Amen, right, Numbers chapter 32, we're just going to look at the first few verses again.
So Numbers 32 and from verse 1 the Bible reads,
Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle.
And when they saw the land of Jezer and the land of Gilead,
that behold the place was the place for cattle,
the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke unto Moses,
and to Eleazar the priest, and unto the princes of the congregation,
saying, Ataroth, and Debon, and Jezer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Eliele,
and Sheba, and Nebu, and Bion, even the country which the Lord
smote before the congregation of Israel is a land for cattle,
and thy servants have cattle. Wherefore, said they, if we have found grace in thy sight,
let this land be given unto thy servants for possession, and bring us not over Jordan.
And the title of my sermon today is how to get your prayers answered,
how to get your prayers answered. I'd like to pray before we get going with the message properly.
Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the many examples you give us in the Bible of
things such as this, such as this topic we're going to look at today, and getting our prayers
answered. Help me to just preach these truths from your word just clearly and accurately and
boldly today. Lord, help everyone to have attentive ears. Please just keep the distractions
to a minimum. Help everyone to just focus on what your word has to say. Fill me with your Spirit,
please, Lord, in Jesus' name, for all this. Amen.
How many times will a Christian say, Why aren't my prayers being answered?
It happens a lot, doesn't it? And in fact, how many times sadly will a non-Christian say that?
A lot of non-Christians will say, Why aren't my prayers being answered? Why did this happen?
Why did that happen? Prayer is such a blessing, isn't it? Such an amazing tool. But how many
people forsake it for one reason or another? And I think there's an old saying in Christianity that
probably if there's one thing most people say they can improve, it would be their prayer life.
Yeah, their prayer life. And we're going to look at that a bit today. We're going to look at this
story in Numbers 32 to see what we can learn about getting our requests met by God. Here at
this point in Numbers, just to kind of give you an idea of where we're at, the children of Israel
are basically about to enter the Promised Land, okay? And they've just destroyed a load of the
wicked inhabitants on the east side of the Jordan River. And yeah, just a quick point on that. The
God of this nation, or the God of this world, sorry, and the God, you know, obviously where
the nation of Israel is their people, he will happily genocide whole nations, okay? In case
anyone's wondering and gets confused about this, yes, God will genocide whole nations. Turn to
Leviticus 18. And rather than complain about it, maybe those atheist types who seem to have a big
issue, by the way, with only the God of the Bible and who the God of the Bible is, they seem to have
more of an issue with that rather than the fact that he exists. Well, maybe they should take heed.
Maybe they should take heed as to who the God of the Bible really is, rather than constantly trying
to just call him names and go on about the fact that, yes, he will genocide whole nations. In
Leviticus 18, God gives us this long list of filthy sins, okay, including various different
types of incest, child sacrifice, they call it abortion nowadays, adultery, and then he ends
with possibly the worst, two very similar abominations. He says in verse 22 of Leviticus 18,
thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, it is abomination. Neither shalt thou lie with any
beast, that's an animal, to defile thyself therewith. Neither shall any woman stand before
a beast to lie down thereto, it is confusion. Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things,
for in all these, sorry, the nations are defiled which I cast out before you, and the land is
defiled, therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomitteth out her
inhabitants. The land was defiled because of these types of sins, and that doesn't say much
for the land that we live in, does it? Okay, think how many of these sins go on, in fact,
pretty much all of this goes on in our land, and that's probably, you know, a good indication our
land's defiled as well, isn't it? Okay, and God will happily wipe out whole nations, he used his
people, his nation, that godly nation to do that, to basically bring that judgment upon these wicked
nations who are partaking all these filthy sins. Well, go back to number 32 with that in mind,
because they've been bringing God's righteous judgment, and they're getting ready to cross
Jordan into the promised land, which meant more judgment upon the people of that land,
by the way. Two of the tribes, Reuben and Gad, they see that the land that they've just conquered
is a good place for their cattle, so they haven't now, they haven't crossed Jordan yet, they're on
the east side of Jordan at this point, they look at this land going, this is a good place for cattle,
this is a good place for us. Look at number 32 again in verse one with that in mind,
says, now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle,
and when they saw the land of Jezah and the land of Gilead, that behold the place was a place for
cattle, the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spake unto Moses and to Eleazar
the priest, and unto the princes of the congregation, saying, Atoroth and Debon and Jezah
and Nimra and Heshbon and Eleali and Sheba and Nebo and Beon, even a country which the Lord
smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle, and thy servants have cattle.
Wherefore said they, If we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants
for a possession, and bring us not over Jordan. So they're requesting that they stay and have
that land instead of going over Jordan, and the title is how to get your prayers answered,
and number one on that is become an Israelite, become an Israelite, you want to get your prayers
answered, become an Israelite, turn to Romans chapter 9, and I talk about putting on a silly
hat, growing your sideburns and blaspheming Jesus. No, because those people aren't Israelites,
they're what the Bible calls in Revelation 2 9 the synagogue of Satan, okay, in case anyone's
confused about that topic, no those people are the synagogue of Satan. Revelation 2 9 says,
I know thy works and tribulation and poverty but thou art rich, and I know the blasphemy of them
which say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. So there are people, there
were people out there 2,000 years ago, and I'll tell you there's a lot of people out there still
today that say they are Jews and are not, and according to the Bible are the synagogue of Satan,
that's not what I'm talking about. Now even 2,000 years ago there was such a thing as provable
physical seeds of Abraham, however Paul said in Romans 9, Romans 9 and verse 6, not as though the
word of God hath taken none effect, for they are not all Israel which are of Israel, neither because
they are the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called, that is they
which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, okay, those people that
are the physical seed are not the children of God, but the children of the promise accounted for the
seed. Now turn to Galatians 3, and while you turn I'm going to read Galatians 4 28 where Paul's
talking to a church of believers, he's talking to the church in Galatia and he said, now we,
we brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. How do you become a child of promise?
