us? I don't care what circumstances
we find ourselves in, in this life, God's always given us some
blessing, some reason that we say, thank you. Thank you, Lord.
And our prayer should always include praise. Praise just for
who God is. Praise God. You think about praising
the Lord. Eternity is not going to be long
enough to praise Him sufficiently. So certainly, praise should be
included in our prayer, shouldn't it? We can always praise God
for His character. God's holy and just. There's
nobody like Him. God is wise. Oh, the wisdom of
God. He found a way to be both just
and justifier. How wisely God rules. I mean,
we know God's sovereign. He rules. Aren't you thankful
He rules wisely? Truth and justice. God's gracious
and merciful. God has the capacity to do something
you and I can't do. God loves sinners. He loves them. We praise God for for how well
he's always done it. God rules everything. Everything
he does has been done well. You can praise God for that.
And when we make our requests, here's one thing you always,
you know, we worry sometimes. Should I ask for this? Should
I ask for that? Because I don't want to ask selfishly. I mean,
that is wrong to ask for things, you know, selfishly. But here's
one thing you can always be comfortable asking God for, for restoration. We can pray that we would be
restored from a trial, from a heartache, from some loss that we've suffered.
We can pray like the Hebrew writer did, like Jonathan did. He was
praying for us earlier that we'd be restored back to the place
where God's people meet together to worship. You know, when someone
is sick and they just can't come to the service, I know it makes
you miserable. And how glad we are when you're
able to come back and restore. You can pray for that. And most
importantly, we must pray for spiritual restoration. We can
pray that the Lord restore to us everything we lost in Adam. Now, when you restore a computer,
you go back and you restore all the files in your computer back
to the last time you knew that machine was working just right.
Well, we don't want God to restore us in that way. I don't want
to be restored just back to the way Adam was in the garden before
he sinned. When God restores his people,
he restores them to better than what Adam was, ever was in the
garden before he sinned. Being restored in Christ is so
much better than being restored to what Adam was in the garden.
You see, Adam was not created righteous. Adam was created innocent. He wasn't created righteous.
created innocent and he could make himself guilty. You know,
Adam wasn't righteous because if you're righteous, you have
the capacity to sin. Adam had the capacity to sin, didn't he?
That's exactly what he did. And when he did, he lost his
innocence and you and I did too because we sinned in him. So
if Christ only came to restore his people back to what we were
before Adam fell, All we do is fall all over again. I mean,
that's all we do. We do the exact same thing. We're
cut from the exact same cloth. So Christ came to restore his
people, but make them better than they ever could have been
in Adam. Christ came to give his people a righteousness that
they could never lose because he came to make them righteous.
He came to give them a new righteous nature. Christ came to bring
his people back to God so that they could never be thrust out
of God's presence again. Because acceptance in God's presence
doesn't depend on us. It depends on Christ. And he's
accepted. He's accepted. Christ came to
give his people peace with God. Peace that could never be lost.
Christ came to save his people from their sin. They can never
be lost again. Because they're not in Adam anymore.
Now they're in Christ and they can never perish. When God restores
his people, It's not restoring them back to what they were like
in Adam. He restores them and makes them
just like his son. Makes them just like Christ. And isn't that
far better? Now that's being restored spiritually
and you can always pray for that. Always. Now this is what I know. I know this and you do too. God
is going to save his elect. I know that. I mean, I know he
will. God's going to save everyone
for whom Christ died. There is no one that Christ died
for that's going to perish. I know that. I know that. There
just can't be any doubt about it, because Christ is the successful
Savior. Well, why bother preaching then? Why
bother preaching? God's going to save His elect
anyway. I mean, it doesn't matter what we do. God's going to save.
He's going to move. He's going to save His people.
Why bother preaching? God commanded us to, didn't he? Just like he
commanded us to pray, he commanded us to preach. It's by the foolishness
of preaching, God's gonna save his people. Well then, why pray? I mean, why pray God save his
life? We already know he's going to. Because God commanded us
to, that's why. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. They shall be. You remember in
the lesson, if you were here in our Bible class this morning,
I told you about where the Lord said He came not to send peace
but a sword and divide the believer from the unbeliever, your enemies
could be those of your own household. I told you, if you know the Lord,
you know the gospel, now if you love your family, you tell them.
