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00:00 next week. Um, for those of you who are Wednesday coming for beta, the first lesson is on introduction to the Bible.
00:07 Where did you get the Bible? Why are there 500 different versions? How do you actually interpret it? So, it's a good
00:13 introduction for some of you who have not gone for a course like that. So, just to come and turn up on uh Wednesday
00:19 and for gamma people, Romans chapter 9, please read very difficult chapter that
00:24 talks about predestination. Uh, is everybody predestined to particular fate in life? Okay. So let's um start with a
00:32 word of prayer. Lord, we ask that you be with us and uh speak to us as we enter
00:39 this season of prayer uh learning about prayer, interacting with you in prayer
00:45 that it may change us. We ask for Jesus sake. Amen. Glad to say that uh over the uh holidays
00:52 we had a great prayer meeting about 65 to 70 people actually turned up for prayer meeting encountering God. So um
00:59 we're going to enter into the next two months where we are going to be preaching and praying uh entering this
01:06 issue of encountering God through prayer. So all the preachers the next two months will be taking various
01:11 passages in the Bible and focusing on prayer. What is prayer? How do we pray?
01:17 What how uh why is it important in our lives? So starting off today would be
01:22 Abraham's prayer for the city. And I want to put this in context as we go
01:28 through a very difficult one to two weeks. Very traumatic, isn't it? You look in the news, we have suicide
01:34 bombings that kill about 200 in Baghdad. Istanbul, 46 killed and 147 injured.
01:41 Even in Puchong, there is a grenade attack where ISIS announces his presence in our country. If you walk around, even
01:49 during Haraya in the empire, you will see armed soldiers walking all over the place. uh Dhaka 20 people were killed in
01:58 uh the cafe. These are all disasters that happened to us uh thousands of
02:03 years ago. There was a disaster that happened to Sodom and Gomorrah. The only difference about that disaster is that
02:08 there was one man who had an opportunity to stop this. What? It's a golden
02:14 opportunity to stop this because God brought it up to him. This is what God said. And the Lord said because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is
02:20 great and the sin is very grave I will go down and see whether they've done all together according to the outcry that has come to me and if not I will know.
02:28 So God leaves it kind of hanging and the challenge is to Abraham who is the friend of God whether he can intervene
02:35 and stop this disaster. Um and so therefore today's passage is
02:40 about that intervention to avert disaster. We're going to talk about intercessory prayer, something we
02:47 haven't talked about for a long time uh in this church. So, we take this opportunity because Genesis chapter 15
02:53 uh 18 talks about it. Uh it's a four points I'd like to make today. It's a revel is response to revelation. It's
02:60 bold yet humble. It's persistent and specific. And it leaves the results to
03:06 God. Four simple little points. The first thing is that prayer is a response to revelation. If you look in the uh
03:14 passage, it says because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is very great. Their sin is very grave. I will
03:20 go down and see whether they've done all together according to the outcry that's come to me. If not, I will know. So here
03:28 Abraham doesn't come out of the blue and decide to pray. He responds to what God
03:34 is telling him. If God tells you this and God tells you, oh there's a going to disaster in central market today. He's
03:41 not just telling you because just before it happened because he's actually inviting a response. So therefore,
03:46 prayer is a response to the revelation of God. Some people describe intercession by saying it's a putting
03:52 yourself in someone's place. That's not true. Intercession as well Chambers writes is putting yourself in God's
03:58 place, having his mind and his perspective, which is what's happening. God is sharing his perspective. The
04:04 common misunderstanding about prayer is that it's initiated by man. This is a picture of the Orlando shooting where
04:11 many people died in the disco. About 12 people were trapped inside the um uh
04:17 bathroom upstairs. And these are people who don't usually pray to God. They're of a certain kind of people. And and and
04:24 you find that in the midst of all the shooting, they start to pray. Why?
04:30 Because they're in trouble. Um other people, this is a model, and she uh is uh prays. I pray every day. I meditate
04:37 every day. Okay, I do yoga. I'm not religious. I'm spiritual. Praying is something my grandmother taught me as
04:43 well to pray. Pray to be grateful to have gratitude. That is a big thing for me. So here Miranda Kerr is praying
04:48 because it's helps her attitude, helps her outlook in life. So her view of God
04:55 is kind of fuzzy, you know. Uh prayer is not to get our will done but to get
05:01 God's will done. James say if you're going to pray you don't have simply because you don't receive because you
05:07 are wrong. You ask wrongly and spend it on your passions. When we pray like the people of Orlando, they're just going
05:14 out to ask for their will rather than God's will. So the first lesson that we learn that prayer is often a response to
05:21 revelation. And the Lord said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I'm about to do?"
