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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/brandon-doll/four-sins-that-hinder-gods-work/
Gospel of Matthew, please. Chapter 17. Mr. Sergener taught us that four good spikes will hold more than a hundred thumbtacks, so this will give you four good spikes. Matthew chapter 17. In the context here where we're going to read is verse 14.
Matthew 17, verse 14. And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man kneeling down to him and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and sore-vexed. For oftentimes he falleth into the fire, and often to the water.
And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me.
And Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him, and the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart and said, Why could we not cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief.
For verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say to this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place. And it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Albeit this kind goeth not out, but by prayer and fasting.
Drop down, or let's go actually to the Gospel of Luke. Same account. Luke chapter 9. And we'll just break in at verse 44. Let these sayings sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of men.
But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them that they perceived it not, and they feared to ask him of that saying. Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them should be the greatest.
And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a child and set him by him. And the Lord will bless to us the reading of his word and what we've listened to already. I'm not sure where this message would fit in the theme of the afternoon, but I know where it fits in my heart and where it fits in your heart.
I'd like to look at four sins that the Lord Jesus points out in his disciples in these passages. For years it's bothered me as a young believer. Maybe it's bothered you as a young believer and older believer.
But we pray for the Lord of the harvest to send out souls into the harvest, for the harvest is plenteous and the labors are few. And for years as a young man when I was first saved, I wondered, why is it that there's so little harvest?
If the fields are white unto harvest, why is it that it's just a soul here and a soul there? And it's bothered me for a long time. And I'm not saying that I have the answer today. But what I am saying is this.
The harvest is plentiful and the labors are few. But why is there not much that seems to get done? And so I have asked elders and I've asked preachers, and I've got answers as varied as our faces, really.
And then I was reading this the other day, and it come to me like this. What happened to these disciples is really what's taken place in my heart oftentimes. And so I'd like to look at these four sins.
I'd like to look at the sin of unbelief. Matthew 17, verse 20. The sin of unbelief. Then the Lord Jesus said that this kind can only come out by prayer and fasting. I'd like to look at the sin of prayerlessness.
Prayerlessness. I'd like to look at fasting. It's the sin of selfishness, isn't it? For fasting is self-denial. And so he says these can only come out by prayer and fasting. And then we come to Luke and we read of this, that they perceived same context.
They were wondering who would be the greatest. The sin of the greatest. So four things that we'll find a little puzzle piece in all of our hearts. For as face answers to face, so the heart of man to man.
So the sin of unbelief. The sin of unbelief. Why is it that things that we pray for, things that we long for, they never happen, they never come to pass. Could it be that in my heart there is the sin of unbelief?
Sin that I'm asking amiss. That I might consume it upon my lust. And so there's a reality of being a faithless generation, isn't there? We come through the Old Testament and we look at Israel. And they're often times called the faithless generation.
And we see their weakness. And we see their sin. And we see how God had to lay them aside. Because they were faithless. The sin of faithlessness. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. And the just shall live by faith.
And so in my heart I see that very clearly today. That there is a peace in my heart that is filled with faithlessness. And that's a confession. I'm not pointing the finger at anyone today. But could it be that we're missing out on so much of God's working and so much of God's greatness because of the lack of faith in our heart?
That's just an honest question this afternoon. The sin of faithlessness. He says, because of your unbelief. Why couldn't they cast him out? The reason they couldn't cast him out is because they were going to fight who was the greatest.
The reason they couldn't cast him out is because they weren't relying on God. The other three sins. And there was no self-denial. And so we start off here, the Lord Jesus is very blunt. He says, because of your unbelief.
And if we would just take that text for a whole session this afternoon, it would really search our souls. Because of my unbelief. And as we examine ourselves this afternoon, and we really are honest before God, we're a pretty faithless bunch of people, aren't we?
We really are. And I think the sooner that that grips us, the better. And the sooner that that gets a hold of us, a revival could come. I think I'm looking at some today, and maybe you've given up on the hope of there ever being another revival on planet Earth.
But I'm just young enough and optimistic enough to be faithful that God can work. Do you believe He can work? Or are we just going to sit in the sleep of death, and God's not going to work, we're at the end of the age, and there's just going to be a little bit done for God, and we're just going to the corners of the field, and we're just picking up a grain here and there, and we're just doing a little bit because that's all that's allotted to us in this life, in our dispensation, at the end of this dispensation.
They couldn't do it because of unbelief. God is still on the throne. Is He not? God's will is none would perish. Is it not? The fields are riper than they've ever been. There's more people on this earth than there's ever been.
And it's not just in Mexico and the faraway places. And so in my heart, I recognize this, that there's a piece of the puzzle missing, and it's called the sin of unbelief, that there's a hole there. Unbelief.
And then we come down a little further, and we've got this kind can only come out by prayer and fasting. The sin of prayerlessness. Oh, certainly we don't suffer from the sin of prayerlessness. Our Wednesday night meetings are packed to the brim.
Everyone that's on the assembly address list is there, and they're exercised, and they're engaged, and they're excited to pray. Is there one assembly like that represented here today? More than likely not.
