Privilege of Prayer

In this part of the sermon: He turns to Numbers 11, recounting the Israelites' lust for Egyptian food and weariness of manna, despite it being God's miraculous provision. This serves as a shocking example of…

The Israelites' selective memory of Egypt, remembering only the food and forgetting the oppressive slavery, illustrates their ingratitude and fickleness towards God's miraculous provision of manna.

of ingratitude and fickleness to be found anywhere in the word of God. Manna was the divinely provided perpetual miracle of God's provision for the sustenance of the children of Israel in their wilderness wanderings. Yet in the face of this perpetual miracle by which they were sustained through this foolishness, through this foolishness, through this foolishness, through this foolishness, through this foolishness, from heaven they grew weary of God's provision and lusted for other provisions, even the fish, the melons, the cucumbers, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic of Egypt. And they had...

5:20 - 6:43 Read in full sermon

Driving home: as it is the business of tailors to make clothes and of cobblers to mend shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray. What is a cobbler who mends bodies of ten who does not pray is but a Christian in name only. Go…

Martin Luther's quote, 'as it is the business of tailors to make clothes and of cobblers to mend shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray,' emphasizes prayer as a fundamental and expected activity for every Christian.

quote from a relatively recently published book by Donald Whitney entitled Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, and after opening up the duty of prayer, Mr. Whitney writes, this means too little, too many responsibilities, too many kids, too much work, too little experience, etc. do not exempt us from the expectation to pray. God is to be devoted to pray and to pray without. In other words, he of every state of the earth is to be devoted to pray and to pray without. In other words, he of every state of the earth is to be devoted to pray and to pray without. The Christian established b...

13:08 - 14:06 Read in full sermon

Driving home: For God to give attention to ten million of his children at once is no more a strain than to give his full attention to one of them as though they were the only one in the universe.

The analogy of someone saying 'I've been there' when unburdening oneself to another illustrates Christ's perfect empathy as High Priest, having experienced all our infirmities, making Him uniquely able to understand and assist us in prayer.

weary physically, weary emotionally, knowing what it was to be disappointed with the dullness of his disciples and with the apostasy of those who followed him when he was feeding the multitudes and was caring for their physical needs, but when he began to speak of his true mission as bread of life, and bread sent down from heaven, and eating his flesh and drinking his blood, the multitudes go back and walk with him no more until he turns to the handful left and says, will you also go away? Touched with the feeling of our infirmities, he is carried into heaven, the reservoir of all of that felt...

29:23 - 30:40 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin uses the illustration of President Clinton's inauguration invitation to highlight the value people place on earthly privilege, contrasting it with believers' indifference…

The story of 2,000 ordinary citizens eagerly lining up for a brief audience with President Clinton illustrates how people value earthly privilege, contrasting it with believers' often-indifferent attitude toward the far greater privilege of direct access to God in prayer.

What a vivid example we have of how powerful is a motive of privilege to move people to action this past week. As most of you know, I'm sure, while President-elect and not yet inaugurated and installed as President, Mr. Clinton sent out invitations to some 2,000 ordinary citizens inviting them to be received in the White House the first day after his inauguration. The basis of that selection, it's not important to go into it, but it was a cross-section of average Americans.

33:42 - 34:23 Read in full sermon

The point: Assess how much you value Christ's work by your willingness to avail yourself of the privilege of prayer at the expense of lesser things.

The hypothetical scenario of President Clinton being stood up by his invited guests illustrates the grief and humiliation Christ must feel when believers neglect the privilege of prayer, treating His dearly bought invitation with indifference.

What a privilege, what a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Let me carry on the illustration. What do you think President Clinton would have thought if after going from ball to ball the night before, an activity upon which I'll make no comment, after about three hours sleep, he was there, the appointed hour, ready to receive the 2,000 guests? What do you think he would have thought if not a one of them showed up?

36:34 - 37:19 Read in full sermon

The point: Assess how much you value Christ's work by your willingness to avail yourself of the privilege of prayer at the expense of lesser things.

Martin shares a personal story of struggling to get out of a warm bed to pray, despite having prepared his sermon. This illustrates the daily, internal battle every believer faces in prioritizing the privilege of prayer over lesser comforts, and how valuing Christ's work helps win that battle.

as privilege theologically. But what I do, as even this morning when it was still dark and I set the alarm clock for a certain time, to get up to pray, preparation for both ministries was well in hand. I had only to copy the last part of one point for this morning's message and deliberately left it for this morning. So there wasn't work to do.

39:38 - 40:08 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He moves to the second ground for prayer as privilege: the gift of the Holy Spirit. Expounding Galatians 4:4-6 and Romans 8:15, Martin explains that the Spirit inclines believers…

The explanation of 'Abba' as an intimate Aramaic word, like a child's 'Daddy,' and its prohibition for slaves, illustrates the profound, trusting, and privileged access believers have to God as their Father through the Spirit.

No. It's not the Spirit who cries out to God, Abba, Father. The word Abba, being the Aramaic word, a very intimate word, in Vine's expository dictionary, he comments that in the rabbinical commentary of the Mishnah, it is stated that slaves were forbidden to address the head of the family by this title. It approximates to a personal name, in contrast to Father, and it is always joined in the three usages in the New Testament.

52:42 - 53:18 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Further, he expounds Romans 8:26-27, showing that the Spirit assists believers in their felt sense of ignorance and impotence in prayer. The Spirit intercedes for them with…

A quotation from B.B. Warfield's sermon on Romans 8:26-27 explains that the Holy Spirit's indwelling in Christians guides their petitions, ensuring they ask for what they truly need and obtain it, addressing their ignorance and impotence in prayer.

maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered and he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God in a marvelous sermon on this text B.B. Warfield in his book Faith and Life says in the introduction to that sermon the direct teaching of this passage obviously is that the Holy Ghost dwelling in Christians indicts their petitions and thus secures for them both that they shall ask God for what they have what they really need and that they shall obtain what they ask here it is asserte...

61:33 - 63:02 Read in full sermon