the God who hears and answers prayer. This sermon was first preached in the year 1735 by Jonathan Edwards. Our text for this morning comes from the book of Psalms, Psalm chapter 65, verse 2. O you who hears prayer, to you all men will come. In our verse for today, there is a prophecy of the glorious times of the gospel, when all men will come, all men will come to the true God, the God who hears prayer, which is here mentioned as what distinguishes the true God from the false gods to whom the nations prayed to and sought after. Those gods who cannot hear and cannot answer prayer. The time is coming when everyone will come to that God who does hear prayer. Therefore, we understand in this doctrine that it is the character of the true God that he is a God who hears and answers prayer. That it is the character of the true God that he is a God who hears and answers prayer. Now this morning we will look at four aspects of the doctrine, the doctrine that God hears and answers prayer. First, we will see that our God, the true God, hears and answers prayer. Secondly, we will see how our God hears and answers prayer. Thirdly, we will see that only our God hears and answers prayer. And fourthly, we will see the reasons why our God hears and answers prayer. First point. Our God, the true God, hears and answers prayer. Though He is infinitely above everyone and has no need of men or women, yet He is graciously pleased to take merciful notice of them. because he sees them as being weak and sinful and therefore very needy. He manifests and presents himself as the object of prayer, appearing as sitting on a mercy seat, a throne where God bestows mercy, kindness, blessing and forgiveness to men and women who come to him by prayer. When they stand in need of anything, He allows them to come and ask Him, and He is waiting and longing to hear their prayers. God in His word has given many promises that He will hear and answer their prayers. The scripture is full of such examples, and in His church, He manifests Himself to be a God that hears and answers prayer. Here then we ask the question, what is meant by a God hearing prayer? What is meant by a God that hears and answers prayer? There are two things implied in it. First, He accepts prayer requests from those who pray to Him. He accepts prayer requests from those who pray to Him. Their prayer requests to Him are well received. He is well pleased with them. He approves of their asking whatever they request of Him and approves of the way that they do it. He accepts their prayers as an offering to Him. He accepts the honor they give Him with their prayers. Secondly, He accepts prayer requests in a very gracious and pleasing manner. He accepts prayer requests in a very gracious and pleasing manner. He sometimes shows His acceptance of their prayers by special revelations of His mercy and sufficiency, which He makes to them in prayer, or immediately after. While they are praying, He gives them such sweet pictures of His glorious grace, His purity, His sufficiency, His sovereignty, and enables them, with great peace, to rest in Him, to leave themselves and their prayers with Him, submitting to His will and trusting in His grace and faithfulness. We see an example of this in God's answer to Hannah's prayer, which calmed and settled her mind. and took away all of her sadness. We read in the book of 1 Samuel chapter 1 how intense she was and in such deep anguish and that she was weeping bitterly as she prayed. But she came and poured out her soul before God and spoke out of the abundance of her grief. Then we read that after she prayed, that she went away and her face was no longer sad with sorrow, which seems to have come from some uplifting discoveries which God had made of himself to her, to enable her to quietly submit to his will and trust in his mercy, whereby God manifested his acceptance of her. Now I'm not concluding that persons can therefore argue that the particular thing which they ask for in prayer will certainly be given them, or that they can surely predict from it what God will do in answer to their prayers, beyond what he has promised in his word. Yet God may, and doubtless does, reveal his acceptance of their prayers, and from that they can confidently rest in his providence and in his merciful actions with respect to the thing which they ask. Again, God reveals his acceptance of their prayers by doing for them what is best for their needs and prayers. He not only inwardly and spiritually reveals his mercy to their souls by his spirit, but outwardly by dealing mercifully with them in his providence in consequence of their prayers and by causing a harmony between his providence and their prayers. Now our second point for this morning How are God hears and answers prayer? How are God hears and answers prayer? There are five significant ways that God hears and answers prayer. Five significant ways that God hears and answers prayer. The first significant way that God hears and answers prayer is by giving such free access to Himself through prayer. God in His Word reveals Himself ready at all times to allow us this privilege. He sits on the throne of grace