05:27 Here we have an inside picture of God. God sort of he knows the disaster is going to come, right? And he's thinking,
05:33 should I tell him or not? Why does God do that? You think about it because God
05:39 doesn't know whether he can trust Abraham and Abraham doesn't know whether they can trust God. This privilege
05:44 information if I told you tomorrow they're going to bomb empire is can I trust you with information that
05:50 you do do the right thing or the wrong thing or or or can can God trust you or can you trust God? Basically, and here
05:59 there are three easy reasons why Abraham was told by God of this disaster before
06:04 it occurred. First reason, shall I hide from Abraham what I'm about to do,
06:11 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the
06:16 nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. Here there's a promise and this promise has implications in the
06:23 immediate future and also implications for the later future. The immediate implication is that the nations of the
06:29 earth which in this particular case would be Sodom and Gomorrah will be
06:35 blessed in terms of having someone to intercede for them for their national
06:40 security for the nation's destiny. Nobody is there. And now for the first time before a disaster occurs, God
06:47 chooses one man. And that one man has an opportunity to bless that nation. His
06:52 opportunity to learn to intercede. Now Abraham is coming into the covenant.
06:57 He's coming into what was destined for him to do. He's destined to be a people
07:02 who intercede on behalf of the nations. The long-term implication of this is all
07:08 nations will be blessed by Abraham's ultimate seed. The ultimate seed is Jesus Christ. And this is Isaiah 53.
07:14 Because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors, yet he bore the sin of many and makes
07:19 intercession for transgressors. Jesus who Abraham's seed later on shall
07:25 intercede for all the transgressors which is basically every single person here uh who belongs to the church of
07:31 Jesus Christ. Second reason is that why did Jesus would God tell him? What did
07:37 God tell him? I have chosen him that he may command his children. The word chosen is actually in the Hebrew here is
07:45 yada. It's not really chosen because I know him. It's amazing. God knows him.
07:51 In fact, uh in Isaiah 41:8, it says, "You by Israel, my servant Jacob whom
07:57 I've chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend." In the Old Testament, rarely
08:02 you'll find somebody called God's friend. Jesus elaborates to us what he means by God's friend. Jesus says, "No
08:08 longer do I call you servants. The servant doesn't know what his master is doing. But I've called you friends. For
08:14 all that I have heard from my father, I made known to you." The difference between a friend and an acquaintance is
08:20 a friend is someone who will share with you what you're planning to do. And so
08:25 therefore, the second reason why God tells Abraham's his plans before the catastrophe happens is that Abraham is
08:32 his friend and he shares with us. It is a function of their relationship. Because you have a relationship, God
08:39 lets you in on the inner workings of the universe. The third thing is that um he
08:46 may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the law by doing righteousness and
08:53 justice so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him. The third reason is that if Abraham is going
08:60 to be a people of the covenant, if Abraham is going to command his children in the household to follow the way of
09:06 the Lord, Abraham must learn to trust God. If Abraham cannot trust God, how is he
09:12 going to lead and command his children to trust God? Absolutely right. Look,
09:18 you can just not only pray, this is Winston Churchill, very eloquent man during the war. He prayed a lot and this
09:24 is what he prays. He he this is a beautiful prayer. Never never never never never give up. Pray without
09:30 ceasing. Seek his face and boldly say it. And we sing never never never never never give in. When you seek the face of
09:37 God, you'll see that grace again and again. And that grace will bring you to the table. His hand will guide you and you'll be able to lead and stand up to
09:44 evil. You know privately what he writes. The practice of prayer was comforting,
09:49 reasoning led nowhere. I therefore acted in accordance to my feelings without troubling the square such conduct with a
09:55 conclusion of thought. So outside you say never never never I'm praying all the time but actually he's a hypocrite
10:01 because inside he never did understand what prayer was about. He never did believe in it. He never did actually
10:07 trust God. This was for the public for you to read. Right? And so therefore if Abraham is
10:14 really going to trust God what he says and what he does in his heart is going to be coherent. And so therefore, uh,
10:21 God tells him this. And so, three chapters later on in Genesis 22, when
10:27 he's walking up the mountain and he's going to sacrifice his son to God. How can he do that? He can only do that
10:34 because he remembers the verse. He says, "Shall not the judge of all the earth do what is right? Shall not the judge of
10:40 all the earth do what is right?" The only reason he can climb up that hill with a knife in hand is he has to learn
10:47 to trust God. So therefore, prayer is revelation by God to us to include us in
10:54 the inner workings of what God does in society today so that we will learn to trust God. The second thing uh we learn