This kind can only come forth by prayer and fasting, laying hold upon God. I have to confess, I'm not sure I know what true prayer is. I was reading a little book just this past week about prayer. I'm trying to learn about it.
And the man was writing in 1912. 1912. And he said that the problem with prayer is that people don't have any time. There's so much to do. What was there to do in 1912 compared to today? The sin of prayerlessness.
Did you know that prayerlessness is really a reproach to God? It's me really saying, look, God, there's things more important in my life today than You. It's really a reproach to God. It's a reason for our weakness.
I'll say this. In Marian, we have a prayer meeting before the Gospel and after, and I've been delighted by the number of brethren that have stayed to pray. There's been a dozen brethren before the meeting, and there's been probably a dozen after the meeting.
And prayer has been made to God. And there's an attitude and there's an atmosphere of dependence upon God, and it's powerful. You go away from the prayer meeting and you're just about in shivers because brethren are bringing us into the very throne room of God.
But yeah, brethren, today we suffer from the sin of prayerlessness. Why can't we bow the knee beside the bed and pray for more than 30 seconds without an interruption going through our mind? Why is it that to spend a half an hour in prayer just about kills us?
Because we're so busy and we have so much to do and we have so much that we have to get done in a day. This kind can only come out by prayer and by fasting. Prayer is a responsibility. And I think this, as you reminded this morning about the preaching of the gospel and how it sometimes changes.
If we as God's representatives on this earth are before the throne of God in prayer, in real prayer, the gospel won't change. I don't think it can. As the Spirit of God moves upon the hearts of we as people, I'm not talking just about the preachers, but for all of us out there that share the gospel with our friends and our loved ones.
The sin of prayerlessness and fasting. The sin of selfishness. And I'm not thinking here just about food. I want to broaden the scope of fasting just now to anything that we have to deny ourself for. Self-denial.
Not self-dependence, but self-denial. And you know, really, it's amazing when we think of it. We are a people that can't say no. Have you watched yourself lately? It's hard to say no. Oh, there's an email.
Yes, I'm going to answer the email. There's a text. There's this. There's that. And people need this, and people need that. And it might be for a good cause, but we can't say no. It's hardly in our vocabulary.
We have no self-denial. Very little. I shouldn't say no. Very little self-denial. Very little that we give up of our own interest for the interest of God and the interest of the assembly. Very little.
How do we know that? How can you see that in your own heart? Because when something comes up that you really want to do, you know what you say no to? The same thing I say no to. I say no to God. God, I've got to do this.
This is more important just now. I've got to run over here. I've got to do this. And we can't say no to others, and we can't say no to ourselves. It's hard, isn't it? Another little piece of my heart.
Unbelief. Prayerlessness. We're all the same, aren't we? Selfishness. Selfishness. We don't see any of these in the Lord Jesus, do we? The just shall live by faith. And we see the example in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Always doing those things which please the Father. Always obedient to the Father's will. Faithful. Faithful. We see Him in prayer. We see Him spending hours in prayer. Why would it be necessary for Him to pray?
He's God. But yet we see Him laying hold upon God. And we see Him committing Himself to the will of the Father. And we see Him in His dependence upon His God. And we see Him there in all of His lovely humility.
And He's in prayer. He's in prayer. And there was no sin of selfishness in Him. He gave everything. He gave everything. But the sin of greatness. The sin of greatness. It's just simply pride, isn't it?
That's all it is. You ever see pride in your heart? You ever find it there? More than likely it traces through our mind. I don't want to say minutely, but maybe hourly at least. We think, oh, I'm going to be like this.
Or I'm going to do this. And this. And, oh, I'm more spiritual than they are. Oh, I'm more godly than that person. Oh, look at that poor sinner. They're not saved. I'm sure glad I'm not like him in pride.
We can't expect... I don't know how to word this here. I want to word it right so I don't mess it up. We can't expect to live for God. Or see anything done for God. If we seek to pray in the spirit but live by the flesh.
Now, God can work in His sovereignty, and He does, and I'm thankful for that. He worked in His sovereignty here. But here's some disciples. Could it be they were seeking to pray? But they were seeking to operate under the authority and the power of the flesh.
It can't work. And it's only the sovereignty of God that God blesses and God works. Four things. And you might find more in this. And if you do, I hope you tell me. Because no doubt there's a hole in my heart that that sin will fit into.
But just simply this. The sin of unbelief. It's real, brethren. It's real in all of us. The sin of prayerlessness. It's a reality. It's a reality. We can find that by the, there's no patches on our jeans, is there?
The sin of prayerlessness. The sin of selfishness. The sin of greatness. They reasoned among themselves. They were bickering who's going to be the greatest. And that's in every single one of us. Every single one.
I hope these four spikes sink into your heart as they have mine. This is a real problem, brethren, that each and every one of us have. Would to God we could be honest in his presence today. And confess our lack of faith.
Confess our lack of prayer. Confess our selfishness. And confess our pride. And look for God to move in his sovereignty. Not only in the salvation of souls. But in the restoration of his people. Even unto the revival of 2016.
It starts with individuals. The Lord bless you.