The book of Acts chapter one. Acts opens with Luke declaring
that he's writing unto Theophilus. Now he does the same thing in
Luke chapter one as he's doing in Acts chapter one. He says
in Luke 1 verse 3, It seemed good to me also, having had perfect
understanding of all things, from the very first to right
unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus. Now the scripture
doesn't tell us who Theophilus is. Just that him calling him
excellent does give us the indication that he was noble or mighty because
it was used as a term to give to men of rank or office. So
why did Luke write to Theophilus? What was the purpose in that? Well, we don't have to wonder
because Theophilus' name means friend of God. That's why Luke
wrote to him. He was writing to a man named
friend of God and to all who are a friend of the Lord, those
who have been called according to his purpose, those who were
elect in the covenant of grace before time. Those are the ones
whom the Lord loves. Those are the ones that love
the Lord. The Lord said, We love him because
he first loved us. Isn't that what he tells us?
It wasn't us that loved him. He loved us. We were dead in
trespasses and in sin. And while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for the ungodly. I had purpose to inspire Luke by
his spirit to pin down that which is unchangeable, that which was
already settled in heaven, that which came down in the form of
flesh, didn't it? He chose, he caused him to write
Jesus Christ in written form, his life, his miracles, his ministry,
the things which he did. And John makes it very clear
at the end of his gospel. He says, if everything would
have been written that Christ would have done, the world could
have not contained the books. But because of our four gospels,
the Lord has given us the four aspects of our Savior. And we're
certainly thankful for Luke. Now, Luke is just basically a
continuation. I'm sorry. Acts is just a continuation
of Luke. He's started it out the same
way. Now he's continuing writing what
had happened, gives us the last words of the Lord, the last charge
that we're going to look at in just a moment of the disciples.
And then the account of the acts of the apostles, how the Lord
set up his church, how the Lord sent his spirit and power that
fell upon the apostles, the day of Pentecost and the life of
Paul. Luke would have been Paul's companion.
He would have followed Paul on many occasions. And as we're
going to see Sunday, when they were shipwrecked, Luke was right
there with him. He uses the word we, we departed. Well, that's
Luke talking. Luke was with Paul at that shipwreck
whenever that took place. So he was his companion. And
if you look in Timothy, you'll find that at the very end of
Paul's life, he said, all have forsaken me, but Luke is with
me. Luke is with me. So. Luke, having been Paul's companion
through many trials, afflictions, persecutions, he was writing
with firsthand experience, both in Luke and in Acts. We have
an eyewitness account of what the Lord did for his people. The point of Acts is to declare
God's work, how he sent his spirit after Christ's ascension. Like
all the other books, it gives God all the glory, all the glory,
not only in salvation, but in all things, in all things. That
song we just sung said, come quickly and abide, or life is
vain. We should just change that to
all, all is vain. Come quickly and abide, Lord,
or all is vain. Isn't that true? It's what we've
been made to know, isn't it? God chose to reveal that salvation,
even in the book of Acts, is all by his choosing, all by his
saving. all by his calling and all by
his keeping. In Acts chapter 16, he says,
now when they had gone throughout Pergia and the regions of Galatia
and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia,
after they were come to Mesia, they assayed to go into Bithynia,
but the spirit suffered them not. That word assayed, that
word assuade means determined, or attempted. Paul and Timothy
wanted to go, or they were meaning to go to Asia, and the Lord would
not let them. They were meaning to go in the
region of Galatia, and the Lord would not let them go that way.
He had a purpose for them to go to a certain place and into
Bithynia, or the Lord would not let them go to Bithynia either.
And so the Lord had made it to where they have to go, where
the Lord bid them to go. He would not let the gospel go
into Asia. Does that surprise us at all?
Do you find that interesting? Well, it shouldn't surprise us.
