I can think of no subject so prevalently taught in this
book about which I am less suited
to speak than the subject of our text this evening. I want, if God will enable me,
to talk to you about prayer, 1 John chapter 5. When I come to deal with this
subject, I know I am totally unqualified, unprepared, and
unfit by personal experience to talk about it. And I know
that it does your souls no good for me simply to give you a doctrinal
recitation about this or any other subject, but rather I must
speak from experience as well as from this book. Preaching,
preaching. Whatever it involves, whatever
else it involves, it of necessity involves experience. If a man
hasn't experienced what he preaches about, it is very quickly evident. And I frankly haven't experienced
much about prayer. That, I shamefully confess, the
fault is mine. But there are some things I believe
God is teaching me. What is prayer? When and how
are we to pray? Do we have any reason to expect
God to answer our prayers? I hope the Lord will enable me
to answer some of those questions for you, but I'm not about to
give you any formulas for prayer. or tell you how much time you
ought to spend in prayer, or even make a suggestion. You're
not going to suggest when you should pray. The Pharisee made
long prayers, and he made those long prayers after a definite
set formula and in a very formal posture. He prayed long, he prayed
frequently, and he prayed publicly. But God didn't hear him. God didn't hear him. God said,
your prayer is an abomination to me. He prayed often. He prayed with great length. He prayed prepared prayers. He prayed publicly. And men were
impressed with him. But God said, your prayer is
an abomination to me. When you stretch out your hands
to me, you may as well slaughter a man. But there was a publican,
a man who knew himself a sinner, and offered God but one short,
very concise, truly humble prayer, believing on the Lord Jesus.
And God heard him and justified him. It's very difficult to give
a definite definition for prayer. It has been called the breath
of the newborn soul, the cry of the newborn babe in Christ.
It's characterized by confession, by faith, the confession of sin
and faith in Christ, by intercession, intercession for others and request,
request that we make known to God and praise. Praise to the
triune God for his greatness, his goodness, his grace, and
all his work. Perhaps, perhaps I could best
describe prayer by first pointing out some mistaken notions about
it. Prayer is much more than a mere
recital performed in the name of God. It's reciting words. We often talk about saying prayer. Don't ever use those words to
me. Don't do that. Please don't say
your prayers. Please don't just recite your
prayers. We make the mistake of teaching our children to recite
prayers. Teach them to pray as best you
can but don't teach them to say their prayers. You may as well
teach them to rub rosary beads Now prayers is not just a recital.
It's not just a ritual Prayer is much more than simply asking
and receiving I once saw small booklet on prayer. Now, I despise
how-to books on spiritual things. Prayer, asking and receiving.
No, that's not what it is. Prayer is much more than just
filling in the amount of a blank check issued from heaven. True
prayer might be defined like this. I believe this is worth
remembering. Prayer is the believing, submissive
heart worshiping God and seeking his will. Prayer is the believing,
submissive heart, worshiping God and seeking his will. Prayer is not merely an act of
the body, but of the heart. It is an act, yes, but it's much
more than an act. It's a spirit of faith, confidence,
and submission. As we read our text here in 1
John 5, verses 13 through 17, it's obvious that John has three
goals in mind. First, he wants every child of
God to have the full assurance of faith, the full assurance
of salvation in Christ. Over and over and over again
in these five chapters, John uses the word no. And it speaks
of assurance. These five chapters are intended
by God, the Holy Spirit, intended by God's servant, John, as he
was inspired by the Holy Spirit to give assurance to God's people. Look at verse 13. These things
have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son
of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life. and that
you may believe on the name of the Son of God. Second, John
wants for us that we may be confident, confident when we pray, confident
that our prayers are heard, accepted, and answered by our Heavenly
Father. Why is that so difficult for
us? You find it difficult to speak to God with confidence?
