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Ephesians 6:18
Amen. Christ is King. If you turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 6, we have dawned upon a new verse. I started last week with a quote from John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, which by the way, we have some free copies if you would like one of those.
But I told you the story of Christian wielding the sword of the Spirit. And I'm going to read another quote. We pick up really close to where we left off. So Christian, if you weren't here last week, he's just finished his battle with Apollyon using the sword of the Spirit.
So now Bunyan writes this. So being refreshed, he addressed himself to his journey with his sword drawn in his hand. For he said, I know not, but some other enemy may be at hand. But he met with no other affront from Apollyon quite through this valley.
Now at the end of this valley was another, the valley of the shadow of death. And Christian must needs go through it, because the way to the celestial city lay through the midst of it. Now this valley is a very solitary place.
The prophet Jeremiah thus describes it a wilderness, a land of deserts and of pits, a land of drought and of shadow of death, a land that no man but a Christian passed through and where no man dwelt. About the midst of this valley, I perceived the mouth of hell to be.
And it stood also hard by the wayside. Now, thought Christian, what shall I do? And ever and anon, the flame and smoke would come out in such abundance with sparks and hideous noises, things that cared not for Christian's sword as did Apollyon before.
So now he was forced to put up his sword and betake himself to another weapon called all prayer. So he cried out, O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul. Sometimes he had a half a thought to go back.
Then again, he thought he might be halfway through the valley. He remembered also how he had already vanquished many a danger and that the danger of going back might be much more than four to go forward.
So he resolved to go on, yet the fiends seemed to come nearer and nearer. But when they were come even almost at him, he cried out with a most vehement voice, I will walk in the strength of the Lord God.
So they caved back and came no further. So I said something in error last week. I want to address that this morning. And I'm not the only one. Sometimes it happens when it comes to talking about the armor of God.
The error I made last week was to tell you that the only offensive weapon that we have in the armor of God is the sword of the spirit. Now, technically, insofar as the analogy of the armor goes, that is true.
However, you need to know this morning that the Bible is not the only weapon that the Christian has when it comes to spiritual warfare. It is not our only offensive strategy, if you will, against the world and the flesh and the devil.
We also have another weapon, as Bunyan said, called all prayer. There's a lot that I think that we need to hear from this text. About prayer, and it's going to take us, come no surprise to you, more than one week to do it.
But listen to me, church. Isn't it sad? And I'm standing before you as one guilty. Isn't it sad how often we neglect this great weapon? You are going to hear some things that I believe the Holy Spirit will use in conviction to your heart this morning.
Mine, too, in preparation. But you need to understand that I tell this to you in love. I tell this to you as one who is battling along with you, that we need to go to God for more grace, for trusting his precious promises, and particularly to obey what he's told us in prayer.
I need this and you need it, too. So let's stand and honor the reading of God's word this morning. The weapon of prayer. For context, I'll start in verse 10, and I'll read through verse 20. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand, therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. And also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in change, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak.
Father, help us. Help us not to neglect the great weapon of all prayer. Help us to be a church that is known for a church of prayer. Help us to be committed personally and in our families and corporately to the discipline of prayer.
God, Your Word tells us that You will do more than we ask or even can think. And we pray, God, that You would do that here in this place according to Your own precious promises, Your own prerogative and for the glory of Christ.
Help us to understand this truth today. Encourage us, equip us, convict us, all for the glory of Christ. We pray it in Jesus' name, Amen. You may be seated. John MacArthur says this, Victory over Satan and his host in the great spiritual warfare in which we are engaged demands unceasing and diligent commitment to prayer.
Unceasing and diligent commitment to prayer. What if our commitment to prayer today was greater than our commitment to politics? Was greater than our commitment to eating? Greater than our commitment to sports?
Greater than our commitment to our jobs or to money? What if we had a commitment to prayer that I believe is warranted from this text? Let me confess something personally. I believe that there are so many things that have happened in my life whereby I have wondered what might have happened had I been more serious in this situation about prayer.
What if I had spent more time seeking God? What if I had done all due diligence asking for, seeking for, searching for His wisdom in asking for His protection in preparing my heart and mind for the day in praying for other people?
