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Let's take our Bibles if you
will this evening and this morning pardon me and let's go to the
book of Psalms Psalm Psalm 66 if you were with me, it's good
to be back. Oh, I'm here for today and We head out tomorrow
and I didn't plan actually this time Anna came back of course
for youth camp and Peggy accompanied her and Anyway, I wasn't planning
on coming back, but I figured I need to take every opportunity
that's Presented me to see my mom and dad Dad's 96 will be
97 in a couple of months and so we went ahead and planned
to come back I flew in on Monday spent the week with the family
praise the Lord and with you all Thursday night and I We stayed
was actually planning to leave Thursday and head up to mom and
dad's I mean Friday and head up to mom and dad's but Anna
had the opportunity to go on the scavenger hunt last night,
and we didn't want her to miss that either so we stayed around
for that and had the opportunity to catch up again with the family
last night and so we'll head up Lord willing Monday and then
head out from I My mom and dad's house up north of Columbus on
Monday on Wednesday and Be back wood willing in Mexico on Sunday,
so pray for our travels Psalm 66 if you were with me We'll be back the Lord willing
and the plan is to be back in September of course for Abigail's
wedding and Then for our missions conference here at church, so
we'll be back in September Maybe we can catch up more in September
spend a few weeks here with you all in September So just a quick
trip Right now, I'll probably say a little bit tonight, won't
say much this morning. Tonight, a little bit, maybe
I can share a few things with you about the work of the ministry
in Mexico and what God's doing on the horizon and all that kind
of good stuff. But this morning, let's just
look at the word of God and see what God has for us this morning. It's amazing how long I've been
at Kazaddale. I never dreamed I'd live that
long. All right. I was telling someone, I don't
even remember who I was talking with this morning. And there's
an older missionary that comes into Mexico. He delivers Bibles
and we're a warehouse for Bibles and scripture. And he said to
me last, oh, about what's been about a year or so ago, the time
that I was coming in, I came home to move my parents up to
Michigan. And then just a couple of months
later, I came home to move them back from Michigan. And he always
asks about my dad and how they're doing. And so I was missing a
couple weeks there. And so he's like, what's up?
And told him, well, I'm going to move my parents. And then
I was missing again. I told him, well, I went back to move my
parents back. And he says to me, he says, boy, Brother Harris,
he says, you're going to outlive your dad. And I thought, well,
I'm hoping I can. He goes, no, no, I mean, you're
going to live longer than your dad. I said, well, I don't know
about that, but I do hope I can outlive my dad. But I got to
keep, you know, I got to keep working at this because that
just keeps going, you know, so praise the Lord. Psalm 66. I
want to read two verses with you that are very familiar, no
doubt with you, but verse 18 and verse 19 the Bible
says if I regard iniquity in my heart Psalm 66 18 if I regard
iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me but verily God
hath heard me he hath attended to the voice of my prayer we're
going to spend a little bit of time in prayer we have a We have begun in Mexico an opportunity
to pray. I'm going to invite any of the
men that would like to come to the altar to come and pray for
our service this morning and just ask God to work in our hearts.
Ladies, you can stay in your seats if you would please. Please
pray as well that God would touch your heart, that God would speak
to the hearts of everyone around you. So men, if you would come,
those who are able to, those who would like to, I believe
that God hears a church that prays. And I'm just inviting
the men to come and pray. Men that are staying in your
seat, you're welcome to stay in your seat. Ladies, if we could
just pray and ask God for just a few minutes to bless this service,
that God would have his perfect and free will in our services
this morning. And we'll thank God for it. And
then I'll close here in just a few minutes. to be in your house this morning.