We know that he went exactly where the Lord purposed him to
go. We know that the gospel was preached exactly where it was
meant to be preached. It's no surprise that God hated
Esau. It's no wonder he didn't go to
Asia. Why did the gospel come to America? There's the question. For his
own will and purpose, for his own glory. It's amazing that
God loved Jacob. That's where we see grace, isn't
it? The trickster, the supplanter, the one that was, he tricked
his own father into getting the birthright. He was a liar. He
was a thief. And yet God had mercy on him. God didn't see him that way.
God seen him as perfectly righteous from the foundation of the world.
It's amazing. All by his grace, he appointed
them to go to Macedonia. Macedonia is where Paul and Timothy
go to. Why is that? Or is it because
they had a less sinful society? Did they have a better keeping
or understanding of God's law? Was their morals better? Was
their society on a different plateau of moral excellence? Everybody dotted every I, crossed
every T? No. We know why they went to
Macedonia. There was some sheep. There was
some sheep in Macedonia that the Lord was going to call. That's
exactly what he does. It's not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to his mercy, as he saved us.
And the reason that they went was because God had some sheep
there. God will in time in his time, but in our time, God will
call all of those for whom he was born a man for all those
that he lived for. for all those whom he loved before
the foundation of the world, he will call them because he
saved them. He will get, he's already gotten,
I mean, you've heard me, it's East Tennessee, I know it is.
He's going to get everyone that he's got. And you know exactly
what I mean by that, don't you? He's going to get everyone that he's
already got. He's already got them. He's going to call them
in his time, wherever God's sheep is, he'll send a preacher to
them. When I was praying to come up
here, I said, Lord, is there sheep there that need to hear
the gospel? You have sheep there. If the Lord, if you don't have
sheep, I don't want to go. If you're, I mean, I, that was
my prayer. I don't want to, if you're not
in it, if you're not going to call your sheep, if we're not,
if there's not sheep there to feed, then what's the point of
a preacher preaching, right? Obviously it's all for the Lord's
glory, all by his purpose. But you understand what I'm saying.
My heart was for the sheep of the Lord, for those that, and
I certainly believe we have sheep here. The Lord has given me a
heart for you and I trust you for me. He gets all the glory
in that. The Lord will bring a preacher
to his sheep, or the Lord will cause the sheep to go to a preacher,
one of the two, in time. That's how the Lord calls his
people, through and by his preacher. How shall they hear except they
be sent? And how shall they hear except
they have a preacher? And how shall we preach except
he be sent? So Paul was sent many places and he was forbidden,
and it was all to prove to us or to reveal to us, to show us
that salvation's of the Lord, according to His will, according
to His purpose. And it's all by grace, isn't
it? All by grace. Christ promised that He will
not lose one sheep. In John 6, you remember talking
about, was it, we talked about it last Wednesday and Sunday.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Well, no, why? Because the Father gave them
to him, and he redeemed them, and then he gives them the faith
that comes to him. That's our hope, isn't it? Lord,
give me that faith. Cause me to hear your voice.
Cause me to seek after righteousness. Cause me to desire to come unto
you, to feed in your green pasture. God's gospel shows us that salvation
is all his work, all by his grace, and all for his glory. Now here
in Acts chapter one, Luke begins with the last earthly words of
our Lord. Let's read this together, Acts chapter one and verse one.
These former treaties have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus
began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken
up after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments
unto the apostles whom he had chosen. to whom also he showed
himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being
seen of them 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the
kingdom of God. And being assembled together
with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem,
but wait for the promise of the Father." That's where the title
comes from, wait on the Lord. The command was for them to wait
for the promise of the Father, which saith he, Ye have heard
of me. For John truly baptized with
water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many
days hence. The disciples were commanded
to wait in Jerusalem on the Lord. Here in verse four and also in
Luke chapter 24, wait until you be endued with power from on
high. Now, as I studied this, the Lord,
I like it when he causes us to have our curiosity peaked, or
we wonder, what does that mean? And then we begin to beg him
to see, and he shows us. I love it when that happens.
