Pray and Not Lose Heart — Paul Washer

That is not orientated in the direction it ought to be. We speak about so many things, and oftentimes we're so materialistic, or we show ourselves to be so materialistic when we speak about heaven, speaking about streets of gold and gates of pearl, and getting all excited about things you walk on and swing on.

The fact of the matter is, heaven is glorious because of Christ. But He also wants you to know that heaven is glorious because of His people. Because of not what they are inherently by themselves, but what He has made them to be.

If anyone were to ask me, they say, well, such and such a thing is a touch of heaven on earth. I would say the closest thing to a touch of heaven on earth is the fellowship of God's people. And there is so much that He has done in our lives.

The Fellowship of God's People as a Foretaste of Heaven

One of the saddest things of a meeting like this is that you only touch the surface. You only touch the surface of the lives of even people that you spend a few minutes with, and then most people you can't even do that.

I think that it would be a good thing one day to just have a conference of fellowship. What are you going to do? Well, we're just going to hang out together for three days. Well, are you going to listen to great preachers?

No, we're just going to hang out together for three days. Well, what about preaching? We do that a lot, but we're just going to hang out together for three days. Listen to each other's testimonies and talk about Christ.

I've met so many people here, even this weekend that I've never met, and it's been such a great joy. I spent a lot of time with old brother Luke back there and just talking about so many things. You really need to pray for him.

He has gone through some things that few men... He's gone through something in particular that few men could ever endure and survive. And I've been praying for him. I mean, this year his wife started hunting and she killed a bigger deer than he did.

I know few men who could survive a trial like that. So pray for him. Pray for him also because I plan to go to Iowa and have no mercy on him either. But I'll tell you, I know it seems to be running on, but cherish moments like these.

Cherish times like these. Cherish being able to be brought into the presence of another believer in whom dwells the Christ. It is such a great privilege. Today, I don't even know where to begin. I want to talk about prayer, but then in order to talk about prayer, there are other things that you have to understand.

And in order to talk about those things, there are other things that you must understand. If I were to address anyone, address my own son about prayer, I couldn't go on to the things of prayer until one seed was solidly sown in his heart.

God's Goodness as the Foundation of Prayer

And that is this, God is good. God is good. And I know you say, okay, let's go on now. Let's learn some things about God. No, you could spend an eternity just trying to understand that God is good. And the way I see most believers live, even those that are very pious, much more devoted than I am, the lack of joy, and the lack of believing that God is for them.

They are so mesmerized by their own failure that they don't even see that's not even the point. And that the whole thing... Are you expecting one day to be swallowed up in the fact that you finally know how to live the Christian life?

Are you expecting one day to draw all your confidence from the fact that finally you're able to dot every i and cross every t? I mean, what are you expecting? To one day arrive and then come into this great joy?

You're never going to arrive and therefore you're never going to come into this great joy because the great joy doesn't come from that. It is not your continuous work for God, but Christ's finished work for you.

And that is what you must understand. I want us to look for just a moment. We're going to hop all around today. And I want you to go to Ephesians for a moment. Chapter 2. In talking about prayer and talking about the goodness of God, there's something I would like to say.

Sometimes, you know, if we were to speak with a doctor, a doctor, Dr. Berry, or just any physician, you realize that he would know much more about my wife than I do. Do you realize that? A physician could sit down and tell me things about my wife that I never knew with regard to how her heart works and how her muscles contract and expand and all the different things about how her body works.

He knows more about my wife than I do than I ever will. He can grasp concepts about my wife that are so far beyond my tiny mind that I'll never be able to know them. But he doesn't know my wife like I know my wife.

It's the same thing in everything about God, especially for the young theologian. You need to understand this. You may be able to quote the Westminster. You may understand the Greek and the Hebrew, and you may read so many books, but do you know Him?

You may be able to analyze Him, but do you walk with Him? Do you know Him? Sometimes we're so concerned about knowing all this stuff that we're like the difference between a scientist and a child. My little boy Ian, for example, I mean, the kid could pass out from excitement by looking at a white wall.

And you stand there and you have this scientist and he's looking at a sunset and he's explaining how the light reflects and all these different things and why these colors occur and why this happens and what exactly the tilt of the earth and the clouds and the atmosphere and everything.