My father and I, growing up, didn't have the best of relationships,
but I never had a problem speaking to him. Never had a problem knowing
that if I went to him, whether he was drunk or sober, that he'd
listen to me. But I had difficulty speaking
to God, my Heavenly Father, with confidence. Why? What problem do I have in my
soul that causes that? John writes that we might have
confidence that our prayers are heard, accepted, and answered
by our heavenly father. He wants us to know first that
we're God's children. And then he wants us to know
that God hears our prayers. And there are two things that
always go together. Unless I'm assured that I belong
to God, have a saving interest in Christ, I can't possibly be
confident that he hears my prayers. Look at verse 14. And this is
the confidence. This is the confidence that we
have in him, the confidence we have in Christ, that if we ask
anything according to his will, he hears us. If we ask anything
according to his will, he hears us. And John's third object seems
to me is that we may know the effectual power of prayer with
God. Look at verse 15. And if we know
that he hear us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the
petitions we desired of him. This is the thing I want you
to see this evening. God, our Father in heaven, hears and answers
the prayers of his children. God, our Father in heaven, hears
and answers the prayers of his children. Now let's look at our
text. I want to make three statements
and give evidence of those statements from the scriptures. First, all
true prayer, all true prayer is heard of God. Verse 14, this is the confidence
that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to
his will, He heareth us. Being assured that I'm a child
of God, chosen in everlasting love, redeemed by the precious
blood of God's Son, born again and called by His Holy Spirit
to life eternal, I'm also confident that my Father in heaven will
hear the voice of my supplications. Now, certain things are evident
from this verse. First, all God's children pray. If I don't prayer, you're not
a but I don't pray. You're not a believer all God's
children pray a prayerless soul is a Christ the soul When our
Savior spoke to his disciples, he didn't say if you pray he
said when you pray Believers are men and women who pray we
do not all pray with the same language. I We do not all pray
with the same fervency. We do not all pray in the same
measure of time, but believers are all people of prayer. They walk before God by faith,
seeking his direction, his will, his grace, continually seeking
him. John is not here telling us that
we ought to pray. We know that he's telling us
how we ought to pray. We ought to pray with confidence.
Hold your hands here and turn back to that text I preached
to you from several weeks back, Hebrews 4.16. Hebrews 4.16. Let us therefore come boldly. The word is confidently freely. without any apprehension, without
any fear, without any sense that we may not be accepted. Let us
therefore come confidently, boldly to the throne of grace that we
may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. John
teaches us first that we're to pray with confidence. And next,
the apostle tells us that true prayer is according to God's
will. True prayer is according to God's
will. We all pray and we have learned
from one another to say this. We get done praying and we say,
according to your will, according to thy will, if it be your will. And that's that's fine. That's
fine. If you mean it. But just saying if it be thy
will. Just saying according to thy
will, just saying if it be your will does not mean you're praying
after the will of God. To pray according to God's will
is to pray in submission to his will, being led and taught of
his spirit in the knowledge of his will. You can pray with liberty
and with confidence when God shows you what to pray for. When God the Holy Spirit moves
you to prayer, how often have you tried to pray for someone
or something and try hard as you may, you know you couldn't
pray for that person or that thing. Why? Because God wouldn't
allow it. Any more than he would allow
Paul to follow the call of men when God intended him to go elsewhere
No, no true prayer is praying According to the will of God
the Lord God told David what he was going to do for him second
Samuel 7 He said I'm gonna I'm gonna give you a house I was
give you a son to sit on your throne forever and of your throne
and your kingdom there shall be no end and David said to David
now David said to the Lord Thou has put this thing in my heart. Therefore, do as thou has said. Do as thou has said. Prayer is
according to the will of God. What does it mean to pray according
to God's will? It means to pray directed by
his spirit in the knowledge of his will. True prayer is always
in agreement with God's will. Who would want to pray contrary
to God's will. Who would want to pray contrary
to God's will? We pray in accordance with his
revealed will. To pray contrary to it is to
mock God. That's easy enough. But prayer,
true prayer, is in accordance with God's eternal, purposed,
sovereign will of predestination. I'll show you what it means,
at least what I think it means, to pray according to God's will.
