I'm often asked to do things
I can't do. Folks come and ask me if I think
they're saved. Ask if I can give them some way
to have assurance before God. And I have no basis upon which
to judge whether or not you're saved. I have a little problem. I can't look into your heart. And anybody who pretends that
he can deceives you and deceives himself. Just not so. And I won't dare, presume, to
try to tell somebody they're saved. I won't do it. I won't
do it. Ralph Barnett used to say, nobody
will try to convince a lost man that he's saved except another
lost man. I won't dare try to do that. Only God the Holy Spirit
can give you faith in Christ. But this I know, there are some
things that are common to all who are saved by the grace of
God. You be the judge, and let me be the judge of myself. All
who are born of God repent before God. and frankly and honestly
confess their sins to him. This is how David prayed, Blessed
is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no guile. When I kept silence, that is,
when I refused to confess my sin, I kept trying to cover it up. Kept trying to put these fig
leaves on. Kept trying to hide what I was.
When I refused confess my sin. When I kept silence, my bones
waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and
night thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into
the drought of summer." Then he says, I acknowledged
my sin until they My iniquity have I not hid? I said, I will
confess my transgressions unto the Lord." Remember how the particle
said, I'll go to my father and I'll say? David said, I will
confess my transgressions unto the Lord. And thou forgavest
the iniquity of my sin. If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess
our sins, just tear open our hearts before God. Now, that's not hard to do, walking
down the front of the church and talking to a preacher about
stealing a watermelon or stealing cookies or lying to your mom
and dad, because you're just talking to another sinner or
liar like yourself. That's not hard to do, to go
to a confessional booth and talk to some fellow with a collar
set a religious costume on and tell him all your sins and have
him to talk to you about your sins too because you're just
talking to another sinner like yourself. But to confess your sins to God,
you won't do it. You won't do it. You won't do
it unless God Almighty rips open your heart for you. unless God
fixes it so you can't do otherwise. If we confess our sins, He is,
not might be, He is faithful and just, faithful to His Word
and just because of the sacrifice of His Son to forgive our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, to completely and forever wash
away and forgive the iniquity of our sins. If we say we have
not sinned in anything we do, at any time, we make him a liar
and his word is not in us. Here's the second thing. Every
saved sinner worships God. That's what's meant by the word
call, when Paul writes, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. Back in the book of Genesis,
after the flood, men began to call upon the name of the Lord.
It's not talking about just crying out, Jesus save me, when you're
in a car wreck and you think you're going to die. Not just
crying, I believe in Jesus. No, no, no, no. No, no. Those
who are born of God call on Him. They worship God. They worship
God. They confess that Christ is Lord
and believe in their heart that God raised Him from the dead.
That is, they believe in their heart. They believe, being convinced
by God the Holy Spirit, that because Christ has brought in
everlasting righteousness, because He has put away sin, Because
he has, by the sacrifice of himself, obtained eternal redemption for
us, God raised him from the dead and set him down in heaven. For
with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Faith in Christ is not just an act of believing. Faith in Christ is not just an
event in life. Faith in Christ is the continual
commitment of myself to Christ, the continual trusting of His
blood and His righteousness alone for the whole of my acceptance
with God. And the third thing, all who
are born of God, all who are born of God, Have what the Holy
Spirit calls in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 16, a good hope through
grace. A good hope. A good hope. Here I stand before you, a man
from head to foot, nothing but sin. A man in the depths of his heart. of depravity and corruption.
And I have a good hope of eternal life before God Almighty. A good hope. It's a hope that
has nothing to do with me. It has nothing to do with what
I have experienced, what I am experiencing, or what I shall
experience. It has nothing to do with what
I have felt, what I am feeling, or what I shall feel. Now, it
causes some experiences and it causes some feelings. But those
experiences and feelings have nothing to do with the hope.
You see, a good hope is a hope that is based upon what God has
revealed in His Word. It is a hope of grace through
Jesus Christ, the Son of God alone. My hope is built on nothing
less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. Do you understand what
I'm talking about? A good hope is a hope of eternal
salvage by God Almighty. because of Christ. Only because
of Christ. And I'll tell you something else.