And my little boy is just looking at him like, but the colors! He wants an explanation. The little boy just wants to look at the colors. Just wants to see the beauty. Just wants to wonder how God painted such a thing.

From where did He get the paint? And what was His brush? It's the same way in so many things about God. You want to know this. You want to know that. How do you pray? How do you study? How do you do all these things?

But the thing that you most need to do is just look and go, whoa! Just look at Him. There's such a difference between knowing truth and knowing God. Now, knowing truth is a means. It's part of the journey.

It's essential. It's foundational. But it's not the whole thing. It's not the whole thing. And that is why a little old woman in Romania who can barely read the Bible can experience more of the workings and the truth of God than a man who can read it backwards and forwards in the original language.

Salvation Displays God's Grace

Now, when we look at Ephesians chapter 2, we understand something extremely important. Why has God saved you? You know, I've heard people say, well, God has saved you to serve. Did He have a need? And if He did have a need, couldn't He have found somebody better than you?

Well, first of all, He doesn't have a need. And yes, He could have found somebody better than you and better than me. So, Him saving us to serve, I think, is pretty much out of the question. Now, we need to serve, but that's not the purpose for which He saved us.

It's not like God has a need. Why has He saved us? Has He saved us so that we would love Him? Well, again, did He need to be loved? Did He save us so that somehow we would so love Him? And if we do so love Him, who is being exalted?

God or us? Is our love to be the topic of the thing of the Christian life? So, no, He didn't save us just to love Him. Why did He save us? If you look in Ephesians 2, going down through there beginning in verse 1, talking about us being dead and our trespasses and sins, and all the heinous crimes we committed in verses 2 and 3, and we get to 4 and it says, but God.

I have a sign in my office. It's quilted and it's in a frame. It just has two words. But God. And every time there's a trial, every time there's a weakness of mind that prevails, every time I stumble and fall, every time I don't know what I'm going to do because things I've already done that were wrong, I look up and I see those two words.

But God. And that's all I need. That's all I need. And He goes, but God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead and our transgressions made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved and raised up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Why? Why has He done all these things? So that in the ages to come, He might show the surpassing riches of His grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Why has God saved you? He has saved you to make a demonstration out of you.

He has saved you to demonstrate something about Himself. Now, let's just imagine for a moment, Bill Gates gets a lot of bad publicity. Everyone's always talking bad about Bill Gates. I mean, after all, you get a hundred billion dollars and there's going to be people who are jealous.

And like all men, he has his faults. But let's say that Bill Gates has some terrible publicity lately. People talking about him, saying he's unkind and cruel and all sorts of things. So he decides, look, I've got to give the world a demonstration of how good I am.

So I'm going to find the lowliest person on the face of the earth that I can find. Picks one of you college students. And he says, I am going to do nothing but lavish upon them absolutely the full extent of all my wealth.

Would any of you like to be volunteers? And you see, here's the thing. The lowlier you are and the least you deserve, the less you deserve, the more magnified He is in being good to you. Do you see that?

Jesus even gave us the principle, I mean, if you love someone who loves you back, I mean, what glory is in that? You treat those kind who treat you kind, what glory is there in that? I mean, how do you show unconditional love?

There's only one way. You show it upon the one who meets none of the conditions. This has never been about you meeting the conditions so that somehow God would love you. It's always been about God glorifying Himself by loving you unconditionally, you who meet none of the conditions.

Do you see that? I see Christians all the time and they're in this thing, even though they would not say it, if you look at their life, they're in this thing of somehow being worthy of something. And that's not what Christianity is about.

Now, back up for a moment and I will say this, the teaching that I'm going to give today, the carnal, unconverted, wicked church member will listen to it and go, man, I can just keep on sinning and keep on walking in ungodliness and God's going to bless me.

But the true Christian, the true believer, will hear these things and say, if these things are so, I want so much to be for Him. I want so much to serve Him. I want so much to be a blessing and a pleasure to Him.

And we look at this passage so that in the ages to come, He might show the surpassing riches of His grace. What is grace? Unmerited favor. So He has saved you so that He could show principalities and powers and mights and dominions, every created thing in heaven and on earth and in hell.

