Then tonight is 2 Samuel chapter
7. This is the third message that
we've brought from this chapter. this time and this will be the
last one the Lord willing. We'll move on to chapter 8 next
time. But if you look down in verse
27 the last part of the verse we read therefore hath thy servant
found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. In Luke chapter 11 and verse
1, we read, and it came to pass that as he, that as the Lord
Jesus Christ was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of
his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John
taught his disciples to pray. You know, in many ways, I think
that through all the life of a believer, we are learning to
pray. We are told that this was a prayer
of David unto the Lord in those last words of that verse that
we read, to pray this prayer unto thee. And I want to point
six things out to us tonight about the prayer. I trust the
Lord will bless these things to all of us, help us to learn
to pray. and not only to learn to pray
but practice prayer. First, the first thing I would
say about David's prayer in this passage is, it's a prayer from
the heart. It's a prayer from the heart.
We read that verse where it says, said, therefore hath thy servant
found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. True prayer
is from the heart. This is where all prayer should
originate, in the heart. You know, the psalmist in Psalm
51, he said, A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Now, I assume that this prayer
here of David's that's recorded was an audible prayer, spoken
through his lips, but his heart was engaged. He wasn't just uttering
words. His heart was engaged. He found
this in his heart. And that's my first point I'd
like to make about true prayer, about learning to pray, is learning
to pray from the heart. You know, our Lord warned about
vain repetitions that the heathen use in their prayers. And we
all, I'm sure, see how that prayers that are read and prayers that
are written and people read them cannot really be considered prayer,
in my opinion. You know, one church, they have
their prayer book and On a certain day, they read this particular
prayer because that's the prayer for that day. Well, I'm not saying
that there's anything wrong with that, but truly prayer must not
come out of a book. It must come out of the heart.
We've all seen, I'm sure, in certain religions, they have
what they call prayer wheels. And I've noticed this, especially
those mountain climbers. trying to climb the highest peak
in the world, that they get to a certain place and the wind's
always blowing there. And they have those prayer wheels
where the wind blows the wheel, it keeps turning, you know. Well,
they attach a request, I guess you'd call it, to a certain point
on that wheel and it's continually, as the wind blows, it's continually,
they think and they say, It is a request going up to heaven
as the wind blows the prayer wheel around and around. I've often thought if that were
true, then I guess we could just record a prayer. You know, if
you have a tape recorder like many of us used to have, you
could just click it on record when you're praying and then
the next day just play the recording. every day, play the recording.
No, true prayer must come from the heart, from the heart. We want to pray from our heart. And it would seem to me that
David, in this prayer, and by the way, it's difficult to determine
where his prayer begins. It's easy to see where it ends
because he tells us that he prayed this prayer. Therefore hath thy
servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. But
where did it begin? Well, I believe we can look back
to verse 18 and we can say this about David. Then went King David
in and sat before the Lord. So I see that David is preparing
his heart. He's preparing his heart to speak
to God. He's not rushing, as someone
said, you don't just rush into the presence of a king. That's just not allowed. And
when we go to pray, when we go to speak to God, and we should
consider in our hearts who we're going to speak to. who we're
going to speak to and who we are. And that's what David said
there in that verse. He said, Lord, who am I? Oh, Lord, who am I that I have
this privilege, this audience with the King of Kings and the
Lord of Lords? But we need to pray from the
heart. It must come from the heart,
true prayer. That's the first thing I say
about this prayer. The second thing is, it is a
prayer acknowledging God's greatness. Notice in verse 22, wherefore
thou art great, O Lord God. For there's none like thee, neither
is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have
heard with our ears. In this prayer, it comes from
his heart and he acknowledges as he prays that he's praying
to a great God, not some wannabe God, not some pygmy God. He's praying to a great God,
speaking to a great God. You know, I noticed in the New
Testament, after the day of Pentecost, the very first prayer, or one
of the first prayers that is recorded there by the apostles
is found in Acts chapter four. And they began like this. They lifted up their voice to
God with one accord and said, Lord, thou art God, which made
heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them. They began their prayer acknowledging
the greatness of God. It helps us, I believe, to recognize
who we're talking to, who we're praying to, a great God. And we have these examples. I
just happened, I'm reading through the scriptures, and I read this
prayer of Jehoshaphat. If you turn over to 2 Chronicles. I read this prayer this morning,
2 Chronicles chapter 20. Jehoshaphat is a king of Judah. And the Syrians, I believe it
was, have encircled them and are going to conquer Jerusalem. In chapter 20, verse 5, the scripture
says, And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and
Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court. and
say it. Now notice how he begins his
prayer. O Lord God of our fathers, art
not thou God in heaven? And rulest not thou over all
the kingdoms of the heathen? And in thine hand is there not
power and might? What I'm pointing out to us is
that in this prayer, the greatness of God is recognized. In David's
prayer and again in this king's prayer, Art not thou our God,
who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people
Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend forever? He mentions the greatness of
God. And then another example, if
you turn to the prophet Jeremiah, just a moment, in Jeremiah chapter
10, in his prayer, And you know there's
many examples as you read through the scriptures. And that's one
of the reasons, encouragements maybe I should say, to read the
Bible, read the scriptures. Because you read prayers and
you see how these men prayed and how God answered their prayer.
