Prayer
ID
fw019
Sprache
EN
Gesamtlänge
04:49:35
Anzahl
6
Bibelstellen
n.a.
Beschreibung
1. Introduction2. The disciples' prayer
3. Daniel's prayer
4. Jabez's prayer
5. Prayer and Thanksgiving 6. Worship
Automatisches Transkript:
…
The introductory address on prayer by Mr. Frank Wallace at Baffenfell Manor, October 1986.
The first is in 2nd Chronicles, chapter 6.
2nd Chronicles, chapter 6, and we'll read from verse 11.
Better read from verse 10.
The Lord therefore hath performed his word that he hath spoken, for I am risen up in the room of David my father, and am set on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built a house for the name of the Lord God of Israel.
And in it have I put the ark, wherein is the covenant of the Lord, that he made with the children of Israel.
And he stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands.
For Solomon had made a brazen scaffold of five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court.
And upon it he stood, and kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven, and said, O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in the heaven nor in the earth, which keepeth covenant and showeth mercy unto thy servants that walk before thee with all their hearts.
Thou which hast kept with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him, and spakest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand as it is this day.
Now therefore, O Lord God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit upon the throne of Israel, yet so that thy children take heed to their way to walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me.
Now then, O Lord God of Israel, let thy word be verified which thou hast spoken unto thy servant David. But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this house which I have built.
Have respect, therefore, to the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry and the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee, that thine eyes may be opened upon this house day and night, upon the place whereof thou hast said that thou wouldst put thy name there, to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth towards this place.
Hearken, therefore, unto the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall make toward this place. Hear thou from thy dwelling place, even from heaven, and when thou hearest, forgive.
Now, the Epistle to the Ephesians, chapter 3.
Just two verses. Verse 14, Ephesians 3, For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.
Now, lastly, the Gospel by Luke, chapter 22.
Gospel by Luke, chapter 22, verse 39. And he came out, and went as he was wont to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples also followed him.
And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me.
Nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly. And his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow, and said unto them, Why sleep ye? Rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.
The exercise that has been placed in my heart for these meetings that we shall have in the Lord's Mercy is this tremendous matter of prayer. I think we would all confess that we don't pray enough.
And yet, when you read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, we are convinced that prayer is one of the most essential things for any believer in God, in Christ.
No matter the dispensation, prayer has been the great service of those who are active for God. And without it, there was barrenness and failure. And I have to confess in my life, I haven't prayed enough.
Although one can say humbly that one feels that whatever prayer one has done, that has kept one to some extent. We were talking, Minnie and I, one night, and I confessed that I thought there were three things in my life that had kept me going as a Christian.
And one was the essential one, prayer, and secondly, reading the Word of God, and thirdly, keeping in contact with the meetings, fellowship. And I think if we do pursue these three things, we'll keep in the atmosphere of heaven, and in spite of failures and weakness, we'll be kept going on.
And we want to concentrate on this great matter of prayer. These are tremendous sites that we've read together. A king in the full flush of fulfillment, the temple built according to the divine plan, all accomplished according to the divine will, the glory of the Lord about to enter into it, and a king on his knees, praying to God,
acknowledging the greatness and supremacy of God. I believe that's one of the most essential things in prayer. And whether our prayers are weak, or intelligent, or whatever kind of prayers we offer, every time we bend our knees, every time we make a prayer to God, it's an acknowledgement of his supremacy.
We might not understand completely this, but I believe it is an acknowledgement of God's supremacy. And I think we could write over our meetings, prayer is honoring God. I think if we keep that in our minds all the time, prayer is honoring God. It's an acknowledgement of the greatness of the God whom we've never seen, and yet we have a link with him.
Robert Burns, the Scottish poet, he wrote a poem to a young man. And he warned the young man that there would be many attacks against him. Obviously this young man was a man with some knowledge of God. And he warned him, and among other things he said,
an atheist laughs a poor defense against deity offended. That's a good thing to remember when atheists scorn and ridicule the Christian. But he said, a correspondence fixed with heaven is sure a noble anchor.
Now if we remember that, and I'm sure we do, we have a correspondence fixed with heaven. We don't need a poet to tell us that, but his poetic language certainly fixes it in our minds. A correspondence fixed with heaven is sure a noble anchor.
Now when Solomon bent his knees and cried aloud to God in the way he did, he was acknowledging the greatness of God, so great that the house that he had built could not contain the presence of God, and well he knew it. But he bowed his knees in the acknowledgement of the greatness of God. What a sight.
Now we come to the prison. The Lord's servant, great man, formed by his master to be an apostle, to serve him, to be the apostle to the Gentiles, and what a servant he was. And now, after a life of faithfulness, he's in prison.
He's not despondent. He's bowing his knees in worship and in prayer. For this cause I bow my knees to the Father, the Father of whom every family in heaven and earth is named. What an impression Paul had of the greatness of God the Father.
And he bowed his knees in that Roman prison, and it certainly wouldn't be congenial. What a contrast from Solomon. Solomon, in the background, this huge temple reared to God with all its magnificence, its gold, its silver, and all the embellishment that the divine will had given to it.
And now this man in a prison, with all the difficulties and pressures upon him, and he's bowing his knees to the Father. What a sight to see. What a man he was with his knowledge of God, with his knowledge of the truth, with his knowledge of Christ.
And one doesn't feel in any way any note of despondency or defeat, any note of weakness, rather the opposite, because that prayer of Paul takes us right into eternity, the completion of the purpose of God.
Unto him, unto God, be glory in the church, in Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. Why, Paul's mind and prayer, it leaped far beyond the bounds of the prison that he was in. His mind was occupied with God, his mind was occupied with the will of God, and there he was, his mind and his soul, his spirit, soaring above his difficulties and trials.
What a wonderful prayer, bowing his knees to the Father. What can we say, dear brethren, when we come to the garden? The Son of God bowed down, kneeling down, around him his enemies, the intrigue, the hatred, the pressure, and above all this, the pressure upon his spirit, as he anticipated what shortly he would endure upon the cross.
There he is, bowed down, kneeling down, humble subject man, in his attitude of humility before his God, with tremendous pressures upon him. But he kneeled down in the acknowledgement of the supremacy of his God, not my will, but thine be done.
I've just selected these three passages. I can assure you it's not an easy thing to speak about prayer because there's so much in the Bible that we can draw upon, but these three scriptures suggested themselves to me as an introduction to the subject. The King upon his knees, the Apostle upon his knees, the Son of God upon his knees, all indicating, I believe, this acknowledgement of the tremendous greatness of God.
Now, dear brethren, my humble desire is for myself and for you is that we might have an increased appreciation of the greatness of God. There is no goodness going to God without problems, without difficulties, without exercises, unless we have firmly embedded in our minds that our God is competent to deal with the problems that we present to him.
You'll find, I hope, before we end that it's not all a question of problems when we're praying. There's the happy release of the spirit in worship and to sing to God a form of prayer, as we shall see.
But I believe it's so necessary to get into our hearts the greatness, the glory, the supremacy of God that when we enter into his presence, kneeling is the proper attitude for us when it is possible.
It may be that in some cases it may be physically impossible, but when there is opportunity, if the King kneeled, if the Apostle kneeled, above all, if the Son of God kneeled, surely we should kneel in our acknowledgement of the greatness and glory of God.
We're not forgetting that the Lord Jesus says, when ye stand praying, so there's no difficulty in standing praying. And also Nehemiah, in the exercise of his service before the King, he stood and he prayed. Very short, very brief, to the point.
So we're not saying that kneeling is the only way, but dear brethren, when we have the opportunity, when it is permissible, we ought to bow our knees. We have ample examples for us. And by that posture, I believe by that simple posture, we are acknowledging the greatness of God.
After all, we're only creatures. After all, God is so infinitely great. How right it is, by this simple method, in our acknowledgement of the greatness of God, we can bring him pleasure.
Now that's the first point in the prayer I want to bring to you tonight. Oh, that it might enter into our hearts more and more. Just let me quote one example in practice.
You remember when the servants and the saints in the beginning of the church period, in Acts 4, were being persecuted. They had been released from prison. And then they got to their own company and they had a prayer meeting.
The place shook when they prayed. And it says, they prayed aloud to the God who created everything. There was their impression of the greatness of God. And mind, that's a tremendous impression, the Creator God.
Perhaps we don't use it enough in our prayers. The Creator God, his wisdom, his skill, his understanding in bringing into being this vast universe that we live in. And they prayed to the one who had brought it into being, and they asked for his protection and his help and his power.
And they got it. And were able to continue in testimony for God. There's a concrete example of believers who trusted in the greatness of God. God answered their prayers and helped them.
We have the example of our Lord Jesus. We've already read and spoken about this from Luke 22. That should be quite sufficient for us to indicate to us the importance of prayer in our lives.
The Lord Jesus pre-eminently, in the Gospel by Luke, is presented as a humble, obedient, dependent man. Again and again and again, we read of him praying. He prays when he is being baptized.
He prays when he is upon the mountaintop. He prays when he is in the wilderness. He prays before he selects his disciples. He prays on the Mount of Transfiguration. He prays in the garden and he prays on the cross.
What a man. What a beautiful expression of dependence. All the time. Never a moment when he wasn't dependent. There's a beautiful expression of the Lord Jesus in Psalm 22.
I was cast upon thee from my mother's womb. I was made to lean upon thee from the moment of my birth. I'm not quoting the scripture exactly, but that's the gist of it. From the very moment that he was brought into this world as a babe, he was absolutely dependent upon his God.
That could only be true of one who was God, the greatness of the Incarnation. And oh dear friends, what a wonderful thing it is to see this glorious man bowed in prayer again and again and again. How earnest he was in it. He prayed all night. Have you ever prayed all night? Have I ever prayed all night?
We think of the multitude of problems that exist in the meetings, whether locally or throughout the world or connected with the Christian testimony. Perhaps we haven't sufficient knowledge in our minds about these things to keep us supplied for a prayer of five minutes. That's to our shame.
The Lord prayed all night because he knew as only he possibly could know the extent of the need that existed. And so he prayed all night for the many, many problems and the many, many needs that existed amongst men and women.
I remember reading about a Church of England bishop and traveling over from this country to America in the days when planes were non-existent. They sailed by boat. Every day he spent five hours on his knees praying. He must have had plenty to pray about. Five hours every day praying.
I know there is the busy life that we live if we're in business and many things connected with the home. And God understands that. But oh, how he appreciates if we have time to use that time, however small it might be, if there's real earnest, diligent prayer in relation to his interests.
The Lord Jesus continued all night in prayer. The disciples, they went home to the comforts of their home, the comforts of their bed, but the Lord Jesus was engaged in prayer.
It also says that he prayed alone. There is tremendous value in collective prayer, but there's something special, I feel, when you're alone with God. And there are many things that you can say to God that you can only say in private.
You could never utter them even in the presence of your beloved or in the presence of other believers. There are things between you and God that must be said alone. Things that have to do with your own private relationship with God and your own personal needs as a believer in Christ.
And that's why we need to be alone. The Lord Jesus was alone. It wasn't that he felt that he was left out of things. No, he wanted to be alone. And I believe it's absolutely essential that we find time to be alone, to tell God the things that we require personally.
What a man he was, continually praying, continual reference to his God in so many matters pertaining to his service. Never independent, never like man. Man's self-assertive, cocksure. He can manage, he can cope, and so he forgets prayer and then he becomes a cropper.
That was never so in the life of the Lord Jesus. Humble, dependent, diligent in prayer.
There are two other things, or should I say one other thing, we've mentioned about his example on earth. Praise God. He continues that intercession. He is in glory.
We find in Romans 8 and in Hebrews 7 that it tells us there that Christ is carrying on a service of intercession day by day. Of course, he is God and he can do this. He's in the place of supremacy and glory.
And this is one of his outstanding unique glories, that he maintains this service of intercession. Though not one of us would be here in the Christian pathway today if that intercession hadn't been exercised on our behalf.
You remember what he said in relation to Peter? I have prayed for thee. Oh, how wonderful. I suppose if the Lord could speak to us in words that are to be heard, he could say that to each of us.
I have prayed for thee. Praise God for that. That his prayers, his intercession, his protection, his care has kept us in the Christian pathway when we might easily have slipped away, might easily have succumbed to Satan's power and wiles.
Now we come to the many, many exhortations that we find in the Bible in relation to prayer. In 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul exhorts the Thessalonians, pray without ceasing. Pray without ceasing.
Now we know that that doesn't mean without ceasing literally, at least I think so. We have our work to do and if we are doing our work, then it's obvious that we can't give our proper attention to it and pray at the same time. The Lord understands that.
There are many situations that we are in that it would be impossible to pray, but it means pray diligently. Keep on praying when you have the opportunity. The Lord Jesus was preaching. When he was preaching, he wasn't praying.
And so we find that this exhortation to pray unceasingly is simply an exhortation for us to use every moment that we can use diligently, righteously to lift up our hearts to God in prayer. Pray unceasingly.
The apostle didn't forget either to ask the Christians to pray for him. Well, he knew the power of prayer in connection with Christian service. And through his letters, we find this note coming again and again. Brethren, pray for me. Pray for me. And he's praying not exactly for himself, but for the exercise of his service that it might be for God's glory and for the benefit of all concerned.
Then he says, persevere in prayer. Persevere in prayer. I like what someone said about prayer. God's delays are not denials. I think that's a good thing to mind because we want an immediate answer to our prayers, and that's understandable.
But God might say, no, there are certain reasons why I don't answer the prayer at the particular moment. And so he delays answering the prayer. So that doesn't mean it's a denial. We've often said there are three answers to every prayer. Yes, no, and wait.
So how thankful we are that we can exercise this patience that is so necessary when we pray. But we have to persevere. Persevere in prayer.
I like to think of that old sister that we read about in the second chapter of the Acts, Anna. What a tremendous testimony the Spirit of God gives to her. Night and day. Night and day. I don't know how long she carried on this service, but with fastings and prayers, she continued this service. What a tremendous example.
That's the most wonderful thing about prayer. You don't need to be a gift to pray because there's no such thing as the gift of prayer. Prayer is open for every brother and sister. It's not a question of how much you know about the Bible. It's how much you know about God. That's the great point. And the more we know about God, the more we'll be encouraged to pray.
Stop.
Well then, keep at it.
I had been praying wrongly. It wasn't that I was insincere. It wasn't that I was praying for something for myself. It was something that I felt was the Lord's mind, but he showed me that it wasn't.
Well, one just has to bow one's knees and confess one's ignorance or one's lack of wisdom and perception. But in other matters, if we know it's the Lord's will, persevere, persevere, persevere. That's what the Apostle says.
I think in the epistle to the Colossians and also in another place, I think it's the epistle to the Romans, chapter 12. He says this, persevere in prayer. So necessary. Indeed, if the air that we breathe is so absolutely necessary for us physically, I believe prayer is absolutely necessary for us as Christians.
We would soon die if we couldn't breathe. I believe we die spiritually if we don't pray. And so Paul says, keep on praying.
And he says, pray at all seasons. There isn't a particular season for prayer and then we can forget it. Oh, no. Every season is important in prayer. Every season, every day, every week, every month, every year, we have to keep going and pray and pray and pray and pray.
And you think of the Lord Jesus when we find him in the garden with his own. I like that little touch in the gospel by Luke. It's the gospel of the grace of God, isn't it? And Luke says they were sleeping for sorrow.
And the other accounts we might say, well, what a poor lot. The Lord Jesus so upset and they're all sleeping. No, says Luke, they were sleeping for sorrow. They were so sad, so upset that it caused them to sleep.
But think of him there in the midst of his own sorrow. He exhorts his disciples, pray, pray, watch and pray lest you enter into temptation.
Now, I think we've all proved I'm sure we have. We must have proved that when we pray, we are brought near to reality with God and we realize that it's not a question of platitudes or the beautiful expressions that we use or the eloquence we have when we address God.
It's a question of sincerity, reality. And the Lord Jesus, he expressed this in a matter in a way that we often use in the gospel. When the two men went up to the temple to pray and the Pharisee prayed God cold, cold and drew attention to himself, although he was speaking to God.
And we believe, according to the book of Proverbs, that that kind of prayer would be an abomination to the Lord. But the other man was absolutely sincere, 100 percent sincere. Oh, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. He was sincere, real. He got to God about the matter in a way that pleased God. And that man went down justified.
Now, while that pertain to a sinner, it also pertains to a saint. The reality of prayer, it's not something flowery and something that makes much of us. Oh, no. If we realized the one to whom we address ourselves, we would be very, very humble indeed.
And yet what a tremendous privilege, what a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. How blessed creatures like ourselves, so sinful, so weak, so foolish, so prone to go our own way, carve out our own our own path for ourselves.
And yet we are privileged to bow our knees and directly address ourselves to God, the great God, the infinitely great God, the creator, the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And we are privileged to talk to him direct, no intermediary. Well, I shouldn't say that. We address ourselves to God through Christ. But I mean, no human intermediary. We know we need no human help to help us in this matter of addressing ourselves in prayer to God.
Oh, dear brethren, what a privilege, what a privilege to get right into contact with the resources of power and wisdom infinitely beyond anything that the world possesses.
Isn't this what Paul means when he wrote to the Philippians and he says, My God shall supply all you need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus, our need, riches in glory in Christ Jesus, inexhaustible resources to be drawn upon through prayer.
Now, the last point I want to bring before you is of a dual character, and that is the happy side of prayer.
Prayer, I believe, is a term that covers many means of addressing ourselves to God. Many of the Psalms, for instance, are prayers. I think at least five, possibly six headings are mentioned in this way as prayers.
But then others, without the heading, they breathe the spirit of prayer. They're crying to God for help. They're acknowledging God in his supremacy and wisdom as the one who could help.
Some of them are imprecatory prayers, and they wouldn't be the prayers that a Christian would pray. But many, many of them, the language we could adopt quite happily because they are drawing upon God in his greatness and in his wisdom.
And then there are songs, and many of the hymns that we have in our hymn book are prayers.
Oh, teach us more of thy blessed ways. A song that we're singing that in itself is a prayer, and many, many more will come to your mind.
And what a wonderful thing it is that in song, in the voices that God has given to us, we can raise them and utter prayers in this happy and in this very privileged way indeed.
And then worship is a form of prayer. The worship that we find, the prayer that Solomon uttered at the dedication of the temple was both a prayer, a supplication and worship.
It indicated, as far as he was concerned, how great God was, the covenant he had made with David, the promises he had made. All this involved the purpose and will of God, and it was all involved in this tremendous prayer that he made.
And so we too can have this happy experience of addressing God in worship, in song, in praise. Oh, how wonderful.
Think of Paul and Silas when they were in that prison in Philippi, their backs lacerated by the Roman scourge, and they're in the prison, and they might well have been depressed.
They might well have had a sense of defeat, but were they? It says they prayed and they sang praises.
There was the note of worship along with their supplications for help and strength.
What a tremendous thing it is then that when we sing, we are singing to a God who hears our song just in the same way as he hears our prayers.
Now lastly, the function of prayer.
I've already spoken about individual prayer.
Each one must determine how this function is maintained.
What time is best suited, time that can be set aside to be used for this specific purpose.
I believe this is why so often we get in the Bible prayer and fasting.
It wasn't simply that they abstained from food just for that particular reason, but they abstained from food to apply themselves to that time in prayer.
The time that was spent in preparing food and partaking of food was now spent in prayer, prayer and fasting.
Now each one must determine what are the most opportune moments in each life to devote oneself to prayer.
Oh, I say this again, absolutely essential.
If we are going to be maintained fresh, energetic, diligent, strong in the interest of the Lord, we must have individual prayer.
Then there is household prayer.
Husband and wife kneeling together at the throne of grace, praying.
What a happy thing.
Husband and wife, children too if necessary.
What a tremendous thing for heaven to look down upon.
If I can refer to our Scottish poet again, if you've never read it before, get a copy of The Cotter's Saturday Night and you'll read something that will rejoice your heart.
Because Burns portrayed something that was in function in those days in Scotland, something that was general, sad to say, largely disappeared.
He describes the cotter and his wife and the children and their daughter's young man kneeling down together and praying.
After reading the word of God.
And then when they all went away, the husband, the father and the saint, that's how Burns describes him, kneeled down with his wife and they prayed for their children.