and there is no curtain to hide His throne and keep it from us. The way is open at all times, and we may go to God as often as we please. Although God is infinitely above us, yet we may come to Him with boldness. Hebrews 4.16 says this, Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Oh, it is so wonderful that such weak and sinful persons such as we are should be allowed to come boldly at any time to so great a God. Thus God allows all kinds of persons from every nation to come to him as the scriptures reveal where they say, those everywhere who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours, Yes, God allows the most wicked and unworthy, even the greatest sinners are allowed to come through Christ. And He not only allows them to come, but He encourages and frequently invites them. Yes, He reveals Himself as delighting in being sought out by prayer. The prayer of the upright pleases Him. And in the Song of Solomon, chapter 2, verse 14, we have Christ saying to His spouse, O my dove, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet. The voices of the saints in prayer are sweet to Christ. He delights to hear them. He wants them to be earnest and persistent, yes, to the degree as not to take no for an answer, to give him no rest. you who call on the Lord give yourselves no rest and give him no rest till he answers you. Christ also encourages us in the parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge in Luke chapter 18 and also in the parable of the man who went to his friend at midnight in Luke chapter 11 verse 5 to 8. Likewise, God, in pre-incarnate form, allowed Jacob, a man, to wrestle with him. Wrestle with God, yes! And Jacob was unyielding and determined in it, saying to God, I will not let you go unless you bless me. I will not let you go unless you bless me. It may be formally noted that when men and women are passionate and relentless for the kingdom of heaven, then they will be allowed to enter into it. We see a picture of this when Christ allowed the blind man to be very persistent and relentless in his cries to him, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Others who were present rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more. Those who tried to stop the blind man from shouting out for mercy from Jesus thought he was too bold and acting improperly to Christ, to shout out to him as he passed by. But Christ did not rebuke him. Rather, he stopped and commanded that the blind man be brought to him, saying, What do you want me to do for you? What do you want me to do for you? And when the blind man had told him, Christ graciously granted his request. This freedom of access that God gives appears also in allowing us to come to him by prayer for everything we need, both earthly and spiritual, whatever evil we need to be delivered from or good we want to obtain. God says in his word, do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. Now the second significant way that God hears and answers prayer is by being so ready to answer the prayer, is by being so ready to answer the prayer. Many times God shows us His readiness to hear prayer by giving a quick answer, sometimes while the saints are still praying, and sometimes before they even start praying, when they are only thinking about praying. So ready is God to hear prayer that He takes note of the first thought of praying, and sometimes bestows His mercy right then and there. God says in His Word, Before they call, I will answer. While they are still speaking, I will hear. We read that while Daniel was still praying, confessing his sins to God and making his request known to Him, that God sent an angel to comfort him and assure him of an answer. When God delays for the present to answer the prayer of faith, It is not from any unwillingness to answer, but for the good of his people, sometimes that they may be better prepared for the answer before they receive it, or because another time would be the best and more suitable for the answer. And even then, when God seems to delay an answer, the answer is indeed quick and timely, as we see in Luke chapter 18, verses seven and eight, where we read, And will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones who cry out to Him day and night? Will He keep putting them off? I tell you, He will see that they get justice and quickly. Sometimes when the blessing seems to be delayed, God is even then at work to bring it about in the best time and in the best manner. Habakkuk 2.3 says, Though it linger, wait for it, it will certainly come, and will not delay. The third significant way that God hears prayer and answers prayer is by giving an abundant answer. The third significant way that God hears and answers prayer is by giving an abundant answer. James 1, verses 5 and 6 says, if any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously, gives generously to all without finding fault. Men often show their reluctance to give, both by the meagerness of their gifts and by scolding those who ask for those gifts. They will be sure to remind them of some of their faults when they give them anything. But on the contrary, God both gives abundantly