Jesus’ Priority of Prayer

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, Duplex Gratia Radio, Mike Apendroth here. What is going on?

Welcome.

Glad to see you. Nice to meet you.

All right.

That was the weirdest intro that I've ever done. Oh, well, we just keep going. What is new? Well, Sexual Fidelity, 31-Day Guide to Purity, updated, revised. With more grace, more law gospel, more Duplex Gratia.

My first run wasn't too bad for 10 years ago, but this is better. So the black cover's out, the snow on the mountaintop is in, and you can get it on Amazon .com. If you want to order bunches of them, gaggles of them, you can email me, Mike, at NoCompromiseRadio .com.

The cancer book, she'll be out pretty soon. It doesn't just apply to cancer or any kind of physical sickness, but I do talk about cancer some. I guess if I was a marketing person, I'd say, well, how can you sell the most books?

Then talk about physical sickness, how to sell the least amount of books, talk about dealing with leukemia or some specific thing. So I think probably most of you know someone with cancer, and when you hear the words, you have cancer.

It is a world changer. And if you hear the words, your loved one, your husband, your wife, your child, your parents have cancer, it's amazing. Before I get into this message today, sermon today, the pod today, I was pulling up some books because I'm taking some of my favorite books from my church study to my home study.

And I have a lot of biographies that I like to read. Here's one in front of me, John G. Payton, King of the Cannibals, Jim Cromartie, written in a pretty, I don't know, junior high, high school level.

I mean, if you're older, you can read it too. I read it when I was older.

Liked it.

Remember, Payton was going to go to the cannibals. He's from Scotland and he's off to the New Hebrides or that's where he wanted to go and he's talking to the mission board and they didn't really like it.

And Cromartie writes, another time an old Christian tried to discourage him from going by warning him, the cannibals, you will be eaten by cannibals. John replied by reminding him that he himself was an old man who could expect to die soon to be laid in the grave where his body would be eaten by worms.

John went on, quote, if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I'm eaten by cannibals or by worms. And in the great day, my resurrection body will arise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer, Cromartie.

At that, the old gentleman threw up his hands in despair and walked out of the room with the words, after that, I have nothing more to say. Pretty amazing. And by the way, obviously both are dead now.

Eaten by worms, eaten by bacteria. Of course we have the desire to live and, you know, we're not trying to circumvent our life and just do something presumptuous or crazy, but all of us have it coming.

And death is vicious and cruel and inevitable. And it's appointed for man once to die and then the judgment. And so you'll either be judged for your own sins or you'll have Jesus as your mediator, be the one who receives judgment for you, right?

As we look back to see what happened on the cross. And you receive the benefits of Jesus by faith, trusting in him. That's all we could do. I mean, for me, I've had a few bouts with cancer and near death with COVID.

The keyboard for near death and near death is near. I was oxygen deprived enough. I probably saw things. I actually couldn't really read, couldn't do much. I listened to podcasts and the Bible all day.

And then at night I said to myself, maybe after seven o 'clock I would turn on the TV and I think it was football season. So I wanted to watch some football games. But other than that, I don't remember what I listened to.

I had a little note, a three by five card written by my son because they would bring me some protein bars and other things. The hospital wasn't allowed to let that stuff in, but they kind of schmoozed the staff.

And there was some ivermectin at the bottom of the blueberry, dried blueberries from Trader Joe's and things like that. I drank the chloroquine. And I don't remember what I listened to. But I remember the note my son gave me, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Hebrews 13.

Cried a lot looking at that thing. I will never leave you nor forsake you. And for all of us, we sometimes think, is our faith enough? Is there enough fruit? Do I have saving faith? And I think if you ask those questions, it's probably a good thing.

I laid there thinking, all right, I'm going to die. And then what? I've been a Bible teacher for a long time, and I don't believe there are two gods. I don't believe that Jesus is still in the ground.

I don't believe that the Bible's got errors. I mean, you just go down the list of things. Intellectually, I'm fine. Agreement, I agree. Whatever the Bible says, it's true. Even if I might not like the conviction it brings.

And then what about trust? I don't know how I can be even more trusting. I'm thinking to myself, I'm banking eternity on this. If Jesus is wrong, there's hell to pay because I know God's holy and I'm sinful.