What a tremendous sight.
Oh, would that that were true in the homes, not only in Scotland, but throughout Britain.
Would that it were true in the homes of the saints.
Prayer in a household way.
Diligent prayer, constant prayer, husband and wife and children together.
When Paul says thou shall be saved thou and thy house.
He wasn't only thinking that they would be free from the guilt of their sins and we're going to heaven.
Salvation means much more than that.
They would be saved.
That household would be saved from many of the activities that had formerly marked it.
And that home would be given over to different kinds of activities and prayer would be one of them.
And that would be the real evidence that salvation had entered into that home.
What a tremendous thing.
Burns said from scenes like these, old Scotia's grander springs that makes her love that home revered abroad.
Princes and lords are but the breath of kings, an honest man, the noblest work of God.
Oh dear friends, whatever the poet might say, it's what the word of God says.
That impresses upon us this tremendous need of prayer, individually, householdly and then collectively.
Oh what a tremendous thing it is, this matter of prayer.
And yet, I know that you will agree with me because we're speaking the truth, we know it.
That if any meeting is sacrificed, very often it's the prayer meeting.
Ah yes, the Bible reading, we can hear our knowledge then.
Or addresses, or gospel meetings, yes.
These are places where we can have a great deal of activity.
But the prayer meeting, well, maybe that doesn't matter so much.
Does it not?
Oh, when we neglect the prayer meeting.
We are neglecting the powerhouse, so often it has been said.
I think it was Charles Spurgeon who took his visitor down to the basement of his church, the tabernacle.
And he said, this is the powerhouse.
And the visitor looked round to see what he was talking about.
Maybe some furnace that supplied heat.
No, said Spurgeon, we're talking about the place where prayer is made.
This is the powerhouse.
This is why that man of God was so powerful in his ministration in the gospel.
And we can be sure of this, that when any assembly neglects prayer,
they are neglecting the very means to draw upon the power of God.
The wisdom of God.
Not only for their own encouragement, that's primary.
But also for the interest and blessing of those who are around in the area,
through the gospel or through the ministration of the world.
And so I believe that these three areas where we can function,
individually, in the home, in the assembly,
are areas where this great service of prayer,
one of the greatest, if not the greatest, service can be carried on.
And we can all have our part in it, thank God.
As we said a moment ago, these instances that we read,
indicate, shall I say, the scope of prayer by individuals,
a king, a servant, and a son of God.
And let us add Anna, the widow.
All engaged in prayer and effective prayer.
That's the great point.
Effective prayer.
And all people can engage in prayer.
Husbands, wives, all young people who are newly converted,
they can all exercise this tremendous prerogative.
And so, this introduction to the subject,
is one that I believe we need to think about more and more.
The supremacy of God.
The example of the Lord Jesus.
The many exhortations in scripture.
And the functions that we can carry on,
individually in the home or in the meeting,
are sufficient reasons for us to be more and more exercised
in this great matter of prayer.
I like what I read recently.
I don't know who said it, but it appealed to me very much,
when the person said,
that prayer is the nerve that moves the muscle of omnipotence.
That appeals to me very much.
I might be a very, very weak nerve,
but my prayers can move the power of God,
in whatever way it is necessary,
for help, for encouragement, for blessing.
Oh dear friends, may our little talk,
more and more, encourage us in this great matter of prayer.
I'm sure, if I could look into your hearts,
I know you would be like mine.
We would all be confessing, yes,
we could pray more than we do.
And when we do make that confession,
the reality of it will be seen,
when we do it a little better than we've done before.
Now, just to go over very briefly, if the Lord will,
before we close.
On Monday, not the Lord's prayer,
we hope to say a little about the disciples' prayer.
That is the prayer that the Lord taught them.
Tuesday night,
we might say something about the prayers of Daniel.
Wednesday night,
the prayer of a man in the Old Testament,
called Jabez.
On Thursday night,
characteristic prayers,
by different people.
And then Friday,
prayer in the early period of the church.
Now we've been long enough,
trying to help a little,
in the things of the Lord,
to know that you very often make your plans
for a series of meetings,
and before you reach the end,
you're told to move in a direction
that you never thought about.
So while we suggest these are the things
that we intend speaking about,
it may be there will be an alteration,
and I'm sure you will accept that.
Well, can we close in singing together,
Two Hundred and Eighty-Eight.
Two Hundred and Eighty-Eight.
Although whose mercy is hard to see,
all we can do is pray. …
Automatisches Transkript:
…
Der zweite Vortrag von Frank Wallis am Montag, 13.10.1986
Das Gospel von Matthäus, Kapitel 6
Vers 5
And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray
standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.
Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door,
pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward
thee openly.
But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they
shall be heard for their much speaking.
Be not ye therefore like unto them, for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of
before ye ask him.
After this manner therefore pray ye, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever.
Amen.
For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
I want to speak particularly about what is commonly called the Lord's Prayer, but was
the Lord's instructions for his disciples, how they were to pray.
And the verses preceding this instruction that he gave to them tells us that there are
things to avoid, told them that there were things to avoid.
For instance, to avoid making a demonstration of their prayers, so that this was something
that made much of themselves instead of the prayer, or the one to whom the prayer was
addressed.
And secondly, not to have long prayers, eloquent words, nice platitudes, something that men
prided themselves in, but to be precise to the point and to pray in secret.
So there were things that were to be avoided.
But I particularly want to be occupied with what is positive, what the Lord Jesus directed
his disciples to say in their prayers.
Now I think you will agree with me that he never taught them this prayer, that it might
be reiterated on every occasion they were together, or for any occasion they were together,
but rather showing them the kind of prayer that they should pray.
Now very simply, before we start to break it up, I believe it falls into three different
sections.
First of all, God.
That was to be the preeminent thing in their prayer.
And you'll notice that in that prayer, the Lord is directing their thoughts to what is
particularly in relation to God.
Secondly, others.
Because when they pray, thy kingdom come, the Lord Jesus is thinking not only of the
supremacy of God and his own position in that kingdom, but the tremendous benefit that would
come to the whole world when that kingdom was established.
And thirdly, themselves.
Now there is a simple direction for us, and if we examine our prayers, we might find that
they are hardly in keeping with that kind of direction.
I think if we were to confess, we would say most of our prayers are in relation to ourselves,
what we need, what we desire.
But oh dear friends, the Lord wants us to think about God first, others, and then ourselves.
That's a good pattern for any prayer.
But I want to break it up even more.
We may not cover all the things, but I want to point them out to you.
Our Father, which art in heaven.
I'm not going to deal with it as some deal with it in a dispensational sense, I'm just
going to use the Lord's words to help us in our prayers today.
So our Father, which art in heaven.
Now it seems to me that's the prayer of a child, the prayer of a son, the prayer of
one who has a known relationship with God, and in this tremendous relationship, knowing
God as Father.
Secondly, hallowed be thy name, is the prayer of a saint, one who desires that God's name
should be set apart, should be recognized, should be distinctive.
The prayer of a saint.
Then, thy kingdom come, that's the prayer of a subject in the kingdom, and that involves
a tremendous scope indeed.
Then, thy will be done in earth, is the prayer of a servant, a bondslave who desires his
master's will to be preeminent.
Then we have, give us this day our daily or our kneaded bread, the prayer of a dependent.
Then, forgive us our debts, the prayer of a debtor.
Then, lead us not into temptation, the prayer of one who has known weakness, knowledge of
one's own weakness and desiring not to be led into testings that are too great.
And then, deliver us from evil, one who is in known helplessness, desiring to be protected
from the tremendous evil influences that are around.
Now, the Lord Jesus, being who he was, could say a tremendous amount in few words.
Some of us may say a great deal, many, many words, and not say very much.
But it was the opposite with the Lord.
When he said a few words, what tremendous meaning was in those words.
Tremendous scope.
And I believe this prayer that we call the Lord's Prayer provides us with these things.
So, this is how we'll use it tonight.
Well, first of all, our prayers in a known relationship.
Now, I feel that's a tremendous thing.
We were saying on Saturday night that one of the great distinctive features about prayer
is a recognition of the greatness of God.
Now, when we speak about God as Father, this is a distinct recognition of his greatness and deity.
There are two scriptures that we can bring forward to prove this.
One is in 1 Corinthians 8, where Paul is speaking about the idolatry that existed in the world
and the Corinthians in the midst of it.
And he said, to us, there is one God, the Father.
There we have the distinctive name of God revealed in this dispensation.
To us, there is one God, the Father.
And then, in the seven ones that Paul presents in Ephesians 4,
one God and Father overall, and many other things he says about him.
I believe there are two scriptures, and there are more, many more,
that indicate to us how great this glorious Father is.
He is God, but he is our Father.
And this is the declaration that the Lord made to Mary on the resurrection morn
when she met him, and he made that tremendous message that she should take to the disciples.
I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.
What a tremendous message to carry back to the disciples.
And, of course, we know from that that it is our relationship, it is our blessing,
it is our distinctive and unique blessing to know God in this way, our Father and our God.
Go a little step further, and Paul tells us in Ephesians that through him, that is through Christ,
in the power of one spirit, we have access to the Father.
That is, we are helped by another to enter into the presence of this tremendous God,
the one whom we know as Father.
Free access at all times through Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Now, isn't that a wonderful thing?
That at any time and in any place we can lift up our voices to our Father
in this known relationship that this Father who loves us and who is so infinitely great
has a knee that is open to hear our prayers.
That's a tremendous thing for us to consider.
And I think it's Peter who says in his epistle,
if ye invoke him as Father, invoke God as Father, you address him in that particular way
because you know he is your Father.
That's the relationship that you have with him.
And if I remember in the Gospel by Luke, the Lord Jesus said,
When ye pray, say, Father.
Now I think all those quotations indicate to us what a dignified thing prayer is.
We said at the outset, prayer honors God.
And so if we address him in this way, as Father,
we are taking advantage of a wondrous relationship that has been set up for us by Christ,
can be known and enjoyed in the power of the Holy Spirit,
and should characterize our prayers.
We don't come before him saying that we are miserable sinners.
We don't come before him with a sense that he's so far off.
Oh no, we come to him in a known relationship,
in association with the Son, knowing that his place is our place,
and we can speak to our Father in this tremendous position.
Now I think you will agree with me that if we enjoy this and appreciate it,
it will give a character to our prayers, a depth and dignity to our prayers,
far beyond anything that might be in an established way, an organized way, a written way,
this spontaneous outflow of the heart to the Father in this known relationship.
Well, that's the first point, our Father which art in heaven.
I've had a difficulty here, dear brethren, and I'll express my difficulty,
that sometimes people tell us,
when you mention your Father who is in heaven, it is a sense of distance.
But then I find in the same portion, the Lord Jesus says,
My Father who is in the heavens.
Now I can't think for one second that the Lord Jesus was thinking of any distance
between him and his Father, not for one second.
But it may be he was talking as a godly Jew at that moment,
taking his place with them, I don't know.
But I would be glad of any help in this if the brethren can afford it.
But again I say that in the application at least of this quotation,
it would bring home to us a sense of nearness and relationship
that we can enjoy as we speak to our Father.
Now it says, Hallowed be thy name, or sanctified be thy name.
This word hallowed is more often used in the Old Testament
with the same meaning as we have in the New, sanctified.
That is, this great God in his holiness is distinctively set apart
in demonstration of who he is and in whatever way he deals with his people.
Now I'm going to draw upon the Old Testament to apply this statement to ourselves.
The temple was built, built by Solomon, and God said that he was hallowed in that temple.
Here was a distinctive place upon earth where God was known
and God was approached in a unique way,
not in the superstition and idolatry that marked the nations.
Here was a God who had revealed himself to the nation of Israel,
covenant blessings, a way of approach explained to them how they could draw near to him,
and also a moral condition that was binding upon the people as they approached him.
And in this sense, he was distinctively hallowed in the whole world
in a unique way distinct from the idolatry that marked the world.
Secondly, he was hallowed in a certain class of people who approached him, the priests.
The priestly family, God was hallowed in them.
That is, they were thoroughly occupied with him.
They knew what was right in their approach to him.
They followed his commandments in their approach to him.
They were not governed by their own ideas or anyone else's ideas.
They were entirely and wholly governed by what God laid down in relation to them.
Then we find, and you can search these scriptures out,
you'll find that in the failure of the nation of Israel,
they come under the judgment of God, and God is hallowed in that.
His holiness becomes apparent in this distinctive, unique way in his dealings with his people.
And then, praise God, he is hallowed, sanctified,
when he deals with his people in restoration and brings them back to himself.
Well now, if we just simply apply these things to ourselves today,
use these scriptures and apply them to the distinctive Christian position,
praise God, there is a building today, not a material one, a spiritual one.
No need in a company like this to explain that.
Not a building of lime, stone, girder, wood, and precious stones,
but a spiritual building consisting of every true believer in Christ.
A spiritual house.
And God, without doubt, is hallowed in that situation.
Here is a way where God in holiness is approached and worshipped according to his own desire.
He's laid down in his word how he is to be approached.
He's known in that building.
It's his dwelling place.
It's the habitation of God in the spirit.
And praise God, he in a unique way is sanctified in that sense.
And then, not a family of priests, but a whole company of priests.
This great approach to God through the whole company of believers,
knowing him, worshipping him in this distinctive way.
And then, if we do go astray,
oh, thank God that he uniquely is hallowed when he brings us back.
As we've been singing together, if evil besets us and he chastens us,
he has his own way to bring us back to himself,
and he is uniquely glorified in this, hallowed in this, if you like.
And then, too, in our restoration, how he demonstrates his greatness and glory in this wondrous way.
Now, this is what we are to pray for.
We are to pray that this might be known in a greater way today.
I would think that if we examined and analyzed our prayer meetings,
a great deal of the time would be used up in praying for the gospel,
and one would not deprecate that in the slightest.
We thank God for that.
We want to pray more and more and more for the salvation of precious souls.
But I think you will agree that the greatest thing we can pray for
is that God should be honored in the midst of his people,
a greater approach to him,
a greater understanding of the position that the people of God have
and the opportunity they have to worship him.
And, if you like, he set apart in a way that he couldn't be anywhere else
but in the midst of his people, he is uniquely, distinctively set apart
in their affections and in their minds.
Oh, how wonderful.
And we should pray for this more and more.
There might be greater substance in the worship of God amongst his people
if we prayed along these lines.
And then pray, too, that we might be able to take advantage of this priestly service
in worshiping God and approaching him in the way that he desires,
not with any vestment, as the Aaronic priests had,
not in any specified way,
but the outpouring of the affections and the power of the Spirit
going out to God in such a way as to please his heart.
And in restoration, and also in discipline,
God is great, and God works on the basis of his holiness,
never deviates for it, never bends it.
We should never think of God as a beneficent old gentleman
who very, very kindly overlooks our weaknesses and failures.
God's not a God like that.
He's a holy God, and he's concerned that we might be up to his standard,
and so he places us through discipline, chastisement,
that we might return to him, and in this he is glorified,
set apart as no one else possibly could be.
Then these things ought to be in our prayers,
that we're praying that God uniquely should be in the hearts of his people,
whether in worship or in any other way.
Then he says,
I think now we are praying this prayer more often.
We're longing for the kingdom to come.
Indeed, Paul says we ought to love his appearing.
That's the setting up of the kingdom,
when the Lord Jesus Christ comes, sets up his earthly kingdom.
We might say, why should we pray for the kingdom?
Well, there are very good reasons why we should pray for the kingdom.
We should be deeply concerned that the kingdom come.
The first thing is that God himself might be glorified and honored,
because as we search through the scriptures,
we find that the kingdom has a very great place
in the mind and will and purpose of God.
If you haven't read it, our brother has written a book.
It's available in the depot,
Brother John Blackburn, The Kingdom of God,
and that will tell us something about it.
But I believe the first thing is the greatness and glory of God,
his will, his purpose, established upon earth,
as he intended it should be.
Secondly, and oh, how we appreciate this,
the public vindication of Christ,
the one who was crucified and rejected.
Oh, what a wondrous day it will be
when he is supreme in the world in a public way,
known from the river to the ends of the earth.
All shall know him from the least to the greatest.
Oh, how wonderful that will be.
The man of Nazareth, the man of glory, power, administration.
Secondly, or should I say thirdly,
we think about ourselves, not selfishly,
but as the time when we shall share in that administration,
and the Lord will reward us for any faithfulness
that we have accomplished in this world.
Might be very meager, but the righteous judge
will give his true assessment
as to that which has given him pleasure in our lives,
that which has been for his glory,
that which has made much of him.
There will be degrees of rewards,
ruler over ten cities, ruler over five cities, so on.
But yes, thank God, we have an interest in the kingdom.
Fourthly, from a humanitarian point of view,
what a tremendous desire to have
that the kingdom should come.
Oh, dear brethren, when we think of the sorrow
that's in this world, the increasing wickedness,
the awful chaos, the awful inhumanity
that marks this poor, sad world,
to see it at an end, no injustices,
everything administered by Christ
for the benefit of those upon earth.
Oh, surely, this should be very much in our minds,
thy kingdom come.
What a tremendous day that will be
when rule, administration, will be seen in its perfection
in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Just one word, in Revelation 5,
we find many things ascribed to the Lord,
honor, power, glory, and so on.
Amongst them is mentioned riches,
and we might well say,
what is the Lord going to do with riches?
I believe those are material riches.
I don't think pound notes or hundred pound notes
or gold and silver.
I believe the resources that exist in the world.
That is true riches,
and those riches will be administered
by the Lord Jesus Christ.
No one will be able to corner the market
and make a fortune at other people's expense.
There will be no maladministration in the world.
There will be an administration of the resources
that will be to the glory of God
and the honor of Christ
and for the benefit of all concerned.
No wonder we should pray,
thy kingdom come.
What a day it will be
when the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.
Thy kingdom come.
Then we have the prayer of a servant.
Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
What a tremendous day that will be
when this prayer is answered.
In Ephesians 1,
Paul reminds us that there is a day coming
when God will head up all things in Christ,
the things in the heavens
and the things upon earth,
even in him.
That's the good pleasure of his will,
the mystery of his will rather,
when everything will be under the headship of Christ
and a head who will control and influence
for the glory of God.
That's a prayer to pray for.
Let thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
God's will today?
Well, it's certainly not apparent in the affairs of men.
I wonder in that summit meeting
that we've been hearing about so much,
Gorbachev and Reagan,
I wonder if they ever bowed their knees
and cried aloud to God
that they might be governed by his will.
I'm afraid not.
One is an avowed enemy of God,
the leader of an atheist nation.
How could they possibly bow down,
the leader of it rather, bow down
and confess his need of God for guidance?
Oh, that day will come
when every knee will bow
and all shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father
and God's will will be operative upon earth
in every conceivable way.
What a prayer to pray
and we should be praying this,
that God's will will be manifest.
We can pray today
that it is manifested in our lives individually
as we think of Romans 12
where Paul beseeches the saints
to give their bodies a living sacrifice unto God
in view of knowing and doing his will.
That is something that we can all do,
every one of us.
And in that measure,
the will of God will be seen upon earth.
That's something that we can do ourselves.
Praise God.
We have the power to do it.
We have the instruction to do it.
And a good thing to pray more and more
that this might be evident in our lives,
every one of us.
Then Paul, in a prayer in Colossians 1,
he prays that the Colossian believers
might grow by the true knowledge of God's will,
the full knowledge of God's will.
There was a distinctive prayer
for a Christian company upon earth
that they might advance
in the knowledge of God's will for them.
There would be a demonstration
of the will of God upon earth.
I believe that the particular will there
would be that they would be entirely free
from anything that man would provide
because that was their danger.
The philosophies of man
intruding into Christian revelation
and Paul's desire that they might be
entirely free from that
and be subject to the known will of God
and grow in the appreciation of it
and in the practice of it.
So that's a very wonderful thing
that individually and in our companies
there can be the evidence
of the will of God active upon earth
long before it is known
in its extensive way
under Christ in the world to come.
We're involved in that.
We're involved in the future.
We're involved in the present.
I think it's a tremendous thing,
tremendous triumph of God's grace and love
that creatures like ourselves
so poor and failing
can in some measure exhibit the will of God.
