Welcome to From the Pulpit and Classic Sermons.
Each week we bring you a different message
from some of history's greatest speakers in the
Christian faith and powerful sermons from modern preachers
too.
This week we have Alden Gannett with his
message, Answered Prayer.
Dr. Ironside was a great blessing to me
a number of years ago when I was
just the last.
I heard of him on a Bible conference
platform up in New York State.
And I recall his telling how he had
his own devotional life.
And the point that I remember most about
his discussion was the fact that he considered
it very important to read through the Bible
at least once a year.
And I remember his telling us at Dallas
Seminary some years later that he had read
through the Bible 40 times in addition to
any of his studies.
And that meant he'd read the Bible through
for the last 40 years, at least once
each time.
His principle was, which I think is exceedingly
valid, we should know all the counsel of
God.
And we get lopsided, you know, like our
kids eating hamburgers and French fries.
You know, you go out to supper somewhere
and that's all they want.
So you ask them what they want for
supper, that's it.
And they don't get a balanced diet that
way.
Now, Dr. Ironside's method was to have a
balanced diet in your Bible reading.
He said, read six chapters a day.
Two chapters begin in Genesis, two chapters begin
in the Psalms, two chapters begin in the
New Testament.
And then he said, this way you have
your appetizer, you have your meat and potatoes,
and you have your dessert.
Now, many people don't feel they can read
six chapters a day.
But if this is at all possible, here
is one method.
Another method is to read through the entire
Bible by simply starting with Genesis and reading
through Revelation.
This does become discouraging to some people because
they get bogged down on the genealogy and
get bogged down in some of the historical
portions of the Old Testament.
But this certainly is a good way.
If you're a new convert, I encourage your
reading through the Gospel of John several times,
and then on through the New Testament, and
then pick up a method going through.
Now, my own particular method is reading through
the Bible once a year, which is a
suggestion I got from Dr. Ironside, but I
use a bit of a different approach.
I do start with Genesis and read through
the Scriptures.
I've taught through the Bible a number of
times, and so the genealogies don't bother me
as they might a new convert.
But in addition to reading from beginning with
Genesis, I like to read one of the
Psalms each day.
So starting January 1st, I read Psalm 1,
and January 2nd, Psalm 2, and then when
I finish Psalms, I read one proverb a
day.
Today is June 2nd, and I read the
second chapter in Proverbs.
By the time I get through Proverbs, I'll
go back and start with Psalms again and
read through the Psalms and Proverbs twice in
the course of a year.
I like these for the devotional, the worship
aspect of a quiet time.
Now, if you actually divide the chapters of
the Bible and divide them by 365, you
get three chapters a day for six days
a week, and four chapters a day for
the seventh day of the week.
If my mathematics are correct, that's the way
it works out.
And so you can literally read only three
chapters a day, and the fourth chapter on
the Lord's Day or some other day, and
on the average of this, you can read
through the entire Bible in the course of
a year.
Let me encourage you not to get discouraged
in your Bible reading if you get a
difficult portion, a portion you don't understand.
Don't worry about this, just keep on reading,
and the more you read, the more it
will dovetail together.
There's a whole lot of the Bible I
don't know tonight, and I've studied it formally
for nearly 25 years, and there is much
in the Bible I do not know.
But every time I read through, I get
more, and more of it fits together, together,
together through Bible reading.
Now, I have a philosophy about Bible reading
that some people disagree with, and I respect
every writer there to disagree, but I don't
do my Bible study when I'm reading.
Other people do.
Brother Willie, you may do this, and this
may work just fine for you.
For me, I read devotionally, and by that
I mean I'm reading something for something for
my heart.
Of course, I have my formal Bible study
with courses I teach at the Bible College,
and study sets of theories as we've had
this weekend and so on, and so I
have ample opportunity for formal study.
But I like to read simply for God
to speak to my heart.
I'm not ignoring facts.