and does not remind us of our being unworthy to receive what we ask. He is abundant and rich in His communication to those who call upon Him. Psalm 86 verse 5 says, You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to everyone who calls to You. In Romans 10, verse 12, he says, for there is no difference between Jew and Gentile. The same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him. And richly blesses all who call on him. Now, sometimes God not only gives the thing that we ask for, but he gives us more than his ask. He did so to Solomon, as recorded in 1 Kings 3, where God said, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for. I will give you what you have not asked for, both wealth and honor. Yes, God will give more to his people than they can either ask or think, as is implied in Ephesians 3, verse 20, where it says, Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine. The fourth significant way that God hears and answers prayer is by the supernatural things which he has often done in answer to prayer. is by the supernatural things which he has often done in answer to prayer. For example, when Esau was coming to attack his brother Jacob with 400 men, and without a doubt planning to kill him, Jacob prayed and God changed Esau's heart, so that when he met Jacob, it was in a very friendly manner. Esau threw his arms around Jacob and kissed him, and they wept together. Likewise, in Egypt, in answer to the prayer of Moses, God brought supernatural dreadful plagues upon Egypt, and later, when Moses prayed again, God removed the plagues. When Samson was ready to die from thirst, he prayed to God, and God worked a miracle by supplying a spring to suddenly gush forth from a dry place in the ground to meet Samson's immediate need. And later, after all of his supernatural strength had left him, and he was captured by the Philistines, and they were all gathered together, then Solomon prayed to God, asking God to strengthen him one more time in order to pull down the Temple of Dagon on all the Philistines. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his lifetime. We also see that Joshua prayed to God and said, Son, stand still at Gibeon and moon in the valley of Adjalon. And God heard his prayer and caused the sun and the moon to stand still in space. The Bible also records that the prophet Elijah was a man with a nature like ours and he prayed fervently that it might not rain. And for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again and the heavens gave rain and the earth bore its fruit. Likewise, God confused the Ethiopian one million man army in answer to the prayer of Asa, who had a much smaller army. Lastly, God sent an angel and killed in one night 185,000 men of Sennacherib's army, in answer to Hezekiah's prayer. The fifth significant way that God hears and answers prayer is by the fact that God appears, God appears to be overcome by prayer. God appears to be overcome by prayer. When God is displeased by sin, He reveals His displeasure, comes out against us in His providence, and seems to oppose us and resist us. And yet in such cases, God's displeasure at least from our perspective, can be overcome by humble and fervent prayer. The Bible says the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Prayer has great power with God in that he graciously shows himself as being conquered by it. Thus God appeared to oppose Jacob in what he sought of him, yet Jacob was resolute and overcame. Therefore God said, Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed. Likewise, when God's anger burned against Israel, and He appeared to be ready to consume them in His burning displeasure, Moses stood in the gap, and by his humble and earnest prayer and supplication, averted the stroke of divine vengeance. The third aspect of the doctrine that God hears and answers prayer is, only our God hears and answers prayer. Only our God hears and answers prayer. There is no other God of whom it may be said that He hears and answers prayer. Many of those things that are worshipped as gods are simply idols made by their worshippers. mere pieces of wood and plaster that know nothing and hear nothing. Many are indeed made with ears, but they do not hear the prayers of them that cry out to them. They have ears, but they do not hear. Others, though not the work of men's hands, yet are things without life. Thus many worship the sun, the moon and the stars, which though glorious creations, yet are not capable of knowing anything of the needs and desires of those who pray to them. Some people worship certain kinds of animals, as the Egyptians were prone to worship bulls, which were alive, yet the bulls were destitute of any reason whereby they would be capable of knowing the request of their worshipers. Other people worship demons instead of the true God. 1 Corinthians 10.20 says, The sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God. These demons, though creatures of great power, do not have the knowledge necessary to be capable to fully understand the state, the circumstances, and the desires of those who pray to the demons. but the true God. Oh, but the true God perfectly