He has saved you for one purpose. To lavish upon you all that is His. All of His love. All of His lovingkindness. All of His goodness throughout all of eternity upon you so that every creature that turns a glance toward you can only fall down on their face and worship God for His goodness.

Folks, if you're a Christian, you've got a pretty good future ahead of you. Perspectives are very, very good for you. Think about that. Think about that. Think about that. All the very reputation of the glory of God which He is so concerned about, He is giving a demonstration.

Now, let me give you another example. Let's say that you have an ailment of the heart. You need a heart transplant. There's no one available. And so I march up there to the hospital and I say, look, I'm willing to die.

Take my heart. Give it to the young man. And they say, okay. Alright. Put me out there on the table. They take out my heart. I pass away. They put my healthy heart in you and you live. The next morning, the newspapers.

About whom are they going to be speaking? Are they going to be talking about you? Are they going to be talking about how wonderful you are? Are they going to be talking about how just absolutely special you are?

Are they going to be raving about your moral character? Are they going to be talking good things about you? Are they going to be amazed with you? No. They're going to be amazed with me. They're going to be awestruck about me because I'm the one who gave it.

It's not the one who receives the gift that gains the glory. It's the one who gives the gift to the one who does not deserve it. And that's what this is about. I hear people all the time saying, well, I just want my life to glorify God.

I just want my life to glorify God. And there is a sense, a very important sense in which we are to live our life to the glory of God whether we eat or drink, do the most menial task. It is unto the glory of God.

But that is not the primary way in which God is glorified in you. God is not worshipped and God is not adored and creatures do not stand in awe of God because of what you do for Him. They stand in awe of God because of what He does for you.

And that is one of the greatest and most important truths behind all praying. Now, I want us to go for a moment to Jeremiah. Let's go to Jeremiah 33 for just a moment. Now, in verse 40, talking about the New Covenant, he says, I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good.

And I will put the fear of me in their hearts so that they will not turn away. Now, I want you to look at something here. He's made an everlasting covenant with them, not only not to turn away from His people, but He's made an everlasting covenant, an unending promise to do them good.

I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt in my mind that our Master withholds no good thing from His people. Our Master withholds no good thing from His people. And He has made a covenant. He has made an everlasting promise to do you good.

God Rejoices to Do Good to His People

Now, I want us to stop there for a moment because this type of language sometimes makes us almost think that God is, alright, I've entered into this covenant with you, and I'm going to do you good because I don't break my promises.

I mean, if it wasn't for this covenant, you'd be history. But now I've entered into this covenant, and I don't break my promises, and yeah, you're a rat, and yeah, you stink, and yeah, you don't deserve anything from me, but I've entered into a covenant, and I'm going to keep my promise.

But look at the next text. I'm sorry, chapter 32. Look at the next text, verse 41. And I will rejoice over them to do them good. I will rejoice over them to do them good. So it is not what some people...

I mean, we would never say these things, but if you look at the way we live, and if you look at our attitudes, and you look at our lack of joy, and we look at the way we grumble before God, and the things we say about ourselves, we're almost like, well, you know, praise God, even though I'm a stinking, rotten, wretch, stink in the nostrils of God, He's made a covenant to do me good, and He'll do it because He doesn't fail in His promises.

That's not what He says. He says, I will rejoice over you to do you good. Now, why is that? It's because of what we talked about last night, you see. When Christ died, right before He died, He said, it is finished.

What is finished? Sin is finished. Enmity with God is finished. It's finished. The work of reconciliation, it is finished. You see, when you doubt these things, you're not doubting your own goodness. You shouldn't have been trusting in your own goodness to start off with.

What you're doubting in is the power of the cross. The power of the cross put away all your sin. But not only that, through the perfect life of Jesus Christ, His perfect death on the tree, His resurrection from the dead, not only have you been forgiven, but the righteousness of Christ has been given to you.

You're standing before God is always right. And you say, but how can that be? Because look what I've done even after being a Christian. Don't you understand? It's not about you. It's about Him. It's about His work on the cross.

He always sees you now as His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. And He rejoices over His people to do them good. If I had to look at most Christians, even true Christians' lives, and write a hymn based on their life, it would be something like this.