I want to glean every fact I can.
I want to glean the historical, the biographical,
the theological, but at the same time, I
want God to speak to me.
Somebody asked the question one time, well, how
much of the Bible should I read a
day?
And the reply came, read till God speaks
to your heart.
And that's the best answer I've ever heard.
Read till God speaks to your heart.
He may speak to you in one verse,
one chapter.
It may take several, but read till you
get some food.
You'd hate to go all day hungry, wouldn't
you?
I certainly would, and so read till God
speaks to your heart.
Griffith Thomas suggested four A's that have been
a great blessing to me, and I think
I've shared them with some of you in
years past right here, but let me repeat
them further for you without going into great
detail.
One A he suggests is attention.
Any time you come to the Word, give
attention to it.
Get your mind off other things.
And it takes time, you know, to give
attention to the Word.
You must set aside something else.
Give attention to that Book.
The second A he suggests is application.
Look now for something to be applied to
me.
If my wife needs this, and my friends
need it, and somebody else needs it, but
I need it.
And so I ask the Lord for something
for me that day.
Application.
Attention, application.
The third A he suggests is aspiration.
And by this, Dr. Thomas means pray over
it.
Pray about what you've read, and this has
been a great help to me in my
own devotional life, to enlarge it, to enrich
it.
To pray about what I've seen in the
Scriptures.
If I've seen the Lord, then I worship
him as I've seen him revealed in the
Word.
He's put his finger upon sin in my
life, I confess that sin to the Lord.
He gives me a new challenge to faith,
then I reach out in faith to claim
that wonderful truth that God's given me in
his Word.
And then the fourth A he suggests is
action.
Action, action.
It's so easy to give attention, to say
that's exactly what I need, to get out
on our knees and pray about it, but
then not act upon it.
Now if you'll take these four A's and
apply them to any time you are confronted
with a word in a worship service such
as this, in a Bible study, in your
quiet time in your family worship, it matters
not.
Give attention to the word.
Application of that word to your own heart.
Then pray over it, and then act upon
it.
Perhaps your Bible reading will become more meaningful
to you as a result.
Now, after you've read the Word, then pray.
Pray.
Let the Word prepare you to pray.
Now what do you pray about?
Well, the scriptural prayers begin with worship and
adoration, and so are we to do this.
Scriptural prayers include confession where this is needed,
and we name our sins to God.
And scriptural prayers include the matter of praying
for the needs that are before us, our
loved ones certainly, our own personal walk with
God, our neighbors and loved ones here for
whom we are concerned.
We pray for others.
We pray for our missionaries.
We pray for Christian workers.
We pray for our government.
We pray for the fields of the Word.
We become specific and definite, as we've heard
this week.
We pray about these things.
Now what time of day is best for
your quiet time?
I've discovered that this is best for the
individual.
The scriptural pattern again and again in Psalm
5, for example, in Psalm 55, speak of
David having met the Lord in the morning.
I like the morning best, but I like
that old adage, early to bed and early
to rise.
My wife says, I haven't been made wealthy
yet, nor wise, but just keep trying.
But I do like that schedule.
For other people, it's horrible.
You don't have any better sense than to
go to bed at 12 or 1 o
'clock at night.
Well, you know, I've discovered at my young
age that you can't get up in the
morning unless you go to bed at night.
That's profound.
You'll find that out in a while.
Now, for some people who don't wake up
until the middle of the morning, the best
time for you is at night.
Have your quiet time when you're awake.
But at least when you open your eyes
in the morning, connect the day to God.
It is the day which the Lord has
made, and dedicate it to him and his
will and his glory.
Now how long should you have a quiet
time?
If I'm speaking to somebody who's never really
gotten started, start with five minutes.
Start with ten minutes.
You've heard about people who pray for an
hour and pray for all day and pray
for all night.
You start with five minutes or start with
ten minutes and let it be meaningful.
