Doing Prayer
Series: INTIMACY & AWE
Speaker: Steve Jeffrey
Date: 2nd March 2019
Passages:
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Let's pray.
00:00:05 --> 00:00:10 Heavenly Father, we worship you as the creator and sustainer of the universe.
00:00:11 --> 00:00:17 Lord Jesus, we worship you, Savior and Lord of the world.
00:00:17 --> 00:00:23 Holy Spirit, we worship you as the convictor of sin and the sanctifier of the people of God.
00:00:24 --> 00:00:29 So we give you glory to you, Father, to you, Jesus, and to you, Holy Spirit.
00:00:30 --> 00:00:35 Heavenly Father, we pray that we might live today in your presence and please you more and more.
00:00:35 --> 00:00:40 Lord Jesus, we pray that we will take up our cross and we will follow you.
00:00:41 --> 00:00:48 And Holy Spirit, we pray that today you will fill us with yourself and cause your fruit to ripen in our lives.
00:00:48 --> 00:00:55 Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
00:00:55 --> 00:01:00 So have mercy on us now, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
00:01:01 --> 00:01:07 And be our teacher as we open your word for your praise and glory.
00:01:07 --> 00:01:08 Amen.
00:01:08 --> 00:01:18 And so we finish our series on prayer today looking at three basic kinds of prayer to God.
00:01:19 --> 00:01:22 And you've hopefully got a sermon outline in front of you.
00:01:22 --> 00:01:29 If you haven't, stick your hand up and our welcomers will gladly get one to you to give you an idea of where we're going today.
00:01:29 --> 00:01:34 Very briefly, there is upward awe prayer.
00:01:35 --> 00:01:37 Praise and thanksgiving that focuses on God himself.
00:01:38 --> 00:01:41 Then there is inward intimacy prayer.
00:01:41 --> 00:01:51 It's self-examination and confession that brings a deeper sense of sin and in return, a higher experience of grace and assurance of love.
00:01:51 --> 00:01:59 And finally, there is outward prayer, which is petitions that focuses on our need, the needs of others in the world.
00:02:00 --> 00:02:08 And this prayer requires perseverance and often involves struggle, as our Luke 11 passage indicates.
00:02:08 --> 00:02:12 So firstly, upward awe, praising God's glory.
00:02:13 --> 00:02:17 Now, praise of God is where prayer starts.
00:02:18 --> 00:02:24 It is, in fact, the motivation for the other two forms of prayer.
00:02:24 --> 00:02:33 The more we grasp God's perfect holiness and his justice, the more that we will see our own flaws and we will confess them.
00:02:33 --> 00:02:44 And the more we sense his majesty and the more we realize our dependence on him, the more readily we will go to him for every one of our needs.
00:02:46 --> 00:02:54 In our overall prayer life, praise and adoration of God has the prime place.
00:02:54 --> 00:02:58 It's the starting point and it has the prime place.
00:03:00 --> 00:03:10 It seems, however, if you dig into it a little bit deeper, that a little egocentric that God would call us to praise him.
00:03:11 --> 00:03:17 Like it's like God is there saying, right, guys, the way you pray is tell me how great I am.
00:03:18 --> 00:03:20 You know, that's a starting point.
00:03:20 --> 00:03:21 You just tell me how great I am.
00:03:21 --> 00:03:24 It seems a little egocentric.
00:03:25 --> 00:03:35 So is praise of God just simply about God or is there, biblically speaking, a gift enough for us?
00:03:36 --> 00:03:40 Is praise for us as much as it is for God?
00:03:41 --> 00:03:47 Well, what I want to declare is that praise and adoration of God, in fact, changes us.
00:03:47 --> 00:03:56 Praise of God is the only form of prayer that directly develops love for God.
00:03:58 --> 00:04:00 Directly develops love for God.
00:04:01 --> 00:04:02 It changes us.
00:04:03 --> 00:04:07 St. Augustine was a fifth century Christian theologian and philosopher.
00:04:07 --> 00:04:14 And he taught that what we love is basically what we are.
00:04:15 --> 00:04:18 What we love is what we are.
00:04:19 --> 00:04:26 Our most fundamental identity and life behavior is a function of what we love.
00:04:26 --> 00:04:38 All people seek happiness, even in the fifth century, and they attach themselves to things that they believe will make them happy.
00:04:40 --> 00:04:49 However, when you throw sin into that mix, into that equation, what we do is we misidentify what will make us happy.
00:04:50 --> 00:04:51 That's our biggest problem.
00:04:51 --> 00:04:56 Our biggest problem in life is that we have disordered loves.
00:04:57 --> 00:05:02 We either love what we ought not to love or we fail to love what we ought to love.
00:05:02 --> 00:05:07 Or we love more what we should love less or love less what we should love more.
00:05:09 --> 00:05:14 For instance, if a person loves making money more than doing justice,
00:05:14 --> 00:05:21 So if money is more important to them than justice, then they will exploit their employees.
00:05:23 --> 00:05:32 If they love their career more than they love family, then their children, their family relationships will ultimately feel neglected and will break down.
00:05:32 --> 00:05:42 The ultimate reason for our misery, according to the Bible, is that we do not love God supremely.
00:05:44 --> 00:05:47 As Augustine so famously put it in a prayer,
00:05:48 --> 00:05:56 You have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.
00:05:56 --> 00:06:09 So that means quite simply, if you love anything at all in this world more than your creator, God,
00:06:10 --> 00:06:21 Whatever you love more than God will ultimately crush you under the weight of expectations and it will eventually break your heart.
00:06:21 --> 00:06:22 Augustine wrote,
00:06:22 --> 00:06:30 Wherever the soul of man turns, unless towards God, it cleaves to sorrow,
00:06:30 --> 00:06:38 Even though the things outside God and outside itself to which it cleaves may be things of beauty themselves.
00:06:41 --> 00:06:47 To change in the deepest sense, we must change what we worship.
00:06:47 --> 00:06:58 We must love God supremely and that can be cultivated only through praise and adoration of God.
00:07:00 --> 00:07:05 Now, thanksgiving is a subcategory of praise.
00:07:06 --> 00:07:08 Thanksgiving is praising God for what he's done,
00:07:09 --> 00:07:14 While praise is adoring God for who he is in and of himself.
00:07:14 --> 00:07:17 So Psalm 135 just read out to us.
00:07:17 --> 00:07:21 Psalm 135 calls us to praise God.
00:07:22 --> 00:07:30 Psalm 136 gives thanks to God for specific things that make him praiseworthy.
00:07:31 --> 00:07:37 So Psalm 135 praises God for having delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt.
00:07:38 --> 00:07:42 And Psalm 136 praises God for being loving and good.
00:07:42 --> 00:07:47 And those things, praise and thanksgiving, are intimately connected.
00:07:48 --> 00:07:54 Thanksgiving for a blessing automatically draws our mind towards the attributes
00:07:54 --> 00:07:59 and the loving purposes of the God to whom the blessing has come,
00:07:59 --> 00:08:00 from whom the blessing has come.
00:08:00 --> 00:08:01 Praise for God for being loving and good.
00:08:01 --> 00:08:02 Praise for God for being loving and good.
00:08:02 --> 00:08:13 Praise for God's love and his goodness transforms effortlessly into thanksgiving for all the examples of his goodness in our life.
00:08:15 --> 00:08:22 And yet, neither praise nor thanksgiving comes easily.
00:08:22 --> 00:08:24 Go to any prayer meeting.
00:08:24 --> 00:08:24 Go to any prayer meeting.
00:08:25 --> 00:08:28 And praise and thanksgiving is often the shortest little bit,
00:08:28 --> 00:08:30 the bit with the most amount of silence,
00:08:31 --> 00:08:33 whereas the petition stuff is where it all flows.
00:08:33 --> 00:08:46 Confession and repentance are driven by our circumstances too often.
00:08:47 --> 00:08:55 We fail and we are burdened with guilt and shame and so we pray, driven by circumstances.
