Pleading For Prayer
(No. 1887)
DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 21, 1886,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Now I beseech you, Brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for
the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your
prayers to God for me; that I may be delivered from those in Judea who
do not believe, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be
accepted of the saints; that I may come unto you with joy by the will
of God, and may, with you, be refreshed. Now the God of Peace be with
you all. Amen." Romans 15:30-33.
THE Apostle of the Gentiles held a very useful and glorious office, but
he had by no means a smooth path in life. When we read the account of
his sufferings, persecutions and labors, we wonder how a single
individual could have gone through them all. He was a true hero. Though
a Hebrew of the Hebrews, he stands in the very front of the whole
Gentile Church as its founder and teacher under God. And we owe to him
what we can never fully estimate. When we consider the struggles of his
life, we do not wonder that the Apostle was, sometimes, in great sorrow
of heart and heavily burdened in spirit. He was so at the time when he
wrote this Epistle to the Christian friends at Rome. It was a great
delight to him to have to go to Jerusalem–it was a place which was
much reverenced and loved by him. It was a greater privilege for him to
go and exchange salutations with his brother Apostles and it was the
most joyous privilege of all to be the bearer of a contribution from
the Gentiles to relieve the necessities of the saints at Jerusalem. He
rejoiced much more in that gift to Jewish Believers than if it had been
anything for himself.
But he was well aware that there were those in Judea who hated him with
deadly hatred and would seek his life. He had been the rising hope of
the Jewish party and he had become a Christian–therefore the bigoted
Jews regarded him as an apostate from the faith of their fathers. They
had, moreover, a special venom against him, since he was more bold than
any other Christian teacher in going among the Gentiles and shaking
off, altogether, the bonds of the Ceremonial Law. He also came out more
clearly than any other man upon the Doctrines of Grace and salvation by
the Cross of Christ– and this provoked the fiercest hostility. Paul
had also the apprehension that he would not be well received even by
the Brethren at Jerusalem. He knew what a strong conservative feeling
there was among the circumcision for the maintenance of the old Jewish
Law and how he was a marked man because he had shaken off entirely that
yolk of bondage. Thus he had fears as to foes and doubts about friends.
His case was peculiarly difficult.
What did Paul do when his spirit was greatly oppressed? He wrote to his
Brothers and Sisters to pray for him! He asked the good friends at Rome
that they would lift up their hearts earnestly and unitedly to God,
that he might be preserved from the double evil which threatened him.
In the last chapter of this Epistle we have the names of a great many
of those private individuals at Rome to whom the Apostle appealed. We
do not know any of them, except it is the Priscilla and Aquila, of whom
we have heard elsewhere. But this great man, this Inspired Apostle of
God who was not a whit behind the very chief of Christ's servants,
makes his appeal to these unknown and humble individuals, that they
would strive together with him in their prayers. I delight in this! It
shows the lowly spirit of the Apostle Paul and it reveals to us his
high value for the prayers of obscure men and women. He feels that he
needs what the prayers of these people can bring to him–he is sure
that without those prayers, he will be in danger of failure, but that
with them he will be strong for his great enterprise. He sees what
prayer can do and he would awaken it into powerful action.
Does it astonish you that a man so rich in Grace as Paul should be
asking prayers of these unknown saints? It need not astonish you, for
it is the rule with the truly great to think most highly of others. In
proportion as a man grows in
Grace, he feels his dependence upon God and, in a certain sense, his
dependence upon God's people. He decreases in his own esteem and his
Brothers and Sisters increase! A flourishing tradesman, a man who has a
large business is the man who needs others–he prospers by setting
others to labor on his behalf. The larger his trade, the more he is
dependent upon those around him. The Apostle was, so to speak, a great
master trader for the Lord Jesus. He did a great business for his Lord
and he felt that he could not carry it on unless he had the
co-operation of many helpers. He did not so much need what employers
harshly call, "hands," to work for him, but he did need hearts to plead
for him and he, therefore, sent all the way to Rome to seek such
assistance!
He wrote to those whom he had never seen and begged their prayers, as
if he pleaded for his life. The great Apostle entreats Tryphena and
Tryphosa, and Mary and Julia to pray for him. His great enterprise
needs their supplications! In a great battle the general's name is
mentioned, but what could he have done without the common soldiers?