And Lord, we came to meet with God. We came that we would hear
from God. And Lord, I pray that our hearts
would be open to receive, our ears open to hear what the Holy
Spirit of God says to us this morning. Thank you for this church,
Lord. Thank you for your hand upon
it for many years. And Lord, I ask that your hand
would be upon it again this morning. Lord, we pray if there's anyone
here this morning that is not 100% sure, as the Bible says,
we can be of our eternal home in heaven, of our salvation. Lord, through the Holy Spirit
of God and his conviction this morning that that one soul would
this morning repent and trust Jesus Christ as their personal
Savior. Lord, for anyone that is here and knows that they're
a child of God, but Lord, is fighting with the Lord over some
issues in life and sin. Lord, I pray that today might
be the day that they would surrender all and just trust the Lord and
walk with God. Thank you, Lord, for your son,
for dying on the cross of Calvary, for our sins, for my sins, and
Lord, for my salvation. Bless this service. May your
name be honored and glorified. In Jesus' name we ask, amen. Thank you, man. I appreciate
you coming and praying for the services, praying for me. that
God might have his perfect will. Again, Psalm 66 and verse number
18, the Bible says, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord
will not hear me. Verse 19, but verily God hath
heard me, he hath attended to the voice of my prayer. I want to preach this morning
a simple message and a very pertinent fact. If I regard iniquity in
my heart, the Lord will not hear me. It is impossible for a Christian
to live like he wants to live in sin and have a prayer life. As far as Bible is concerned,
prayer is asking and receiving. And it's impossible for any Christian
to say, well, I live in this sin, in their heart saying, I
live with this sin, I know it, but God still hears my prayer.
Your prayers are worthless. Because the Bible says, if I
regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not Hear me and
I want to preach this morning and I have five points and these
are by by no means all inclusive Or exhaustive in in it, but just
five simple points that the lord gave me to share with you this
morning um prayer that sin Negates there are some well every prayer,
but I want to give you five specific prayers that if I regard iniquity
in my heart god will not hear me otherwise if i can say prayers
or your prayers my prayers that we may have on our lips that
if we hide iniquity in our heart god never heard that prayer because
my bible says if i regard iniquity in my heart the lord will not
hear me god's not a liar and you say well i know so and so
and he prayed and he lives in sin and this happened Well, my
Bible says, let God be true and every man a liar. And I'm going
to believe God. And, you know, there are too
many times that we would claim answered prayer when it rains
on the righteous and the unrighteous alike. And I'm looking for the
hand of God that they may know that this is thy hand that thou,
Lord, hast done at Psalm 109. First of all, if I can share
with you a prayer that God will not hear because the Bible says
if I hide iniquity or if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord
will not hear me, is the prayer for salvation. The Bible says
that in order for a person to be saved, in order for a person
to call upon the name of the Lord and be saved, the Bible
says that there must be, first of all, a repentance of my sin. The Bible says in Acts chapter
20 and verse number 21, Paul is giving a review and let me
turn there and read that for you, Acts chapter 20 verse number
21. Paul says in his review, he says how he's been testifying
and witnessing and preaching in verse 20, he says, how I kept
back nothing that was profitable unto you, but I've showed you
and I've taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying
both to the Jews also to the Greeks and he says this repentance
towards God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ then I
want to read to you in Mark chapter number 1 and verse number 15
the Bible talks about the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ and
And the Bible says after John was put into prison, Jesus came
into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom and saying, the
time is fulfilled, the kingdom of the God is at hand. Repent
ye and believe the gospel. A few verses up in John, in Mark
chapter one, verse number four. In verse three, it talks about
John the Baptist, the voice of one crying in the wilderness,
prepare you the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Verse
four, John did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism
of repentance for the remission of sin. I'm not going to get
in there and try to explain to you that the word for means for. And when the Bible says that
he preached the baptism of repentance, and the word for there means
in order to have the remission of sins. And I just want you
to know that baptism doesn't always, the word baptism, if
you could understand it, means to be submerged. Alright, and
there's all kinds of ways of being submerged and every time
the word baptism is used in the Bible Like the word salvation
doesn't always mean when the Bible uses the word salvation.
I remember his brother Pruitt I think it was preached years
ago. He preached the five ways of being saved in the Bible and
He preached it from this pulpit. And he brought up the fact that
the salvation in the Bible doesn't always talk about our soul's
salvation. And Peter talks about our testimony
salvation. The Bible talks about how we
can be saved from the wrath to come. Different ways. And baptism
means submerged. And the word here, it simply
says John preached the submersion of repentance in order to be
saved. You can't have salvation without
having repentance. Then if you continue on in the
book of Mark and in chapter number six it was I believe I saw this
morning in Mark chapter 6 Let me read it in verse number 12.