00:08:56 --> 00:09:02 Petitions, supplications, asking God for stuff is driven by circumstances.
00:09:02 --> 00:09:09 A friend or a family member gets a diagnosis of cancer or their career looks like it's about to turn really bad
00:09:09 --> 00:09:11 and so we pray.
00:09:13 --> 00:09:15 That is, it's driven by circumstances.
00:09:16 --> 00:09:23 When good things happen to us, you would expect that it too would be driven by circumstances
00:09:23 --> 00:09:30 and that good things happening to us would naturally provoke us to thanks and praise
00:09:30 --> 00:09:37 in the same way that when bad things happen to us, we are naturally driven towards confession and petition.
00:09:39 --> 00:09:40 But it doesn't.
00:09:42 --> 00:09:46 Why do we not automatically flow over in thanksgiving and praise?
00:09:46 --> 00:09:55 In Romans 1 verses 8 to 21, Paul is describing the character of human sin.
00:09:56 --> 00:09:57 And he writes this,
00:09:57 --> 00:10:06 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God, nor gave thanks to him.
00:10:08 --> 00:10:13 Ingratitude to God is the essence of sin.
00:10:13 --> 00:10:22 Cosmic ingratitude is the illusion that we are spiritually self-sufficient.
00:10:24 --> 00:10:28 Cosmic ingratitude is taking credit for something that was in fact a gift.
00:10:29 --> 00:10:33 It's the belief that we know best how to live.
00:10:33 --> 00:10:35 And it's a dangerous delusion.
00:10:35 --> 00:10:37 We do not create ourselves.
00:10:38 --> 00:10:44 We cannot keep our lives going for even one second without his upholding power.
00:10:45 --> 00:10:52 And we, by nature, hate the idea that we are utterly and completely dependent upon God.
00:10:52 --> 00:10:56 Because when we do, when we admit that we are,
00:10:56 --> 00:10:59 we are obligated to him,
00:10:59 --> 00:11:02 and we are not able to live as we wish.
00:11:05 --> 00:11:10 We would, in fact, have to defer to the one who gives us everything.
00:11:11 --> 00:11:16 And so the sin in our heart makes us desperate to keep control of our lives
00:11:16 --> 00:11:18 and to live the way we want to.
00:11:19 --> 00:11:23 And so we cannot acknowledge the magnitude and the scope of what we owe him.
00:11:23 --> 00:11:25 When good things come to us,
00:11:25 --> 00:11:30 we do everything possible to tell ourselves that we accomplished it
00:11:30 --> 00:11:31 or that we deserve it.
00:11:32 --> 00:11:35 When our lives are simply going along pretty smoothly,
00:11:36 --> 00:11:44 we don't live in quiet, amazed, thankful consciousness of God's blessing.
00:11:44 --> 00:11:51 We have a problem with gratitude and praise.
00:11:55 --> 00:11:57 We do it in all of our life.
00:11:57 --> 00:12:01 We are way more critical than we are thankful.
00:12:01 --> 00:12:05 We are way more critical of our kids than we are affirming and giving them thanks.
00:12:06 --> 00:12:10 We are way more critical of governments for the mistakes they make
00:12:10 --> 00:12:13 and rather than affirming them for the good things that they do do.
00:12:18 --> 00:12:20 We have a problem with gratitude and praise,
00:12:20 --> 00:12:24 and yet praise is the one kind of prayer
00:12:24 --> 00:12:31 that properly motivates, energizes, and shapes all of our prayer life.
00:12:31 --> 00:12:34 You've got a problem with praise and thanksgiving.
00:12:34 --> 00:12:36 You've got a problem with your entire prayer life.
00:12:39 --> 00:12:41 So how do we turn it around?
00:12:44 --> 00:12:47 Multiple ways, but broadly speaking,
00:12:48 --> 00:12:52 it's developing the habit to turn every gift of God into praise of God.
00:12:52 --> 00:12:56 I would encourage you, if you've got a problem in this area,
00:12:56 --> 00:12:58 which virtually all of us do,
00:12:59 --> 00:13:04 is to stop petitions and start praise.
00:13:04 --> 00:13:06 Get your shopping list of petitions.
00:13:06 --> 00:13:13 Put it to one side and write a list of everything that you are thankful to God for
00:13:13 --> 00:13:15 and pray over it and over it and over it
00:13:15 --> 00:13:17 and keep adding to it and keep adding to it
00:13:17 --> 00:13:25 and keep adding to it until you start to feel the emotions well up
00:13:25 --> 00:13:27 of thanksgiving and gratitude to God.
00:13:31 --> 00:13:32 Gratitude says,
00:13:32 --> 00:13:37 this is a little bit more than just even a shopping list of thanksgiving,
00:13:38 --> 00:13:40 a little bit more of a shopping list of things you're thankful for.
00:13:41 --> 00:13:42 Gratitude says,
00:13:42 --> 00:13:46 God, you are so good to give me this.
00:13:47 --> 00:13:49 Praise says,
00:13:49 --> 00:13:52 what kind of God would give me this?
00:13:53 --> 00:13:54 See the difference?
00:13:55 --> 00:13:55 Gratitude says,
00:13:56 --> 00:13:56 thank you God for that.
00:13:57 --> 00:13:58 Praise says,
00:13:58 --> 00:14:01 who are you that you would give me this?
00:14:04 --> 00:14:06 The Westminster Catechism says,
00:14:06 --> 00:14:10 a person's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.
00:14:10 --> 00:14:15 And many suggest that they are in fact exactly the same thing.
00:14:15 --> 00:14:20 To fully enjoy is in fact to praise.
00:14:21 --> 00:14:23 In commanding us to glorify him,
00:14:24 --> 00:14:28 God is inviting us to enjoy him.
00:14:29 --> 00:14:30 And enjoying him,
00:14:31 --> 00:14:34 it's the only love that won't crush us.
00:14:35 --> 00:14:36 The only one.
00:14:36 --> 00:14:39 Secondly,
00:14:39 --> 00:14:40 intimacy,
00:14:41 --> 00:14:42 finding God's grace.
00:14:43 --> 00:14:44 Us modern people,
00:14:44 --> 00:14:48 we often have a one dimensional view of God as a spirit of love.
00:14:49 --> 00:14:49 Therefore,
00:14:50 --> 00:14:56 the free forgiveness of God through Jesus on the cross doesn't seem that remarkable at all,
00:14:56 --> 00:14:56 because,
00:14:57 --> 00:14:57 well,
00:14:57 --> 00:14:57 in fact,
00:14:57 --> 00:14:58 that's God's business.
00:14:59 --> 00:14:59 You know,
00:14:59 --> 00:15:00 he's in the business of loving,
00:15:00 --> 00:15:02 he's in the business of forgiving.
00:15:02 --> 00:15:03 That's what he's meant to do.
00:15:03 --> 00:15:09 And so we struggle with passages like Exodus 34,
00:15:09 --> 00:15:10 six and seven,
00:15:10 --> 00:15:15 which makes two startling assertions about God.
00:15:16 --> 00:15:20 It says that God maintains love to thousands and gives,
00:15:20 --> 00:15:21 forgives wickedness,
00:15:22 --> 00:15:23 rebellion and sin.
00:15:23 --> 00:15:27 And yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished.
00:15:27 --> 00:15:29 That is,
00:15:29 --> 00:15:32 we struggle with this concept that God,
00:15:32 --> 00:15:33 as it says there,
00:15:33 --> 00:15:33 is loving,
00:15:34 --> 00:15:36 but he's also holy,
00:15:36 --> 00:15:40 and he cannot let injustice and wickedness go unpunished.
00:15:40 --> 00:15:42 How do you hold those together?
00:15:43 --> 00:15:43 That is,
00:15:43 --> 00:15:49 God's forgiveness in the Bible is neither simple to the modern mind or expected.
00:15:49 --> 00:15:52 So the conundrum of Exodus 34,
00:15:52 --> 00:15:58 verses six and seven is actually the tension that drives the entire plot of the Old Testament.