Now you may pause here and you might just say, well, we understand your theology and the things that you preach and teach and you know, you talk to us all the time about God is sovereign. So now, now maybe there's someone that would think we got you, right?
Because if God is sovereign, then why are you praying? Well, of course God is sovereign, friends. Of course He doesn't need my prayer. Of course prayer does not change who God is nor does it change His blessed will nor does it change His mind.
Yet, it is equally true that God has willed to work through the prayers of His people to accomplish great things. So you don't have to turn the book, but you have to turn the page, Ephesians chapter 3.
Ephesians chapter 3, verse 20, Paul says in his prayer, Paul says, now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us. I'm tempted to go back to Ephesians 3, you know, like we're all the way through, now we've reset.
No, because it shows us great and glorious God who is able to do more than the church ask or think according to the power at work within us. To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout generations forever and ever, amen.
God works through the prayers of His people. This is glorious news. I say to you this morning that the sovereignty of God is not a reason to dismiss prayer. The sovereignty of God is a reason to embrace prayer.
If God were in complete control of all things, why would you pray? If God weren't completely sovereign over salvation, why would you pray? God's not in control of salvation, it's man's free will. Then why do I hear people praying, God, change that person's heart?
Because we know instinctively as Christians that God is sovereign. And because He is sovereign, this is not a reason to stop praying. It's a reason to pray all the more. If God weren't completely sovereign over Satan and spiritual forces of evil and over the reality of our country today, if God weren't sovereign, why would we pray at all?
But friends, I've got good news. God is sovereign. And not only is He sovereign, He is gracious. And He is prepared to do great things in a prayerful people. Now consider our text. Paul says praying. That is a verb.
This is boring to some people, but just hear me out. It's a participle. What you need to know about Greek words is you have in sentences. Like Matthew 28 in the Great Commissions, for example, you have these sentences in Greek where the participle is orbiting the main verb.
The point here is that praying in verse 18 and also in verse 18, you see where it says, keep alert for verse 18, praying at all times. And then also it ends the sentence in the ESV. And then it says to that end, keep alert.
Both of those are participles that are orbiting around the main imperative, which is in verse 17, take. Why the grammar lesson? You're boring me. I don't want to go back to fifth grade grammar. It's only for this reason, to let you know that even though Paul is transitioning now out of this armor analogy, verse 18 is still connected.
You understand? He's not starting a new thought. You should put on the armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of a devil.
Thought one.
Oh, yeah.
And then here's another thought. Also, sometimes you should pray. No, it's connected. You understand? I'm trying to let you see that in the text it is attached. It is connected. So Thomas Watson, the Puritan, puts it this way.
To withstand powerfully all the wiles of Satan, one means is to consecrate every part of the spiritual armor by prayer in the spirit. So prayer is a vital part of the Christian armor, even though it's not given its own metaphorical equivalence.
He's not saints. He's not giving a piece of the armor to prayer, but it's still a vital piece of the armor. In essence, it must run through every piece of the armor, every piece of the armor that we take up.
We ought to take up the belt of truth in prayer, the breastplate of righteousness in prayer, the helmet of salvation in prayer, the sword of the spirit in prayer. And I forgot the shoes, the shoes of readiness of gospel peace in prayer.
We take these things up in prayer. And so in this sermon, and at least in one more, I want to give you adverbs to attach to this word prayer. So how should the church pray? We're going to read it from the text.
How should the church pray? The first is the church must pray, number one, submissively. How should we pray? One, we should pray submissively. Praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication.
So grammatically, here's what I'm telling you. Grammatically, from the word of God in this text, we are commanded to pray. Yes, prayer here is a participle, but it's connected to the main verb, the imperative.
Take up the helmet of salvation. Take the sword of the spirit. And while you're doing this, you should be praying, right? In fact, I should say this. Not only should you be praying, prayer is not just something the church should do.
It is something the church must do. Obey and pray. You must remember this on days that you don't feel like praying. I don't feel like praying today. On days you don't feel like getting up early. On days that you feel distracted.
On days like you feel like you're on the mountaintop or days like you feel like you're in the valley. Whatever it is that you're feeling, you must understand that this is a command of the most high God to the church.