11:02 is that prayer is bold and and as well as yet humble. You know here we look it
11:09 looks as if you're bargaining with God. You know story was told of a man a woman in Pinang you know and they're selling
11:15 the shopkeeper was selling handbags you know handbag was going for 200 ringit so immediately the woman says you know I
11:21 100 looks check I'll just give you 100 and the shopkeeper I can this is Louis
11:26 Vuitton you know it's uh 150 150 then immediately the first the woman says no
11:32 this is 75 what 75 for Louis Vuitton okay then I give you 100 and you know what she says 50 and the the shopkeeper
11:40 threw up his hands in despair say like that I might as well give you free right or in that case I'll have two
11:46 I mean when you actually bargain with God like that example you assume
11:52 something right you have something that God wants and and and God has
11:57 something that you want but the funny thing about this this is the only passage in the entire Bible that
12:04 actually has somebody haggling with God like Pinang woman you know have you ever seen which other passage in the entire
12:10 Bible people haggling with God. The only one was uh what Moses praying for the
12:16 people and Hezekiah when he was told that you know he's going to die say God give me one more chance. That's about
12:21 it. This fellow is bargaining the price from 50 down to 10. And he's actually bargaining with God and and it's it's a
12:28 it's a very intriguing process. Okay. Uh Abraham drew near and said, "Will you
12:34 indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are 50 righteous within the city. Will you sweep away the
12:40 place and not spare it for the 50 righteous? He comes to God. He draws near to God. God says, I'm going to
12:47 destroy the place and he has the cheek to tell God actually uh what about the righteous people there. The question
12:53 itself is very very bold because you're actually challenging God. You know, God wants to destroy the place and you say,
12:59 "Hey, wait a minute. You've overlooked the 50." He assumes there'll be 50 is there. And then worse, you look here.
13:06 Far be it from you to do such a thing to put the righteous to death with the wicked so that the righteous far the
13:13 wicked far be from that from you shall not the judge on earth do what is right what are you saying to God
13:19 say cho you know is in Chinese why should you be doing that God cannot do that he's presumptuous because he's
13:26 telling God that that God can't do how can you come to God to tell him what he cannot do I mean imagine you go up to
13:32 Najib and tell him what he can or cannot You wind up in prison, isn't it? Here
13:37 he's coming to God of all the earth and saying you can't do this thing. And he's presuming there are 50 righteous people
13:44 there know you think they'll be and that 50 righteous are worth it basically. And he says to God, God, you're actually
13:50 going to look bad. You know, because you know why? You're such a just God, right? Then you wall up the innocent together
13:55 with the guilty, right? You are such a bad God. You know what the press will do? It'll be you look worse than Donald Trump, right? Imagine when it comes to
14:02 CNN. Wow. God went and destroyed the whole place and then 50 fellas died. He's trying to tell God that PR-wise is
14:08 not a politically wise thing. And that's very stupid. You know, we're talking to the God of all the universe. And Jesus
14:15 clarifies this. This is in God's mind. He says, um, there were some present at
14:20 at the time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled
14:25 with their sacrifice. He answered them. Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other
14:30 Galileans because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you, unless you repent, you all will likewise perish. Or those
14:37 18 on whom the tower of Salem fell and killed them. Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the people live
14:43 Jerusalem? No, I tell you, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. The bottom line, Jesus saying, judgment
14:49 and catastrophe, the bullet comes and hits the righteous and the righteous. When the terrorists come and shoot the
14:55 bullet, you think the bullet goes you go, it misses the righteous and all the sinners going to kill. Isn't it? It
15:02 doesn't happen in real life. Jesus is telling you the bullet will hit the righteous and the unrighteous together.
15:08 So Abraham is talking out of his head. He doesn't know what he's doing. Right? So the basis of his boldness is this in
15:15 chapter 17 verse 7. I will establish my covenant between you and your offspring
15:21 after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
15:28 It's the way we know God as God because God is your God. You can then come before him and there's a relationship
15:35 for which he is totally committed to you and you could actually talk to him and intercede because this is the basis of
15:41 your boldness, the promises of God. He's actually leveraging on their relationship, not out of fear and
15:46 anxiety. He wants you to really trust him. It's a process of teaching you to
15:52 trust. Shall not the judge of all the earth do what is right. He's trying to
15:58 teach him to understand what this means. The words that come out from his own mouth. What he's trying to do, God is
16:05 just. God is merciful. He's exploring the depths of God's mercy. Will you save
16:12 the city if there are 50 righteous, 40 righteous, 30? How far does God love?