You tell them about the gospel. And if they just won't have it,
I mean they hate it, they won't have it now, just leave it alone. You told them, don't ruin your
relationship with them, just have the relationship you can
with your parents, brothers and sisters and so forth. You have
that relationship. Leave him alone about it. Don't
leave God alone about it. Don't leave God alone about it.
No, you pray for him. If you love him, you pray for
him. Pray for him. Don't leave God alone about it.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You pray God save his people.
And you pray God save your loved ones. You just pray God save
your loved ones. God's going to save His people. I'll give
you a good example of that in the book of Acts chapter 22.
Acts chapter 22. This is the Apostle
Paul counting, giving the account of his trip to Damascus when
he met the Lord. In Acts chapter 22, that's after
the Lord unhorsed him with verse 9. He says, they were with me,
saw indeed the light, and they were afraid. But they didn't
hear the voice of him that spake with me. Saul was the only one
who heard that. And I said, What shall I do,
Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise,
and go unto Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all
things which are appointed for thee to do. So Saul knew this. I'm going to go on to Damascus,
and the Lord's going to clear all this up. He's going to tell
me everything I'm supposed to do, everything that's been appointed
for me to do. The Lord's going to reveal Himself to me and show
me all these things. I know that's so. I know it.
Because God told me. God can't lie. This is what He's
going to do, isn't it? Alright, look back at Acts chapter
9. Here's another account of this very same story. But we
hear a different fact here. So did Saul go to Damascus and
say, Whatever will be, will be. You know, God's going to do what
He promised, and I can't do anything about it. I can't change it.
I can't make it happen any faster than God purposed to do it. Whatever
will be, will be. So I'm just going to do nothing.
I'm going to sit here in my blindness and wait till the Lord makes
all obvious, because the Lord's going to make it obvious, because
He told us. I'm just going to do nothing. Is that what Saul did? No, he
didn't. Saul prayed. Here in Acts chapter
9, verse 10. And there was a certain disciple
at Damascus named Ananias. And to him said the Lord in a
vision, Ananias. And he said, behold, I'm here
here, Lord. And Lord said unto him, arise and go into the street
which is called straight and inquire in the house of Judas
for one called Saul of Tarsus. For behold, he prayed. God's going to reveal himself
to Saul, isn't he? We know he is. God told him he's
going to. And what did Saul do? He prayed. He prayed. He prayed
for restoration. He prayed. He prayed that he'd
be able to see Christ. He prayed that he'd be able to
believe Christ. He prayed that God would come
and fulfill this promise to him. I'm sure he prayed he could see
again, you know. Now God's going to save his people.
He's going to save sinners. He's going to save his elect.
That's the promise of God. And I tell you, nothing motivates
me to pray that God save the people of this congregation,
that He'd save the people of this community more than that
promise of God, that He's going to save His elect. How often have we had, and I
mean, from the time I was a boy till now, I think back of all
the baptismal services I've been in and how often I've heard this,
someone will want to confess Christ and believe His baptism,
and somebody will say, you know that person has been on my heart
so much recently. I've been praying for them. I've
been praying for them. God save them. Don't be shy about praying for
one another by name. I pray for you every day by name. I do. Those of you who do not
know the Lord, I pray for you every day, every day by name. You should do the same. Pray
for one another by name. The Lord, he's going to move.
He lays it on the heart of someone to pray for his people. And then
God restores him in Christ. That's the way he works through
the prayer of his people. You can always pray for restoration. And here's the third thing when
you pray. Pray for Christ's sake. Back
here in our text, Hebrews chapter 13, verse 18. This is a very
interesting statement put in here between pray for us and
I beseech you the rather to do this that I may be restored to
you the sooner. The writer says this, pray for us for we trust
we have a good conscience in all things willing to live honestly. Now the writer here is not asking
for merit. He's not saying pray for us because
I'm a good guy. Pray for us because I never sinned. That's not what he's saying.
Now how can a sinner Pray with a good conscience. I mean, if
your conscience is telling you that you have not sinned, if
your conscience is telling you you've got, you know, you have
never done anything wrong, my friend, your conscience is not
working. I mean, unless your conscience is just seared, it's
not working. Your conscience is telling you
you've sinned. Your conscience is telling you
that you have not done good enough. Your conscience is telling you
you haven't believed strongly enough, that you haven't trusted
Christ Fully enough, our conscience is telling us you haven't quit
wanting to trust in your words. Now, God saved you. you don't
trust in your works, but your flesh still wants to. And your
conscience is telling you, you haven't quit wanting to trust
in your works enough. You still think if I pray well enough and
good enough that God will be more prone to hear me. You still
think if I'm a good neighbor and a good husband and a good
wife and a good father and a good mother and a good employee and,
you know, just do good to all these people out here. And, you
know, I see somebody, an old woman pushing a cart across the
parking lot at Kroger's and she's having trouble and I go help
her. And, you know, just because I'm so nice, God will hear me.