Oh, how great this was seen
in our Lord Jesus Christ
when in the hour of his greatest sorrow
just approaching it
he could pray not my will
but thine be done.
Not avoiding the suffering
that he was about to pass through
but ready to go through
the declared will of God for him.
He had come into this world
in incarnation saying this,
Lo, I come in the volume of the book
it is written of me
to do thy will, O God.
And nothing caused him
to deviate from that.
He knew it was God's will.
He did it every day of his life.
He desires that each one of us
should follow his example
and do his will.
Yes, this is a prayer
we can all pray
thy will be done on earth.
We can pray it for ourselves
we can pray it for the Christian company
we can pray for its speedy coming
upon earth in an extended way
under Christ.
Thy will be done in earth.
Come to these confessions of need.
Give us this day
our daily bread
I'm going to give you the rendering
that Mr. Darby gives.
Give us this day
our needed bread.
He has a very interesting footnote
in his new translation
and he says they are not to pray
for an abundance
it's a question of what is necessary
day by day.
Now I think that's beautiful
because we are never
taken out of the place
of a dependent.
It means that every day of our lives
we are praying this.
Now
in this affluent society
in which we live
I don't suppose any of us
pray this kind of prayer
that we need a loaf of bread.
But we can pray in a material sense
that we might be provided
with everything that's necessary
for our righteous
requirements as Christians
to meet everything
every obligation that we have
as citizens
in any particular place
that we need to meet the righteous obligations
that are upon us as citizens
and we may not have the wherewithal
to do that and so I think it's
perfectly correct that we should pray
that that is forthcoming.
But the main thing I want to stress
is that
we're dependent
we don't want to be independent
that would be false
and we have to pray this prayer
every day of our lives
that we're dependent upon him.
Many had
an uncle who used to
have a little business
and one day he felt
he had done extremely well
and he sat down
and he counted his day's takings
and he was congratulating himself
that he had been so successful.
And then
into his mind came the quotation
from Deuteronomy
Think not that it was the power of
thy right hand
that acquired thee this wealth.
There was a word to him
that whatever he had received
he had received it from God.
God gave him the strength
God gave him the wisdom
God gave him the guidance
and he was privileged to acquire
what he had acquired.
And surely
in this affluent society
there is the danger of us becoming
independent in mind
and in practice.
Oh how necessary it is
to cry aloud to God
every day of our lives
that we might be supplied
with that which is necessary
to maintain us as Christians.
Our needed bread
whatever is necessary
for us as true believers
in the place where we are.
We may have plenty of this world's goods
and yet we need to
pray this prayer
that we might be strengthened, supplied
in various ways.
I'm sure you will all agree
that no matter what we may have materially
that we need to pray every day
of our lives to be kept
in this attitude of dependence.
I'm sure
that Joseph of Arimathea
would learn this.
I'm sure that many, many
rich people have learned it
that whatever they have
it never delivers them
from the position of a dependent.
Every day
they are dependent upon God.
Every one of us, we are all
dependent upon God.
A great king was told by the prophet
the God in whose hands
thy breath is, thou hast not
glorified.
Do we glorify God
as we rise in the morning?
Do our hearts rise up to him in thankfulness
that we have health and strength
and soundness of mind?
Do we thank him for the homes
we live in, the food that we eat,
the clothes that we wear, not with any
ostentation, but just profoundly
thankful that we have these
things that the people take for granted.
These are just the
necessary things to them. They are necessary
to us too, but we
acknowledge a God who gives them
in all the grace and
kindness of his heart.
And how to administer these things
is surely a constant problem
and exercise, but oh dear brethren
my desire from my own
heart and I'm sure for yours is
that we might never feel ourselves
independent, but every
day of our lives acknowledge that we
are dependent. We need God.
We need him every
day and in every portion
of our lives. Let us
pray this prayer then. Give us
this day our needed
bread.
I think I ought to say this, that
I believe with all my heart
that this will be the prayer
of the beleaguered remnant
during the time of the great tribulation.
You remember
it tells us that if you don't
get the mark of the beast in your forehead
and in your hand, you won't
be able to buy and you
won't be able to sell.
That is so and it will be so.
How are those people going to buy bread?
How are they going
to get bread? Impossible.
They don't belong to the
beast. They won't be supplied
by anyone. Give
us this day our daily
bread. It will be a real
prayer coming from their hearts.
A prayer for
guidance, control and
support. A prayer for
what is necessary to maintain
them in life as they represent
God. It will be very real
to them. It ought to be very
real to us. Day by day
dependence.
Then it says, forgive us
our debts. Here is the
prayer of a debtor.
It goes on
to say, as we forgive
our debtors.
Now, thank God if we
have a forgiving spirit.
Great deal
of unhappiness amongst
the saints of God would be
soon cured if
a forgiving spirit were more
practiced. Oh
how hard we can be.
And the Lord Jesus said this,
remember in the parable of
the servant who owed his master
a tremendous amount of money.
And when the master
was going to treat him in a very hard
way, he pleaded, pleaded
for time to pay back.
And his master was so
struck by this attitude.
He had compassion upon him and he
forgave him all. And then
he had a colleague,
co-servant, who
owed him a paltry sum.
And he demanded that
payment. Indeed was violent
in his desire to get the payment.
And when he didn't get it, he treated
his co-servant shamefully.
Now that's a very simple
parable, but my, it speaks
volumes. When
we think of the immense amount
that God has forgiven us,
are we able to assess it?
The tremendous
forgiveness that God has
exercised towards us
in all our sin and folly.
Yet we're so
reluctant
to forgive anyone
who says something to us,
or does something to us, that we don't
like. How unforgiving.
So the Lord Jesus
is saying, this is the kind
of prayer. I want you to pray.
Forgive us our debts.
As we forgive our debtors, we forgive
those who are indebted to us.
And that's a very small thing.
Oh, we want to be forgiven,
because we haven't fulfilled
our obligations towards thee.
Now, dear
brethren,
when we think of how
much we are indebted to God
for his mercy,
his grace, his love,
when we think of the vast
realm of blessing that we have brought
into, and we so feebly
respond to him in relation to it,
I think in this sense
we can view ourselves as debtors.
That we haven't fully,
adequately,
livingly answered
to what God has given to us.
We're indebted to him
in such a wonderful way
for his greatness and love to us,
and how paltry our return
to him. I'm going to apply it in that way.
That we're a debtor to God
in that sense. Oh,
that we might be more conscious
of responding to him
in a way that gives him joy
and gladness, and I'm sure
that he appreciates it.
We just need to quote one little
story from the word of God
to prove this. You remember the
ten lepers who were cleansed?
What tremendous blessing
in their lives. Completely
freed from this loathsome disease.
Nine
never found it in their hearts
to come back and say thanks.
One came back
and said thanks to God. Incidentally,
the only one in the gospels
that ever said thanks to Christ.
And oh, how he appreciated it.
Not only did he give
thanks, it says he gave glory to God.
Here was one who was
indebted and responded
to his indebtedness
by giving glory to God
and saying thanks to the Lord Jesus.
Oh, how easily
we might fall into this snare
of, yes, enjoying
these things. Well, if we did enjoy them
we would be more responsive.
But we accept them in a casual kind of manner.
Oh, yes, I'm blessed with every
spiritual blessing in Christ.
And perhaps not responding
to the God who has blessed us
in such a wonderful way.
So, the Lord says, pray this kind of
prayer. That we might be
forgiven. That we might
not be held against us, if you like.
Now we have to make ourselves
clear here. There is
a forgiveness that is
absolute. Oh, how
wonderful it is. That in the
death of Christ, everything
has been forgiven in
relation to our sin and guilt.
There's no possibility
of anything being brought up against us
in that realm. The death of Christ
is absolute in that sense.
Those sins of ours are covered,
dealt with, finished
through the blood of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And we're deeply thankful
for that. I think what the Lord is
saying here, pray that
there might not, on your
part, any slackness
in showing your response
to your God. Very, very difficult
to put in Christian terms.
But that's the way I apply it this evening.
And so, we
too should be marked
by this tremendous indebtedness
to God and ready
to respond to Him and give
Him pleasure.
Now, we come to those
last two in verse
13. Known
weakness.
Lead us not into
temptation.
You know
from the epistle of James
that he tells us that
God would never tempt anyone
with evil, with sin.
That's an absolute
statement that we can take.
It's perfectly true. God will
never lead us into a place
where we'll sin. Every man
is led away by his own lust
and when it conceives,
brings forth sin and sin
brings forth death. That's the order
that James presents.
But here is unknown
weakness on the part of the
believer and he says,
don't allow me to be in
circumstances that are too testing
for me.
I think Paul felt something like this
when he prayed
aloud to the Lord three times
that the thorn from the flesh might
be removed from him.
This is something that was bearing in upon
him. He desired earnestly
that it might be removed.
But it wasn't removed. That was a prayer that went
unanswered because
he proved in his circumstances
that the power of Christ
was able to help him
and sustain him. But here is
a person knowing his own weakness.
I know my weakness.
I know how easily I can succumb
to temptations, testings,
how easily I can give way.
I don't want to be like that.
I want to be kept free from these things.
I want to go forward
and do the things that are pleasing to God
and not be allowed to fall into
temptation, fall into testings
that will be too
great for me.
I think God understands this.
He's so gracious.
Do you remember when the children of Israel
came out of Egypt?
He led them by a way
whereby they avoided the wars
that were going on.
He didn't want them to be embroiled in strife
immediately coming out from Egypt.
How kind he was.
And he looked after them and cared for
them in that way.
He did allow them to be tested
by various means.
Sometimes they were successful
and sometimes they failed.
I think here this is the prayer
of one who knows
his own weakness.
Don't allow us to be
drawn into circumstances
that are too great for us.
Do you feel that you're strong enough
to face any
testing?
I don't.
Oh, I'm terrified that I might be in testings
whereby I might be
overthrown, might dishonor the Lord.
I think it's a prayer that's
close to our hearts as we get older.
George Muller, man of faith,
man of God, right till the
very day he died, he says,
Lord, preserve me from being a wicked old man.
There was the prayer
of a man of God.
Desire in his heart.
You see, he had been a man who had known
something of evil, debauchery.
He had known it. He was a depraved man
before he was converted.
Didn't want to go back to that.
Didn't want to be in circumstances
tested by them and overcome.
And so this is a good prayer.
Oh, don't let us be
self-confident. Poor Peter
is an example for us in the
scriptures. Though all forsake
thee, yet will not I.
He didn't know his own weakness.
Good thing if we know our own weakness.
Good thing if we know our own smallness.
Good thing if we can get a vision
like Gideon when the barley cake
rolled into the camp of the Gideons.
The...
Not the Gideonites.
The people who were against the
children of Israel.
These enemies of Israel.
And that's what Gideon
saw. A little
barley cake. That was to
give him an impression of his own
smallness and of God's power.
And that's a very good thing.
If we can always keep this in our minds
that God is great
and he'll help us
in our weakness. And lastly,
deliver us
from evil.
I believe this is the prayer
of one who knows his own helplessness.
That the powers that are
against him are infinitely
greater than himself.
I like Paul's
statement in the last chapter
of 2 Timothy.
It's very near to my heart.
And although it was uniquely true of Paul,
I would like it to be true of myself.
And I'm sure you would too.
The Lord shall
deliver me from every
evil work.
And preserve me unto his
heavenly kingdom.
What tremendous confidence.
Here was a man who was confident
that the Lord would look after
him and preserve him
from those tremendous evil
powers that existed.
Some say that
this could be translated the evil
one.
The evil one. And what a power
he is. Oh,
what a power Satan is.
We ought to know more about him.
His subtlety, his cunning,
his wiles.
There is so much in Scripture
that tell us how great and powerful
and wise and cunning
Satan is.
Not one of us is a match for him.
But in the power of Christ
we can be protected.
Oh, how important it is.
The evil one. What tremendous
influence and power he is.
And like David, as he went
into the valley of Elah against
Goliath, he went in the
power of the name of the God of hosts.
That was his strength.
A little stripling against this
man of war. But that's how
he was successful. In the name
of the God of hosts.
And that's our strength.
Oh, what a prayer. Deliver us from evil.
And also Paul
reminds us that the Lord Jesus
Christ died to deliver
us from this present evil
age. In the first
chapter of Galatians, the first few
verses. This is an evil
world. If we find
some of its things attractive to us,
let us remember that those
attractions are governed by the
ruler of this world.
They take up our time.
They attract us. They deprive us.
They take away our appetite for divine
things. This is an evil world.
If it shows its fair face
to us, it's to allure us away
from the things that are worthwhile.
And we need to pray that we might
be delivered in a practical way
every day of our lives
from this present evil
world. A good prayer to
pray. A good prayer to pray.
Every day of our lives.
Evil things. Evil things.
Evil things. Evil things.
Every day of our lives. Evil
is all around us. Every
conceivable form. The ruler
of this world makes sure
some senses it's blatant.
Other senses it's very subtly
hid. And that's to ensnare the
believer. Oh, what a tremendous
thing it is. This prayer
deliver us from
evil. In ourselves
we're unable to combat it
because we have a nature that
responds to it. Willingly responds
to it. Thank God we have
another nature that desires holy things.
And this is the nature that
can be successful in the power
of the spirit and obedient
to the word of God.
Well, I made these few suggestions
that in this
disciples prayer, there is so
much when we analyze it.
The prayer, as we say, our Father
which art in heaven. The prayer of a son.
Hallowed be thy name.
The prayer of a saint.
Thy kingdom come. The prayer of a subject.
Thy will be done on earth.
The prayer of a servant.
Give us this daily bread,
our needed bread. The prayer of a
dependent person. Forgive us
our debts. The prayer of a debtor.
And lead us not in temptation.
The prayer of known weakness.
Deliver us from evil.
The prayer of helplessness.
I think you will agree
that this prayer
contains a great deal
and can guide us
that we might be accurate,
that we might be intelligent
in our approach to God in our prayers
and see the scope
that can be covered in our prayers
as we intelligently take account
of this great avenue
that's been opened up for us
into the presence of God at all times
in the power of the spirit
and through Christ.
And I'm sure that those prayers
will be deeply appreciated
by God and in the words
of the Lord before that,
pray to thy father which is in secret
and thy father which seeth
in secret shall reward thee
openly.
May we be encouraged for his namesake. …
Automatisches Transkript:
…
Der dritte Teil der Serie von Frank Wallace Basenfeldmann, Oktober 1986.
Jetzt kommen wir zum Buch von Daniel.
Daniel, Kapitel 2.
I think you're all acquainted with the early part of the chapter where King Nebuchadnezzar has a
dream and he sends for his wise men to tell him the dream and not only to tell him but to give
the interpretation of it which they were unable to do and so the king got very angry and he issued
a decree that all the wise men in Babylon should be slain and that involved Daniel and his
companions so we begin to read at verse 18 rather verse 17. Verse 17 of chapter 2. Then Daniel went
to his house and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah his companions that they would
desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning the secret that Daniel and his fellows should
not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel
in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said blessed be the
name of God forever and ever for wisdom and might are his and he changes the times and the seasons.
He removeth kings and setteth up kings. He giveth wisdom unto the wise and knowledge to them that
no understanding. He revealeth the deep and secret things. He knoweth what is in the darkness and the
light dwelleth with him. I thank thee and praise thee O thou God of my fathers who has given me
wisdom and might and has made known unto me now what we desired of thee for thou hast now made
known unto us the king's matter. Therefore Daniel went in unto Ariok whom the king had ordained to
the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus unto him destroy not the wise men of Babylon
bring me in before the king and I will show unto the king the interpretation. Now we move over to
chapter 6. Again the background of the chapter is the hostility and intrigue of those who hated
Daniel because of his prominence in the kingdom and they very slyly and in a very cunning way
sought this opportunity to bring Daniel into disfavor with Darius the king. We begin reading
at verse 4. Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the
kingdom but they could find none occasion or fault for as much as he was faithful neither was there
any error or fault found in him. Then said these men we shall not find any occasion against this
Daniel except we find it against him concerning the law of his God. Then they take steps and make
an arrangement with the king for a certain law to be passed that no one should ask any request
except to the king. Now when Daniel knew this, verse 10 it says, now when Daniel knew that the
writing was signed he went into his house and his windows being open and his chamber toward
Jerusalem he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God
as he did aforetime. Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication
before his God. Praying in the midst of great danger because doing this he knew that he was
liable to be cast in amongst the lions. Now we turn to chapter 9. This is a fairly long portion
that we want to read but it's very important that we should read it. Chapter 9 and verse 1.