16:21 You see I mean you can say person very just or very loving but you don't understand it until you actually experience it. And so what therefore is
16:28 exploring the depths of God's mercy. The only problem is is overestimating the
16:33 goodness of man because it wormed out that not many righteous people there. Um
16:38 the boldness that we have when we come to intercede before God is based uh additionally on Hebrews 10. It says
16:44 therefore my brothers since we have confidence to enter holy place by the blood of Jesus by the new and living way
16:50 that he has opened for us through the curtain that is through his flesh. And since we have a great high priest over
16:56 the house of God, let us draw near with true heart with full assurance in faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from
17:03 evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. When we come to God, we are
17:08 going to come because of the blood of the lamb. Because through the lamb's flesh which is crucified on the cross,
17:15 we have an audience with the king. Uh second of all, we are not only God's
17:20 friend. Romans says, "For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received
17:26 the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, abba, father." The spirit himself bears witness in our spirit that
17:32 we are children of God. So therefore we are not only friends where God shares with us a plan but God we are his
17:39 children where we shout abbaha. Abba is a cry it's a primal cry not by children
17:45 you by infants or or very young children when they actually cry and grab the neck
17:51 of the father. It is very intimate. Uh don't have false boldness. This is
17:56 Kenneth Hagen and you know this is what he actually said. Don't pray about money
18:02 in the way you've been. The Lord said whatever you need claim it in Jesus' name and then say Satan take your hands
18:07 off my money and then say go ministering spirits and cause the money to come.
18:12 There was way back in 1950 from that day onwards I never prayed about money for myself personally.
18:19 This is a kind of false boldness that's called believer's authority that you hijack this boldness to come to
18:25 intercede for others and he's interceding for his own money. Uh another famous preacher Beni Hinn false
18:31 boldness again when he holds and this is what he was he said in one of the healing rallies that he was involved he
18:38 says the activity of the spirit is dependent on my will. He will not move until I say wow that is really really
18:46 bold. Um for this is not true boldness. In fact
18:52 idolizes two women. Uh this is Amy Simple McFersonen and Katherine Coleman.
18:57 He goes to the grave regularly and he says anointing is so strong when I go there then I you know the the anointing
19:04 comes on me that I rub my coat on my body and I swing swing swing bam bam bam people fall down. I mean this is not the
19:11 kind of boldness we have when you come in prayer. He not only has boldness based on the promises of God he has humility.
19:18 Abraham says be behold I have undertaken to speak the Lord. Who am I but dust and
19:24 ashes? Oh Lord, let not the Lord be angry. Hey,
19:29 you know, I'm bargaining. Please don't get upset. Uh, oh, let not the Lord be angry. Every time he bargains with God,
19:35 there is a great degree of humility. So therefore, for a Christian, when you come to interact with God, there are two
19:42 things which are really polar opposites, in that you were absolutely bold because of what God said and yet you're
19:48 absolutely humbled because you're worthless. And that's the two that you need to get
19:53 together. And for many of us, we either too bold like the guy who is praying bam bam bam or we are too humble and and the
20:02 true Christian when it comes to prayer the the the the beauty of our prayer should be absolute boldness to claim on
20:08 the promises of God and humility. Thirdly, the prayer is persistent and
20:15 specific. There was a story of a pastor who who owned um a parrot and for years
20:22 he the parrot could only say two words. Let's pray. You talk to him said what do
20:27 you want to do? Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Pastor tried to teach him say other things but no avail. Then he
20:33 learned one day one of his deacons had a parrot too. That parrot also very funny. He can only say two words. Let's kiss.
20:39 Let's kiss. So the parrot the pastor decided to invite the deacon and his parrot to his
20:44 house one day and they arrived they put the two parrots into one cage you know uh to see what happened then the
20:51 deacon's parrot says let's kiss let's kiss and the pastor parrot immediately said thank you lord my prayers have been
20:57 answered persistence in prayer
21:04 um let not the lord be angry I will speak again but this one suppose 10 are
21:11 found and he answered for the sake of 10 I will not destroy it here he bargain
21:16 all the way down to 10 he's persistent uh and then he leaves it there at 10 and
21:22 and this is a verse uh uh uh and does God like that well here is a verse from
21:28 Isaiah 62 6 to7 I have posted watchmen on your walls oh Jerusalem and we talk
21:34 about Jerusalem it's a heavenly city based on people who live by faith
21:39 versus Babylon, the the the the worldly city where we live based on our own efforts. I posted watchmen on your
21:46 walls. Oh Jerusalem, they will never be silent day or night. You called Lord, give him no give yourself no rest. Give
21:53 him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth. And so therefore, how does
21:59 God want us to pray? God wants us to bug him day and night. He loves it that you
22:05 bug him day and night. You give him no rest. give yourself no rest because he wants to see the glory of Jerusalem in
22:12 this world. Um men may spur our this sit back may spur our appeals, reject our
22:18 message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they're helpless against our prayers. And I was
22:24 remembering a friend of mine, Alan Tan, from Pantai Baptist Church, who told me recently that they've been praying for
22:30 his father for so many years, you know, and his father's like in his 80s. And the other day, his father was so sick.