Wellington will always be associated with Waterloo, but, after all, it
was a soldiers' battle! What could the commander have done if those in
the ranks had failed him? The commander-in-chief might very well have
touched his hat to the least subaltern or to the humblest private and
have said, "I thank you, Comrade. Without you, we could not have
conquered." The chief troubles of the great day of Waterloo arose from
certain very doubtful allies who wavered in the hour of battle–those
were the general's weakness–but his hope and strength lay in those
regiments which were as an iron wall against the enemy. Even thus, the
faithful are our joy and crown, but the unstable are our sorrow and
weakness.
Every ministering servant of the Lord Jesus Christ is in much the same
condition as Paul. True, we are of a lower grade and our work is on a
smaller scale, but our needs are just as great. We have not all the
Grace which Paul possessed and, for that very reason, we make the more
pathetic an appeal to you, our friends and fellow helpers, while we use
the Apostle's language, and cry, "We beseech you, Brethren, for the
Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that you
strive together with us in your prayers to God for us."
I shall call your attention to this text with the longing in my own
heart that I, myself, may more abundantly live in your prayers. I have
to rejoice in the prayers of thousands of holy men and women who love
me in the Lord. I am deeply grateful for the affectionate supplications
of multitudes whom I have not seen in the flesh, to whom the printed
sermons go week by week. I am a debtor, not only to the beloved people
around me, but to a larger company all over the world. These are my
comfort, my riches, my strength. To such I speak at this time. Beloved,
I need your prayers more than ever! I am more and more conscious of
their value–do not restrain them! Just now there is, to me, a special
need of Grace on many accounts, and I hope that some of those who have
long borne me up will give me a special portion of aid at this hour. I
am not worthy to use the same language as the Apostle Paul, but I know
no better, and my necessity is even greater than his–therefore I
borrow his words, and say, "Brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake,
and for the love of the Spirit, strive together with me in your prayers
to God for me."
In our text there are two things–prayer asked and a blessing
given–"Now the God of Peace be with you all. Amen."
I. First, here is PRAYER ASKED FOR.
We will look at the Apostle's request for prayer in general and then,
afterwards, we will look to the details which are mentioned in the 31st
verse.
First, here is a request to the people of God for prayer in general. He
asks it for himself–"That you strive together with me in your prayers
to God for me." He knew his own weakness. He knew the difficulty of the
work to which he had been called. He knew that if he failed in his
enterprise, it would be a sad failure, injurious through coming ages to
the entire Church. He cried, "Agonize for me," because he felt that
much depended upon him. It is like a man who is willing to lead the
forlorn hope, but he says to his comrades, "You will support me." It is
like one who is willing to go into a far country, bearing his life in
his hands, but he plaintively exclaims, "You won't forget me, will you?
Though you stay at home, will you think of me?" It reminds us of Carey,
who says, when he goes to India, "I will go down into the pit, but
Brother Fuller and the rest of you must hold the rope." Can we refuse
the request? Would it not be treachery?
It is not according to the heart of true yoke-fellows. It is not
according to the instincts of our common humanity that we should desert
any man whom we set in the front of the battle! If we choose a man to
be our representative in the service of our God, we must not desert
him! A man cannot be charged with egotism if he begs for personal
support when he is engaged in labors for others and is not seeking
success for himself but the success of the great cause! Under heavy
respon-
sibilities he does well to enlist the sympathies and prayers of those
whom he is serving–and he has a right to have them! Beloved friends,
if you are with me in the great battle for God and His Truth–and if
you count me worthy to bear the brunt of this war, I beseech you, for
Christ's sake, support me by your importunate wrestling at the Throne
of Grace. Pray for all ministers and workers, but pray, also, for me! I
am, of all men, the most miserable if you deny me this!
Observe in what relationship he regards them when he puts the request.