You are God and I'm a worm. Step on me and watch me squirm. I mean, it's just like... And so many people have this type of attitude, and they have it thinking they're being humble, when in fact what they're doing is casting doubt upon the perfect work of God in Christ.

Holy Boldness Through Christ's Finished Work

Part of boldness. Now again, a carnal, unconverted person will take this and twist it. But part of boldness is going, yes, I can stand in His presence. Yes, I can enter in where angels fear to tread. And then when the devil rises up and says, but you're not...

Listen, we've been through that before. This is not about the younger brother. This is not about the younger sister. This is about the elder brother, who is not ashamed to call us his brothers and his sisters.

This is about Him. He says, well, the Christian is the only person can say, the only person that can honestly say they're going to heaven, and can stand in the presence of God, without being proud. Because their entire standing and their entire entering in is based on the virtue and the merit of another.

And so when we feel as though we can't enter in, when we feel as though He does not love us, when we begin to think this way, we're not being humble. We are saying the cross has no power. That the work is not finished.

When we say that God is not pleased with us, what we're really saying is God was not pleased with Him. The work is perfect, or it's not perfect at all. The work paid for everything, or it paid for nothing.

It says He'll no longer count our sin. My friend, what do you think that means? If you have one sin, you go to hell. He doesn't have to count very long. Just one sin. But all of them have been removed through Christ.

So there is a boldness, a holy boldness, a joyful boldness to just enter in. Why? Because of Him. Because of Him. It's the one who enters in and thinks they can enter in because of some righteous deed in themselves that do violence to the truth of Christianity.

But you're not that way, are you? Haven't you learned that you stand upon Christ alone, or you stand upon nothing? And if you stand upon Christ alone, tis enough. Tis enough. Now, look at this passage.

He says not only that He's made a covenant to do His people good, but look at, and I want to use a word here very loosely, look at the attitude of God. Or the disposition of God in doing His people good.

Look what He says. He says, verse 41 of chapter 32, I will rejoice over them to do them good. Do you see that? Now, this is the language of a bridegroom with his bride. This is the language. A lot of you young guys aren't married, but about the happiest moment of your life is going to be after you get married.

The fact that you've entered into a relationship with... You're just so excited. You run into a wall. You don't even know what to do. You're so happy. And that's good. You ought to be. The problem in the church today is not too much passion.

It's a lack thereof. All these dead holy people, they're just boring. But this passion, I mean, whoa! That's right. Amen. At least there's one that's alive here this morning. But it's like, I can't wait.

I can't wait. I can't wait. Man, preacher, get through this thing. Get the wedding over. No, I'm not going to the reception. Jump in the car. I'm gone. I can't wait. God's going, I can't wait. What are you going to do today, Lord?

I'm going to do My people good. I'm going to do them good. I'm going to do them good. Oh, yeah, sure. I could go out there and create another couple of gajillion universes. Oh, yeah, I could sit here all day and talk to you angels.

I'm going to do My people good. Can't wait. I rejoice over that. It brings delight to my heart to do My people good. And most of God's people almost think that God grudgingly does it because He's entered into some contract to do it.

No, He rejoices to do it. And that is so exciting to me. And it's not He rejoices to do it to Charles Spurgeon, or to Mary Slessor of Calabar, or to Amy Carmichael, or to Brother Elliot, or to John Piper, but to His people.

And to the lowliest and most humble of His people, He rejoices more to do them good. Why? More glory. All of eternity. Remember this. All of eternity will be nothing but God lavishing His riches upon your head so that all the angels in heaven stand there every day.

If you could say something about glory. Every exceeding, every passing day in glory, He will heap upon your head greater and greater degree of blessing and angels will fall into greater and greater heights of adoration because of the goodness He has shown to you.

God's Love, Glory, and the Believer's Freedom

But, let me ask you a question. Does eternal life begin when you die? Or does it begin the moment you are born again? And this demonstration that God seeks to give, does He seek to give it only to glorified saints made perfect?

Or does it start now? Starts now. Starts now. Starts the moment you believe. Start lavishing upon you. Anything that I am, I may not be much, but anything that I am, any blessing, it's just a product of God's goodness.

