Spiritual Progress: Prayer (Order & Argument) - Tim Conway

Father, we come to You tonight.

Lord, we are a weak lot.

Lord, we serve a mighty God.

And we call upon You, Lord.

I don't know what's
happened in this building.

I know that this conference has been

held here in past years,

but I don't know the history,

and I don't know if the
Gospel's been preached here

on a regular basis.

I don't know if You've filled this place.

I don't know if this place is a place

of regular salvation,

but I pray that it would be that.

I pray that it would be a
place that You would inhabit;

a place that You would
fill with Your glory.

Lord, please draw close to us.

Draw close.

I pray that these messages

on leadership, Lord, use them.

We need leaders.

We need pastors throughout New England.

And I pray, Father,

that as we're calling upon You,

You would remember
our brother Paul Snyder.

Lord, he's served You; poured out his life

for these last years there in the jungles

of Indonesia,

and I pray that You'd have mercy upon him.

Lord, restore the functions.

Restore his health.

Allow him to serve You in the future.

Allow him to return to the
mission field at some point.

Lord, we believe that You are

the God who heals us.

We believe that You are
a God of the miraculous.

We believe that You do exceedingly,

abundantly beyond what we ask or think,

and we believe that You put
that in Scripture for a reason.

Because You would have us
to expect things from You

that even go beyond our thinking

and our expectation.

Father, please, amaze us.

Amaze us in the life of Paul Snyder.

Amaze us in the life of the
church here in Portland

and in the life of the
Fellowship Conference

here in New England.

Amaze us, Father.

Do such things in our midst.

Oh Lord, when I come to this place,

I think about Praying Payson -

Edward Payson -

and when I think about him,

I think how badly I pray that things

would happen in Portland

that would rival what happened in his day.

That we wouldn't simply read about past

historical chapters in the
Christian history books,

but Lord, that You would do
such things today in New England

that would cause future generations

to have more books written about.

Father, please.

I pray in Christ's name. Amen.

Is there a problem with the volume?

Okay.

(Incomplete thought)

We just had Clint Leiter at our church

this past Lord's Day.

And he brought a message
from 1 Timothy 4:15 -

not that I want you to turn there,

but Paul is encouraging Timothy.

He's encouraging Timothy

that he practice certain things,

immerse himself in certain things,

so that everybody might see his progress.

Progress in the Christian life.

It's essential.

God has not called us to stagnation,

but to growth.

Do you ever read those texts?

"More and more."

There's supposed to be an increase.

Can you think of any?

Can you think of any verses

that speak about more
in the Christian life?

Anybody?

What have you got?

(unintelligible)

Strength to strength - yes.

That's a good verse.

Strength to strength.

You know the one I like?

It's there in the Proverbs.

You've got this idea
that the Christian life -

is the Christian life in
Scripture portrayed

as starting out at noon

and then night comes?

What do you think?

Yes and no. Right?

We have the Christian life

like the rising of the sun

until the fullness of day in the proverb.

But then Jesus also said we
need to work while it's day

because the night is coming.

Both are accurate ways to look

at the reality of the Christian life.

Progress.

Progress. I want to talk about progress

on three fronts.

Tonight, Lord willing, prayer.

Tomorrow, perhaps, Luke 16 and giving.

And then, I think on Saturday,

evangelism if the Lord will help.

Now, look, if you've heard something

of what I'm going to bring tonight,

I would just ask you please

hear it again.

The main reason I want
to preach to you on prayer

from this text, I feel as much as anything

is as a fresh reminder for myself.

In 2011, I preached not exactly

what you're going to get tonight,

but something similar.

And I just feel like I need this again.

Sunday morning, July 15th -

not of this year, but in 1866,

Charles Spurgeon preached a message

called "Order and Argument in Prayer."

The words that he spoke
on that Sunday morning

reached my ears not long
after the Lord saved me

back in 1990.

I bought a little book

called "Twelve Sermons on Prayer"

by Charles Spurgeon.

"Order and Argument in Prayer."

He preached that morning
from a text out of Job

and I want you to look at it.

Turn in your Bibles to Job 23.

Job 23:3-4.

Job. Job in all of his afflictions.

"Oh, that I knew where I might find Him;

that I might come even to His seat.

I would lay my case..."

The King James Version says,

"I would order my cause."

"I would lay my case before Him."

I'm reading from the ESV.

"I would lay my case before Him

and fill my mouth with arguments."

And therefore, Spurgeon's title,

"Order and Argument in Prayer."

Here's Job, an afflicted child of God.

He doesn't pray to be healed.

He doesn't pray,
"Lord, give me my children back."

He prays what so often we feel

in the depths of our soul.

Lord, I just want to find You.

Job was praying, he was asking,

he was seeking, but you know what?

He wasn't finding his God.

That's what he really wanted.

Lord, come to me.

Show me Your presence.

He wanted to come before
the high court of heaven

is what he wanted to do

and make such arguments

as he was persuaded
would hold weight with God.

You see, he was persuaded.

However the book ends -

you know how the book ends.

But however it ended,

here's what I know about Job.

Job felt like he had a case to make.

And he thought if just he could
get a hearing from God;

if God would just show up,

that he could lay his case before him.

And you know what Spurgeon emphasized

in that sermon?

(incomplete thought)

He emphasized that the manner in which

Job approaches God ought to be

our manner of approach when we pray.

Spurgeon said this,

"Some utter whatever sentences

come rushing into their minds

like a herd of swine or a pack of hounds

with little attention to what is said."