Well Galatians chapter 3 where you're turning verse 26 says this, Galatians 3 26 says for
ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. You become a spiritual Israelite, a child
of promise, a child of God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible's very clear about this,
okay, look there's a lot of people out there that don't want to admit this truth and they try all
sorts of sort of mental gymnastics, I've heard it called many times, to try and somehow get around
this truth. The Bible's clear as day, look at verse 27, for as many as you as have been baptized
into Christ but on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free,
there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ,
then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Right, go back to number 32 where
being God's people meant that they were able to make requests to God, albeit through Moses and,
and who does Moses picture? Well the eternal mediator, Jesus Christ, isn't it? And if you
want to have access to God through prayer you need to get saved, okay, you need to get saved.
I say that because how many people will you come across who complain that God just didn't give them
what they wanted? I don't know, anyone yesterday come across that? Maybe, no, I had one yesterday
who just basically, I've got issue with God because so and so happened, why did this happen,
why didn't what I wanted to have happen, basically why didn't my prayers get answered,
the guy's a Roman Catholic, he's not even saved, how dare he, how dare he, dare he try and say
that God should answer his prayers, he doesn't even believe in the God of the Bible, he believes
in a false God and, and that's, we get that all the time don't we, we get people all the time
who are saying well God did not, I don't, I don't even, I now choose to not believe God even exists
because he didn't answer my prayers, you're not even saved, you're not a spiritual Israelite,
so why on earth is God going to listen to your prayers and look you want to, you want God to
listen to your prayers, you need to make sure you're saved because what's it like, it's like
the neighbour's kids complaining to me that I didn't buy them an ice cream, that's what it is
isn't it, it's like well where's my ice cream, oh you're the neighbour's kids, in fact it's worse
because with, with God becoming one of his children is so easy, unlike the neighbour's kids
you can't just become my kid, you can become God's child if you choose to, Galatians 3 26 where you
were said for ye are all the children of God, how, by doing a hundred different things, by following
a load of commandments, no, by faith in Christ Jesus, all you've got to do is trust Jesus Christ
and God becomes your daddy, yeah, and then when God's your daddy you can pray to him and ask him
for things, but you've got to make him your daddy first, it's faith in Jesus Christ, what, death,
burial and resurrection, paying for all your past, present and future sins, but that's pretty simple
isn't it, all you've got to do is trust Jesus Christ, these people, they reject the sacrifice
of God's son, they reject God and then they have the nerve to complain when things don't go their
way, they have the nerve to go, well why did this happen in my life, why did that person die, why did
this, why didn't I get that, why did I have to go through this, what are you talking about, you didn't
even, you don't even want him, you're rejecting him, you've been rejecting him for 50 years and now
you're going to complain because you didn't get what you wanted when you asked for it, it's madness
isn't it, okay, but point number one, yeah, you need to make sure you're a child of God
and first, you don't have to turn there, 1 Timothy 2 5 says, for there is one God and one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus, he's a mediator, it's by Jesus Christ, that's the only way
you'll be getting your prayers even heard, now there's only one way of, you know, that
you're going to get access to God in prayer, okay, obviously that's through faith Jesus Christ, look at
number 32, it says here, now the, in verse one, now the children of Reuben and children of Gad had a
very great multitude of cattle and when they saw the land of Jaso and the land of Gilead that behold
the place was a place for cattle, the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and
spoke unto Moses and to Eleazar the priest and unto the princes of the congregation saying, now the
children of Reuben and Gad were Israelites, God's children, they were able to come to Moses the
mediator, the priest who was a high priest here and the princes and what do we come to, well
there's one man, one God that fulfills all of that, it's Jesus Christ the mediator, he's also the
high priest after the order of Melchizedek and he's a prince of life isn't he, okay, here we're seeing
representations of that now, Jesus Christ fulfills all of that and we come to him now don't we, we come
to him in prayer, the title is how to get your prayers answered, number one become an Israelite,
the children of Gad said, Atoroth and Debon and Jaso and Nimra, this is verse three now, and
Heshbon and Elielah and Shebaam and Nebo and Beon, even the country which the Lord smote before the
congregation of Israel is a land for cattle and thy servants have cattle, wherefore said they if
we have found grace in thy sight let this land be given unto thy servants for possession and bring
us not over Jordan, so we saw number one become an Israelite, number two humble yourself
you have to humble yourself, notice how the children of Gad and Reuben didn't get puffed up by
their recent victories, by the way if you when you're in through Numbers, the book of Numbers
they've just crushed a chapter before, they've just crushed a whole people, you know they've just wiped
them all out and here they're humble about it though aren't they, look at verse four again,
it said even the country which the Lord smote before the congregation of Israel is a land for
cattle and thy servants have cattle, how often can we be on the back of something amazing by God in
our lives, some answered prayer and then we try and take the credit ourselves, it happens so often
doesn't it, God comes through, God does something amazing for you and then within a week or two
you're going well the way I did this, well you know I really did get that and you start to
push God out of it and start take the credit yourself and we quickly explain or we just
explain away the last prayer don't we, we explain it you know maybe you know the we take the glory
from God in one way or another, we become ungrateful a lot of the time, so maybe you've
seen it, you've seen that prayer answered and then slowly you start to veer towards well that probably
just happened because of this, well I know he just did this amazing thing in my life but hey ho