And that encourages you and that builds up your faith to trust
God and believe God. Ask. and ye shall receive, the
scripture says. But here in Jeremiah 10, verses
six and seven, Jeremiah is praying, for as much as there is none
like unto thee, O Lord, thou art great, and thy name is great
in might. Who would not fear thee, O king
of nations? For to thee doth it appertain,
for as much as among all the wise men of the nations and in
all their kingdoms, There's none like unto thee. So no matter
what enemy these nations, the nation of Israel, the nation
of Judah, when they divided, when their kings would pray and
seek the Lord, God heard and God answered. And they prayed,
recognizing, acknowledging his greatness, his greatness. Now here's the third thing. It
is a prayer expressing God's goodness, not only His greatness,
but His goodness back in our text in verse 23. And what one nation in the earth
is like thy people, even like Israel? whom God went to redeem
for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do
for you great things and terrible for thy land before thy people,
which thou redeemest to thee from Egypt, from the nations
and their gods." The goodness of the Lord. David expresses
God's goodness here to the nation of Israel. And if you look at
these two things that he mentions here, Every child of God, each
one tonight can appropriate this to ourselves. First of all, he
said, he speaks about God's distinguishing grace, God's sovereign grace. What one nation, all these nations
in the world, and David, what one nation out of all these nations,
what one nation in the earth is like thy people? Like Israel,
like the nation of Israel. And you know, when we go to the
Lord in prayer, we think about God's goodness. Who am I? And
God has distinguished us if we're saved by his electing grace. He's distinguished us in sending
the gospel to us that we might hear and believe. Distinguishing
grace. Particular redemption is also
here. If you notice in that verse,
for thy land before thy people which thou redeemest to thee
from Egypt. God's goodness in choosing this
nation of Israel and then God's goodness in redeeming them from
the hand of Egypt. Now that was a physical redemption,
I understand that. But it was an important redemption
and it is a picture or a type of our spiritual redemption.
They were slaves. They were slaves. They were captives
in Egypt and they could not free themselves. They could not deliver
themselves. And that's the way we are by
nature. That's the way we were. Before
the Lord redeemed us, before He came and snatched us, as it
were, a brand from the burning, He redeemed us. Now, they were
redeemed, first of all, by blood, weren't they? The Paschal Lamb,
the Passover Lamb, His blood applied to the lentils and the
doorposts, and God passed over that house, and death did not
come to the firstborn in that house. And not only were they
redeemed with blood, they were redeemed with power. Power. When they got to the Red Sea,
what are they going to do? They were redeemed with power.
And the same thing is true of every child of God. We were under
the dominion of Satan. The strong man, as our Lord spoke
of him, the strong man. And the strong man, our Lord
says, keeps his goods in peace. And those who are his captives
have no way of delivering themselves. But the Lord, he took the power
away from Satan. He defeated Satan at the cross. And now he redeems his own out
of the hand of Satan, out of the power of Satan. His goodness,
we can never ever speak too much of God's goodness, can we? Can
we? I mean, when you think of the
millions of people in this world, and yet God passed by you, if
you're one of his children tonight, and he said, live. He said, live,
it's a time of love. We were just like that infant.
Oh, that's a picture of a lost person, isn't it? That infant
that is cast out there. No one pitied it. No one supplied
its needs. And the Lord passed by. And he
said, live. I preached a message from that
passage many years ago. I remember there was a lady that
worked with my wife when she worked out. at a company and
she had a baby that was missing one. I think it was chromosome
something. And the father would not acknowledge
that child had no use for it. I think that had even had bought
something for the child and and he wouldn't even go to see his
own child. And I thought what a picture
there. of us. No one pitied that infant in
Ezekiel chapter 16, just cast out there. But God did. That's mercy, isn't it? That's what mercy is. It's pity. And God saw us in our blood and
he passed by. Oh, the goodness of God. We never
are going to get over that. So in prayer, we've got a, it's
from the heart. It speaks about God's greatness.
It acknowledges God's goodness. And then fourth, this is the
fourth thing I noticed about this promise here. It is a prayer
pleading God's promises. In verse 25, David said, and
now, O Lord God, the word that thou has spoken concerning thy
servant. Now he's talking about himself,
isn't he? The word that thou hast spoken
concerning thy servant and concerning his house, establish it forever. Now notice, and do as thou hast
said. Do as thou hast said. He's pleading
the promises that God had given unto him. Now, some of you were
here last Sunday morning, most of you, in fact, you remember
I spoke about this in the message. And we have a need as we pray
and we read the word of God, we find a promise. that speaks
to that particular need, whatever it is, whatever that need may
be. And we take that promise before
the Lord and ask him simply like David did, do as thou hast said. Just ask him to do what he has
said. And this is some of the greatest
praying that we will ever do. You know, in Hebrews 11 and verse
six, the scripture says, without faith, It's impossible to please
God. But faith, faith must be based
on something. You know, if your faith is based
on a feeling, it's as good as thin air. I mean, it's really
good for nothing. If your faith is only based on
a feeling that you have, Something that you imagine, but when you
have the word of God, as David here, he had God's word, God
had promised him, and now he comes to the Lord in faith, in
faith, right? Now, Lord, do as you have said. And I want you to turn with me
again to Psalm 119, another passage. And I wanna just point out how
many times in this Psalm, we all recognize this is the longest
of the Psalms, but how many times in this Psalm did David say,
according to your word? According to your word. Let's
begin with verse 41. Verse 41. Let thy mercies come also unto
me, O Lord, even thy salvation, according to thy word. According
to thy salvation. Hasn't he promised to save those
who believe in him? Absolutely. Let thy mercies come
also unto me, O Lord, even thy salvation, according to thy word. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call
upon him in whom they have not believed, and how shall they
hear without a preacher?" The preacher comes with a message,
and God's chosen by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe, hasn't he? But never make light of preaching,
preaching the gospel. Preaching the Word of God, the
gospel is still the power of God unto salvation, unto everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein,
in the gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed, as it is written."