And the command is this, pray. It is your duty. Your boss comes to you at work, says, today, I need you to carry these rocks from point A to point B. You don't feel like doing that. I mean, maybe you do.
You don't feel like it. What are you going to tell your boss? You know, today, I don't feel like doing that. And what's your boss going to say? I don't feel like you should work here, right? You do it because your authority has told you to do it.
Friends, can we treat God better than our boss? God has commanded the church to pray. Prayerlessness is sinfulness. So I need to speak both gently and honestly here. Gently, because is there any Christian you've ever known that has said, I am satisfied with my prayer life?
You ever ran into a Christian like that? Oh yeah, there's nothing I need to grow in when it comes to prayer. No, prayer is always an area that we always can grow in. So it's not my desire to crush us this morning.
I didn't want you to come in here and just feel beat up. That's not what I'm trying to do. We all need God's grace to grow in this duty, including your pastors. But I also need to speak honestly. I need to speak what the text is speaking.
God has commanded His people to pray. And what do you call it when you disobey what God has said to do? This is sin. Friends, I might also add this. To not pray is not only sinful, it's also foolish.
It's foolish.
What might God do? What might God be ready to bestow upon us if we simply ask? If we simply seek Him? If we simply knock on the door of His holy throne room? Therefore, beloved, since we serve a sovereign God, and since we have such a good and gracious King, and since this duty of prayer is so often neglected by us, let us repent.
Will you repent? Confess to God even now your shortcomings in prayer. Acknowledge our high and holy duty to pray. Go to Jesus for grace. Ask the Holy Spirit to strengthen your resolve in prayer. The church must pray submissively.
Secondly, the church must pray savingly. Now, I snuck this one in, okay? I admit that. But here's what I want to mention in this point. That not only is it the duty of the church to pray, it's actually the duty of all people to pray.
All people are commanded to call upon the name of the Lord. Now, Proverbs 28 9 says this. If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination, right? If one turns his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.
So you find people on television today. They say things like we're sending our thoughts and prayers, which I have no idea what it means to send your thoughts. Maybe some of you have that ability to receive thoughts.
If you do, that is phenomenal, but I don't. So I don't know what that means. Prayers, they say we're sending our prayers. I wonder to who? Or lost people will pray actually all the time. They'll pray when someone is sick or as the saying goes, there are no atheists in foxholes.
And so they'll cry out to God in some sort of, you know, perilous situation. But you need to know something. I'm going to say it rather bluntly. God hates the prayer of those who turn away from his law.
I didn't say that. That's what Proverbs said. If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination. Now, I need to mention a caveat because we're a family. We're a family.
We are a family, but we are a family of families. And within the families of this church, there are young children. So let me just address something pastorally. There are some people who would say, you can't let your unconverted children pray.
And I'm taking a different position, actually. We let our unconverted children in this church sing. We let the unconverted children in this church read the Bible, recite the Bible, memorize Scripture.
And in our home, we let our unconverted children pray. Now, this is under our authority. This is under our leadership. But we seek to teach them what it is to know God and what it is, what it looks like to follow God.
We teach them what it means to pray by them seeing us pray, by teaching the Scriptures of what it looks like to pray, of them listening to us. But we also encourage them to pray if they want to. And then we also let them know that God hears the prayers of the humble, not the proud.
So we instruct them, you shouldn't be praying if you're turning away from God's law. And we also believe in times of so practically in family worship, like we never let one of our children pray and like, that's all we pray, like an unconverted children.
So when they pray, it's always followed up by a believer in the family. Right now, that's myself and Stephanie and Brayden and Ella. So, but we encourage our children to pray if they want to. And you can ask me a question about that later.
I'm just trying to offer some pastoral help. What I'm trying to communicate right now, though, is this. So listen to me, adults. Listen to me, teenagers. Listen to me, children. Listen very carefully.
If you are using prayer as a way to manipulate y 'all, God, don't let me strike out. God, let me get an A on the test. God, let me get the promotion that I need today. God, help my grandmother. I pray that she wouldn't be sick.