Not only did John the Baptist preach and he was sent from God
the subject of repentance towards God and faith toward our Lord
Jesus Christ and Jesus came and preached repentance and then
and in mark chapter number six the bible says that god sent
the twelve out he called them and he sent them out two by two
and they went out the bible says and preached that men should
repent and you can go into the book of acts as we found in the
apostle paul that he preached repentance towards god and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ and you can find in the life
of Peter and you can find in the life of the other apostles
they preach this thing called repentance and there's the requirement
of repentance toward salvation. Why? Because if I regard iniquity
in my heart God the Lord will not hear me. There's an innumerable
amount of people Baptist churches, and I'm not talking about all
the other religions, but there's an innumerable amount of people
in Baptist churches that have a false reality of their salvation,
thinking that they're saved and they're lost and they're dying
and they're on their way to hell because they remain regarding
iniquity in their heart. And I can give you promise by
the Word of God, on authority of God's Word, God never hurt
them. And they're going to be surprised
one day in eternity as they split hell wide open. They thought,
well, I believed in Jesus Christ. I believed in God almighty. And
the Bible says in James that the devil believes in God and
trembles. And they'll say, well, what happened?
It's because you regarded iniquity in your heart and God never heard
you. Sin in your life negates the fact that God hears any prayer
for salvation. There's sin in the camp. There's
sin in the life. And if I regard iniquity in my
heart, God will not hear me. There's the requirement of repentance.
And then if I can share with you real quickly, what is repentance
and what is the the reality of repentance and say what is repentance
well repentance is a recognition of my deeds the Bible says all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God there's a reality
of this recognition that my works all my works of righteousness
are worthless in the sight of God there's nothing I can do
to be saved and there's a lot of people thinking that you know
it's okay it's all right no it's not And then there's a recognition
of my destitution. The Bible says, for all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. In Spanish, the
word is destituidos, and it means destitution. I can't measure
up to the mark that God has set. I'm destitute of the grace of
God without His grace. I'm destitute of heaven without
the mercy of God. So it's a recognition of my deeds.
It's a recognition of my destitution that it doesn't matter what I
do, how I do it, how long I do it, I'll never get there on my
own. repentance is a recognition of
my deeds, it's a recognition of my destitution, and it's a
recognition of my destination. The Bible says that because I
have sinned and come short of the glory of God, the Bible says
that in Revelation chapter 21 and on, the Bible says that there's
the reality of the fact that those that were not I found written
in the Lamb's Book of Life were cast into the lake of fire, which
burneth forever and ever. The end destination for any child,
any person born on this world that doesn't repent of their
sin and trust Jesus Christ as their Savior, the destination
is always hell. And that may not be popular,
and that may not be politically correct, but it's Bible. Then there's a recognition not
only of my deeds and of my destitution and of my destination, but there's
a recognition, repentance is a recognition of my disability.
No matter how hard I try, I'll never get there on my own. So
the Bible says if I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not
hear me. And I want to make it plain to
you this morning. I don't care how religious you
are. I don't care how faithful you are to God's church. I don't
care how many times you've been baptized. I don't care what your
name is. Uh, I was, I was, um, in a conference years ago up
in Columbus and, uh, with central Baptist church, pastor Tim Lapish.
A bit of lapers came to me, and he says, evangelist, so-and-so's
car is broken. Do you have your tools? I said,
no. Would you take a look at it?
I said, well, I'll take a look at it, but I don't have any tools. So
I went out and took a look at it. It was sleeting, freezing. I said, well, this is the problem
with it. How hard is that to fix? I said, it's not hard to
fix if you had tools. He says, what if we borrow tools?
Could you fix it? I hate borrowed tools. I said, sure, I'll fix it. I
said, but I don't have any clothes. All I had was my suit. He said, well, why don't we borrow
you some clothes? So I borrowed clothes, and I
was in the parking lot when everybody else was in the warm church hearing
the preaching. And I was out there and pulled the car up on
the curb so I'd get enough height underneath it to get under it,
and borrowed tools. And I'd lay my tools down. They'd
form ice on them. And I had to knock the tool on
the parking curb to knock the ice off before it fit the nut.
