Those of you that were here last
Sunday morning remember that we spoke out of the gospel of
Saint Luke chapter 18 on verses 1 through 8 on the subject of
the unfortunate widow and how her importunity prevailed with
the unjust judge and she was delivered of and avenged of her
adversary And then we showed how that God will avenge His
own elect that cry unto Him day and night. And we told you that
there were no stillborn children in the family of God, and that
God would most surely deliver His people as they cried unto
Him. Well, today I want to continue
to preach on the subject of prayer. And there are many things that
I believe that are revealed here. There's just one or two things
that we want to talk about primarily in our message this morning.
But I want to begin by making here this statement that I found
in one of the books that Dr. Martin Lord Jones has written. And it's on the Sermon on the
Mount, and he made this statement about a praying man. He says,
I think that the highest picture that you can ever have of man
is to look at that man on his knees as he's waiting upon God. That's the highest picture that
you can ever have of a man, is to find him as he is on his knees
waiting upon God. That, beloved, is the highest
achievement of man. It is his noblest activity, his
crying to God, his being on his face, him asking and seeking
of the Lord. Man is never greater than when
he is there in communion and contact with God. Well, beloved,
this morning this is where we find David in verse 16. It says, David therefore besought
God for the child and David fasted and went in and lay all night
upon the earth. Here we find King David as he
is stretched out, as it were, before the Lord seeking God in
order that the child that has been born of Uriah's wife Bathsheba
that this child would be spared that this child would be healed
and delivered. Now Nathan the prophet has told
David here in the scriptures that we read this morning in
verse 14 the child also that is born unto thee shall surely
die Now at this time, this was not a baby, it was not an infant. This child was probably at least
a year old and possibly was two year old at this time. But the
Lord said that this child will surely die. But this did not
discourage David from praying, praying, and fasting and seeking
God in order that this child might possibly be spared. Now David told his servants and
gave them the reason why he did this in verse 22 and he said
while the child was yet alive I fasted and wept for I said. For I said, I said this within
myself, I said this in my own heart, I said this as I meditated
upon my circumstances and the circumstance of the child, I
said this, who can tell whether God will be gracious to me that
the child may live? You see, David was not fully
persuaded that the child was going to die. He believed that
maybe possibly because God is such a God of mercy and grace
that maybe God will spare this child. Maybe God will yet be
merciful and spare this child. Well, now I want to raise, if
I can, this question this morning. Was David wrong in praying for
this child? Is it wrong to pray what we might
call, what some might call, a selfish prayer like this. Or is it wrong
to pray personal prayers for myself and for my loved ones
and for those that are under, as it were, my household, in
my household under, as it were, my care, is it wrong to pray
for them and to seek them? Now, is it wrong when I don't
know God's will, when I do not know God's will, or when I do
not know God's timetable, to ask God? for health and asking
for safety and prosperity for my own. Was it wrong for David
here to go before God and not to eat and not at all to, as
it were, carry on the normal daily activities of his life
and to seek God with all of his heart in these circumstances? Was that wrong? Was it wrong
for him to do that? Well, I think that if we understand
one thing which is brought out here in this story, that we have
to conclude that it is not wrong. that it is not wrong for us to
pray and to seek God for those things that we need, and for
our circumstances, and the circumstances of our loved ones, to pray for
those that are ill and sick, and you may say you might have
written them off, but you shouldn't have done that. You ought to
have prayed for them, and sought the Lord on their behalf, and
cried to God that He would undertake. And we're so apt to give up,
are we not? And just simply to throw in the
towel, and to just give up as it were, and we think maybe that
there's just fate. and that we're dealing with and
that we just should just give up and not pray and not seek
the Lord's face, not cry to God. But beloved, we must get away
from that. I do think that it's right for
us to pray. I think we can learn a lot from
the prayer here of David here in this passage, a prayer that
I believe that we should listen to and think upon to some degree. Now prayer is more than an act.
