Cecil Hutson Sermon Archive

January 8, 2006 AM

IT REALLY DOES MATTER WHAT YOU BELIEVE ABOUT PRAYER

MT 7:7-11

INTRO: I remember as a little boy my mother would come into my room before I was asleep, and she would have me pray. The prayer is one which so many little children have learned: "Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." I learned to pray very early in my life ... even if it was a simple little "rote" prayer from which I learned. Not all of my years have been as prayerful as I would like for them to have been. Maybe during middle years I thought I could handle everything pretty much on my own ... why bother God with it. But I am learning that I really cannot handle everything "on my own" and that there are those times I really need to turn things over to God in prayer. And it does really matter what we believe about prayer.

I. SOME PRAYER PROBLEMS:

A. "Everything works according to laws of nature. God does not interfere."

B. "God knows everything. Why should I pray?"

C. "God didn't answer my prayer!"

D. "If God is so loving, why did He not answer as I had asked?"

II. GOD DOES HEAR OUR PRAYERS

A. Yes, there are some "qualifiers" here

1. 1 Pet 3:12 - "the face of the Lord is against them that do evil"

2. Isa 59:1,2 - "...that he will not hear"

3. Mi 3:4 - "as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings"

4. people choosing to live in sin He will not hear

B. Jesus certainly believed God would hear our prayers

1. Mt 6:9-13 - why teach us to pray if God is not going to be listening?

2 Mt 7:11 - why teach us to ask Him if He does not hear our prayers?

3. Lk 18:1 - why teach us to put such confidence in prayer if God is not listening?

4. how could Jesus be credible if He teaches us to do a pointless thing?

C. New Testament writers believed God would hear our prayers

1. Phil 4:6 - if God does not hear, why make requests known to Him?

2. 1 Pet 3:12 - if His ears are open to our prayers, how can He not hear?

3. 1 Jno 5:14,15 - if this is our confidence, God must, indeed, hear us?

4. if, in fact, God does not hear our prayers, how can we place our confidence in the New Testament in other matters revealed therein?

III. GOD DOES ANSWER OUR PRAYERS

A. There are some things we need to know - for example

1. 1 Jno 5:14 - "...according to his will..."

2. He will not answer contrary to His will

3. 1 Jno 3:22 - "...we receive...because we keep his commandments..."

4. He will answer the prayers of those who are keeping his commandments

B. We must acknowledge...

1. every answer may not be affirmative - we tend to want "yes" answers

2. every answer may not be immediate - we tend to want "now" answers

3. every answer may not be "as requested" - we tend to want to lock God into our details (prayer to send someone to mission field - He may send you)

4. every answer may not be easily identifiable - we tend to want neat little packages

C. But God does hear and God does answer the prayers of righteous people

1. Jas 5:16b-18 - this Bible example is given for a very good reason

2. if Elijah could pray so powerfully, so can you and I!

3. Isa 38:1-5 - prayer can change things ... how all of this "works" is not something of which I can speak knowledgeably

4. just because I "did not get my way" does not mean God does not answer

IV. PRAYER DOES ENHANCE OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FATHER

A. It places us in the position of trusting Him

1. Ps 112:7 - "...his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord"

2. relationship grows stronger in the presence of trust - weaker in the absence of it!

B. It is communication with the Father

1. Mt 6:9 - "Our Father which art in heaven..."

2. this must never become a rote exercise ... this is deeply personal communication of the great concerns of ones heart ... only then is it really communication which becomes communion

C. It provides us with peace

1. Phil 4:7 - "And the peace of God...shall keep your hearts..."

2. only, however, if we really believe that God hears and answers can this peace come!

CLOSE: If I did not believe that God hears and answers my prayers, I am not sure I could continue preaching. Why? I would have very little of comfort to share with others ... and I would be questioning the credibility of the scriptures. But I do believe confidently in the power of prayer and in God's willingness to hear and answer.

Cecil A. Hutson

08 January 2006

God's Plan of Salvation

You Must Hear the Gospel

You must hear the gospel and then understand and recognize that you are lost without Jesus Christ no matter who you are and no matter what your background is. The Bible tells us that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Before you can be saved, you must understand that you are lost and that the only way to be saved is by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:8) Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6) “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

You Must Believe

You must believe and have faith in God because “without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6) But neither belief alone nor faith alone is sufficient to save. (James 2:19; James 2:24; Matthew 7:21)

You Must Repent

You must repent of your sins. (Acts 3:19) But repentance alone is not enough. The so-called “Sinner’s Prayer” that you hear so much about today from denominational preachers does not appear anywhere in the Bible. Indeed, nowhere in the Bible was anyone ever told to pray the “Sinner’s Prayer” to be saved. By contrast, there are numerous examples showing that prayer alone does not save. Saul, for example, prayed following his meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:11), but Saul was still in his sins when Ananias met him three days later (Acts 22:16). Cornelius prayed to God always, and yet there was something else he needed to do to be saved (Acts 10:2, 6, 33, 48). If prayer alone did not save Saul or Cornelius, prayer alone will not save you. You must obey the gospel. (2 Thess. 1:8)