It's been suggested that Daniel might be 90 years of age when he prays this prayer. So we're listening
to the prayer of an old man of God. Daniel chapter 9 and verse 1. In the first year of Darius the son
of Ahasuerus of the seed of the Medes which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans in the
first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years but off the word
of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of
Jerusalem. I set my face unto the Lord God to seek my prayer and supplications with fasting and
sackcloth and ashes and I prayed unto the Lord my God and made my confession and said O Lord the
great and dreadful God keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him and to them that keep
his commandments we have sinned and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled
even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments neither have we hearkened unto thy
servants the prophets which speak in thy name to our kings our princes and our fathers and to all
the people of the land O Lord righteousness belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of
faces as at this day to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and unto all Israel
that are near and that are far off through all the countries whether thou has driven them because of
their trespass that they have trespassed against thee O Lord to us belongeth confusion of face to
our kings to our princes and to our fathers because we have sinned against thee to the Lord
our God belong mercies and forgivenesses though we have rebelled against him neither have we obeyed
the voice of the Lord our God to walk in his laws which he set before us by his servants the prophets
all Israel have transgressed thy law even by departing that they might not obey thy voice
therefore the curse is poured upon us and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant
of God because we have sinned against him and he hath confirmed his words which he spake against
us and against our judges that judged us by bringing upon us a great evil but under the
whole heaven hath not been done as had been done upon Jerusalem as it is written in the law of
Moses all this evil has come upon us yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God that
we might turn from our iniquities and understand thy truth therefore hath the Lord watched upon
the evil and brought it upon us for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth
for we obeyed not his voice and now O Lord our God that has brought thy people forth out of the
land of Egypt with a mighty hand and has gotten the renown as at this day we have sinned we have
done wickedly O Lord according to all thy righteousness I beseech thee let thine anger
and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem thy holy mountain because for our
sins and for the iniquities of our fathers Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach
to all that are about us now therefore O our God hear the prayer of thy servant and his supplications
and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate for the Lord's sake O my God
incline thine ear and hear open thine eyes and behold our desolations and the city which is
called by thy name for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses
but for thy great mercies O Lord hear O Lord forgive O Lord hearken and do defer not for
thine own sake O my God for thy city and thy people are called by thy name and while I was
speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my
supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God yea while as I was speaking in
prayer even the man Gabriel whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning being caused to fly
swiftly touch me about the time of the evening oblation and he informed me and talked with me
and said O Daniel I have now come forth to give thee skill and understanding at the beginning of
thy supplications the commandment came forth and I am come to show thee for thou art greatly beloved
therefore understand the matter and consider the vision my if we could pray like that that's some
prayer the heart of that man was in his prayer and he's not praying about himself he's praying
about the things that are dear to the heart of God what a prayer what confession willing to take
the low place himself my sin and the sin of my people we'll come to that later it's comparatively
easy to pray in conditions where things are congenial everything's all right things are
going along normal isn't much danger things perhaps quite prosperous and perhaps not the
same urgency for prayer on the other hand maybe when things are really difficult in our lives
that we are pushed onto our knees to take account of God in his greatness and goodness I feel is a
tremendous appeal as we read the book of Daniel and see this man of prayer this man of God this
upright man this good man and his prayers and how he besought God and how God answered him in a
signal fashion this was a prayer a specific prayer in chapter 2 as we said at the outset it was a
tremendous endeavor on the part of Nebuchadnezzar to ask those wise men to reveal to him something
that really they were unable to do it really revealed the emptiness of the Gentile professions
of knowledge and wisdom and skill and understanding and he made this tremendous request of them that
they should tell him his dream and give to him the interpretation of it they were utterly unable
to do it they tried to play for time they tried to modify the king's request but to no avail and
so the threat went out if you don't tell me my dream and if you don't give me the interpretation
you'll all lose your lives no exception well this was a dilemma and then Daniel heard about it knew
that he was in danger and his companions were in danger and so he went to them and he said brethren
we'll need to pray it was as simple as that that there was fellowship in prayer that great as the
danger was Daniel knew that there was a place to which he could turn to find strength resource and
wisdom I believe that if Daniel and his companions hadn't been faithful in the first chapter you would
never have heard Daniel and his and his praying friends in the second chapter their basis their
field their faithfulness rather laid the basis of their prayer life and their success as we go
through these six chapters in the book of Daniel faithfulness and small things led to success in
greater things and so it is in all our lives let's take care of the small things and don't
think they're too small we must be faithful in small things if we are going to have any power
with God in greater things so Daniel and his companions they got together with a specific
request that God would make known to them the dream and the interpretation of it and God
answered their request now I want to present this to ourselves today in the Christian era the
Christian dispensation how does it affect us first of all fellowship in prayer a tremendous thing
you remember in Matthew chapter 18 the Lord said if two of you agree in any matter it shall be
granted you for where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of
them now that's a divine promise I believe uniquely this was fulfilled in the early days of the church
where without any ulterior motive with clear vision as to the mind of the Lord the disciples
besought the Lord in prayer and their prayers were answered united prayer on their part we say well
why aren't our prayers answered today we pray for much in the prayer meeting we cry to the Lord
again and again for blessing in the gospel for power in the ministry for enlargement in our
assemblies for greater knowledge of the truth greater affection towards the Lord we pray for
many many things and the prayer answers are meager well there's nothing wrong with God we can start
with that very very definitely that's a firm basis to rest upon that God is the same today as he was
in the days of Daniel it may be that we have to look into our hearts and see if there are things
there that need to be removed just as Daniel and his companions were faithful in those small things
connection with food they were faithful in that God blessed them and because they were faithful
their prayers had power with God we mustn't forget what James said the prayer of a righteous man
availeth much no dear friends I honestly believe as far as I'm concerned that's one of the reasons
for failure in prayer life in my life you all can answer for yourselves but it's beyond doubt
that the Lord has made a promise that he will fulfill that if we are gathered together in his
name and we are agreed on specific matters he'll answer those requests well that's a promise that
we can take hold of I suppose we all could refer to times in our companies when specific requests
were made and those requests were answered there was an urgency about the prayers a reality about
the prayers there were no frills or platitudes there was no embellishment of the prayers they
came out from the heart in simple terms straight to the point and God heard those prayers and
answered them so it was when Peter was put in prison it says unceasing prayer was made on his
behalf by the assembly I am perfectly sure those who prayed in that prayer meeting in John Mark's
mother's house they didn't indulge in long prayers and going all round about and upside down and in
and out they were straight to the point Lord Peter is in prison we need Peter's help he's a gifted man
Lord we need Peter released I'm sure their prayers were straight to the point simple prayers honest
prayers prayers with no ulterior motive whatsoever and God answered the prayers and sad to say they
had the faith to accept it when the visible visible evidence was before their eyes Peter
was standing outside nevertheless God answered their prayers wonderful thing when prayer is made
in this way you remember in connection I think we mentioned this before in Acts chapter 4 when
those who were in prison were released they went to their own company and they cried aloud to the
Creator God and they cried specifically for boldness to continue the testimony in the city
of Jerusalem in the place where Christ was crucified they desired help to continue this
testimony and immediately says God gave them this boldness and they continued in the testimony
short prayer they all prayed it short prayer to the point specific prayers and God heard them
and blessed them we read in the book of Ezra how Ezra gathered all the company together and they
fasted together and he says that we might beseech the Lord for us all for a right way a plea a prayer
for guidance a specific prayer for guidance and he says we were entreated of God he heard their
prayers and he blessed them and he gave them guidance I remember when we were in Australia
and this was without exception at the prayer meetings there would be about 10 minutes after
the time for prayer started after the first hymn was given out there would be about 10 minutes
employed in various people saying pray for so-and-so pray for this pray for the next thing
and before ever the prayer meeting began about half a dozen or a dozen requests were specifically
laid before the brethren to pray about now that seems to me dear brethren an excellent thing
would it be an exaggeration to say that sometimes we come together
at a prayer meeting and you would scarcely think there was anything that required prayer
seems to be such hesitation in taking part in the prayer meeting and then very vague general requests
oh how much we need specific requests conditions that we know about that require prayer
and you say well I don't know very many special requests well that would indicate that you don't
know very much about your local situation the condition of your brothers and sisters in health
and in spiritual standing it's an indication that you don't ever read the publications that
circulate amongst us North Kusai News for instance with dozens of requests for prayer
circulars that make requests for prayer all kinds of specific requests that come before the brethren
and sometimes you would think there's nothing to pray about isn't it sad
and we wonder why we're not enlarged wonder why we're not growing wonder why there's not
sufficient spiritual growth individually and collectively when the very place
where we should be on our knees before God crying to him about specific matters
and there's very very little done in this realm
now I believe with all my heart that a prayer list would be an excellent thing in any prayer meeting
with brothers who know matters that require prayer I see no difficulty at all in that prayer list
being read out to the brethren and then the brethren pray about these specific things
that are brought before them I don't think that we come together in a miraculous way
and then God suddenly reveals to us that there's something to pray about God wants us to be
interested he wants us to be exercised wants us to know about the things that require prayer and pray
about them not only individually but in our prayer meetings there can be no question at all that
Daniel and his companions they prayed specifically this was a matter of the greatest
urgency we read in North Kasai of enemies against the truth who want to gain control
of our mission stations how many of us have prayed about that it's in the circular there's
in the North Kasai news and this is a dangerous situation for our mission and these enemies are
trying their utmost to gain control they've done so in Lusambo they could well do again
and so our prayers will greatly help our brothers and sisters who are striving in the Lord's name
in that part of the world in Colombia the Roman Catholic authorities are doing their utmost
to stifle the the message of the gospel in that area well our prayers will help the Lord's servants
to stand firm and there are many many other things that are crying out for prayer many projects such
as this built on prayer built on vision and oh what blessing we have had in it but it requires
prayer for its furtherance its maintenance that it might still be a place where blessing is secured
and the Lord's honor and glory maintained and so dear brethren I believe this matter of specific
prayer is one that is crying out to be attended to in our meetings and so if we went back from
this place with that alone in our minds then these meetings will be well worthwhile I saw
in America a prayer list arranged by a brother Eugene Vedder jr. tremendous prayer list it's
printed there's a prayer for every day of the year and that prayer list covers the whole world
he searched out matters amongst us that require prayer and there they are I've tried to obtain
a copy but I haven't won yet but I hope to get one and I think it's a tremendous guide
in this matter of prayer not vain repetition urgent prayers to God in relation to his interests
and if we don't know it's to our shame there are plenty of sources of information that we can
apply ourselves to to get those prayer requests into our own hearts into our own lips that we
might cry aloud to God well then James says if any man lack wisdom let him ask of God
what a wonderful thing that is to ask wisdom from God that's what Daniel did
Daniel and his companions they asked for wisdom there's a simple prayer that I pray often when
I lift my Bible I know that I'm unable to understand the Bible with my human mind
I need God's wisdom so if I lift my Bible to read it I just make a simple prayer Lord
help me to understand that doesn't take long but it's an expression of dependence
which helps I believe the Lord answers those simple prayers when we go along to what sometimes
called the business meeting I don't like that name but a meeting where the Lord's interests
are cared for oh how we need to pray for wisdom that we might attend to the Lord's business
in an upright just and honorable way that the spirit of the flesh the endeavors of the flesh
might be kept at bay and what is pleasing to God come into manifestation when we go to a Bible
reading good thing to pray for the spirit of wisdom and revelation that we might understand
the things that we are reading and make progress in our souls these are prayers prayers for wisdom
this was an urgent matter again we see this a specific matter and God answered it an answer
prayer praise God leads to praise my what a note of praise that was on the part of Daniel
what a tremendous praise it was oh how his heart went out to God in praise and worship
I think that that praise indicates the great supremacy of God you'll notice it begins with
blessed be the name of God forever and ever why that dream that vision that Daniel got
I believe that he also got a vision of that great image and got the interpretation of it
and Daniel saw in that the end of Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom
blessed be the name of God forever and ever Nebuchadnezzar departs God's name goes on and
on and on no stopping the interest and power of God Nebuchadnezzar couldn't remember his dream
his wise men couldn't remember the dream neither give the interpretation of it but wisdom and
might belong to God he is the one who reveals things again the supremacy of God
Daniel could see the times of the Gentiles coming to their end but he prays to God and praises God
the times and seasons belong to him he puts down and he lifts up in the ways of God
was necessary in the purpose of God everything was secure and his will would be established
the servants of Nebuchadnezzar are useless the servants of God they are revealed that the
dream is revealed to them and its interpretation the whole tenor of this note of praise is to
establish or rather should I say to voice the supremacy of God and the ineffectual power
of Nebuchadnezzar and his servants let me say in passing that when the Jew is faithful to his God
he's infinitely greater than the greatest of the Gentiles the first six chapters of the book of
Daniel demonstrate this in a very powerful way that the faithful Jew is always superior
to the best of the Gentiles
you
read it through for yourself and you'll see that what I'm saying is true and so Daniel he praises
God he receives an answer to his prayer and the prayer of his companions and he praises God it
would be a strange thing indeed if our prayers answered and we do not return worship and praise
to the God who gives answers to our prayers it would be indeed a strange thing but I believe
the pattern there is one that we can happily follow now we come to chapter six
we've considered the cruelty of this great monarch and his desire to deal with his own servants and
also with Daniel and his companions a picture we believe of the cruelty of the man of sin the end
the beast the first beast of revelation 13 marked by utmost cruelty and violence and Nebuchadnezzar
is a figure of this kind of thing when we come to chapter six it's the cunning intrigue perhaps
set forth in the false prophet the second beast of revelation 13 but we're not particularly
engaged with that at the moment we're concerned about how this man of God triumphed over that
opposition against him first of all there was no question at all that Daniel was an upright man
a very upright man indeed they knew perfectly well that there was no possibility of finding
any fraud in him any embezzlement any falling behind in his responsibilities towards the king
if any fault could be found it would be found in connection with his faith that's a very good thing
I remember when Gerald Ford was vice president and you remember he had to take over when
President Nixon had to resign and I understand that they went through his life very carefully
to see if there was anything in him that would prohibit him from being the president and it's
to his credit that they could not find anything politically or criminally against him
very unusual thing in American politics or for that matter in any glance politics
he must have been a very upright man indeed and this is the kind of thing they tried to do with
Daniel see if he's done anything wrong against his master any fraud any deceit any stealing
anything of that kind no nothing could be found against him he was an upright man I wonder
can that be said of us in our dealings and business in our responsibilities are we upright
are we honest well that's a very trying thing we live in days when that kind of thing is accepted
practice as long as you get away with it it's all right that's of no use whatsoever in the
Christian testimony and God answers prayers that are upright and true backed up by honest
lives let us quote again what James says the prayer of a righteous man availeth much righteous
before men righteous before God that's the kind of prayer that God answers and we might say well
why why have we declined why we look into our own hearts first I'm prepared to take my place like
Daniel and say I'll confess my sin I may have gone to the meetings may even been active in
Christian service but there may have been things in my life that not pleasing to God that adversely
affects the testimony it affects to our power and prayer not with Daniel he was an upright man
a good man and so when he heard that this edict had been signed that if any man asked any God or
any personal request apart from the king that person was to be cast amongst the lions and when
Daniel knew that it was signed notice that dear brethren he wasn't ignorant of what was going on
he knew perfectly well the attack against him and when he knew it it wasn't something he did in a
hurry or in urgency it was something that fell into the scope of his custom unhurriedly according
to his usual life went into his home closed his door opened his window looked towards Jerusalem
and prayed the prayer of Solomon when you go home when you find time read the prayer of Solomon
first kings chapter eight there's another version of it in chronicles second chronicles
and Solomon says to God if there should be a situation arising when thy people are taken
captive and they're in captivity and they look towards this house and they call upon thee in
repentance hear their prayer and maintain their right that's the kind of prayer that Daniel prayed
he prayed Solomon's prayer he took account intelligently of what God had provided and
he prayed accordingly and God maintained his right I like to see this man in his unhurried way
three times a day he prayed day after day week after week month after month perhaps this was
the reason for his stability this was the reason that he was an upright servant for his master
this was the source of his power three times a day he prayed I remember rightly in Psalm 55
the psalmist says evening and morning and at noon will I call unto thee there was another man
who prayed three times a day Daniel prayed three times a day it was his custom he kneeled
and he gave thanks while he made his supplications it's not a very nice thing to think that there
are people who are thirsting for your blood and by kneeling down you're disobeying the edict of the
king and that edict means your death well that didn't disturb Daniel why I believe that he was
like Peter you remember Peter in prison why the Lord had told him Peter you won't die until you're
old that's what the Lord told him at the end of the gospel by John and there was Peter in prison
lying sleeping and yet he was to be killed in the morning why was he sleeping restful in the promise
of God he wasn't yet an old man that is still to come and so my time hasn't arrived yet he said
when he wrote his letter many many years afterwards he said the time of my departure
has come the Lord had shown him it was his time to go but Daniel he knew that Solomon's prayer
would be answered maintain the right when they cry aloud unto thee to this house Daniel knew full
well that his God was able to help him and you know the story we don't need to repeat it you know
how eventually he was cast into the den where the lions were and he spent a more comfortable night
than the king did by faith stopped the mouth of lions it tells us in Hebrews 11 Daniel's faith
in his God God who was able to deliver him God who was able to sustain him in the most awful
surroundings that God delivered him God maintained his right upright before his king upright before
his God this man's prayers had power of ours George Muller was a man of prayer I believe a morally
upright man a spiritually upright man someone said Muller you must have a special kind of faith
no he says I just make mine work he had faith in God that was the source of his power
and I believe dear brethren that if our moral condition was right before God and before men
he would hear and answer our prayers especially those prayers in relation to his own interests
now lastly we come to chapter six chapter nine
this prayer of Daniel's has to be read in connection with the book of Jeremiah chapter 29
and God sent word to the captives in Babylon now marry make sure your sons and daughter marry
build houses plant gardens he says you're going to be here for 70 years
now don't listen to those people who say oh God will deliver you
he says I have no intention of delivering you you'll be here for 70 years
and also he said when the time is drawing near cry unto me in repentance and confession of sin
and he says I will answer you and I will deliver you and I will bring you back to your land and
bless you there isn't the slightest evidence that anyone else except Daniel was concerned about that
about that nowhere else in the bible do we find anyone who was concerned about the fulfillment
of God's promise so Daniel is really taking upon himself what should have been the remnant's prayer
those in Babylon they should have been exercised about this they should have been crying aloud to
God they should have been repenting about their sins and their failure and as far as we know
not one did it's also been suggested that this was about the time when Daniel was cast amongst
the lions by king Darius an old man pitiless man the monarch because he was bound up with the laws
that he had passed but Daniel's God delivered him as we have already said but what a prayer
I'm sure you would notice as we were reading together how Daniel cried aloud oh God
it wasn't a casual prayer it wasn't a well-thought-out prayer with platitudes
and nice smooth sayings it was a prayer of humiliation a prayer of repentance a prayer
of confession but it also took account of the promise of God it took account of the God of his
fathers that is the God of the covenant the God who has a purpose in relation to his people
as far as we know this is the only prayer that we find in the Bible that was interrupted from heaven
when Daniel was speaking the angel Gabriel was sent to him while he was still speaking
and told him his prayer was heard man greatly beloved and then we find in the latter part
of the chapter the tremendous vision 70 weeks vision and we haven't time to consider that
but it's all one great triumph that God's people Israel will eventually succeed their sins will be
put away they'll occupy the foremost place in the nation according to the purpose of God
all that is secure and while there was a partial fulfillment in the return of the
captives from Babylon the complete fulfillment waited until Christ dealt with it effectively
oh dear friends what we see here is a man with a breadth of vision with a depth of feeling
with a great concern for what belonged to God personally Jerusalem broken down destroyed
the walls flat the house in ruins oh the Jews yes privileged people was Daniel praying principally
about them no not principally about them thy city thy sanctuary and then thy people that was the
burden of his prayer God's interest first God's people next but the main thing is it's God's
interests God's city what did God say about it you remember in psalm 132 here will I rest this
is the place forever he said for I will rest this was the place that he selected for the building of
the temple and for the approach to himself God never alters the gifts and calling of God are
without dependence and so that Jerusalem its broken condition was still God's center
God's city and in that city there was the sanctuary the holiest of all the place where
the ark should have been the place where God would still meet with men and they with him
God's holy sanctuary and God's people his chosen people his elect that people that was so near to
him this was the burden of Daniel's prayer but what a tremendous acknowledgement of failure
we haven't obeyed thy law we followed our own way we've sinned we've done wickedness and Daniel says
I confessed my sin and the sin of my people Israel and you will notice he covers the whole scope of
the nation the prophets the priests the kings Judah all Israel no one is left out now that was
Daniel's prayer in relation to the nation of Israel what about our prayers our prime responsibility
is where we meet with other believers that's our prime responsibility that we pray for the
prosperity spiritually and otherwise of those who are gathered to the Lord's name in whatever
locality we are in that's our prime responsibility that we pray there and we work there for its
success not for our blessing entirely but for the glory of God and of Christ but it doesn't stop
there we think of the whole church of God and we should pray for its prosperity and we can pray for
the decadence of the Christian testimony today in many parts of the world where once it flourished
there must be some reason why it has gone down and perhaps the reason is that Daniel places the
reason not obeying the word of God sinning doing things that are wrong and so gradually the
testimony declines and eventually disappears but the road for success is repentance that's
what Daniel is that's how Daniel is acting here confessing repenting and crying upon God to hear
now these are not strange words in our ears in connection with the Christian testimony
when we come to the seven churches in chapters two and three of revelation this is exactly the
word that continually comes before us repentance repent remember from whence thou has fallen
again and again and again we find this word coming in in the Lord's addresses to the churches he in
his divine ability in his scrutinizing eye can put his finger right on the part that requires attention
we cannot do that we haven't the wisdom that he has but we can pray that the Lord will give us
wisdom and guidance and help to see what is necessary to adjust in our own lives individually
and collectively that what belongs to the Lord might be maintained for his glory
as I close it's very interesting to remember that two men who were greatly beloved were given an
insight into the truth of God we find Daniel is given the 70 weeks vision and that vision means
the complete restoration of Israel in the future and a place of glory kept for them maintained for
them for God's glory primarily and also for their blessing and you remember it was the man
the disciple whom Jesus loved who got the vision that we find in the book of revelation
succeeding visions visions of the decadence of the church and a little faithfulness in it
it's eventually destruction the professing body that's nauseous to the Lord pictured in the great
whore Babylon but also the triumph ah that's the great thing John looks on to the holy city the new
Jerusalem he looks forward to the bride adorned for her husband and the man who was greatly beloved
by the Lord was the man who received those visions perhaps if we were nearer to the Lord
then visions would be given to us I don't mean actual visions I mean the wisdom the knowledge
the understanding of what's necessary in our own lives and what is necessary in our collective
testimony oh may it encourage us to more earnest specific prayer I don't think we could possibly
read Daniel 9 and not be affected by it to hear this man pouring out his heart in relation to the
interests of God and to the interests of his nation Israel and he an old man there's no opting
out of this because of years he is a man of great energy and prayer reaching the end of his life
and heaven says he's a man greatly beloved what a thing to qualify for but you don't qualify it
because of the excellency of your prayers in human expressions you qualify for it by faithfulness to
the truth obedience to the truth as Daniel was taking the consequences they came because of
his faithfulness and doing what is pleasing to the Lord may we all be encouraged for his namesake
can we sing together 289 289
be still my soul the Lord is on thy side bear patiently the cross of grief or pain
leave to thy God to order and provide in every change he faithful will remain
to order and provide in every change he faithful will remain be still my soul
thy best thy heavenly friend through thorny ways leads to a joyful end 289 …
Automatisches Transkript:
…
The fourth address by Mr. Frank Wallace on prayer at Bassenfell Manor, October 1986.
You would notice that the two hymns that we've sung together were very, very personal.