True prayer is the request of faith, relying on the promise
of God. True prayer is offered in the
name of Christ. It's not just saying in Jesus'
name, but it is offered in the name of Christ. It is praying
Looking to God for mercy and grace through the mediation and
the merit of the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior It is praying with
a conscious awareness that we have no access to God no communication
with God no communion with God no fellowship with God and can
have nothing from God except by the blood and righteousness
and intercession of his son through prayer is praying in Christ's
name, seeking the Lord through Christ the mediator. And true
prayer, true prayer, seeks only what glorifies God. Now that's where I have so much
trouble. That's where I have so much trouble. Because I have
too much interest in self, and I too much Too much desire things
according to my own will after the flesh. True prayer seeks
nothing that does not glorify God. Seeks only the will of God
and the glory of God through Christ the Lord. We must learn,
God teach me, to surrender all things absolutely. to the will and glory of God
my Savior. And you can be sure of this,
whenever we do pray, whenever we do truly pray, our prayer
will be according to God's will. James said, you ask and receive
not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your
own lust. in our Lord's model prayer in
which he taught his disciples to pray, he gave us example of
that which we should seek in prayer. And this is what he said. After this manner, pray ye. He
didn't mean say these words. That's the farthest thing from
what's intended by these words. He didn't say, say, our Father,
which art in heaven. He said, after this manner, pray
ye. Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name the word
means sanctify your name God said to Moses when he smoked
the rock the second time He said you're not going into the land
because I will be sanctified before my people you did not
sanctify my name God teaches us to pray for the honor of his
name in everything thy kingdom come Lord save your people Establish
your church Establish your kingdom thy will be done on earth as
it is in heaven and then it teaches us Continually to pray for the
forgiveness of sin and for our daily provision through his merciful
hand John tells us here That God hears our prayers This is
our confidence When we pray according to his will he heareth us He
hears us And if he hears us, all is well. If he hears the cries and groans
of our hearts, all is well. He will respond as a father responds
to the cries and groans of his children. Secondly, look at verse
50. When we truly pray, we have what
we desire of God. And if we know that He hear us,
do you know that? Bob Dove, do you know God hears
you when you pray? Do you know that? If we know that He hear
us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that
we desired of Him. If we know that God hears us,
We know that God hearing us grants us the petitions that we desire. Now notice the language. He doesn't
say he grants us the petitions that we speak. He says he grants
us the petitions that we desired of him, though we may not presently
see it. We have what we desire of him. We have that which we seek from
him. Predestination folks often will
say well if I believe in predestination, what what's the use in praying?
Turn back to Ezekiel 36 hold your hands here in John turn
back to Ezekiel 36 Predestination is not a hindrance to prayer.
Oh, no. No, no predestination is a great
inspiration for prayer In Ezekiel chapter 36 God makes some promises
Sure covenant promises Promises according to his purpose of grace
in predestination and you can be sure of this Whatever God
has predestined Whatever God has purposed he has also purposed
the means by which it should be accomplished Whatever it is
and one means by which God Performs his will is through the prayers
of his Saints. Look here in Ezekiel 36 verse
25 Merle read a little bit ago Give him no rest Give him no
rest. Give him no rest till he makes
the righteousness of his church a bright and shining light in
this world. Give him no rest until he establishes
his kingdom here. You mean we're to constantly
plead with God to build his kingdom? Read it. Read what it says here.
Ezekiel 36 verse 25. Then will 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 will take away the stony heart out of your flesh
and I will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit
within you and I will cause you to walk in my statutes and you
shall keep my judgments and do them. 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 cleanliness
and I will call For you the corn and will increase it and lay
no famine upon you now look at verse 36 Then the heathen that
are left round And 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,
and I will do it. That's all there is to it. No,
it's not quite all there is to it. Thus saith the Lord God,
I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to
do it for them. Is that something? God says,
I'm going to do it. And you can beg on it. God's
going to do it. He said, you're going to ask me for it. You're
going to ask me for it. You're going to seek it. And
if God says, I'll do it and says, you'll seek it, you'd be sure
of it. You'll seek it. And God will do it. I'll do it.
Let us never waver. But in faith, we wait for God
to answer our prayers. Pray in expectation. Oh my soul,
God teach me to pray in expectation. We should never ever ask God
for anything and get up from our knees or walk away not expecting
Him to do what we've asked Him to do. We should never ask God for anything
and not expect him to do what we've asked him to do. To do
so is not to pray in faith, but just to mutter words. Let me see if I can give you
some examples. Elijah, when he prayed for rain, you know what
he did? When he got done asking God to
send rain, he sent his servant to go look for the clouds. It's
called expectation. Yeah, it's fixing the rain, son.