All who are born of God love God and His people. Believers love each other. I don't mean they just ought
to. We ought to. I mean they do. I don't mean it's a good
idea. I mean they do. Believers love
each other. Now, I'm not talking about the
silly stuff that the religious world calls love. I'm not talking
about the silly, itchy, sticky, I love you, bless you, have a
good day, all that nonsense. No, no. If Bobby Estes loves
that woman right there, that little boy sitting right beside
him, he's committed to him. Committed to her. Committed to
their good, no matter what it costs you. Is that called love?
Is that called love? That's what love is. It is the
commitment of my life to you and to God my Savior. It is a
continual commitment, giving of ourselves to one another.
He that loveth not knoweth not God. Faith, all true faith, worketh
by love, by this continual growing commitment of ourselves to Christ
and to one another. And every man, every woman who
is born of God prays. Turn to 2 Samuel 7. I just told you a place there
for a minute. Do you pray? Have you ever prayed? Have you ever come before God
in prayer? I don't have any question. Most of us say our prayers regularly. That's not what I asked. There's
a big difference between saying your prayers and praying. I know
that when danger approaches, when we're afraid, we cry out
to God in desperation. But that's not prayer. We've
all gone to God and asked him to do something for us at one
time or another, to give us something that we desire, maybe greatly
desire, maybe feel like we must have. But do we pray? It is one thing to say your prayers,
but another thing altogether to pray. All religious people
say their prayers. All of them do. It doesn't matter
what kind of religion you have. All religious people say their
prayers. Some have set times and set seasons
for prayer. Some have set times several times
a day for prayer. All religious people say their
prayers. Only believers pray. Prayer is found in the heart
of every child of God, born of His Spirit. Here in 2 Samuel
chapter 7, we look at verse 27. The title of my message is this,
Prayer Found in the Heart. For thou, O Lord of hosts, God
of Israel, hast revealed to thy servants, saying, I will build
thee a house. God told David, I'm going to
build you a house. I'm going to establish your kingdom.
And I'll do it forever. Now, what's this? Therefore hath
thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. Oh, roll those words over in
your heart. Think about it. Thy servant found
in his heart to pray. True prayer, true prayer is a
work of the heart. It arises in the heart, as the
heart is renewed by the grace of God. Now I ask again, do you
pray? Have you ever found prayer in
your heart? I had been working on this message
for some time when I wrote the article you're reading today's
bulletin, and it expresses what I intensely feel. When I talk about prayer, I'm
so reluctant to talk about it. I'm so reluctant to answer questions
about it, because I shamefully acknowledge that I know so little
about the subject. There is nothing about which
I repent so much as I do my praying. I know so little about it. But
I bring this message to you because I suspect that if I need some
help, you do too. And I want to simply show you
what I believe God has taught me in recent months about prayer. And in addition to those experiences
of my own, to come up in recent weeks that I've been asked several
questions about several issues. I've been asked to address them
either orally or write something about them to help folks. Sometimes folks talk about having
prayer lists. What do you think about prayer
lists? I'll be honest with you. I would think something was really
amiss. If my wife had to write my name down on a list to remember
me, I'm not interested in being put
on your prayer list or anyone else's prayer list. I'm not interested
in that. I'm very, very interested in
you remembering me before the throne of grace as God enables
you to pray. There's a huge difference. Somebody asked me what I think
about prayer lines. It's getting popular. If you
read the ad page on the papers for churches, advertisers, services,
and so forth, a lot of times you'll see they've got a prayer
number. You can call them up. And you
can record your prayer for other folks to say something about.
You might even get a recorded response to your prayer before
you hang up. I'll be honest with you. I would
rather have an online wife than have an online God. It's nonsense. It's stupidity. Blasphemy. And then folks have prayer chains. Things seem so sweet and so good,
you know. Let me give you a word of caution. Anything that everybody in the
religious world gets excited about, man, just mark poison
over it. Just mark poison over it. There's
no more power in a prayer chain Then there is one of those superstitious
chain letters you ladies get from your ignorant friends. You
answer this and pass it along to 14 more people or bad luck
is going to happen to you. Or let's get on the prayer chain
and good luck is going to happen to you. We don't worship superstition. We worship the God of glory.
