I've never been good about talking before I preach. And my pulpit at home, I've just come up and I begin to preach. And when I go to conferences, I think that sometimes it's good to say, good to be with you. Thankful for the invitation. We love you, church. And all these nice things to say before you preach. I've never been good at that. So I just go right into preaching. But here I have some books to talk about. And so it makes me a little nervous not to go right into preaching But we do have some good books for you to be aware about. One of them is Absolute Predestination. We've had this out for several years now. I read this when I was a young man. It was helpful and informative on shaping me and my understanding of the doctrines of grace, especially of the doctrine of predestination. It was out of print. And I thought, well, that needs to be back in print. And as I was reading it, thinking about reprinting it, It came back alive. The doctrine of predestination after several years is amazing. It's a precious, precious doctrine. But we're grace people. We've been grace people for years and we forget how precious the doctrine is if we don't revisit it. And when I revisited this by going through the manuscript, it's a glorious doctrine. And this guy, he's the lesser known reformer. He's not a Calvin. He's not Luther. He was he was Italian reformer, if you would. But no one hardly knew about him. But he wrote two books, one on the attributes of God, one on predestination. Augustus Topley took those two books and combined them into an English version. And Joe Bickey was kind enough to give us a great introduction. It gives the history of the book. And the introduction is worth the price. You can get this book for five dollars in any of the books on the table. If you don't have any money to steal one, I will not notice. This is not anything on our table, but it is something Free Grace Press did publish. The reason I want to bring it up to you, because You don't buy it from me. Buy it with the box. But we are out of print. It is out. These are the few last copies. I saw there's five or six of them here. That's all there is. It's out of print. We're going to reprint it. But this has gone really well. We we didn't know how well it would be received. But this thing is flying off and so much that we're going to put it back in print. But it might take three to six months before it's back. So if you want this book, it's it's here by John Quincy Adams. It's the only thing he wrote. He was a he was a Presbyterian who was converted into a Baptist. Charles Ferguson says if you want to know what Baptist believe, you need to get this book. He used this book in his school. So here you go. The last book I want to bring to your attention is one we just brought into print. This hasn't been in print since the 1800s and a little book by Benjamin Keech, who was instrumental in the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith. But he wrote this book for his church on the importance of local church and the importance of church discipline. And I took this book and when I read this, I said, I want everybody in my church to read this. So I'm going to reprint it for our church. So I reprinted it so our church could read this to know more about church discipline. You know, there's not everything in it. It would be something I would agree with wholeheartedly. But the overall tenor of the book is sweet. And this man loves the local church. And so it's worth reading. And it's just now been in print after almost 200 years. So we have that. You can get that. Both of these books for five dollars. And if you pastors want a bunch of these for your church, see me and I'll give you I have two dollars a piece in them. That's what it costs me to print them. You can I can make you just a little bit above cost if you want some to take with you for your church. With all that said, let's go, Lord, in prayer and sanctify our minds away from books and into the Word of God, which is what's most important for us this morning. Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord. Here we are. Here we are, your little sheep. We're just crying out at the father, dear Lord. Feed us, dear Lord. We are hungry. We are hungry to see you. Lord, you've never turned anyone who come to you hungry away. You've never said, no, that's enough. And here we come to you, dear Lord, relying upon your promises, relying upon your character, relying upon your nature, that you're good to your people. If you've given us your son, how much more will you not freely give us with him all things? This we pray in your son's name. Amen. Turn with me to Isaiah 63. Starting at verse seven. And we need to realize what we see here, starting at verse seven is Isaiah's prayer and Isaiah 62. God is relaying to Isaiah the future, God's plans for Israel, what God plans on doing with Israel, that he hasn't totally forsaken Israel because the word to Isaiah is that they're about to go into captivity. Judgment has come upon them, but he wants to reassure Isaiah, especially the remnant within Israel, that God still has a work yet for them. And he tells them about the future and gives them hope After the captivity, there's going to