Okay, it's not that you can't pray those things, but if that's the culmination of your prayer, you're just treating God like a genie in the sky. Like the rest of your time, you live for yourself. You don't really care about what God has to say.
But when you're in trouble or you really want something, then you call out to God. I'm saying to you that you're treating God as reprehensible, like a genie. And you need to repent because all your prayer is doing is condemning you.
And in fact, let me say this. Children, teenagers, adults, if you pray to God like that, you are actually demonstrating that you know your own words are going to condemn you. You're demonstrating that you know there is a God.
You're demonstrating that God has the power to do things in this world today, but your life is lived as though He's not worthy and that His law does not matter. It's no secret today that this is how many people live in Perry County.
Our problem in Perry County is not formal atheism. Formal atheism being we deny the existence of God. Our problem in Perry County is what we would call practical atheism. Everybody around, we know there's a God.
We know we go knock on doors.
Oh yeah, we know God. We know Jesus.
What's the gospel?
Sometimes they'll get it right. Jesus died on the cross for our sins.
Okay, where do you go to church?
Oh, we don't go to church. We don't need that stuff. Practical atheism. I acknowledge that God is real, but I live as though He's not worthy of my life.
Friend, if that's you today,.
You're here by the mercy of God and you must repent. You must pray savingly. I'm speaking for a moment to the unconverted in our midst. Whether you're four or 104, which I don't think anybody is 104, I need to tell you this morning the prayer that God hears.
On the cross, Christ felt the sins of His people imputed to His account as God judged Him justly as our representative. But this was not the end. His death lasted three days. He came back to life in victory.
Christ felt the pain of your sins so that when you feel the pain of your sins, you can call out to God in repentance and faith. Are you burdened this morning? Is there anyone here burdened by their sins?
Disregarding God's goodness to you, breaking His law, feigning righteousness, being a religious hypocrite. You must pray savingly. You must repent and call upon the name of the Lord. You must turn from your sin and trust Christ or you will go to hell.
Now that's blunt, I get it. But I speak it bluntly so that you may know how serious of a matter this is. And yet you need to also know today, God is not far from you. Christ will be your Savior today if you repent and call out to Him.
And you must do so now.
Even in your heart,.
Even while I'm preaching, we're not going to wait till something at the end of the service and sing a hundred verses of Just As I Am. We're not going to ask you to raise your hand. We're not going to ask you to repeat a prayer.
We're just going to say, while I'm preaching the gospel,.
Believe it. Believe it. Repent.
Call out to God and He will receive the prayer of the repentant. And humble heart. Repent and believe the gospel. We must pray submissively. We must pray savingly. Now, secondly, or thirdly, we must pray seasonally.
Oh, we only pray in certain seasons. Hold that thought. Verse 18 says praying at all times. I'm saying we need to pray seasonally. The word for times is translated, maybe some of your translations as occasions.
It has the idea of moments. So here when he says times, he's not saying every second. It's more like in the book of Esther when she says for such, or Mordecai says to her, for such a time as this. So we need to pray seasonally, but which season?
Verse 18, praying at all times. So you translate this way, praying at all seasons, or probably in English would be better, praying in all seasons. The word all is used in verse 18 four times. So just let's look at it.
Praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. Now we'll get to the other three alls, or at least one of them later today.
But here all times means in every season. So I'll put it to you this way. Prayer is always in season. I don't know the rules about white and Labor Day and Memorial Day and all that.
I don't know.
I know some of you know it and you can enlighten me later. I know there's rules, you know, like certain rules, like you're supposed to wear white or not white, or I don't even know. I'm confused myself.
But the idea is maybe wearing white is not always in season.
That's the analogy. That's the illustration.
But prayer always is in season, right? That's the point. Always in season. Here's a good quote from S .M. Ball. Everyone in the foxhole is a believer. Oh God, get me out of this alive and I promise, you know, whatever.
He goes on to say genuine believers pray inside and outside the foxhole, even when the shelling stops because their mortal enemies never sleep. So when does the Christian pray? Before the battle, during the battle, after the battle, when there's defeat in the battle, when there's victory in the battle, and all of these things.