22:37 Uh, and he and and son had been trying to share the gospel. He tried to share the gospel with him just the day before. And he the old man you wouldn't listen
22:44 to his son. And uh then the father lapsed into a coma. blood pressure was
22:50 unrecordable and out of the blue Allen should have let him go but decided not to. He just
22:56 pumped in fluids, gave antibodies and he woke up temporarily. Another stranger came shared the gospel with him and he
23:02 accepted Christ and then he died. I mean it is persistent prayer right up
23:09 to the last minute. Uh men may spur our appeals, reject our message, oppose our
23:14 arguments, despise our persons but they are helpless against our prayer. Mary, Queen of Scots, respected John Knox so
23:21 much. He said, "I do not fear armies. I only fear John Knox's prayers." Um, this
23:27 is DL Moody in 1972, sorry, 8 1872, not 1972. He was on
23:33 holiday. He's a famous American evangelist uh who went to London on holiday um in uh 1872.
23:41 And uh since he were on holiday, he wasn't ding and preaching and one of the churches invited him to speak. Anyway,
23:47 he was very reluctant. Never mind. I just wait one sermon and he actually preached on the Sunday and it was a
23:53 horrible service. He preached, nobody bothered. They're all sleeping. All right. Then he he went for the evening
23:58 service. When he went the evening service, he preached the same sermon. And then he asked all those who want to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior,
24:05 put your hands up. P. Everybody stood up. He said, "What is this?" Uh I think they're all mistaken. Then you all sit
24:12 down. if you really want to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you come uh into the room and and the room
24:17 was full of people coming to inquire. And it was so great that he thought, okay, why don't um why don't you you
24:24 just come the next day to see your pastor on Monday? That was Monday. And DL Moody sailed away. Okay, he went on
24:32 the sea, Irish sea to Dublin. The moment he landed in Dublin, the pastor sent a message, hey, you think you better come
24:37 back. The next day was Monday. Many people are coming. I cannot cope. So, poor DL Moody had to go back to London
24:43 and he preached for 10 days and 400 people accepted Christ. 400. And he's
24:50 wondering something's happening here. And he actually found out there was a young woman called Marian Eldad who had
24:56 been praying for this church for revival for 30 years. And that morning, her
25:03 sister came back from the morning service and told her, "You know what? DL Moody, come to our church." you know and
25:09 and then she really got on her knees that afternoon itself and started praying again and again and then the
25:15 Holy Spirit just poured out and people came um to so so so we need to be
25:21 persistent. Why do we need to be persistent? Because we fight a spiritual battle. This is Daniel. Daniel prayed
25:27 for help and help came a lot later on. And the reason why it comes later on, he says, "Behold, a hand touched me and set
25:34 me trembling on my hands and knees. And he said to me, "Oh Daniel, man greatly loved and I understand the words that I
25:40 have speak to you and stand up upright, for now I've been sent to you." And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood
25:46 up trembling, and he said to me, "Fear not, Daniel, for the first day that you set your heart to understand and to
25:52 humble yourself before the Lord, your words have been heard. I have come because of your words. the prince of the
25:57 kingdom of Persia which stood me for 21 days while Michael one of the chief pri princes came to help me for I was left
26:04 there with the kings of Persia and came to make you understand what is happening to your people in the latter days so the
26:10 angel was delayed for 20 over days because it is a spiritual battle that's why we need to be persistent we need to
26:18 pray finally and leave the results to God story is told of a woman who loved
26:25 the lord and who who was praying all the time, living next to a man who was an atheist, who didn't like God or hated
26:32 all aspects of God. He used to hear her praying and said to himself, "She's seen
26:37 a stupid woman believing in something that doesn't exist." In fact, he went over because she was praying so loudly
26:43 to complain. You're making so much noise talking to God that doesn't exist. You what's why don't you keep quiet? She
26:49 refused to keep quiet. She kept on praising and loving the Lord. And one day, he overheard a prayer. The woman
26:55 had been so poor that she ran out of money, no money to buy groceries. And yet she prayed, "Oh Lord, please give me
27:01 groceries. I I mean, I thank you ahead for the answers you've given me already." And then the man thought, "Oh,
27:07 that's my opportunity." So what he did was he ran off to the 7-Eleven shop and he bought a whole bunch of groceries and
27:13 he left it in the front porch. And then he went to the bush to hide. And so the woman came out, "Wow, my God, the
27:20 groceries for me. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah." And then the man jumped out. Ha. You see, you know who bought
27:26 the groceries? I brought the groceries. Ha, your God don't have. And he was And then the woman got even more excited.