be a restoration. And he says all these glorious things, and after Isaiah hears this, starting in verse seven, he begins to pray as like he hears this good news, which leads him to pray. So I want us to think about praying today. Leonard Ravenhill says no man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor is not praying, it's playing. The people are not praying or straying. We have many organizers, but few agonizers, many players, but few prayers, many singers, few clingers, lots of pastors, few wrestlers, many fears, few tears, much fashion, little passion, many interferers, few intercessors, many writers, but few fighters. Felling here, we fell everywhere. Martin Lloyd-Jones says, prayer is beyond any question the highest activity of the human soul. Man is at his greatest and highest when he's upon his knees, when he comes face to face with God. He unbounds, says, men and women are needed whose prayers will give the world the utmost power of God, who will make his promises to blossom with rich and full results. He is asking us today, as he did in ancient Israel, to prove him now herewith. Behold, God's Word is God Himself. And we read, Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, His Maker, Ask of me of things to come in concerning my sons, in concerning the works of my hands. Command ye me. This is God. Command ye me. Tell me what to do, God is saying. As though God places Himself in the hands and at the disposal of His people who pray. As indeed, he does. The dominant element of all praying is faith. Without such faith, it is impossible to please God and equally impossible to pray. So how is your prayer life? What does your prayers look like? Do you enter into prayer quickly saying the first few things that comes to your mind or you think through your prayers? When I was a kid, When I knew I was wanting something really desperately from my parents, I thought about it for a while. I organized my thoughts. And I had a few arguments and reasons why I had to have this. And I would take these arguments with me. And this is what Charles Spurgeon says we are to do with God when we go into prayer. We are to organize our thoughts. and come to God with arguments. Job 23, Job says, I would lay my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments. When I go to the Lord in prayer, I'm going to lay my case, I'm going to build this case, not just some simple reason why I need it. I'm going to have multiple reasons and my mouth is going to be filled with arguments. Spurgeon commenting on Job 23 says we are to fill our mouth with arguments, not filling the mouth with words of good phrases or pretty expressions. I mean, we don't have to worry about how we sound when we pray. But filling the mouth with arguments when we come to the gate of mercy, forcibly arguments are the knocks of the wrapper, which the gates is open. Spurgeon went on to say the best prayers I've ever heard in our prayer meeting have never been those. Have been those which have been most full of argument. Sometimes my soul has been melted down, so to speak, when I've listened to friends who have come before God feeling that mercy is really needed and that they must have it. They first plead with God to give it for this reason and then for a second, then for a third and then for a fourth and a fifth until they have awakened the fervency of the entire assembly. We're to go to the Lord in our prayers with Arguments and the best arguments we can take before God are biblical arguments, biblical reasons. And this is what Isaiah does right before us. He takes this wonderful, elegant prayer. But the beauty of the prayer of Isaiah, it's his arguments before God. He argues four things before God. He knows that God has promised a future for Israel. And he begins to argue them before God. Now, before we get into verse seven and onwards. Go back and look at verse six and seven of chapter sixty two. Sixty two, this is key, verse six and seven, this is God speaking, I have set watchmen upon the walls, upon my walls, Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace, they are not. Yea, that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest, that is, give the Lord no rest, till he establish, until he makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. God is saying, I'm not finished with Israel, but rather I have set watchmen upon the walls, that they may not be silent, but continuously always remind me in heaven. And not give me rest until I fulfill my promise. God is saying, I've made a promise to the nation of Israel, but I've also set reminders to make sure I don't forget. I sometimes have to put reminders on my hand so I don't forget. I'll write something at three o'clock, do this, and I put it on my hand. And so I see it, I'm reminded. Well, God has put reminders out there so He doesn't forget what He's promised. And His reminders are you and me. We are the watchmen who are to remind God by praying continuously, consistently and always that God would not fail to keep His promises. So here, Isaiah hears this. So he begins to do it. I mean, after God says, I'm going to do this for Israel, Isaiah says, OK, I'm going to pray for this. Do this for Israel. He begins to