We pray at all times. We pray in all seasons. We pray on the mountaintops. We pray in the valleys. We pray when the sun is shining. We pray when the rain is coming down. We pray in all seasons. So let me give you two application points and then we'll move on.
First, pray on schedule. So praying seasonally doesn't mean praying in response to situations only, but also before things happen. So how do I know what's going to happen?
You don't.
That's why you pray. It's why we pray on schedule. Listen to me, church. It's why we seek the Lord as a priority. It's why we say with the psalmist, satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love.
We need our heart to be satisfied. We need our mind to be satisfied. We need to be content in Christ before stepping out the door. Before you dare pick up the wrench or the hammer or put your hands on the steering wheel or pick up the broom or the laundry or even before you wake up your children, you must pray.
Pray on schedule. Secondly, pray spontaneously. Praying in all seasons means we pray before events, but also as events arise, as blessings arise, we pray for gratitude. As trials arrive, we pray for endurance.
As situations arise and opportunities arise, we pray for wisdom.
It's okay.
In fact, I counsel you. So hear me out. Here's some application for this week. Have more times in your day where you stop and pray. Even if it's for 15 seconds, it's okay. I love Nehemiah. Read the first chapter of Nehemiah.
Nehemiah has both a long time of prayer and then also a quick prayer that he prays before the king. That's our prayer life. That's how I communicate with my wife. There are times that we have long, drawn out discussions.
There are times that I send a quick text message.
I love you.
So I encourage you this week, incorporate prayer, spontaneous prayer in your week. Listen, how about this? You ever had a situation where someone said, hey, we're going through a real tough time at home.
And I just want you to be praying for me. And you say to them, I'll be praying for you. And then you never actually pray for them. You ever had that happen? Or am I the only guilty one? So let me say to you, here's one practical piece of advice.
Why don't you pray right there for them? Why don't you just say to them, hey, could we pray right now about this situation? Well, we're at work.
We're on lunch break.
Someone may see us.
That's okay.
Give glory to God, right? Not praying for a sense like, don't pray so loud that everybody's like, oh, wow, what a great prayer. Like, that's not what we're saying. We're just saying, make it be habitual and make it be an ordinary thing in your Christian life that when things happen, you pray even by yourself and with other believers.
You just pray. Like, it's not weird.
Let's just pray.
So consider that. Fourthly, pray submissively, savingly, seasonally. Fourthly, spiritually. Now the text says this, praying at all times in the Spirit. Before tackling this phrase, let me mention this.
It reminds us that we have a triune God that we pray to. We pray to the Father by the Son in the Spirit. I'm going to say some things. I have nobody in my mind when I say some of these things. If it lands home, you can talk to me about it.
But there's just some things I've observed over the years of being a Christian. So let me caution to us not to confuse the Trinitarian roles when we pray. Dear Father, thank you for this, this, this, this.
And thank you for dying on the cross for our sins. Now, friends, the Father didn't die on the cross for our sins, right? Jesus did. Or sometimes we pray, Lord Jesus, thank you for all you've done. Thank you for sending your Son to die on the cross for our sins.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
The Lord Jesus is the Son. He didn't send the Son. He came with his own volition, of course, but he didn't send the Son. So don't conflate or confuse the Trinity in our prayer. But now to the text. What does it mean that we're to pray in the Spirit?
First, you need to know the connection with verse 17. I've already showed you grammatically the connection, but let's just read it again. Paul says, take the helmet of salvation, and then here's the port, here's the connection I want you to see.
And the sword of the Spirit, the sword of who, by the way? The Spirit, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit. Do you think there's any connection between those two verses?
Like, grammatically, there's already a connection. I've already shown it to you. But then it's like, the sword of the Spirit, and we're praying in the Spirit. Is there any way that these two verses are connected?
Why, yes, there is. And I think understanding that context eliminates some of the error that we might see associated with this verse. So listen, let me just address a couple of errors. First, Paul's point is not that they should be praying in some unknown language.
I'm just going to tell you, that's not even actually a thing. That's not even a thing. That's not even a biblical thing. I thought praying in tongues was a biblical thing. It's not a biblical thing. Praying in a tongue that no one else knows is not a biblical thing.