It is more than an act. You may think, well, prayer is
just that. Prayer is just acting. You know, sometimes we hear people
pray flowery prayers in public, and that, my friend, may very
well be an act. But prayer is really, when it's
true, real prayer, prayer is more than an act. It is a disposition
of the heart. It's a disposition of the heart. Now prayer, if it be real prayer,
is not telling God anything. It is asking of God. It is asking of God. Now when you ask God for something,
it means that you give Him the right. to say either yes or no. Now when you're asking God for
something, you're not telling God anything, you're asking Him
and you give Him this right. Now if you do not give God the
right to say yes or no, then you're not asking Him, you're
telling Him. God, you must do this. Well,
wait a minute. Your disposition of heart is
wrong. Your disposition of heart is
contrary. Well, you know what happened
here in this story. You know that this child was
born to Bathsheba and David after David had as it were had stolen
Uriah's wife Bathsheba and he had caused through his being
the what we might say the the general the main general in charge
the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Israel he had
fixed it so that Uriah would be killed in battle and that
he thought that it was all covered up, his sin with Bathsheba was
all covered up by this and that it would never come out that
he had stole Bathsheba and that he had had Uriah killed. But
God knew about it all along. Nothing is hidden from the eyes
of God. God knows about his sin and therefore he sends Nathan
the prophet with this word to David and he tells him this parable
that we read here in the early part, this little story. And
then he points out to David, when he sees David as he becomes
very, as it were, angry and upset about this man that would do
such a thing as this. And David said, that man that
has done this thing shall surely die and he'll restore the Lamb
fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity. And then Nathan said in verse
7, he said to David, you're the man. You're the man that's done
this. And then, of course, he explained
to him what he had done, and he explained to him what God
could have done, and what God could have given, and what God
had given to David. The position that he'd placed
him in showed him the results of his sin, and said the child's
gonna die. God's put away your sin. God's
put it away. He has covered your sin. And
this sin of David was covered just like the sin of all God's
people are covered by the one sacrifice that was to be made
on Calvary, and as you and I look back on it, was made on Calvary. The atoning blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ, my friend, completely covered the sin of David. God put away his sin just like
he puts away the sin of all his people. And so David's sin was
put away, but God said the child here is going to die. That child
is going to die. And so as David heard these words,
Nathan departed to his house. The Lord struck the child with
this sickness. The child was very sick. And
then David, he went to prayer. David therefore besought God
for this child. Now David's demeanor is this. As long as that child is alive,
I'm going to pray for that child because I want that child to
live. I love that child and I want
that child to live. And as long as that child is
breathing, I'm going to pray for that child. But God says
no. God says no. And the elders,
they came, tried to get David to come and eat bread with them,
and he would not. He continued. And when the seventh
day arrived, the child died. God said no, David, no. Now what does David do? Well,
he says, so be it. So be it, if God says no, God
has spoken, God has taken the life of the child, and David
is not telling God anything, he's asking God, and in his heart,
it's not my will, but God's will be done. The child is taken,
the child is dead. Now, in his heart, it is not,
as I said, my will. David said it's not my will.
I want the child to live, but God's will must be done. David
gave him the right, God the right to say yes or no. Because God
is God and it's his will that's going to determine what happens. Now he's resting his case with
God. When the child died, David knows
that God has said no and that just simply settles it with David. It is the Lord. Let him do what
seemeth him good. I'll not fight God. I'll not
wreck my life. I'll not go into mourning. I'll
not take my life. I'll not rebel against God. No,
I'm not going to do that. And so the servants of David,
they didn't understand what David was about. They didn't understand
what he was doing. And in verse 21, after David
arose from the earth, he washed himself, he inordered himself,
he changed his clothes, he came into the house of the Lord and
he worshipped. He wasn't mad at God. He wasn't
rebelling, he wasn't wearing black, and he wasn't mourning
anymore. God simply said no. That's what God said. He has
the prerogative of saying yes or no. And so David came in,
he worshipped God. He worshiped God. Now, beloved,
listen to me. You never get to first base with
God Almighty unless you recognize this one thing that God has the
right to say yes or no. And whenever He answers yes,
then that's what He means. And when He says no, then that's
what is best. Okay, he worshiped then he came
into his own house and when he required they did set bread before
him and he did eat and in verse 21 his servants said to him what
thing is this that you've done? We don't understand this. We
don't understand your actions. We don't understand why you've
done this. Why, we were afraid to tell you that the child was
dead. Because of the way that you were
wrestling with God in prayer and the way that you just lay
there for day and night. And the way you were crying to
God, we were afraid to tell you. Because we thought that if the
child, well if you knew the child was dead, what would you do?