00:15:59 --> 00:16:10 The history recorded in the Bible is an account of individuals and communities continually breaking their promises and obligations to God.
00:16:10 --> 00:16:16 And you would just expect that this God would do as we would do is,
00:16:16 --> 00:16:17 frankly,
00:16:17 --> 00:16:18 I've had enough of this,
00:16:18 --> 00:16:19 cut you off.
00:16:21 --> 00:16:24 And yet there are numerous statements throughout the Old Testament,
00:16:24 --> 00:16:25 like Jeremiah 31,
00:16:25 --> 00:16:26 Ezekiel 36,
00:16:27 --> 00:16:29 that somehow,
00:16:29 --> 00:16:39 God will nevertheless remain faithful and that he will forgive and he will restore the rebellious.
00:16:41 --> 00:16:44 And then you get to the New Testament and Romans 3,
00:16:44 --> 00:16:48 25 and 26 point out the answer to the riddle.
00:16:50 --> 00:16:56 God presented Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement through the shedding of his blood.
00:16:56 --> 00:17:01 And he did this so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith,
00:17:01 --> 00:17:03 those who have faith in Jesus.
00:17:05 --> 00:17:06 You see,
00:17:06 --> 00:17:08 when Jesus died on the cross,
00:17:08 --> 00:17:20 he took our curse for our unfaithfulness so that we could receive the blessing that he earned through his perfect faithfulness.
00:17:20 --> 00:17:23 In Jesus,
00:17:23 --> 00:17:31 God can be both just towards sin and yet merciful in justifying the sinner.
00:17:33 --> 00:17:38 It means that because of Jesus' atoning sacrifice,
00:17:38 --> 00:17:39 no sin,
00:17:39 --> 00:17:40 according to Romans 8,
00:17:41 --> 00:17:45 can be brought up and condemn those who have faith in Jesus.
00:17:45 --> 00:17:58 And so God's free forgiveness is the foundation of all inward intimacy and confession and repentance.
00:17:58 --> 00:18:04 But when we forget the free grace of God in Christ,
00:18:04 --> 00:18:11 when we aren't totally convinced that God loves us in Jesus,
00:18:11 --> 00:18:18 then confession and repentance becomes just another way of trying to keep God on our side.
00:18:18 --> 00:18:26 It's a self-righteous attempt to atone for my own sin.
00:18:29 --> 00:18:32 Jesus has suffered for our sin.
00:18:33 --> 00:18:37 We do not need to make ourselves suffer to merit God's forgiveness.
00:18:38 --> 00:18:42 We simply receive the forgiveness earned by God.
00:18:42 --> 00:18:55 How confident can we be that God's love will exist in such a way that my sins are continually going to be dealt with?
00:18:58 --> 00:18:59 Well,
00:18:59 --> 00:19:04 God forgives us not just because he's merciful,
00:19:04 --> 00:19:05 which he is,
00:19:05 --> 00:19:07 but because he is just.
00:19:07 --> 00:19:14 It's because of his justice that we can be confident of his mercy and his love.
00:19:15 --> 00:19:16 The apostle John writes,
00:19:16 --> 00:19:18 and we'll read this a little bit later,
00:19:19 --> 00:19:21 that if we confess our sins,
00:19:22 --> 00:19:23 it says,
00:19:23 --> 00:19:25 God is faithful and just
00:19:25 --> 00:19:28 and will forgive us our sins.
00:19:29 --> 00:19:31 John 1, 1, 9.
00:19:32 --> 00:19:36 It doesn't say God is loving and will forgive us our sins.
00:19:36 --> 00:19:39 It says he is just and will forgive us our sins.
00:19:41 --> 00:19:46 Our confidence in that verse is that he is just.
00:19:47 --> 00:19:47 That is,
00:19:47 --> 00:19:53 it would be unjust of God to deny us forgiveness
00:19:53 --> 00:19:57 because Jesus has already earned our acceptance.
00:19:57 --> 00:20:03 All those who are in Christ must and will be forgiven
00:20:03 --> 00:20:06 because Jesus has taken the punishment.
00:20:06 --> 00:20:09 He has paid the debt for our sins.
00:20:09 --> 00:20:15 It would be unjust of God to receive two payments for the same debt.
00:20:15 --> 00:20:22 And this profound assurance and security
00:20:22 --> 00:20:24 transforms repentance
00:20:24 --> 00:20:28 from being a means of atoning for our sin
00:20:28 --> 00:20:30 into the means of honoring God
00:20:30 --> 00:20:33 and realigning our lives with him.
00:20:34 --> 00:20:39 Without a firm, firm grasp of free justification,
00:20:39 --> 00:20:43 we will admit wrongdoing only under great duress.
00:20:45 --> 00:20:48 We will focus on our behavior and itself
00:20:48 --> 00:20:52 and be blinded to just the deeper issues
00:20:52 --> 00:20:55 of our attitudes and our self-centeredness.
00:20:55 --> 00:20:58 We will also take as little blame as possible
00:20:58 --> 00:20:59 for anything that we've done.
00:20:59 --> 00:21:03 We will recite every possible mitigating circumstances
00:21:03 --> 00:21:05 to ourselves and to others.
00:21:05 --> 00:21:08 And we will never ever experience
00:21:08 --> 00:21:11 the release and the relief of resting in Jesus' forgiveness.
00:21:12 --> 00:21:15 The more that we know that we are forgiven,
00:21:16 --> 00:21:17 the more that we repent.
00:21:18 --> 00:21:20 The faster we will grow,
00:21:20 --> 00:21:21 the quicker we will change,
00:21:22 --> 00:21:25 the deeper our humility and the deeper our joy
00:21:25 --> 00:21:28 and greater will be our praise and our thanksgiving.
00:21:29 --> 00:21:38 But that doesn't mean we take our sin lightly.
00:21:41 --> 00:21:43 We must not make the mistake
00:21:43 --> 00:21:46 of taking forgiveness lightly because it is free.
00:21:47 --> 00:21:50 Our great debt and sin against God
00:21:50 --> 00:21:54 required the ultimate infinite payment.
00:21:54 --> 00:21:57 And the only way God could forgive us
00:21:57 --> 00:21:59 was to bear it himself.
00:21:59 --> 00:22:05 God the Father sent God the Son to take our punishment,
00:22:06 --> 00:22:09 who with the Father sent God the Spirit into our hearts,
00:22:10 --> 00:22:17 both to show us and to help us receive that costly forgiveness.
00:22:17 --> 00:22:22 If we forget the costliness of sin,
00:22:23 --> 00:22:25 our prayers for confession,
00:22:26 --> 00:22:32 our prayers of repentance will simply be shallow and trivial.
00:22:33 --> 00:22:39 They will neither honor God nor will they change our life.
00:22:39 --> 00:22:42 So praise changes our life.
00:22:43 --> 00:22:45 Confession changes our life.
00:22:46 --> 00:22:48 Repentance changes our life.
00:22:49 --> 00:22:49 You see,
00:22:49 --> 00:22:50 confessing our sin
00:22:50 --> 00:22:54 implies the forsaking of those sins.
00:22:54 --> 00:22:56 So can I just ask you,
00:22:56 --> 00:22:59 I'm not asking for a show of hands here at all.
00:22:59 --> 00:23:04 How many are still doing and confessing the same sins
00:23:04 --> 00:23:08 year after year after year after year?
00:23:09 --> 00:23:13 How many know that experience deep in your heart?
00:23:13 --> 00:23:23 It's because there's a problem with our confession and repentance.
00:23:25 --> 00:23:30 We must be inwardly grieved and appalled enough by a sin
00:23:30 --> 00:23:36 to the point that it loses its hold over us.
00:23:37 --> 00:23:39 There's a kind of false repentance
00:23:39 --> 00:23:42 where we may admit our sin,
00:23:42 --> 00:23:46 but we're not really sorry for the sin itself.