knows the circumstance of everyone that prays to Him throughout the world. Though millions and millions pray to God at the same instant in different parts of the world, yet it is no more difficult for God, who is infinite in knowledge, to carefully listen to all of them at once as it is to listen to only one person. God is so perfect in knowledge that He does not need to be informed by us in order to be knowledgeable of our needs, for He knows what things we need before we even ask Him. The worshipers of false gods needed to lift their voices and cry out loudly, or else the gods could not hear them, as Elijah mocked the worshipers of Baal to do. But the true God hears the silent petitions of His people. He doesn't need for us to cry out loud. Yes, he knows and perfectly understands when we only pray in our hearts, as Hannah did in 1 Samuel 1. Idols are nothing but worthless lies. In them, there is no help. As to power or knowledge, they are nothing. As the apostle says in 1 Corinthians 8, verse 4, an idol is nothing at all in the world. As to images that people worship, they too have absolutely no power to answer prayer, thus they are not able to act. The Bible says they have hands but cannot feel, they have feet but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them. As to the sun and the moon and the stars in heaven, Although mankind receives benefits from them, yet they act only as the true God created them to do so. Therefore they have no power to do anything in answer to prayer. And demons, though worshipped as gods, are not able, even if they wanted to, to make people happy who worship them. For they can do nothing at all except by divine permission. When the children of Israel turned away from the true God to worship idols and then later cried out to God in their distress, He reproved them for their folly by telling them to go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble. These false gods, instead of helping those who pray to them, cannot help themselves. The demons are nothing but wretched, tormented spirits They are bound in chains of darkness because of their rebellion against the true God and they cannot deliver themselves. Nor have they any inclination to help mankind, any more than a pack of hungry wolves would have to protect a helpless flock of lambs. And those who worship and pray to demons will not get anything good by serving them. All the reward that Satan and the demons will give those who worship them is to utterly, totally destroy them. Now the fourth aspect of the doctrine that God hears and answers prayer is a look at the reasons why our God hears and answers prayer. The reasons why our God hears and answers prayer. I've listed five reasons why our God hears and answers prayer. The first reason why God hears and answers prayer is that God requires prayer in order to bestow mercies. God requires prayer in order to bestow mercies. We do not pray so that we can inform God about our needs or desires. He is omniscient, all-knowing, and with respect to His knowledge it is unchangeable. God never gains any knowledge by information. He knows what we want a thousand times more perfectly than we ourselves know, even before we ask Him. However, from our earthly perspective, it appears to us that God is moved and persuaded by the prayers of his people. Yet it is not true. Yet it is not true that God is moved or made willing by our prayers. For it is no more possible that there would be any new inclination or will in God than new knowledge. The mercy of God is not moved or drawn by anything in the creature. but the mechanism of God's generosity is only within Himself. God is self-motivated, and whatever mercy He bestows, the reason and the basis of it is not to be found in the creature, but in God's own good pleasure. It is the will of God to bestow mercy in this way, in answer to prayer. God says in his word, this I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them. Oh my friends, God has been pleased to establish prayer to be the condition to the giving of mercy. God has been pleased to establish prayer to be the condition to the giving of mercy. And he is pleased to give mercy as a consequence of prayer as though he were convinced to act by prayer. When the people of God are moved to pray, it is the result of his plan to show mercy. Let me say that again. When the people of God are moved to pray, it is the result of his plan to show mercy. Therefore, he pours out the spirit of grace and supplication. The second reason why God hears and answers prayer is that prayer is an acknowledgment of our dependence on Him, which gives Him glory. Prayer is an acknowledgment of our dependence on Him, which gives Him glory. As God has made all things for His own glory, so He will be glorified and acknowledged by His creatures. And it is fitting that he should require this from those who would be the subjects of his mercy, that we, when we desire to receive any mercy from him, should humbly ask the divine maker. For the bestowment of that mercy is just a simple acknowledgement of our dependence on the power and mercy of God for that which we need, and a suitable honor paid