pray. And he argues four things before God. And so I want to title this message reminding God in prayer or how to get God to hear you. And maybe you're struggling with something and you don't feel like God is listening, maybe you don't feel like God is paying attention and maybe you don't feel like praying because you don't feel like it does anything. Well, here are four things to make sure that God listens to you. Four things. Four ways to argue with God who he has to respond. You want God to hear you when you pray? You want God to act and answer your prayers? I know I do. I want answered prayers. Why pray if I don't want God to answer? Here's four things that compels him to hear you. Four arguments to take with you to God. First, all this is like you're you're the alarm clock of God. You're going to you're the sticking note on his hand. You're going to remind God of his promises. You're going to remind God of his character. You're going to remind God of his work and you're going to remind God of his glory. And those four things appeal to him. Four things to argue with God. Remind Him of His nature or His character. Remind Him of His past works. Remind Him of His promises. And fourthly, remind Him of His glory. And I promise you, God will listen. God will hear you. So let's begin, verses 7 to 9. This is what Isaiah is doing in his prayer. He begins to pray to God. Earnestly, and the first thing he does in the first two verses of our text, seven and nine, he reminds God of who he is. He reminds him of his attributes, of his character. This is what Abraham did when Abraham prayed. Remember, Sodom and Gomorrah is going to be destroyed. The angel of the Lord appeared to Abraham and Abraham began to pray, intercede. And how did Abraham pray? He says, for be it from you. To slay the righteous with the wicked. That the righteous should be as the wicked. That be far from thee. Shall not the judge of the earth do what is right? I mean, this is Abraham saying this to God. You wouldn't do that. That's wrong. For be it the righteous one, the judge of the earth, to do that which is wicked. You're talking about a powerful prayer. Bold prayer. But powerful prayer. Reminding God of who he is. You're righteous. You would not do this. So I'm praying you don't do this. Why should I not do this, Abraham? Because you're righteous. The judge of the earth would not do anything that's unrighteous. So we see Abraham following this pattern. Now, Abraham, we see Isaiah. Look at verse seven. Isaiah reminds God of his steadfast love. I will mention the loving kindness of the Lord and the praises of the Lord, according to all the Lord has bestowed on us. I will mention he begins. This is how he starts his prayer. I will rehearse a recount. I'm going to I'm going to talk to you, Lord, about your love. I'm going to begin there. I'm going to argue with you about you helping Israel, but I'm going to start with arguing with you and talking to you about how great of a God you are by talking about your love. This is an appeal to the love of God and not just the love of God, but his steadfast love. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that a wonderful argument to take to the Lord when you're down and out and you feel like the Lord's not with you? Lord, are you not steadfast in your love? Do you withdraw your love once you bestow it? Far be it from God to withhold His steadfast love. How should this help us in our prayers? God remains steadfast to His nature, His character. He's dependable. He's reliable. He's not fickle or whimsical. Remind God of this. We see at the end of verse 7, Isaiah reminds God of His goodness and the great goodness towards the house of Israel. This, too, is a great argument to present to the Lord. Remember, God, that you're good. You're good. Will you not do good things for those who love you? Have you not promised these things to us? Is this not who you are, a good God? We see at the end of verse seven, Isaiah reminded God of his compassion and so should we. He says in the great goodness towards the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies and according to the multitude of his loving kindness. You see, after Abraham appealed to God's justice, He turned and appealed to his mercy. He first says, far be it from God that just God to do what is wrong. And God says, OK, I wouldn't I won't destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if there's 40 righteous people. And he OK, that's that's appealing to his justice. But as the call for justice becomes smaller and smaller and smaller, whether it's five people, you know, or down to 10, it's like, OK, I don't know if justice will work anymore. Abraham went to his mercy. Oh, be merciful. And you see, even then, that was a strong argument. For God of all mercy. I mean, appealing to God's mercy is really I mean, that's pretty persuasive to God because that's his character. That's his nature. It's my belief. that God prefers to have mercy than judgment. He delights in mercy, he's quick to be merciful. I mean, if you come to him looking for mercy, he's not he's not one who holds back or breathes. He's not one who says, OK, let me think about this. No, he loves to be merciful. And so while