Sometimes he doesn't choose to reveal himself, and it remains
a mystery, so we're to be quiet on it. This particular time,
the question that prompted in my mind by his grace was, how
long did they wait for? How long did they wait from the
time of Christ's ascension to the time of the day of Pentecost
when the Spirit, well, when the Lord gave them the Holy Ghost,
when he gave them that which he had promised? How long did
it, how long was it? Now, because he revealed this
mystery, I'll tell you how, actually. We have Luke's gospel, we have
the Jewish customs, we have the book of Acts, we have the answer
to the question. In chapter one, he clearly just
declares that they were seeing him 40 days. The disciples seen
him for 40 days after his resurrection until his ascension. Now the
Jewish feast of the fruits is the day after the end of the
Passover. We know Christ died and was risen
the day after the Passover. So it was the, and I don't want
this to be a history lesson, but this is needful for us to
understand in order for me to speak on waiting on the Lord
and things being in his time. So the fruit. The Feast of the
Fruits was the day after the Passover. Christ arose on that
day. Pentecost is still a Jewish holiday
that they celebrate. It's 50 days after the Feast
of the Fruits. That tells me, if my math is
correct, they waited 10 days. 10 days until the Lord sent His
Spirit. 10 days from the time that He
had ascended until His promise was fulfilled unto them. I love
the thought when the scripture says, when the fullness of time
was, God sent forth his son. How many times we see in the
scripture, and it came to pass, and it came to pass. And this
is all the Lord's timing. This is all by his purpose, all
by his will. God's time is not our time and
his ways are not our ways. He do with all things well, and
it's always according to his will. His will was, that the
spirit would wait 10 days according to man's time before he would
come to the disciples in power. This is important. Because how
long do we wait on the Lord? Well, scripture says that we
live three score in 10 and by reason of strength, four score
at 70 to 80 years, give or take. That's how long we wait on him,
isn't it? Every day, do we not wait on him? Lord, I can't see
your face again. Call upon him. Lord, I need to
see you again. Lord, I don't know why this is
happening. Lord, this too much time has passed. That's where
our stress comes from, isn't it? Time. What if you had all
the time in the world? Time was not a factor. How many
burdens would be lifted? Time's always the issue. With
plenty of time, you could make plenty of money. With plenty
of time, you wouldn't have to worry about your health declining,
because if you had all the time, you wouldn't have to worry about
death. But time is what God has instituted that we cannot control,
that He has appointed one of His glorious tools, if I can
use that term, of grace that drives us to Him. He's the God
of time. He's the God of eternity. He
inhabits both, and He inhabits the heart of His people. That's
the most amazing part of it. How long do we wait? Well, my
hope, and I know this is your hope too. I know that if you're
his, this is your hope too. My hope is that we wait on him
until our last breath is exhaled and we see him face to face.
Then we don't have to wait anymore. Then we don't have to hope anymore. Then we don't have to have faith
anymore. Faith will end inside. And what happens at that moment?
We'll be made like him. We'll be made like him. And we
will, because we'll see him as he is. No more time. What goes
away with time? Sickness, trials, tribulations,
doubts, fears, everything goes away when time goes away because
we'll see him as he is. He's the end of all of that.
We don't have to wait for time to end to know that that's already
so. Do we know that? He's the end
of it right now. He's the end of the law for righteousness.
He's the end of death. He conquered death for his people,
did he not? So what's the message tonight?
Wait on the Lord. Whatever it is that we're facing
in life, wait on him. He will do that which he has
promised. He will do that which he has promised. He's good to
his word. He cannot lie. That's our God. He cannot lie. We spend our entire lives waiting
on the Lord by his grace alone. If we do it, if we do it. Somebody said, I'm confident
that you're gonna preach the gospel. And I said, if I do,
it's by his grace. If I preach his gospel, if I
don't preach works, if I don't preach the law, if I don't preach
something we have to do, he gets all the glory. And if I'm waiting
on him and you're waiting on him, if you hear what I'm saying,
it's all by him, isn't it? And if we're waiting on him,
oh, he gets all the glory in all of this, doesn't he? And
the Lord's people, we love that. We love that about him. We spend
our entire lives just bowing according to his purpose and
grace, begging him for what? Lord, I need mercy. I'm a sinner.