That's all it is. That's all it is. And the sad thing about it is, I have not more because I ask not for more. He rejoices to do you good. He rejoices to do you good. He's excited about doing you good.

So many people down through the ages, even up to today, have almost spent their entire lives seeking the favor of some earthly king. Men who have taken care of an ancient relative only because they hope somehow that an inheritance will be left to them.

Men who have given everything just to get into the presence of someone with power in hopes that somehow they might be blessed, and yet the very King of glory has made an everlasting covenant to rejoice over you in doing you good.

Now, why is He so concerned with this? Well, you can say for His own glory, and I appreciate that because that is true, but be very, very careful. Be very careful with that statement. Because He also does it because He is love.

He is love. One of the problems that I have, and I don't have many, but one of the dangers, especially of young men talking about God doing everything for His glory, is that if you don't see the whole...

You see, if you emphasize even that, if you emphasize anything about God as the greatest thing, you're probably going to get off the mark. Because God's just too big to be brought into, this is everything it's all about.

The fact of the matter is, God does everything for His own glory. Tis true, tis true. We'll spend a lifetime rejoicing in that and an eternity doing the same. But He not only saves you because He wants to get some glory for Himself, He saves you because He really does love you, and He really does love you for this reason.

He's decided to. And He is love. It's not just something He wants to express. As a matter of fact, the only reason God wants to express love is because it is what He is. It's not something He just decides either.

He is love, and He is love in absolutely everything He does. You see, especially reformed guys. It's like, you know, all these covenants and things, and there's a lot of that that's so important and so true.

And because of this, God does this, and all these different legal and forensic things, and they're all true. I spoke about them last night. But be very careful. You turn this into almost a politic. He is love, and He loves you.

He rejoices over you. This is not just about making a promise that He's going to keep. This is because He really does. Do you think it's hard for Him to keep that promise? That's a question I like to ask people.

Do you think He's made this promise, and it's a hard thing for Him to keep? Well, look at me. How could it not be? He's not looking at you. He's looking at Christ. And His finished work that's really real.

And it's not a hard thing to keep. In the same way that for a believer, a true believer that's been regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit, the commandments of God are not a burden to Him. One of the reasons, not just that He's just a new creature, it's just that He has a love in Him for God.

God's commandments are not a burden to us. God's promises are not a burden to Him. He freely makes them because of love. He's freely able to love because of the cross of Jesus Christ, which is a perfect work.

So, if you're going to understand prayer, you have to believe something. God is willing to do you good. God has promised to do you good. And more than that, God rejoices over you to do you good. Much of our piety...

I have to speak in a couple of weeks at a conference on the denial of self, of the practice of cutting things out of your life, of self-sacrifice, things like that. That's the topic they've given me.

Distinguishing Biblical Piety from Cultural Tradition

But when you address this issue, along with prayer and everything else, you've got to understand something. Do you realize that most people's idea of what happened in the Exodus is based more on the movie Moses or the film The Ten Commandments than it is actually on the Bible?

Do you know a great amount of our views of self-denial are based upon an extremely perverted, middle-ages type of Catholic theology? Do you realize that our ideas of piety and prayer and everything else are based on things that are not scriptural?

You'd be surprised how influenced you are by those things. What it means to be pious. What it means to deny self. You'd be surprised if I were to ask you for a moment, and I would never do this, but for you to actually physically in your mind try to imagine what Jesus looked like.

You know what's amazing? It'll be basically 16th century Catholic art that was painted by some homosexual. That will come up in your brain. Do you see how powerful that is? You have to throw out all these ideas.

Oh, He's so close to God. Well, why? You ever ask that question? God really uses that guy! Well, why? Why? What's He got that you don't have? What's He done that you haven't done? What is it? All my life, young preacher, listen to me.

All my young preaching life, I would look at a lot of good preachers, and I would think, you know, what is it that they got? I mean, how did they get that close? How did they... What was it they did? What, who...

And then some of them will actually portray, bless God, young men, if you want to be used like I'm being used, you need to do this. What I have done. I love for young men to come and stay with me for about three or four weeks.