you pray, just remind God of that. Remind them of his compassion. His mercy, his nature. I remember hearing about my niece who was critical, she was born with some medical issues and they didn't know if the young baby was going to live and so. They called all the family up and said, we need to pray. We need to pray. And I remember going into the bathroom with this burden about my niece. I've never meant that she may not live. She may not make it through this. And I believe God gave me a divine prayer. He gave me a prayer that. It was full of the Holy Spirit, it doesn't happen often, but it came upon me and I remember distinctly, oh Lord, Oh, Lord, you don't delight in death. You don't delight in the death of infants. This is not what you delight in. This is not who you are. You would much prefer to bring forth life. On that behalf, I'm asking you, Lord, please spare this baby. Miraculously, the baby survived. And it was amazing turnaround within hours. And it wasn't just that I was praying that God had given his people a heart of prayer and God heard. To remind God of his character, his compassion, look at verse eight, remind God that he's adopted you. Here's Isaiah, he says, and he says, surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely. Now, this is Isaiah recounting God, and this may be God speaking in Isaiah's prayer. God is, Isaiah is praying this, but he's talking about how God is saying this. And God is saying, even though the nation of Israel has dealt with me falsely, they're still my people. This is something we should argue with God. Hey, we are your children. Oh, Lord, I know I've sinned. I'm not arguing. You should answer me because I'm righteous. I have no grounds of moral. I mean, the prayer of a righteous man of El's month, but I can't apply that to me because that's for other people. That's that's Mark Webb, who's righteous. That's other people for me. I'm my Paul. I'm the chief of sinners. You know, I can't. Appeal to God's answer because I'm righteous, but I can say I am your son. I am your child. And we being evil know how to give good gifts to our children. How much more does our Heavenly Father know how to give us the Spirit? Remind God that He has saved us. Look at verse 8. For He said, Surely thou art My people, children that will not lie. So He was their Savior. Remind God of these things. Look at verse nine. Remind God of his affections towards you and all their afflictions. He was afflicted in their angel of his presence. Save them. I mean, Israel was afflicted because of their sins, but don't think God was not, if you would, afflicted with that. God doesn't delight and take pleasure in disciplining us. If you're going through something that is hard, if you're going through something that is a trial to your life and you don't know, like Mark said, if you don't know how to put one foot over the next, if you're in that state, well, don't think God is lacking compassion for you. He loves you more than you love yourself. Remember, He's affectionate. for you. The end of verse nine, remind God of his constant care for you, and he bore them and carry them all the days of old. He's reminding God, listen, you took care of Israel in the wilderness. You took care of us when we had no food. You took care of us and you must be taking care of us now. You're a God who cares for his people. So the first thing you need to argue with God, if you really want him to hear you, argue his nature. Argue with him his character. Secondly, second argument to take to God, if you really want God to hear you, remind him of what he's done for you. Remind him of his works, his nature, then his works. This is found in verses 10 through 14. We see a subtle shift in Isaiah's prayer here. And Charles Spurgeon says, friends, it is good to plead the past with God. You know, remind God of how he's helped you in the past. You think he would help you come out of Egypt, then leave you in the desert? If he's going to help you out of Egypt, I promise you, he's going to get you on into Canaan land. Remind God that you have helped me in the past This is what David did in his prayer, Psalms 27 9. Oh, you have been my help. You've been my help. Cast me not off, forsake me not. Oh, God of my salvation, you've been my help, but now don't forsake me now. Don't abandon me now. Pray, God, pray to God that way, remind God how he's helped you in the past. Look at verses 10 through 11. Going back to the past of what God's done for the nation of Israel, but they rebelled and vexed His Holy Spirit. Therefore, he was turned to be their enemy and he fought against them. Then he remembered the days of old Moses and his people. You know, here he is. Isaiah, I think at this time he's talking about what God is saying, but Isaiah is rehearsing this back to God. And God is saying, you made us for a temporary time your enemy, but I'm going back to Moses. I'm going to go back to see how you helped us in the past. Right now, you may feel like you're under the affliction of God. Look past that and go back to the days where God has refreshed you, how he saved you. It's good to remember how he he has taken our feet out of the Maori clay and remind God you have put joy in my heart in