27:33 Started screaming and shouting, praising the Lord, running down the street, you know. And a man say, "What is wrong with this woman?" You know, he and he caught
27:40 up with the woman. What's wrong? I knew God would provide, but I never knew he would let the devil pay for it.
27:53 So, so uh we we don't often know what the results are. What but William Barlay
27:59 who writes prayer always reaches achieves results. You know why? Because the love of God wants the best for us.
28:05 The wisdom of God knows what's the best for us. The power of God can accomplish it. Three things in it. God's love,
28:11 God's wisdom, and God's power. When you pray, God's love, God's wisdom, and God's power are going to be with you.
28:18 And so therefore you can't lose. He then he said, "Oh, let not the Lord be angry. I will speak again, but this
28:25 one suppose there 10 found there." He answered, "For the sake of 10, I will not destroy it." And the Lord went on
28:30 his way and he had finished speaking to Abraham. Abraham returned. Abraham didn't ask for more. He stopped at 10.
28:36 And all the scholars discussed why he stopped at 10. 10 was a minimum quorum for a synagogue. Was that the reason
28:43 why? And then did Abraham stop bargaining or did God just left? You see, see, he say God went away. Then God
28:51 had enough. He leaves it hanging open. Okay. And um Abraham watches in the
28:59 distance and he watches the lightning strike, the the the brimstone fall. And
29:05 he's worried about his relative Lot. And he remembers these words. Shall not the
29:11 judge of all the earth do what is just. He didn't succeed in saving Sodom and
29:17 Gomorrah. His heart must have fallen, isn't it? I prayed so hard. Alama 10
29:22 fell those who don't have in the whole of Sodom and Gomorrah. 10 fellows who didn't have. And later he finds out that
29:28 God had sent two angels to Sodom and they were nearly raped by the people there to show you what kind of depravity
29:34 there was. And he later he finds out God actually saved he you know imagine this prayer he never say save Lot you know
29:41 you know right he got favoritism he never said save Lot but God knew his heart so God saved Lot and his two
29:48 daughters and the wife wanted to stay back so let her stay back so she was covered in salt and died uh so whoever
29:54 wanted to stay stay and and and and he understood that this is the judge of all the earth he will do what is right he
30:01 learned from that lesson that God will do what is right. You see, you need to
30:07 leave results to God. This is George Müller, one of the famous uh uh Christians last century who actually
30:13 started a uh uh orphanages and he never had to ask people for money. All he had
30:19 to do was pray. And one story was told of him sailing to Quebec to give talks.
30:24 And he was supposed to be in Quebec on a Saturday. And then as I was standing on the the the the deck of the ship, there
30:31 was a dense fog and he couldn't and the captain said that there's no way you're going to be there by Saturday. And and u
30:39 Müller said to him, "Look, in 57 years, I've never been late for a meeting. I never will." Okay? Your eyes are not
30:46 shouldn't be on the fog. They should be on God. And so said to the captain, "You follow me downstairs to the chat room." We pray together. So went downstairs to
30:53 pray. He did a very simple prayer. And then the captain going to pray. They say you don't need to pray because you don't
30:59 believe. So he said we go up there. Okay. Went up there. The fog was gone.