How would you vex yourself? Well, you see, they didn't understand
the heart of a true believer. They didn't understand the heart
of a man that was a true man before God, a praying man, a
man who prayed true prayer before God, a man who believed God,
a man who trusted God, a man who relied upon God. And as soon
as God has spoken, then David is altogether different. All
over. No quarrel with God. No quarrel. His servants, they said, well
what thing is this that you've done? Thou didst fast and weep
while it was alive, but when the child was dead. Then you
arise and you eat bread. And you ought, as it were to
appear naturally, to be just going on. in your remorse and
suffering, as it were, your bereavement and just not being able to eat
or function. But David said, no. He said,
while the child was alive, I fasted and wept. But he said, I can't
bring the child back again. I can go to him, but he shall
not return to me. It's over. And he went right
on and comforted Bathsheba, his wife. He didn't say, well, I
guess I better divorce her. I guess I better keep her out.
I guess I better not touch her again, because after all, God's
been angry and He's killed this child now. David goes right back
in and lays with his wife, and they have a son, and that son's
name is Solomon, and God loved that baby Solomon. God loved
him. He was the wisest man that ever
lived on the face of this earth outside of Jesus Christ himself. He was a wise man. God mightily
blessed Solomon and blessed this child from this union with Bathsheba
and David. But you see, you see David's
attitude. You see that to him, his disposition
was God can say yes, and he can say no. And when he says no,
I accept that. And I go right on with my life.
I'm not sitting around crying about anything. I'm going straight
on and doing what God told me to do and what I ought to do.
Now this, beloved, is very important. David had confidence in God as
a father. He had confidence. And you and
I, when we pray, we must come with that same simple confidence,
the confidence of a child. That when we're asking God something,
that we're asking our Heavenly Father, we need a childlike faith. Now this is what I mean when
I pray, I know that God is my Father and that He delights to
bless me. that he would bless his people,
that he would bless his children, and that he is much more ready
to give than I am to receive, and whether he says yes or no,
I know that he is always concerned about me, and I know that his
chief concern is about my welfare and what is best for me in the
long run. I know God and I know His nature
and I know who He is and I know that God is concerned about my
welfare and I must get rid and you must get rid of this thought
that God is standing between me and my desires and that which
is best for me that God's standing between me and what I want and
what I know is best for me. Beloved he's not doing any such
thing. He is not doing any such thing And when God says no It's
not because you ought to have it in and he says no I'm just
not going to give it to you like a hateful parent. No God knows
it would not be the best for you in the long run and David
solidly believed and trusted his heavenly father. And when
God said no, Azariah and David, he just simply went on with the
rest of his life. Got up and worshipped, changed his clothes,
ate, and went right on functioning as a child of God ought. Now
I must see God as my father who has purchased my ultimate good
in Jesus Christ and is waiting to bless me with his own fullness
in Christ Jesus. I must see that and I must believe
that. Now, brother, sister, unless
we are prepared to allow God to say no, then we're just simply
not praying. Even Christ had to pray this
way, not once, not twice, but three times. He prayed, let this
cup pass from me. Nevertheless, Not my will, but
thy will be done. Father, you can do what you want
to. You're God, and you have all
wisdom. All things are known to you from
the beginning of the world. There's nothing that's hid from
you, and you know what's best. and not my will but thy will
be done. Now the attitude today of most
church people is that God has given us the ability to command
him and to command situations in prayer. That's the attitude
of most professing believers today. That they can command
God. They can tell God what to do. And that God, if they're such
and such in their character, and if they're persistent enough,
God will have to do it. Well my friend, if things don't
happen like those people believe that they ought to happen, then
they say that it must be because we did not pray hard enough. It must be because there's something
wrong with us. This my friend is erroneous. It's wrong Could you have done
more than David did as he lay there on the earth before the
Lord day and night? Seeking God fasting. No, but
when God said no, that was the end of it with David now I think
that too many times our prayers are merely also that they're
just merely giving God advice you know, there's some people
that Every time you talk to them, they're trying to give you some
advice. And those people, when they pray,
they're doing the same thing. They're trying to give God advice,
trying to tell Him what to do, and how to do it, and how to
manage His affairs, how to run the world, if you please. And
we ask God to do something, He doesn't do it, and we get upset
because He does not take our advice. We think God ought to
do this, God ought to do that, God ought to do something else,
and He just simply don't take our advice. Now, you say, well
don't we count, preacher? I mean, don't my opinions, don't
they count for something? I mean, when it comes to prayer,
my friend, there are just, when it comes to prayer, we must understand
that there's only one will that we're to be concerned about when
we come to prayer. And that will is not our will,
but God's will. That's the will that matters
when we come to prayer. If it's according to His will,
He'll do it. And if not, and so don't try
to give God advice. Be willing to listen to what
God says and be willing to take yes or no. Now my friend, there
are many situations in life that's beyond control and you have come
to that in your life surely if you've lived any length of time
there are many things that are just simply beyond your control
your husband is beyond your control your wife is beyond your control
now you may not feel that that is so but it's it's true it's
very true your children are They're beyond your control. They leave
in the morning, your husband leaves in the morning, you take
off, you get on the highway, you leave, and only God knows
whether you're going to ever return again, whether you'll
ever be together again. Only God determines it. Whether
it'll be an accident, your children will be snuffed out, whether
there'll be a fire, whether there will be an explosion, whether
this will happen, something else will happen, and that's the end
of it. That's the end of the relationship.