I get letters frequently. Urgent prayer request. Urgent. Urgent prayer request. Implication
is that now we've got a real problem. We've got real difficulties,
real dangers come up, and we need to get together and twist
God's arm and get him to do something about this. You're not going
to get God to do something by trying to twist his arm. It ain't
going to happen. And then lots of fellows, I've
been in lots of circumstances where folks have to get together
and have prayer, what they call prayer meetings. You can get
books on how to have a prayer meeting, lead a prayer meeting.
And men and women will get together and they'll either all pray at
one time or they'll get together and one will pray and then another
one will pray and then another one will pray. Next time you
get together, they'll pray a little longer. And next time you get together,
they'll pray a little longer. And they all want to impress
one another. Sometimes they get real emotional
because they think they can get together and twist the arm of
the Almighty and get them to do something. So many times folks
connect such prayer meetings with the beginnings of revival.
It's nothing but flesh. It's nothing but flesh. Prayer
doesn't involve such nonsense or such a show. In this passage
we have before us in 2 Samuel, David, the king of Israel, the
man after God's own heart, wanted to build a house for God. God
had established him in his kingdom. He had given him rest round about
from all of his enemies. And David said to Nathan, the
prophet said, I want to build a house for God. Nathan said,
you go and do all that you have in your heart. God's with you.
But Nathan spoke too quick. He went home and God spoke to
Nathan. He said, you go back and tell David he can't build
it. You go back and tell David, no, I won't let you build a house
for me. You're a man of war, a man of
blood, and such a man can't build my house. But I'll tell you what
I'll do. I'll build your house, and I'll
set your son upon his throne, and your son, whom I set on his
throne, will build your house, and your son and your throne
and your house will be established forever, and he will build my
house, and it shall stand forever." Of course, the immediate context
is talking about Solomon, but David understood more than that.
God the Holy Spirit understood more than that. And if you read
Acts chapter 2, you'll find out that those who understood this
passage understood more than that. He's talking about David's
son a long way down the line. Jesus Christ, who is also David's
Lord, is David's son. And the Lord God promised David,
I'll send your seed, my son, and he will build my house and
establish your throne and do it forever. And my mercy will
not turn from him. And in response to that, David
prays like this, Thou, O Lord God of hosts, God of Israel,
hast revealed to Thy servant, saying, I will build Thee a house. Therefore hath Thy servant found
in his heart to pray this prayer unto Thee. Now let me try to
deal with three things. Understand this, prayer is found in the heart. Now let me talk to you a minute
about prayer. I despise how-to books on anything
religious or spiritual. Somebody writes a book on how
to be happy, he doesn't know anything about it. How to pray,
he doesn't know anything about it. How to have peace, he doesn't
know anything about it. How to be born again. That's
about the dumbest I've heard of yet. He doesn't know anything
about it. How-to books are useless books
when it comes to spiritual things. How-to books are pretty good
with mechanics. It's the right thing to write some. But not
with regard to spiritual things. So I'm not going to try to give
you a formula for a successful prayer life. But God's taught
me a few things. First, prayer is intensely private. Our Lord told His disciples,
when you pray, don't be like the hypocrites. Don't stand out
in public and show folks what you're doing, but rather go into
your closet and shut your door behind you. And when you have
shut your door, when you've made sure nobody's listening except
God, then pray. And your Father who
hears in secret will reward you openly. It's a very simple thing. Very
simple thing. Prayer doesn't involve the use
of a lot of words. It doesn't involve great emotion. Prayer is as simple as this. It is addressing God, your Father,
as God your Father, and pouring out your heart to Him in sincerity. Prayer, true prayer, acknowledges
Christ's mediation. I can't come to God except in
Jesus' name. Now, Paul's here and coming in
a little bit. I normally make it my business
deliberately, especially in leading this congregation and others
in public prayer, never to use the words in Jesus' name. Because
I want people to catch that I'm doing something different. I
want you to understand there's not a magical use of those words
literally coming forth from our lips. Now, Lord, we're asking
this, we're asking this, we're asking that, we want this, we
want that. We want you to do this in Jesus' name. Amen. To pray in Christ's name is to
pray, to approach God with a conscious awareness. that I can't come
to God except by Christ. I cannot approach Him except
through the blood and the righteousness of His Son. That's what it is
to pray in His name. It's to come to God believing
on His Son. It's to come to God trusting
His Son, seeking the glory of His Son. Our Lord said, where
two or three are gathered together in my name, That doesn't mean
we walk in the door, well, we're meeting today in Jesus' name,
bless God, amen. No, no, no. We come here together
to worship God through Jesus Christ, the only God-made mediator
by whom sinners can find acceptance with God, trusting His blood
and His righteousness alone to give us acceptance with God.