that happens to loads of people anyway, you know and we often try and take the credit away from God
and suddenly you get people complaining that God's not there for them, how tough things are
etc but you know what's so useful in life I find is to just be more thankful, just constantly
be thankful, remind yourself to just always be thankful to God, I've said this before there's
an old preacher I used to listen to, it's just always stuck with me how he set a time of the day
every day his routine was at this time that prayer time was just to give thanks, was just gratitude,
wasn't asking requests, it wasn't trying to get this, get that, it was just thanks,
and if you focus on the things, if you focused on thanking God I think a lot of the time
it's going to humble you isn't it, if you focus on thanking God I think that you're going to
give him the credit a lot more than when you're just constantly, it's just me, me, me, I want this, I want
that yeah, giving thanks to God. Turn to Psalm 10, part of prayer is drawing close to God and that's
not happening if you take the credit for every act of God in your life is it, prayer is drawing
close to him, Psalm 10 verse 17, turn to Psalm 10 and verse 17 says this, Lord thou has heard the
desire of the humble, thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear. God listens to the
humble doesn't he, he helps him, he makes sure that he hears their prayer, if you want your prayers answered
humble yourselves in front of God and a good way of doing that like I said is to be regularly
thank him for all the blessings in your life, thank him, thank him, thank him and that's going to keep
you humble isn't it, if you're not regularly thanking him we start to slowly get puffed up, start
to take the credit ourselves, start to take it away from God. Now turn there first Timothy 6-8 says and
having food and raiment let us be there with content, so if we should be content with the minimum
in life everything else is a blessing isn't it, but how often do people instead of being content what
they have they're just looking over their shoulders at what everyone else has, they're constantly focusing
on what other people have and then they're no longer content and they're no longer grateful
and they're always thinking I should have more, I should have more, I should have more and ultimately
that's a prideful spirit isn't it, why do any of us deserve any more than food and raiment
and having food and raiment let us be there with content, everyone here that's saved you've already
got eternity in heaven so why do we deserve any more, we don't deserve any more okay, however
God does sometimes give us more and praise God when he does but we should be thanking him for
everything we do get, start thanking for everything else that you have instead of
enviously eyeing what everyone else has and so many people do that, they're just looking
always looking, always looking at what other people have, always focusing on other people
and not on what they've been given, which they don't deserve by the way yeah, what do we deserve,
anyone here thinks that they deserve a palace, they deserve whatever they have, none of us, at the
end of the day God, God what a blessing, God gives us anything, start thanking for it and you might be
a bit less envious of everyone else, go back to number 32 where not only were the tribes of
Reuben and Gad humble towards God but they were humble towards their spiritual leadership as well,
look at verse 4, number 32 in verse 4 says even the country which the Lord smote before the
congregation of Israel, so they're putting the credit, giving the credit to God there is a land
for cattle and thy servants have cattle, wherefore said they if we have found grace in thy sight
let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession and bring us not over Jordan,
so they didn't march up to Moses, Eleazar and the princes demanding it did they, trying to
lift themselves up in front of the leadership and believe me people do that weird stuff,
just in a couple of years of ministry you'd be amazed how people their whole exterior just
changes when they're in front of you, they're kind of trying to lift themselves up, trying to puff
themselves up, trying to prove their knowledge, prove how much Bible knowledge they have or
you know how much soul winning they do, how much Bible reading they do, I just,
you don't need to do that, you don't need to do that, I'm not really interested and people do that
and it's so weird yeah, it's really weird but here they're not trying to do that are they,
they're not trying to prove their holiness, not trying to prove how they should be where you are,
they should be behind the pulpit because you know I've been saved for three years,
read the Bible five times, yeah I'm the same as you, how dare you, how dare you
dare to preach to people, it's like just listen to the preaching, it's the word of God,
now get right, submit yourselves to your spiritual leadership yeah and that's what they do here,
they just say yeah if we have found grace in our sight let this land be given unto thy servants
for possession because in fact earlier in the book of Numbers we see the opposite don't we,
we see Korah, Dathan and Abiram doing exactly what I'm saying that people do in churches,
Numbers 16 3 if you want to turn there you can, I'm only going to read the one verse, Numbers
chapter 16 and verse 3 says this, this is the famous rebellion they said and they gathered
themselves together, Numbers 16 3 against Moses and against Aaron and said unto them ye take too
much upon you seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them and the Lord is among
them, wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord, so they're like,
they're just putting, people do this, they always put it on the leader, they're so full of it,
oh you know he's so puffed up preaching the Bible, how dare he, thinks he's perfect you know or you
know it's all about them isn't it, all about you because you're preaching from behind a pulpit,
Moses was the meekest man in the whole face of the earth, he's described as the meekest man in the
face of the earth, yet what are these people saying, you lift yourselves up, but ultimately
what is it, it's their pride, they can't deal with the fact that there's someone preaching to them,
they can't deal with the fact that someone's leading and it's not them,
and of course you know these were wicked rebel rousing reprobates, not a good look,
that were never going to be able to accept the leadership, so it didn't matter what happened,
they were never going to be able to accept it, they'll find their excuse, they'll find their
reasons why they're justified, but really they were never going to accept the leadership were
they, okay so God wants to see humility in all areas of our lives, turn to 1 Peter 5,
James 4 says this, well your turn to 1 Peter 5, James 4 says, but he giveth more grace,
