Approaching God: The Art of Prayer and Faith

If any of us would learn the sacred art and mystery of prayer, it is well for us to study the Productions of the greatest masters of that science. I am unable to point out one who understood it better than did the psalmist David. So well did he know how to praise that his Psalms have become the language of good man in all ages, and so well did he understand how to pray that if we catch his spirit and follow his mode of prayer, we shall have learned to plead with God after the most prevalent sort. [00:49:33]

Confession is absolutely needful to The Sinner when he first seeks a savior. It is not possible for thee, o Seeker, to obtain peace for thy troubled heart till Thou shalt have acknowledged thy transgression and thine iniquity before the Lord. Thou mayest do what thou Wilt, I even attempt to believe in Jesus, but Thou shalt find that the faith of God's elect is not in thee unless Thou Art willing to make a full confession of thy transgression and lay be thy heart before God. [00:03:16]

We do not usually think of giving charity to those who did not acknowledge that they need it. The physician does not send his medicine to those who are not sick. The blind man and the gospels had to feel his blindness and to sit by the wayside begging. If he had entertained a doubt as to whether he were blind or not, the Lord would have passed him by. He opens the eyes of those who confess their blindness, but of others he says, because ye say we see, Therefore your sin remaineth. [00:03:56]

Let me speak especially to you who desire to find peace with God and salvation through the precious blood. You will do well to make your confession before God very Frank, very sincere, very explicit. Surely you have nothing to hide, for there is nothing that you can hide. He knows your guilt already, but he would have you know it, and therefore he bids you confess it. Go into the details of your sin and your secret acknowledgments before God. [00:04:54]

Faith's art of wrestling is to plead with God and say with holy boldness, Let It Be thus and thus for these reasons. Hosea tells us of Jacob at Jabbok that there he spake with us, from which I understand that Jacob instructed us by his example. Now the two pleas which Jacob used were God's precept and God's promise. First, he said, thou sest unto me, return unto thy country and to thy Kindred, as much as if he put it thus, Lord, I am in difficulty, but I have come here through obedience to thee. [00:21:07]

Faith will plead all the attributes of God. Thou Art just, therefore spare thou the Soul For Whom The Savior died. Thou Art merciful, blot out my transgressions. Thou Art good, reveal thy bounty to thy servant. Thou Art immutable, thou Hast done thus and thus to others of thy servants, do thus unto me. Thou art faithful, can thou break thy promise, can thou turn away from thy Covenant? Rightly viewed, all the Perfections of deity become pleased for faith. [00:23:04]

Faith moreover pleads the performances of God. She looks back on the past and says, Lord, thou did deliver me on such and such an occasion. Will thou fail me now? She moreover takes her life as a whole and pleads thus, after so much Mercy past, will thou let me sink at last? Hast thou brought me so far that I may be put to shame at the end? She knows how to bring the ancient mercies of God and make them Arguments for present favors. [00:28:47]

We may well be urgent with God if, as yet, we are not saved, for our need is urgent. We are in constant Peril, and the Peril is of the most tremendous kind. Oh sinner, within an hour, within a minute, thou mayest be where hope can never visit thee. Therefore cry, make haste, oh God, to deliver me, make haste to help me, oh Lord. Yours is not a case that can bear lingering. You have not time to procrastinate, therefore be urgent, for your need is so. [00:34:16]

When you cannot live longer without a savior, the Savior will come to you, and you shall rejoice in him. Brethren, members of this church, as I have said on another point, the same truth holds good with you. God will come to bless you and come speedily when your sense of need becomes deep and Urgent. Oh, how great is this Church's need. We shall grow cold, Unholy, and worldly. There will be no conversions, there will be no additions to our numbers. [00:39:01]

I desire to feel a spirit of urgency within my soul as I plead with God for the due of his grace to descend upon this church. I'm not bashful in this matter, for I have a license to pray. Begging is forbidden in the streets, but before the Lord, I am a licensed beggar. Jesus has said men ought always to pray and not to faint. You land on the shores of a foreign country with the greatest confidence when you carry a passport with you. [00:47:33]

The sweetness of the Bible lies in the possessive pronouns, and he who is taught to use them as the psalmist did shall come off a conqueror with the Eternal God. Now, sinner, I pray God thou mayest be helped to say this morning to the Blessed Christ of God, Thou Art my help and my deliverer. Perhaps you mourn that you cannot get to that length, but poor soul, hast thou any other help? If thou Hast, then thou canst not hold two helpers with the same hand. [00:51:56]

When Faith hath a will, she always finds a way, and she will win the day when all things forbode defeat. Faith's pleas are singular, but let me add Faith's pleas are always sound, for after all, it is a very telling plea to urge that we are poor and needy. Is not that the main argument with Mercy? Necessity is the very best plea with benevolence, either human or Divine. Is not our need the best reason we can urge if we would have a physician come quickly to a sick man? [00:30:47]