There's something else about prayer. Prayer is more an attitude
than an act. I'm not suggesting we don't verbalize
and speak prayers orally in private or in public. I'm not suggesting
that for a moment. And I'm sure not suggesting that
we have to bow our heads and have a moment of silent prayer.
Just a show of stupidity called piety. I'm not suggesting that.
I am saying When Paul says, pray without ceasing, in everything
give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you, he's saying live continually before God in complete dependence
upon Him, bowing to His will, worshiping
Him. We're getting to something called
prayer. Live before God, seeking His will, worshiping Him, trusting
Him, and you'll rejoice in Him. You see, prayer has something
to do with the will of God. Our Lord Jesus said, if we ask
anything according to His will, He heareth us. Our Lord, we want you to give Brother Don a safe trip.
I want you to take care of our President, his decisions. We
want you to heal our sick sister. We want you, and we want you,
and we want you, according to your will. Amen. No, no, no. To pray according to His will
is to pray a prayer which arises from God having
convinced us of His will, bowing to His will. I'll show you that
in a minute. True prayer is confident prayer. Because if we ask something according
to his will, it's done. It's done. And prayer is an act of the heart. This is what David said, Thy
servant fans it in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. Now, this is a good point of
examination. Wherever God has performed a
work of grace, prayer is found in the heart. How was it that
the disciples recommended Saul of Tarsus to the church? This
man who once persecuted this way, behold, he prayeth. Did you ever think about that?
He prayed a lot before that. Saul of Tarsus was well known.
for being a man of prayer. He prayed all the time. He prayed
about everything. And everybody who knew him knew
he prayed because he sounded the trumpet and said, Look here!
I'm fixing to pray to God now. Y'all watch me. I'm going to
bow down and pray. He was a man of prayer. But something
happened to him. God saved him. And he quit acting
religious. Now he's a praying man. Get a hold of that. Get a hold
of that. There's a big difference between
being a man of prayer and a praying man. Anwar Sadat, I remember, was
a man of prayer. Folks knew him as such. But he
was a pagan. Those fellows you see on the
news at that wailing wall over in Jerusalem with pigtails and
funny-looking black suits are men of prayer. But they're not
praying men. Big difference. Saul of Tarsus
was one of them. He prayed all the time. But now,
behold, he prayeth. Prayer in a believer's heart
is like breath in the lungs. Where there's life, there's breath. And where there's spiritual life,
Where Christ lives in you, prayer is found in your heart. It's
found in and arises from the heart. David didn't say, I found
it in my books to say this prayer. David didn't say, I remember
the words my mama taught me to pray when I was a little boy
and now I'm going to recite the prayer. He didn't even find prayer in
his mouth, he found it in his heart. That's the matter of concern. The Lord looketh on the heart. In all things, God says, give
me your heart. How can I say this and be understood?
Don't ever just say a prayer because it's time to pray. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't ever just recite prayers
before God, but pray. Well, Brother Don, how do we
teach our children to pray? Teach them they need a Savior. Teach them they need grace. Teach them God is worthy of praise
and worship. Teach them to call on Him for
mercy. and wait for God to teach them to pray. Pray with them,
encourage them to pray, and wait for God to teach them to pray.