I'm the chief of sinners. Lord, I need your grace. I need
to be saved again right now and right now. And what does he reply
to that? There's now therefore no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus. Wait on the Lord. Look to him. Daniel was in Babylonian captivity
for some time. Every day he would turn his face
towards Jerusalem and he would pray unto the Lord and say, Lord,
how long will we be in captivity? Lord, have mercy upon your people.
Lord, call your people back to you. Bring your people back out
of this captivity. Lord, we want to worship. We can't worship
you in this pagan land, this desert place. We need a place
of worship. And how long did he pray for
before the Lord answered him? 21 days. 21 days. And I love when the angel of
the Lord appeared unto him. He says, Daniel, I've come for
your words. For from the very first time
you prayed, I heard you. Well, why did the Lord wait 21
days? Well, he was 21 days right on
time. He wasn't late. He wasn't waiting for himself. He was preparing. Think about
this. He was preparing the heart of
Daniel to receive the word. That's what he was doing. That's
what prayer does. Why don't we pray when we come
to service? Why don't we pray when we come to service in hopes
that the Lord's preparing our heart that we would receive his
word? Prayer is a humbling thing. Prayer
is not for God, it's for us. Prayer doesn't change the mind
of God. I saw a sign just the other day. I was driving out
West and, well, it's not West Pennsylvania, but it's West from
here. Anyways, the sign said, prayer changes things. Well,
if it does, I pray that it changes us, because it can't change God.
Is that not right? If it's going to change anything,
it's by His grace. He has to be the one that, we
can't change anything. He has to do that. Prayer doesn't
change things. God does. God answers in His
time. Sometimes the answer is no, isn't
it? It's flat no. Sometimes He keeps silence. I'm
reminded that Christ prayed in the garden of Gethsemane. We
don't have an answer in the scripture as to whether the father answered
him verbally, audibly, I should say audibly. Father, let this
cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thine be done. We know the answer was no, because he went to the
cross, but we don't have evidence that the Lord answered him audibly.
So why did he do that? In hopes, hopes of the promise
of the father. Now, is he doubting? No, it was
with complete faith and assurance, but it's an example to you and
I, no matter what we're facing, we should be crying out, Lord,
have mercy upon me. Lord, prepare me. I'm the problem. I know I'm the problem. I need
to be, I need to be saved again. I need to be called again. Reveal
yourself again, because Lord, I've messed it up again. That's
what we pray, isn't it? All the time, we're just waiting
on him, that we might see him. We might get another morsel of
manna, that we might have another drink of the fountain of living
water. I'm reminded of Joseph in the scripture. Joseph was
in prison three years for a crime that he did not commit. He was
lied on by Potiphar's wife. You know the account. Joseph
was in prison for three years. Do you think Joseph prayed during
that time? Joseph was the Lord's and it's
evidence in the scripture that he, the mercy that he showed
towards his brothers, the grace that he showed towards his brothers,
he was a type of Christ, one of the most clearest types of
Christ in all of scripture. Do you not think he was crying
out? What was he, why did the Lord tarry three years? The Lord
didn't, he wasn't late, he was right on time. He was right on
time three years. What was he doing? He was preparing
Joseph, wasn't he? It wasn't for the Lord. The Lord's
not limited, He does it the way that He does it, to cause us
to be mercy beggars, to cause us to cleave unto Him, to need
Him more and more, so that by the time we get to that last
breath, we are desiring more than ever, Lord, I see the frailty
of my body, I see the frailty of my mind, I see how more now
than ever the weight of my sin, how undone I am, Lord, let me
see your face. Let me reveal your face. And
when we draw the last breath and we're made like him, we see
him face to face. We won't have to worry about
waiting anymore. There's no prayer in heaven. There's no prayer
in heaven. But when we see him, we'll know
that all along, every prayer that we prayed, he answered according
to his will and for our good. Can we say truth, Lord, to that
right now? If we can, it's because he's given us the faith to do
so. If I don't like my circumstances, that means I'm upset with God.