"Now," he says, "I beseech you, Brethren." "I beseech you." It is the
strongest word of entreaty he can find. It is as if he said, "I go down
on my knees to you and implore you. I ask it of you as the greatest
favor you can do me. I ask it of you as the dearest token of your love,
that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me." He
does not call them companions, or fellow workers, or friends. He
addresses them as Brothers and Sisters. "You are my Brethren," he says,
"I feel a love to you, you Romans, converted to God. I have a longing
in my heart to see you and though I have not so much as spoken with
you, face to face, yet we are Brethren. The life that is in you beats
also in my heart. We are born again of the same Father, we are
quickened by the same Spirit, we are redeemed by the same
Savior–therefore, spiritually–we are Brethren. Shall not Brethren
pray for one another?"
He seems to say, "If you are Brethren, show this token of your
brotherhood. You cannot go up with me to Jerusalem and share my danger,
but you can be with me in spirit–and, by your prayers, surround me
with Divine protection. I do not ask you to come, you Romans, with your
swords and shields, and make a bodyguard about me, but I do beg of you,
my true Brothers and Sisters, if you are, indeed so, to agonize
together with me in your prayers to God for me." If there remains in
the Christian Church any brotherhood whatever, every leader of the
host, every preacher of the Gospel, every pastor of a Church should
receive the proof of that brotherhood in the shape of daily
intercession! Every sent servant of God beseeches his Brethren that
they strive together with him in prayer to God for him–and I am not a
whit behind any of them in the urgency of my request to the many who
have, until now, proved themselves my Brethren! I know your love has
not grown cold to me. I have abundant evidence of that. O my Brothers
and Sisters, act as Brothers and Sisters to me, now, and beseech the
Lord to bless me!
But observe what kind of prayer he asks for–"That you strive
together"–that you "agonize"–that is the word. You have before you,
in this expression, a reminder of that great agony in Gethsemane, and I
should think the Apostle had that picture before his eyes. In the
Garden, our Lord not only prayed as was His habit, but with strong
crying and tears He made His appeal to God. "Being in an agony He
prayed more earnestly." He wrestled till He "sweat, as it were, great
drops of blood falling down to the ground," but none agonized together
with Him! That was one of the deepest shades of the picture, that He
must tread the winepress alone and, of the people there, must none be
with Him. Yet did our Lord seem to ask for sympathy and help–
"Backward and forward thrice He ran, As if He sought some help from
man," but He found none even to watch with Him one hour, much less to
agonize with Him! The Apostle felt that an agony alone, was too bitter
for him and he, therefore, piteously cries, "I beseech you, Brethren,
that you agonize with me in prayer to God for me."
Now, as the disciples ought to have sympathized with the Savior and
entered into His direful grief, but did not, even so it may happen to
us. But, Brothers and Sisters, I trust that the unfaithfulness to the
Master will not be repeated upon His servants. It remains to all that
are true Brethren in Christ, that when they see a man in agony of heart
for Christ's sake and for souls' sake, they should bow the knee side by
side with him and be true Brethren to him. When his labors become
intense; when his difficulties are multiplied; when his heart begins to
sink and his strength is failing him–then the man must wrestle with
his God–and then his Brethren must wrestle at his side! When the
uplifted hands of Moses are known to bring a blessing, Aaron and Hur
must hold them up when they are seen to grow weary! When Jacob is
struggling at Jabbok and we see him there, we must turn in and help him
to detain the Angel of the Covenant. If one man can hold Him fast by
saying, "I will not let You go unless You bless me," surely a score of
you can make a cordon round about Him and speedily win the blessing!
What may not a hundred do? Let us try the power of agonizing prayer! Do
we know, as yet, what it means? Let us rise as one man and cry, "O
Angel, whose hands are full of benedictions, we will not let You go,
except You give us Your own blessing–the blessing of Your Covenant!"
If two of you are agreed as touching anything concerning the Kingdom,
you shall be heard. But what if hundreds and thousands of the faithful
are of one mind and one mouth in this matter? Will you not at once cry
unto God, "Bless Your servants! Establish the work of our hands upon
us! Yes, the work of our hands, establish it!"? You see, it is earnest
prayer which Paul asks for, not the prayer which foams itself away in
words, but prayer with force, with energy, with humble boldness, with
intensity of desire, with awful earnestness–prayer which, like a deep,
hidden torrent, cuts a channel even through a rock! His request was,
"that you wrestle with me in your prayers to God for me." And this is
our request this day.