And don't be legislated by somebody else's time.
You'll find it will grow.
The first time I talked to my dear
redhead, I just tapped her on the shoulder
at a prayer meeting at Houghton College and
asked her for a date, and we talked
there just a few moments walking down the
stairs.
But on the way down from Birmingham last
Wednesday, we noted our clocks and we spent
six and a half hours talking before we
ran out of something to talk about.
The Careys were there too, I hasten to
add.
But this grows on you.
Don't worry if the other fellow spends an
hour.
You spend the time that's meaningful.
Don't make it legalistic.
Make it important to you.
A definite time, a definite place.
Well, you say, Preacher, I'm just so busy.
I've got so many things to do.
You have just as much time as every
other human being.
The question is discipline, not time.
The question is priorities.
You have to make a value judgment on
that which is good, and that which is
better, and that which is best.
That which is important, that which is more
important, that which is most important.
You have to do this every day and
other things.
You have a choice of three things to
do, and you choose what you must do
first, and you get to it.
And when it comes to a spiritual exercise,
we have to determine what's most important, and
do that first, if it's at all possible.
I trust after these days of study on
the subject of prayer that God has indeed
challenged our hearts anew to faithful, diligent ministry
of intercessory prayer, and that we shall hear
of greater and greater blessings from this place
because of what God has done in answer
to prayer.
Now our text tonight is Matthew chapter 7.
Matthew chapter 7.
An exceedingly familiar text, beginning with verse 7.
Ask, and it shall be given you.
Seek, and ye shall find.
Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that
seeketh findeth.
And to him that knocketh it shall be
opened.
Or what man is there of you whom,
if his son ask bread, will he give
him a stone?
Or if he ask a fish, will he
give him a serpent?
If ye, then, being able, know how to
give good gifts unto your children, how much
more shall your Father who is in heaven
give good things to them that watch?
Ask him.
Our subject tonight is the certainty of answered
prayer.
The certainty of answered prayer.
All of us as believers know what it
is to go to God in prayer, to
get off our knees and go about the
day, not even expecting God to do anything.
Because our conversation that day, our actions that
day, betrayed the time we spent before God
praying about a given matter.
Does God mean it when he says ask,
and it shall be given you?
Does he mean it when he says seek,
and ye shall find?
Does he mean it when he says knock,
and it shall be opened unto you?
For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that
seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it
shall be opened unto you.
Is this promise true?
Are the promises we've shared together this weekend
yea and amen?
Or must we sit here tonight and say,
when it comes to the subject of prayer,
we cannot trust God or his word?
Now, not one of us will buy that,
will we?
We stand up and fight, yea, some of
us would die for the full authority of
scripture.
We say this is the cardinal doctrine of
the Christian faith, the full authority of the
written word of God.
Amen and amen.
Well, beloved, it follows them that his prayer
promises are yea and amen.
That's exactly what I thought.
Now will you notice in these verses, first
of all with me tonight, the nature of
the promise.
There is the human side, there is the
divine side.
We saw these very verses in Luke chapter
11 our first day together, but look at
them briefly with me again tonight.
The human side is asking, the divine side
is giving.
Ask, it shall be given to you.
Seek, and ye shall find.
Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
For everyone that asketh, receiveth, and he that
seeketh, findeth unto him that knocketh, it shall
be opened unto you.
Do you notice?
Ask, ask, ask is repeated in various forms
in these verses.
Brother Willie gave me a book by Guy
King on prayer secrets, and I got to
read just a bit of it, and there
Guy King spoke of this very promise here
in Matthew chapter 7, and one going to
a friend in need, as it is in
the context of Luke chapter 11.
And he speaks out and asks for his
need, and he gets no response.
And so he walks through the gates and
walks around the yard and walks around the
back of the house, because he is his
friend, he has the freedom to do this,
and he seeks for his friend and still
doesn't find him.
