I want to continue this morning the topic that I commenced last Lord's Day. I want to speak upon the subject of prayer. Last Lord's Day morning, we saw that God had commanded His people to call upon Him, and that God had pledged Himself to answer the cries of the people of God when those cries were based upon the promises of the book. But you know, if we're honest, we will all confess that in regard to praying, we have one terrible problem that's always with us, and that is the problem of unanswered prayer. Not one of us can say this morning that all our prayers have been answered, simply because every one of us must confess to failure in the field of praying. And I want us to look today at the Scriptures and to find the reasons why our prayers are not answered. Why is it that God's people meet to pray and they supplicate the throne of grace? And we hear a great pouring out of speech and words before God. And then at the end of the day, we don't see the answers the way we should. There seems to be a hold up. There seems to be something wrong. It seems that prayers are not answered and are not going to be answered. I wonder why. I believe if the church could solve the problem of its unanswered prayers, that church would be on the road to a mighty revival. I believe if you, my believer, my dear brother and sister in Christ, could solve the problem of unanswered prayers in your life, you would be on the verge of being mightily and gloriously used by the Spirit of God. And so this subject is worth our earnest consideration. I want you to look with me at some scriptures this morning. For after all, it's from the Word of God that we'll find wisdom in this great art of praying. We're turning to the fourth chapter of James. James chapter 4. And we're looking at verse 3. Ye ask and receive not. because ye ask amiss, that ye may consummate upon your lusts, or in the margin your pleasures. Let me read it again. James 4 and verse 3. Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consummate upon your lusts. Here's the first reason why our prayers are not answered. Unscriptural motives lead to unanswered prayer. You see, if I'm praying for my own gratification, if I'm praying for something that's going to be just a pleasure for me, then God will not answer our prayers. I know churches that pray that God will fill every seat so that they can boast that they have a full church. I know preachers who pray that God might give them souls because people will say to them, he's a soul winner, he's a successful preacher. My friend, do you think God will ever answer those prayers? Do you? Do you think God is interested in the party name? Do you? Do you think God is interested in the piece of clay that stands behind the pulpit desk? Do you? God has only one interest, man and woman, and that interest is Jesus Christ. And if I'm preaching for the glorification of myself, If I'm building a church for the glorification of the party, if I'm working for the glorification of man, then God will not answer my prayer. Dr. Torrey, in one of his books, tells of a woman who came to see him. And she said, Dr. Torrey, God does not answer prayer. He said, How dare you speak such a thing? She said, I have prayed for almost twenty years for the salvation of my husband. And he's farther from God now than ever he has been. So the great preacher looked at her. He said, would you tell me, sister, why you want your husband saved? Oh, she said, that's quite simple. He's a terrible drunkard. He wastes his money and riot his living. He comes in drunk at night and he upsets me and upsets the children. And I would love my husband to be saved so that he would be sober, so that I would get my money regularly, so that I could have a nice home, so that I could go out with him in the evening like any other married couple. Tauri says it's no wonder your prayers are not answered. If you were praying for your husband that God would save him from hell, that God would deliver him from a sin, because it dishonors God. The great preacher said God. would save him. That woman broke down and she went away and she prayed all week that God would save her husband, not because he would be sober and nice to live with, but because he was a poor lost sinner going to hell! And if he died he would be lost and damned forever! And the next Sunday night she got him to Torrey's meeting and he was gloriously converted and became a leading worker in Torrey's great church. My friend, are your motives right? Are my motives right when we pray? How do we pray? Ye receive not, because ye ask of me. And the trouble with us when we come to pray, we just blurt out everything that we want, and we have no real concern about what we're after. May God baptize us with motives that are right with God. May God help us to stand for His truth in regard to praise. So that's the first one. Unscriptural motives will keep you from praying. Effectually. What's the use of praying if your prayers are not answered? I want my prayers to be answered. That's why I pray. Secondly, let's look at Isaiah 59, verses 1 and 2. Isaiah 59, verses 1 and 2. Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot see him, nor marketh neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear." There's nothing wrong with the ear of God. There's nothing wrong with God hearing our prayers, but your iniquities have separated between you and your God. And your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear." That's why God doesn't hear our prayers, because of sin. You turn over to Psalm 66 and verse 18. Psalm 66 and verse 18, and what does it say there? It says there, If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Unconfessed sin leads to an unanswered prayer. Unconfessed sin. And if you've got sin in your heart, God will not hear you pray. My friend, except you're prepared to allow the knife of God, the surgery of God, to go into your heart and dig out those sins, those egos. Mr. Nicholson tells how in one of his great campaigns there was a