And that car had never seen an oil change. It had never seen
anybody throw anything at it in ice. And by the time I was
done fixing the car, I was a little bit upset. And I went in, I told the evangelist,
and I told Pastor Lapish what I thought about him not taking
care of his car. And then he says, well, it's
not my car, it's the church's car, the church gives it to me.
And I said, even more so you ought to take care of the car.
And then somebody said to me afterwards, don't you realize
who he is? And I said, yeah, he's a guy that's too much of
an idiot to take care of his own car. He's a world-renowned
and all in this circle, evangelist, and he's still around. I can
tell you a name, and he didn't know who it was. I said, well,
I don't think you ought to talk to him that way. I said, I don't
think you ought to take care of his car like he does. And I say that. I didn't give you that illustration
to say this. You say, well, you know, but do you know who you're
talking to? Yeah. A religious person dying
and on their way to hell is going to be surprised when they get
there because they regarded iniquity in their heart and God did not
hear them. I've had several, you know, I'll
be out door knocking or I'll be witnessing the people and,
you know, over time especially and we have a gentleman across
the street named Juan. Juan's a drunk, been a drunk
all his life. His mom was a Baptist. He's a nice enough guy, and he's
even nicer when he's drunk. He'd do anything for me. But
one will say to me, I don't want to get saved, because if I get
saved, I have to give up drinking, don't I? And people say, well,
no, just get saved. No, the Bible says if I regard
iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. What a shame
that somebody would die and go to hell because they want to
be a drunk. But I don't know what your problem is, I don't
know what your iniquity is, I don't know what your sin is, but there's
a lot of people that know that if I get saved, then I've got
to give this up. And so they're ready to pray
the 1, 2, 3, repeat after me, 4, 5, 6, I hope it sticks, prayer
of salvation, but I'm telling you biblically it doesn't work
that way. Because when the Holy Spirit of God is pointing to
one particular sin in your life and saying, you're wrong in this
area, this is the sin that proves above all other proof that you're
a sinner in need of a Savior, and you're not willing to admit
that sin, and you're not willing to say, that's a sin, that's
wrong, I'm destitute, I'm deserving of a devil's hell, and I'll repent
of any other sin, but that one right there, I just can't do
that. May I tell you upon the authority of God's word. If I
regard iniquity, my heart, the Lord will not hear me. And you
cannot claim to be a born again, child of God, having well known
that there's a sin in your life, but you will not for the sake
of eternity. Repent of the Bible says, except
you repent, you shall all likewise perish. Biblical salvation is
when a person comes to this point in life that I don't care any
more about anything else I'm willing to give it all to God
But I want to be saved If I have to give up this, if I have to
give up that, you may have something in your life that you think is
a sin and it's really not a sin, but you're just not going to
give it up. Because if it is a sin, you're not willing to
give it up. And if that means it's going to, I have to give
that up to be saved. And I know when you get to the place that
you're willing to give whatever it is up. That's true repentance. And I just have to say, do not
go to hell. from a church pure, because I
had the old Baptist temple, because you have regarded iniquity in
your heart. And you can put on a form and
you can put on a function and you can appear to every man to
just be right. And you've been here forever,
but you know in your heart that there's this one sin that I just
cannot get rid of. I just cannot turn it over to
God. If I regard iniquity in my heart, God will not hear me. And don't let that false profession
and that false assurance of time and having been a member and
been in and around church and been a family and all of that
stuff surprise you one day. And God says there's a basic
point here. And that is that you never repented of this sin.
If I regard iniquity in my heart, God will not hear me. And I'm talking about the prayer
for salvation. I believe it's a scary fact if
we could look down on the pews this morning from God's perspective
and see those who are regarding iniquity in their heart when
it comes to salvation and have fooled themselves and fooled
everyone to say, well, I'm okay. But God says, I never heard you.
Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity. It's not a thing to
be toyed with. If I regard iniquity in my heart,
the Lord will not hear me. We use that most of the time
when we're talking to Christians, but listen, you cannot become
a Christian ignoring that fact. And then number two, if I can
continue on, Turn with me, if you will, to Hebrews chapter
10 and verse number 25. This is another passage of scripture
that because of the popularity of misconception and misinterpretation,
most will misinterpret, but it's very simple when you take line
upon line and precept upon precept, here a little, there a little,
to come to the knowledge of the understanding. But the Bible
says in verse number Hebrews chapter 10 and verse number 25
I'm going to use this verse for the sake of illustration Bible
says not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together ourselves
together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another
and so much more as you see the day approaching now very basically
let me say this it is a sin to miss church when you couldn't
when you could make it that's what that verse says But look
at verse 26 using that sin of missing church. When I could
be there, the Bible says for if we sin, what willfully. now this is the catcher if we
send willfully it goes on and says after that we have received
the knowledge of the truth that talks about our salvation there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking
for of judgment firing the nation which shall devour the adversary
that's not talking about losing your salvation and that's not
the point of the message this morning so I'm not going to try
to help you understand it but just make it sure that God doesn't
say one thing one place and turn around and say something in another
place and the Bible says that we have eternal life umpteen
times and so we have eternal life. And so evidently this verse
doesn't talk about losing our eternal life but it does say
if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of
truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. Why? Because
if I regard iniquity my heart God will not hear me. And to
miss church, for example, of the verse of 25 is a willful
sin. When I can be there and I choose
not to because I'm lazy, or I choose not to because of this, or I
choose not to because somebody made me mad. You know, they didn't
save you, God saved you. Why are you letting somebody
make you mad stay away from church? The only reason you ought to
stay away from church, I guess, is if God made you mad. You ought
to come to church and let God make you mad. Because then you
can get glad. But if I sin willfully, there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful looking
of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversary.
Now, to make it simple, I'm not God's adversary. And fiery indignation
and judgment is not going to devour me, because I'm not God's
adversary. I'm God's Son. And it has nothing to do, it's
an application, it's illustration. But listen, the point is this,
it's very simple fact that if I regard iniquity in my heart,
the Lord will not hear me when I'm talking about the prayer
of sanctification. The Bible tells us in first Thessalonians
chapter four, that this is the will of God, chapter four, verse
three, for this is the will of God, even your sanctification,
the word sanctification. means to be set apart. In other
words, sanctification means not only to be set apart from something,
for example, the wrath of God, but set apart to something, the
mercies of God. Set apart from something, the
world and the lust of the flesh and all that therein is, and
set apart to something, which is the love of God. For this
is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should
abstain from fornication, and that every one of you should
know how to possess His vessel in sanctification and in honor. Listen, there's many who will
say, you know, God, I would really like to be sanctified. I would
really like to know the mercies of God in my life. Lord, I would
like to know the grace of God in my life. And you can pray
till you're blue in the face and you pass out and God never
heard you. Why? Because if I regard iniquity
in my heart, God will not hear me. And just like the prayer
for salvation, there's many who will pray for sanctification
and say, God, in this area, I'd like to be sanctified. I'd like
to be set apart. I'd like to know the mercies
of God. You can forget about it. Because God's worried about
this area over here. If we sin willfully after we
have received the knowledge of truth, I don't need to worry
about praying for this sanctification in this area of my life. Because
over here in this area of my life, which I know, is wrong. I'm not willing to repent. Number
three, not only the prayer for salvation, the prayer for sanctification.
Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 9, and I'm going to read you
my last verse, and then a few more verses. 1 Corinthians chapter
9, verse number 16 is my last verse. The Bible says, talking
about the Apostle Paul, for though I preach the gospel, I have nothing
to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me. Yea, woe is unto
me if I preach not the gospel. And he says, Verse 17, if I do
this thing willingly, I have a reward. But if against my will,
dispensation, and that word means administration of the gospel,
is committed unto me. And then I want to jump ahead
into verse number 27. Look at this. Paul says, but
I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest by any
means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be cast
away. There's the reality of the fact
here that my prayer for service, How many of us have prayed, God,
use me? But you know, the reality of
it is the prayer ought to be, God, make me usable. I guarantee
you, if you're made usable, God will use you. And we want to
say, God used me in this, and God used me in that, and God
used me in this, and God used me in that. I was preaching back
in 1987, 1988. Church ordained and commissioned
me in 86. It was probably 87. I was somewhere in Massachusetts. And I was in a church that ran
about 1,500 people on a Sunday night. And I was preaching, and
it was big. I don't know how I got there.