Well, this is the first one we see here. Look at another one,
verse 58. I entreated thy favor with my whole heart. Be merciful
unto me according to thy word. Praying according to thy word.
Claim the promises. Plead the promises, I should
say. Plead the promises that God has given us. And then verse
76. Let, I pray thee, thy merciful
kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant. All David is asking is, Lord,
just do what you have promised me. He said, well, why do we
have to pray and ask You know, the Lord, in Matthew chapter
six, when he speaks about prayer, he says, your father, he already
knows what you have need of. Doesn't he? He does. He knows everything. He knows
all of our needs. But yet, enter into your closet
and in secret, pray unto your father. And your father who hears
in secret will reward thee openly. Now, God's just ordained. There's
certain things God has ordained, and prayer is a great blessing,
and we just cheat ourselves if we're not faithful in praying
and seeking God's face. We live in a day when people
are so busy, so busy. Most of the authors, the preachers,
the books that I've read over the years, They preached in a
time when people's life was not nearly like it is today. And
in many ways, I believe that people were better off. Now,
people have more today. There's no question about that.
But things, things. But how many people today really
enter into fellowship with God? I mean, in their prayer closet,
get along with God and talk with the Lord and be blessed in your
spirit. How many people today experience
that? And one of the reasons, no doubt,
everybody's running here and there and back and forth, and
what a time to get along with God. That's one thing about being
a pastor. I've been supported here financially,
giving me the time And that's what the apostles said, isn't
it? That we may give ourselves to prayer and the word of God. And that's such a blessing. I
have great respect for men who have to work on a job that are
pastors, because that's not easy. I know that. I've been blessed
so much, so greatly here. But all of us to pray. and claim God's promises to us. Here's another one. Let's go
on just a couple of more. 154, verse 154. And I'm thankful for you folks
who support the ministry here and always have. 154, plead my cause and deliver
me, quicken me according to thy word. How many times do we need
to pray that when our spirits get get dull and halfway backslidden
or something. Quicken thou me. That's what
we need. God's spirit to quicken us, to
enliven us, right? We just, we get so accustomed
to doing everything the same way every time, every week, every
service, and no, quicken us. How we need a moving of God's
Spirit in our hearts and in our services. 169, let my cry come near before
thee, O Lord, give me understanding according to thy word. Understanding,
how many times do we need that? Understanding, not knowing which
way to go, what to do, what to say, what not to say. Lord, give
me understanding. And then the last one, verse
170. Let my supplication come before
thee. Deliver me according to thy word. Well, let's go back to our text
tonight, 2 Samuel 7. Here's the fifth thing. It is
prayer seeking God's glory. Verse 26. It is prayer seeking
God's glory. Let thy name be magnified forever,
saying, the Lord of hosts is the God over Israel, and let
the house of thy servant David be established before thee. Prayer
is seeking God's glory. When our Lord taught his disciples
to pray, gave that model prayer, you remember how it ends. Thine
is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Now our
prayers, we know this, must always be in submission to the Lord's
will. Just like the Lord Jesus Christ
prayed that night in the garden, Father, if this cup may not pass
away from me except I drink it, thy will be done. And always
when we ask of the Lord, it's always thy will be done. Remember
that passage in Isaiah, we believe it may be speaking of Satan,
and how many times, I will, I will, I will, I will is the essence
of sin. Not my will, but thy will be
done. That's the essence of submission,
isn't it? To worship of God. And the last
thing about this prayer is prayer in Christ's name. You notice
in verse 21 here, and I used this last time in speaking of
his word's sake as a living word, the Lord Jesus Christ, he's the
word of God, isn't he? For thy word's sake, for Christ's
sake. Remember he said this, whatsoever
you shall ask in my name. And that doesn't mean that when
you end your prayer, you just say in Christ's name. I know
we do that and that's okay, but really to pray in Christ's name
is to be cognizant. When you're praying, the only
reason that God is hearing you is because you're coming in Christ's
name through his blood, through his righteousness that gives
you access unto God. I pray the Lord would bless these
words and I'll say what the What the disciples said, Lord, teach
me to pray. Teach me to pray. Okay, let's
sing a hymn and we'll be dismissed.