to the great author and source of everything good. Now the third reason why God hears and answers prayer is that God requires us to pray in order to receive His mercy because it prepares us for its reception. Because it prepares us for its reception. Fervent prayer tends to prepare the heart by exciting a sense of our need and of the value of the mercy which we seek and at the same time earnestly desire it. whereby the mind is more prepared to prize it, to rejoice in it when it is bestowed, and to be thankful for it. Prayer with a proper confession of our sins may excite a sense of our unworthiness of the mercy we seek, and the placing of ourselves in the immediate presence of God makes us aware of His majesty and, in a sense, fit to receive mercy from Him. Our prayer to God may excite in us a proper sense and consideration of our dependence on God for the mercies that we ask, and a true exercise of faith in God's sufficiency so that we may be prepared to glorify his name when the mercy is received. The fourth reason why God hears and answers prayer is because He is a God of infinite grace and mercy. Because He is a God of infinite grace and mercy. It is indeed a very wonderful thing that so great a God would be so ready to hear and answer our prayers, though we are so despicable and unworthy. that he would give free access at all times to everyone should allow us to be persistent without considering it an offensive boldness. It is so rich in mercy to them that call upon him, that worms of the dust should have such power with God by prayer, that he should do such great things in answer to their prayers and should show himself, as it were, overcome by them. This is very wonderful when we consider the distance between God and us, and how we have provoked Him by our sins, and how unworthy we are of the least gracious notice. It cannot be from anything that God needs from us, for in ourselves we have nothing good to offer Him. Neither can it be from anything in us to incline the heart of God towards us. It cannot be from any worthiness in our prayers, which are in themselves polluted things. but it is because God delights in grace and mercy. In this respect, He is infinitely distinguished from all other gods. He is the great fountain of all good, from whom goodness flows just like light flows from the sun in the heavens. Lastly, the fifth reason why God hears and answers prayer is that we have a glorious mediator, Jesus Christ, who has prepared the way that our prayers may be heard consistently with the honor of God's justice and majesty. Not only has God in Himself mercy sufficient for this, but Jesus Christ, the mediator between God and man, has provided that this mercy may be exercised consistently with the divine honor. Through Christ we may come to God the Father for mercy. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No person can come to the Father but by Christ. This mediator has done three things to make way for the hearing of our prayers. This wonderful mediator has done three things to make way for the hearing of our prayers. First, Christ has by his blood made atonement for sin, so that our guilt need not stand in the way as a separating wall between God and us, and that our sins might not be a cloud through which our prayers cannot pass. By his atonement, he has opened the way to the throne of grace. God would have been infinitely gracious if there had been no mediator, but the way to the mercy seat, the very throne of God, would have been blocked. But Christ has removed what stood in the way. The curtain which blocked the way to the mercy seat was torn from the top to the bottom by the death of Christ. If it had not been for this, our guilt would have remained as a wall of brass. a wall of brass to hinder our approach, but all is removed by His precious blood. Secondly, Christ, by His obedience, has purchased this privilege so that the prayers of those who believe in Him would be heard. Christ has not only removed the obstacle to our prayers, but has earned a hearing of them. His merits are the incense that is offered with the prayers of the saints, which renders them a sweet aroma to God and acceptable in his sight. Therefore, the prayers of the saints have such power with God. Consequently, at the prayer of a redeemed sinful man, God stopped the sun in the sky for about the space of a whole day. Therefore, Jacob as a prince had power with God and prevailed. Our prayers would not be important and would have no effect on God were it not for the merits of Jesus Christ. Thirdly, Christ enforces the prayers of his people by his intercession at the right hand of God in heaven. Christ has entered into the Holy of Holies on our behalf, with the incense which he has provided, and there he makes continual intercession for all that come to God in his name, so that their prayers come to God the Father through his hands. If I may say so, which is represented in the book of Revelation chapter eight, verses three and four, where it says, an angel who had a golden censer came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all God's people on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense together with the prayers of God's people went up before God from the angel's hand. This was also illustrated in the Old Testament by the priest offering incense in the temple, at the same time when the people were offering up their prayers to God, as seen in Luke 1.10 where it says, Now, let us turn to the practical application of this doctrine, the doctrine that God hears and answers prayer. First, we may learn how highly privileged we are, in that we have the Most High God revealed to us as a God that hears and answers prayer. The overwhelming majority of mankind does not have this privilege. Whatever their needs are, whatever their trials or sorrows, they have no God who hears their prayer, a God to whom they may go to. If they go to the gods whom they worship and cry to them ever so earnestly, it will all be in vain. They worship either lifeless things that can neither help them nor know that they need help, or wicked, mean, demonic spirits who are their enemies and wish nothing but their misery, and who, instead of helping them, are from day to day working their ruin and watching over them as a hungry lion watches over his prey. Secondly, how different we are than the majority of mankind in that we have the true God made known to us, a God of infinite mercy and grace, a God full of compassion to those who are miserable, who is ready to pity us in all of our troubles and sorrows, to hear our cries and to give us all the relief that we need, a God who delights in mercy and is rich to all that call upon him. Oh dear friends, how privileged we are, how highly privileged we are in that we have the Holy Word of this same God to direct us how to seek for mercy. In whatever difficulties or distress we are in, we may go to Him with confidence and great encouragement. What a comfort this is to us. And we have every reason to rejoice in our privileges, to prize them so highly, and to bless God that he has been so merciful to us as to give us his word and reveal himself to us, and that he has not left us to cry, to cry for help to pieces of wood and stones and demons, as he has left many millions and millions of others. We now come to the most common objection to this doctrine. The biggest objection that many make to this doctrine is that, I have often prayed to God for certain mercies and He has not heard or answered my prayers. Let me answer that. We cannot argue that God is not a prayer-hearing God if He does not give to men and women what they ask of Him to consume on their own pleasures. Oftentimes when men and women pray for worldly good things, they desire them for no good end, but only to gratify their pride or sensuality. If they pray for worldly things chiefly from a worldly spirit and make an idol of the world, it is no wonder that God does not hear their prayers. James 4, verse 3 says, when you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your own pleasures. If you request God to give you something of which you will make an idol of, and set up in opposition to him, or as instruments to serve his enemies, no wonder that God will not hear you. If God should hear such prayers, he would act as his own enemy inasmuch as he would bestow them to serve his enemies. The second answer. We cannot argue that God is not a prayer-hearing God because he does not hear insincere and unbelieving prayers. How can we expect that God would have any respect for prayers which have no sincerity in them? God does not look at the words, he looks at the heart. If men and women pray only in words and not in heart, what are their prayers good for? And why should the God who searches the hearts and minds have any respect for such prayers? Sometimes men and women conceal their true motives in their prayers. And when they do so, they cannot argue that God lacks mercy and refuses to hear their prayers because He cannot and will not answer such prayers. Sometimes they pray with words that are not really the desire of their hearts. They pray that God would purge them from sin, while at the same time they show by their practice that they don't desire to be purged from sin because they love and they choose sin and are utterly opposed to parting with it. In a similar way, others come to God in prayer and declare that they are totally dependent on God and that only He is sufficient to meet their need. But yet, deep in their hearts, they don't feel a real dependence on God, nor do they think He is sufficient to supply all their needs. For all the while they are praying, they are trusting in themselves and have no real confidence in God. They show in their words that they are like beggars, but in their heart they come as creditors and look on God as their debtor and want Him to give what He owes them. In words they seem to be asking for things as the fruit of free grace, but in their heart they consider that it would be unjust and cruel if God would deny their request. In words they seem humble and submissive, but in their heart they are proud and contentious. There is no real prayer here, for it consists only of empty words. Thirdly, we cannot argue that God is not a prayer-hearing God because He can distinguish