It's all over with. Well, now listen, there's various
situations in our life, and we just simply must come to the
place where we yield those situations to the sovereignty of God. Completely
yield them to God's sovereignty. We're to roll them on God and
we're to rest them with Him. Pray for your husband, pray for
your wife, pray for your children. Roll them on the Lord and any
other situation you can think of that is outside your control. Now some people that if they
know that something's kind of out of their control, they can't
control it, then they become very upset. They become very,
very hard to live with because, you see, there's something that
is outside their control. And most of the time, whenever
a person rolls something, as it were, a believer, a professing
believer rolls something on the Lord and casts their care and
their burden upon the Lord, it lasts for about 10 minutes. And
then we will prove our faith in God and our faith that God
answers prayer, then how we act after we have prayed about a
situation. Now you think that out just a
little bit. There was a lady out in Michigan. that I heard about some time
ago and this lady had come to believe in the doctrines of God's
grace and she'd come to believe in the sovereignty of God and
she had one son one son and this son got involved with drugs and
become, just simply put, a dopehead. And it was so depressing and
so discouraging to her that she finally ended up in a mental
hospital for two months. because she just simply could
not handle it. It was too much. She prayed and
she prayed and she fought with him and she argued with him and
she tried everything she could to get him straightened out and
she could not do anything with him. And so after she had come
home, returned from the mental hospital, she got to thinking
about it and one night She went to the Lord in prayer and she
prayed this way. She said, Lord, I'm going to
put this boy into your hands. And whatever you want to do with
him, you do it. If you want to make him an example
of what drugs can do to a human being, if you want to allow him
to end up in the gutter, If you want to have him shot down on
the street in a drug deal, whatever you want to do with him, or if
you want to save him, whatever you want to, I leave it with
you. I've come to that place, I can no longer deal with it,
I turn it over to you, I put it into your hands, and I put
it into your hands completely. And you know, she got up and
she went to bed and she slept all night long. The first time
that she had done that in months. She slept all night long. And
five months later, God saved that boy and delivered him. Now,
it doesn't always work out that way. But this woman come to the
place where she cast herself entirely upon the Lord and this
boy's case. You say, well, I mean, wouldn't
it have been alright if she would just insisted that God saved
him? No! It would not have been alright. You must give God the prerogative
to do with your own what He will. And it's, Lord, you can do it
or not do it. You'll still be God to me and
I'll still worship you and it'll be alright. You just do whatever
you will. But it's all or nothing. You
must cast yourself upon the Lord and rest in Him. I heard this
story one time about this fella. He was a constant worrier. And every time you met this fella,
he was just worried to death. He could not hardly, he just
simply couldn't live hardly and have any peace. He was just worried
and vexed about everything. And one day, There was a fellow
that met him, a fellow that knew him on the street, and this fellow
looked like he was just as happy as he could be. And it didn't
look like there was a thing that went wrong with him. And this
fellow said, well, my, he said, it's good to see you so cheerful
today and so happy. And he said, what's happened?
And he almost thought, boy, I shouldn't have asked him what happened
and what his situation was. But the fellow said, well, I'm
not worried anymore. I'm not worrying anymore. And
he said, well, why is it that you're not worrying anymore?