Now, don't you wish you could do that?

Spurgeon's imagery.

"Like a herd of swine
or a pack of hounds."

Do you ever think of
people like that praying?

Spurgeon thought like that.

We sit in prayer meetings, right?

We hear one another pray.

And of course, we want
to encourage people.

Don't worry about what other people think,

but we do think things and we listen,

and some people's prayers

are much more effectual
in prayer meetings.

Have you ever been in a prayer meeting?

How many of you have been
in a corporate prayer meeting?

I hope every hand.

Some people when they pray,

they stir you up, right?

And some people want to put you to sleep.

Well, they don't want to put you to sleep,

but they want to the way they pray.

There are some people when they pray

it kills a prayer meeting.

And there are other people when they pray,

you get encouraged

and your faith is stirred.

That's a reality.

(incomplete thought)

I've had to talk to some
young Christians before.

Sometimes it's like,

I've had people in the church,

they're praying and it's almost like

they don't know what to say.

But here's the thing,

should we argue?

Order and argument.

That's what Job said.

He wanted to fill his
mouth with arguments.

Clearly, this doesn't mean quarreling.

It doesn't mean disagreement.

What happens when a man
comes to a court of law?

And he comes before a judge?

And he's got a jury over here?

He wants to argue his case.

He wants to show you he's in the right.

He wants to lay his evidence out there.

He wants to make the case

that he is in the right.

Praying like that...

Not sloppy prayer.

Job says this several times.

Just stay right there -
you don't need to turn to these.

But in Job 13:3, Job says,

"I would speak to the Almighty

and I desire to argue my case with God."

Again, in 13:15, "though He slay me,

I will hope in Him,

yet I will argue my ways to His face."

Now, that's bold.

When God shows up,

Job is very humbled.

He repents in dust and ashes.

In Job 13:18, "Behold,
I have prepared my case.

I know that I shall be in the right."

And here's the thing,

what Spurgeon recognized

is that when he searched the pages

of Old Testament Scripture,

he found it wasn't just Job

who approached God this way.

He found that the ancient saints

had a tendency, they had a habit,

they had this approach to God

where they were careful

in presenting their argument.

They didn't just pray haphazardly.

Now look, there are times -

yes, there are times

when it's necessary to rush before God.

There's times when we need to pray.

We need to lift our voice.

There's an emergency at hand.

But would you just
rush into a court of law

without any forethought

about making your case?

Just on the spur of the moment,

unprepared, sloppy?

Ordinarily as a rule,

we shouldn't come before the King of kings

unprepared, thoughtless, and unorganized.

Listen to Spurgeon.

"See yonder priest.

He has a sacrifice to offer,

but he does not rush into
the court of the priests

and hack at the bullock
with the first pole axe

upon which he can lay his hand.

But when he rises, he washes his feet

at the brazen laver.

He puts on his garments

and adorns himself with
his priestly vestments.

Then he comes to the altar with his victim

properly divided according to the law

and is careful to do
according to the command.

And he takes the blood in a bowl

and pours it in an appropriate place

at the foot of the altar -

not throwing it just as
it may occur to him -

and kindles the fire,

not with the common flame,

but with the sacred fire
from off the altar.

Our spiritual sacrifices should be offered

with holy carefulness.

God forbid that our prayers should be

a mere leaping out of one's bed,

kneeling down, saying
anything that comes to hand.

On the contrary,

may we wait upon the Lord with holy fear

and sacred awe."

So anyway, I'm done, by and large

with telling you about Spurgeon

and preaching that message.

But I'll tell you this,

that sermon impacted my own prayer life

and has - it's stayed with me

for the last -

I'll be saved 30 years in 2020.

So I'm closing in on three decades.

And probably in my prayer life,

that sermon of Spurgeon's

has had one of the greatest impacts

on my own prayer life.

I want to give you some examples.

And back in 2011 when I preached this,

I had my oldest daughter Charity in mind.

I thought maybe I would use one of
my daughters again as an example.

A daughter - I have two of them here -

I can relate to this.

Daughters asking me for something.

And I want to use them as an example

as to what I mean by order
and argument in prayer.

What does that look like?

Think with me here.

First, let's consider a careless,

lackadaisical approach.

Here's what I want to put on the table.

Both of my daughters

have bank accounts that
are attached to mine.

I can put funds in there or take funds out

whenever necessary.

They would probably rather I didn't

take funds out at times.

But let's just suppose one of my daughters

wants me to take some money
from my checking account

and transfer it over
to their checking account.

In fact, let's be very specific.

My daughter would like me to give her

$300 from my account

transferred over to hers.

So that's what's on the table here.

Now think with me here,

because this all has to do with prayer.

This has to do with how
we approach the Lord.

Think about this -
the lackadaisical approach.

I'm talking about no order and argument.

I'm talking about my daughter

wants me to put money in her account.

She runs by me one day when I come home.

She comes out of the kitchen.

She passes by and kind of mumbles to me

something under her breath about:

"I want some money."

That's all she says.

She doesn't even wait for an answer.

She just goes past, up the stairs.

That's how some people pray.

They don't really look for an answer.

At some prayer meetings,
I hear people pray

and I really wonder,

do they have a burden about that?

And I know a lot of the prayers
that go up at our church,

people do have burdens for those.

And sometimes they go up
because the prayer requests

came out in the prayer -
in our prayer meeting.

People heard. There was the request.

And they love that brother or sister,

and even though they might
not know about it specifically,

they pray for it.

But some people, I'm afraid they pray,

no expectation.