You Must Confess

You must confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. (Romans 10:9-10) Note that you do NOT need to make Jesus “Lord of your life.” Why? Because Jesus is already Lord of your life whether or not you have obeyed his gospel. Indeed, we obey him, not to make him Lord, but because he already is Lord. (Acts 2:36) Also, no one in the Bible was ever told to just “accept Jesus as your personal savior.” We must confess that Jesus is the Son of God, but, as with faith and repentance, confession alone does not save. (Matthew 7:21)

You Must Be Baptized for the Remission of Sins

Having believed, repented, and confessed that Jesus is the Son of God, you must be baptized for the remission of your sins. (Acts 2:38) It is at this point (and not before) that your sins are forgiven. (Acts 22:16) It is impossible to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ without teaching the absolute necessity of baptism for salvation. (Acts 8:35-36; Romans 6:3-4; 1 Peter 3:21) Anyone who responds to the question in Acts 2:37 with an answer that contradicts Acts 2:38 is NOT proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ!

You Must Be Faithful Unto Death

Once you are saved, God adds you to his church and writes your name in the Book of Life. (Acts 2:47; Philippians 4:3) To continue in God’s grace, you must continue to serve God faithfully until death. Unless they remain faithful, those who are in God’s grace will fall from grace, and those whose names are in the Book of Life will have their names blotted out of that book. (Revelation 2:10; Revelation 3:5; Galatians 5:4)

What is the church of Christ?

In Matthew 16:18, Jesus promised to build a church. In Acts 2:47, Luke tells us that people were being added to that church. Thus, we can conclude that Jesus built His church sometime between His promise in Matthew 16 and Luke’s statement in Acts 2. Indeed, a closer study of the events in Acts 2 reveals that the Lord’s church was established on that first day of Pentecost following the Lord’s resurrection when Peter preached the first gospel sermon. That church is the church of Christ.

A common misconception about the church of Christ is that “The Church of Christ” is its name. It is not. The “church of Christ” is its description. The church of Christ is the church that belongs to Christ, that was established by Christ, that was built by Christ, and that was bought by Christ. It is not our church; it is His church, the Lord’s church. We are not voted into the church by men, and we do not join a church the way some might join a country club. Instead, God adds us to His church when we obey His gospel.

Are those in the church of Christ the only people who are going to be saved? Of course they are! God adds people to His church when they are saved. If you are not in the Lord’s church, then you are not saved. If you are saved, then you are in the Lord’s church. To be saved outside of the church of Christ is to be saved outside of the body of Christ – and that can never happen. Jesus is not just a way to the Father; he is the way to the Father. As Jesus said in John 14:6, “ I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Thus, the real question is not what is the church of Christ, but is rather how do you become a part of the church of Christ? That question was asked in the first century as it is asked today, and the answer remains the same. We are saved and added to the Lord’s church when we obey the gospel of Jesus Christ. Like the Apostle Paul, we are saved when our sins are washed away at our baptism.

There is one church of Christ. If you are a member of something else or something more or something less, then you are not serving God according to His plan or according to His will. He wants you to be a Christian and only a Christian, wearing only the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, who is the head and the savior of the church, His body.

Want to know more? Here are 10 things everyone should understand about the church, here are some common misconceptions about the church, and here is how God views the church.

What Must I Do?

What must I do? That same question was asked in Acts 2:37 at the end of the very first gospel sermon ever preached. Before we look at Peter’s answer in verse 38, let’s look at some answers Peter did NOT give.

What must I do? John Calvin answers, “Nothing!” According to Calvin, there is nothing we must do and nothing we can do. Each of us has already been personally predestined to Heaven or Hell without regard to anything we do on Earth, and so, logically, according to Calvin, the only answer to the question in Acts 2:37 is “Nothing.” But that is NOT how Peter answered that question.

What must I do? Many preachers today answer, “You must make Jesus the Lord of your life.” But that answer makes absolutely no sense then or now! Peter had just said in Acts 2:36 that “God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Jesus was already Lord of their lives! Jesus is Lord of lords and King of kings, which means he is your Lord and your King whether or not you obey him or believe him. We obey Jesus because he is Lord and King – not to make him Lord and King.

What must I do? Many preachers today answer, “You must pray the sinner’s prayer and invite the Lord Jesus into you heart.” But no one in the Bible was ever told to do that. In fact, Paul prayed after he saw Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:11), and yet Paul was still in his sins when Ananias met him three days later (Acts 22:16). Cornelius prayed to God always (Acts 10:2), and yet there remained something he still had to do after calling for Peter (Acts 10:6). If praying the sinner’s prayer was all that Paul and Cornelius needed to do, then why were Ananias and Peter needed?

What must I do? Listen as Peter answers that question: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (Acts 2:38) That answer has not changed one bit in the intervening 2000 years. If your preacher is telling you something different, then you need a new preacher! “And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” (Acts 22:16)

Want to know more? Here is God's Plan of Salvation.

Cecil Hutson

Baptism in the Bible

Matthew 28:19

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Mark 16:16

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

Acts 2:38

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Acts 8:36

And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?

Acts 22:16

And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

Romans 6:3

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

Romans 6:4

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

1 Corinthians 12:13

For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

Galatians 3:27

For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Ephesians 4:5

One Lord, one faith, one baptism.

Colossians 2:12

Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

1 Peter 3:21

The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Want to Know More?

Please read this lesson on baptism from our series of lessons on Thought Provoking Questions.

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