And the fellow said, well, he said, I hired somebody to do
my worrying for me. And he said, why? He said, that
may be a good idea. He said, well, what does it cost
you for something like that? And the fellow said, well, it
costs $500 a week. And he said, well, how in the
world can you pay that? And the fellow said, that ain't
my worry. That's his worry. And you see, beloved, it's all
or nothing. It's all or nothing. You either
believe God or you don't. You either cast your care on
God or you don't. You either leave these situations
with God or you don't. You must leave them with Him
and cast them on the Lord and leave them there. Now the point
is this. that nothing proves our faith in God as how we act
after we've prayed about a situation that is beyond our control. You pray about it, and then what
are you going to do? What are you going to do? Well,
I'll tell you what David did. When the answer came, he just
simply went on back and began to trust God and live as he ought
to live. Real prayer, my friend, is bowing
In the ultimate, it's surrendering to the sovereignty of Almighty
God. That's what real prayer is. It's
surrendering to whatever that sovereignty is pleased to bring
to pass. That's what real prayer is. You're
not going to change God. He's of one mind and you can't
change Him. A day but on His face before
God, pleading with God, fasting, cannot change God's mind. God's going to do what He will.
And so you submit yourself to what sovereignty brings about.
If I go to God in prayer about tomorrow, I'm saying that it's
in God's hands. That's what I'm saying. If I'm
praying for someone who is lost, I pray for my sons or daughters. Husband or wife, I'm saying that
their salvation is in God's hand. That it's in God's hand to save
them or pass them by. If the lost are ever to be saved,
it will be by the mercies of God. God must save them. No sinner can will his own salvation. You say, Preacher, that's hard.
That's hard that no sinner can will his own salvation. Well,
it's desperately true. That no sinner can any more will
his own salvation than you can convert yourself. You can do
it. And neither can that sinner convert
himself. And so we must leave them in
God's hands. It's beyond our control. Pray
for them, but leave it with the Lord. Don't argue with God or
tell Him what He must do. Now I want you to turn with me,
if you will, to the book of James. The book of James chapter 4,
and this may be familiar to some of you, but there are others
of you that this is not familiar to. And I want you to see this.
This is in verses 13 to 17. And there's some things that
I get out of this that I feel are critical to the subject this
morning. In verse 13 it says, Go to now
ye that say, today or tomorrow we will go into such a city,
and continue there a year, and buy and sell and get gain, whereas
ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your
life? It is like a vapor that appears
for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say,
if the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that. But now
you rejoice in your boasting, all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore
to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is
sin. Now what this teaches me is that
we must trust God's wisdom about tomorrow. We must trust God's
wisdom about tomorrow, plus or minus, according to my mind or
not. I must say if the Lord will,
I will do this or that. Now it is sin for you to plan
as if you controlled tomorrow. It's sin. Now there's nothing
wrong with planning about tomorrow and for tomorrow, but it is sin
for you to plan as if you controlled tomorrow. We had better get used
to saying, and believe it with all of our hearts, if the Lord
will, we shall do this or that. Now the Armenians say that a
belief, and I've heard it and I've read it, that a belief in
the sovereignty of God will kill true prayer. That if you truly
believe in God's sovereignty, it will simply destroy your prayer
life. Now, let me make this statement. No it won't. It will not. It will kill a lot of emotionalism
and a lot of froth. that goes under the name of prayer,
but true belief in the sovereignty of God will not kill prayer. Because there is no real prayer
without a belief in the sovereignty of God. You cannot believe, you
know, you cannot pray to a God that is not able to do what He
will do and what you're asking Him to do. Now there's a lot
of preachers and professors of religion who believe in what
we call free willism. But you or nobody else has ever
been in a prayer meeting where anybody believed in free will. You've never been in a prayer
meeting where anybody believe this damnable heresy that it
was in man's hand to do what he wanted to do. Everybody in
a prayer meeting, now listen, like we said before, you must
forget any other will when you go to prayer but God's will and
when you begin to pray it will come out that you believe in
the sovereignty of God. Well, what do you pray for and
how do you pray about it? Now there was a woman, I heard
John Reisinger one time, he was at a Bible conference out east,
Scott Richardson's Bible conference, and I heard him tell a story
about a woman who walked up to him one time and said to him,
said, you have destroyed my prayer life. And he said, well how did
I do that? And she said, you destroyed my
prayer life because of your preaching on the sovereignty of God. And
he said, well, let me ask you a question or two. He said, did
you pray this morning? And she said, yes, I did pray
this morning. And he said, well, could you
tell me what you prayed about and what you prayed for? And
she said, well, she said, I prayed this morning primarily for a
couple of missionary friends of mine that are down in, I think,
Guatemala or someplace where there was a war going on, and
she said, I prayed for them. And he said, well, what did you
pray for them? I mean, how did you address God
on their behalf? And she said, well, I prayed
for them, that God would keep them safe, that the generals
of the army and that the soldiers would stay away from the building
where they were housed, and that God would keep the bullets from
going into the building and the bombs from falling on the building,
that God would protect these two missionaries so they could
go ahead in their work for the Lord. And John Reisinger said,
well you didn't. You surely didn't pray that way. Do you mean to tell me that you
believe in free willism, but yet you have the audacity to
ask God to control those generals, and you know those generals according
to your theology have free wills, and you ask God to control those
generals, and you ask God to control those soldiers, and more
than that, you ask Him to control the bullets and the bombs, you
ask Him to do all that, and do you really believe He can? And
she said, well yes I do. And he said, well then you, dear
sister, believe in the sovereignty of God. You believe in the sovereignty
of God. That God controls all things.