And so it's just kind of good to work through thinking about death. I just officiated a funeral for our dear friend, Fred Thiebaud here, who was an elder deacon of many other things. And it's sobering, it's a reality.

And thankfully, a little faith, a sin-tainted faith, a weak faith in the right object saves. I think Carson is the one that's made it popular these days, D .A. Carson. But Horatius Bonar basically said the same thing, and maybe Carson got from him.

I don't know. So I'll give both credit. But if you can just imagine two men, dads, children, wife, it is Passover and the death angel's coming. And so you obey God and sacrifice an animal. You take the blood and with hyssop, you dab it over the doorpost and you wait for the death angel.

So the one man trusts the Lord and he obeys and he goes to sleep. He's got a son, but he goes right to sleep. The other man fidgets, is afraid, double checks to make sure there's enough blood on the door and doesn't sleep all night, staring at his son.

Which son died with the death angel? Answer? Neither. Because it's not about the faith and the quality of faith, it's the blood, right? See how I'm pausing there? So I even have to talk to my own self.

I write books on assurance and sometimes I'm like, wait a second, is this a hangover that I've got from other, you know, kind of self-righteous preaching that I, you know, have listened to on the internet or that I've done or some book that I've read or something, Wesleyan book, Norman Shepard influence, Richard Baxter stuff.

Where'd I get these thoughts? Because it's good to think about, but my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I don't have any other hope. And therefore, I just look at my life and I say, okay, objectively, it's Jesus paid for my sins, was raised from the dead and I believe in him.

Subjectively, the spirit of God has sealed me to the day of redemption and there is some hints of love and joy and peace and there are struggles and there are appetites and desires and a variety of other things.

So, I'm wretched man that I am, Romans 7, and no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, Romans 8. Well, how did I get onto this subject? I have no idea. I just have the king of cannibals here and I needed to quote something.

Later in the book, it says, when John Payton tried to persuade some of the chiefs to put a stop to the cruelty to women and children, one of the chiefs actually told him, quote, If we did not beat our women, they would never work.

They would not fear and obey us. But when we have beaten and killed and feasted on two or three, the rest are all very quiet and good for a long time. Of course, Payton is trying to show how that's not loving your wife, obviously.

Yikes.

I don't want to laugh.

I want to just go, what are you doing?

Woo!

The Priority of Jesus’ Prayer in Luke

So, talking about the Lord Jesus in Luke 4, and how when you read Jesus pray, the first thing you shouldn't think of is, I should be a better prayer. You can think of that, but don't think of that first.

When you see Jesus has prayer for a priority, you shouldn't immediately say, first thing I think of is, I'm convicted I don't pray enough. Luther said, I'm so busy, I had to pray for three hours every day.

Obviously, I've said obviously three times now in the show and obvi once, now that makes.

It twice.

I said obvi three times now, now that makes it four. How does that keep working? Of course, pray without ceasing. Of course, devote yourself to prayer with thanksgiving. Of course, be anxious for nothing, but with prayer, supplication, a request being made to one and to God.

Of course, of course, of course. Ephesians 6, prayer, modeled prayers by Paul that you should pray, model praises slash prayers that you should praise and pray. But what I want you to do when you're reading the gospel and Jesus is praying, I want you to think he's my prayer warrior.

He's the great prayer. He's the true man who truly prays. That's what I want you to think of first. Then I want you to think of the others. Of course, think of the others, but not first. Isaiah 53, therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors.

Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. Jesus is the ultimate prayer warrior and it was important to him to pray. And when he was baptized, Luke chapter three, he was praying and the heavens were open.

Just looking in the gospel of Luke, there are many opportunities. Before he chose the 12, chapter six of Luke, he went off to a mountain and prayed. He spent the whole night in prayer to God.

Luke 6, 12.

When he was going to ask his disciples something very important, Luke nine came about that when he was praying alone, the disciples were with him and he questioned them saying, who do the multitudes say that I am?

Mount of Transfiguration, Luke nine, some eight days after these saints, it came about he took along Peter and James and John and went up to the mountain to pray. Luke 11 and it came about that when he was praying or while he was praying in a certain place after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.

He prays for Peter. I prayed for you that your faith may not fail and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers,. Luke 22. He's just in Luke, Gethsemane, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me yet not my will, but your will be done.