wherefore he said God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble, okay so look,
God resists the proud, it's not good to be full of pride, in 1 Peter 5 Peter's commanding all of us
to be humble, look everyone should, so it wasn't oh well Moses in leadership so he doesn't have
to be humble, and the Azars in you know the priests he doesn't have to be humble, no we
should all be humble, okay we should all be humble, he said in verse 1, the elders which
are among you I exhort who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also
a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed, feed the flock of God which is among you taking
the oversight thereof, not by constraint but willingly, not for filthy lucre but of a ready
mind, neither as being lords over God's heritage but being ensembles to the flock, and there are
people that expect the opposite don't they, they want a guy just shout like you know talking down
at people, shouting at people away from the pulpit you know and everything else, that's not what God
calls, he doesn't call people to be lords over God's heritage but being ensembles to the flock,
but and when the chief shepherd shall appear you shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not
away, likewise ye younger submit yourselves unto the elder, yea all of you be subject one to another
and be clothed with humility, that should be something that we're recognised with, being
clothed with humility, for God resisteth the proud, he's telling us again he resists the proud
and giveth grace to the humble, cut out the pride and look it's not just reprobates that are proud
okay, look all of us have have can can easily get pride for him in different areas of life,
God doesn't want us to be like that, if you decide how dare that person treat me like this, well
sounds like pride to me doesn't it, who are you, and in many different ways people just get puffed
up, get proud, look God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble, humble yourselves
therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon
him for he careth for you, so he wants you to come to him in prayer but he will resist you if you're
proud won't he, he says here God resisteth the proud, he will resist you if you're proud, go back
to number 32, the title is how to get your prayers answered, number one become an Israelite, number
two humble yourself, and just last point on that because how many people they're almost angry and
well they just show their pride when they're like why am I not getting this, why am I not getting
that, why is God not giving me what I want, and it sounds like pride a lot of the time doesn't it,
me me me I should, I should get this, I deserve that, I deserve to have the rosy life, I deserve
to have all these areas in my life, well sounds like pride and I wonder because God resists the
proud yeah and giveth grace to the humble, we need to get humble don't we, verse six back in
number 32 says this and Moses said unto the children of Gan and to the children of Reuben
shall your brethren go to war and shall ye sit here, now Moses was meek yeah, he was the meekest
man on the face of the the whole earth however he still ripped face didn't he, here he ripped some
face and you could say this by the way, what he says here you could say to the majority of
God's children around the world couldn't you, shall your brethren go to war and shall ye sit
here because that is most believers in the world isn't it, every Sunday morning, every Sunday
evening, every midweek service, every week that soul winning goes on and instead they're sitting
at home with their feet up going why aren't you answering my prayers, it's madness, absolute
madness, he said shall your brethren go to war and shall ye sit here and that says goes to all
those Christians out there who have never even opened their mouth, have never even unsheathed
the sword, they're not going to war, every part-time Christian, every you know I sit at
home and watch sermons on YouTube Christian, every I just do naps, absolutely nothing for
God Christian, what on earth, what on earth, Moses isn't happy is he, he's actually he's
given them here but Reuben and Gad had already battled for the Lord by the way so they had
already crushed the Moabites, the Midianites, the Amorites, they'd done their bit hadn't they,
oh they've already gone to battle, was that all right, no it wasn't, the battle continues,
the battle continues your whole life, it continues every week and right now in this nation for me the
hottest place is in Wickford Essex, that's where the battle is, that's where we're going to war
for the Lord and it's Wednesday evening, Sunday morning, Sunday I've said this many times,
Christianity church isn't like backpack community club, it's not where you just go and sort of
you know and feel really good about yourselves and go home, a lot of the time you're battling,
a lot of the time you're at war in church, a lot of the time the battle is to either get to church,
a lot of the time it's a spiritual battle to be in church, to get to church, to deal with sometimes
a battle coming to you in a church, then going out and preaching the gospel to people and taking
the battle out across to the doors, across to the streets, to the highways and hedges,
it's a battle, it's a war and right now for me I don't see anywhere else where the war's as hot as
it is in Wickford, now I'm not to say that there aren't wars going on around the nation, I hope and
pray there are still some churches right with God that have the gospel right, I just don't really
know of any anymore, they just seem to all be off on it, however look, whether there are or aren't,
the battle's hot isn't it and if you're not in the battle here you should be in a battle somewhere,
you should be in the battle somewhere otherwise basically you're sitting here while your brethren
go to war and I don't think you're going to be getting your prayers answered if that's you,
do you know what, it's not just by the way that the numbers are lower when that happens,
it's not just while your brethren are going and you're not there joining in, those sitting at
home discourage others, now some people know this okay, they know this and they'll kind of
try and make a big show of that sometimes as well okay, because they want to discourage, they want
to discourage others but either way it does, verse 7 says and wherefore discourage ye the heart of
the children of Israel from going over into the Lamb which the Lord has given them, so he said
you're part-time Christianity discouraging others from going to battle, that's why those famous
verses from Hebrews 10, you can turn there if you want, those famous verses from Hebrews 10,
that's really what they're saying okay, it's not oh well people use it and just go look you need
to be at church because it says this but what are those verses really saying, well Hebrews chapter