times past. Remind God of the various ways he's helped you in the past. Look at the end of verse 11. It says, saying, where is he that brought up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? Where is this God? Is this amazing prayer? Isaiah says to God, where is this God? Where is the God that helped us out of Egypt? Where is he that put his Holy Spirit within him? that led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them to make himself an everlasting name. Look at verse 13, that led them through the deep, as in the horses in the wilderness, that they should not stumble. Where is the God of old? You've rescued us in the past. That's who we are appealing to, the same God who helped us in years past. We're praying to help us now. Look at verse 14. As a beast goes down into the valley, the spirit of the Lord causes him to rest. So thus thou lead thy people to make thyself a glorious name. So, man, what a powerful argument. The other day I was. Having company over and when we have company, we. We go all out, we turn the fireplace on. And so we typically try to save the propane, the gas, because we're cheap. And we've got company, so let's turn the gas logs on. Well, since we don't do that very often, I'd turn the pilot light off because I don't even like the pilot light lit. So to get the pilot light lit so we can have the right ambiance for our company, I had to go down there and turn the gas on and light the pilot light. But I worked on that thing for, I think, a good 20 minutes and could not get the knob to turn. And I worked on it, pushed on it. You have to push in and turn and hold your mouth. And I kept on trying to do that. And I was getting more and more frustrated. At one point, I felt like yanking the whole thing out. And I'm thinking, Jeff, you just need to pray about this. And I thought, God is not worried about a pilot light. But I'm going to pray about it. So, Lord, I know it's just a pilot light. Can't get it left. And I know in the big kingdom of God, this is such a small thing. Lord, could you help me here? I promise you, I went in there and I didn't even have to touch it. You know, that has done more to me in my prayer life. That little answer of prayer has done more in my prayer life to strengthen me. If God is concerned about a pilot light, how much more is he concerned about souls? Lord, remember how you help light the pilot light. You remember that, Lord? If you'll do that for me. I pray for this. I pray for this. You know what I pray for? Conversions of souls. I expect God to hear me. Why? Because He heard me before. He's heard me in the past. He's a God who answers prayers. Is He not? He is. Remind God of this. Man, that's compelling to Him. What an argument it is to take to God. The third thing to argue with God is His promises. Oh, how He can't... He can't resist. This is found in verses 15 through 17, if you really want God to hear you remind him of what he's promised to you. Remember that Israel, that Isaiah is praying after he heard what God is going to do for Israel, and he just heard what God said is going to do this for you. Isaiah said, OK, I'm asking you to do it for me. He's basing his prayers upon God's word, upon his promises. This is what Daniel did. He was reading the book of Isaiah. He says, 70 years, 70 years. He does the math. He goes, wait a minute. That's now. Now, he didn't go, OK, that's already done. I don't have to worry about that. No, he went and said, God, fulfill your promises. Keep your word. And that's what we're to do. Remind God of what he has said and hold him to it. Remind God that he's promised to hear you when you pray. Look at verse 15, Isaiah, like he's shifting his attention again from from looking at God's character to what he's done in the past. Now he's he's laying out his petition. Look down from heaven and behold, from the habitation, thy holiness and thy glory. He says, look down from heaven. He's praying, God, hear me. Listen to me. Look down, pay attention, notice me. Ever prayed that way? Oh, God, please hear me. Well, this is the way the saints of old prayed. First Kings 830. Hear the plea for mercy that your people of Israel and I pray. Second Chronicles 621. May you hear the humble and earnest request from me and your people Israel. Jeremiah 42. Please hear our petition. For this is a promise. John, 1 John 5, 14, and this is the confidence that we have towards him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. He's promised us. Remind God, you promised God, you promised you would listen to us. You promised that you would hear us. You promised that you would answer our petition. Reminding you of this promise. Secondly, remind God that he's promised to be compassionate towards you. In the verse 15 says, where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and thy mercies towards me? Are thy restrained? Do you ever pray that way? Challenging God in such a fashion, such boldness. Where's your mercies towards me? Are you restrained? Is your arm too short that you cannot help? Where is this God? Where is your mercies? This is a man of bold faith praying. Thirdly. Remind God it is he's promised to be your father. Look at verse 