hold-up in blessing, and he was going down the street And he called him to a butcher's shop, and he said to the man, have you been to the meetings? And the man said, certainly not. I haven't been to the meetings. He said, why? And he brought out his account book. And he said, do you know Mrs. So-and-so? Nicholson says, yes, a fine woman. She's in the prayer meeting every night. He says, well, that's why I'm not there. There's the money she owes me for years, and she's not making any attempt to pay it. Do you think God will answer her prayers or bless you as a preacher? And Nicholson went back and he dealt with that woman and disciplined her and silenced her from prayer. And then the people prayed and that man came to the mission and God saved them. My friend, I want to tell you if there's sin in our lives, God will not hear our prayers. If we're dishonest, if we're not upright, if we make no attempt to pay our debts, If we are prepared to go easy in the things that really matter, then God will not hear our prayers. You know, if you mean business with God, God will deal with you. He'll make you toe the line in righteousness, and that's the way it ought to be. Oh, that God would cleanse our hearts from every unconfessed sin. Oh, that God would break us as a people at the throne of grace. Oh, that God would give us pure and contrite hearts that we might really pray. Look at Ezekiel chapter 14 and verse 3. Ezekiel 14 and verse 3. Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face, should I be inquired of at all by them. Untoppled idols. Untoppled idols. I wonder what's the idol in your heart that keeps you from the prayer meeting. There's a little hymn that says, room for business, room for pleasure, but no room for Jesus. And my friend, until the idols are toppled, we'll never really pray. Until the idols are toppled down by the power of the Spirit of God, you'll never really pray, friend. Be honest about it. Those idols have got to go down this morning. The dearest idol I have known, whate'er that idol be, Help me to inherit from thy throne and worship only thee. And those idols have got to be troubled in the name of the Lord. And whatever keeps me from prayer is an idol. God's curses upon us may be a quite legitimate thing. It's a right thing for a woman to have a clean and tidy home. But if she puts her home before prayer, then her home is an idol. It's a right thing for a father and mother to love their children, but if they put their children before the throne of grace, then the children become idols. It's a right thing for the preacher to be interested in the work of God, but if he's so interested in doing God's work he hasn't time to pray, then God's work becomes an idol. Let's be honest before God this morning. What idols are keeping us from having our prayers answered? May God really topple the idols this morning that we might learn the secret of praying prayers that shall be answered. And don't we need to pray such prayers today in this sad and terrible age in which we live? An age of darkness! An age of declension! I see that a Church of England minister this week opened a pub in the crypt of his church. He said he felt that the church should be a halfway hodge. My, this is a sad day, isn't it? This is a day when the devil's in with all his power, and we profess to know God and love His book, and we take a stand against the apostasy. But men and women, we need to pray, and we'll never pray until the idols are toppled, whatever idol it is. And then Proverbs 21, 13. Proverbs 21, 13. Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, and shall not be heard. unsympathetic attitudes. Proverbs 21, 13. That will keep your prayers from being answered. You know, God's people need to be a soft people. We need to remember the pit from which we have been digged and the rock from which we have been hewn. We need to remember that we are only poor, lost sinners ourselves, saved by the grace of God. How easy it is to get away from that! How proud and how hard God's people can be! You have never stood, perhaps, in the shoes of that down-and-out old drunkard. You have never been there. But, friend, if you have no sympathy for him, then God will not answer your prayer. You have never had to go without a meal. But the world is full of hungry people, and if you have no yearning in your heart to feed their bodies and to heal their souls, God will never hear your prayer. Let's be honest, friend, how hard the people of God can become. You know, we had trouble in this church of ours in the early days because people did not like poor old sinners coming in and getting saved. They didn't like it. And we had to have a bit of a spring cleaning one day to get these people out, because they didn't like the church. They thought it was like a Salvation Army hall. Praise God, I wish the Salvation Army had a bit of fire today in their souls. The church was never intended to be respected. And a dear woman Came to me the other day, and she said, when you get into that church in the Ravenhill Road, you'll be respectable there. And you'll have to watch your step. And you'll not have to do the things you're doing now. I said, Madam, you'll never see what I'll be like once I get in there. If I was bad before, I'll be a thousand times worse by the grace of God. We're not going to be respectable. You need to get another preacher, friend, if you're going to have a respectable church when I'm around. Well, God hasn't called us to be respectable. God has called us to be oblivious with love for sinners. And if they're down-to-earth sinners, thank God they're welcome in the church. They're welcome in this church. I don't care how far down they are. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And this church has been brought into being to save man. And we've got to be sympathetic for it. And when they come in, in their filth and their stink, we've got to love them for Jesus' sake. It's not an easy thing to do, I know. But friend, you've got to love them for Jesus' sake. We had a poor old fellow come in here the other Sunday night. He had no job. He had just come out of prison. The police were looking for him. He was torn and haggard. And his soul was full of sin. But praise God, God saved him. He's got a job. He's got cleaned up. He's got the smile of God in his face. And every Sunday night he's here rejoicing. And he said to me, you don't mind me coming? I said, don't mind? I said, you're welcome. Welcome to a seat on the platform. That's what this church is for, to get man and woman saved. We've got to have sympathy for these poor old sinners. Sympathy for men that are down in their sin. And this God knows this city's full of men and women who have lost hope and lost faith and lost their purity and lost their virtue. And they're in the clubs and in the dens of iniquity. And God has given us a responsibility to get them to Christ. We've got to win these souls for Christ. We've got to have a sympathetic attitude to them. Unsympathetic attitudes lead to unanswered prayer. 1 Peter 3, 7. I'm really going to step on your corns now on this one. This is a real strong one. 1 Peter 3, 7. Likewise, ye husbands dwell with them according to knowledge, that is, with their wives. giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel as being heirs together of the grace of life. Let your prayers be not hindered. Unhappy relationships in the home keep our prayers from being answered. If my wife doesn't believe in my Christianity, there's no use in me preaching. If my children don't believe that their father is a true Christian, then there's no use me preaching. If our testimony in the home is not right, God will not answer our prayers. And many Christian homes are torn with strife. Many husbands go out to do God's work and leave their wives at home to carry the responsibility that they're shunning, and they're thinking they're doing God's service. Friend, you have a responsibility in your home, first of all. And if I don't discharge the duty in my home as a father of the home, then, friend, I stand condemned before God. And let me tell you that the father has a responsibility in his home. If he hands it over to his wife at the judgment day, he'll answer for his responsibility. I have a responsibility as a father. I've got to make decisions every day concerning my family, where they shall go, what they shall say, the company they'll live with. I can't have to keep those responsibilities. And if my relationship's not right in my home, God will not answer my prayer. I may as well quit preaching. I've got responsibility. Tell me father, tell me husband, tell me wife, is your relationship right in the home? Is the relationship God glorified? Can husband and wife say, yes, we believe in the Christianity of our partner. We believe that they're right, they're walking with God. I believe there are more Christian homes torn with strife than any other sort of home. I know that as a pastor. I know that in my visitation, how the devil gets into the Christian home. You know, the devil hates a Christian home. When a home's ungodly, the devil's happy! But the devil hates a Christian home! And there are some Christian homes, and it's the children that rule the home. The children ruin. They make the dictation. And the parents, they obey. Well, I'll never obey my children, I can tell you. Hand over your responsibility and say, oh, we're living in a different age. I want to tell you that children should be obedient to their parents in the Lord, for this is right. And it's the commandment that brings honor and glory to the Lord's name. So we have a responsibility. So when you go home, you say to your wife, wife, do you believe in me? And when you go home, you say to your husband, Husband, do you believe in me? And if there's something wrong, let's put it right for the sake of the Lord this morning. Let's get on to the proper bases. Then we'll go places. Then this church will be on fire the way it ought to be. And then last of all, James 1, 6 to 8, tells us why our prayers are not answered. James 1, 6 to 8. But let him ask in faith nothing wavering, for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. But let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord." Unbelieving hearts lead to unanswered prayers. If you don't have faith, friend, you say, well, how can I have faith? I'll tell you how. Read the book. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. Do you want to have mighty faith, be a mighty reader of the Book? Do you want to have faith that moves mountains, saturate your soul in the Word of God? Do you want to have the faith that George Muller had? Then be of yourself day and day in the promises of God's Word. And those promises will create faith within your heart. Have you got it? unscriptural motives, unconfessed sins, untoppled idols, unsympathetic attitudes, unhappy relationships, and unbelieving hearts. Keep our prayers from being answered. May God lay the axe at whatever hindrances in my life and whatever hindrances in your life. And may God help us to pray as we have never prayed before, praying in faith that God may give us a mighty answer to our prayers. The most happy man in this church this morning is the man who can say, God's answering my prayers. The most happy woman in this meeting is the woman who can say, God's answering my prayers. To live where God answers prayer is the place where we all should reside. God grant it may be so, for His name's sake. Let's bow our heads. Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank Thee this morning for Thy Word. And, O God, it has come down like a sledgehammer and a sword upon us, but it's good for us. May we not be hearers, but may we be doers. And may these things that hinder our prayers be put away from us. May we confess them and forsake them this morning. And, O God, may we as a people know what it is to really and truly pray prayers that shall have the answer. O God, answer this our prayer for Jesus' sake. And the people of God said, Amen.