On the cross, Father into your hands, I commit my spirit. After the resurrection, Luke 24, it came about that when he had reclined at table with him, he took the bread and blessed it and breaking it, he began giving it to them.

Jesus prayed. He prayed a lot. Should we pray if he prayed?

Should we?

Yes. And yes, of course. But I want you to remember that if your prayer life isn't good, this is a good motivation to make it better. Jesus prayed. I want to pray. But Jesus prayed even when I don't pray right, Lee.

He prays even when I fumble when it comes to prayer. I've never met one person that said, I think I pray enough. And the ones that do would never say it. Of course, JC Ryle is right when he says, we ought to see in all this the immense importance of private devotion.

If he who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, thus prayed continually, how much more are we who are compassed with infirmity? If he found it needful to offer up supplications with strong crying and tears, how much more needful is it for us who in many things offend daily?

A master like Jesus who prays can have no prayerless servants. Of course we should pray because Jesus prayed and modeled it. Remember Jesus is more than an example. Remember he pays for the sins of people.

If you just take Jesus as example, you'll never make it. You need Jesus as an atoning high priest as well. When you pray, are you dependent upon God? You rely on prayer, can't figure things out on your own, self-reliance, and you go to the Lord.

Yes, that is a good reason to pray. When you say to yourself, you know, I waste a lot of time, but I'm never wasting time when I pray.

Certainly.

Amen. Well, there's a point you can study and there's a point that you can't study anymore and you should be praying. Yes. Devote yourselves to prayer. Keep an alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.

What are you devoted to? Hopelessly devoted to you? Hopelessly devoted to prayer? And it's true, true, true that we should pray. If somebody says, well, what do you think you should probably do more?

Pray.

Like, what's a blind spot? It's often prayer. Some things I can just kind of do on my own in my own mind that I lie to myself for that and I don't pray. I was anxious about something this morning and I just said, Lord, I'm just so sinful.

It's kind of like, put this on my shoulder and not pray about it and not just give it to you and say, your will be done. Why am I nervous? Why am I, why am I, why? So we want to pray.

You ought to pray.

But I want you to know that Jesus is a great prayer warrior. And when you read him, here's the point, when you read him in the gospels, when you think about him in Hebrews, you ought to think, I have a great high priest.

He's my prayer warrior. If Job was to pray for his family as a priest for his family, think about your high priest. And that's why when you see him pray, you say to yourself, okay, I'm thankful for that.

How would I ever make it without Jesus? He lives to make intercession for me and whatever it takes to get me to glory, he's going to.

Pray.

So when you watch Jesus pray, you ought to say to yourself, thank you, Lord, that I stand in Jesus and that he is my all in all. And he has paid for my sins of prayerlessness. He has prayed on my behalf.

He's prayed like a man should pray. And I get credit for that. And because of that, because of my union with Jesus, I'd like to pray more. Would you help me to pray more? Would you convict me when I don't pray more?

Jesus in Luke 4 is sent, not just to pray, although that's true, using the language of divine passive. God has sent me, the incarnation, Jesus has been sent by the father for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that what he gave, he sent.

And Jesus goes around preaching in the synagogues of Judea. People argue about, oh, it's in Judea. How can Judea be Capernaum? It's just a general language. That's all it is. The country of the Jews, Judea, right?

It's simple. If you want a technical commentary, Daryl Bach, some critics have charged Luke with a geographical error in speaking of Judea while Jesus is in the north. However, Luke is using the term in its broadest sense, referring to all of Israel.

So there is no error. This use was not unique to Luke, as it appears in the eduicapta on coins of the Roman ruler Vespasian. Iudian. He's preaching. He's teaching. It's pretty dramatic. Jesus praying.

Jesus preaching. Now, there's another passage that helps us understand this Luke 4 passage, and it's Mark chapter 1. But I don't know if I have enough time for Mark 1. I went a little late last show. What am I going to do?

If you don't know what to do, you go find a quote in the book that you're reading. John tried to show them that if they were kind to their wives instead of beating them, the women would actually work better and everyone would be happier.

But the chiefs claimed that their women could not understand kindness. Eventually a few of the chiefs agreed not to allow any more beating of their wives or killing of widows when their husbands died.

Isn't that interesting? I mean, built into the chiefs, built into the people in New Hebrides, built into the cannibals. How do we motivate people? By fear, beating. May that never be the Christian way.