16. Doubtless, thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledges us not. Thou, O Lord, are our father, our Redeemer. Thy name is from everlasting. Here's he's saying, listen, Abraham's probably don't know who we are. Israel, I don't know if they even know who we are, but you know. So my wife might not even know what I'm going through. My husband might not even comprehend or understand or care. My church may have forgotten about what I'm struggling through, but oh, God, you don't. You don't. Though the whole world forsake me and leave me. Oh, God, you promised that you would never forsake nor leave me. Though no one else cares, God, you promise that you do care. Remember that, God? That's why we're commanded in first Peter 5, 7 to cast all of our cares or burdens upon him, for he cares for you. God. Listen, God cares about you. Fourth, remind God that he has promised to take care of your needs. Look at verse 17. Oh, Lord, why hath thou made us to err from my ways and harden our hearts from my fear? Now, this is amazing prayer. He's saying, hey, we're not living right. And he's not blaming God for their sins, but he is saying this. We're not living right. We don't fear you. We're not close to you, but we know that you have the answer to that. Where are you? Isn't that amazing? I know we're responsible for our errors and our sins, but you have the grace to restrain us. You have the grace to draw us. Now, where are you, God? Come and draw me back to yourselves. And fifthly, remind God. This is the fourth thing, the fourth argument, after we have argued his nature, we've argued his past works, his promises, we come to this last, most compelling reason. If you want God to hear you, remind him of his glory. Look at the end of verse 17 to verse 19. I like how Isaiah blends his needs with God's glory. He combines God's glory with what he wants God to do. Return for thy servant's sake, the tribes of thine inheritance, the people of thy holiness have possessed it. But a little while our adversaries had trodden down thy sanctuary. We are thine. Thou never barest rule over them. They were not called by thy name. So he says, listen, our sanctuary has been going to be trampled down. He's talking about the captivity that was coming. All these things are going to happen. Your name is going to be shamed. Where are you? Come and restore us. Answer this prayers, because we are the tribes of thine inheritance. We are your people. We are the people of thy holiness. So this is what Moses prayed when God says, Moses, step aside, I'm going to destroy Israel. Moses says, listen, is not your glory involved here? If you destroy Israel or not, the other nations are going to say, where was their God? Was their God not able to bring them into the promised land? And what an argument. You think that was prevailing with God? God's like, OK, wait a minute. You're right, Moses. I'm not going to do that. You see, if we pray anything according to thy will and for his glory, and if it truly does glorify God, all that truly does is beckon God to listen and to answer. What an argument. Why do we pray? Why do we need to pray with arguments? Do we need to remind God of anything? Is he one who forgets? Matthew 6 says he tells us your father knows what you need even before you ask him. Psalm 38, nine says all my longings lie open before you, Lord, my sighing is not hidden from you. We don't need to remind God where his alarm clocks, but it's not like he forgets. But we forget. We forget. Spurgeon says, why are arguments to be used at all? One may inquire. The reply is this. Certainly not because God is slow to give. Not because we can change the divine purposes, not because God needs to be informed of any circumstance with regard to ourselves or to anything in connection with the mercy asked. The arguments to be used are for our own benefit, not for his. He requires us to plead with him and to bring forth our strong reasons, because this is to show that we feel the value of the mercy. This is evidence of our faith. Is it not when we say, you have said. And I'm counting on this. I'm dependent upon this and I'm relying upon this because this is your nature, this is your works, this is your promises and this is your glory. This must come about. It's not a prayer of faith. R.C. Sproul says prayer does not change things. Prayer does change things, excuse me, all kinds of things, but the most important thing it changes is us. As we engage in this communion with God more deeply and come to know the one with whom we are speaking more intimately, that growing knowledge of God reveals to us all the more brilliantly who we are and our need to change in conformity to him. Prayer changes us profoundly. This is the nature of prayer. Why do we pray? Because we need to pray. We need to align our thoughts with the thoughts of God. We need to have faith. And the prayer of faith does move mountains. When we seek to remind God of who He is, what He has done, and His promises in glory, we are the ones who are put into remembrance of how great of a God we have. Let me end by saying this. God answers prayers. Fill your mouth with arguments. And wait upon the Lord and see for those who trust in him, the Bible says, shall not be disappointed.