So then he goes to the door and
knocks on the door to seek his friend,
to get his need.
Now, God's appointed way of getting things has
been said often enough this weekend for God
to have given this to us.
Don't stumble over the simplicity of it, beloved.
It's like the gospel.
People say it's too simple.
Call unto me and I will answer thee.
Surely great and mighty things which thou knowest
not.
Hitherto he asked nothing in my name.
Asking ye shall receive that your joy may
be full.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, the works
that I do shall he do also, and
greater works than these shall he do.
And whatsoever he shall ask the Father in
my name, he will do it, you see.
Whatsoever he shall ask in my name, that
will I do, that the Father may be
glorified in the Son.
Ask, ask.
Ye have not because ye want.
Ask not.
The Bible is repeatedly giving us this very,
very fundamental approach in our relationship with God.
We come to him and say, asking.
And we've seen this week, asking specifically, asking
believingly, asking in the will of God, asking
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now look at the divine side.
Verse 9, Or what man is there of
you, whom if his son ask bread, will
he give him a stone?
God's in the giving business.
Or if he ask a fish, will he
give him a serpent?
Why not even a human father would do
that.
If ye then being evil, he doesn't congratulate
us here, but tells us the truth.
Ye being evil know how to give good
gifts unto your children.
Oh, don't you love this?
How much more shall your Father who is
in heaven give good things to them who
do what?
Asking.
Did you notice the word give over and
over and over again?
We ask and God gives.
So simple.
But we stand rebuked tonight that we're too
busy to ask.
We're too busy with so many good things
to take time simply to ask.
Or we've been so occupied getting the answer
that we forgot to ask.
God says, ask and it shall be given
you.
Will you notice secondly the importance of this
promise?
The importance is seen in the fact that
seven times in these few verses he said
the same thing.
It's important when you say something two or
three times.
Notice, ask and it shall be given you.
Seek and ye shall find.
Knock and it shall be opened unto you.
Look at verse nine.
What man is there of you, whom if
his son ask bread.
Verse 10, if he ask a fish.
Verse 11, if ye being evil know how
to give good gifts unto your children, how
much more shall your Father who is in
heaven give good things to them that?
Ask him.
Could it be simpler?
But because our Lord repeats it again and
again and again, he is saying don't miss
it.
Don't miss the fundamental importance of the principle.
All take time to ask.
Take time to ask.
Crowd aside other things and take time before
God to pray.
How much more shall your Father who is
in heaven give good things to them who
ask him.
Will you notice thirdly the proof of the
promise?
And the proof of the promise is the
answer.
My father used to tell me as a
boy, the proof of the pudding to me.
The proof of this promise is the answer
to the promise.
Now you've heard repeatedly what I'm about to
say.
But I say it again and again because
it's so important that we be reminded again
and again.
I don't know where the devil gives the
Christian more fit than right here in this
business of prayer.
Do you?
Where he plants more doubts in our minds
and hearts than right here.
That God's really not going to answer.
That God's really not interested in my problem.
That God has forgotten all about me.
That God is no longer concerned.
This is the devil's lie from the pit
of hell.
We're his children.
And he loved us enough to give his
son to die for us on the cross.
And he who spared not his own son,
but gave him up for us all, how
shall he not also with him freely give
us what?
All things.
That's the Father's heart.
Now you've heard repeatedly there are three kinds
of answers to prayer.
But will you mark tonight as we review
them again that all three are answers?
This promise says, if it says anything, that
God's going to answer.
That God must answer to keep his word.
That's what this promise says.
If we ask, we'll receive.
If we seek, we'll find.
If we knock, it shall be opened for
everyone that asketh, receive us.
And he that speaketh, findeth, sendeth him that
knocketh, it shall be opened.
If language says anything, if it means anything,
this text says, God must answer every single
prayer.
That's a big statement, isn't it?
But that's exactly what these verses say.
Now, you say, Priest, there's a catch somewhere.