10 and verse 24 says let us consider one another, it's talking about the effect on other people to
provoke unto love and to good works, it says not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as
a manner of summaries, yeah you should be in church but it's not just because he told us not
to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, it's because of what's the goal of it, the rest
of the verse says but exhorting one another, that's encouraging one another and so much the more
as you see the day approaching, that being in church, going to church, going soul winning,
being part of the army, going out and fighting for the Lord encourages the others as well and
when people start stopping, when they stop doing that and these people have been out to battle,
look they've been some great, you know in our terms, they could be some great soul winners,
they've been out there doing the things of God, they've been three to five, they've been getting
involved with everything, all the marathons, soul winning in the week but if those people,
when they slip, they're going to discourage the others, you could do it all but that's not oh well
I've done it now, I've encouraged some people because the opposite happens when you backslide
and if they'd stop going to war, they would discourage the rest of the camp, the rest of
the Israelites because it has the opposite effect when we forsake it, doesn't it? Verse 8 says,
Thus did your fathers, back to, sorry, back to Numbers 32, says, Thus did your fathers,
when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land, for when they went up into the valley of
Eshkol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel that they should
not go into the land which the Lord had given them and the Lord's anger was kindled the same
time and he swears, saying, Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt from twenty years
old and upward shall see the land which I swear unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, because
they have not wholly followed me, save Caleb the son of Jephthah the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son
of Nun, for they have wholly followed the Lord. And the Lord's anger was kindled against Israel
and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years until all the generation that had done evil
in the sight of the Lord was consumed. God isn't happy with these bitter demoralisation types,
is he? It's pretty clear, God's not happy, I mean, he punished a whole lot of them.
Verse 14 says, And behold ye are risen up in your father's stead, an increase of sinful men
to augment yet the fierce anger of the Lord toward Israel, for if ye turn away from after him he will
yet again leave them in the wilderness and ye shall destroy all this people, all the people,
not just about them, not just those two tribes, the whole lot. There's a collective responsibility,
isn't there? Like it or not, Christianity is a team game. Now, you might not like that,
you might be out for yourself, but there's no I in team, okay? It's a team game. And again,
so many people, it's like, what can I get out of this verse today? What can I, and yeah, look,
we want to build ourselves, we want to grow, we want to grow as Christians, but we can't forget
that Christianity is a team game. The Bible's written really in so many of those letters in the
New Testament. Who are they written to? Churches. Churches, they're written to a collective.
And that's why when you're out of church, you're not in church, half the Bible doesn't even apply.
When you're not a solid part of a church, part of the team, half it's not even applying to you.
Because the whole point is that we're a team, we're a group, we're going out and doing great
things. It can be small in number. God does many great things with those small in number,
doesn't he? And we go out and we do the work of God as a team. And when we're demoralizing
others, when we're shirking our responsibility, it has an effect on the whole team.
He said here, and it says here in verse 16, they came near unto him and said,
we will build sheepfolds here for our cattle and cities for our little ones,
but we ourselves will go ready armed before the children of Israel until we have brought them
unto their place and our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities because of the inhabitants
of the land. So how to get your prayers answered? We're going to look at number three here,
which is seek God's will. Seek God's will. Moses has just preached fire at them, hasn't he here?
I mean, that was some fiery preaching. He said, God wants you fighting with your brethren,
didn't he? And did they sulk or refuse to listen? Try to find an out of context verse to discredit
his message. Well, God did say to love your wives, so they don't want us to go or something.
Did they try and find a way out of it? No, they said, let's make sure that our request is according
to God's will, didn't they? In fact, they were willing to basically, the picture is really for
me, they were willing to change their prayer so that it was God's will. So they kind of,
it's almost like they kind of went with the first request. That clearly wasn't God's will. The word
of God said it wasn't, the preacher said it wasn't, and they didn't go, oh, well, I'm not
fussed, that's what I want, that's it. No, they were, okay, I'm going to change my prayer. I'm
going to change my request now. We're going to slightly change the terms. Yeah, we're going to
go and seek God's will. Look at verse 16 and 17 again, and they came near unto him and said,
we will build sheepfolds here for our cattle and cities for our little ones, but we ourselves will
go ready armed before the children of Israel until we have brought them unto their place,
and our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities because of the inhabitants of the land.
And that can be hard for many, can't it? You have an idea of how you think you should do things,
the preacher preaches the word of God, which clearly says, no, that's wrong,
your goal, your wants, your desires, your prayers in life are wrong, you've got them wrong. Maybe
you read the word of God and you clearly see God reproving you, and many people aren't strong
enough to say, nevertheless, not my will but line be done. That takes the strength, that takes the
humility as well, to say, yeah, look, I wanted that, my goal was this, the word of God says
otherwise, not my will but line be done. And you know what, altering your prayer according to God's
will is, well, it's the only way you're really going to get your prayers answered. Turn to 1 John
5, because many have this false image of prayer, that it's to give you anything that your wicked
heart desires. Well, people think that, don't they? It's like the sort of genie in the lamp,
God, you just kind of rub it and ask for something and, hey presto, you're going to get it, yeah?