Tongues are a gift of a known language. Even when the speaker doesn't know it, someone else knows it. I'm not trying to be rude here or pejorative. I know we all have friends and family that this would offend.
I'm not trying to do that. But just listen, tongues is not gibberish. It's not that. In the Bible, it's just not. So if you know of a person who says that they have a private prayer language, or they pray in just syllables slapped together, we need to patiently instruct them the ways of God.
I'm not trying to be harsh. I'm just saying here that unintelligible prayer is not spiritual prayer. And if someone is trying to pray that way, ultimately, they're doing so in disobedience and to the detriment of the church, no matter what their motivation or how it is it makes them feel.
Secondly, let me say this. Praying in the Spirit is not seeking some sort of further revelation from the Holy Spirit. And how do I know this? Because of the connection to verse 17. Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit.
So what then does it mean to pray in the Spirit? I like what Sinclair Ferguson says. Praying in the Spirit is prayer that conforms to the will and purpose of the Spirit. Well, how do I conform to the will and purpose of the Spirit?
How do I do that?
How do I know what the Spirit really wants? How do I really know what He wants for my marriage or my children or my country? How do I really know what He wants about evangelism.
Or the church?
How do I know what the Spirit of God wants? The Word of God. The sword of who? The sword of the Spirit. And I take the sword of the Spirit and I pray in the Spirit. You understand how these go together.
I am taking up the... This is a beautiful contextual relationship. I'm taking up the Word of God and now I'm praying in accordance with the Word of God. I'm seeking to have my will, not God conform to me, but me conform to God.
John Owen says it this way, where men are much conversant in the Word, they will be ready for and furnished with meet expressions of their desires to God always. In other words, what he's saying is if you know the Bible well, you'll know how to pray well because you'll know how God would have you to pray.
So wielding the sword of the Spirit and praying in the Spirit, these two weapons, they go hand in hand. I don't need to use the Bible without prayer and I don't need to pray without the Bible. The Bible shows me how to pray and what I need to pray for and prayer helps me understand the Scriptures and how to rightly apply them to my life.
It's a beautiful relationship really expressed contextually here. Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit. Furthermore, we need to say this, all men everywhere are commanded to pray, but only a Christian can truly pray in the Holy Spirit because it is only the Christian who has the Holy Spirit residing in them.
So in this regard, listen to what Owen says, John Owen. There is a peculiar work or special gracious operation of the Holy Ghost in the prayers of believers, enabling them thereunto. For we intend no more hereby, but that as they do receive Him by virtue of that promise, which the world cannot do, in order unto His gracious efficiency in the duty of supplication, so He doth actually incline, dispose and enable them to cry,.
Abba Father,.
Or to call upon God in prayer as their Father by Jesus Christ. You're like, what did he just say? What Owen says is, the Holy Spirit, the Bible commands us to pray and the Holy Spirit is the one who graciously enables us to obey this command essentially and to call out to God as our Father.
The Holy Spirit, friends, is for the believer,.
Like if you're like,.
If you have no drive to pray, if the Holy Spirit's not pushing you to pray, if He's not pushing you to call, like if you have no feeling about calling out to God, about praying more, then the Holy Spirit's not in you.
Because that's what the Holy Spirit is doing in the hearts of believers. He's pushing us to call out to God as Father through Christ as our Mediator. He's working in our hearts His grace to obey the text and to pray, and He's leading us to lay before God our petitions.
He's sanctifying our desires so that what we ask for is not just to not strike out at the ballgame, but that we would be bold in our prayers as Paul says, that we would be bold in proclamation and pray for the advance of the kingdom.
All these things are happening. And in fact, we might ask this question, what is the Holy Spirit really doing in the world today? Well, here's one thing He's doing. He is graciously enabling believers to pray intelligible, edifying, kingdom-advancing prayers for the glory of Christ and the good of His church.
You say, you guys over there at that church, you guys are different about some of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, so you don't even believe the Holy Spirit's working today.
Are you crazy?
Yes, we believe the Holy Spirit's working today. He's working by, in, and through His Word. He's working in the sanctification of His people. He's working in bringing dead hearts to life through the proclamation of the Gospel.