No, there's no catch, there's no gimmick.
It's just that there are three kinds of
answers.
They're all answers, and they're real answers, and
they're meaningful answers, and they're the right answers
from God.
Look at them quickly with me.
The first is that answer, yes.
That all we all love.
We say, how good the Lord was, he
answered my prayer.
The inference is, how bad he would have
been if he hadn't have given what I
asked for.
Now turn to John chapter 4, text which
illustrates for me very vividly this quick answer
of yes, and all we love this.
John 4, beginning with verse 46.
You remember the story.
Well, the healing of the nobleman's son.
So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee,
where he made the water wine, and there
was a certain nobleman whose son was sick
at Capernaum.
When he heard that Jesus would come out
of Judea into Galilee, he went unto him
and besought him that he would come down
and heal his son, for he was at
the point of death.
Here's a real need, an urgent need, a
son at the point of death.
Know anything more urgent than that to a
person?
Then said Jesus unto him, except ye see
signs and wonders ye will not believe, that
nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere
my child die.
And Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way,
thy son liveth.
And the man believed the word that Jesus
had spoken unto him, and he went his
way.
You know the rest of the story.
The man went and met the servants coming,
and inquired what he began to amend, and
it was the very hour when the Lord
said, Thy son liveth, and the man believed,
and his whole house.
Now God delights, delights, delights to say yes
to us when we pray.
Just as we parents delight to say yes
to our children, and grandparents to grandchildren, and
great-grandparents to great-grandchildren around here.
Wonderful when you can say yes.
Ah, but we know as parents that there
are times when it's best to say no.
Isn't that right?
The youngster has a knife in hand, and
he's running around chasing his kid sister around
the bedroom.
Well, you know the modern psychological approach.
Now don't frustrate the little thing.
He must express himself.
Who will give me that knife?
All right, this is the second answer.
There are times when God says no.
Now there are some writers on the subject
of prayer who say that the only true
prayer is when God says yes.
I disagree.
Turn with me, please, to 2 Corinthians chapter
12.
Here is the Apostle Paul praying.
You and I have enough confidence in the
Apostle Paul to believe that he was a
man of God, though human to be sure.
A man of prayer, of great prayer, who
not only knew prayer but could teach it
as he does throughout his epistles.
He has a personal problem, and that personal
problem was a thorn in his flesh.
We are not told it was his wife.
No, he was single, and his pockets did
jingle.
No, that doesn't follow either.
No, as far as we know, he was
single.
We conclude that this is a physical infirmity,
something very real to us.
We know what it is to have physical
problems, physical needs, and we pray about them,
and we should pray about them.
Now, in this context, and I won't take
time for the details of the context, when
you look at verse 7 now, "...and lest
I should be exalted above measure through the
abundance of the revelations," and read the early
part of the chapter to see this, "...there
was given to me a thorn in the
flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me,
lest I should be exalted above measure.
God then had given to him this weakness
in the physical for a specific purpose.
For this thing I besought the Lord three
times, that it might depart from me."
Can't you hear the Apostle Paul?
Lord, you called me to preach and teach
the Word, and here I go across the
mountains and through the valleys and across the
sea to get the Gospel, and Lord, you
know how much stronger I'd be, how much
more effective I'd be in the service of
Christ.
Lord, if you'd heal this problem, it may
have been his eyesight, it may have been
something else, and the Lord says no.
Now, Lord, you know how this is a
problem to me.
You know how I'm hampered in the Word.
You know how much farther I could travel
and how more effective I could be and
how much stronger I'd be, whatever was the
problem.
Lord, if you'd just heal this, and the
Lord says no.
Lord, I'd put up with this thing about
as long as I think I can.
Now, Lord, you know how faithfully I've served
you.
I don't know how Paul prayed, I'm just
putting in his mouth right now.
Lord, you know how faithfully I've served you.
You know how I've given up all to
serve you.