between real prayers and pretend ones. Such prayers as those which I have just mentioned are not real prayers. They're not real prayers in the eyes of God, the God who searches the heart and sees things as they are. That prayer which is not of faith is insincere. For true prayer is a display of dependence on God and trust in His sufficiency and mercy. Therefore, where this trust or faith is lacking, there is no prayer in the sight of God. And although God is sometimes pleased to grant the requests of those who have no faith, yet He is not obliged to do so. Nor is it an argument of His not being a prayer-hearing God when He does not answer them. In the fourth place, I answer, we cannot argue that God is not a prayer-hearing God because He exercises His own wisdom as to the timing and the way of answering the prayer. Some of God's people are sometimes quick to think that He does not hear their prayers because He does not answer them according to their timing, when in fact God did hear them and will answer them in the timing and in the way which His own wisdom directs. The purpose of prayer is not to direct God to do something. Our God is infinitely wise and does not need any of our direction. God knows what is best for us 10,000 times better than we do, and knows what is the best timing and the best way to answer it. It is right that He should answer prayer and has an infinitely wise God to answer it with His own perfect wisdom, not our human wisdom. God will deal as a father with us in answering our requests. But a child is not to expect that the father's wisdom be subject to that of the child's wisdom. Nor should he desire that, but should consider it a privilege that the parent will provide for him according to the parent's own wisdom. For our fifth answer, we cannot argue that God is not a prayer-hearing God because He does not always answer our prayers. For it may be that God sees the things for which we pray are not the best thing for us. If so, it would be no mercy in Him to bestow them on us but a judgment. Such things, therefore, ought always to be asked with submission to the divine will. God can answer prayer, though He does not give us the very thing for which we prayed. He can sometimes better answer the lawful desires and good end we have in prayer another way. If our end is our own good and happiness, God can perhaps better answer that end in bestowing something else than in giving the very thing for which we ask for. And if the main good we aim at in our prayer is attained, our prayer is answered. They're not in the actual receiving of the individual thing which we sought. And so that may still be true, which was before asserted, that God always hears the prayer of faith. God never once failed in hearing a sincere and believing prayer, and those promises forever hold good. Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you, for everyone who asks receives. The one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Lastly for this morning, let us close with one more use of this doctrine, and that it may be one of reproof to those that neglect the duty of prayer. That it may be one of reproof to those that neglect the duty of prayer. If we enjoy so great a privilege as to have the prayer-hearing God revealed to us, how great will be our foolishness if we neglect the privilege or make no use of it, and deprive ourselves of the advantage by not seeking this God by prayer. Those who neglect the great duty of secret prayer, which is more clearly commanded in the Word of God than any other duty, must be rebuked. What excuse can those persons give of themselves who neglect so clear a duty? It is impossible that any among us should be ignorant of this command of God. How bold, how bold therefore is their wickedness who live in the neglect of the duty of prayer? And what can they answer to the judge when he shall call them to an account for it? Let me briefly say something to an excuse which some may be ready to make for themselves. Some may be ready to say, well, if I do pray, my prayer will not be the prayer of faith because I am in an unsaved natural condition and I have no faith. This excuse does not free anyone from obedience to a plain command of God. The command is to everyone. God not only directs godly persons to pray, but others also. In the beginning of the second chapter of Proverbs, God directs all persons to call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, for then they will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. And in James chapter one, verse five, the apostle says, if any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God. And Peter directed Simon Magus to repent of his wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. Therefore, my friends, when God says, do this or that, it is not for us to make excuses, but we must do the thing required. Finally, my dear brothers and sisters, seeing we have such a prayer hearing God as we have heard, let us spend much time in prayer. Let us live prayerful lives, being faithful in prayer, keep alert with all perseverance, praying at all times, without ceasing, earnestly, and not giving up. Amen.