Go look at clouds. Let me know when it gets here
When Samson prayed for God to restore his strength? When he
prayed for God to restore his strength, you know what he did
He grabbed the pillars of that heathen temple to destroy God's
enemies He prayed with expectation when Hannah wept and prayed for
Her heart broken because her womb was barren and empty. She
prayed that God would give her a son. And when she got done
praying, she went home and waited for Samuel to be born. She prayed
with expectation. When Jacob had spent the night
with God in prayer, he was assured by the Lord God of his blessing. And he went on his way confidently
expecting the blessing. We have every reason to believe
that God will answer our prayers and give us that which we desire
of him. Here's his promise. Let me read some to you. Whatever
we ask, we receive of him. The eyes of the Lord are upon
the righteous and his ears are open to their cry. All things
whatsoever you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive,
our Savior said. Whatsoever you shall ask in my
name, that will I do, that my Father may be glorified in the
Son. The efficacy of Christ's blood
with God's promise assures us that God will give us our heart's
desire. The fact that the Holy Spirit
is the author of our prayers assures us that God will give
us our heart's desires. And though our prayers are filled
with faults, and they all are. Father Merrill said in his prayer
a little bit ago that we fall seven times a day. How we fall in prayer. How we
fall, miserably fall in prayer. Yet the Lord lifts us up. And
though our prayers are full of faults, still we are assured
that God gives us the desires of our hearts. Turn to Romans
chapter 8, Romans 8 chapter. The spirit also helpeth our infirmities. That's a good word for it. Our
infirmities. Our infirmities. We don't know
what we're doing because of our infirmities. We don't know what
we're saying because of our infirmities. Because of delusional infirmities,
a man often says things that are altogether contrary to the
desire of his heart. A man is deluded with infirmities. He says things totally contrary
to the desire of his heart. The spirit helps our infirmities,
spiritual infirmities. For we know not what we should
pray for as we ought. We just don't know what to pray
for. We just don't know. We don't
know how to ask God for that which ought to be sought from
Him and don't know what it is we ought to seek. We don't know
what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself
maketh intercession for us. Now watch this. He's talking
about the spirit within us. God, the Holy Spirit dwelling
in us, makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered. With sighs that baffle language. Sighs that can't be expressed. Now, what's the next word? And
he that searcheth the hearts. Who's that? Why, it's God, our
Savior. He knows what is the mind of
the spirit because he, the Lord Jesus, maketh intercession for
the saints according to the will of God. Our hearts are true,
earnest, and sincere. But through ignorance, we often
ask for exactly the opposite of what we desire. Let me show
you an example. Turn to 2 Corinthians 12. How often I have asked for one
thing, but the Lord graciously and wisely gave me something
altogether contrary to what my words expressed. But when he
did, he gave me what I really wanted. When he did, he gave
me the thing that was far better. 2 Corinthians 12, verse 7. Paul says, lest I should be exalted
above measure through the abundance of revelations. There was given
me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, the messenger
Satan. God sent the devil to buffet
me, to beat me in the face. I was exalted, lifted up to heaven,
saw things in heaven nobody ever seen, heard things nobody ever
heard and came back to tell about it. He said, I saw things that
can't be spoken in human language. But lest I be lifted up with
pride, God sent Satan to beat me in the face, lest I should
be exalted above measure. For this thing, I besought the
Lord three times that it might depart from me, this messenger
of Satan, this constantly beating me. beating me down every time
I think about the great wonders of God's grace to me and Translated
me to the third heaven and allow me to see these days. No man
had seen Satan would come and beat me in the face and ask God
three times take it away take it away And he said to me my
grace is sufficient for thee For my strength is made perfect
in weakness Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities
that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take
pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I'm weak, then am I
strong. Paul said, God, thank you. for this messenger
that beats me in the face all the time. God, thank you for this messenger
that beats me down all the time because that's best for me and
best for your kingdom and best for your cause. Best for your
glory. Do you reckon our Lord Jesus
prayed right? Do you reckon he did? Gregory, he prayed with
a proper spirit and attitude. Gregory prayed in faith. Gregory prayed according to the
will of God. In Gethsemane's garden, as he
anticipates being made sin for us, he prays three times, Father,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not
my will, thy will be done. And his father refused to take
the cup out of his hand. But rather made him drink all
the bitter dregs of that cup. When he made him who knew no
sin to be sin for us. poured out the fury of his wrath
upon his darling son That he might take the cup out of our
hands Which was the will of God the
Savior said I came to do He wanted something He wanted something our Savior
wanted something He desired something more important to him than avoiding being made sin
for us. He wanted the salvation of our
souls for the revelation of the glory of God. And so he said,
nevertheless, not my will, thy will be done. Many foolishly imagine that When
John says, if we know He hear us whatsoever we ask, we know
that we have the petitions we desire to see Him. Foolishly imagine that John's
telling us, here the Holy Spirit just gives us a blank check drawn
on the bank of heaven and all we got to do is fill in the amount.