Far too often, far too often, I fear that our prayers arise
from carnal, selfish, self-centered lust. It is nothing less than
seeking to gratify our lust and putting a religious tag on it.
Let me show you. Turn to James chapter 4. James
4. Verse 2. James says, you lust and have not. You kill and desire
to have. and cannot obtain. You lust after
something. Don't get it. And you'll walk
over anybody to put some in the grave to get it if you can. But
still can't get it. You fight in war because you
lust and you have not. And you have not. Why? Because
you ask not. Well, we'll start praying then.
Okay, ask. You ask. And receive not. How many times have you heard
folks say prayers like God giving you a blank check signed? His
name on it. Here he is. Check drawn on the
bank of heaven. Signed, the triune God. Now just
claim your gift and God will give it to you. It's called lust. Ain't prayer. Got nothing to
do with prayer. Got nothing to do with prayer.
You ask and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume
it upon your own lust. Now what's the connection with
verse 4? You adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship
of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a
friend of the world is the enemy of God. You crave after carnal
things and call it praying? You crave after that which is
just what you will consume on your lust and call it praying.
The best thing for you might not be to be rich. The best thing
for you might not be to be in good health. The best thing for
you might not be to have everything go in your way. The best thing
for you is that you walk before God depending on Him, trusting
Him. You love the world. You love
the world. You hate God. Well, isn't there some other
way to put that? I guess so, but not be in truth with this
book. You love the world? That's what you want? Is that
what you want? Go after it! Go after it with gusto! You might
get it, but you hate God. And I don't care what kind of
religious cap you wear. Prayer requires, then, serious thoughtfulness,
preparation. I don't mean by that that we Fear praying, no, could keep
us from that. I do mean that we be thoughtful
about prayer. When David said, Thy servant
found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee, I suppose that
suggests he looked in his heart for it. But Shane said with regard
to prayer, A great part of my time is spent getting my heart
prepared to pray. I'm afraid most of what's done
in the name of religion shocks the angels. Most of those prayers
that are offered to God, both in public and in private, are
nothing but an abomination to Him. How can you say that? I didn't. The Lord Jesus did.
He said that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination
in the sight of God. Most of our prayers, especially
in public, are short on reverence and long on pretense. And again,
I don't want to discourage prayer. God help us. Let us pray more,
not less. But we ought to take the matter
seriously. The wise man said, Be not rash with thy mouth. Let
not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God. I'm desperately afraid, and I
expect some of you are too, I'm desperately afraid of being pretentious
before God. Too often when I speak to God,
my words are too many and my thoughts are too few. A mere repetition of words is
not prayer. I do not mean by that, and our
Lord does not mean by that, that we ought never to pray for the
same thing twice. Not at all. But merely saying things that
sound pious, repeating pious words, is a show, it's not prayer. Bad enough to put on a show here,
Bob, but to put on a show in your closet before God. We are pious toads. You ever hear a man be talking
to you down there, shaking hands with you, talking to you about
yesterday's news, and then get in the pulpit, and all of a sudden,
where did he get that language? Never heard him talk like that
before. That's because it's a show. Same thing true of prayer. A
man talks to you, talks one way, and stands up and leads the congregation
in prayer, and all of a sudden, he's got a different tone, and
speaks different, pronounces his words different. It's because
he's showing, not praying. And yet, the Lord God tells us,
let us therefore come boldly, come freely to the throne of
grace. Oh, thank God His throne is the throne of grace, that
we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Be free before God. Be free before
God. Doug and Faith and I were chatting
last night while Shelby was getting the babies ready for bed. Faith's growing up and I know
she's sometimes afraid of talking to me. Afraid of saying the wrong things.