00:23:47 --> 00:23:51 We're sorry about the painful consequences of the sin.
00:23:51 --> 00:23:55 We're sorry about the guilt that we feel.
00:23:57 --> 00:23:59 We want the pain to stop.
00:23:59 --> 00:24:02 And so we end the behavior momentarily.
00:24:04 --> 00:24:08 There hasn't been any real change to our wrong beliefs,
00:24:09 --> 00:24:10 to our wrong hopes,
00:24:11 --> 00:24:13 to our disordered loves
00:24:13 --> 00:24:18 or mistaken self-perceptions that cause the sin.
00:24:19 --> 00:24:25 The only way to get real and genuine change in our lives,
00:24:26 --> 00:24:28 to actually defeat the sin,
00:24:28 --> 00:24:33 to, as English theologian John Owen said,
00:24:34 --> 00:24:35 to mortify our sin,
00:24:35 --> 00:24:37 the mortification of our sin,
00:24:37 --> 00:24:37 to kill it,
00:24:38 --> 00:24:40 is to keep looking to the cross
00:24:40 --> 00:24:41 and asking yourself,
00:24:41 --> 00:24:43 how can I treat Jesus like this?
00:24:44 --> 00:24:48 The one who died so I would never be punished?
00:24:48 --> 00:24:55 Is this how I treat the one who has brought me into this unconditional loved state?
00:24:56 --> 00:25:01 Is this how I treat him after all that he's done for me?
00:25:01 --> 00:25:05 If I failed to forgive when he died to forgive me?
00:25:06 --> 00:25:13 Will I be anxious over the loss of my money when he gave himself to be my security and my eternal wealth?
00:25:13 --> 00:25:19 Will I nurse my pride when he emptied himself of his own glory to save me?
00:25:19 --> 00:25:25 The gospel truth,
00:25:25 --> 00:25:26 Jesus' dying love,
00:25:26 --> 00:25:28 his unconditional commitment to us,
00:25:28 --> 00:25:30 his costly sacrifice,
00:25:30 --> 00:25:31 our adoption into his family,
00:25:32 --> 00:25:35 is the powerful instrument of change.
00:25:35 --> 00:25:39 Beating yourself up,
00:25:40 --> 00:25:41 doing good works,
00:25:42 --> 00:25:46 can't eradicate the sin or bring change.
00:25:46 --> 00:25:47 Only Jesus can do it.
00:25:47 --> 00:25:49 Only the gospel can do it.
00:25:50 --> 00:25:55 We must stop trying to cleanse ourselves through self-punishment
00:25:55 --> 00:25:58 or to get a sense of cleanliness
00:25:58 --> 00:26:02 by living in denial about our sin.
00:26:02 --> 00:26:05 Instead, we must go to him in prayer,
00:26:06 --> 00:26:09 looking to his work on the cross
00:26:09 --> 00:26:15 and both admit and forsake our sin.
00:26:18 --> 00:26:19 Thirdly, outward struggle,
00:26:20 --> 00:26:22 asking God's help.
00:26:24 --> 00:26:26 Third form of prayer is asking God for things,
00:26:26 --> 00:26:28 for yourself, for others and for the world.
00:26:28 --> 00:26:32 Now, compared to the other two forms of prayer,
00:26:33 --> 00:26:37 this kind of prayer looks rather simple and straightforward.
00:26:37 --> 00:26:39 Most of us would tick the box and go,
00:26:39 --> 00:26:40 well, I know how to do the petition thing
00:26:40 --> 00:26:41 because frankly,
00:26:41 --> 00:26:44 my whole prayer life is consisting of a shopping list,
00:26:44 --> 00:26:45 asking God to do stuff.
00:26:47 --> 00:26:49 And yet, if you look at James chapter 4,
00:26:49 --> 00:26:50 verses 2 and 3,
00:26:50 --> 00:26:51 he says this,
00:26:51 --> 00:26:56 You do not have because you do not ask God.
00:26:56 --> 00:26:58 And when you ask God,
00:26:58 --> 00:27:02 you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives
00:27:02 --> 00:27:08 that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
00:27:10 --> 00:27:13 You ask with wrong motives.
00:27:14 --> 00:27:15 It's about you.
00:27:16 --> 00:27:17 It's like a story I heard,
00:27:17 --> 00:27:19 a young lad who mounted a campaign
00:27:19 --> 00:27:21 to get himself a skateboard for Christmas.
00:27:22 --> 00:27:23 He went to his mother
00:27:23 --> 00:27:25 and his mother suggested to him,
00:27:25 --> 00:27:27 she confused Santa with Jesus,
00:27:27 --> 00:27:30 but suggested that he writes a letter to Jesus
00:27:30 --> 00:27:33 and tell Jesus how good he's been
00:27:33 --> 00:27:35 and that in fact he deserves
00:27:35 --> 00:27:36 to get this skateboard for Christmas.
00:27:37 --> 00:27:40 And so the boy grabs a piece of paper and a pen
00:27:40 --> 00:27:42 and sits down at his desk,
00:27:42 --> 00:27:44 Dear Jesus, I've been good all year.
00:27:44 --> 00:27:47 He's realized,
00:27:47 --> 00:27:49 well actually that's a bit of an overstatement.
00:27:49 --> 00:27:51 So he stops and screws up the piece of paper
00:27:51 --> 00:27:52 and throws it on the floor
00:27:52 --> 00:27:53 and grabs another piece and starts again.
00:27:53 --> 00:27:54 Dear Jesus,
00:27:54 --> 00:27:56 I've been good for the whole month.
00:27:58 --> 00:27:59 Realizes there was that incident or two
00:27:59 --> 00:28:00 with his sister
00:28:00 --> 00:28:04 and at very least the poor lad's a realist
00:28:04 --> 00:28:05 and so he screws up that piece of paper
00:28:05 --> 00:28:06 and throws it down
00:28:06 --> 00:28:07 and he says,
00:28:07 --> 00:28:08 Dear Jesus,
00:28:09 --> 00:28:11 I've been good all week.
00:28:11 --> 00:28:13 And again he realizes,
00:28:13 --> 00:28:15 ah, that's just not true.
00:28:15 --> 00:28:16 It's so frustrating.
00:28:16 --> 00:28:17 He throws the piece of paper down
00:28:17 --> 00:28:19 and he goes downstairs,
00:28:19 --> 00:28:20 storms downstairs,
00:28:20 --> 00:28:21 walks up to the mantelpiece,
00:28:22 --> 00:28:24 goes to the nativity scene
00:28:24 --> 00:28:26 and grabs Mary out of the nativity scene,
00:28:27 --> 00:28:28 walks back upstairs,
00:28:28 --> 00:28:29 sits down at his desk,
00:28:30 --> 00:28:31 plonks Mary down on the desk,
00:28:31 --> 00:28:33 grabs his piece of paper,
00:28:33 --> 00:28:34 Dear Jesus,
00:28:35 --> 00:28:36 if you ever want to see your mother again,
00:28:36 --> 00:28:41 Now,
00:28:41 --> 00:28:45 James 4
00:28:45 --> 00:28:48 suggests that
00:28:48 --> 00:28:51 petitionary prayer
00:28:51 --> 00:28:54 can be just another way
00:28:54 --> 00:28:55 of us saying,
00:28:55 --> 00:28:57 my will be done.
00:28:58 --> 00:28:59 My will be done.
00:29:01 --> 00:29:03 We are prone to telling God
00:29:03 --> 00:29:04 in no uncertain terms
00:29:04 --> 00:29:06 how he should run the universe.
00:29:06 --> 00:29:09 And what he should do for us.
00:29:10 --> 00:29:13 And it is quite easy
00:29:13 --> 00:29:16 in asking God
00:29:16 --> 00:29:16 for his help
00:29:16 --> 00:29:18 in the wrong way.
00:29:20 --> 00:29:21 It's also possible
00:29:21 --> 00:29:24 to be too timid
00:29:24 --> 00:29:25 in asking God.