31:05 Absolute miracle how this guy pray. And on the other hand, let me give you another example of prayer of Dixon
31:12 Edward host. This is the gentleman who took over from China inland mission from
31:17 Hudson Taylor. And this is a man who would pray four hours every single day. You know because of all the hundreds of
31:24 missionaries and thousands of missionaries who are in China at a time he prayed not only for the missionaries
31:30 he also prayed for the children and he prayed and prayed and then what happened
31:35 maong kicked out 7,000 missionaries everybody left and instead of
31:41 Christianity crumbling in China he raises up an indigenous church there are
31:46 that number more than 100 million today you see you don't know answers to prayer
31:52 pray. You have to leave the results to God. Philip Yansy writes of a uh
31:57 Lebanese Christian who was married to an American in the 1980 civil war in Lebanon where they were so worried
32:04 because they're living in an apartment and his bullah has set up some uh uh uh
32:09 artillery there and you know if you shoot artillery people will spot where you are and they will return fire and destroy you and they had prayed for the
32:16 Lord's protection and somehow the artillery pieces cannot fire. The Lord provided protection. But the
32:22 neighbor was deaf and shot and killed. Another Muslim convert to Christianity also shot
32:29 and killed. Everybody prayed for protection. Why did God protect some and not protect others? Uh we don't know.
32:38 But God provides grace, isn't it? To take whatever results come. This is a
32:43 woman called Annie Flint Johnson. She got two names. Johnson is a normal name
32:49 and Flint is adopted parents name. Her parents died when she was young and she was adopted
32:55 uh by the Flint family and she's so swayed that even the Flint family also died. So it's orphan two times she got
33:02 cancer also two times and she's got rheumatois so bad that when she sit in the bed she needs about eight pillows.
33:09 And this woman alone is responsible for many many hymns that we sing today and
33:14 many many poems that talk about the grace of God. And she wrote this beautiful poem that talks about grace.
33:22 And he says, "He give it more grace when burdens grow greater. He sendeth more strength when the labors increase. To
33:28 added affliction, he added his mercy. To multiply trials, he multiplied peace.
33:34 When we have exhausted our store of endurance, when our strength is failed, air the day is half done. When we reach
33:39 the end of our hoarded resources, our father's full giving has only just begun.
33:45 Fear not that thy need shall exceed his provision. Our God ever yearns his resources to share. Lean hard on the arm
33:52 everlasting availing. The father both thee and thy load are bare. His love has
33:57 no limit. His grace has no measure. His power has no boundary known to men. For out of his infinite riches in Jesus, he
34:03 giveth and giveth and giveth again. That's when we deal with suffering and
34:11 the difficulties of prayer. Shall not the judge of all the earth do what is
34:16 just. When you see death of innocence, when we see purposeless suffering,
34:24 that's one lesson we need to learn from the Lord. Thus shall not the judge of all the earth do what is right. Zachari
34:31 uh Ravi Zachcharias was attending a funeral and a friend of his had lost a
34:36 child and this is some years ago and he asked his friend you think you does time
34:42 heal your wounds are you feeling better and his friend said no when when when a
34:48 son is taken away from me the pain never goes away but you know what he says he
34:54 says time doesn't heal it reveals because the longer time goes on you
34:59 learn that God is a just God. The challenge for us today as we've seen in
35:06 this passage a very important principle which God means to tell us for the sake
35:11 of 10 I will not destroy it and the story ends there left hanging you know
35:18 why the principle has been established righteous men can avert judgment on
35:24 sinners there's an established principle there and thousands of years later on
35:30 the one righteous man one righteous man who was crucified on the cross for a
35:36 crime he never committed. And that righteous man allows God to save
35:42 judgment on anyone else. Thousands and millions of Christians all over the world because of one righteous life,
35:50 calamity will not fall upon us. And so therefore, it is for us,
35:56 for some of us here who perhaps do not know God and you're frightened of the
36:02 times. This is a time that one righteous life, one holy life, one Jesus Christ, a
36:08 a life so lived so perfectly under the watchful gaze of God who died for us,
36:14 who took upon usself the penalty of our sin. He can make a difference in our
36:19 lives. He's the ultimate intercessor. He says, "Who is there to condemn?" Jesus Christ is the one who died. More than
36:25 that, who was raised, who's the right hand of father of God, who is interceding for us. Jesus Christ, if you
36:32 so choose to accept him as your Lord and Savior, is now at the right hand of father. And he's interceding for you day
36:38 in and day out. He's mentioning your name, Yidian, Lean, Rama. Day in and day
36:46 out, your name is going up and is interceding for us. and and his intercession is powerful. Let me give
36:52 you an example in in Luke chapter 22. Simon, remember Simon Peter, he betrayed Jesus how many times? Three times. Most
36:60 of us who depra betrayed Jesus three times, surely he will go away forever, right? We know why he didn't go away
37:07 because Simon Simon behold Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like we before he was tempted.