It was just all a mistake, I'm sure. And I got there, and I
was preaching. And the pastor was kind. And
I was preaching. I was, what, in 1987? I would
have been all of 22 years old. And I was preaching. And God
blessed in the service. And I preached, I believe, on
holding the ropes. For missionaries Paul was let
down the basket, etc. And I preached on that and then
God blessed Good invitation and all that as far as you know,
you can outwardly say I want everybody go by and be a blessing
this young man and And I was sitting down there,
and I was shaking all those hands. And there was several people
kind of hanging out over here. And that usually means they want
to talk to you a little longer, thankfully, and not just take
up the line. And so after everybody had gone by, these people came
over. And the last person to come over was a man about 30-something.
And he says to me, wow. He says, that's amazing. And
I said, OK. And he says, I said, what's amazing?
He says, well, man, you're 22 years old, and you're preaching
to 1,500 people. And he says, I want to do that.
I said, you want to do what? He said, well, I want to be like
you. I want to be preaching to a bunch
of people like that. And I asked him, I said, well,
what do you do now? He says, what do you mean, what do I do
now? I said, well, do you run the bus route? Well, no. I said, do you have an assignment
in school class? No. I said, do you clean the toilets?
Well, no. And I said, well, I don't know.
But I said, until you find some job to do, God's not going to
take you from doing nothing and put you in doing something. You
got to say, God, I'm willing to do whatever you want me to
do. And then when you're willing to do what God wants you to do,
God will use you in other areas. I said, I don't know how I got
here. And I don't know how this all worked out. But I just thanked
the Lord. But there's a prayer for service.
And sometimes we'll say, God, use me. And God, I want to be
used in this. And God, I want to be used to
win souls to Christ. And God, I want to be used in
this. And I want to be used in that. And God says, but what
about this problem over here? Just ignore that, Lord. Let's
not worry about that. And that's why 1 John 1 9 says,
if we confess our sins, plural, he is faithful and just to forgive
us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
There's many times in a Christian's life where we have a piled up
bunch of sin. That first sin, that willful
sin, that iniquity that I'm regarding in my heart is kind of like a
blockage. Everything piles up behind you.
It just gets deeper and deeper and thicker and thicker. You
gotta get that primary sin out. God's been telling you. God's
been dealing with you. God's been saying, listen, let's
deal with this thing. Let the flow go. And you're saying,
no, I don't want to deal with that one. But God, could you
make me? Could you use me? Quit kidding
yourself. If I regard iniquity in my heart,
God will not heal me. You cannot pick and choose the
sins in your life and say, I want that one forgiven, and I don't
want that one forgiven, but I want that one forgiven. And there's
a lot of Christians that'll say, Pastor, I've been praying, and
it's just like the heavens are brass. And I'll say, hello, they
are. It's like God's not even hearing
me. He's not. Oh, but I've been praying sincerely,
and I've been asking God for this, and I've been asking God
for that, and it's just not working. Let's go back and find out where
the blockage is. Because if I regard iniquity
in my heart, God will not hear me. That's the importance of
living a Christian life. That's the importance of walking
day by day with God. That's the importance of having
all our history. Well, you know, the choir used
to sing back in the 80s, what sins are you talking about? I
don't remember them anymore. Get back where God can say, it's
all clean now. A prayer for service, a prayer
for sanctification, a prayer for salvation, number four. Joshua
chapter 1, verse number 8 is a verse I'm sure we all like.