That God handles all matters in this world that take place.
That they're in God's hands. Now then, if you would go hear
an Armenian preach, his sermon would be against God's sovereignty,
believe me. It would be against God's sovereignty.
But when he prays, he'll pray, generally speaking, like he believes
it. And you can be sure of this. You say, well, how do you account
for that, Preacher? How do you account? Well, it's because there
isn't any such thing as prayer that doesn't stem from a belief
in the sovereignty of God Almighty. God runs this world. He rules
this world. And what he does is right. When
you pray, you show true theology. Lord, you do this. Lord, you
save my husband. Lord, you save my children. Lord,
you bless the church. Lord, you help the preacher.
Lord, you do this. Lord, you do that. You believe
that God can do these things and that these things are that
only God can do them. The preacher, my friend, often
says things and does things that are contrary to the Word of God.
I'm thinking about an Armenian preacher, a certain Armenian
preacher, an evangelist. that he preached for about a
week in a certain church. And he gave an invitation the
last night. And they sung, you know, I don't
know how many verses of the song, especially the last verse, several
times. And he was frustrated. Nobody
was coming forward. Nobody had made any commitment.
Nobody had made a profession. And he finally said, the very
end, he said, now, he said, God the Father has done everything
that he could possibly do in this meeting. He sent me here
to preach to you, and he gave us this building, and he gave
you this preacher over here, and so and so. He's done all
he could do and God the Son's done all he can do he died for
you on the cross He loved you. He gave his life for you He done
all that he could do to save you and then God the Holy Spirit
has done everything that he could do the Holy Spirit has Has come
and he's convicted you he's he's showing you that Christ died
for your sins And and yet nobody's done anything God the Father
God the Son God the Holy Spirit's done all they can do And then
he said to the pastor, he said, Pastor, would you dismiss in
prayer please? And the pastor, according to
his testimony, he said, Well, why pray? If God's done all He
can do, the Son's done all He can do, and the Holy Spirit's
done all He can do, then why should I pray? But then he said,
it suddenly dawned on him that God had not done all He could
do, that the Son had not done all He could do, and that the
Spirit was yet able to convict and to bring, effectually, sinners
to Christ. And so he closed and asked God
to do what they could not do in and of themselves. Now that
preacher was wrong. He was wrong. I'm talking about
the evangelist. That preacher that ended in prayer,
he was right. Because God, thank God, God hasn't
done all that He can do. Aren't you glad of that? Well
He hasn't. God can yet do. He can do exceeding
abundant above all that we're able to ask or think according
to the power that worketh in us. Now is prayer needful? Yes indeed it's needful because
God has commanded it. Is our prayers part of the purpose
of God? Yes, indeed. True prayer begins
with God and it's part of the purpose of God. True prayer begins
with God. If you have a burden to pray,
it is because God first. burdened you. You can no more
have a burden to pray in and of yourself that is really a
true spiritual burden than you can to create any other spiritual
desire in your soul. It's got to come from God. Now you just try it. You say,
well I'm going to have a burden to pray for this church that
I attend, that I'm a member of. Well now let me tell you something,
it'll be gone in a week. just like they do when the sun
hits it, if that burden is not of God. If God doesn't place
it upon you, you'll not be able to maintain it. If we have a
real burden, that burden started with God. That's where it started.