37:16 Satan already knew, God already knew. knew they had bargaining session you know Satan say I want him he's your top
37:22 man Peter isn't that I want him Jesus says cannot and so what happens is that
37:27 he by sift you like wheat I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail and
37:32 when you turn again to strengthen your brother already Jesus prayed when he prayed yes Peter fell Satan took a whack
37:40 he fell but the prayers brought him back see this today every single day so many
37:47 of you here, I don't know what's going to happen. Some of you will enter calamity. Some of you will be suffering in illness. But the illness, the
37:54 calamity, the thing that's bad happens will cause you to stumble and you're going to wonder whether you can trust
37:60 God and whether God can trust you. And some of you will fall. But if Jesus intercedes for you, you will not fail.
38:07 And so therefore, we leave this hall. Leave with a calm assurance that Jesus
38:13 prays for us every day. I'm going leave you with this last picture of Puchong. I pray that this is
38:19 not going to be a picture of what is to come. We are in this nation
38:25 and like Abraham uh this is Jeremiah. Seek the welfare of the city where I
38:31 have sent you to exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf for in its welfare you will find your welfare. Like it or
38:38 not, we are here in Malaysia. If Malaysia prays, we are to pray for its welfare
38:46 because we are in exile here. Sad part was in Ezekiel, I sought the man among
38:51 them who would build up the wall and stand in the bridge before me for the land that I should not destroy it, but I
38:57 found none. God often finds not enough people standing there to pray. And the challenge is for us to pray because if
39:05 you look at Revelations 8, this is what happens when you pray. The lamb opened the seventh seal. There was silence in
39:10 heaven for about half an hour. You know why there was silence? I saw seven angels who were standing before God and
39:16 the seven trumpets were given to them and another angel came and stood at the altar with golden sensor and he was
39:21 given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar. So as the prayers of the saints
39:26 were you know prayed the incense for half an hour heaven stood still and then the smoke of
39:34 incense with the prayers of the saints rose before God from the hand of the angels and the angels took the senses
39:39 and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth. There was peels of thunder, rumblings, flashes of
39:44 lightning and an earthquake which means the prayers of the saints having ascended to God effects
39:51 a earthquake in the world today. This is the power of intercession that we hold
39:56 in our hands because of our covenant with our Lord Jesus Christ and the question that God poses to us as a
40:03 church today. Shall I hide from Abraham what I'm about to do? Shall he hide from
40:08 you what he's about to do? Shall we as God's people rise up to pray to bring
40:15 our nation, our families, our friends before God and intercede? This is Andrew
40:20 Murray who was basically instrumental in a South African revival in 1860s and he
40:26 writes these words. If we as helpers and fellow laborers with the Lord Jesus are to share his
40:34 power, intercession, there will need to be with us as well the travail of the soul suffering as there was with him the
40:42 giving up of our lives and pleasures for the one supreme work interceding for our
40:49 fellow men. Andrew Murray realized, you know, before the the the the
40:54 revival in South Africa, which happened in 1860, and the revival happened so miraculously, one night they were all
41:00 praying. One colored girl stood up, 15 years old, and prayed. And when she prayed, everybody broke in prayer. They
41:07 were not in tongues. They were in prayer and the revival swept. Before that, Andrew Murray's father prayed for 36
41:13 years for revival. It's not easy. But intercession requires travail of the
41:19 soul, the giving up of our lives and our pleasures for one supreme work interceding for our fellow men.
41:26 Intercession must not be a passing interest. It must become an ever growing object of intense desire which for above
41:34 everything else we long and live. It is the life of consecration and self-sacrifice that will indeed give
41:41 power for intercession. So as we leave this sermon today and the example of Abraham, let's go back and think really
41:48 are we actually taking up this ministry which is the ministry of the church interceding for our world, our nation,
41:56 our community which is basically falling apart. God will not work
42:03 without you. God shares this with us so that we will partner with him. But we
42:09 partner with him and pray we need to put in time. We need to put effort and dedication. It is not easy work. Let's
42:15 pray. Father Lord, we just thank you for the example of Abraham. We thank you for
42:21 his response to your revelation. We thank you for his boldness yet humility. We thank you for his persistence and his
42:28 specific prayers. And we thank you that he left the results to you. And father Lord, we as your people come before you
42:35 in this nation which is broken and torn and in confusion. as we wake up and we
42:40 just read bad news day in and day out and we we're just so heavy laden. So we
42:46 ask oh Lord that you just quicken our hearts right now. Convict us that we
42:51 will participate in this work of intercession where we all each of us will look forward to come before you and
42:56 bring our friends, our relatives, our family, our community before you to pray for their salvation and for their
43:02 safety. We ask this for Jesus sake. Amen.