Well, James 4-3, well, you'll turn to 1 John 5, James 4 and verse 3 says,
ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
So many people ask for things that are really just to consume upon their lusts.
If you're asking for things that aren't God's will, you're not going to get them. And thankfully,
we don't have the lazy parent God that just gives us anything we want to shut us up,
because we could, couldn't we? And many parents sadly are like that, but we don't have that as
a father. The father that shoves us in front of the TV or the iPad with a bag of sweets,
because it keeps us quiet, or they kind of get on with, you know, whatever they want to do.
Well, we don't have that. We don't have that father that gives a teenager 20 quid to go out
with his worldly mates and then wonders why he's in a pool of vomit the next morning, you know?
We don't have that sort of father, do we? Or sadly, a lot worse than that.
1 John 5 says this in verse 14, 1 John 5 says,
And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask,
did he say some things? No, anything according to his will, he heareth us.
If you ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. And if we know that he hear us,
whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
So you can be confident when you're asking things according to his will. He's going to hear your
prayer. And depending on the other points that we're looking at here, he's going to answer it as
well. Turn to John chapter 15. Because I know about you, I'm pleased that God who sees the
beginning from the end doesn't let me decide what's best. I hope you guys think that as well.
Some people just say, I just want what I want. Well, I'm glad that God kind of overrules that,
because otherwise I'm going to have a lot of things that aren't best for me.
God knows better. How do we know what his will is, though? Well, John 15 shows us how we can
be confident that we're asking his will. He said in John 15 and verse 7, John 15 and verse 7,
if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto
you. Wait a second, I thought it was what he wills. Well, yeah, but if he abides, if you abide in him
and his words abide in you, you are going to be asking his will. So when Jesus Christ is centering
our lives, when his word abides in us, we read them, we memorize them, we hear them, we live them,
then what you ask will be his will, won't it? You're going to be less likely to be asking
things that aren't his will. You'll stop asking for the Ferrari and ask for world peace. No,
I'm kidding. We had that at the elderly home the other week. Any prayer requests? World peace.
God came to bring division. Jesus Christ brought a sword. I don't know if that will. Well,
he did want peace between God and men, but unfortunately that's not going to be the world
over, is it? But you'll be asking for things, hopefully, things that are more his will than,
you know, than what are your will. And let's be honest, you get that Ferrari, you're probably
going to crash and die, okay? I know I probably would. But Psalm 37, 4, you don't have to turn
there, it says, delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Hey, look, you're delighting yourself in God, then what are the desires of your heart going to be?
They're going to be the right desires, aren't they? They're going to be the things that God
wants you to have if you're delighting in him. Go back to number 32. Abiding in him and in his word
and his word, sorry, abiding in you, leads on to the final point, okay? So the title is How
to Get Your Prayers Answered. Number one is Become an Israelite. Number two is Humble Yourself.
Number three is Seek God's Will. And let's just have a look at a few verses from verse 18 and
we'll look at number four. Verse 18 says, We will not return unto our houses until the children of
Israel have inherited every man his inheritance. For we will not inherit with them on yonder side
Jordan or forward because our inheritance is fallen to us on this side Jordan eastward.
Moses said unto them, If ye will do this thing, if ye will go armed before the Lord to war,
and will go all of you armed over Jordan before the Lord until he hath driven out his enemies from
before him, and the land be subdued before the Lord, then afterward ye shall return and be
guiltless before the Lord and before Israel, and this land shall be your possession before the
Lord. But if ye will not do so, behold ye have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin
will find you out. The title is How to Get Your Prayers Answered. Number four, Get Right With God.
Get Right With God. Moses said to them, If ye will go armed before the Lord to war,
then you'll be guiltless and your request shall be answered. Look, if you want to get your prayers
answered, then you better make sure that you're right with God, okay? The Bible's clear about
that. You need to be right with God. Moses said in verse six, Shall your brethren go to war,
and shall ye sit here? And you've got Christians out there literally doing nothing for God at all,
avoiding church, avoiding soul winning, and then they're complaining that their prayers
aren't being answered. And you hear all the time, you see these people around,
oh, he's just answering my prayers. It's like, well, where have you been for the last have-along?
Where are you? You're some guy online who doesn't even go to church or something. Oh,
God never answered my prayers or something else. Turn to Psalm 66. And it's not just the obvious
things. And there are obvious things in life, church attendance, soul winning, prayer, Bible
reading, Bible study, tithing, all these things which God clearly commands. But you've got
Christians disobeying other clear commands of God as well, willfully disobeying God and then
wondering why. Why am I not getting that new job? I just don't understand why I'm not just getting
that new job or that solution to all your struggles. Why am I not getting that perfect
spouse, that break in life, that new home that I've been wanting for years? But you've got clear
commands that you know for well that you can easily do. I'm not talking about impulsive sin.
I'm talking about presumptuous sin. When you know what the word of God says, you've heard it
preached, you've read it, you've seen it, you know what God wants you to do and you go, nope, not
doing it. Nope, not doing it. But please give me this. What's that about? Look, we're all sinners,
we're all going to sin, OK? However, when you're just brazenly choosing to sin, choosing to do
things opposite to how God is telling you to do them, why do you expect him to give you all
your wants and all your needs and all your desires and everything that you fancy in life?