He does not, however, wish for a single moment to exclude himself from
the prayer, for he says, "that you agonize with me." He is to be the
first to agonize. This should be the position of every minister. We
ought to be examples of wrestling prayer. How I wish that you could
realize more fully the work allotted to the Apostles when they said
that it was not reasonable that they should leave the Word of God to
serve tables! There was a difference about the distribution of the alms
among the widows and the 12 declared that they could not attend to such
a matter, for, they said, "We will give ourselves continually to prayer
and to the ministry of the Word." This would be Heaven to me! But
notice that at least half, and the first half of their work lay in
prayer! Oh, if that could be our portion! If we could but have full
space for prayer and meditation and were set free from the petty
secularities and differences incident to Church life! Oh that we could
have more to do with Him from whose right hand the supreme blessing
comes–that were a joy indeed! But even if the Apostle could thus,
himself, agonize, he did not feel satisfied, for he beseeches others to
wrestle with him in prayer to God. He sought communion in supplication!
Even thus would I beseech you, Brothers and Sisters, to come with me
into the inner chamber! Come with me into the Holy of Holies! Let us,
together, approach the Mercy Seat! Lend me the help of all the
spiritual force you have, that we may, together, agonize in prayer to
God so that the blessing may descend upon the enterprises now in my
hands! You see the sort of prayer which is needed, even the effectual
fervent prayer of righteous men–and may the Holy Spirit brace up our
spirits that we may be able to join in such agonizing in this time of
need.
This verse is one of the most intense I ever remember to have read,
even in so intense a book as this Holy Scripture. Observe the fervency
of the pleading–"Now I beseech you, Brethren, for the Lord Jesus
Christ's sake." What an argument! That name is full of power with true
hearts. You owe Him everything–you owe Him your souls! You owe Him
every hope for the future, every comfort in the present and every happy
memory of the past! Your life would have been worse than death apart
from Him. His love to you constrains you because you thus judge that
when one died for all, all died, and that you so died that from now on
you should not live unto yourselves but unto Him. Now, he says, as you
cannot repay the Lord Jesus Christ personally, repay it to His servant
by your prayers! Join him in his agony in remembrance of that greater
agony in which none could join, by which you were redeemed from death
and Hell! If there is any love to Christ in a Christian's heart, he
must pray that the Holy Spirit would bless the ministry of the Word!
Surely your hearts must be turned to stone if you do not plead for a
blessing upon that ministry by which you, yourselves, have been brought
to Christ! If I have been a spiritual father to any of you, you will
not fail to pray for me, will you? As you love that Savior whom I
preach, I beseech you, for the sake of Jesus Christ, that you strive
together with me in your prayers to God for me!
But he adds to that, another argument–"for the love of the Spirit." If
the Spirit of God has, indeed, loved you and proved it by quickening
and sanctifying you, then pray for His ministers! If the Spirit of God
has created a love in you which is stronger than mere natural
affection–a love which does not arise out of any fleshly relationship,
or any mere association, or any casual partiality, but a love which the
Holy Spirit, Himself, creates and fosters in your heart–then pray for
me! If there is such love in you, not natural and temporary, but
spiritual and, therefore, everlasting, then pray for the Lord's
servant! If there is in you a love which may exist, no, will exist in
Heaven, itself–if there is such a love in you, then, says the Apostle,
I beseech you, pray for me!
Brothers and Sisters, I say the same. Unless our profession is a lie,
we love each other and we must, therefore, show that love by our
prayers for one another. Especially if any of you have been brought to
the Lord Jesus Christ by the ministry of any man whom God favors with
His help–then that man must live forever in your hearts and be
remembered in your prayers! You cannot escape from the obligation of
intercession for the man who brought you to Jesus! As long as you live
and as long as he remains faithful, you must bear him on your heart in
supplication. It must be so–the love of the Spirit has knit us to one
another and none can put us asunder! Ours is no feigned unity, but
deep, true and real! In Christ Jesus, my Brothers and Sisters, there
has been begotten in our hearts an affection for one another which
death,
itself, shall not destroy! We will not be separated! Then, by the love
of the Spirit, I beseech you that you agonize together with me in your
prayers to God for me! Every word pleads with tears–there is not a
wasted letter in the whole verse!