What would you think of that?

My daughter goes past me.

She asks for $300 -
just kind of mumbles it,

and doesn't even engage me.

No eye contact.

She goes up the stairs.
I never hear about it again.

What would you think about that?

I just ask you consider your own prayers.

How many of them are like that?

Where you throw something up to the Lord,

no expectation that He's
really going to come through?

You pray about it one time.

You lay it before the Lord. Why?

Why would you even pray it?

Well, you've got to pray about something.

You just kind of put filler in there.

None of that.

That's not order and argument.

Let's go to a second example.

How about the laundry list approach?

You ever heard in a prayer meeting -

maybe you've been guilty of this.

You just pray one thing after another:

Give me this. Give me this.
Give me that. Give me that.

I mean, imagine this. Let's run
through this scenario again.

I come home.

My daughter walks by me.

This time she doesn't go
past and go upstairs.

She makes eye contact with me.

And it's just basically:

Dad, I want a phone. I want a car.

I want food. I want candy.
I want a cell phone.

I want money. I want my own room.

I want clothes. I want this.

That's how some people pray.

There's no order and argument.

It's just a laundry list approach.

Many pray like that

asking for every conceivable thing

that we want, have wanted, might want,

but no case for any of it is made.

Now look, I'm going to show you

that this is a very biblical way to pray,

to make your case;

to lay your arguments out there.

I'm going to show you that it is.

So far, I've talked about Spurgeon.

I'm giving you these examples,

but I'm going to take you to Scripture.

So you just hold on.

But let's go back to the scenario
again with my daughter.

How about the use of my
name excessively approach?

Can you imagine if one of
my daughters came to me

and you were there -
you were witnessing this.

You came in the door with me.

And my daughter, she
comes up and she says,

"Dad, please, Dad, put some, Dad,

money, Dad, Oh Dad, please Dad,

Dad, can I have, Dad, some money, Dad,

put in my account?"

Have you ever heard people pray like that?

They use God's name like 10 times

in every single sentence.

I wonder whether that's vain repetition -

using God's name in vain.

What is that?

It's like you don't know
what you're praying for.

You have no case to make

and you're just putting filler in

using God's name.

Or how about this? The unnatural approach.

Now, I don't know about the circles here,

but I know that when I was first saved,

I kind of cut my teeth on some
of the Reformed Baptist circles.

And I would hear men pray

in a whole different tone

than what they normally spoke in.

Have you ever heard that?

I mean, could you imagine
if you came in with me

and my daughter comes up,

and in some unnatural tone,

"Oh father, I would like you to
put some money in the account,

if it be your will."

I mean, could you imagine that?

You'd look at me like what's
wrong with your daughter?

There are Christians that pray that way.

It's like be yourself when
you pray to the Lord.

(incomplete thought)

In my estimation, you get these:

"Oh, if it be Your will..."

All these if's and unnatural tones -

that speaks to me more unbelief

and hypocrisy than anything.

The unnatural approach.

Artificial tones.

Repeated "if's."

"If's." If. If it be Your will.
If it be Your will.

Look, I know we need to
be surrendered to God's will.

But I hear the if's so often.

George Mueller said this,

"In my younger years,
I had a good many if's,

but those are all gone.

I know that the Lord has
the means at His command

to answer all my prayers
if I come believing,

asking in the name of Christ."

I mean, we need boldness.

Boldness.

Not a bunch of if's, like,

is God going to do it or
is He not going to do it.

I mean, we need the boldness of Jacob.

I am not going to let You
go until You bless me.

I'm going to get this blessing.

How about the roundabout approach?

You say what do you mean by that?

Well, I mean this.

Where somebody's praying for something

but you hardly know
what they're praying for

or who they're praying about.

I mean, if I walk in and one
of my daughter's says,

"Oh father, I would like
to come into your presence

and ask you to consider showing
certain favor and blessing.

Please grant such mercies
as I now petition thee for."

You know, I will go back
to Spurgeon a second,

somewhere I saw -

I think this was in his
"Lectures to My Students."

There was a guy preaching

at the Metropolitan Tabernacle,

and I think it was a young guy,

and he was opening the service

and he was praying.

and Spurgeon actually
finally went up to him

and laid hold on his arm

and stopped him from praying

and said, "Son, just ask your
Heavenly Father for something."

You remember Abraham?

"Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!"

There it is.

You know the name. You know what he wants.

To the point.

Don't beat around the bush.

Extra words and excess and eloquence.

You say, yeah, but you're making a case

to make these arguments before God.

Is that useless? No, I'm going to show you

that is not useless

and that is not a waste of time.

Let's be distinct about what we want.

Be distinct.

Say what you mean. Mean what you say.

I mean, what I want from my daughter is,

"Dad, I want $300. Would you
please put $300 in my account?"

Now, the order and argument approach.

Let's look at this.

My daughter. My daughter comes to me.

Maybe she says, "Daddy."

It's not bad to use some affection right?

That goes a long way.

Can we pray, "Abba, Father"?

If one of them said, "Daddy..."

Very distinct. To the point.

"...I'd like you to put
$300 in my account."

"Dad, I have an internship,

and I'm taking college classes.

The internship I'm not
going to be paid for.

And Dad, I'm broke."

You know what? That holds some weight.

We're a broke people.

That's a good place.

I'm poor. I can't do this myself.

I'm out of resources.

And she's given me all the reasons.

"Mom thinks it's a good idea.

And Dad, you wanted me
to take the internship.

You wanted me to go to school.