Isaiah 59 2 says, but your iniquities, your turn to Psalm 66, don't worry, I'll just read this,
but your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his
face from you that he will not hear. He will not hear. Your iniquities, your sins hide his face
from you. And like I said, there's a difference when it's presumptuous sin, when it's wilful
disregard for the word of God, I'm doing it my way, I don't care. And when you're openly saying,
I know it's sinful, but I don't care, I'm doing it anyway. Look at Psalm 66. He's not going to hear
you. It says, verse 17, Psalm 66 verse 17 says, I cried unto him with my mouth and he was extolled
with my tongue. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. But verily God has heard
me, he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, which has not turned away my
prayer nor his mercy from me. If you want your prayers answered, get right with God. Make sure
you're not hiding from the battle. Be in church, obviously. Get soul winning. Read his word.
You want him to listen to you, then maybe you listen to him as well. Like, get in his word.
Oh, why aren't you hearing my prayers? I haven't even picked up the Bible for a week.
Why are you not answering my prayers? I haven't even bothered listening to any preaching for the
last month. I just, oh, I give up. He's like, it's madness, isn't it? Yeah, there are so many
people out there like that. But get the sin out of your life as well. Turn to 1 John 1,
because what if you're finding that hard? Because there are those where there are sins that are just
weighing you down. You're not getting that victory over there. You're like, well, I'm in a bit of a
vicious circle here because I feel like I can't pray to God because I've got all this sin and
people do, they just feel the more they're in sin. We've looked at this in, for example, Genesis
and chapter 3, the first sin, and they're hiding from God, aren't they? And people do that. They
sin and they hide from God. And then they're not praying. Then they're not reading the Bible and
they're in this sort of vicious circle. So what do you do? Maybe you're finding it hard. There are
these sins that you just keep finding yourself getting back into. It's not just presumptuous
will for sin. It's just impulsive sins that you just keep end up doing. You don't want to,
but you keep doing them. What do you do? Well, bring them to God. 1 John 1 and verse 9 says,
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. And I'll tell you what, that's a good way to start your prayers, isn't it?
He's faithful and just to forgive them, but He wants you to acknowledge them.
So He wants you to acknowledge your sin. It's no good, oh, well, you know, I've sinned, but
hey ho, Lord be right. He wants you to bring them to Him. And because the more you're then focusing
on coming and asking for forgiveness for sins, then the more you're showing that want, that
desire to not sin, aren't you? If you're just kind of, yeah, whatever, whatever. Oh, He's answering my
prayers now. But what can I do? I'm a sinner anyway. No, confess them. Confess them, bring them to Him.
Look, we're all going to sin, but bring them to God. Yeah, if we confess our sins, He is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He wants you to be
righteous. He wants to help you, but He wants you to bring it to Him. He wants you to have that will
to want to not sin. Go back to number 32. Bring them to Him. Once you bring, you start a prayer
like that, then continue with your prayer. You start a prayer like that. You're ticking other
boxes. You're bringing your sins to God. You're humble. You're obviously saved. You're humble.
You're seeking His will in your prayer, not just as a little kind of little add-on at the end,
God's will be done. No, but actually, look, I want your will. I want you to show me. I want to do what
you want me to do. I want this, you know, I want things that you want me to have, etc, etc. Pray to
God in His will, but start that prayer with confessing your sins and straight away you
should be removing that block, shouldn't you? Because He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And He will hear your prayer. Go back to number 32
where verse 20 says, And Moses said unto them, If ye will do this thing, if ye will go on before
the Lord to war, and will go out of you armed over Jordan before the Lord until ye have driven
out his enemies from before him, and a land be subdued before the Lord, then afterward ye shall
return and be guiltless before the Lord and before Israel, and this land shall be your possession
before the Lord. But if ye will not do so, behold ye have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your
sin will find you out. Be sure your sin will find you out. Those little things that, you know, behind
closed doors, where no one's watching, that you're in private, you think you'll get away with that.
Look, your sin will find you out. Your sin's going to create a block between you and God. Your sin
eventually, if you continue in that, will become manifest, okay? Your sin will find you out. Cut it
out. Bring it to God. You need to have a humble, contrite heart coming to God and saying, look,
I want help with this. I want to get right. I want to be right with you. That should be our
desire. We're all going to sin. We're all going to sin, okay? Look, there's no one here that's sinless.
However, what's our mentality with that? And he wants you to, he wants you to bring it to him.
He said here, build your cities for your, and by the way, this is still about obvious stuff. This
is, I've said I'm going to go to battle for you, I said I'm going to serve you, I'm going to go to
war for you, and now I'm not going to bother doing it, okay? Build your cities for your little ones
and folds for your sheep, and do that which has proceeded out of your mouth. And the children of
Gad and the children of Reuben spake unto Moses saying, thy servants will do as my Lord commanded.
They've got the right mentality, haven't they? They're saying, look, God tells us to do this,
we're going to do it. Okay, well, God's told us to do this, I'll do what I can. God knows my
situation. God knows, you know, that I'm imperfect. I'll just do them, that what I think I can do.
Look, your heart is deceitful above all things, yeah? You'll convince yourself you can't do any
of what God wants you to do, okay? They just said, we're going to do as my Lord commanded. And that's
a nice mentality, isn't it? Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our cattle shall be
there in the cities of Gilead, but thy servants will pass over, every man armed for war, before
the Lord to battle, as my Lord saith. And by the way, our Lord saith to all of us to go to battle.