We've sung them together in the singular, and the last hymn that we shall sing together is of the same character.
And I've chosen them deliberately because the prayer that we're going to read tonight is intensely personal too, the prayer of Jabez.
Very significant that this honorable man finds his place in Scripture, inspired by the Holy Spirit, we find his prayer.
Quite a remarkable thing that this man gets a place in Scripture and thousands, millions have read about him
because he prayed this distinctively personal prayer.
That's why I felt we should sing hymns that are very, very personal indeed, distinctively personal, so that we might all enter into this on a personal basis.
We turn please to 1 Chronicles chapter 4.
1 Chronicles chapter 4, and we'll read from verse 9.
1 Chronicles chapter 4, verse 9.
And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren.
And his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bear him with sorrow.
And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, O that thou wouldest bless me indeed,
and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil,
that it may not grieve me.
And God granted him that which he requested.
Again I say, dear friends, quite a remarkable thing that this honorable man should find a place in Scripture
and be an encouragement to those who pray.
Secondly, his prayer was of such a character that God granted his prayer.
God answered him and gave him what he desired.
That indicates that this is a prayer of outstanding quality.
Not many prayers are answered in this way in our experience.
We're very, very thankful for the answered prayers that we find in Scripture.
One of the outstanding prayers that was answered was the prayer of Solomon.
You remember God said to him, Now Solomon, ask me for what you would like, and I will give it to you.
And Solomon, he asked contrary to what we would ask, I'm sure.
Most of us, I think, would ask for that which is nearest to our hearts.
Of course, that might be a challenge to us.
But anyway, Solomon, he asked for that which particularly pleased God.
He asked for wisdom in relation to the people of God that he might rule them and guide them.
God was so pleased with his request that he gave him what he desired
and then gave him what he didn't ask for, fame and wealth and power.
I think it's a tremendous thing when we know that our prayers are in line with God's will.
An easy thing then for God to grant such requests.
So we'll examine this man's beginning and his prayer
and trust that it will bring something for our souls.
First of all, he came into this world and his mother experiencing a great deal of sorrow in relation to it,
a great deal of pain, concern.
I often think of what the Lord said in John 16
that a woman has travail until the baby is born
and then she has joy because a man-child has been born into this world.
And the Lord Jesus was giving a lesson in relation to that statement.
But I think it fits in here because the mother of Jabez,
she called him Jabez because of the sorrow that she had experienced in his birth.
But oh what joy when Jabez grew and became a man
and became an honorable man with moral qualities that were pleasurable to her
and I'm sure were pleasurable to God.
Now I find in scripture that when anyone is called honorable,
it is because they have some quality that's pleasing to God.
I want to prove this from scripture.
In the book of Genesis, we did a story where a man called Shechem
wanted to marry Jacob's daughter, Dinah.
And they placed stipulation in connection with this marriage
and he was prepared to go through with it.
It's a sad story at the end. We don't want to go into the details.
But he loved Dinah and he was ready to do what was placed upon him.
And then it says he was honorable.
Now it seems to me that because he had love and because he was obedient,
he was an honorable man.
Nothing dishonorable about him.
No ulterior motive.
Move on a little bit in scripture and we come to 1 Samuel
and we find that people are inquiring about the man of God, the prophet,
and they are told he's an honorable man.
His word comes to pass.
His word is reliable.
There I think we find the secret of Samuel being described as an honorable man.
What he said came to pass.
It wasn't imagination.
He was under the direction of God.
He was an honorable man.
And then you remember when Saul was very angry against David,
there was one who spoke up for David in Saul's presence
and said, why David?
He's an honorable man.
He's always thinking of your interests.
This is what the man said to Saul.
He was a faithful servant, an honorable man.
And when we come to the New Testament,
we are reminded that the women in the 17th chapter of the Acts
were honorable women.
They were amongst those in Berea who were more noble than those of Thessalonica
because they believed what Paul taught them.
They didn't reason in their minds against what Paul says.
They accepted it and searched the scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
And there are many other references.
But you will see that each person who is called honorable has qualities,
qualities that indicate why they are honorable.
And I believe Jabez had those qualities that were pleasing to God
and God could describe him through the Spirit as an honorable man,
an upright man.
Well, this is the kind of man who prays to God,
an upright man, an honest man, an obedient man.
I believe a man who loved God and who loved the things of God.
And so it says he prayed.
Jabez was more honorable than his brethren.
Then it says, Jabez called on the God of Israel.
I think this is extremely important, the statement that Jabez called on the God of Israel.
If we examine the Old Testament and find the way God dealt with his people Israel,
we'll find that he made promises to them, unconditional promises,
a covenant made with Abraham that was continued through Isaac and Jacob,
covenants that indicated God would bless his people.
But there were conditional covenants also, and this is where they failed.
But the God of Israel never changes.
His principles never alter.
And anyone who trusted in the God of Israel and was faithful to him was blessed by the God of Israel.
And if you read the Old Testament, you'll find this is borne out again and again.
Obedience to God brought blessing.
But this man is crying to a God, a God whom he knows,
a God with whom he is in relationship,
a God whose promises he believes,
a God who has promised the greatest possible blessing to those who obey him.
Now, I think this is extremely important.
Now, just for the moment, we transfer that from Jabez and the God of Israel
to ourselves as Christians and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We've said at the outset that prayer honors God.
And here is a man who is honoring God.
And if we pray to God because of the way we know him and understand him,
then obviously this is going to please our God.
We are not talking to him in a way that belittles him or in any way is derogatory to him.
We pray to him in the known sense of his greatness and his ability
in power and blessing to give us what we desire.
And I think this is extremely important.
And I cannot stress it enough for myself and for you
that we pray to a known God with inexhaustible resources,
a God who delights to be called upon, a God who delights to be trusted.
Jabez called on the God of Israel.
And I believe this name, the God of Israel, is the God of blessing.
Just as he blessed the first Israel, Jacob, having his name changed.
And we'll speak about that later.
And gave him this tremendous name, Prince with God.
This is the God who wants to bless his people, individuals, and the nation
in a way that pleases himself and brings blessing into the lives of all concerned.
Oh, dear brethren, let us lift up our voices freely, happily, intelligently
in the knowledge of our God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I don't need to tell a company like this how this God desires to bless us,
has blessed us, blessed us in a way far beyond our understanding,
blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ
and in blessing that never shall be taken from us.
And I believe there are conditional blessings.
There are blessings that are given to us sovereignly in Christ.
Blessings that are, oh, too vast to speak about,
too deep to be plumbed, too high to be scaled.
Tremendous blessings that we have in Christ.
But there are other blessings which I believe come to us on the basis of
concern, exercise, a hackneyed word, but an extremely important word.
It means concern, diligence, blessings that are acquired on that basis.
And I think that Jabez was a man of that character.
He desired to be blessed. He prayed to be blessed.
God knew the reality that was in his heart and God blessed him.
Well, we'll see what he asked.
Oh, that thou wouldest bless me indeed.
I think I mentioned this little word, oh, before.
But I want to stress it again.
When I come across this little word, it always appeals to me that there's a
depth of feeling connected with it.
It's not just a casual prayer or a casual request.
It seems to indicate a depth of feeling and desire.
We have it in connection with Paul when he wrote to his son Timothy.
Oh, Timothy.
One feels the depth of feeling as the apostle was writing to his young friend.
Oh, Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust.
Oh, man of God.
Again, we find the depth of feeling in the apostle.
When he wrote to the Galatians, bemoaning their slipping away from the great
things of Christianity and the danger of them slipping into Judaizing influences
that robbed them of their liberty and joy.
Oh, foolish Galatians.
What a tremendous feeling the apostle had in his heart as he saw those dear
saints slipping into things that would have been disastrous for them as
Christians.
Oh, Corinthians, he says.
Again and again, we find Paul using this expression.
I think we have it, too, in connection with the greatest of all, our Lord Jesus Christ.
He quotes this in relation to his God.
Remember, I'm quoting from Hebrews 10 where he says,
coming into the world, he says, I come to do thy will.
Oh, God.
So, dear friends, this is a tremendous expression, a small one, but indicative
that this is no written prayer just reeled off in a mechanical way,
perhaps very precise and exact in expression, but so cold and formal.
It's not that kind of prayer.
It's a prayer that comes spontaneously from the heart with all the feeling of
the man behind it in the conscious sense of the one to whom he was praying and
the conscious sense that this God was able to give him his request.
Oh, that thou wouldest bless me indeed.
There are two people I want to draw your attention to, to show this desire for
blessing, both in the Old Testament.
You remember in the book of Joshua and in the book of Judges, very significant.
The same story is told in precisely the same detail of a promise that
Caleb gave to any who would conquer a city.
If they conquered it, then he would give his daughter to be their wife.
Well, this was done.
And Aksah, after this great promise was given, she sprang down from her mule and
she asked her father, I want a blessing, she says.
I want a blessing.
Thou hast given me the southern land, she says.
I want the upper and nether springs.
And he gave them to her.
It was her request.
It was consequent upon victory.
Othniel, her husband, had won a great victory, and now she desired a blessing.
She asked, asked for this blessing, and she acquired it.
Well, it was something good she asked for.
Southern land, fair land, fertile land, good land and wells to give the water all
the irrigation that it required to produce the crops that were so necessary.
Oh, what a desire.
She wanted the territory.
She wanted the springs.
And surely that's a lesson for us too, not to be niggardly in our asking and to
be content with small things, but to be enlarged in our desires, to be concerned
about getting things that are worthwhile, things that are lasting and abiding and
eternal, things that form us in our appreciation of the persons of the Godhead
and the things that they are doing and things that involve us, asking blessing
in relation to these things.
Then there is the well-known story of Jacob.
What a man he was.
Call him supplanter, if you will.
Call him a twister, any name you like to mention.
What a man of God he was.
Morally, I don't think we could tie his shoelaces.
He was a great man.
God doesn't call himself by the name of someone who is unworthy, the mighty God
of Jacob.
How often he uses that name again and again and again.
And we find him wrestling.
I will not let thee go until thou dost bless me.
What a depth of concern and struggle and exercise Jacob had as he wrestled with
the angel, wrestled with God, the prophet tells us.
No, dear friends, he got what he desired.
All the rest of his life he limped.
The power of nature in Jacob was broken, and he went in the power of that
wondrous name that was conferred upon him, Prince with God.
How did he acquire that?
Not sovereignly, through struggle, through exercise, through concern,
through a deep, deep desire to be blessed.
And what blessing he acquired.
There's not much that is worthwhile that's got easily.
Not in the divine realm.
Things are not handed to us on a plate.
They have to be acquired through great diligence and through great exercise.
And I find that Jabez was such a man.
Oh, that thou wouldst bless me.
There cannot be any doubt as to the depth and reality of this man's desire
for blessing.
Have we this desire?
Are we content?
Content with what we have received and not much concern to make any more progress?
I don't think any Christian should ever be content with any progress they have
made, because if they did feel contented, it would be tantamount to saying,
I've reached finality.
And that's not true.
Not in any Christian's life.
There is always room for improvement.
There is always room for enlargement.
Always room for growth.
Always room for adjustment.
And that's why I believe continually we have to pray Jabez's prayer,
that we might be blessed, blessed in our prayers, blessed in our desires,
blessed in our exercises.
He goes on to say, and enlarge my coast.
Just one moment before we go on to that.
The authorized version says, oh, that thou wouldst bless me indeed.
I think another translation renders it, oh, that thou wouldst richly bless me.
Well, now, if we transfer that to the New Testament teaching,
the blessing that a Christian has received sovereignly, he is blessed richly.
Tremendously richly.
You remember in 2 Corinthians chapter 8, when Paul was encouraging the
Corinthians to open their purse strings and to help things that required to be
helped, he quoted something that helped them in that direction.
Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, for though he was rich,
for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be enriched.
That is, every Christian through faith in Christ is enriched in blessing
through the depths of poverty into which the Lord Jesus went when he died on the cross.
And because of that, we have been blessed in a way beyond our understanding,
not only for time, but for all eternity.
And then again, you remember in Paul's epistle to Titus, he speaks about the
Holy Spirit being poured out richly, richly on those who accepted the Lord
Jesus Christ as their Savior.
And so today, every believer who trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ, everyone who
accepts him as Savior and Lord, receives this tremendous gift, the gift of the
Holy Spirit.
What richness.
And in the indwelling spirit, there is, if you like, the key to open the door for
all the riches that are available in Christ Jesus.
He is the power that enables us to enjoy them, to understand them, to appropriate
them.
And so how richly blessed a Christian is.
I suppose if we take account of what we're enjoying today and what we've enjoyed this
week, the good weather, the companionship, the lovely countryside, the good food,
the friendship, many, many things that we could speak about since we've come
together to Bassanville.
And we would say, and rightly say, we are richly blessed.
We are.
I'm sure everyone here would say amen to that.
We are all richly blessed.
But then these things are passing.
In a few days, we return to our own homes.
I believe the rich blessings that we have in the Bible are blessings that are
eternal and abiding.
And they have to be acquired, have to be enjoyed in the power of the spirit and on
the basis of personal exercise.
Why is it that some brothers and sisters are so efficient in witnessing for the
Lord and others perhaps not?
And we're not saying for one moment that one who doesn't preach or expound the
word is not witnessing correctly.
There are hidden things that are done in an obtrusive way, but I think it is
evident from scripture that some help and some don't.
Why is it?
We believe because some are on their knees, concerned about what they can do,
praying for the Lord to help them and instruct them as to things that require
to be done.
And we believe this is the source of their power and their energy and their
activity.
And so this is the kind of prayer that Jabez prayed.
Oh, that thou wouldst bless me indeed or bless me richly with riches that are
abiding and eternal.
Again, if we looked over the New Testament, we would find the riches of God's
mercy, the riches of his grace, oh, the wonder of them, the riches of his glory
and so on.
What tremendous riches, what tremendous worth and value are in them.
Then we go on and it says, and enlarge my coast.
Now, for a Christian, it might seem a selfish thing to pray in this way, and I
think in some senses it would be just to pray for material enlargement.
But this wasn't so with a godly Israelite.
It was quite in keeping that he should pray for material enlargement.
Indeed, it was a mark of God's blessing upon the Jew if he was enlarged in
border, enlarged in cattle, enlarged in wealth.
You remember Abraham, he seemed to grow in this and the cattle he had in the
herds and flocks and in silver and gold.
And this was reckoned as a mark of God's favor upon him and was so.
And for the godly Israelite, this was always true that material blessings were
a mark of God's favor.
But now, there's another thought connected with this and I think it's
extremely important.
In one part of the Old Testament, you'll find that God speaks about enlarging the
borders of Israel.
And in the same breath, he's talking about them bringing their flocks and their
herds as a sacrifice and bringing to the firstfruits of their land.
And I think that while on the surface, it might appear a selfish prayer of Jabez,
in reality, what he's saying is, enlarge my border and there will be a greater
response to thyself.
More firstfruits to offer, more tithes to give, more sacrifices to offer.
And I think that's a tremendous thing.
While it might appear to be selfish, it isn't.
He's praying that God might bless him in order that there might be a return to God
in this material way as the worship was in those days.
Now then, as Christians, we can pray in exactly the same way for a greater
appreciation of Christ, for a greater understanding of the persons of the
Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, for greater enlargement as to
the understanding of the truths of God that we find in the New Testament,
particularly bearing upon us as Christians.
Enlargement in that, enlargement in our spiritual practice as Christians and in
our response to him, I believe, which flows out from the real understanding of
these things.
Enlarge my border, says Jabez.
Paul prays to the Colossians that they might grow by the true knowledge of God.
There is an enlarged border, if you like, for the Colossians that as they grew
spiritually by getting to know more and more and more about God, then there was an
added response to God in worship and in praise.
I don't think there's any need for me in a company like this to say that worship
doesn't consist in following a set of rules and regulations in what we say and
do and in hymns that we sing and things of that nature.
Worship is the spontaneous outflow of the heart intelligently to God in the
understanding of what we find in the New Testament.
This is the true worship of God.
Now we want enlarged in that.
And I think there would be a greater variety of response to God in the morning
meetings when we worship him and the Son if we had an enlarged appreciation of
them as we find in Scripture and an enlarged appreciation of the blessings
that are ours in Christ.
That would give us a variety of response that is pleasurable to the heart of God.
We don't want to fall into a ritual where we say the same things every Sunday or
every time we worship.
We don't want to be reiterating the same things again and again, a formal approach
of worship, not at all.
We want what is fresh, what is varied, what is vital, what is true in relation to
God and Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.
I think this is true enlargement.
Oh, that thou wouldst bless me indeed and enlarge my border.
An enlarged border means an increased appreciation of God and an increased
response to God in a way that gladdens his heart.
Now he goes on to say, and that thine hand might be with me.
In the book of Ezra, we find a few quotations that greatly help us in relation
to this expression that thine hand might be with me.
I think perhaps at least six occasions we find Ezra speaking about the good hand
of our God upon us.
And each time it is mentioned, there's a different bearing.
And very briefly, I think the hand of God upon Ezra and his companions meant
guidance, protection, strength, prosperity.
God's hand guiding his people, protecting them from the evil powers that were
against them, providing the strength that was necessary in order to make this
journey from Babylon to Jerusalem and then to be engaged in the work that was
necessary.
God's provision all along the way, his hand upon them.
Now we transfer that to New Testament teaching and we think of our Lord Jesus
Christ in glory, the risen glorious man at God's right hand.
And there we find the hand stretched out to help us in everything that we require.
Do we require guidance for the Christian pathway?
Christ will supply it for us.
Do we require protection from the powers of evil that are against us?
Christ will provide it.
Do we require strength to keep going when there is so much against us, in us
and around us?
Christ will supply that strength.
Just let me quote one expression by the Apostle Paul.
I can do all things through him who gives me strength or who gives me power.
What a sweeping statement to make.
But if anyone knew the truth of that, it was the Apostle Paul.
What a tremendous man he was.
What powers were against him?
Power of Judaism, power of Rome, power of paganism, many, many powers.
And what he had to contend with?
Because he was a man just like ourselves.
The flesh was with Paul just as it is with us.
Oh, what powers he had to fight against.
But he found adequate resources in the Lord Jesus Christ.
His hand was with him just as his hand will be with us.
Perhaps we don't pray enough to know that hand in living power every day of our lives.
I do believe that the sovereign power of Christ operates towards his people
and protects them in spite of their failure in approaching him.
There is a sovereign provision of power and blessing streaming from Christ
day by day on our behalf.
I often say this, and I think you will agree with me, those of you who are a bit older,
that when we were young, it was quite a common thing to see hanging upon the walls in the homes
a young child stretching out over a cliff to gather some flowers.
And behind the child was seen a picture of an angel,
and an angel stretching out a protecting hand to preserve the child from falling over the cliff.
Or a child gathering some flowers on a railway track and an approaching train,
and again the angel behind the child protecting it.
Now, it might have been imaginative as far as the artist was concerned,
but the truth of it was there.
Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who shall be the heirs of salvation?
Does that scripture not tell us that there is a tremendous resource of unseen power
operating on our behalf in protection day by day,
and operating through Christ in glory?
If there are unseen powers of evil, and there are, according to Ephesians 6,
tremendous powers of evil, and they are operating against the saints,
thank God there are unseen powers of good that are operating through Christ
for the protection and care of those who belong to him.
And that's not mystical or imaginative, it's based upon the revealed word of God.
What we believe is according to the word of God, not according to our speculation.
And extremely important, that in anything we say, we can turn to the Bible and prove it.
The Bible says it, we believe it, and also we get the advantage of it.
And so what a wonderful thing for the hand of strength operating towards us
day by day as Christians, and providing that help that is necessary.
And then the idea of provision, it's not only strength,
what comfort we need, what consolation we require,
what help we need in many, many ways.
And thank God it comes to us through our Lord Jesus Christ.
You remember when Paul was on the ship as he was traveling to Rome,
and what tremendous danger there was, the storm was howling, the waves were rising,
and there was all the great possibility that the ship would founder and be shipwrecked.
And Paul says, having received help from God,
having received help from God, I continue until this day.
Oh, it's a wonderful thing to receive help from God.
Some of us who are a little older, we look back over many years,
and we can remember many occasions when we might easily have slipped away,
when we might easily have succumbed to the temptations and wickedness of this world,
or the allurements of it.