And now that I'm doing that,

I had to quit that other job
where I was making money.

Dad, you know I have a car
I need to put gas in.

Dad, you don't want me riding
around on fumes all the time.

Plus, I'll be able to do some kind things

for other people."

(incomplete thought)

"Daddy, I'll be able to help others."

"Dad, you said..." - That's powerful.

"Dad, you said that if I went to school

and I couldn't work

and I got into financial difficulties,

you said you'd help me.

You remember that?"

Just laying the arguments out there

one after another.

"Dad, knowing how generous you are..."

That's a good one.

"Dad, my friends will know
how generous you are."

You see, just bringing out
the hammer of prayer

and you whack that same nail

and you drive it down deep.

That's what I'm talking about. Now listen,

if we make progress in our praying,

we'll make progress at this point:

how to approach the Lord.

See, this has to do with -

the Lord said that you don't have,
because you don't ask.

But I'm thinking that the
lackadaisical approach

is not the kind of asking
that God has in mind.

Or the abundant, flippant use of His name.

Or laundry lists approach.

There's something about
laying out an argument

when you go to the Lord.

Laying out your case.

And I want you to see this.

I want you to see this in Scripture.

Go to Exodus 32 please.

Exodus 32.

I want you to see Moses.

(incomplete thought)

You know what Moses encountered.

He encountered the Lord God

on different occasions

ready to wipe out and annihilate

the Hebrew children out
there in the wilderness.

Why? Their repeated,
stiff-necked attitude.

Their repeated sin.

(incomplete thought)

They spurned God over and over.

They rebelled from one day to the next.

And I'll tell you, when Moses came along,

he didn't just say,
mumbling as he went by,

"God, oh please don't destroy them,"

and then never look for any answer.

He didn't give just a laundry list.

"Oh Lord, you know, would You please

make sure that our shoes don't wear out?

Would You please make sure

that fiery serpents don't
come up out of the sand?

Would You please make
sure we have enough water?

Would You please make sure
that the manna doesn't stop?"

That wasn't it because that
wasn't what was on his mind

at that point in time.

He was singular.

He brought out that hammer

and he had one thing in mind:

"Lord, don't destroy Your people."

And he laid his case out.

And I want you to see it

because if you see it and it grabs you,

it will help you pray.

Look at this. Exodus 32:7.

This is where I want to start reading.

Classic example from our Bibles

of order and argument in prayer.

This is huge. If you grasp this,

it will alter your prayer life.

Notice this.

In v. 7, the Lord said to Moses,

"Go down, for your people

whom you brought up
out of the land of Egypt

have corrupted themselves.

They've turned aside quickly

out of the way that I commanded them.

They have made for themselves

a golden calf and have worshiped it

and sacrificed to it and said,

'these are your gods, O Israel,

who brought you up
out of the land of Egypt.'

And the Lord said to Moses,

'I have seen this people.

Behold, it's a stiff-necked people.

Now therefore, let Me alone that My wrath

may burn hot against them,

that I may consume them
in order that I may

make a great nation of you.'"

Now notice, here is where Moses prays.

Notice.

Now, brothers and sisters,

this was recorded for us.

Have you ever gone to 1 Corinthians 10?

(incomplete thought)

Let me ask you this.

1 Corinthians 10.
Why does the Apostle Paul

say that these things were written?

Upon whom what?

The end of the age has come. That's us.

These things were written for us.

God wants to teach us.

Don't go back there and say,

well, that's some Old Testament thing.

That is a New Testament thing.

That is for the people upon whom

the ends of the age have come;

the end of the world. That's us.

God wants to teach us.

Notice Moses' approach.

"But Moses implored the Lord his God..."

Now notice what he said.

This is what you want to know.
This is what you want to learn from.

"Why does Your wrath burn hot against..."

just capture these two words,

"...Your people?"

Did you notice what God said back in v. 7?

"Moses, go down, for your people..."

Did you catch that?

God says Moses, they're your people.

Moses comes back and says,

Lord, they're Your people.

I love that.

I love that!

That is powerful!

Brethren, when we pray, to say -

if you're praying for somebody,

and they're a child of God,

"Lord, they're Your people."

Or if you're praying for yourself:

I am Your child.

I am one of Your people.

That holds tremendous weight

when it comes to prayer.

I don't want you to turn to this passage.

You've got to stay here in Exodus.

But listen to me.

Listen to this.

In John 16:26, Jesus said,

"in that day..."

He's talking to His disciples.
He's talking to us.

"In that day..."

And then that would be today.

"In that day,

you will ask in My name..."

Jesus is saying this to His disciples.

"...You will ask in My name.

I do not say to you that I will
ask the Father on your behalf."

What?

Jesus is saying,

you're going to pray,

and I'm not saying I'm going
to ask on your behalf.

He's not denying He's an intercessor.

But what's He saying?

"I'm not saying I'm
going to ask the Father

on your behalf,

for the Father Himself loves you."

Do you hear what our Lord is saying?

That holds weight.

"Scripture says, Father, You love me."

It's powerful to plead that.

I was talking about people that use

the name of God like vainly repetitious,

but it is not vain repetition

when you say,

"Abba, Father..."

and you use that name with purpose.

Because you're using it because you know

the meaning behind it.

You used to be a rebel.

You used to be separate

when you knew not God

is how Scripture speaks.

He was not your Father.

He was not your God.

To come to Him and say,

"I am one of Your people.

You are my God."

That holds tremendous weight.

Moses turns that thing.