Why do you think the Apostle, at that special time, asked these
Brethren to pray for him so? Was it not because he believed in the
Providence of God? He was going up to Jerusalem and the Jews would seek
to slay him. They hunted him in every place and now he was going into
the lion's den–but he believed that God, in Providence, could overrule
all things, so that he should not suffer injury at the hands of
blood-thirsty zealots, but should be delivered out of their malicious
power. We, also, believe in God that works all things! Therefore, let
us pray that all opposition to His Gospel may be overcome.
He believed, also, in the influence that God can have upon men's
hearts, especially upon the hearts of His own people. He was afraid
that the Jewish Believers would be very cold to him and, therefore, he
prays God that His Holy Spirit may warm their hearts and make them full
of love, so that the offerings he took to them from the Grecian
Churches might be accepted and might foster a sense of hearty
fellowship in the hearts of the Hebrew saints towards their Gentile
Brethren. Do you not, also, believe that the hearts of all men are in
the hands of the Lord? Do you not believe in the supremacy of the will
of God over the free will of man? Do you not rejoice that there is not
only a Providence that shapes our ends, but a secret influence which
molds men's hearts? Therefore it is that we urge you to plead with God
that we, also, may have acceptance with His people. We desire to render
them much service and to enjoy their loving regard. It is painful to us
to differ with any–but joyous to be in communion with all parts of the
Church of our Lord Jesus Christ.
What is more than this, the Apostle believed in the power of the
prayers of simple people so to move the mind of God that He would exert
His hand in Providence and His influence over the hearts of men. Never
let us imagine that the doctrine of the fixity of events, or the
supremacy of law, as the philosophers call it, is at all contrary to
the Truth of God that prayer is effectual for its own ends and
purposes. In olden times a warrior was going forth to battle for his
country and a certain preacher of the Word said to him, "My prayer is
made continually for you that you may be victorious." The warrior, in
his philosophic doubt, replied that he saw no use in the promised
prayers, for if God had determined to give him victory, he would have
it without prayer–and if fate had decreed that he should be defeated,
prayers could not prevent it. To which the godly man very properly
replied, "Then take off your helmet and your coat of mail and hang up
your sword and buckler. Go not forth to battle at all with your
men-at-arms, for, indeed, if the Lord is to conquer your enemies, He
can do it without your weapons! And if He will not prosper you, it is
in vain for you to mount your war horse."
The argument, when carried out, answers itself–there is, in truth, no
force in it! The net result of such reasoning would be absolute
inaction! Common sense shows us how absurd it is! All means are to be
used, notwithstanding the eternal purpose of God, for that purpose
includes means and their uses. We declare that among the most potent
means in all the world is prayer–and this must not be neglected! There
are certain ascertained forces and among those forces, always to be
reckoned with and relied upon, is the force of the cry of God's dear
children to their great Father in Heaven! In other words, the power of
prayer! In prayer we present the Sacrifice of God's own Son to God's
own Self and prevail by its means. O Brothers and Sisters, we ask your
prayers without doubt or question! We know and are persuaded that they
will avail much! By your power in prayer, God's power will be set in
motion and by that force all will be accomplished which shall be for
His Glory and for our good!
I hope you have been interested so far. May God grant you may have been
influenced by these remarks and excited to incessant intercession!
In our text there is, in the next place, a statement of the Apostle's
desires in detail. When we pray, we should make a point of praying for
something distinctly. There is a general kind of praying which fails
from need of precision. It is as if a regiment of soldiers should all
fire off their guns–possibly somebody would be killed–but the
majority of the enemy would be missed. I believe that at the battle of
Waterloo there were no arms of precision, they had only the old Brown
Bess and, though the battle was won, it has been said that it took as
much lead to kill a man as the weight of the man's body. This is a
figure of the comparative failure of indistinct, generalizing prayer!
If you pray just anyway, if it is with sincerity, a measure of blessing
results from it, but it will take a great deal of such praying to
accomplish much. But if you plead for certain mercies definitely and
distinctly, with firm, unstaggering faith, you shall richly succeed!