00:29:27 --> 00:29:28 Prayer is not just upward
00:29:28 --> 00:29:29 and inward,
00:29:29 --> 00:29:30 it's also outward.
00:29:31 --> 00:29:33 And prayer is a way
00:29:33 --> 00:29:35 to participate with God
00:29:35 --> 00:29:36 and his work
00:29:36 --> 00:29:37 in the world.
00:29:38 --> 00:29:39 Prayer has been referred to,
00:29:39 --> 00:29:40 in fact,
00:29:41 --> 00:29:41 as rebellion
00:29:41 --> 00:29:43 against the world's
00:29:43 --> 00:29:45 evil status quo.
00:29:45 --> 00:29:46 I love that.
00:29:47 --> 00:29:48 Prayer is a rebellion
00:29:48 --> 00:29:50 against the world's
00:29:50 --> 00:29:51 evil status quo.
00:29:52 --> 00:29:53 And the Bible
00:29:53 --> 00:29:55 is filled with promises
00:29:55 --> 00:29:57 about the power
00:29:57 --> 00:29:58 of prayer
00:29:58 --> 00:29:59 in the affairs
00:29:59 --> 00:30:00 of history.
00:30:00 --> 00:30:02 James 5.16
00:30:02 --> 00:30:03 says that Elijah
00:30:03 --> 00:30:05 was a man
00:30:05 --> 00:30:07 just like us.
00:30:07 --> 00:30:08 And he prayed
00:30:08 --> 00:30:10 away the rain
00:30:10 --> 00:30:11 in Israel
00:30:11 --> 00:30:12 and then prayed
00:30:12 --> 00:30:13 it back
00:30:13 --> 00:30:15 as a way
00:30:15 --> 00:30:16 to confront
00:30:16 --> 00:30:17 a corrupt ruler.
00:30:19 --> 00:30:21 And James concludes
00:30:21 --> 00:30:23 that prayer
00:30:23 --> 00:30:25 can have great power
00:30:25 --> 00:30:26 and produce
00:30:26 --> 00:30:27 wonderful results.
00:30:27 --> 00:30:32 John Calvin,
00:30:32 --> 00:30:34 the famous theologian,
00:30:34 --> 00:30:35 famous especially
00:30:35 --> 00:30:35 for his views
00:30:35 --> 00:30:36 of predestination
00:30:36 --> 00:30:37 and God's sovereignty,
00:30:38 --> 00:30:39 makes some
00:30:39 --> 00:30:41 remarkable statements
00:30:41 --> 00:30:42 about prayer
00:30:42 --> 00:30:43 based on James
00:30:43 --> 00:30:44 chapter 5
00:30:44 --> 00:30:45 verse 16.
00:30:46 --> 00:30:48 He wrote this,
00:30:48 --> 00:30:51 It was a notable
00:30:51 --> 00:30:52 event for God
00:30:52 --> 00:30:53 to put heaven
00:30:53 --> 00:30:54 in some sense
00:30:54 --> 00:30:56 under the control
00:30:56 --> 00:30:58 of Elijah's prayers
00:30:58 --> 00:31:00 to be obedient
00:31:00 --> 00:31:02 to Elijah's requests.
00:31:03 --> 00:31:05 By his prayers,
00:31:05 --> 00:31:06 Elijah kept heaven
00:31:06 --> 00:31:07 shut for two years
00:31:07 --> 00:31:08 and a half.
00:31:08 --> 00:31:09 Then he opened it
00:31:09 --> 00:31:11 and made it
00:31:11 --> 00:31:13 suddenly pour
00:31:13 --> 00:31:14 with great rain
00:31:14 --> 00:31:17 from which we may see
00:31:17 --> 00:31:18 the miraculous power
00:31:18 --> 00:31:19 of prayer.
00:31:21 --> 00:31:22 So Calvin there
00:31:22 --> 00:31:23 is both bold
00:31:23 --> 00:31:25 and careful.
00:31:27 --> 00:31:28 He says that prayer
00:31:28 --> 00:31:31 is in some sense,
00:31:31 --> 00:31:33 that Elijah's prayer
00:31:33 --> 00:31:34 in some sense
00:31:34 --> 00:31:34 affected the weather
00:31:34 --> 00:31:36 conditions in Israel
00:31:36 --> 00:31:37 for two and a half years.
00:31:38 --> 00:31:40 In the ultimate sense,
00:31:40 --> 00:31:41 God is in charge
00:31:41 --> 00:31:42 of everything
00:31:42 --> 00:31:42 that occurs.
00:31:43 --> 00:31:43 Our prayers
00:31:43 --> 00:31:45 could not possibly
00:31:45 --> 00:31:46 take control
00:31:46 --> 00:31:47 of any part
00:31:47 --> 00:31:48 of the universe
00:31:48 --> 00:31:49 away from God.
00:31:49 --> 00:31:50 However,
00:31:50 --> 00:31:51 it is part
00:31:51 --> 00:31:52 of God's goodness
00:31:52 --> 00:31:54 that he allows
00:31:54 --> 00:31:55 the world
00:31:55 --> 00:31:56 to be
00:31:56 --> 00:31:57 susceptible
00:31:57 --> 00:31:58 to the prayers
00:31:58 --> 00:31:59 of the faithful.
00:32:01 --> 00:32:02 How he maintains
00:32:02 --> 00:32:03 control of history
00:32:03 --> 00:32:05 and yet still
00:32:05 --> 00:32:07 makes human prayer
00:32:07 --> 00:32:08 and action
00:32:08 --> 00:32:09 responsible
00:32:09 --> 00:32:10 within history
00:32:10 --> 00:32:11 is one of the
00:32:11 --> 00:32:13 most practical
00:32:13 --> 00:32:14 mysteries of the Bible.
00:32:14 --> 00:32:18 our prayers
00:32:18 --> 00:32:18 matter
00:32:18 --> 00:32:19 and yet
00:32:19 --> 00:32:21 God's wise plan
00:32:21 --> 00:32:22 is sovereign
00:32:22 --> 00:32:23 and infallible.
00:32:24 --> 00:32:25 These facts,
00:32:26 --> 00:32:27 two facts,
00:32:27 --> 00:32:28 are true
00:32:28 --> 00:32:28 at once,
00:32:29 --> 00:32:30 however that
00:32:30 --> 00:32:31 is possible
00:32:31 --> 00:32:33 is a mystery
00:32:33 --> 00:32:34 to us
00:32:34 --> 00:32:35 but not to God.
00:32:35 --> 00:32:36 It's easy.
00:32:38 --> 00:32:39 But just think
00:32:39 --> 00:32:40 for a moment
00:32:40 --> 00:32:41 of how wonderful
00:32:41 --> 00:32:41 and practical
00:32:41 --> 00:32:42 this is.
00:32:42 --> 00:32:44 You see,
00:32:44 --> 00:32:44 if we believe
00:32:44 --> 00:32:45 that God
00:32:45 --> 00:32:45 was in charge
00:32:45 --> 00:32:46 of our actions
00:32:46 --> 00:32:48 and that our actions
00:32:48 --> 00:32:48 meant nothing,
00:32:48 --> 00:32:49 if we believe
00:32:49 --> 00:32:49 that God
00:32:49 --> 00:32:49 was totally
00:32:49 --> 00:32:50 sovereign
00:32:50 --> 00:32:50 and our actions
00:32:50 --> 00:32:51 meant nothing,
00:32:51 --> 00:32:53 it would lead
00:32:53 --> 00:32:54 to a discouraged
00:32:54 --> 00:32:54 passivity
00:32:54 --> 00:32:55 in our world.