Surely, if we put it to memory sometime in our Christian life,
let me turn there and read it for you. In Joshua chapter 1,
verse number 8, the Bible says to Moses, commanded, Joshua said,
this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth. Thou
shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe
to do according to all that is written therein. So there's the
condition. For then thou shalt make thy
way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Now, how many of you have prayed
for success? You say, well, you know, I'm sorry, but you'd be thick
not to pray for success. I want to succeed. The Bible says the secret of
the Lord. I want to find that in my life. I used to tell my
people, I want to find where the blessings of God, the fountain
of the blessings of God is pouring out, and I want to stand right
underneath it. That's where I want to be. I don't want just a little
bit of flow in a tributary. I want to stand under the fountain
of God. But if I regard iniquity in my heart, God will not hear
me. Joshua is told, this book of
the law shall not depart out of the mount, for then thou shalt
make thy way prosperous. Then thou shalt have good success.
And if you look at the background of the word success there, you'll
find out that the idea is one of insight. Then thou shalt have
good insight. It's talking about literal success,
but how are you successful? Well, the Bible says, trust in
the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not on thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, he shall direct thy path. The
Bible says, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,
and he delighteth in his way. The Bible just tells us, you
know, you walk with God and God will give you insight. And you'll
know which way to turn, and you'll know which way to walk, and you'll
know which way not to walk, and you'll know what to do and not
what to do, because God's leading you. And then thou shalt have
good success. And how many of you Christian
is there that says, Lord, please, please bless my life. Please
give me good success. And you say, Pastor, I've prayed
for success, and I've never gotten it. I'll tell you why. If I regard
a nickel in my heart, God cannot and God will not hear me. But
I pray for success. That's a worthy prayer, absolutely.
Pray for success. But before you pray for success,
go back over here and find out what it is that liquid in your
heart that you're hiding from God. And you know it's wrong.
You know you should be kind of that. And say, God, for all my
being, forgive me. I know this is wrong. Some of you, it's a hatred. Some
of you, it's a bitterness. And I know that I can see that
in people. I have people that are bitter
against me, and God forgive them. And their life is nothing, and
I can go back to a time when they got bitterness against me
because I told them the truth. And I did it in love. But they
didn't want to hear it. And now they're bitter. And they're
trying to live and pray, God, give me success. God, give me
good success. And they fail at every turn.
And it doesn't matter how hard they pray, it's like I made the
wrong decision again. Of course you will. Except ye repent. If I regard iniquity in my heart,
I'm telling you on the basis of the word of God that cannot
change, God will not change. What a sad life to live as a
Christian and trying to pray for success, trying to pray for
service, and trying to pray for sanctification. And it just never
happens. And it just never happens. And
for that many people to say prayer doesn't work, prayer works. But if I regard iniquity in my
heart, God cannot, God will not hear me. Don't blame a lack of
success on praying on your own sin in your life. Get it right
with God and let God begin to open the windows of heaven and
pour you out a blessing that you cannot receive. Then you'll
be able to say, yes, God does answer prayer. Yes, God does
work in my life. But he never will when you're
regarding this iniquity. You have somebody that you haven't
forgiven, forgive them for Christ's sake. Say, well, they don't deserve
it. They don't. But he does. If you won't forgive
them for any other reason, forgive them because of the selfishness
of your own soul that you want God's blessing on your life.
You're not going to let anything hinder you from being blessed
with God. Some of you are angry at different
people for different reasons for 30 years, and it shows all
over the wrinkles on your face. Get it right with God. The Bible
says, growing up, strangle you. And you see Christians every
day that are living like they're breathing their last moment.
They're literally being strangled. The Bible says in the Lord's, it's
not the Lord's Prayer, what's commonly called the Lord's Prayer,
the model prayer, the importance of forgiveness. Say, well, I don't feel like
God's forgiving me. Well, let's go back here and see if there's
something hiding back here. But I'm not willing to forgive
somebody. No wonder it doesn't feel like God's forgiving me.
I don't forgive anybody. And then let me give you the
last one. If I regard iniquity in my heart,
God will not hear me in my prayer for salvation. Don't kid yourself. that you really are when you
really aren't. If you're not a born-again child
of God, I'll tell you why. It's because you never came to
repentance, so you come to faith. The prayer for sanctification,
the prayer for service, the prayer for success, the Bible says in
Psalm 119, verse 165, great peace have they which love thy law,
and nothing shall offend them." The Bible says in Philippians
chapter 4, and I'm going to turn there because I don't think I
can. That's the problem of having too many languages in your head.