Absolutely the Spirit of God is working today and praise God for it, otherwise we would be sunk. Are you praying this way, dear Christian? Because this is the way our text has instructed us to pray spiritually.
Yeah, but my grandma said this. Yeah, but that church over there said this. Yeah, but no, no, no. I'm just telling you, this is what God has said. And this is the way we are to pray. And then finally, this morning, we are to pray significantly.
Verse 18, so we really just kind of finish this first sentence. Praying at all times in the Spirit and then this phrase, with all prayer and supplication. All prayer and supplication. First, let me note this.
The Bible's for simple folks.
I love this.
This is a really simple exhortation, right? So Paul essentially says this. Church, you need to pray. And we say, okay, how, Paul? And he says, by praying.
Oh, that's deep, right?
Pray?
How do we pray? By praying. Like the great theologian Nike. You know, the great theologian Nike, his famous phrase, just do it, right? That's what Paul says, pray. How do we pray, Paul? Do we need to study about prayer?
Do we need to have a conference about prayer? Do we need to study the history of prayer? No, Paul says, no, no, pray. And here's how you pray. By praying. That's what we need. We are to be praying with prayer.
I think that's interesting. One of the things that this lets us know, church, is that when it comes right down to it, you know what prayer is. I don't have to explain it to you. You know what prayer is.
It's talking to God. You don't need a definition. It's communicating our words to God. Now, that's really a side note. The point here is that the church must pray significantly. So Paul says that we're to pray with all prayer and supplication.
So I take all there like we did before. All kinds of seasons. And now here, all kinds of prayer. So we give to God big prayers, small prayers, and everything in between and supplication. All prayers and all, I would say, modify supplication as well.
So all prayers and all supplication. So a definition of supplication, that which is asked with urgency based on presumed need. So this is how we are to pray. So I'm summarizing that by saying we must pray significantly.
We must understand the urgency of prayer. What if our country, what if the people of God were more serious about prayers for our country? Consider that, friends.
Urgency.
Consider our neediness. Consider our dependence upon God. Consider that the God that we are going to is the God who is sovereign over all. The one who, Ephesians 1, 11 says, is working all things after and according to the counsel of His holy will.
If we could just understand our neediness and the God that we are going to in prayer, would this not improve, significantly improve the prayer of our lives? Why is prayer not a more urgent matter for you?
Because you miss two things. You don't understand the desperateness of your situation, and you don't understand the God that we go to. And I'm telling you, I'm not pointing my finger at you and going, you guys, it's me too.
When I don't pray, it is because I don't understand the desperateness of my situation, and I don't understand the greatness and grace of the God that calls us to come to Him and pray. Holmes used to have a place known as a prayer closet.
Now we just have junk closets. It's probably a parable. There's a place, a prayer closet, a place where a mother or father would go and they would pray. They would get away from everyone else. They would earnestly seek God with the text, all prayer and supplication.
Praying for the needs of their own soul. Praying for their children. Praying for the nation. Wrestling with God in secret prayer. Does it not remind you of the song,.
O what peace we often forfeit!
O what needless pain we bear! Why? All because we do not carry everything, all prayer and supplication, to God in prayer. Now let me make some more application here. To pray significantly, we cannot merely pray other men's prayers.
That's why we don't have a common prayer book at Providence Baptist. When I just come up here, flip open the common prayer book, and read the prayer for the day. We don't do that. Now, this means that all canned formulas, we toss them out, but it doesn't mean we can't use.
Let me give you just a practical example. I use weekly, about three or four times a week, a little book called The Valley of Vision. I actually encourage you to get that book, it's great. It has a great number of Puritan prayers in it.
But if I just open that book, and I just read that prayer, and I say, well, that's my prayer for the day. God, do whatever this.
Oh, you know what? God, you can read.
Just, there you go. And amen. That's sacrilegious, right? Like, that's not how we pray. That's not what we do. So if you use tools like that, or other people's prayers and things, then you need to pray in accordance with your present situation, using your own words, not just merely reciting someone else's words and moving on.
Now, I'm about to hit even closer to home, because this is also true of Scripture. So listen to me, church. We should be praying Scripture. We should be praying Psalms. We should be praying. This is throughout the word of God.