00:32:57 --> 00:32:58 If,
00:32:58 --> 00:32:58 on the other hand,
00:32:58 --> 00:32:59 we really believe
00:32:59 --> 00:33:00 that our actions
00:33:00 --> 00:33:01 and our prayers
00:33:01 --> 00:33:02 change God's plan,
00:33:02 --> 00:33:04 God's plan
00:33:04 --> 00:33:06 like,
00:33:06 --> 00:33:07 in that he
00:33:07 --> 00:33:08 vacated his sovereignty
00:33:08 --> 00:33:10 and his purposes
00:33:10 --> 00:33:11 and changed his mind
00:33:11 --> 00:33:13 based on our prayers,
00:33:13 --> 00:33:14 it would lead
00:33:14 --> 00:33:15 to paralyzed
00:33:15 --> 00:33:16 fear
00:33:16 --> 00:33:18 because we cannot
00:33:18 --> 00:33:19 see the full picture
00:33:19 --> 00:33:20 and what course
00:33:20 --> 00:33:20 of action
00:33:20 --> 00:33:21 we might be putting
00:33:21 --> 00:33:22 in motion
00:33:22 --> 00:33:23 through history
00:33:23 --> 00:33:24 because we
00:33:24 --> 00:33:25 simply do not
00:33:25 --> 00:33:26 know best.
00:33:26 --> 00:33:29 But if both
00:33:29 --> 00:33:29 are true,
00:33:30 --> 00:33:32 we have the
00:33:32 --> 00:33:33 greatest incentive
00:33:33 --> 00:33:34 for diligent effort
00:33:34 --> 00:33:35 and yet,
00:33:36 --> 00:33:37 we can always
00:33:37 --> 00:33:38 sense that God's
00:33:38 --> 00:33:39 everlasting arms
00:33:39 --> 00:33:40 are around us.
00:33:41 --> 00:33:42 In the end,
00:33:42 --> 00:33:43 we cannot frustrate
00:33:43 --> 00:33:44 God's good plans
00:33:44 --> 00:33:44 for us.
00:33:45 --> 00:33:46 It's a tremendous
00:33:46 --> 00:33:47 truth.
00:33:49 --> 00:33:50 God
00:33:50 --> 00:33:52 bends his ear
00:33:52 --> 00:33:54 and delights
00:33:54 --> 00:33:55 to hear our prayers.
00:33:58 --> 00:33:59 He allows
00:33:59 --> 00:33:59 the world
00:33:59 --> 00:34:00 to be,
00:34:00 --> 00:34:01 in some sense,
00:34:02 --> 00:34:03 under the control
00:34:03 --> 00:34:04 of the power
00:34:04 --> 00:34:05 of prayer.
00:34:07 --> 00:34:08 That's why
00:34:08 --> 00:34:09 James declares
00:34:09 --> 00:34:09 that prayer
00:34:09 --> 00:34:10 is powerful
00:34:10 --> 00:34:10 and effective.
00:34:12 --> 00:34:14 So it's possible
00:34:14 --> 00:34:15 to ask wrongly,
00:34:15 --> 00:34:16 selfish motive,
00:34:17 --> 00:34:17 my will be done,
00:34:18 --> 00:34:19 and it's also
00:34:19 --> 00:34:19 possible
00:34:19 --> 00:34:21 to be too
00:34:21 --> 00:34:21 timid
00:34:21 --> 00:34:23 in asking
00:34:23 --> 00:34:23 of God.
00:34:24 --> 00:34:25 So how do we
00:34:25 --> 00:34:25 proceed?
00:34:28 --> 00:34:29 To put it
00:34:29 --> 00:34:29 simply,
00:34:31 --> 00:34:31 we are to
00:34:31 --> 00:34:32 lift our
00:34:32 --> 00:34:33 desires to
00:34:33 --> 00:34:34 God
00:34:34 --> 00:34:35 with a view
00:34:35 --> 00:34:35 to his
00:34:35 --> 00:34:36 wisdom.
00:34:37 --> 00:34:37 The Westminster
00:34:37 --> 00:34:38 Shorter Catechism
00:34:38 --> 00:34:39 puts it like
00:34:39 --> 00:34:39 this,
00:34:40 --> 00:34:41 prayer
00:34:41 --> 00:34:42 is an
00:34:42 --> 00:34:42 offering up
00:34:42 --> 00:34:43 of our
00:34:43 --> 00:34:43 desires
00:34:43 --> 00:34:44 unto God
00:34:44 --> 00:34:45 for things
00:34:45 --> 00:34:46 agreeable
00:34:46 --> 00:34:47 to his
00:34:47 --> 00:34:47 will.
00:34:48 --> 00:34:48 In the
00:34:48 --> 00:34:49 name of
00:34:49 --> 00:34:49 Christ,
00:34:49 --> 00:34:50 with confession
00:34:50 --> 00:34:51 of our
00:34:51 --> 00:34:51 sins
00:34:51 --> 00:34:52 and thankful
00:34:52 --> 00:34:53 acknowledgement
00:34:53 --> 00:34:53 of his
00:34:53 --> 00:34:54 mercies.
00:34:57 --> 00:34:58 We are
00:34:58 --> 00:34:59 to ask
00:34:59 --> 00:35:00 God to
00:35:00 --> 00:35:00 fulfill
00:35:00 --> 00:35:01 the desires
00:35:01 --> 00:35:01 of our
00:35:01 --> 00:35:02 hearts.
00:35:04 --> 00:35:04 However,
00:35:06 --> 00:35:06 as a
00:35:06 --> 00:35:07 guard
00:35:07 --> 00:35:07 against
00:35:07 --> 00:35:08 both
00:35:08 --> 00:35:09 selfish
00:35:09 --> 00:35:09 motives,
00:35:10 --> 00:35:10 as well
00:35:10 --> 00:35:11 as our
00:35:11 --> 00:35:13 short-sightedness,
00:35:13 --> 00:35:15 will be
00:35:15 --> 00:35:16 to ask
00:35:16 --> 00:35:17 God to
00:35:17 --> 00:35:17 fulfill
00:35:17 --> 00:35:18 our
00:35:18 --> 00:35:18 request
00:35:18 --> 00:35:19 with
00:35:19 --> 00:35:19 things
00:35:19 --> 00:35:21 agreeable
00:35:21 --> 00:35:21 to
00:35:21 --> 00:35:22 his
00:35:22 --> 00:35:22 will.
00:35:24 --> 00:35:25 Instead
00:35:25 --> 00:35:25 of a
00:35:25 --> 00:35:26 shopping list
00:35:26 --> 00:35:26 of things
00:35:26 --> 00:35:27 we want,
00:35:28 --> 00:35:28 we should
00:35:28 --> 00:35:29 reflect
00:35:29 --> 00:35:30 on what
00:35:30 --> 00:35:31 we want
00:35:31 --> 00:35:32 in light
00:35:32 --> 00:35:33 of all
00:35:33 --> 00:35:34 that we
00:35:34 --> 00:35:34 know
00:35:34 --> 00:35:36 from the
00:35:36 --> 00:35:36 Bible
00:35:36 --> 00:35:37 about the
00:35:37 --> 00:35:37 things that
00:35:37 --> 00:35:38 delight and
00:35:38 --> 00:35:39 grieve God,
00:35:39 --> 00:35:40 in light
00:35:40 --> 00:35:40 of what
00:35:40 --> 00:35:41 we know
00:35:41 --> 00:35:42 about how
00:35:42 --> 00:35:43 his salvation
00:35:43 --> 00:35:44 works and
00:35:44 --> 00:35:44 what his
00:35:44 --> 00:35:46 plan is
00:35:46 --> 00:35:47 for the
00:35:47 --> 00:35:47 universe.