"Lord, they are Your people."

I've never forgotten
a prayer of Spurgeon's.

Again, I think this comes
from his "Lectures."

Listen to him.

He says, "When I was wracked

some months ago with pain..."

And you know he had gout

and a number of issues.

He was "wracked with pain

to an extreme degree,

so that I could no longer bear it

without crying out.

I asked all to go out from my room

and leave me alone.

And then I had nothing
I could say to God but this:

'Thou art my Father, and I am Thy child.

And Thou as a Father art
tender and full of mercy.

I could not bear to see my child suffer

as Thou makest me suffer.

And if I saw my child
tormented as I am now,

I would do what I could to help him

and put my arms under him to sustain him.

Would Thou hide Thy face
from me, my Father?

Would Thou still lay on a heavy hand

and not give me a smile
from Thy countenance?'

So I pleaded and I venture to say

when I was quiet,

and everybody came back who watched me..."

he was confident to say to them,

"I shall never have any such pain again

from this moment,

for God has heard my prayer.

I bless God that ease did come

and the wracking pain never returned."

That is powerful.

My Father.

Notice, Exodus.

Let's go back here.

Plead that.

We're Your people.

We're Your church.

We've been bought by
the blood of Your Son.

Powerful.

Here's a second one.

Notice Moses. V. 11.

"Moses implored the Lord his God

and said, 'O Lord, why does Your wrath

burn hot against Your people

whom You have brought
out of the land of Egypt

with great power and with a mighty hand?'"

You see what he's arguing now?

First, it was: they're Your people.

Now he's arguing the past.

Have you ever heard this?

Notice when David said,

"Hide not Your face from me.

Turn not Your servant away in anger.

O, You who have been my help,

cast me not off."

You have been my help.

As much as to say,

You've helped me thus far.

You've delivered me from
time and time again, Lord.

Why would You do that if You intend

to bring me out this far

and forsake me?

Lord, You helped me. You helped me along.

You provided. You were there.

You sustained. You encouraged me.

Why have You brought me through

so many dangers, toils, and snares -

like Bunyan said -

are You going forsake me now

in this situation?

Look, that's a powerful argument

because God doesn't
change in His purposes.

If He's been faithful thus far with you,

He will be faithful with you to the end.

What a thing to argue!

Lord, You've brought me to this place.

Why? Only to put me to shame now?

Far be it from the Lord.

He never turns. The past is a mighty plea.

Lord, You brought these people

out of Egypt.

You had mercy upon them then.

Notice this. V. 12.

"Why should the Egyptians say..."

You want a third reason?

God cares about what
the Egyptians will say.

It held weight.

And Moses doesn't use it just once.

You know we're surrounded by Egyptians.

We are surrounded by God-haters.

We are surrounded by people

who mock and scoff at your God.

(incomplete thought)

I remember one time way back

in the very early days of our church,

we came to the east side of San Antonio.

And I remember one day we were out,

we were evangelizing,

and we were going past the Salvation Army.

There's a park there and
a lot of the homeless guys

that stay in the shelter there,

they hang out in this park.

And I specficially, I've never forgotten,

there was a man sitting at a bench

and he looked at us with contempt.

And he was African American.

And he's looking at us

as though we've come from
another part of the city

to this east side.

And he just said with contempt,

"You're never going to
change the inner city.

You're never going to
change the east side."

And I told him, "you're right.

We're not.

But our God is."

That the Lord cares about.

Have you ever read in Scripture

when our Lord Himself was praying.

John 17.

He's praying to His Father.

And do you know what He prayed?

He prayed this.

He prayed He and the Father

and the Father and Him,

and they may become perfectly one,

so that the world may know

that the Father sent the Son

and loved those disciples

even as the Father loved Christ.

That the world may know.

I find this very interesting.

Several years back, I preached messages,

and I have from time to time,

preached on those seven
churches in Asia Minor.

Have you ever noticed Philadelphia?

They were one of the faithful churches.

Nothing negative said to them.

And Jesus said this -

He said there are these people

who claim to be Jews but they are not.

They call themselves a synagogue -

He calls it a synagogue of Satan.

They claim to be Jews. They were not Jews.

And do you know what Jesus said?

He said the day is coming

when those physical Jews

are going to fall down
at the feet of Christians.

And Jesus said they're
going to know I loved you.

It's like God is concerned

about what people think.

Notice Moses.

"Why should the Egyptians say

with evil intent did He bring them out

to kill them in the mountains

and to consume them
from the face of the earth?

Turn from Your burning anger

and relent from this
disaster against Your people."

In another place, Moses said this:

He said to the Lord,

"The Egyptians will hear of it."

God said, "I'm going to
strike them with pestilence

and disinherit them."

And Moses said, "If You do that,

the Egyptians will hear of it."

You brought this people in Your might

from among those Egyptians,

and if You do this -

if You destroy these people -

the Egyptians are going to tell

the inhabitants of this land -

he's talking about Canaan -

"They have heard that You, O Lord,

are in the midst of this people.

For You, O Lord, are seen face to face.

Your cloud stands over them

and You can go before them

in a pillar of cloud by day

and a pillar of fire by night.

If You kill this people as one man,

the nations who have heard of Your fame

will say..." you know why?
You know why?

It's because God wasn't able.

I'll tell you this.

God has concern for the glory

of His reputation and honor.

And you can pray that.

I have often remembered those man's words:

Lord, that guy scoffed at the ability

to transform the east side of San Antonio.

Lord, remember his words.

You're not a god like
the god of the nations.