It's amazing. You should look in your Bible reading right now. You should look, and you should note, whenever you see someone else pray Scripture from before. It's amazing to see. You know, I think about Hezekiah right off the top of my head, or Nehemiah, who I referenced earlier.
They pray Scripture. We should pray Scripture, and we should do that. This is modeled in the Bible. But this is never in a mere rote or perfunctory way. We don't just read what the Bible says and say, that's my prayer.
Let me say this.
I see it. I see it.
This is an application in Perryville. So it's going to land home. I haven't even talked to my boys about me going to say this this morning, but I've seen it. I've seen it, and my girls. I've seen it with my girls.
Sometimes in sports, even youth sports, even here in Perryville, teams gather around after the game, and they just, in a kind of a rote, perfunctory way, they recite the Lord's Prayer. Now, forgive me.
I don't want this to come across irreverent or sacrilegious. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our trespasses. You kind of build in anticipation. I said, and forgive us our...
Hold on.
I got to go over the whole thing. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, power, glory forever.
Amen.
Squeeze hand, slap court, done. I'm just telling you, I'm going to tell you this in love. That's not pleasing to God. We should not pray that way. We should not treat the Lord's Prayer, the model prayer, in that way.
It may be well-intentioned, right? I get it. It may be well-intentioned, but it's ultimately, even if it's not, even if it's well-intentioned, if it's not in line with the Scriptures, then it's sin and we shouldn't do it.
They say, the old saying is, the pathway to hell is paved with good intentions. We don't do things that the Bible speaks out against. So significant prayer is even in the midst of reciting Scripture, thinking through what it has to say.
It is using the Scriptures then as a launching point to make specific supplication before God about our present situation. You understand? It's not just mouthing what the Bible says and saying, that's my prayer.
Saints, hear me please. I'm telling you this stuff this morning because I'm saying you need not underestimate what God is doing in the world today with your prayers. Do not underestimate the enemy who wants us to stop praying.
Why do you think it's such a battle to pray? Dude, you go to start praying and your phone starts ringing. Why is that kind of stuff, right? I'm not trying to get weird or connect all the dots, but I'm just telling you there's nothing that distracts you like when you say, I'm going to go pray.
And then all the thoughts, things that you have to get done today and everything seems to be distracting and preventing you from prayer. And I'm telling you, I don't think all of that is by accident. The evil one wants us not to pray or to treat prayer carelessly, haphazardly, insignificant.
I'm saying what might God do with a prairie, with a praying church? A couple more things to mention and then we'll be closing soon. We need to be careful about praying. So if we're going to pray significantly, all prayer and supplication, we need to be careful also about praying Christianese.
OK, so let me just say this. There's little sayings that we've picked up that we end up saying, but we're just we're not really thinking about them. We're just using them as filler. We're not really praying.
We're just throwing in words and phrases that we've heard all our lives. So let's be careful. I'm not saying that you can't pray for a hedge of protection or bless the gift and the giver or traveling mercies or bless the food to the nourishment of our bodies and our bodies to thy service or bless his food in the hands that prepared it or repeating the word.
Just God, just be here. Just just just to just just listen. I'm not I'm not trying to beat us up. I'm just trying to help us think that we must pray significantly. And if you are just using these phrases and you're not thinking about them, they're just coming out of your mouth.
We're heaping up empty phrases. I'm saying we should pray significantly with all prayer and supplication. And then the next thing here I want to say is that the gospel is the fuel for our prayers. Praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication.
Church, we pray because we're in the armor of Christ. We have died to self. There is therefore now no condemnation for the Christian. We have been accepted in the beloved. God has accepted us in Christ.
God loves us in Christ. Christ's righteous life has been imputed on our account. And now we boldly enter the throne room in Jesus name. Look at you, here comes my son, here comes my daughter, here they come again.
Converted. What might you do in the place like this if your people just ask and sought and not? Forgive us, God. Forgive us. I pray for the souls in this room who are not converted. I pray that they would remember that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
And I pray this morning that they would repent of their sins and put their faith in the finished work of Jesus.
Thank you.