Now, wait a minute. That's trusting in ourselves,
isn't it? That's trusting and thinking God's going to be happy
because of something I mean. Your conscience is telling you that.
Your conscience is telling you, I've repented. I've turned from
my dead works and I trust Christ, but you and I both know it's
not good enough. I haven't repented well enough.
I haven't prayed well enough. I haven't been faithful enough
in God's service. I haven't done enough. The list goes on and on and on.
then how can I have a good conscience? How can I pray in a good conscience?
One way, the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ. See, a good
conscience, we don't have a good conscience because we haven't
sinned. No, we've sinned and a believer doesn't deny our sin.
We do not deny that we are sinners. But the believer's conscience
is clear because the blood of Christ has paid for that sin.
If the blood of Christ has paid for your sin, You've got nothing
to feel guilty about. Your sin's gone. You don't have
any reason to fear punishment. You don't have any reason to
fear death because the blood of Christ made you not guilty.
He took your sin away and put it away under His blood. You've
got nothing to fear. You've got nothing to feel guilty
about. So when we pray, if you're going to pray with a good conscience,
it's got to be praying for Christ's sake, doesn't it? Praying to
be heard in Christ. Praying to be forgiven for Christ's
sake. Every prayer, I pray for forgiveness. It's because of the blood of
Christ, because of his sacrifice for our sins. Pray to be restored
to God for Christ's sake. Pray for your lost loved ones
that God has saved them for Christ's sake, because of his blood, because
of his sacrifice, because of his obedience. Not because we've
done anything right. Come to God boldly. The writer
of the Hebrews said, come boldly. And it means confidently. Well,
the only way you can come before God confidently is in Christ,
not in yourself. So come in Christ, for Christ's
sake. When you pray, it's always for Christ's sake. Now in closing,
I want you to look back with me at Luke chapter 11. The disciples,
I'm sure, often watched our Lord pray. He was known to be a man
of prayer. He often would pray all night
long. He'd give up sleep for the body.
to pray all night long. I'm sure they watched him pray
a lot. But this day, they were watching our Lord pray. And the
disciples felt just like we do. You know, they felt like their
prayers weren't very good. And they've got the Lord right
there. So they asked the Lord, Lord, teach us to pray. Luke
11, verse 1. It came to pass that as he was
praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples
said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught
his disciples. And here's what the Lord taught
them. Verse 2, He said, unto them, when you pray, say, Our
Father, which art in heaven. Now don't overcomplicate prayer.
Do not overcomplicate prayer. Pray as a child of God. Pray for Christ's sake. Pray
because God has made you a child. He's made you a child by the
new birth. You've been born in His family. Pray unto God because
he's adopted you into his family. Just pray as a child. Don't think
you've got to sound like John Gill. Don't think you've got
to sound like these great, you know, people of the past. Pray
in your own words as a child talking to your heavenly father.
He's proven he loves you. He gave his son for you. He caused
you to be born in his family. Of all the people on earth, He
chose you and adopted you in His family. He proved His love
for you. You parents, do your children have to phrase everything
just right before you help them, before you'll hear them? No.
Just pray as a child talking to your Heavenly Father. He hears. He'll listen. He understands.
Then when you pray, say this, hallowed be thy name. When you
pray, pray praising the Lord, praising the name of the Lord. You know, we should remember
this. You know, it's possible to pray
without asking for a single thing. It's possible just to pray thanking
the Lord. It's possible just to pray praising the Lord, and
we ought to do that. We really should. Try doing it
sometime. It's good for us. It's good for the heart of a
believer to do that. Then he says, when you pray, say this,
thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Pray for the success of God's
kingdom. Pray. Say, Lord, bless your word
as it's preached here. Here at Hurricane Road Grace
Church, Lord, bless your word. Bless your word as it's preached
and everywhere where it's preached. Pray, Lord, thy kingdom come.