Okay, he wants every one of his children to go to battle. What was the result? So concerning them,
Moses commanded Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the chief fathers of the
tribes of the children of Israel. And Moses said unto them, if the children of Gad and the children
of Reuben will pass with you over Jordan, every man armed to battle before the Lord, and the land
shall be subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession.
So it was down to them, get right with God and they get their desire, wasn't it? It came back
to them really, it was like, right, what are you going to do? You do as you said, you get right
with God, you follow the clear commands, he's told you to go out and go to battle, go to war,
do these things, then you're going to get what you want. And I'll tell you what, that's a good
lesson for us in prayer, isn't it? Yeah, you've got some desires, you've got some requests,
you've got some things that you think are God's will for you, that you think that God's happy for
you to have and happy for you to do, well how about you fulfill your side of things? You go,
I'm going to do this, I'm going to live for you, I'm going to serve you, I'm going to go to battle
for you, I'm going to turn up at church, serve you, and God's going to give you what you want,
God's going to give you a desire, he gave them their desire. If not, then they won't,
because it said in verse 30, but if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have
possessions among you in the land of Canaan. He said, if not, then no, they're going to carry on
with you. And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying, as the Lord has said
unto thy servants, so will we do, we will pass over armed before the Lord into the land of Canaan,
that the possession of our inheritance on this side Jordan may be ours. And Moses gave unto them,
even to the children of Gad, to the children of Reuben, and unto half the tribe of Manasseh,
the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og,
king of Bashan, the land with the cities thereof in the coast, even the cities of the country
round about. So the title is how to get your prayers answered. Number one, become an Israelite.
Number two, humble yourself. Number three, seek God's will. Number four, get right with God.
Now turn over to 2nd Chronicles 17, which now, like, now when we look at this first,
it summarises it all in a nutshell. 2nd Chronicles 17. Solomon's just in chapter 7,
sorry, 7, not 17, 2nd Chronicles 7. He's just finished building the temple.
And then God says this, 2nd Chronicles 7 and verse 12.
It says, and the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer
and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice.
This is verse 13 now. If I shut up heaven, that there be no rain,
or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people.
So this is specifically in response to chastisement to tribulation, okay.
If my people, and often we're praying in response to chastisement, tribulation,
even just the trials of life, he said, if my people, which are called by my name,
shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,
then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
So look at our four points there again. He said, if my people, which are called by my name,
point number one was what, become an Israelite, get saved, shall humble themselves.
Point number two, humble yourself. He said and pray and seek my face.
Point number three was seek God's will and turn from their wicked ways.
Point number four was get right with God. What was the result?
Then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
The Bible's amazing, isn't it? You can get four points out of a story in Numbers chapter 32
and then see all four points in a verse in 2 Chronicles 7 showing us how God will hear from
heaven, forgive our sin, heal our land. And for us, look, obviously that's the result.
That's a prayer in asking for a response to trials, tribulations, chastisement,
et cetera. But it's all the same, isn't it? God wants us humble. First he wants us saved.
First he wants you saved. And if you're not saved, come and talk to me after the service.
I'd love to show you how to get saved. You want to become an Israelite. It's the easiest thing
to do. You've just got to trust Jesus Christ. Humble yourself. God wants you humble. Seek God's
will. He wants you praying for his will in your life. He wants you to get aligned with his will.
Prayer is aligning with what God wants in life. And number four, he wants you to get right with
him though. Get right with God. And it's said here, if my people which are called by my name
shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,
then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
And that's a great, that's a great verse of the Bible there. And that kind of summarizes
the whole sermon. Maybe I should have just read that verse and preached something else, but
however, hopefully that will help you remember some of that. Because what's the goal really is
that really, what do we want? We want our prayers answered, don't we? We want our prayers answered.
We want them answered for the right reasons, don't we? We want our prayers to be the right
prayers as well. On that, we're going to pray. Father, thank you for the gift of prayer. Thank
you that you've given us an amazing thing, an amazing blessing that we're able to come to you,
we're able to come to the God of this world and request things and desire things. But Lord,
help us to do that in the right way. Help us to take heed to what your word says about how
we get those prayers answered, how we can expect to have our prayers answered, Lord. Obviously,
we need to believe as well that they're going to be answered, but Lord, there are four clear points
there that are essential to having our prayers answered by you. Help us to really dwell on that
as we go into this week, Lord. Think about that with our prayer life. Help us to be
grateful and just show gratitude to you for all the many things you do. Give us a life instead
of focusing on the things that we feel that we should have and don't have. Help us to just be
humble, Lord. Help us to seek your will in everything that we desire in every aspect of
our lives and help us to just want to be right with you, Lord. We're going to sin, we're going
to get things wrong, but help us to just have that right mentality. Help us to have our hearts right.
Help us to just constantly be seeking, just seeking to be right with you, Lord. Help us to
bring our sins to you, to confess them, knowing that you're going to forgive us, you're going to
cleanse us from all our righteousness and help us to then just keep serving you, to not let that
sin become a block between you and us and our walk with you, Lord. Help us to go out this afternoon,
get many people saved, Lord, in return for this evening's service. In Jesus' name I pray all this. Amen.