You are not like the Egyptian gods.

You are not like the god of Catholicism.

You're not like the god of
this easy believism out here.

You are the true and the living God.

Lord, arise! Your name depends upon it.

Very powerful way to pray.

Fourth.

We want to argue God's promises.

Notice this.

Exodus 32:13.

"Remember..." Oh, that
holds weight with the Lord.

Father, remember what You have said.

Men may be liars. Not our God.

If He has said it, He is going to do it.

"Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel,

Your servants to whom You swore

by Your own self and said to them,

'I will multiply your offspring

as the stars of heaven,

and all this land that I have promised,

I will give to your offspring

and they shall inherit it forever.'"

This is big.

Promise. Promise.

Search your Bibles to learn to pray right.

When you read the Bible,

there's many things that we should learn.

There's many things we should perceive.

There's many ways to be admonished

or be encouraged.

But when you read your Bibles,

be thinking about promises

that you can take to God and plead.

We should give the Lord no rest whatsoever

when we seek something from Him

that He promised to give.

Moses is saying this: Lord, if You kill

all these people, Your
promise is going to be

brought into question.

(incomplete thought)

I've often thought,

Lord, You have said the Gospel

is the power of God unto salvation,

but if we don't see any people saved,

where is the proof of that?

Lord, Your promise is going
to be brought into question.

David prayed this way:

1 Chronicles 17:23,

"Do as You have spoken."

Jacob prayed this way:

"You said 'I will surely do you good.'"

It was said of George Mueller,

sometimes he would search
the Scriptures for days

before he presented his petition to God.

(incomplete thought)

And then when he found the promises,

with his open Bible before him

and his finger upon the promise...

He searched. You know what? Why?

Why would a man take the time

to search his Bible for days?

Because he wasn't playing in prayer.

He meant to bring arguments

and order his case before God in a way,

who's going to argue about whether Mueller

ever saw his prayers answered?

He knew so many prayers answered,

they go without number.

He would pray with a
finger upon that promise.

He would plead that promise

and so he received what he asked.

All the time.

You want a promise?

How about this:

How about the Lord Jesus Christ -

yes, He's talking to His disciples

before He goes to the cross,

but you need to hear His qualifier here.

Listen to this promise.

You want a promise to plead?

"Truly, truly, I say to you,

whoever believes in Me..."

Not Peter, James, Paul, John...

"Whoever believes in Me..."

"Whoever believes in Me

will do the works that I do,

and greater works than these will he do

because I'm going to the Father."

You ought to plead that promise

all the time.

(incomplete thought)

Do you recognize?

Here's Jesus getting ready

to leave His disciples, go to the cross.

He's not going to speak with them

much more after this.

Not directly.

Yes, He comes back 40 days,

but we don't know what He said then.

Those last recorded words -

John 14, 15, 16 -

then His prayer in 17.

We know what was said there.

He's preparing these guys.

He said, "I say these things to you

so that when they come,

you don't fall away."

What a thing!

If you believe in Jesus Christ,

the works that He did, you will do

and greater works.

What are you going to do?

Say, "that can't be, so I'm
not going to plead it"?

You need to take a promise like that

and plead it every single day.

Lord, Portland, Maine...

there are some of Your people here.

Your people!

You're our God!

You sent Your Son to this earth.

He is the Word of God.

He came to speak Your truth.

And He came and He left us these words.

Father, we were told that we who believe -

not just if we're apostles

or first century disciples

or happen to find our
name in the book of Acts -

it says if we believe...

We've got believers in this room.

That's a promise.

You want a promise? There's a promise.

What are you going to do?

Walk out of here in unbelief?

Ah, it's not true.

Can't be true.

We don't raise the dead anymore.

I'll tell you this, you preach the Gospel

and make a disciple and
somebody's born again,

you're raising the dead,

at least to the degree that
man is involved with it.

You say what can it mean?

It may not mean that you're going to

heal a thousand lepers,

but it may mean -

I've got to believe that what it means

is that the Spirit of God was given

to the church on the day of Pentecost

and such things would happen

throughout the history of the church

that are going to go above and beyond

what the Lord did in
His limited little scope

right there in Canaan
during those three years.

Because the truth is
you're reaching people

and have the ability to reach people

in parts of the world

that He never reached out to.

His was very limited ministry,

limited time, limited scope.

He primarily poured Himself into 12 men.

Primarily, went from village to village

in the land of Canaan.

What a thing to pray! Or how about this:

"If you then being evil know how to

give good gifts to your children..."

what does Scripture say?

How much more what?

How much more... what?

He'll give the Holy Spirit
to them that ask.

Promise. Promise.

You say, Lord, we're not experiencing

revival in New England
like in the days of Payson

or in the days of Nettleton

or in the days of Edwards.

Lord, where are those days?

Well, are you praying for the Spirit?

Are you laying hold upon the Lord

and not letting go of Him?

Are you wrestling with Him like Jacob did?

And even when He puts
the hip out of joint,

even though it takes
all the fight out of you,

you still cling even though
you're all broken now

and you have nothing left in you?

But you know this,

I've got to cling to Him because
there's no other hope anywhere else.

What do you think would happen

if you lay hold on Him
for the Holy Spirit?

And you don't release until
there's outpourings of that?

What promises do we have!

Think of this.

Think of promises of good made to others.

You know, you ought to be able to go

to Hebrews 13 and look in there

and say, huh, it says

"I'll never leave you nor forsake you."

You know where the author
of Hebrews got that from?