Save your people. Call your people out. Save them,
Lord. Pray that the Lord add to the church daily such as should
be added. Pray that God's will be done in all things. We already
know God's will can be done in all things. Pray God's will be
done in all things. And then pray that the Lord make me bow
to it willingly. That He don't have to break my
knees to make me bow to it. But Lord make me bow willingly,
gladly to Thy will. Thy will be done. And while you
pray God's will be done, knowing God's will will be done, Pray
for what you need. Verse three, give us day by day
our daily bread. Lord, give us what I need today.
Give me what I need today. Now this is not asking for a
bunch of luxuries. It's not asking to win the lottery
or bigger house or new car. What can be more basic than bread? Than bread. Lord, give us this
day our daily bread. Give me what I need today. I mean, the Lord knows you're
in this flesh. He knows the flesh needs things. Ask for Lord, give
me this daily daily bread. And we know the Lord's going
to save his people, we know that. So pray for what you need. Pray
for forgiveness. Verse four and forgive us our
sins. We also forgive everyone that
is indebted unto us. Lord, I know you're going to
save somebody. I know you're going to forgive the sins of
somebody or save me. Lord, forgive me. Lord, save
my children, my loved ones, forgive them for the sin of my loved
ones, and forgive us for Christ's sake. Not on account of anything
I've done, but for Christ's sake, because of his sacrifice for
me. And then lastly, when you pray, say this, and you know
the Lord's not teaching us to repeat these words. Use your
own word. Say these things in your own
word. Apply them to your life. I remember when I was, all the
time I played basketball in school, you know, after every practice,
before every game, you know, we'd kneel and say the Lord's
Prayer like the Lord's going to help us make more jump shots because
we said the Lord's Prayer, you know. Maybe we just said, Lord,
help us win this game. Help us, you know, but we didn't.
You don't have to repeat these words exactly. Say them in your
own words and say this, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver
us from evil. That's praying for restoration.
Pray that the Lord will deliver you from Satan. the evil one. Satan may be desiring to have
you, he might sift you like wheat. Pray the Lord deliver you from
that. And pray that the Lord deliver you from your own evil
heart. I mean, you gotta go looking for evil. Evil's in your heart.
Pray the Lord deliver you from the evil that's in your heart
so you don't wander off. See, if I wander off, I'm gonna
have to be restored, aren't I? Well, Lord, keep me from evil. My evil, that I don't wander
off and have to be restored in the first place. Now, Lord, give
me the cure. Restore me. But, Lord, also give
me prevention. Keep me from wandering. Also,
I have to be restored. An ounce of prevention is worth
a pound of cure. Isn't that the same? Now, say
that. Say that in your own words and
God will hear that prayer. That's how we pray. I hope the Lord bless that to
us and enable us in this matter of prayer. Let's bow together. Our Father, which art in heaven,
oh, how we thank you that you're God alone. How we thank you that
you're God who rules over all. And how we thank you for your
mercy and grace to your people. You've made us, you people, sinners,
sinful men and women, like we are, to be your children. Father,
we're thankful. And as your children, we cry
unto thee. Father, bless us. Father, save your people, those
who are here this morning that do not know you. Father, have
mercy. Have mercy on them for Christ's
sake. Reveal your son to them and in them. Father, forgive
us of our sin. Forgive us of who and what we
are. See us and hear us only in Christ,
in our Lord Jesus Christ, for his sake. Not because of anything
we've done or haven't done, but for Christ's sake. Father, I
pray you'd bless your word. Father, get glory to Your name
through the preaching of Your Word here today and every time
we meet, Father, make Your glory known in the salvation of Your
people. Make Your glory known in continuing
to feed Your sheep, comfort them, instruct them, and meet their
needs through the preaching of Your Gospel. Father, we thank
You. As we go back to our homes now, back out into the world,
Begin a new week, Father, go with us. Go with us. Keep us
by thy grace and return us back here again Wednesday. One more
time, worship and praise your matchless name. For it's in the
precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ we pray and give thanks. Let's stand and sing 180. We'll sing it to the tune of
Doxology. Lord God, our thanks to Thee
we raise For those who built this house of praise Who long
ago together stood To form a Christian brotherhood Here have our children
known Thy care And raise their thoughts to Thee in prayer. Here have we shared the wine,
the bread, soul's been fed. Still through the years be thou
our guide. Keep us from enmity and pride. Still help us choose the better
part. A humble and a thankful heart. Be this our common enterprise,
That truth be preached and prayer arise, That each may seek the
other's good, And live and love as Jesus Create in us the work, the deed,
That ours may be a living creed, And cause thy grace in us to
dwell.