It's that simple. If I don't like what's going
on around me in society, that means I'm upset with God. Who
inhabits eternity and who's purposed all things? God's not playing
checkers with the devil and he wins one and the devil wins another
one and then so this bad thing happens, everything's ordered
and sure. It's God's time. He made time. And he made it
so that we would wait on him for his appointed time to reveal
himself. Wait on the Lord, pray unto him. David said, wait on the Lord
and be a good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart.
Wait, I say, on the Lord. All we do is what these disciples
did when they waited on the Lord. I want to show you what they
did, if you look in verse 12 with me. Then returned they unto Jerusalem
from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath
day's journey. And when they were come in, they
went up into an upper room where both Peter and James and John
and Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James, the son of Alphaeus,
and Simon, Zelotis, and Judas, the brother of James. Here's
what they did. These all continued with one
accord. They had one purpose. They had
one hope. They had one aim. That's what
that one accord means. They continued in one accord
in prayer and supplication with the women, and Mary, the mother
of Joseph, and with his brethren. What did they do? They prayed
and they begged. What were they praying for? What
were they begging for? They were begging for his promise.
Is that not what we do? We just beg for his promise.
He promised that he saved his people from their sin. He said,
call his name, Jesus, for he shall save his people from their
sin. Did he? Yes. We pray, Lord, save me. Lord,
keep me. Lord, Do not leave me to myself. What's
his promise? I'll never leave you nor forsake
you. You say, Lord, I'm the chief of sinners, have mercy. The Lord
says, there's no condemnation. That's his promise. What do we
pray for? We pray for his promises. Lord, send your spirit. He said,
where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the
midst. So are we presumptuous in saying, well, what's the point
of praying? No, he says, pray in all things with all prayer
and supplication. Everything that we do in life,
pray and wait on the Lord. Look to him to order in and provide. Look to him with full assurance
that all things around us, all things happening in society,
all the things that are alarming to this flesh, he's still seated
on his throne. He's not tapping his finger,
not twiddling his thumbs, not pacing the floor, he's seated.
It is finished and everything will come to pass. The disciples
knew this well, did they not? And what did they do as our example,
prayed, and beg God for his promise. See, faith believes Christ. It
looks to Christ and it begs for Christ, doesn't it? It begs for
his mercy. It begs for his grace. It begs
that he would have mercy upon me, the sinner. We never grow
past that, do we? People talking about, I got saved
one time. Lord, I need to be saved right
now. I need to be saved right now. And every tick of that clock
that goes by, we need to be saved, don't we? We never go past that.
Have mercy on me, the sinner. And may we never, may we look
to Him, may we look to Him who delights in showing mercy to
His people. I often have heard men say, and
I often, I fear that our flesh wants to make excuses. I've heard
men say, well, what's the, What difference does it make what
I do, whether I pray or not? Whatever's going to happen will
happen. Now, is that faith? It's not faith, is it? Faith
looks to Christ. No, that's actually the spirit
of self-righteous pride. And where that stems from is
whenever a man or a woman has come to the place where they're
literally saying the same thing as this, well, if I can't have
it my way, or if I can't change it by doing something, what's
the point of doing it? That's not what the Lord's commanded
us to think or to do, is it? Lord said, seek ye my face. Draw
nigh unto the Lord while he, seek the Lord while he may be
found. Draw nigh unto God, he'll draw nigh unto you. Why does
he say those things? For our righteousness before him? No,
we don't come thinking that our prayer life is good. I don't
even like using that term. That's something in religion
that they use. I should probably not ever use that again. We don't
pray unto him so that he'll draw nigh unto us like we're obligating
him. We pray unto him, he said, make
your requests known. He said, one look from you, my
people, one look from her, one look from my bride, ravishes
my heart. Enter into his courts with thanksgiving,
enter into his presence with thanksgiving and to his courts
with praise, Psalm 100 says. And after that, it says, be thankful
unto him and bless his name. We pray, don't we? We beg him,
why? Well, because we've been commanded
to for one, but because he's given us the heart to want to
know the answer from him. We want to know what he has to
say. We want to know what he, uh, what we, what we need to
learn. He don't need to learn anything.