May the Christian way be we want to be kind to people and that motivates. God is kind to us and that motivates us. Guilt, grace, and gratitude. If you're kind to people, the women actually work better and harder.

That's pretty amazing. John found that the most effective way of getting the men to change their ways was to show them by example how Christians should behave. So whenever he needed any wood for the house, he would get several of his helpers to come along with him accompanied by their wives.

Those helpers were Christians who had come over with their families to help the missionaries.

Teach the people.

When they had finished cutting the wood, each of the men would pick up a large bundle to carry, while John gave each of the women only a very small bundle. On the way back, whenever they met any of the local men, John would explain that this was the way that Christians treated their wives and sisters.

He said that this was why Christian families were happy ones, with all the members loving one another and all taking a share in the work, each doing the jobs for which they were.

Best fitted.

Like Abendroth, no compromise, radio ministry. In time, some of the men began to visit John at night, when no one else could see them, like Nicodemus, who came to see the Lord Jesus in the dark. If John shut all the doors and drew all the blinds, they would stay for hours asking him questions about his new religion and learning from him the teaching of the Bible.

One of the visitors told John, Cromartie writes,. As if John came, many of the villagers would stay away. He said that the old chief Nowar had promised to take the service for him and pray to Jehovah, the God of the Christians.

This was the first funeral service ever held among the Tannies people, and it caused a lot of interest. Afterward, people began asking John questions. They were particularly interested in what he had to say about the resurrection from.

The dead.

John and his friends seized every possible opportunity to tell them about the life and death of the Lord Jesus, who would come to save men and women like them, making them fit to go to heaven, where they could live with him forever.

Mike Evendroth, No Compromise Radio Ministry. Yeah, thinking about John Patton, John Payton, amazing story of what God could use that is a person. And I tell people all the time, and I've said to people on the radio show, if you listen all the time, maybe you've heard me say it.

Why does God listen?

Why does God listen?

Well, that's a whole show.

Why does God listen? You think he'd just snuff us out?

Why would he listen?

Sometimes to our selfish prayers, why would he listen? Why should you read biographies and listen to them on audio? Two things. It motivates you to excel still more, right? You see an example of these folks who are sold out and burn their life out for the Lord Jesus up into martyrdom even, or just behind the scenes.

And then it also makes me think if the Lord could use that person, I mean, they're a sinner saved by grace. I'm like them. I mean, it's not like they're better in the sense that they're like an angel or they're the member of the Trinity.

They're made of clay. They've got a soul, you know, made of dust, breathed in the spirit of God, give them life, image bearer, corrupted by the fall, redeemed by the blood of the lamb. And God can use people just like that because then you see the Lord gets all the glory.

That's one of the reasons why there's not many mighty, not many noble, not many hoi, not many mucky mucks to use the language of, I think Tommy Nelson or is that S. Lewis Johnson? If I told Tommy Nelson, I didn't know if it was S. Lewis Johnson, Tommy, who said that, or you, he would not be offended.

So if you want to get a book, Mike Abendroth recommends Jim Cromartie's book, King of the Cannibals. I'm looking at this chapter now, the sacred men have met their match. That's interesting. I'd like to go to Cannibal Island when you don't speak cannibalese.

Last story, just then they all heard a roaring sound like that of a powerful engine rushing toward them. As the tornado struck, the strong wind swept the flames right away from the house. So what's happening?

They're going to try to kill John and they're yelling, kill him, kill him. And he jumps out of the way. He pulls out his revolver, dare to strike me and my Jehovah will punish you. He protects us and he will punish you for burning his church and trying to burn the church down.

Then from the clouds above floods of torrential rain began to fall within a few minutes. The that's rich of the house and all the surrounding area were soaking wet. There was no question any longer of anyone being able to set fire to the building.

For a few minutes, the warriors were stunned in the silence and someone shouted, that is Jehovah's reign. Truly their Jehovah God is fighting for them and helping them. Let us away. And with that, they dropped their flaming torches and ran off in a panic.

If ever in time of need, God sent help and protection to his servants and answering to.

Prayer.

He has done so tonight, said Mr. Matheson, Mike Cabenroth, No Compromise Radio Ministry. Thanks for listening today. You can write me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com. Hopefully we can get a new website sometime soon.

Hopefully we can get a, who knows what, app on the phone.