Not any words that were spoken

directly with your name attached to it.

Those were spoken to Joshua.

They were spoken a couple
of different places

in the Old Testament.

But specifically, let's
just mention Joshua.

The Angel of the Lord:

"I will never leave you nor forsake you."

Do you know that the author of Hebrews

grabs hold of that promise

and he brings it forward all the way

into the New Testament

and he says that's our promise.

Have you ever read that in Christ Jesus,

all the promises of God
are yea and amen in Him?

Have you ever read that?

You can plead the promises.

Think of that.

Jacob: Lord, You have promised

to do me good.

I can take that promise.

That's mine.

That's been bought by the blood of Christ.

You can take every promise
for good in Scripture.

You can personalize that.

Or how about the indicatives?

You say what do you mean?

I'm talking the indicative verbs -

the mood of verbs

that you find in your Bible.

An indicative verb

indicates something that's true.

How about let's just take
what Jesse preached on?

I imagine that Acts 14,

probably chock-full of indicative verbs.

Why? It's a narrative.

It's telling you what happened.

It's indicating.

Can I look at that and say,

huh, Paul and Barnabas

went throughout the churches in Acts 14,

and they appointed elders in every church.

What if you have a church
and you don't have elders?

Or you have a group of people somewhere

but there's no leadership like
Jesse was talking about.

Some people - you don't have good leaders.

What a thing to be able to go to Scripture

and say, Lord, You know what I read?

I read in every single church -

what was Titus supposed to do?

Go to Crete and go through all the cities

and appoint elders.

Well, obviously not to the city council.

The point was that there's churches
in all those different cities.

What a thing to be able to pray!

You take those indicatives

and you make them part of that hammer

to whack that thing you're asking for.

Lord, You did this in Scripture.

There's no example in Scripture

of churches that were pastor-less.

They went about appointing them.

Why? It was necessary.

Lord, that's the example
You give us in Scripture.

That's the indicative.

Or how about imperatives?

Let the imperatives be a promise.

"Be holy for I am holy."

What do you read in Scripture?

God causes you to will and to do

of His good pleasure.

Jesus said it.

"Without Me you can do nothing."

So you look at one of these and you say,

Lord, You're calling me to do things

that You say without You I can't do.

And so that must be a promise

that You're going to give the grace

for me to do it.

Find promises in the indicatives.

Find promises in the imperatives.

Find promises in the prayers
of Scripture themselves.

Listen to Paul pray.

He said that he was thanking God

in every remembrance of
some of these churches,

praying always.

He was praying that the Father,

the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Father of glory may give them

a spirit - the Spirit - of wisdom

and revelation in the knowledge of Him,

having the eyes of their
hearts enlightened.

For what?

That they might know the hope

of their calling.

They might know the riches

of this inheritance in the saints.

They might know this incomprehensible,

immeasurable power

that's been unleashed through the cross.

You want that for your churches?

I find Paul is praying that.

Why would we not pray that?

Why would we not learn
from those and take it?

Listen, if God inspired
him to pray that way,

then that speaks to me of a promise

that we ought to have every expectation

that God would give us this Spirit

and give us revelations of His person;

of the glory of His power.

Or you could go further...

beyond promise.

So, I've dealt now with:

Your people, the past,

what the Egyptians will say,

God's promises.

How about God's character?

Notice this.

In Numbers 14:17, Moses says this,

"Now please, let the power of the Lord

be great as You have promised saying..."

Notice, the Lord's character.

"The Lord is slow to anger,

abounding in steadfast love,

forgiving iniquity and transgression."

Jump down to Numbers 14:19.

"Please pardon the iniquity of this people

according to the greatness

of Your steadfast love."

Notice that.

Lord, You are a God of steadfast love.

Just recently, in my own preaching

in this sermon series I've been doing

back at home,

Paul prays:

According to the riches of God's glory,

they might be strengthened with power

through the Spirit in their inner man.

Strengthened. Why?

So that they might know,

they might conceive,

they might have the power to comprehend

what is the breadth and length

and height and depth

and to know this love of Christ.

What was he pleading?

Lord, according to the
riches of Your glory.

Oh, if we're praying according
to the character of God

and then we don't get answers...

We just pray, we cry out,

we ask for these things.

Certainly we should expect
something impressive,

something that accords
with God's character,

something that's life changing.

Something, right after this,

God is able to do exceedingly abundantly

beyond what we ask or think.

Would you not expect that if
He gave us a text like that

that it's because He wants us to expect

and think big?

Didn't Newton hit on it?

Large petitions with thee bring.

Why? Because you're coming

to some little, tiny god?

He has ears and can't hear?

That's not what Newton said

when he wrote the song.

Large petitions with thee bring.

You're coming to a King.

You're coming to the King of kings.

Argue that.

We have us a God -

have you argued that way?

Do you lay the case out?

You know what? The Catholics pray.

The Methodists pray.

The Episcopalians pray.

The dead Baptists around here pray.

The false religions pray.

The Jehovah's Witnesses pray.

The Mormon's pray.

They pray to Allah.

What are we going to be satisfied

if we pray to the one true and living God

and our prayers go
unanswered just like theirs?

Or their demons rise up
and do more for them

than our God does for us?

Are you going to be satisfied with that?

Is there not a place to argue that way

and to lay that case before God?

Lord, we have such a God as You!

And they don't have a God like You.

Have you ever read there?

When God's people were in Egypt

and those plagues came,

God made a difference between the people.

It was light in Goshen.
Have you ever read that?