We can't teach him anything. Now saying whatever's going to
happen is going to happen. That's the spirit of self-righteous
pride. Men saying, what's the point? That's not the spirit
of love, that's the spirit of pride. What's the point? If I
can't change God's mind, what's the point of praying? That's
not the heart that He gives His people. We love Him because He
first loved us and we seek His face because He's given us a
love in the heart to do so, not as an obligation unto salvation,
not as a work. Boy, we love a work, don't we,
in our flesh? We love rules, we love obligations,
we love anything that we can put on a wall that's a law that
says, I've done this, check. But he's not doing that. That's
what we do by nature, isn't it? No, that's not what we pray.
No, we pray, we beg for him because he has said unto us, draw nigh. How do we draw nigh? We pray. That's how we draw nigh. We come
to worship Him and we come right now. My hope is that each and
every one of you are praying for yourselves, for the ones
that are praying, for me. Pray, I can't do this. This is an impossible task. Faith makes us selfless. That's
something we also learn in prayer. Faith looks to Christ and in
prayer, we're taught that he is seated on his throne and it's
all by his determinate counsel whatsoever will happen. We can't
change anything. Faith demands that we wait on
the Lord. Faith demands that we look to
Christ. So why should we pray? Why should
we pray if we do truly know that everything's according to his
will and purpose? We truly do know that all things are by his
determinate counsel. Why should we pray then? To change
things? I mentioned that earlier. To
change things? No. Men love having a work. If I were to give a single work,
somebody somewhere would latch on to it as part of their righteousness.
Men love having a work and my intention tonight is to not give
us a work. Not when it comes to salvation and not when it
comes to being a believer. Prayer is not The flesh doesn't
like it, but we don't do it as a work. We don't do it as a work,
do we? No. The Lord reminds us to pray.
What a joy it is to come into the presence of God and pray. What did that cost for you and
I to be able to do that? It cost God his son. For you
and I to enter boldly to the throne of grace. So I'm not speaking
of works. I'm not talking about making
this a work. So why pray? Well, think of this. Christ taught us by choosing
to become a servant. And Christ himself begged his
father. Now this is God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, begging his father for the father's promises. Now do
you think Christ doubted in any way that the father would fulfill
everything that he promised he would do in the covenant of grace?
Do you think he would let his holy one see corruption and leave
him in the heart of the earth, let him be buried for longer
than the appointed time? Did he believe that God wasn't
able to deliver him, no. He begged him for his promises
as an example unto us, if nothing else, to teach us that's what
you and I should do. Because as praying unto his promises,
we see less of ourself and less of ourself. And we're reminded
it is finished. It is finished. And we stop looking
at ourself and our circumstances and we start seeing him a little
bit more and a little bit more as we start quoting those promises. We're reminded, aren't we? Lord,
give us this day our daily bread. David said, I've never seen the
righteous forsaken nor receive begging bread. Why do we pray
for bread? Well, we pray for physical bread and we pray for
spiritual bread, don't we? And neither one are given because
of what we do. It's given of our heavenly father.
Somebody said, well, why don't we quit working then? Well, the
scripture is clear. We have to work. Man shall eat
bread by the sweat of his face, but he gets all the glory in
it. Do you see what I'm saying? He gets all the glory in all
this. Christ begged the Father for
His promises. Christ requested. I love that.
Christ requested of His Father. Christ was not praying to obligate
His Father. He was praying in faith. He was
praying in faith. Always ended it the same way,
didn't He? Not my will. That's how we know it wasn't
obligating God. Not my will, but thy will be
done. That's what faith does, isn't it? It looks to Christ.