You know how important it is that we
get over there into Europe, then get over
there into Asia.
Lord, you know how we've got to go
and go and go, and Lord, you know
how hampered I am with this thing.
It's all like an exceedingly reasonable request.
And what does the Lord say?
Verse 9, My grace is sufficient for thee,
for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
That's the nicest way you ever heard no
in your life, isn't it?
Remember the time we were up in London.
Our eldest boy consistently acts like his father,
and I've met nearly every schoolteacher he's ever
had.
And this time the schoolteacher sent home a
note saying, I'd like to have, Keith, I'd
like to have your parents come to the
open house.
Well, we've been at this long enough to
know what that meant.
So our boy, we came to the open
house.
After the other folks had left the room,
we came in and we said, We're Keith's
mother and father, and we smiled meaningfully to
the teacher and she smiled meaningfully to us.
And we are asking, and it says, What's
the problem this time?
We said, How's our boy doing?
She said, Well, you have a fine boy.
He's just got one problem.
Well, what's that?
His interest span isn't long enough.
That's the nicest way I've ever heard that
said.
All right.
My grace is sufficient for thee.
My strength is made perfect in weakness.
That's God's way of saying no.
God said no to the apostle Paul.
And there are times he says no to
you and he says no to me.
And someone has said, When God says no,
he always has something better.
Do you believe that?
The reason that statement is correct is because
it's omniscience that says no.
It's the all-wise God who says no.
It's the infinitely loving Heavenly Father who says
no.
It's the God of righteousness and goodness and
faithfulness and truth who says no.
And when he says no, you can be
sure he has something better.
Did you ever thank him for a no?
My first year in seminary, my wife was
working on her Ph.D. That means putting
hubby through.
And so she was downtown working as I
was on the seminary campus preparing for the
Lord's work, I was so anxious to preach.
I pastored up in New York when I
was going through college a bit, and I
was so anxious to have the ministry of
the word, and at the same time an
extra dollar or two if this had come
in to help pay the bill.
And my wife was working at a downtown
department store, and she was beside a Baptist
deacon's wife, and they were working together, and
my wife just shared the fact that her
husband was at Dallas Seminary, and he'd love
an opportunity to preach, and she said, well
listen, I'll tell my husband.
Our church has a mission church, and this
mission church is without a pastor right now.
So my wife came home and told me
the story, and so we started praying the
Bible, and the deacon's wife told her deacon
husband, and the deacon husband told the pastor,
and the pastor came out to see me.
We talked a bit about things, didn't agree
on everything, but it looked as if things
were fine, and he invited me down to
speak to their training union in a night
or two to address them, and if I
was acceptable to the mother church, then I
would be given an opportunity to preach in
the mission church.
Well, I got down there that night and
expounded some portion of the word, and those
people just sat there and drank it in,
and they came up afterwards and said, my,
how we appreciate the word.
And I thought, well, I'm in, and the
pastor said, you'll be hearing from me shortly.
Now that was in the fall of 1944,
and I hadn't heard yet.
Six months later, the pastor was dismissed from
the church on serious charges, and God spared
me from that whole mess.
How good of our God to say no.
Later on, there was a Bible church outside
of Dallas that needed a pastor, and the
pastor was leaving, graduating, and he came to
me and he said, Brother Alden, would you
like to candidate for the church?
I said, fine, I'd love to.
I was anxious again to have a full
-time church, and so we talked together, and
he said, I'll present your name to the
deacons, and I haven't heard from them yet.
What did the Lord do?
He knew he had teaching for me in
Bible institutes and Bible colleges, and so the
next fall I was free to accept a
teaching position at the Dallas Bible Institute halftime,
and after graduation I stayed there for five
years teaching in that school.
That was the thing the Lord did for
me, and he said no over here, because
for me he had something better.
Has God been saying no to you lately?
Thank him.
When God says no, he always has something
better.