And I don't know any way to prevent that and still have respect as
a father. But listen to me. Don't you ever be afraid to speak
your heart to God. Be afraid of not speaking your
heart to Him. Did you hear me? Don't be afraid
of speaking your heart to God. Be afraid of not speaking your
heart to Him. Well, Dad might take that the
wrong way. Yeah, Dad might. But God won't. Did you hear me? He hears your
heart. He hears your words. A long way,
David said, before I uttered them, you heard what I was thinking.
You hear my thoughts afar off? Don't be afraid to speak your
heart to God. Be afraid of not speaking your
heart to Him. And as I said before, prayer,
is intentionally private. Our Lord said, turn over there
and look at it again, Matthew 6. When thou prayest, verse 5, thou
shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing
in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that
they may be seen of men. that they may be seen of men.
That they may be seen of men. Now read this chapter carefully,
and you're going to find the description of all religion outside
Christ in this chapter. Everything that is done in religious
people, by religious people, in the religious world, everything
they do, they do to impress you. Everything. So that you'll look
at him and say, boy, he's saved. Oh, man, the legends of God.
Did you see how he prayed? Did you hear him? Boy, did you
see what he did? Did you see how he witnessed
to that? Did you see what he said? Oh, did you know he fasted
every week? Did you know that man spends
three hours every day reading his Bible and praying? Did you
know? Did you know that man? Did you know what he did? Did
you know that man, he goes down to the kitchen and takes care
of folks every Friday night. Did you know that? How did you
know? I tell you how you knew, because
he told you. You mean that's wrong? Not if
you want to be seen in men. Not if you want to be seen in
men. Worshipping God has nothing to do with being seen in men. Worshipping God is in no way
motivated by what men see, approve of, or disapprove of. Look at
this. They do it that they may be seen
in men. Verily I say unto you, When men see them, they say,
boy, did you see that? Boy, did you see that? They have
their reward. But thou, when thou prayest,
enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray
to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in
secret shall reward thee openly. I'm talking about something that's
better practiced than talked about, but prayer is intentionally
intimate. And intimate matters, you know,
you hear husband and wife talking about intimate matters, and it
always sounds just a little dirty when they talk about it in public. Intimate matters between you
and God become real dirty when they're aired in public. Prayer
is intentionally private. You see, God listens only to
hear what the heart speaks. I love what John Trant said.
Remember, God respects not the arithmetic of your prayers, how
many there are, nor the rhetoric of your prayers, how long they
are, nor the music of your prayers, how methodical they are, but
rather the divinity of your prayers, how heart-sprung they are. thy servant found in his heart
to pray this prayer unto thee." Now, here's the second thing. Prayer is God's gift and God's
work. David would never have found
prayer in his heart if God hadn't put it there. God the Holy Spirit
teaches us to pray. For we know not what to pray
for as we ought. I wonder if we have to leave
that. The wise man said, who knoweth what is good for a man
in this life? We don't. We don't. We don't know what's good for
us. So our Lord teaches us to pray according to his will, being
taught by God the Holy Spirit. He shows us the way of access
to God, Christ Jesus alone, and he shows us the things that we
need, not carnal things. I can't find anywhere in this
book, and I've looked at it, I've been looking for it for
years, I can't find anywhere in this book, nowhere in this
book, that any believer ever asked for anything for himself
that was carnal or physical. I can't find it. I can't find
it. But the Spirit of God shows us
our need of grace and of righteousness, our need of mercy, our need of
Him holding us and keeping us and teaches us to pray. He encourages us to ask Him for
it. And He shows us the will of God by His Word, by His providence, by burdening
our hearts. I'll tell you a pretty good indication
of whether or not something is a burden God's given you. If
you can't let it go, I expect maybe God did that. A Syro-Phoenician woman came
and said, Lord, have mercy on me. My daughter was grievously
vexed with the death of the Lord and said, I was only sent to
my elect. Well, I reckon he wasn't sent
to me then. That didn't help her any. She
said, but Lord, even the dogs get the crumbs from the children's
table. And the Lord said, I've never
seen faith like this. Be it unto you as you will. Prayer found in the heart when
God puts it there. Amen. Major, let's sing, teach
me to pray in Psalms of Grace, part of the tune is,