It looks to the Father. Thy will be done, not my will. This is what the Lord's people
are made to do. To pray, to cry out for mercy. Not as a work,
but we wait on the Lord. We wait on the Lord. Look to
him to order and provide that which he has promised. Cry out,
Lord have mercy upon me. You know what he said? He promised
he would. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and
he that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. So what do
we pray? The Lord calls me to come unto
you, calls me to seek your face, calls me to rest in your finished
work, calls me to see that all the circumstances in my life
have already been ordered before time ever began and it's all
finished. And it's all good. There was a saying people's,
I'd probably still say it, but I'll say it's all good, man.
How you doing? It's all good. Well, it's all good when it pertains
to God's gospel, isn't it? It's already finished. Everything
that's happening, it's all for our good. Wait on the Lord, look
to him and rest. Now tonight I had the thought of each and every
one of us having loved ones, family that don't yet know the
truth, have not yet come to the knowledge of the truth and pray
for them. Pray that the Lord would choose
to be merciful unto them and call them. Pray for the sheep
that have not been called yet in this town and where the Lord's
raised up a candlestick elsewhere. Pray that the Lord would call
his sheep. Pray that the Lord would have mercy upon us that
this candlestick would not go out. Let's not take it for granted.
No, cry out unto him every time that he reminds you and pray
the Lord reminds you. Lord, don't let this candlestick
fizzle out and go dark. Allow this candlestick to burn
bright and bring in your people as you promised you would. We're
just praying for his will, aren't we? But it reminds us to be selfless. It reminds us to look unto him.
This is what prayer has been given for. Not for to change
his mind. I wrote this down. Pray for your
pastor. Pray for your pastor. I need
prayer. I covet your prayers. I need them. My family needs
them. Every pastor that stands in a
pulpit needs them. If they're a God called preacher,
they need the prayers of the saints. The most amazing, precious
thought to me is that the Lord takes those prayers, those sinful,
no matter how heartfelt they are, No matter how heartfelt
a message is declared, it's still sinful according to the flesh.
God has to do the work in order for it to be used. He takes those
prayers, no matter how sincere they are, no matter how good
intentive they may appear, they're sinful. He takes them. He washes
them in his blood and he presents them to his father. Think about
that. Your prayer goes into the ears
of the father. That's what the scripture tells
us. That's what the scripture says. That's the things that
Paul said. I heard things that no man can utter. I can't utter
what I just heard. What was that? That's the prayers of the saints,
wasn't it? He talks about in Revelation, him being bottled
up. It's a treasure unto him. My prayer is a treasure unto
him. This thing, that's what he said. Isn't that glorious? When you finish begging him,
When you finish praying, always end it by, not my will, not my
selfish, prideful, sinful will, but thy will be done, Lord. Thy
will be done. We don't pray to obligate him.
I like this thought. We pray because we get to. We
get to. And he said, I'll hear you. I'll
hear you when you pray. He hears his people. Let's turn
to Philippians chapter four. Pray because he has commanded
us to. You say there's commands in the
New Testament? Yes, but none of them are for salvation. None
of them are for salvation. They're for our good and for
his glory. Philippians four verse six is one of those. Paul says,
be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer, and supplication
with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." How
often does our heart grow weary of this world and how that word,
what he said there, be careful for nothing, that means full
of care. We understand the English there,
it doesn't mean Don't be cautious. Don't throw caution to the wind.
That's not what he's talking about. He's saying don't be full of the cares
of this world. Don't be full of the cares of
your circumstances. Be careful for nothing, as a
matter of fact. He says in everything, in everything, by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving. He says don't be full of cares. Look to Christ. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. Wait. on the Lord. That's the
message here. Prayer reminds us of His power and our
impotency. If you pray unto Him, does He
not answer in His time? Does He not answer according
to His will? Does He not answer according to his purpose? Yes.
How many times does he do that? Every single time. Prayer reminds
us that we're impotent and he's all powerful. He's all powerful. Prayer prepares our heart to
receive his will. Prayer prepares our heart to
worship him. Lord, I need to be reminded of
your power and my impotency. That's what prayer does. My faith. The elect look to Christ by his
faith. We acknowledge him as Lord and
in prayer by this same faith. We don't pray. That's important. We understand it's by faith that
we pray unto him, believing in him, believing him. Acknowledge
Him as Lord. Acknowledge He has all the power.