Ah, but there was help there.
Help that was ever there, always there, and always operating on our behalf.
And like Paul, we can say we received help from God to continue unto this day.
I believe all this is involved in the prayer of Jabez.
Oh, that thy hand might be with me.
Oh, dear brethren, think of that.
The hand of God, the hand of God with us day by day,
and all the power that is expressed in such an expression.
Tremendous thing.
The hand of God that formed creation.
The hand of God that was stretched out to help those in need in the New Testament and the Old Testament,
so evident in his power and protection.
And Jabez says, I want that hand to be with me.
And surely we can all say that.
Remember what the Lord Jesus said in the prophetic words in relation to himself and his sufferings.
Thy hand was heavy upon me.
What a tremendously solemn statement.
The hand of God in wrath, in judgment, not because of his sin,
because of your sin and my sin, God's hand was heavy upon him.
Thank God that hand is not heavy upon us in judgment.
If it were, we would all be shriveled up.
But that hand is towards us in blessing, in power.
And may we pray this as Jabez prayed it, that his hand might be with us,
providing all that is necessary for us in our testimony as Christians.
Then he goes on to say, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil.
I want to give you the testimony of an old man, a good old man, man of God.
That man was Jacob.
You remember at the end of his life, the two sons of Joseph were brought to him and he blessed them.
Among other things, this is what he said, the angel who redeemed me from all evil.
The angel who gave me liberty from evil, protected me from evil, gave me power against evil.
This is what Jacob said.
The end of his life, after a life of many failures, and we don't want to talk about them.
We want to talk about him as a man of God, a man who communed with God,
who received revelations from God, a patriarch in the true sense of the word.
It's quite an astounding thing that we never read about Joseph praying.
We read about Abraham speaking with God.
We read about Isaac speaking with God.
We read about Jacob speaking with God.
You never read about Joseph speaking with God.
I haven't the slightest doubt that he did.
But in the inspired word, we find no record of it.
Jacob was a man who had many communications with God.
God loved him.
God protected him.
God had great designs for Jacob and for his posterity.
That's why all through his life, he was the object of God's care.
He was an important man.
That's why God protected him.
Can we say, and we shall say, without any presumption, without any arrogance,
that we too, as Christians, are important to God, every one of us?
Not one is away from his eye.
Not one is out with the reach of his care and his love and his protection.
God loves us, each one of us, individually.
He loves us, knows our names, knows our circumstances, knows our weaknesses,
knows, if you like, our strengths.
But he loves us.
Oh, his eye is upon us.
And just as he looked after Jacob step by step until he came to the end of his life,
so it is with us.
Oh, how God loves us.
Nothing, not things present nor things to come, things seen, things unseen.
Nothing, nothing, nothing shall separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And that's not an abstract statement.
It's an operative statement.
It's something that goes on day by day by day.
It's relative to us as Christians.
What a wonderful thing that is, that the love of God is operating day by day
in his care for us, his love for us, his protection for us, his provision for us.
So this, I believe, is involved when Jacob says that thou wouldst keep me from evil.
Jabez says that thou wouldst keep me from evil.
He was just praying that he wanted to be protected and blessed in the same way that Jacob was,
kept from all the evil influences that are around.
My, I don't need to tell the Christians here the amount of evil that's in this world.
The Lord Jesus, and his word cannot be denied, said, it's an evil world.
You remember how he prayed?
Prayed to his father that his own might be kept from the evil that is in the world.
That was his estimate of what was in the world.
John, the one who was so near to the Lord Jesus Christ, leaned upon his bosom,
knew the secrets of his heart.
He said, all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.
That is the world as an organized system away from God,
regulated, governed, controlled by the ruler of this world, Satan.
That world has nothing to give us but evil,
nothing to give us but opposition to the truth that we know and love in our Lord Jesus Christ.
And we need to be kept from it.
One of the precious words that we find in Peter's letter, Peter the Apostle,
when he wrote to some Christians, he says, kept, kept by the power of God.
And we need that power as we are brought face to face with the powers of evil that are in this world.
Don't let us be casual about the evil that's in the world.
It's low standards of morality.
It's low standards of righteousness.
The wicked evil things that are becoming commonplace in the world.
Don't let us as Christians be governed by the prevailing sentiments of the age.
Let us be governed by God's high standards,
which never bend or are lowered to suit our need or our weaknesses.
Let us be marked by a sense of what is truly evil in the sight of God.
Homosexuality is a disease.
Other things are mentioned as diseases.
Things that were formerly spoken of as evil and immoral are now given fancy names
and allowed to pass muster in the world.
The Christian must say, no, they're evil.
Homosexuality is an evil thing.
Many, many other things that are being accepted in the world are evil things,
grossly evil in the sight of God and should be in the sight of the Christian.
Jabez says, I don't want to be governed by these things.
These are evil things.
And there are many, many things that are evil that we want to avoid
and not be drawn in to this morass that's in the world today
that's been produced by men's imaginative thinking
that has been governed by the Word of God, the inspired Word of God
that calls evil, evil and good, good.
Unfortunately, the Bible tells us that in the last days
things that are evil will be called good
and things that are good will be called evil.
And we're rapidly approaching that day,
but a Christian must never condone these things.
And so, Jabez says, that thou wouldst keep me from evil.
He's taught to say that it may not grieve me.
I've often felt that this is one of the most important things that Jabez said in his prayer.
Because of the nature that we have, a sinful nature,
a nature that cannot do anything to please God,
a nature that is corrupt in every conceivable way,
it has the potential of committing the most wicked things.
When we hear about things being done, or read about them, or see them even,
we mustn't say, I couldn't do that.
We could, if we were in the area or in the circumstances
where we'd be tempted to do these things.
We have a nature that has the potential
for doing these wicked, wicked, evil, depraved things.
And so, here is a man who says, I don't want to be grieved by sin, by evil.
We find a psalmist saying that he was deeply grieved because he had sinned.
Psalm 51 is an expression of how he felt his guilt.
We're referring to the adultery of David with Bathsheba.
And he didn't gloss it over.
He called it sin.
I have sinned against thee and done this evil in thy sight.
No question of David glossing it over.
It grieved him.
It lay heavy upon him, it says.
Jabez says, I don't want to be grieved because of sin.
Oh, what an ugly, evil, wicked thing sin is.
It affects the conscience. It destroys communion.
It sadly affects strength and testimony for Christ and for God.
Sin is a destructive thing.
Jabez says, I don't want to be grieved by sin.
There's a story in the Bible in 1 Corinthians of a man who was guilty of incest.
This man was disciplined.
He was put out from the company of believers in Corinth,
and the apostle gave directions as to it.
But then it's obvious that in the intervening period,
this man's conscience had begun to work,
and he was terribly grieved, repentant because of the sin that he had committed.
And Paul wrote a second letter to the Corinthians,
and he says, I want you to show grace to this man,
lest he be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.
He was a man who was grieved because of sin allowed in his life.
Have you felt grieved because of sin?
I can say before you, dear brethren, I have.
Sin is a destructive thing,
and the only way we can get rid of it is to repent before God,
and not only repent, to make sure that we don't do the same thing again.
Sin is destructive in the Christian testimony
and cannot be allowed in a Christian's life.
If it is, it affects him in every conceivable way.
These are serious things, dear brethren.
We cannot gloss over them.
Jabez says, I don't want to be grieved with sin or by sin.
I don't want it to come into my life.
We read in the stories in the Bible what terrible havoc it caused
in the lives of godly men, in the lives of a nation,
in the lives of a Christian company.
And Paul says, the way to cure this matter is for repentance to be operative
and the grace and love of the Christian company to be shown to the person
that his grief might be removed and be happily restored to the communion of the Christians.
My dear friends, let us pray the prayer of Jabez,
that sin might not enter into our lives or into our homes.
Would I be right in saying that sometimes we are more concerned
about people learning about our sin
than repenting before God in relation to it?
I wouldn't like the brethren to know that I've said this or done this.
I wouldn't like the Christian company to know that I've been involved in this disreputable thing.
And perhaps not so much concerned to get down on our knees in true repentance before God
and get the matter out with him.
Grieved ourselves, but also deeply concerned as to how it affects God.
God hates sin, and he hates it with a perfect hatred.
Dear brethren as Christians, may we pray more and more the prayer of Jabez,
as he says here, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil,
that it may not grieve me, and God granted him that which he requested.
Oh, I like that, and I'm sure you like that too.
That here was a man who was honest.
He was a man who could face the stern realities of living in the sight of God
and was prepared to pray in this way in a straightforward manner,
and God granted him his request.
Oh, that when our prayer life, we might be able to say this too.
God has granted our requests.
Requests for enlargement.
Requests in many ways.
But principally in relation to the interests of God
and our maintenance as individual Christians in the pathway.
We're not talking now about Christian fellowship.
We're talking about that which makes up Christian fellowship.
Any Christian fellowship is only as strong as the individuals who form it.
If they are weak individuals, it's a weak fellowship in testimony and response.
If we're strong individuals, then there'll be a strong testimony and a strong response.
And may we learn to be individual in this respect.
Crying aloud to God in all the earnestness that we can command.
No ulterior motives or platitudes or anything of that kind.
The simplicity of a real request that God honors by his answer.
May it be so for his name's sake. …
Automatisches Transkript:
…
The fifth address on prayer given by Frank Wallis at Basselkrell Manor in October 1986.
First Thessalonians chapter 1 and we'll read from verse 1. Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus
unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God
always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of
faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God and our
Father. Now chapter 3 and verse 9. For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the
joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God, night and day, praying exceedingly that we
might see your face and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith. Now God himself and our
Father and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you and the Lord make you to increase and
abound in love one toward another and toward all men even as we do toward you. To the end he may
establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God even our Father at the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. And I missed one in chapter 2. Chapter 2 and verse 13.
For this cause also thank we God without ceasing because when you receive the word of God which he
heard of us you received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the work the word of God
which effectually worketh also in you that believe. For ye brethren became followers of the churches
of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus. For ye also have suffered like things of your own
countrymen even as they have of the Jews. Now lastly in chapter 5. Verse 17. Chapter 5 verse
17 pray without ceasing in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus
concerning you. Verse 23 and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly and I pray God your whole
spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful
is he that calleth you who also will do it. Brethren pray for us. We have said in these
meetings we've had together about prayer that prayer honors God and these quotations that we
have read from the first epistle to the Thessalonians confirm this because Paul speaks
about giving thanks to God that is all the things that he saw in the assembly at Thessalonica things
that were worthwhile things that were pleasing to God they all had come from God he was the one who
had arranged them planned them the one who had given them to the Thessalonians and for that
reason Paul says we ought to give thanks and this is the burden that's on my heart tonight that we
might understand this a little more and respond a little better in this matter of thanksgiving.
Tremendous thing don't let's think that thanksgiving is a simple thing maybe a simple
thing to do but it has profound connections we mentioned this already but it's worth mentioning
again that when the ten lepers were cleansed only one returned and the Lord Jesus commented
on this when he said only one has returned to give thanks but he didn't stop there he said
this one who has returned to give thanks has glorified God so he is a very profound thing
and what might seem to be a very simple matter that when we give thanks we glorify God if you
like we honor God we give him the praise the honor the glory that rightly belongs to him for
blessings received and enjoyed I think you will agree with me that that's something that's well
worthwhile in the affairs men natural affairs simple affairs if we receive a gift or a kindness
it's proper right to simply say thanks a bad thing if we're marked by this difficulty in saying
thanks this hardness of heart or unresponsiveness bad enough in relation to each other much worse
when it's in relation to God the gifts that we receive from each other they pass away the gifts
that we receive from God they're eternal oh how wonderful it is that people such as ourselves
poor souls saved by the grace of God and his wondrous mercy are able to give thanks to this
great and glorious God so briefly we'll run down these verses that Paul wrote to the Thessalonians
background first of all that Paul preaching and Thessalonica preaching the gospel that he knew
so well and all was presented the death and resurrection of Christ resulted in a company
of believers being formed together the assembly of Thessalonians in God the Father not long
converted not long brought to the Lord Jesus but the Apostle wrote to them because he was
deeply concerned about what they were passing through persecution arose soon afterwards after
they were converted and the Apostle was concerned that this persecution might not upset them and
turn them away from their faith so as a godly father a spiritual father a feeling father he
wrote to them to encourage them to stand fast and notice he doesn't tell them what a poor lot
they are that they should be stronger oh no he had a great deal to commend when he wrote to them
and again and again and again as we've read together we see him thanking God for the positive
features that existed in those believers at Thessalonica and we might say at the beginning
here is a good attitude of heart for those of us who are older to appreciate what God is doing
and those who are younger they have a great deal to learn as we have still a great deal to learn
but if we've been on the road a few years we've gained a little experience with the Lord and that
experience should be made available for those who are younger and the best way we can encourage them
is to take account of the positive features of grace in them and seek to promote more and
enlargement and I find this is a beautiful picture of the largeness of heart of the Apostle his
unenvious attitude towards those believers he's deeply concerned for their progress and their
blessing and he encourages them and he makes much of what had been formed in them good thing for us
so easy to be envious jealous unresponsive unappreciative but these are the features that
belong to the flesh the Apostle Paul had a heart like the Lord he made the most of things the best
of things and sought to encourage it and enlarge it so he begins verse 2 as we read together we
thanks to God always for you all now there's a tremendous amount in that expression we give
thanks well that's the first thing giving thanks I suppose the Apostle was deeply thankful to God
that his service in the gospel had met with success souls were converted they were brought
together gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus that indeed was something to give thanks for
and he gave God the glory in that he thanked God for what had happened he didn't count heads and
say well I'm the great successful preacher this is what has happened through my preaching we give
God the thanks and he says notice we give thanks to God always for those of you who like to study
in the Bible and search them out just see how often Paul uses this word always there's nothing
spasmodic about the Christian life of Paul he's not up one day and down the next he's in a pretty
level keel and we find he uses this word quite often always just let me quote to always bearing
about in the body the dying of Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in
our mortal bodies then in first Philippians chapter 1 as always he says that Christ may be
magnified in my body that is at every day of Paul's life there was something for the Lord
Jesus Christ now here he is saying we always remember you Thessalonians we never forget you
what a tremendous thing for anyone to say those who are engaged in some measure in the Lord's
service whatever form that services they are profoundly thankful when people say we always
remember you in our prayers at home that's a tremendous encouragement tremendous doesn't
matter what form the services but to know that people are praying for you is a tremendous
encouragement and I think this is what Paul is doing he's saying you Thessalonians we never
forget you we always remember you now that's a challenge to my heart I'm sure it is to yours
do we always remember our local brethren and heartfelt concern and prayer or other believers
always well that's a challenge as we said last night our prime responsibility is where the Lord
has placed us and that should be near to our heart and to pray continually for the spiritual blessing
of all concerned Paul says we never forget you what a tremendous thing we give thanks unto God
always he goes on to say making mention of you in our prayers now this is what he remembered
remembering remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope
in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God and our Father this came within the scope of Paul's
giving of thanks he took account of this young company and their zeal their desire to spread
abroad the word of the gospel their constancy of hope in relation to the coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the labor that they expended in for the Lord's glory and for his name and
this came within his prayer remembering before God these things that they were doing and no
doubt praying that they might be maintained in this I'm sure as we view young believers we notice
their zeal and energy and their desire to serve the Lord in some particular way well pray for
them earnestly pray for them easy to criticize them easy to find fault with things that they
do and say they're young they're immature they have a lot to learn but wherever there is zeal
and energy and faith and hope encourage it pray for it and ask that they might be consolidated
in the things that are worthwhile things that are true and precious I believe Paul would have
a long look and say well now the time will come when I'm gone and all the other apostles they
will have gone and others will have gone and these young believers they have to stand firm alone in
Thessalonica they need all the hope all the help and all the encouragement that they can receive
oh dear brethren don't let's be unstinted in our encouragement let us encourage wherever we can
everything that is done for the name of Christ in whatever form let's encourage it by prayer and by
practical encouragement just a little quiet word by the way I think this was the attitude of heart
that the Apostle had it was the attitude of heart that the Lord Jesus had a bruised reed he didn't
break smoking flax he didn't quench he was always ready to encourage whatever he found was pleasing
to his God I find this in the prayer of the beloved Apostle remembering without ceasing
praying always deeply concerned for the blessing of that company now we move over to chapter 2
now there's a reason for the Thanksgiving in verse 13 of chapter 2 for this cause also thank we God
without ceasing because when you receive the Word of God which he heard of us you received it not
as the word of men but as it is in truth the Word of God which he factually worketh also in you
that believe here was another reason for Paul to pray to God with the Thanksgiving those people
in Thessalonica had received the Word of God they received it as the Word of God they didn't receive
it as if it came from man they didn't receive it because the Apostle Paul said it they accepted it
as the Word of God and Paul thanked God for this it was another reason for him to bend his knees
before God and thank him that this Word of God had been received and not only had been received
but was working effectually in the lives of those dear Christians
here is something to be deeply thankful for we're reminded in the parable of the sower
that there are four conditions of hearing the Word of God can become effective in a good and
honest heart but there are three other conditions where the word has no effect or a temporary effect
or a passing effect but only one condition that has a lasting fruitful effect and I believe this
is what Paul was praying about that this was the fourth occasion that we find in the parable
good and honest hearts that the word was heard and the word was effectually working in them
I don't know how you feel but after you've been on the road a few years
and you think of the number of meetings that you have attended the number of addresses you've heard
the number of bible readings you've attended the number of times you've read your bible yourself
oh my what wonderful people we should be but are we it's one thing to hear the word
it's another thing to read the word has the word become effective in us that's the whole
point of all ministry and all bible readings and all reading of the word personally that the word
might not only be known but effective and as the as Paul looked at those Thessalonians he rejoiced
he gave thanks that that word was effective how effective had it become he goes on to say
for ye brethren became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus for
ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen even as they have of the Jews here
I think the thrust of what Paul is saying is connected with persecution trial opposition
that what they were suffering suffering in Thessalonica
had also been true of other assemblies I think there is wisdom in Paul presenting this
because they might have said we're believers in Jesus we've accepted him as Lord why should we be
suffering and Paul is saying dear brethren you're not the only ones who have suffered
other assemblies have suffered other companies of believers have suffered
these assemblies in Judea they suffered from the hands of the Jews you Thessalonians you're
suffering from your own people and you're really following in the same footsteps as other assemblies
and that was true but I would like to present it in another way in an application
that gathering to the name of the Lord Jesus they didn't adopt a local
particular kind of gathering different from the ones in Judea we are in Thessalonica we are not
Jews we are Gentiles we'll have our own way of gathering to the name of the Lord Jesus
we'll have a different kind of discipline or a different form of function no says Paul
you became imitators of the other assemblies and this I believe is a great guard against what
against what we often call independency that no company of believers can say well
this is our little corner we'll do as we like doesn't matter what other people do
that's not Christianity that's not the truth of the one body the truth of the body means that if
we gather to the name of the Lord Jesus we're governed by the same Lord we're governed by the
same head we're all bound together in one bundle of life and we seek to do the same things not
in a way like robots not that idea at all but governed by the same truth often be said variety
and unity wonderful thing here were those believers in Thessalonica they met simply to
the name of the Lord Jesus knowing no other power but the power of the spirit no other head but
Christ in glory and no other authority but the word of God whatever they had in their hands
and I believe this is involved in what Paul is saying you became imitators of the other assemblies
good thing that this was seen more and more in the Christian testimony today instead of the
multiple divisions that really is a disgrace to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ make no mistake
about that absolute disgrace that there should be so much weakness and division amongst the saints
of God one Lord gives one form of truth that truth is binding upon all Christians wherever
they are found and an answer to it would give a more united testimony and my what thanksgiving
there would be to God if that were accomplished but Paul thanked them that there was this evidence
in their lives that the word of God was not only heard not only read but it was effectively
operating in them that is simply they were obedient to what they heard now we move over to chapter 3
verse 9 for what thanks can we render to God again for you for all the joy wherewith we joy
for your sakes before our God now one feels the heart of the apostle expanding as he sees the
progress that this young company is making and the solid features of truth that were being expressed
in them and he was joying absolutely in rejoicing before God as he saw those features in the
Thessalonian company he rejoiced now that's something to thank God for if we see Christians
making progress successful in the gospel successful in truth being bound together in love all these