Whereas it was dark over here.

The firstborn of the Egyptians died.

Whereas the firstborn of the
Hebrew children were spared.

We should expect God
to make that difference.

Lord, You've always made a difference

between Your true people

and those not Your people.

You've always shown
Yourself to be the God.

You've shown throughout the ages

there is a God in Israel.

Now brethren, we might
ask ourselves this question:

Why would we need to persuade God

when Scripture says He knows what we need

before we ask?

Why?

I'm going to give you one answer here.

In fact, we need to look at this.

We're going to end by looking at this.

Look at Matthew 17.

Matthew 17 - we have the Transfiguration.

And you remember, right
after the Transfiguration,

as our Lord came down from the mountain

with His disciples -

a handful of His disciples.

Matthew 17.

If you look down around v. 19, 20, 21,

you know what you'll find?

Lord, we encountered a man

who had a son with a demon.

Why couldn't we cast him out?

What did the Lord say?

Why couldn't they do it?

Unbelief.

Have you ever read the reason

in Mark 9?

What does He say there when they ask?

Turn there. Mark 9.

Maybe about v. 28, 29.

Why does the Lord need order?

Our case ordered?

Why does He need arguments?

Why does He need us
to plead His character,

His promises?

Why?

Why plead that we're His people?

Well, I'll tell you this.

We find that example in Scripture.

Have you ever heard
anybody argue this way?

Father, if You didn't spare Your own Son,

but You gave Him up for us all...

perhaps You wouldn't withhold
any other good thing.

You ever hear somebody argue like that?

Maybe somebody inspired?

Why?

Why lay forth cases like that?

Is it necessary?

Well, look here at Mark.

What does Mark 9:29 say?

Why couldn't they cast that demon out?

This kind goes out - it's a textual issue,

they all say prayer.

If you've got the King James
or the New King James,

it says "prayer and fasting."

So, Matthew, Mark -

are they messed up? Contradiction?

Listen, the primary thing

that we need to recognize is this:

As we recite our strong reasons

before the Lord that He should give us

the things that we plead
with Him to give us,

it's not for Him so much.

It's for us.

See, they needed the prayer and fasting.

Why? Because Jesus is saying in one place:

Unbelief.

It's almost like He's saying
the prayer and the fasting

would address the unbelief.

Well, see, it does.

It does.

You know what happens when you do

what Mueller did?

When you search the Scripture

looking for the promises

and looking to make the case?

It will make you bold as a lion.

It gives you confidence.

It will increase your faith in Him.

That's what happens.

That's what happens when
you're in a prayer meeting

and somebody begins to pray like that

and they're laying their case out

and they're arguing and they're
laying the promises of God

and they're making this whole case

and pleading.

And it will stir the whole
assembly up to pray.

Why? Because everybody's faith

is being encouraged.

What happens is you begin to see God

bigger and bigger and bigger.

And His character comes upon your mind

and His promises come into your ears.

And you begin to latch hold on them.

Yes, God has said it!

Yes, God is like this.

Yes, God has done this in the past.

And yes, the blood of Jesus speaks.

And yes, we are His people.

And you become confident.

Yes, I'm going to lay hold upon God

until I get this.

That's the issue.

Extended prayer and fasting

tends to promote our faith.

Without faith, it's
impossible to please Him.

Why? We have to believe that He is

and that He's a rewarder

of them... see, you have to believe this.

You have to believe that He is a rewarder

of them who seek Him diligently.

Not haphazardly.

Not randomly. Not sporadically.

Diligent seeking of Him.

God is very pleased.

God is pleased when
we plead His character.

His promises.

Why? He gave those
promises to be believed.

He gave those promises for us to plead.

He puts His character on the line.

You don't dishonor God

when you're calling upon God's character

and God's promises.

And you can be bold.

That is not presumption.

It's not. Not when God has given promises.

I fear it. We fear being presumptuous

and our primary problem is unbelief.

I'm convinced of that.

So build your case carefully.

Set forth your arguments.

Remember the blood.

If He didn't spare His own Son -

what an argument -

how will He not also with Him

graciously give us all things.

Ask Him for what is now needed.

Ask for it plainly.

Bring forth your arguments.

You all have needs.

There's people in your
life that aren't saved.

There's darkness all around us.

You've got your own battles with sin,

your own battles with weakness,

your own battles with coldness,

your own battles in your churches.

There's battles everywhere.

We have an enemy.

He's more powerful than any of us.

But He that's with us is greater

than he that's in the world.

We've got needs. We're a needy people.

Take this. Take this.

Apply it.

Apply it in your dealings with the Lord

that your own faith might be strengthened.

Whatever you ask in prayer,

you will receive, our Lord says,

if you have faith.

So I encourage you to do this:

Pray in a way that's going
to encourage your faith.

And when you order your prayers

and you produce your arguments,

it does massive things for your faith.

And God answers those prayers.

That is one of the primary components

of successful prayer

is that we have faith.

Amen. Well, let's pray.

Father, those disciples long ago

said, "Lord, teach us to pray."

Importunity He taught them.

Ask and you shall receive.

Seek and you will find.

Knock and it shall be opened unto you.

Everyone who asks,

everyone who seeks,

everyone who knocks.

You've given us promise

that our prayers are not in vain.

Lord, help us. Help us.

Help us pray.

Help us wrestle

with the Angel of the Lord

and be successful.

Help us to learn to pray as Moses did

and Jacob did and David did and Job.

Help us to be as the saints of old

in our prayer life.

I pray in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.