00:35:49 --> 00:35:50 So if we
00:35:50 --> 00:35:50 find,
00:35:51 --> 00:35:53 if we ever
00:35:53 --> 00:35:53 find in our
00:35:53 --> 00:35:54 prayers that
00:35:54 --> 00:35:56 we cannot say
00:35:56 --> 00:35:57 something along
00:35:57 --> 00:35:58 those lines,
00:35:58 --> 00:36:01 in terms of
00:36:01 --> 00:36:02 being agreeable
00:36:02 --> 00:36:02 to God's
00:36:02 --> 00:36:02 will,
00:36:02 --> 00:36:03 if we find
00:36:03 --> 00:36:04 our prayers
00:36:04 --> 00:36:05 are not
00:36:05 --> 00:36:06 prayers that
00:36:06 --> 00:36:07 are shaped
00:36:07 --> 00:36:08 by the
00:36:08 --> 00:36:08 scriptures,
00:36:09 --> 00:36:10 God's
00:36:10 --> 00:36:10 eternal
00:36:10 --> 00:36:11 plan,
00:36:11 --> 00:36:12 then it's
00:36:12 --> 00:36:14 possible that
00:36:14 --> 00:36:14 we are
00:36:14 --> 00:36:15 dealing in
00:36:15 --> 00:36:15 that moment,
00:36:16 --> 00:36:16 in that
00:36:16 --> 00:36:16 prayer,
00:36:17 --> 00:36:17 with one of
00:36:17 --> 00:36:18 the disordered
00:36:18 --> 00:36:20 loves of
00:36:20 --> 00:36:21 our life,
00:36:21 --> 00:36:21 a heart
00:36:21 --> 00:36:22 idol,
00:36:22 --> 00:36:23 a rival
00:36:23 --> 00:36:24 for God
00:36:24 --> 00:36:24 himself in
00:36:24 --> 00:36:25 our innermost
00:36:25 --> 00:36:26 being.
00:36:28 --> 00:36:29 I remember
00:36:29 --> 00:36:29 sitting in a
00:36:29 --> 00:36:30 prayer meeting
00:36:30 --> 00:36:30 once,
00:36:31 --> 00:36:32 where I
00:36:32 --> 00:36:33 was making
00:36:33 --> 00:36:35 a bunch of
00:36:35 --> 00:36:36 changes and
00:36:36 --> 00:36:36 things,
00:36:36 --> 00:36:37 and someone
00:36:37 --> 00:36:38 in the
00:36:38 --> 00:36:38 prayer meeting,
00:36:39 --> 00:36:39 their simple
00:36:39 --> 00:36:40 prayer was
00:36:40 --> 00:36:40 this,
00:36:41 --> 00:36:41 dear God,
00:36:42 --> 00:36:42 I don't
00:36:42 --> 00:36:43 like what
00:36:43 --> 00:36:44 Steve is
00:36:44 --> 00:36:44 doing,
00:36:45 --> 00:36:46 please change
00:36:46 --> 00:36:46 his mind,
00:36:47 --> 00:36:47 amen.
00:36:52 --> 00:36:53 As it turns
00:36:53 --> 00:36:53 out, God
00:36:53 --> 00:36:53 didn't.
00:36:55 --> 00:36:56 Changed my
00:36:56 --> 00:36:56 mind.
00:36:58 --> 00:36:59 And in
00:36:59 --> 00:37:00 moments like
00:37:00 --> 00:37:00 that, what
00:37:00 --> 00:37:01 should happen,
00:37:02 --> 00:37:02 it should
00:37:02 --> 00:37:03 trigger a
00:37:03 --> 00:37:04 great deal
00:37:04 --> 00:37:05 of self
00:37:05 --> 00:37:05 examination.
00:37:06 --> 00:37:08 prayer is
00:37:08 --> 00:37:09 not just
00:37:09 --> 00:37:10 hard work,
00:37:10 --> 00:37:10 it is
00:37:10 --> 00:37:11 heart work.
00:37:13 --> 00:37:13 Prayer is
00:37:13 --> 00:37:14 a struggle,
00:37:14 --> 00:37:15 and for
00:37:15 --> 00:37:15 too many
00:37:15 --> 00:37:16 of us,
00:37:16 --> 00:37:16 we just
00:37:16 --> 00:37:16 simply give
00:37:16 --> 00:37:17 up,
00:37:17 --> 00:37:18 we just
00:37:18 --> 00:37:18 slide into
00:37:18 --> 00:37:19 despondency,
00:37:20 --> 00:37:21 we slide
00:37:21 --> 00:37:21 into mere
00:37:21 --> 00:37:22 duty,
00:37:22 --> 00:37:22 and just
00:37:22 --> 00:37:22 get,
00:37:23 --> 00:37:23 here's the
00:37:23 --> 00:37:24 shopping list.
00:37:25 --> 00:37:26 Our heart
00:37:26 --> 00:37:27 is not
00:37:27 --> 00:37:27 engaged,
00:37:28 --> 00:37:28 it's just
00:37:28 --> 00:37:29 our mind.
00:37:29 --> 00:37:30 God's
00:37:30 --> 00:37:31 need.
00:37:31 --> 00:37:32 So, if
00:37:32 --> 00:37:32 that is
00:37:32 --> 00:37:33 you,
00:37:34 --> 00:37:34 there's this
00:37:34 --> 00:37:35 famous
00:37:35 --> 00:37:35 prayer,
00:37:36 --> 00:37:37 parable of
00:37:37 --> 00:37:37 prayer in
00:37:37 --> 00:37:38 Luke 18,
00:37:38 --> 00:37:39 where Jesus
00:37:39 --> 00:37:40 tells of an
00:37:40 --> 00:37:40 oppressed
00:37:40 --> 00:37:41 widow who
00:37:41 --> 00:37:42 kept coming
00:37:42 --> 00:37:44 to a judge
00:37:44 --> 00:37:44 with a plea,
00:37:45 --> 00:37:45 grant me
00:37:45 --> 00:37:45 justice against
00:37:45 --> 00:37:46 my adversary,
00:37:46 --> 00:37:47 and Jesus
00:37:47 --> 00:37:47 concludes,
00:37:48 --> 00:37:48 and will
00:37:48 --> 00:37:49 not God
00:37:49 --> 00:37:49 bring about
00:37:49 --> 00:37:50 justice for
00:37:50 --> 00:37:51 his chosen
00:37:51 --> 00:37:52 ones who
00:37:52 --> 00:37:52 cry out to
00:37:52 --> 00:37:53 him day
00:37:53 --> 00:37:54 and night?
00:37:54 --> 00:37:55 And the
00:37:55 --> 00:37:56 point of
00:37:56 --> 00:37:56 Jesus'
00:37:56 --> 00:37:57 parable is
00:37:57 --> 00:37:57 twofold,
00:37:58 --> 00:37:58 we should
00:37:58 --> 00:37:59 be confident
00:37:59 --> 00:37:59 that God
00:37:59 --> 00:37:59 will hear
00:37:59 --> 00:38:00 us,
00:38:00 --> 00:38:00 first of
00:38:00 --> 00:38:00 all,
00:38:01 --> 00:38:01 and secondly,
00:38:02 --> 00:38:02 we should
00:38:02 --> 00:38:03 also be
00:38:03 --> 00:38:03 extremely
00:38:03 --> 00:38:04 patient with
00:38:04 --> 00:38:05 God's
00:38:05 --> 00:38:05 timing.
00:38:06 --> 00:38:06 We should
00:38:06 --> 00:38:07 be willing
00:38:07 --> 00:38:07 to pray
00:38:07 --> 00:38:08 with boldness
00:38:08 --> 00:38:09 and with
00:38:09 --> 00:38:09 perseverance,
00:38:09 --> 00:38:10 waiting months,
00:38:10 --> 00:38:11 waiting years,
00:38:11 --> 00:38:11 waiting a
00:38:11 --> 00:38:12 lifetime for
00:38:12 --> 00:38:13 God to
00:38:13 --> 00:38:14 answer some
00:38:14 --> 00:38:14 prayers,
00:38:14 --> 00:38:15 because our
00:38:15 --> 00:38:16 perspective on
00:38:16 --> 00:38:17 timing and
00:38:17 --> 00:38:19 wisdom is
00:38:19 --> 00:38:20 compared to
00:38:20 --> 00:38:22 Betty's with
00:38:22 --> 00:38:22 a two-year-old.
00:38:24 --> 00:38:24 They just
00:38:24 --> 00:38:25 don't compare.