If you want your children to be sages and believe God enough
and pray enough, it'll happen. You want a you want a new car
just believe God enough pray never it'll happen. You need
want a fine house Just believe God enough pray enough. It'll
happen. Oh, no. No, no, that's not what he's
saying John is telling us That we pray Bowing to God's will
Seeking God's glory Seeking the salvation of God's elect Confessing
our sin seeking his forgiveness trusting him for our daily provision
and We ask no more and we want no more and we have what we desire
of him Does that mean pastor we shouldn't ask for specific
things? Oh, no No, no, no, not at all. Now Paul said pray for
me He said I don't cease to pray for you. Yes speak specifically
to God in prayer name things specifically to God in prayer
always bowing to his will seeking His glory, trusting His Son, giving into His hands everything. For in His infinite wisdom and
goodness, our Father knows best. All right? Here's the third thing. We should always seek the good
of our brethren in prayer. Oh, what a mighty, mighty gift
God has given to his church in the gift of prayer. But our primary interest in prayer
shouldn't be ourselves. It shouldn't be myself. It shouldn't be myself. but you,
my brothers and sisters in Christ. John tells us here about a brother
who's sick and tells us to pray for him. When a brother is overtaken
in a fault, we should seek his restoration by prayer. I'm certain
in this place, sin is the sickness John's talking about. The context
will bear me out. He's not talking about physical
bodily sickness, though certainly, certainly that's perfectly right
that we should pray concerning those things. That's dealt with
in other places. But here, the sickness he's talking
about specifically is sin. And Paul tells us similarly,
when your brother's overtaken and in fault, you that are spiritual,
restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself,
lest you also be tempted. When your brother's fallen, especially when he's fallen,
especially when he's fallen, pray for him. Don't talk about
him. Don't start gossiping about him. Don't start speculating about
him. Pray for him. Pray for him. Now, look at these last two verses. We'll come back to these again. I know it is impossible to restore
apostates to the faith. Hebrews 6, Hebrews 10 tells us
so. The damnation and eternal death of such men is just, and
God specifically commands His prophet not to pray for such.
He said to Jeremiah over and over again, pray not for this
people. Pray thou not for them. He said,
I won't hear you. You make intercessions, I won't
hear you. But a fallen brother is not an apostate. All right,
look at verse 16. If any man see his brother sin
a sin, which is not unto death, he shall ask and he shall give
him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto
death. I do not say that you should
pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not
unto death. Now, bless God, though all sin
deserves death, not all sin results in death. Through the blood and
righteousness of God's darling Son, Though we sinned in our
father Adam, like all other men sinned in our father Adam, no
death shall ever come on us. Christ has not only taken away
the sting of death, the sting of the grave, he's taken away
death itself. He's taken away death itself.
He said, he that liveth and believeth on me shall never die. He's taken it away. He's taken
away death. is nothing about the believer's
life that has any connection with death. It'll never exist,
not for a believer, because Christ has redeemed us. Well, what's
this text talking about? I believe, no, I'm confident. In preparing this message, God
finally taught me something about these two statements. Notice
he speaks of sin, not sins, in both statements. I can't tell you how many times
folks have come to me concerned, many of you. Maybe I've committed
the unpardonable sin. Maybe I've committed sin unto
death. And you hear from good men. You hear this from good
men. Now, Lindsay, God has just put
up with this for so long, and He'll chase you, and He'll chase
you, and if you don't pay any attention to Him, He'll kill
you. Does that sound like father? It sounds like Taking somebody
to heaven's punishment rather than grace. No, that's that's
not that's not teaching in this book. No, sir The sin of the
reprobate is sin unto death The fall of the reprobate is an irreparable
death from which they shall never escape The sin of god's elect
Is not unto death So far from it So far from it so far from it. Our sin and fall in our father
Adam is the means ordained by God in which he shall sanctify
his name, save his people for the glory of his son, and get
honor to himself. so that the whole experience
of God's grace in redemption and salvation that we enjoy now
and shall enjoy for eternity comes to us through the door
of Adam's fall and sin, not unto death, but unto life everlasting. Oh, well, Pastor, you're going
to sure hear about that. That'd be all right. I'll double
my file 13. God does all things well. Now, let us then pray, seeking
God's will and God's glory. Seeking the salvation of God's
elect, bowing everything to his will, his glory, the building
of his kingdom, the saving of his people. knowing that our
God does right, only right. And let us confidently and patiently
wait on our God to accomplish his will. And let us pray for one another,
overtaken with a horrible fault of sin. overtaken with a horrible
infirmity of sin. Pray for one another. Pray for
one another as sinners. As sinners. As sinners. Sinners are poor folks. Sinners
need mercy. Sinners need grace. Pray for
one another as poor, needy brethren at the throne of God who dispenses
the riches of His grace according to His abundant grace in His
riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Oh God, so teach me to pray. Amen.