features and many others being seen in believers thank God thank God he's the author of these
things thank God that the spirit has produced this oh sectarianism is a terrible thing
where because it might be in a company of believers that we are not particularly walking with
then we might withhold our thanksgiving when we see positive features in them that are pleasing
to God what an awful spirit no wherever we see things that are pleasing to God and believers
we rejoice thank God praise God that the Lord's name is being honored that God is being worshiped
oh how thankful we are for any feature at all that is the proof of the Holy Spirit's service
in his people and that's what Paul did he he rejoiced for what he saw in their sakes now
listen night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face and might perfect that
which is lacking in your faith think of that night and day night and day night and day
these Thessalonians were in the mind of the apostle in his prayers i remember rightly
in acts 20 Paul speaks about for a space of three years he warned the Christians about
conditions that were rapidly approaching three years he says he warned them if you read the
epistles of Paul to the different churches you'll find this attitude of prayer and thanksgiving
is often mentioned by him just rapidly i looked down the concordance that i have and i counted
at least 20 there might be many more but it shows the depth of feeling and interest
that the apostle had in believers that he could take account of them in this way thanking God
rejoicing before God night and day remembering them what a tremendous man he was
worn out perhaps with his exertions worn out with his traveling and with the cares of all
the assemblies that were upon him daily here was one of the burdens that rested upon his heart
praying for the believers using his time to pray for the spiritual prosperity and protection
of those who knew the Lord Jesus Christ then he says and might perfect that which is lacking
in your faith the keen eye of the apostle would detect things that they required
he wasn't speaking in an arrogant way or a presumptuous way after all he was endowed by the
Lord as the apostle to the Gentiles to teach them and help them and lead them in the things of the
Lord so when his eye detected that there were things lacking his earnest desire was to go and
be with them and help them in that particular matter what a happy thing this is communication
maintained face to face help not a long distance effort the apostle says I want to be with you
I want to see you face to face I want to try and help you it's my desire indeed he might often say
it's my responsibility as the apostle to the Gentiles to help you here again the great feeling
of the heart of the apostle comes out thanks God for what he sees continues to ask God for help and
direction that he might be a help to those who need it have we this kind of feeling or do we
stand aloof oh what a terrible thing it is to stand aloof when help is required that's the
attitude of the priest and the Levite as we find in the story of the good Samaritan don't want to
get involved ah but we should be on our knees and look for wisdom and help and guidance so that we
might be a help to those who require it spiritually he goes on to say now God himself and this is in
the nature of a prayer now God himself and our father and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way
unto you here is Paul praying praying that God and the Lord Jesus Christ unitedly may direct
the paths of the apostle to Thessalonica here of course he's recognizing
God's sovereignty over him and the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ he doesn't presume to say
I'll come tomorrow or the next day I want to have direction to come at the right moment at the right
time with the right help a very very important thing for those who seek to help in the things
of the Lord and he says the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another
and toward all men even as we do toward you well isn't that beautiful
the apostle is saying brethren love one another
and don't stop there love those who are unconverted and take your cue from us
look what we have done for you you remember he said in an early chapter you know what manner
of men we were among you for your sakes how holily and justly and boldly and justly and
for you you remember he said in an early chapter you know what manner of men we were among you for
your sakes how holily and justly and blamelessly we lived for your sake that was the way we lived
and they were persecuted because they brought the gospel to the Thessalonians
Paul says look at the love we showed towards you we want you to show that love to each other
and we want that love to abound even to the unconverted very powerful thing love isn't it
tremendous thing love we know that in our own selves God has loved us Christ has loved us
and because of that we are kept in the pathway as Christians what a tremendous thing love is
amongst the saints we've heard of people who need great deal of help dear sister Grace Taylor
dear brother Basil Wolf our hearts go out to them immediately if one member suffers we all suffer
if one member rejoices we all rejoice this is the love that circulates in the body of Christ
the love that should be more and more abounding in the body of Christ
and this is in Paul's prayer I want this to happen want this to be among you
I've repeated this a few times I'm going to repeat it again and I believe it with all my heart
although some might disagree with me that in our meetings and generally speaking in companies of
believers the difficulty is not bad doctrine and the difficulty is not gross immorality
the greatest difficulty is getting on with each other and I think most company of Christians
and I think most company of Christians would confess that that is true
and where love is operating where there is love for each other then all the other functions in
the assembly are made much more easy oh dear brethren what a wonderful thing it is
love oiling the machine you like if you like oiling the cog wheels that they may that they
might run smoothly and effectively love towards each other and the apostle he uses that word
love to one another just as the Lord did a new commandment I give to you that you love
one another and that cuts out any partiality the tremendous thing then this is that Paul is
that Paul is desiring and then he says to the end he may establish your hearts unblameable
in holiness before God even our father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his
saints now this is not the coming for his saints it's the coming with his saints what we commonly
refer to as the appearing now the apostle is indicating hang on keep going on don't give up
be marked by this holiness let the work of God have its place in your lives hold on and be marked
by holiness because this is the kind of thing that receives a reward at the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ publicly all that's done for him in his name all the avoidance of evil and corruption
and wickedness all that's preserved that's precious and holy in connection with his name
will receive its adequate reward when he comes publicly and his saints will be with him oh dear
friends what a tremendous thing that is Paul is showing them there's a great end in view
that the suffering is a temporary thing however severe severe it might be it will pass but
there's a wonderful day coming when those who suffer with him now will reign and they'll come
out with him in public display and they'll have a part with him in that glorious kingdom
that he will set up for the glory of God and the blessing of all concerned now we move on to chapter
five
first of all we'll go down to verse 23 where Paul has another prayer where he says the very God of
peace sanctify you holy and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless
unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ here again the apostle is crying to God that the God
of peace the God of illimitable power might bless these Thessalonians in their whole being
it's often been said that man is a tripartite being body soul and spirit and Paul is saying I
want that I want you to be preserved blameless no evil thing connected with you in view of the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ here we believe he's referring to the rapture his coming for the
church to take the church out of this scene to be with him forever a private matter something
that the world will never see something is between the Lord and his own the appearing we believe is
a public matter every eye shall see him all nations of the earth shall wail because of him
though dear friends this is a coming that Paul desires that the saints should be in keeping with
that as they are found waiting watching there might be a moral conformity to that great and
wonderful expectation and he prays to the God of peace to set them apart wholly in view of that
great event we've been taught and rightly so that whenever you find the expression God of peace
it suggests a God of strength God of ability and power one verse can prove that you remember at
the end of the epistle to the Hebrews the God of peace who raised out from amongst the dead
our Lord Jesus Christ and that in the scriptures is the greatest expression of God's power
Ephesians 1 the surpassing greatness of his power to us what who believe when he raised Christ out
from amongst the dead wonderful thing you see God is able to do this and what the apostle is crying
for is that the saints might be amenable to that teaching and power that they might be subject to
it that they might be formed by in view of that tremendous moment that was about to come now
Paul has two exhortations three exhortations to the Thessalonians he's been telling them that he
prayed for them along with others there was fellowship in prayer in relation to the Thessalonians
now he says you pray without ceasing this is what we have done for you you do this he's not
particularly praying for himself in that first exhortation he's saying you as a Christian company
pray without ceasing I suppose we might be amazed if we knew the amount of prayer that arises from
any Christian company there is the prayer meeting which is the collective expression of prayer
would that it were better attended and supported and there is the household prayer and there is
individual prayer and if we're all collected together and presented to us we might be amazed
at the amount of prayer that goes up week by week to God but having said that as we take account of
ourselves personally we would be bound to say yes thank God for that but it could be increased
and this is what Paul is saying pray without ceasing then he says in everything give thanks
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you very often in Bible readings
when we're talking about the will of God there's very often the question how can we ascertain the
will of God for us well this is a very solemn question and a challenging question but it may
be the question of changing our locality changing our employment marriage and things of that nature
yes may be very difficult to ascertain the will of God and in other realms too but there are
scriptures which are extremely specific and this is one of them that we can say very definitely
that this is the will of God and Paul says in everything give thanks for this is the will of
God in Christ Jesus concerning you now it's easy to say that now these believers were suffering a
great deal of persecution very very difficult thing when you're passing through suffering of
an extreme kind to say thanks Lord and yet this is what Paul is saying so easy when things are
going our way and everything's fine ah yes give thanks he's good to us but then to thank him too
for his discipline and his ways with us he knows infinitely better than we do what is best for us
and the things that we might think are contrary might be the very things that are best for us
but in any way doesn't matter what it is any circumstance any trial any joy in everything
give thanks for this is the will of God he wants us to give thanks for all that we pass through
for all that we enjoy for the liberal kindness that he shows towards us and the provision he
makes for us day by day so brethren if at the end of a day we go to our beds and we never thank God
for things we've received we've failed in relation to the will of God that's what that verse tells us
in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you
then the apostle says brethren pray for us now this is the language of a man who's not
high and mighty and proud and self-sufficient here is a man who realizes the value of prayer
after all this was how he began his Christian life after he got converted he got down on his
knees and the disciple was sent to him or rather before the disciple was sent to him
the Lord said to Ananias behold he prayeth and at the very outset of his life he realized the value
of prayer now he's an active service for the Lord every day he's traveling he's preaching he's
praying he's helping he's exerting his teaching not a moment is wasted all his life is now for
the Lord for his master and he realizes what he requires he realizes his need he says brethren
pray for us now this is an appeal coming from the heart it's not an aside it's a very definite
exhortation from the heart of the apostle I value your prayers also I believe there's the
indication of fellowship Paul and his companions were praying for them he desired the Thessalonians
to pray for Paul and himself fellowship a reciprocal attitude in relation to prayer
not one way working both ways and oh how much the Thessalonians benefited from the prayers of Paul
and his companions how much the servants of the Lord have benefited from the prayers of the saints
valuable contribution to the service of God valuable contribution for those who serve the
Lord in any capacity whatsoever brethren pray for us so if Paul mentions the different prayers
and the different attitudes that he had towards the Thessalonians in his prayers as mentioned
in the Thessalonian epistle he's also large enough of heart to solicit their prayers for his service
and what he did for the Lord and so brethren as we close whatever else we forget if we can remember
that thanksgiving glorifies God if thanksgiving honors God that thanksgiving is binding upon us
as the will of God then our meeting tonight will not have been in vain thanksgiving for blessings
received temporal and spiritual the eternal every kind of blessing that we have received merits
thanksgiving to God let us see to it humbly that we are what shall I say abundant in our
thanksgiving oh give thanks unto God for he is good says the psalmist and as you look down the
psalmist prayers and and songs this word comes through again and again and again and again
thanksgiving I know that we sometimes put things in watertight compartments and we say well
we give thanks for what we receive we praise God for what he's given us for what he's done for us
and we worship him for who he is well that's very nice we don't complain about that at all
but when we turn to the bible it says and they bowed their heads and they worshiped and they said
oh God we thank thee well now if I understand that statement correct thanksgiving is a form
of worship it glorifies God it honors God oh then may we all be encouraged to give him thanks
more and more
now can we say number 60
our thanks to God most high the father of our lord the savior God is he and be his name adored
oh God thy mercy shall endure thy word abide forever sure give thanks aloud to God to God
your praises bring to God upon his throne his works and glory sing his power and grace are
still the same let endless praise exalt his name number 60 …
Automatisches Transkript:
…
Der sechste Vortrag von Frank Wallace am Freitag, 17. Oktober, 1986.
We turn please to the first book of Chronicles, chapter 29.
The first book of Chronicles, chapter 29.
And we'll read from verse 10. First Chronicles, chapter 29, and verse 10.
Wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the congregation, and David said,
Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel, our Father, for ever and ever.
Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty.
For all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine.
Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.
Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou reignest over all.
And in thine hand is power and might, and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.
Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.
Now turn please to the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, chapter 1.
We'll read from verse 24. Romans, chapter 1, and verse 24.
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts,
to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth of God into a lie,
and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
The Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
Now chapter 11.
We'll read from verse 32. Romans 11, verse 32.
For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out!
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor?
Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
For of him, and through him, and to him are all things.
To whom be glory for ever. Amen.
Now lastly, in chapter 16.
In verse 25.
Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel,
and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery,
which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest,
and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God,
made known to all nations for the obedience of faith,
to God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever.
Amen.
During these evenings when we've been speaking about prayer,
we have seen it in various aspects.
Beseeching and supplicating, prayers of an individual, prayers of companies, supplications.
Many features of prayer have come before us.
I thought tonight it might be a good thing to finish on the note of worship.
You might say, well that's not exactly prayer.
But I believe it comes within the concept of prayer.
Prayer is a word that has a very abrasive meaning.
And if we think of prayer or worship, an approach to God through a mediator, that is Christ,
then they fall in some senses into the same category.
But there isn't any doubt at all that worship is the highest expression of our approach to God.
And what a marvelous thing it is.
And what a marvelous thing it is.
That such as we are, poor mortals, failing in many ways,
and yet we are privileged, like Paul, to bow our knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Worship, what an exalted thing it is.
I believe the scriptures indicate to us that from the very beginning of time,
man was taught how to worship God, how to honor him, how to exalt him.
You remember Abel's sacrifice was accepted by God.
We have the record in Hebrews 11.
That sacrifice pleased God.
It was an attitude of heart on the part of Abel that pleased God tremendously.
And so at the very outset of time in the history of man,
we find worship appreciated by God and accepted by him.
I've read that portion in 1 Chronicles 29.
Seems to me that it's one of the most exalted passages in the Old Testament.
This by a man who's coming to the end of his life.
A man who had known ups and downs, unlawful desire,
subjected to the wiles of Satan and failing under them,
behaving like an imbecile, the conqueror of Goliath, like a craven coward.
Some other features in this great man of God
that certainly were not pleasing to the God who had made him a man of God.
And yet at the end of his life, such is the power of recovery and restoration.
Here is a man filled with the knowledge of his God
and using the most exalted expressions,
indicating how the supremacy of God gripped his heart
and at this juncture he was able to speak in this way.
What a tremendous man he was.
What a depth of knowledge he had of his God.
Acquired through much experience.
Acquired, no doubt, in isolation and in difficulty.
Very interesting to get the Psalms of David
and read the headings equally inspired with the rest of the Psalm
and see the conditions under which that man of God composed his Psalms.
And many of them breathing confidence in God
and appreciation of his greatness.
And so at the end of his life,
we find this tremendous outpouring of his heart to God.
We know if we read the whole portion
that it's connected with material sacrifices being offered up
and other material features that are quite in keeping
with the dispensation in which David lived.
And that has to be noted,
that the worship of the Old Testament
is certainly not the same as the worship of the New.
The same God, the same God who is approached,
but a God who fully has revealed himself in the New Testament
and partially revealed in the Old Testament.
There is a statement in the Psalms that says,
as thy name is, so shall thy praise be.
And so we believe that when God reveals himself as Father,
he has the fullest, deepest and grandest response
that could ever come from the heart of the creature.
But having said that, I think we would acknowledge
that the worship of David,
this appreciation that he poured out to his God,
is a remarkable one.
And if it were analyzed,
what a tremendous depth we would find in it,
all these different things.
Let me read it again.
Thine, O Lord, is the greatness
and the power
and the glory
and the victory
and the majesty,
for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine.
Thine is the kingdom, O Lord,
and thou art exalted as head above all.
There was no question at all in David's mind
as to the great supremacy of his God.
No matter what great powers existed,
God was above them all.
He was head in David's mind.
Now, it seems to me
that this does provide guidelines for us today
because we can carry with us
all these great thoughts expressed in the Old Testament
and refer to God in exactly the same way,
but with a fuller knowledge
of how these great features
are working today in the New Testament era.
And now, not addressing God as Jehovah,
great and wonderful as that name is,
but addressing him as Father.
And so I thought we could look in
to the Epistle to the Romans
and see another man of God
and how his heart was full
and how he appreciated every opportunity
to ascribe greatness to God.
Now, the knowledge of these things,
the understanding of them,
provides substance in our souls
for individual worship,
for home worship,
and when we gather to the Lord's name.
It's the knowledge of these things,
the understanding of them,
that, shall I say, expands our knowledge of God
and helps us in our response to him.
I think you will agree
that there is a danger,
a grave danger,
of us becoming stereotype,
formalized in our thoughts,
and we reiterate the same things
again and again.
Now, there's nothing wrong
with the things that we reiterate,
but God desires freshness.
God desires appreciation of himself,
and he's so great,
so infinitely great,
and there is so much in the Bible
that we can draw upon
to help us in our expressions
as we approach him in worship
and in praise.
And I think we'll see this,
the variety of ways
in which Paul understood his God
and worshipped him.
So we turn to the epistle to the Romans,
and we read in chapter 1,
very, very sad declension indeed.
Paul dealing with the departure of man
from himself,
and all the evil things that came in,
God giving man up
to his evil, wicked ways
because there never was any repentance
in his heart.
God never gives anyone up who repents.
He appreciates repentance.
But when there is obdurate self-will,
refusal to bow and repent,
then the government of God operates,
and God gave them up.
Three times we read that they changed things,
and three times we read that God gave them up.
If that condition had continued,
not one of us would have been here tonight
thanking God for the opportunity
to worship him and praise him.
But God didn't give us up completely.
When we come to the third chapter,
we find his great remedy
for our awful condition,
and he changes us.
Man changed all the great things of God,
and God gave them up.
Now God says,
I'll change them,
and he does it through Christ.
Tremendous work on the cross.
And so in Romans chapter 3,
we find the truth of the mercy seat,
great meeting place between God and men,
the redemption that's in Christ Jesus,
and man is changed not only for time,
but praise God for all eternity.
Changed never to fall and fail
and reject God anymore,
but to be blessed in such a way
and justification as to respond to God
in a way that pleases him.
But what I want to point out is
that in the middle of writing
about the failure of man,
Paul breaks out into a doxology
in relation to God.
You'll notice that in verse 25
when he says they changed the truth of God
into a lie and worshipped
and served the creature
more than the creator
who is blessed forever.
Amen.
I think this indicates
the tremendous spiritual worth
of this man of God.
Writing about the most depraved things,
the most abominable things,
the most awful departure from God,
and yet whenever he mentions the creator,
his heart responds in worship
who is blessed forever.
Amen.
What a man.
What an appreciation of God.
What a joy was in his heart.
Although writing about filth and departure,
he's unstained by it,
his spirit's unaffected by it,
he can raise his heart in worship to God,
the creator.
I wonder how often
we use this great name of God
in our worship.
We might think,
well, that's an inferior kind of worship.
Is it?
I think when we come to the New Testament,
we'll find it has a most important place
in worship.
In Revelation 4,
you remember it says specifically
when they worshipped God,
for thy pleasure they were created.
That is the world, the universe.
All created by God for his pleasure.
Well, surely it's a right thing to refer to him
as the one who has created these things,
that these things have given him pleasure
because they are necessary
for the working out of his eternal purpose.
So the worlds were created for his pleasure.
My, when we see man in his folly today,
you would think that the world exists for their pleasure,
that they use all the material resources
that exist in the world
for the gratification of their own hearts and minds.
Instead, the word of God tells us
that the worlds were created for his own pleasure.
Now, when we come to Ephesians 3,
it says precisely that he created things
for the working out of his purpose.
If you read the portion,
you'll find that what I'm saying is true.
I often think of Shakespeare's words,
how near he was to the truth
when he says all the world is a stage
and all the men and women merely players.
Now, I'm perfectly sure he didn't understand anything
about the truth of God,
but that's exactly what Ephesians tells us,
that the world was created
in order that it might be a platform
for the unfolding of his varied wisdom
and that expressed in the church
and heavenly intelligences looking on
at this tremendous expression of God's wisdom.
Now, there is a very definite expression
of God's creatorial greatness.
There is the expression of his mind and will,
why he created the worlds.
I don't know anything about the theory of evolution.
I don't know anything about these things,
but I'm perfectly sure of this.
If I'm wrong, correct me,
that they never attempt to give a reason
for why the world exists in its present form.
And that's what the word of God gives us,
gives us a reason why the world exists,
why it was formed,
the greatness of the one who formed it.