Our Apostle gives his friends three things to pray for. First, he would
have them ask that he might be delivered from them that did not believe
in Judea. He was delivered, not perhaps in the precise manner which he
hoped for, but he was,
to the letter, delivered from the unbelieving Jews. Certain zealots
bound themselves with an oath that they would not eat till they had
slain him, but they went a long while hungry, for the arm of the Roman
Empire was stretched forth to protect Paul against his infuriated
countrymen! Strange, it was, that Caesar's power must be as a shield
around the feeble servant of the mighty God! From raging mobs and
secret confederacies, Paul was saved, apparently, by Roman soldiers,
but secretly by Roman saints! Against all oppositions from without let
us pray.
They were also to ask of the Lord that his service which he had for
Jerusalem might be accepted of the saints. This also was granted–the
Brethren did accept Paul's embassy. He met with little difficulty. The
contribution was accepted with much gratitude and we do not hear,
afterwards, of bickering between the Jewish and the Gentile Believers.
Such was done in the Apostolic college at Jerusalem to create a
heartier feeling towards the Gentile Brethren and the Kingdom of Christ
was, from that day on, acknowledged to be over all races and kindreds
of men! Paul accomplished very much and had comfort in his mission to
the mother Church. Oh that we, also, could be of service to that
community of Christians to which we belong! Brethren, pray that our
word may be accepted by our own Brothers and Sisters, for some of these
are wandering from the way of the Truth of God.
They were to pray, next, that he might come unto them with joy by the
will of God and might, with them, be refreshed. That was to be the
third prayer. It is to be observed that this petition was also heard,
but it was not answered as Paul might have expected or desired. He did
come to them according to the will of God rather than by his own will.
He may or may not have been on his way to Spain, as he purposed–he
certainly was on his way to prison–as he had not purposed. His first
prayer, that he might be delivered from them that believe not in Judea,
was not answered in the way of his never being in danger from them, or
coming into difficulties through them–but he was delivered out of
their hands by becoming a prisoner to the Roman governor and being
sent, under his guardianship, to Caesar, to whom he had appealed. By
that means he traveled to Rome at the expense of the Imperial
Government and, on landing at Puteoli, close to Naples, he found
friends waiting for him! And, as soon as the Roman Brethren heard of
his landing, they dispatched a company to meet him at Appii-Forum, a
place on the road to Rome where they stopped to change horses and to
take refreshments.
There he saw his prayer beginning to be answered. Further on, at a
place called the Three Taverns, more dear friends from Rome met him,
"whom, when Paul saw, he thanked God and took courage." The Roman
saints had long looked for the Apostle and at last he came–an
ambassador in bonds, a prisoner who must go to the Praetorian guardroom
and there await the emperor's will and pleasure! They had not expected
to see him in such a case, but they were not ashamed of his chains.
They made a considerable journey to meet him and he was filled with
their company and refreshed by their fellowship as he had desired. Even
his imprisonment may have been a rest for him–it could not have
involved such wear and tear as his former labors and persecutions!
We read the other day that Holloway Jail is a choice place for rest and
enjoyment to a man with a clear conscience and, I dare say that Paul
found his confinement at Rome to be rather a refreshment than otherwise
after his years of weariness and buffetings! There he was shut away
from his furious persecutors. Certainly no Jew could take his life
there! He was not afraid of being stoned while in imperial custody and
probably he was the most at ease because he had not to preach to such
as the Corinthians and the Galatians, from whom he had asked no prayers
but had received much grief. He asked the Ephesians and Philippians,
the Colossians and the Romans to pray for him–but from the others he
would have received little benefit, for they were very weak in the
faith and troubled with sad disorders. He was, in his imprisonment,
clear of those fickle and quarrelsome folk who had often pained him.
His confinement under guard would not permit his preaching himself to
death, or wearing himself out with watching–the soldier who kept him
would make him reasonable and so, I have no doubt, by the will of God
he received precisely what he had asked his friends to pray for– "that
I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be
refreshed."