It started with the living God. If God ordains to do something,
if God ordains to save a soul, if God ordains to bless the church,
He's gonna put a burden on someone's heart to pray that he'll do that
very thing. God's gonna burden somebody to
pray and to ask him to do that. We pray in response to the burden
that God places on our heart. Do you believe a prayer burden
comes from God? Do you believe that? Well my
friend, this is how we can tell if God's about to do something.
We can tell it if God's burdened us about a certain situation. If he's about to use us, we can
tell it because God places a burden upon our souls. If God's going
to use us. Now, we ought to pray, if we
don't feel any burden, Lord, burden our souls. Burden our
souls. Burden us for the lost. Burden
us for the church. Burden us for the preacher. Burden
us for the work of the Lord. A poet said one time, he said
this, Lord lay some soul upon my heart and love that soul through
me and may I humbly do my part to win that soul to thee. Well
just keep praying that. until God puts somebody in your
path to talk to, to visit with, to live before in order that
you might be a witness and a testimony unto them. Let me say that one
of the greatest barometers of your Christian life is the burden
that you're taking to God in prayer. What you long to see,
what you're desperate about is what tells the state of your
soul. What are you desperate about?
What are you burdened about? To the point where that you go
before God and agonize before God about it like David did about
this child. Well, you can write a book about
prayer and you can preach sermons about prayer, but what we...
Beloved, listen. Until we come to the place where
we're able to give ourselves up to God to do with what He
chooses, we'll not be able to pray with a burdened heart which
is an indication that God is using us, that God is working
in us. Now prayer is a bowing to the
sovereignty of God, we said that. And are you afraid of what God
might do with you if you just give yourself up to Him? If you
just give yourself over to Him. Just put yourself in His hands.
Are you afraid of what He might do with you? Now you say, well
I don't know whether God will ever do anything with me or not.
Listen to me. If you give up yourself into God's hands, He'll
do something with you. He'll burden you. He'll burden
you. You might find yourself talking
to somebody you didn't think you ever would talk to. You might
find yourself in prayer. You may say, well I'm just a
dry bucket preacher. Ain't nothing in me. But you
may find that you're seeking out a place to cry to God. He
might place a burden upon your heart for your children. He might
put a burden on your heart. You just can't live without taking
it to God. You'll have to cry to God about
it. You'll have to pray about it. And there's some other situations
you'll find yourself aching. Now you have to cry to God. God
puts those burdens on your soul. God, true prayer begins with
God. Well, let me hurry on. I've got
to hurry here. Prayer glorifies God. Prayer shows our love to
God and prayer shows our dependence on God. I'm to show not my dependence
on God by asking God every day. Well, I'm to ask for my daily
bread. Even if I'm a millionaire and own a bakery, I'm still to
ask God for my daily bread. I'm to ask Him because I want
to be around to eat the bread and I want also to have an appetite
to eat it when it's set before me, don't you see? And so I'm
to ask God for it. Now if you make a promise to
your children, would it bother you if those children were to
remind you of that promise? Like for example, if you tell
your child, I'm going to take you to the circus next week.
And that child says, the next morning, he says, oh you know,
I'm just so happy you're going to take me to the circus. He
said, it just makes my week, it's going to make my week go
so much better just to know that you're going to do this for me.
Would that bother you? Would that bother you? Well now
God's made certain promises to you and I, and it doesn't bother
God. for you to come to Him each day
and say, Lord, I thank you that you said that you're going to
deliver me. I thank you that you said that
your concern is for my welfare and that you're going to take
my burden, you're going to bear it up, and you're going to bless
me. I just thank you, Lord, that
you're going to do this. That shows our dependence upon
God. It shows us that we believe His
Word. It shows God that we believe His Word. That's what we're doing.
Now then, God delights to have us remind Him of what He's promised.
Prayer shows that we truly are depending upon Him to make His
Word good. That we're depending on Him to
do it. No question about it. Now there's two encouragements.