And this is how we wait on the Lord. This is how we wait on
the Lord. Our faith looks to Him to order
and provide. When I say our faith, I must
be always cautious because men talk about having faith. Faith
is a gift. Faith is bestowed. And it's only
bestowed upon the Lord's people. But yet we are permitted by God's
grace to call it our faith because it's been given by Him to His
people. in prayer and with this faith, we believe he is able
to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask and all that
we think. I like that exceeding abundantly,
don't you? Exceeding abundantly above. I can't think of a better way,
a bigger word to describe it. I'm sure there's some in the
dictionary, but that's just perfect to me by faith. By God's grace, we are made to
believe He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we
ask and all that we think. Philippians 4, 7 tells us this,
the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep
your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. By His faith, He
teaches us that we don't need to understand, do we? We just
believe Him. That's what he just said. Faith
that the peace of God passeth all understanding. That's what
that means. I don't have a need to understand anymore. How does
he teach us that? By his gospel and through prayer. Lord, I don't need to understand
anymore. I believe you. You're right and I'm wrong. I believe you. Is that not what
faith says? I know what faith says. I believe you. I'm siding with
you against myself. I'm against this. I'm for you.
That's what faith does. Never forget his word. If you come begging mercy from
him, he delights in showing mercy. How many times do we see that
throughout the scripture verbatim? He delights in showing mercy.
He chose to do that. Close thought. I'll leave you
with this in closing. When I tried to describe our
heavenly father and I tried to describe the king of glory. Words
are just not good enough, but we use the words that are in
scripture. We use the words that the Lord's given us. He's the
king of kings. That means there is no king beside
him. Compared to him, there's no other
king. He's the Lord of Lords. There is no other Lord beside
him. He's the ruler of the universe. He's the ruler of time and everything
in existence, whether it's in eternity or whether it's in time,
he's ordered all things and they are sure. And yet when his people
cry out, their words are washed in the blood and presented in
the throne room of the sovereign creator of this world. In the
throne room of God, they are presented unto the Father. He
hears His people when they pray. Wait on the Lord. Wait on the
Lord for His time to be revealed. Believe Him. Look to Him. Christ made this way because
He is the way. He made this When I say he made
it possible, I think that's the right way to say it. I'm not
talking about making salvation possible. If he hadn't became
a man, if he hadn't chose to become the center substitute,
it would have been impossible for God to hear us because we
would have been dead in trespasses and in sin. But because he chose
to become a man and bear the sin of his people, fulfill the
covenant of grace for his elect, because he chose to go to Calvary,
bearing their sin, enduring the wrath of God, See, that's what
it costs for him to hear our prayer. That's what it costs.
He successfully accomplished the ability for you and I to
pray unto God and he hears us. That's what he's done. If he
did all this when we were yet sinners, what good will he withhold
from his children? What good will he withhold from
us? If he chose to give his son to save a bunch of dead dog sinners,
I think that's my favorite term. in defining us, the Lord's people,
dead dog sinners. We're dead, we're dogs, and we're
sinners. I think that's the best. He takes
those dead dog sinners, he makes them spotted sheep of his election,
doesn't he? If he did it while we were sinners,
what good will he withhold? If he chose to give his son to
save a bunch of dead dog sinners, what will he withhold from us
but the good, but the good that we, have the good that He's purposed. He's going to give us all good
things, all good things. He'll not withhold anything,
but that which is for our good and His glory. Faith believes
that. Faith believes God. Faith cries out, wait on the
Lord, wait on the Lord. And again, I say, wait, He doeth
all things well. He doeth all things well. Wait
on the Lord. If we can, it's because He calls
us to, isn't it? If we can, it's because He calls
us. If we do, He gets all the glory, doesn't He? Wait on the
Lord.