Now there's a third kind of answer, and
that's the hardest of all, isn't it?
Wait.
Who wants to wait in this jet age,
when you come up to a signal light
that's red, and there's a car in front
of you, and it turns green, and in
one split second that lady sits there?
And you lay on your horn, and you
get out the window and say, how greedy
must it get before you'll move?
Sure.
We don't like to wait these days.
No.
But there are times the Lord says, wait.
Let's look at this in principle in Matthew
chapter 15.
I'm aware of the fact now that the
chronology is not long, but the principle is
here.
Matthew chapter 15, beginning with verse 21.
Then Jesus went from there and departed into
the borders of Tyre and Sidon.
And behold, a woman of Canaan came out
to the same borders and cried unto him,
saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou
son of David.
My daughter is grievously vexed with a demon.
Here is a Gentile woman, a very real
need, with a nobleman that was his son,
with a Syrophoenician woman as her daughter, here
demon possessed.
A burdened mother for her daughter, just as
some of us here tonight are burdened for
our children, for their salvation or their growth
and maturity in Christ.
And so she comes to the Savior, and
look at verse 23.
But he answered her, Not a word.
Ever been there?
Lots of times, haven't we?
And his disciples came and besought him, saying,
Send her away, for she crieth after us.
Ha!
She's just a Gentile, you know.
She's a nobody.
She's just a nuisance.
Get her out of your hair.
Forget her.
But he answered and said, I am not
sent but unto the Lord's sheep of the
house of Israel.
She was a Gentile, so he was putting
her off again.
Then came she and worshiped him, saying, Lord,
help me.
Or as we say in Alabama, Lord, help
me.
Hmm?
No, Lord, I need help.
But he answered and said, It's not right
to take the children's bread, that of the
Jews, and to cast it to the dogs.
The Jews consider the Gentiles dogs in that
day.
He's putting her off again.
He's saying, Wait again.
She said, Truth, Lord, I love this.
Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which
fall from their master's table.
She won't be denied.
Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O
woman, great is thy faith, being unto thee
even as thou wilt.
And their daughter was made well from that
very hour.
I repeat, the chronology is not long, but
the principle is here.
Again and again and again the woman was
put off.
And again and again and again the woman
came back in faith to the Lord who
was able to heal her daughter.
And the Lord replies, Great is thine.
We have seen already this week together that
this is one reason for perseverance in prayer.
Our faith needs to be tested.
It needs to be strengthened.
May we turn now to just two portions
of the scriptures as we close.
Turn again to James chapter 1.
Notice this principle of delay, this business of
the trial of our faith, which so many
of us experience so much of the time.
James chapter 1 verse 2, My brethren, count
it all joy when ye fall into various
trials, knowing this, that the testing of your
faith, when the Lord says wait, wait, wait,
wait, and some of us have waited a
long time, knowing that the trial of your
faith were his patience.
The Lord puts a premium on this commodity.
Patience.
Some of us don't have very much of
it.
Amen.
I heard one amen.
The rest of you all have it.
All right.
Now he says let patience have her perfect
work, maturing work it says, that she may
be perfect, literally mature, grown up, and entire.
That means complete in every part, lacking nothing.
Do you see from this text that the
problem here is not in the daughter or
the son or the husband or the wife
or the neighbor or the friend or the
business?
The problem is in the one who's doing
the praying.
The reason for the delay is not here
that God needs time to work in my
daughter or in my son.
The problem here is that God needs time
to work in me.
I'm the reason God is saying wait, because
God needs to perfect that which is lacking
in me, that God needs to mature me,
that God needs to keep withholding the answer
so I will learn more and more and
more to depend upon him, to trust him,
to be complete in every part, lacking nothing.
I don't blame God then when he says
wait.
I don't get dinner with God then when
he says wait.
I don't criticize God or somebody else when
he says wait.
I say Lord what are you trying to
do in me?