And Paul, the man of God,
tells us that this great creator God
created the world in which we live
for the unfolding of his eternal purpose and wisdom.
Surely that substance in our souls
to create a greater appreciation of God,
how great he is.
When we think of all the power and skill
and wisdom and measurement involved
in the creation of the universe,
why only he could do that.
Only God could bring it to pass.
We know that Christ was the agent,
I say that reverently,
to bring all this to pass,
by whom also he made the worlds.
God made the worlds.
Christ was the one who was the agent in doing it.
No, dear friends, I feel that this is substance in our souls,
in our appreciation of our great God.
A simple thing, like giving thanks for our food.
If you read 1 Timothy chapter 4
in Mr. Darby's footnote,
you'll see what a tremendous matter it is
in giving thanks for our food.
It's not a hurried technical expression
that the sooner we get it over with the better
and let's get on with the task of eating our food.
That would be a poor thing indeed.
Giving of thanks, according to Paul,
is a matter of freely addressing God
and all the reverence that is necessary
in worshipping, in praying and supplicating
is just as important in giving thanks for the food.
It was a creator God that supplied it.
You might see fancy tins and fancy wrappers
and saying it was processed here or there,
basically it all came from the earth.
Basically, God created all that we eat
and that's a very, very good reason for giving him thanks.
What a poor state we would be in
if he withheld his creatorial hand
in relation to what is supplied to us in the way of food.
There will come a day
when starvation will sweep across Europe.
Terrible thing to consider
in the judgments that will sweep across the scene
after the church is gone.
But we're not thinking of that.
We're thinking of the creator
who opens his hand to every living thing.
It's his prerogative.
It's one of his glories.
No one else can do that.
The sun, the moon, all the seasons,
all that's provided in rain and whatever is necessary
for the feeding of mankind
comes from the creator hand of God.
Ought we not to worship him for that?
Ought not this to be in our minds,
in our deep appreciation
of one who is so infinitely great?
And when we speak about the creator God,
we go right back to the beginning
when God created man and the woman.
The Lord Jesus tells us in Matthew 18
that that's the basis for marriage.
God began marriage, one man, one woman.
And that's God's order.
The Lord Jesus says what God has joined together,
let not man put asunder.
It wasn't something that man imagined
or man drew up.
It was God who made man,
God who made woman.
From the beginning, the Lord Jesus said,
this is one of the creatorial acts of God
and how thankful we are
for this tremendous blessing
that has come from his hand.
How wise he was to provide a man and a woman
to be with each other.
And what blessing and joy there is
even in the creatorial realm
when it's worked out in the fear of God.
How infinitely greater
when husband and wife belong to the Lord
and give to the Lord
the greatness that belongs to him
and the appreciation.
So these are just a few thoughts
connected with the creator God.
Just close with one
that we've spoken about already
and it's worth repeating
that in Acts chapter 4
when the saints in that day
were faced with tremendous opposition,
it was the creator God
that they appealed to
to give them strength,
to give them boldness
to continue their testimony.
Why?
I believe because that act
is the act of power,
tremendous power
and that power operative
on behalf of the saints.
Indeed, if you look through the Old Testament
you'll find again and again
God is invoked in this way
as the one who created the heavens and the earth,
the one who can come to the help of his people
when they're beleaguered and in trouble.
So Paul,
he blessed the creator God.
That's why I chose that hymn
that we sang a few moments ago
and that hymn expresses
the God, the sovereign God,
the creator God
who works things according to his own will.
Now we move over to chapter 11.
I suppose when you're reading
the Epistle to the Romans
and you come to chapters 9, 10 and 11
there's a tendency to say
well, let's pass over that
as quick as possible.
Something like reading the book of Revelation
from chapter 6 up to chapter 18.
The sooner you get through those chapters the better.
Well, there's a great deal to be learned
about the greatness of God
in chapters 9, 10 and 11 of Romans.
Indeed, it's the consideration
of all that transpired in God's dealings
with Israel and with the Gentile nations
that creates this tremendous outburst
of praise and worship
on the part of the apostle.
It was a natural thing
for Christians,
Jews who had become Christians
or even Gentiles who were Christians
to ask Paul,
all right Paul,
you're telling us that something new
and wonderful has happened in God's dealings?
He's no longer dealing with men
on the basis of the law
demanding something of them.
He's dealing with them in grace.
Unmerited grace.
But Paul,
what about all those promises
that were made in the Old Testament?
What about the covenant
that was made with Abraham
and was made with David?
Are these finished?
Is the Jew finished forever as a nation?
And Paul in chapters 9, 10 and 11
shows that that is not so.
That the Jew will have his place in the future.
That the covenants will be fulfilled
to the letter in the future.
But God in his dealings with the nation
set them aside
in order that the Gentile might be blessed.
And when the Gentile proves unfruitful,
he will be set aside
and the Jewish nation
will be brought back again.
And so when Paul considers
the complexity of this
and the righteousness of God
in his dealings with both Jew and Gentile,
he bursts out
into this tremendous
ascription of praise to God
and how wonderful it is.
Oh, the depth of the riches,
both of the wisdom
and knowledge of God.
How unsearchable are his judgments
and his ways past finding out.
Paul as one brought up
at the feet of Gamaliel
and intimately connected
with all the traditions
and knowledge of the Jews
was in a position to understand
how in the past
God had dealt with his favored nation.
He also had eyes to see
how now the Gentiles
were being brought in
and blessed by God.
When formerly
the Gentiles were told to be,
they're told to keep away,
dogs of the Gentiles.
They had no part with Israel.
Israel was the head.
Israel was a favored nation.
And now Paul could see
that they were being blessed by God.
Their lives changed.
An appreciation of God.
He could see this.
And he could see the wonder
of God's dealings with them.
But Paul, inspired by the Spirit,
could look on to a day
when all this would come to an end
as far as the Gentiles' opportunity
was concerned.
And we must keep in our minds
that Paul is not dealing with salvation
in this chapter.
He's dealing with testimony
maintained in the earth.
People might get the idea,
oh, I'll be cut out.
I'll be judged.
I won't enjoy salvation.
It will be taken away from me.
No, the chapters don't say that at all.
The chapters are indicating
the distinction between the blessing
to the Jews, the blessing to the Gentiles,
their failure or their faithfulness,
whatever may be concerned.
Their failure or their faithfulness,
whatever may be concerned.
And what Paul is stressing
at the end of this chapter 11
is the greatness and wisdom
of God in His ways
with both Jew and Gentile.
The part that I like is at the end
where it says,
Of Him,
through Him,
and to Him or for Him
are all things
to whom be glory
forever.
Amen.
If I understand it right,
when Paul says,
Of Him,
it means that He is the originator
of every movement
towards Jew and Gentile.
He sets things in motion
for their blessing
or for their government.
Everything is of God.
God is never in a crisis.
God is never pushed into doing things.
He takes His own time.
He has His own plan.
He has His own will.
He has His own way.
Of Him are all things.
And then it says,
Through Him are all things.
His is the agency
whereby things are brought to pass.
He can create the circumstances
that cause men to go
in a certain direction
in His government
and will with them.
He is behind it.
Let me quote one passage
to prove what I'm saying.
You remember,
in the kingdom,
there was a division.
Sad division
after Solomon died.
And there were efforts made
to heal the division.
And the prophet was told,
This thing is from me.
God was the originator of it.
God was the agent of it.
He brought the circumstances to pass
that created the division.
He willed it,
and it came to pass.
Oh, thank God.
He also brought about
partial restoration of that division
in the days of one of the kings
when the couriers went out
and invited them all
to come to Jerusalem
for the Passover.
There was God originating,
blessing, and restoration.
Thank God that He moves the scenes.
I just forget the exact quotation.
He's behind the scenes
and moves all the scenes
that He is behind.
I think that's Mr. Darby's statement.
And it's a wonderful God we have
in wisdom and skill,
dealing with the complexity of matters
that would cause us all
to throw up our hands in despair.
He sees everything
in His great will,
in His wisdom,
and in His discernment.
And then it says,
for Him,
while He is working and operating
for the blessing of men,
thank God He is.
Oh, how wonderful
that through all this
there is a return to Himself.
And that's what there always should be,
that as we see the working of God
in our lives individually,
in companies,
then the return is for God.
And then it says,
to whom be glory forever.
That is the object of our worship,
our praise.
Whatever way that worship takes,
in whatever form it takes,
it is God who is the object of it.
Oh, how seldom we reach this,
beloved brethren.
How often in our approach to God
we're thinking about
the wonderful blessings that we have
and make no mistake about it,
it's wonderful to consider those blessings.
The more we know them,
the more we enjoy them,
the more substance will be created
in our hearts in appreciation of God.
But the blessings themselves
should not be our end in view.
It's the blesser that's in view.
As we sung at the outset,
Father, spring and source of blessing.
He is the one who planned the blessings
and made them available for each of us.
So that when we do get on our knees
and we do thank God
for the greatness of the blessings we have,
not only material,
they'll soon pass away,
but infinitely greater blessings,
the blessings that we have in Christ Jesus,
make sure each of us
that we praise and worship the God
who created the blessings
and made them available for us in Christ.
And it's a happy service.
It's a happy service to worship God
and thank him as the blesser.
He is the object,
the great object of our praise and worship.
Now in this last portion
in the Epistle to the Romans,
we have another ascription of worship
on the part of Paul
to the only wise God.
That's in verse 27.
Now he's talking about my gospel.
My gospel.
Does that mean that Paul had a particular gospel
that was different from Peter's
or John's or James'
or Philip the Evangelist?
And basically, no.
That the substance of the gospel was Christ.
But a special aspect of that gospel
belonged to Paul.
That didn't belong to Peter
or John or James
or any other preacher.
That to Paul uniquely
was given the understanding,
the revelation of this great truth
never known before,
not revealed in the Old Testament,
neither in type or in shadow
nor by suggestion in any way whatsoever,
that there is a living man
in the glory of God
and every believer on earth
is united to him.
The truth of the one body,
that every believer
is a member of the one body
and is united to Christ in glory.
Now search where you will
in the Old Testament
and you'll find no allusion to it,
no type or shadow of it.
It was something that was hidden God
and was revealed to his servant Paul.
This is what Paul describes
as my gospel.
And what a tremendous truth it is.
This, bound up in the heart of God
from all eternity,
made known when Christ came here
and died and rose again
and ascended to God's right hand.
Or should I say,
these were the means that God employed
to bring to light this tremendous truth.
And what a truth it is.
And Paul says
that this was according
to the revelation of the mystery
which was kept secret since the world began
but now is made manifest
and by the scriptures of the prophets
according to the commandment
of the everlasting God.
Here Paul links other prophets
with himself
in the understanding of this tremendous truth
but I think you will agree with me
that it is in the writings of Paul,
however much it was made known to others,
it is in the writings of Paul
that we find the great revelation
of these truths
that were never known before
in the Old Testament.
A particular revelation,
a particular truth,
my gospel.
And at the center of it, of course,
is Christ and it says
to the only wise God
be glory.
This wonderful truth,
this tremendous truth
brought forth from the heart
of the apostle this note of worship
to his God.
Marvelous thing.
You see, the knowledge of this,
the enjoyment of it,
produced in the heart of the apostle
a note of worship.
Well,
you haven't been going to our meetings
for a number of years
without knowing something
about the truth of the body.
It's something that has been ministered
again and again and again.
And if you haven't heard
that there's a living man in the glory,
well, there's something wrong with your ears
because that has been ministered
again and again and again
by able teachers of the world
in past years.
But what we want to ask ourselves is,
is it enjoyed by us?
Is it appreciated by us?
And does it govern our thinking?
Does it govern our activities,
both individual and collective?
Because truth,
if it is worthwhile,
must have an appeal
to our hearts and consciences
and correct us and adjust us
in any way that is pleasing
to God.
It was with Paul.
Oh, how this truth
operated in his heart.
He loved all the saints,
all the saints. Why?
Because they were all members
of the body of Christ.
I don't know
what you do because you haven't told me,
but I will say
humbly that when
Minnie and I kneel together
in prayer, this is one of the
things that we do in relation
to all believers
in our little town of Port Seton.
We cannot pray for them all
individually by name,
neither do we know
all their circumstances,
but we do respect them
tremendously that they are
members of the body of Christ.
And this is something that God
has done. God has formed
this bond, and that bond
will last for all eternity,
unbroken by unfaithfulness
or division
or sectarianism or anything else.
This is something
that we have a tremendous basis,
a tremendous affinity
in our approach
and consideration of believers,
members
of the body of Christ,
involved in this
tremendous truth that created
worship in the heart of Paul.
And notice,
he says, it's the everlasting
God.
Satan
does his best
to instill doubts into our minds,
and I don't
think there is any believer
that is immune from this.
Continually,
the enemy would seek to put doubts
into one's mind.
The Bible
and the power of the Holy
Spirit are the means
given to us
to put away all doubts
and get our minds and hearts
firmly based in the
everlasting God.
What a tremendous God He is.
And this God purposed
in eternity, before our worlds
were created, that the truths
that we are enjoying should
be a concrete reality.
Dear brethren, may we
enjoy them more and more.
The Creator God,
the God of infinite wisdom
in His ways and His dealings with men,
the God of purpose,
the God of eternity
is our God.
We couldn't possibly close
a meeting like this without
reference to John 4.
And what a passage that was
when the Lord Jesus
spoke to the woman at the well,
revealed to her her condition,
and then set her on her way
rejoicing, and spoke to her
the most wonderful
things, that the
Father sought worshippers,
and those who worshipped Him
must worship Him
in spirit and in truth.
Not in the
sectarianism of Samaria,
or in the dead
formalism of Jerusalem,
but in spirit
and in truth.
The truth that He would
reveal, the inward feelings
governed by the Spirit
in relation to God,
so that true and proper feelings
belonging to the position
that we have before our Father
should be expressed towards
Him. What a tremendous
thing that is. And so I think
it's right and proper
that we should show clearly the difference
between the old form of
worship and the new form of
worship. The old
form of worship in the
Old Testament was a material
form. The temple
at Jerusalem,
the tabernacle in its different
movements, material.
The form of worship was
a material one. Incense,
sacrifices,
vestments, all
material. And when
we come to the New Testament,
not a word
about these things.
No material place,
a person. We approach
God through a person,
our Lord Jesus Christ.
We worship God in
the Spirit, by the Spirit.
Tremendous
truth to get hold of, infinitely
greater than any tangible
form of worship.
Music in the Old Testament,
no music in the New Testament.
Various
forms of worship
employed in the Old
Testament that we find no
mention of in the New Testament.
A distinct cleavage,
clear to see, that the
Spirit and truth
are to govern our worship of
the Father. And what a
tremendous thing that is.
But first of all, we have
to understand how
infinitely great He is, the
Father. I think we mentioned a little
about this one other night.
The Father, this distinctive
way in which God
has revealed Himself in this
eternal and great
revelation of Himself.
I think I'm right in saying that
over 250 times
in the New Testament we get
the term Father employed.
God Almighty,
a term that's often on the lips of people
in relation to God, only
mentioned ten times.
Once in the second epistle to the Corinthians,
and nine times in the
book of Revelation. We're not surprised
that we find it in the book of Revelation
because God is dealing
in judgment upon the nations
and upon apostate Israel.
So the Almighty God
is the one who is competent
to deal with these things.
But Father, oh what
a tremendous name.
The name of love, the name of
relationship, the name of
resource, the name of
origin. Didn't Paul
bow his knees to the Father
of whom are
all things.
Everything has sprung
from the Father. And so you,
myself,
every other Christian, we are
privileged to worship in this
great way, in this knowledge
of the Father. But don't let's
confine it to that. I say that
reverently, that while that is
the distinctive name by
which we worship God, the greatest
name by which we worship
God, let us never
forget that he is the creator.
He is that to Israel, he is
that to the church. And
also in his ways, he was that
to Israel, he is that to the church.
And too is the
everlasting God, the God
who purposed an eternity.
Thank God he is that to us
because all the great things that we enjoy
were centered in
Christ long before time
began, but are now available
for us. Well
then, these are just a few thoughts
very, very scanty
in relation to this great matter of
worship, which we believe is the
highest form of our
addressing ourselves to God.
Nothing like it. It might be
right to say before we close
that what is applicable to God, the
Father, is also applicable
to God, the Son.
Two scriptures we can quote to prove
this. In Revelation
chapter 1, John,
the one who leaned on the
bosom of the Son,
he says, unto
him who loves us
and goes on to indicate
the tremendous description of
glory and praise to him.
And Paul too, in
2 Timothy chapter 4
says, the Lord, the Lord
shall deliver me
from every evil work
and shall preserve me unto
his heavenly kingdom, to whom
be glory for ever and ever.
Amen. An inscription of
glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And others too
can be found in the Word of
God. And you say, what about
the Holy Spirit? Do we worship
him? No evidence
in the Word of God
that we worship the Holy Spirit.
Is he then excluded
from this great matter? No,
not for one bit.
The distinctive glory of the Holy
Spirit is that he alone
is the power to help us to
worship the Father and to worship
the Son. That is
his distinctive glory. Infinite
place that he has.
Wondrous place. Glorious place.
Not an inferior place.
There can be no true worship to the
Father if the Spirit does
not empower us. There can be no
true worship to the Son unless
the Spirit empowers us.
So we see his distinctive place
in this great economy
of worship and approach.
The Father, the Son,
definite scriptures that tell us they are
worshipped and worshipped
in the Spirit's power. May
the Lord help us then to respond
to these great and glorious things
for his name's sake.
Now can we sing
together 265
265
O God of grace, our Father,
we bless thy holy name.
We who enjoy
thy favour made holy without
blame. In love
which sought and found us
and brought us nigh to thee
and won the rest of glory
our heavenly home
shall be. 265
265
O God of grace,
our Father,
we bless
thy holy
name.
We who
enjoy
thy favour
made holy
without
blame.
In love
which sought
and found
us and
brought us
nigh to thee
and won
the rest of
glory
our heavenly
home
shall be.
Thy
eternal
counsel
chose us
in Christ
the Son.
Before
the earth's
foundation
our time
had yet
begun
that we
might
all the nearness
of the
beloved
know.
And
brought to thee
as children
our
children's
praises
flow.
We
worship
thee, our
Father,
soon
shall thy
children be.
At
home in
heavenly glory
thy
house their
home shall be.
We
worship
thee, our
Father,
and praise
thy perfect
love.
Soon
shall we chant
thy glory
in
better
strains of
love.
Our God and Father, we
thank thee for that day that
is soon to dawn. We
believe it is very near indeed
when all thy ransomed
hosts shall be caught up
to be in thy presence
and the presence of Christ
forever.
There will be no lack of understanding
then, our God and Father.
There will be no hindrances
then, no limitations
then. We thank
thee that in glorified bodies
we shall be set free
from every encumbrance
and free to pour out
our hearts eternally to thyself
and thy dear Son,
and we thank thee through the Holy
Spirit.
O God and Father,
what will be true then,
what in some measure to be
true of us now. We
often sing this, that eternity has
begun, and we
pray that we may give ourselves
more and more to
understanding of how great thou art
in all the
varied ways in which thou hast worked
in the past and the present
and filled
with this knowledge respond to thee
accordingly. O that we
might be more diligent
in our acquiring knowledge concerning
thyself and thy precious
Holy Word, how
full it is of thyself
and thy Son and the Holy Spirit.
And so we pray that
more and more we might
understand, enjoy
these precious things and
respond to thee accordingly.
So we commit us to thee
how we praise thee for
thy goodness to us this week.
Thank thee again for all
the work of our dear brother
David and his wife and Dorothy.
They've done so much
to make this a happy week for us
and we thank thee for it.
Thank thee for all that they have done
so unselfishly.
Thank thee for what thou has done
for us too and granting
us such beautiful weather.
We praise thee for this
our God, the creator
God. We thank thee
too for all the enjoyment
we've had and relaxation
and the fellowship we've enjoyed
with each other. Our God
and Father how sweet and precious
it has been. And we
thank thee too for gathering to the
name of the Lord Jesus
and opening thy precious word
and having thy voice
speaking to us
and telling us about things
that are blessed indeed.
And we pray that these things
may have an abiding place
in all our hearts.
So we worship thee our God
and we give thee our thanks
in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Amen. …