00:38:30 --> 00:38:31 We know
00:38:31 --> 00:38:31 God will
00:38:31 --> 00:38:32 answer us
00:38:32 --> 00:38:33 when we
00:38:33 --> 00:38:34 call,
00:38:34 --> 00:38:35 because one
00:38:35 --> 00:38:36 terrible day
00:38:36 --> 00:38:37 he did not
00:38:37 --> 00:38:38 answer Jesus
00:38:38 --> 00:38:39 when he
00:38:39 --> 00:38:39 called.
00:38:42 --> 00:38:43 Jesus prayed
00:38:43 --> 00:38:44 in Gethsemane
00:38:44 --> 00:38:44 that the cup
00:38:44 --> 00:38:45 of suffering
00:38:45 --> 00:38:46 on the cross
00:38:46 --> 00:38:47 would be
00:38:47 --> 00:38:48 taken away
00:38:48 --> 00:38:48 for him,
00:38:48 --> 00:38:49 but he says,
00:38:49 --> 00:38:49 not my will,
00:38:49 --> 00:38:50 but your will
00:38:50 --> 00:38:50 be done,
00:38:51 --> 00:38:51 and God
00:38:51 --> 00:38:52 the Father
00:38:52 --> 00:38:52 said,
00:38:52 --> 00:38:53 it is my
00:38:53 --> 00:38:53 will that
00:38:53 --> 00:38:53 will be
00:38:53 --> 00:38:53 done.
00:38:54 --> 00:38:55 Your request
00:38:55 --> 00:38:56 is turned
00:38:56 --> 00:38:56 down.
00:38:57 --> 00:38:57 And on
00:38:57 --> 00:38:57 the cross
00:38:57 --> 00:38:58 he cried
00:38:58 --> 00:38:58 out in
00:38:58 --> 00:38:58 Matthew
00:38:58 --> 00:38:59 27,
00:38:59 --> 00:39:00 46,
00:39:00 --> 00:39:01 my God,
00:39:03 --> 00:39:04 but he
00:39:04 --> 00:39:05 received
00:39:05 --> 00:39:06 silence for
00:39:06 --> 00:39:06 the first
00:39:06 --> 00:39:07 time in
00:39:07 --> 00:39:07 his life.
00:39:10 --> 00:39:10 How could
00:39:10 --> 00:39:11 that be?
00:39:12 --> 00:39:12 How could
00:39:12 --> 00:39:13 it be?
00:39:15 --> 00:39:16 Jesus was
00:39:16 --> 00:39:16 the perfect
00:39:16 --> 00:39:17 man.
00:39:17 --> 00:39:18 He served
00:39:18 --> 00:39:18 God with
00:39:18 --> 00:39:18 all his
00:39:18 --> 00:39:19 heart and
00:39:19 --> 00:39:20 soul and
00:39:20 --> 00:39:21 mind and
00:39:21 --> 00:39:21 loved his
00:39:21 --> 00:39:21 neighbors
00:39:21 --> 00:39:22 himself,
00:39:22 --> 00:39:22 according to
00:39:22 --> 00:39:23 Mark 12,
00:39:23 --> 00:39:24 God
00:39:24 --> 00:39:25 and so
00:39:25 --> 00:39:26 completely
00:39:26 --> 00:39:28 fulfilled the
00:39:28 --> 00:39:29 law of the
00:39:29 --> 00:39:29 God.
00:39:29 --> 00:39:30 How could it be
00:39:30 --> 00:39:30 that God did not hear his prayer?
00:39:30 --> 00:39:31 Psalm 66,
00:39:31 --> 00:39:32 verse 18 says,
00:39:33 --> 00:39:35 if I had cherished sin in my heart,
00:39:35 --> 00:39:37 the Lord would not have listened.
00:39:38 --> 00:39:42 Sinners deserve to have their prayers go unanswered.
00:39:42 --> 00:39:53 And Jesus was the only one in all of history who deserved to have every single one of his prayers answered because of his perfect righteousness and obedience to the law of the Lord.
00:39:53 --> 00:39:58 And yet he was turned away as if he was turned away as if he was a sinner.
00:39:59 --> 00:40:00 Why?
00:40:00 --> 00:40:00 Why?
00:40:02 --> 00:40:10 Well, the answer is at the heart of the Christian faith and the reason why we have prayer and why it's possible for us.
00:40:10 --> 00:40:21 God treated Jesus as we deserve so that when we believe in him, God can treat us as Jesus deserved.
00:40:21 --> 00:40:28 When Christians pray, they have the confidence that they will be heard by God and answered in the wisest way.
00:40:28 --> 00:40:32 And so Jesus taught his disciples to pray.
00:40:33 --> 00:40:35 In Luke 11,
00:40:35 --> 00:40:37 he gave them this illustration.
00:40:38 --> 00:40:39 Which of you fathers,
00:40:39 --> 00:40:41 if your son asks for a fish,
00:40:41 --> 00:40:42 will give him a snake instead?
00:40:43 --> 00:40:45 Or if he asks for an egg,
00:40:45 --> 00:40:47 you're going to give him a scorpion.
00:40:48 --> 00:40:48 If you then,
00:40:49 --> 00:40:50 though you are evil,
00:40:51 --> 00:40:53 know how to give good gifts to your children,
00:40:53 --> 00:40:57 how much more will your father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?
00:40:59 --> 00:41:00 And Jesus' point here
00:41:00 --> 00:41:06 is that there has never been a parent on the face of the earth
00:41:06 --> 00:41:09 who wants joy for their children
00:41:09 --> 00:41:14 as much as your father in heaven wants joy for you, his child.
00:41:16 --> 00:41:18 There has never been a parent
00:41:18 --> 00:41:22 who wanted to answer his child's petitions
00:41:22 --> 00:41:25 as much as God wants to answer yours.
00:41:25 --> 00:41:30 God is not only loving but holy and just.
00:41:31 --> 00:41:33 Jesus got the scorpion.
00:41:34 --> 00:41:35 Jesus got the snake
00:41:35 --> 00:41:39 so that we could have food at the father's table.
00:41:40 --> 00:41:44 He received the sting and the venom of death in our place.
00:41:44 --> 00:41:52 We know that God will answer us when we call my God
00:41:52 --> 00:41:56 because he did not answer Jesus when he called my God.
00:41:56 --> 00:42:00 when he made that same petition on the cross.
00:42:02 --> 00:42:05 So we should ask God for things with boldness.
00:42:06 --> 00:42:08 We should ask him with specificity,
00:42:08 --> 00:42:09 with ardor,
00:42:09 --> 00:42:11 with honesty and diligence.
00:42:13 --> 00:42:15 And yet with patient submission
00:42:15 --> 00:42:18 to God's will and his wise love.
00:42:18 --> 00:42:23 because prayer is all because of Jesus
00:42:23 --> 00:42:26 and it's all in his name.
00:42:29 --> 00:42:34 And so 1 John 2 verses 1 and 2 says
00:42:34 --> 00:42:35 that if anyone sins,
00:42:36 --> 00:42:38 we have an advocate with the Father,
00:42:39 --> 00:42:40 Jesus Christ the righteous one.
00:42:40 --> 00:42:44 He is the toning sacrifice for our sins.
00:42:44 --> 00:42:47 At the heart of the Christian life
00:42:47 --> 00:42:50 is an active trust in the Lord Jesus Christ
00:42:50 --> 00:42:52 and his sacrificial death for us.
00:42:53 --> 00:42:55 And to finish up in our time of prayer,
00:42:55 --> 00:42:57 we're going to just take the Lord's Supper together
00:42:57 --> 00:43:00 because this is an outward and a visible sign
00:43:00 --> 00:43:02 of God's grace to us in Jesus.
00:43:02 --> 00:43:05 It's a reminder that we have full access
00:43:05 --> 00:43:06 to God the Father.
00:43:07 --> 00:43:11 As we participate in this symbolic meal together,
00:43:11 --> 00:43:12 we are confronted.