What's the Romans 8 28 in this for
me?
In what way, in what area am I
immature?
Where are you trying to speak to me
and perfect that which is lacking in my
faith?
Lord show me, help me to profit from
this, help me to mature in this.
Thank you for it Lord.
In the meantime if any of you lack
wisdom, let him ask of God who will
give it to all men liberally and abrade
if not, and I love this, it shall
be given him.
But let him ask in faith, nothing will
he find.
Will you turn to 1 Peter chapter 1.
We saw this verse this morning, verse 5,
that we're kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time.
In this ye greatly rejoice, though now for
a season, if need be, ye are in
heaviness through manifold trials.
Never rains but it pours when it comes
to testing.
Peter says you're in heaviness if need be
through manifold trials.
That the trial of your faith, being much
more precious than a gold with perish it,
though it be tried with fire, and some
of us think it is the very thing
that we're being tried with tonight, might be
found unto praise and honor and glory at
the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom have ye
not seen?
Ye love.
In whom though now ye see him not,
yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and
full of glory, receiving the end of your
faith, even the salvation of your soul.
One of the big prayer requests we have
in school business is money.
The students pay only about two-thirds of
their tuition, and so we have to pray
much about God's provision.
And we need a new building here, you
know, a new gymnasium, girl's dormitory, and new
this and new that, the way you need
more new motels here, and new apartments, and
so on.
Same principle.
Now, Peter says, the trial of your faith
is more important than the money.
You have to take this one by faith,
don't you?
But that's exactly what he says.
The trial of your faith, being much more
precious than a gold with perish it, though
it be tried with fire.
Peter says, the important thing is that your
faith be found unto praise and honor and
glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
That's the important thing.
Far more important than the answer, then, is
the growth, the maturity of your faith in
God.
Oh, let God give it to us.
Let's quit blaming God, and let's quit complaining
about our circumstances, and let's quit this impatient
business, and instead face ourselves in the light
of the word of God, and realize that
for we know that how many things work
together for good.
Oh, that was a solo, too.
Thank you.
Ah, but it's the truth.
We forget, don't we?
And we do complain, and we do find
fault, and we do get irritable, and we
do sat back, and we do get sharp,
when all the time God's trying to teach
us patience and long-suffering with joyfulness.
So there's a reason for the wait.
Three kinds of answers.
All answers, all answers, yes, no, wait.
Let's go back to our text as we
close.
Ask, and it shall.
Seek, and ye shall find.
Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
For everyone that asketh what?
Receive it.
He that seeketh what?
Findeth to him that knocketh what?
It shall be opened.
Do you believe it tonight?
Do I?
Let God be true.
His word is yea, and amen.
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my
word shall not pass away.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the
word of our God shall forever.
The certainty of the promise.
Take heart tonight, dear mother.
Take heart tonight, dear father.
Take heart tonight, dear loved one, friend.
God's going to answer your prayer.
He says he will.
You can trust him absolutely.
Our father, how we praise thee for this.
We have to bow our heads in shame
tonight, that all too often we have not
expected thee to answer.
Cleanse our hearts from unbelief tonight.
We have failed.
We have been bitter.
We have criticized.
We've found fault.
We've questioned.
We've complained.
We've paced the floor.
We've worried.
We confess our sin to thee tonight, and
we claim the cleansing blood of the Lord
Jesus.
Now, our father, encourage our faith with thy
word this night.
Give us that implicit and explicit confidence in
thy word that will enable us to bow
before thee tonight in faith and say thank
you for the answer that is coming to
the burdens upon our hearts.
With the disciples of old, we pray again.
Lord, teach us to pray in the name
of Christ.
Amen.
You've been listening to the From the Pulpit
in Classic Sermon series.
This week you heard with his message, Answered
Prayer.
Tune in next week to hear Lester Simrall
talk about demonology and deliverance on From the
Pulpit in Classic Sermons.