that I want to give you quickly. Two encouragements to pray and
then I'm through. Now these encouragements that
I'm going to give you this morning have been a tremendous blessing
to me and I wouldn't leave this building before I give them to
you because I believe that they're very important and I want you
to get them this morning. In John, in the Gospel of John
chapter 17 and verse 9, here's the first one. The Lord Jesus
said this. He said, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me for they are thine I pray
for them now beloved listen if we have been given to Christ
by the Father in the eternal love covenant which all took
place before we were ever born in this world it took place back
in eternity but if we were given to Christ we've come to believe
on Christ then I want to make this statement Christ is praying
for us He ever lives to make intercession for us. He's praying
for us. Now beloved, listen to me this
morning. It's one thing for you to tell me that you are praying
for me. It's another thing for me to
tell you that I'm praying for you. But when Jesus says to me,
I pray for you, I pray for you. And you remember he told Philip,
or not Philip, but Peter, he told him, he said, I prayed for
thee I have prayed for thee and he says that to every child of
God this morning I have prayed for thee now if Jesus prays for
me then why shouldn't I pray for myself why shouldn't I Because
my case cannot be hopeless. My case cannot end in disaster. All must end well, because Jesus
has prayed for me. And so if He is praying for me,
then I ought to pray, and I ought to lift up my head, get it off
my chest, and pray! I ought to do it. I ought to
ask God, seek His face. I ought to. All right. Now then,
The next is this and the last. It's found in John chapter 16
and you ought to turn here if you can. John chapter 16 and
I want you to look at verse 23 and 24 and just let me read these
verses in your ear. And in that day you shall ask
me nothing. This is after the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus and his ascension back into glory. He says in that
day When it's all over, when I go back to glory, you shall
ask me nothing. Truly, truly, verily, verily,
I say unto you, whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name,
He will give it you. Hitherto have you asked nothing
in my name. Ask. and ye shall receive, and
that your joy may be full." What does it mean to pray in Jesus'
name? What does it mean? Well, in a
negative way it doesn't mean that you just use the bare name
of Jesus to conclude your prayers. It don't mean that. It is to
pray in His command. He said, ask and you shall receive. Verse 24. Ask and you shall receive. Ask! He commanded you to pray. Alright, but more than that. Christ as Mediator. He sends His own to His Father. to ask for their wants and allows
them to tell the Father that He sent them that Jesus as it
were would say you go and you tell the Father when you come
to Him that I sent you and then there's more to it than that
it is this that we go in His name we use His name not ours,
but we use his name when we come to God. Now there are names that
mean something and there are names that don't mean anything.
Now you go to the bank and if you don't have money in your
account you can tell them who you are until you're blue in
the face, it ain't gonna do no good. But if you go in that bank
and you got a check from somebody that's got a name, he's got money
in that bank. then that means something. That means a great deal. I'll
tell you this, I thought about this a whole lot. I thought about
going to God in my own name, but I knew that wouldn't help
any. I just don't have that good a name. I just hadn't got it.
I thought about going to God in your name, but then I thought
about that a little bit and I decided that wouldn't work either. I
could leave it to you to tell why that wouldn't work. But listen
to me this morning. Listen to me. Our name is Sinner. That's what our name is. It's
Sinner! And we can't come in our own
name. But Jesus said now, he said, hitherto if you ask nothing
in my name, ask and you shall receive. You go ask now, and
you go and ask in my name. You can use my name. I'll let
you do it when you go to the Father. You don't have no name,
but I am Jesus Christ the righteous. I'm the son of the living God. I'm righteous and I've never
sinned. And I've always done those things
that were pleasing to the Father. And you have my permission to
use my name. And my name is above every name. There isn't a name like the name
of Jesus. And heaven will respond to that
name. Heaven listen to me anything
that heaven will do it will do in response to the name of Jesus
Christ If God's going to do anything and don't forget it as long as
you live God the father is moved by that name that name We'll
move God to do anything He's going to do. The name of His
own beloved Son, who did always those things that pleased Him. Let us come boldly, therefore,
to the throne of grace, that we might obtain mercy and find
grace to help in the time of need. The way to the throne in
heaven He is blocked by our sins. Sinners have no confidence to
seek the Lord. Christ says, He used my name
and it will prevail with the Father. It'll prevail. Hebrews
7 and 25 says, wherefore He is able to save them to the uttermost
that come unto God by Him, seeing that He ever liveth to make intercession.
There's no access for a sinner to God but through a Mediator.
God will neither speak nor be spoken to except through a Mediator. No prayers are heard and answered
but for the Mediator's sake. Only for His sake. The sweet
savor of His merit is only capable to give acceptance to our prayers
because our prayers in and of themselves are unsavory. And only that sweet savor of
Christ will give merit to our prayers. Use His name. Now then
my friend, what excuse have you got? to not cry to God, to seek
His face. I mean to get down to business,
get serious about this praying business.