You forget your Bible verses sometimes. You know where they're
at and you know what they say. but how they say it, I'm not quite
sure. Philippians chapter four, verse number six, be careful
for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And it
goes on and says in the peace of God, which passeth all understandings
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Colossians
chapter three, verse number 15, just to book over, it says, let
the peace of God rule your hearts, rule in your hearts to the which
also you are called in one body and be you thankful. A peace
of God. Some of you need peace. Your life's all about turmoil. There's fear, you can plaster
no fear on your windshield and on your back window and you're
lying to yourself and you know it. You're scared to death of
everything. But there's a prayer for serenity,
for peace, that God gives his people. And I've prayed that prayer. Spiritually, God give me peace.
I constantly, daily pray that prayer. I've prayed that prayer when
the bullets fly, when the gunmen approach, I know
what it is to pray for peace. I've prayed that prayer in a
hospital bed next to my dying daughter. I know that prayer. And God's answered that prayer. But may I remind you that Psalm
66 verse 18 says, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord
will not hear me. And some of you need the peace
of God in your life, and you don't have it. And you've prayed
for it. And you've said, but I don't
understand. Why hasn't God given me peace? I've prayed for peace
and the peace of God, and I've claimed the promises, but I still
don't have the peace. I'll tell you why you don't have
the peace. You're regarding iniquity in your heart. It's just as simple
as that. May I plead with you this morning
to get back to the basics and get back to the reality of the
facts. If I regard iniquity in my heart, God cannot hear me. It's not God's fault. It's not
God that's stopping the works. It's us. It's me. It's me, oh,
Lord, standing in the need of prayer. It's not my brother,
not my sister, but it's me, oh, Lord, standing in the need of
prayer. If I regard iniquity in my heart,
the Lord will not hear me. The prayer of salvation. Some
of you have prayed that prayer a gazillion times. You've laid
in your bed and you've said, God, if I'm not saved, please
save me now. And God every time says, what
about this? Well, God, let's worry about that later. And God
says, no, that's an important factor right now. Once you're
willing to repent, now I'm willing to save. The prayer of sanctification.
The prayer for service, the prayer for success. Oh God, bless me.
And you've prayed J-Beth's prayer until you've got it memorized
and you've got it written on the wall and you've got a paper
in it and you've prayed J-Beth's prayer and you've read books
about J-Beth's prayer and all that God would bless me, et cetera,
et cetera, and enlarge my coast and all that kind of stuff. And
it just doesn't work, Pastor. Brother Harrison, it just doesn't
work. This prayer thing, it just doesn't work. Oh yes, it does.
But if I regard iniquity in my heart, it's a bunch of wasted
air. The Lord will not hear me. And serenity. Let me go back
to Psalm 66 and I'm done. If I regard iniquity in my heart,
the Lord will not hear me. Oh, wow. But what'd he say then? But verily, God hath heard me. He hath attended to the voice
of my prayer. You know why? Search me, O God,
and see if there be any wicked way in me. Cleanse me and make
me whiter than snow. And I'm talking to you. I'm preaching
to you. Don't fluff it off on somebody
else. I'm talking to you. What iniquity are you regarding
in your heart this morning? And you have struggled with your
salvation. It's time to get over it. It's time to say, God, whatever
that is, I'm so over it. I'm so ready to come to God in
just 100% repentance and say, God, I am a sinner. Save me. And the Bible says, whosoever
cometh to him, he shall in no wise cast out. And some of you dear Christians
that, there's gotta be more to this. I remember when, but now there's
no peace. My ways aren't prosperous. I don't have a path in my life.
I don't have a purpose in my life. I'll tell you why. And the Holy Spirit's already
just putting the screw on you. Because if I regard iniquity
in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Isn't
it about time? Dear child of God, this new year,
Knees before God, bow your head before God and say, God, I've
had enough of hiding that thing. Here it is. My whole heart I repent. To know the blessings of God. Again, dear God, thank you for
Iniquity
| Sermon ID | 711171429495 |
| Duration | 48:52 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Language | English |
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