I just love it. Go to Peru with me and things like that so that they can learn what real Christianity is about. You follow me around, buddy. You'll know what it means to walk with God. You'll get off that plane.

You will think I am the Apostle Paul. Three weeks with me, you will be praying for my salvation. And you'll walk back to the States, totally disappointed. And it's not because I don't want to be godly.

And it's not because I don't want to be Christ-like. The problem is, you're just going to see nothing but a person that God is merciful to. You'd be surprised. I'm amazed. I think sometimes I'll see young men who think too much of me.

I'll personally ask them to go to Peru with me. And I'm thinking that when they finally discover this is the grace of God, they will be so free and so happy. And in fact, most of them get disappointed and angry.

And why? They're not revealing something about me. They're revealing something about them. They want to earn something. They want to be something so that, bless God, they can tell people why God uses them.

I don't have a clue why God uses me! Except that He is good. And He has been kind. And He rejoices over His people to do His people good. Now again, a carnal person will take that and say, man, let's not worry about prayer.

Let's just live like hell and God will bless us. But if you're truly a Christian, you're going to go, whoa, I just heard a bell ring of freedom. And freedom is part of what it's all about. Free. That song, I keep going back to it, but I love that song.

Persistent Prayer and the Warning Against Losing Heart

You do not want me to sing it in the shower. But I do. I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free. Now, we're running out of time and we haven't even begun to talk about prayer, which is usually something that I do.

I want you to go just quickly to Luke 18. Luke 18, verse 1. And I'm not going to have... I'm just going to try to address this first verse. Now, He was telling them a parable to show them at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart.

Now, there's a tremendous ministry that Satan has. You know, he's called the accuser, and he is the accuser. But there is a real way in which Satan can be called our advocate. Now, just let me explain what I'm talking about.

Or at least he seeks to portray himself as our advocate, our helper. Look, God gives Adam and Eve absolutely an entire garden. Satan fails to mention that, doesn't he? Anything you want in this garden is yours except what?

This tree. Alright? So Satan comes and says, man, you know, just rolls his eyes a little bit. Well, I see you've talked to deity over there. Man, can you believe that? He won't let you have this tree.

Man, I'd let you have the tree. Really. Jesus talks about what kind of Messiah that He was. Satan cared about Him so much, walks over to Him through Peter, says, now look, Jesus, God never asked you to do that.

And if He did, I mean, what kind of God is He? Alright? I see this so much in Christians. Well, I've prayed and I've prayed, but I mean, no answer. I've just lost heart in all of this. And someone walks over and goes, oh, dear you.

Oh, dear you. Oh, dear you. You just accused God. You just accused God. And I think it was in Anne of Green Gables or something, the lady that she was staying with there. And she said something about, oh, I'm so depressed or desperate or something.

And the lady said, to be that way is to turn your back on God. And of course, in the movie, they kind of portrayed it as harsh. But look at what you're... When you lose heart in prayer, I mean, what are you saying?

What are you really saying? God didn't answer me. I've just lost heart. He didn't answer me when I asked. I mean, I've lost heart. You should never lose heart because He withholds no good thing from His people.

You should never lose heart. You pray and you keep praying. How long do I pray, Brother Paul? Let me just give you the answer. This is how long you pray. You pray for what you desire in your heart until God answers you or until He shows you.

Either the desire is wrong or it's not the desire's time. You just keep praying until He gives you what you seek or until He directs you in another way. But you don't lose heart. Why? Because He is the all-sovereign God who loves you and cares for you.

If He answers you and gives you what you desire, then it is for your good. If He withholds an answer for you and makes you tarry before Him, for 15 years, it is for your good. If He tells you no, it is for your good.

Whatever He does is for your good. As a matter of fact, in the believer's life, there is nothing that ever happens to the child of God that is not good. No evil will come upon you or befall you. No evil.

No evil. You say, you have got to be kidding me. You sound like one of these charismatic preachers now. No, I don't, because here's the great difference. Our definition of evil and our definition of good.

What is good? That which most conforms you to the image of Jesus Christ and that which in eternity will add up to the greatest weight of glory. So what happens? If I am healthy, it is a good thing. With my health, I have a great deal of responsibility to use my health for His glory.