It would not have been Paul's will to have come to Rome with chains on
his wrists, binding him to a soldier, but he did so come, for this was
the will of God and was the most sure way to his being refreshed. Paul
refreshed the Romans and they refreshed him–and thus he had a happy
sojourn in Rome. God was with him and he had the privilege of
testifying of Christ before the Roman emperor and making Jesus to be
known even in Caesar's household! Thus, Brothers and Sisters, the Lord
heard the prayer of His servants. He will also hear our prayers–not in
my way, not in your way–but in the way which Paul has indicated,
namely, "by the will of God." Therefore pray for a blessing and leave
the way of its
coming to the good Lord who knows all things! Rest sure that it will
come by the will of God and then it will be according to our will if we
are in full accord with the Lord, as we ought to be.
See the efficacy of prayer, then, in Paul's case. Though the desire did
not seem to be accomplished, yet it was so. When the Lord does not
appear to hear His people's prayers, He is hearing them none the less!
Yes, rather He is answering them all the more fully and graciously!
When the Lord replies by terrible things in righteousness rather than
by sweet, smooth deeds of kindness, He is doubly blessing us. Do not
vessels often sail more swiftly with a side wind than they would do
with a directly fair wind? The sails are more under the action of a
side wind than if it blew directly behind them. The Lord often gives
His people side gales and these turn out to be the best they can have.
Let us trust the Divine Wisdom and rest assured that the Lord will do
better things for us than we can ask or even think!
II. I have but little time left to notice THE BLESSING GIVEN, indeed,
it occupies but one verse in the text, and that verse is the shortest
of the four and, therefore, I may give it due consideration in a brief
space. See how Paul, with all his anxiety to gain the prayers of his
friends, cannot finish the chapter without uttering a benediction upon
them. "Now the God of Peace." What a blessed name! In the Old Testament
Scriptures He is the "Lord of Hosts." But that is never the style in
the New Testament. The "Lord of Hosts" is God as He was revealed under
the old dispensation in the majesty of His power, "the Lord is a man of
war, the Lord is His name." But now that our Lord Jesus Christ has
further unveiled the Father, we see Him as "the God of Peace." Is not
this a greater, sweeter, and more cheering title? O God of Peace, we
long for Your Presence with us all!
What does Paul wish for them? "The God of Peace be with you." Not only
"peace be with you," but, better far– "The God of Peace"–and so the
Source and Fountain of Peace! He wishes them not the drops, but the
Fountain itself! Not the light, only, but the sun! He would have God
Himself to be with us as "the God of Peace." He would have the Lord to
fill us with an inward peace, so that we may never be disturbed in our
minds. He would have the Lord shed abroad His own peace in our hearts,
so that we may always feel at peace with God–no cloud coming between
our souls and our heavenly Father–no ground of quarrel arising between
us and the great King.
When "the God of Peace" makes peace with us and so keeps our minds at
peace within, He also creates peace with one another, so that we bear
one anther's burdens and those who are strong are willing to bear the
infirmities of the weak. "The God of Peace be with you."
Our Apostle says, "the God of Peace be with you all"–not with some of
you, with Priscilla and Aquila, but with Mary, Amplias, Apelles,
Tryphena, Tryphosa and with "the beloved Persis which labored much in
the Lord." And with "Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother." And
"Philologus, and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the
saints which are with them." The benediction is, "The God of Peace be
with you all." Unless all are at peace, none can be perfectly quiet.
One Brother who is quarrelsome can keep a whole Church in turmoil! One
fellow knocking about the boat may stop the oarsmen, rend the sails and
run the boat on a rock! I should not like one stray shot from a rifle
to be traveling near my windows, for even if all the other shots which
are in the armory should lie quiet, that one flying danger might be the
end of me! Oh that the peace of God may be with all the saints in all
the Churches! It is a blessed benediction. Such a benediction we
pronounce with all our heart this morning–"Now the God of Peace be
with you all. Amen."
Do you not think that Paul implies that this will be the result of
their prayer? If you will but strive together with me in your prayers,
then the God of Peace will be with you. May we not view it as the
reward of such prayer? You have prayed for the Lord's servant and now
God will bless you with an abundance of peace. Or did he hint that this
is a necessary condition and cause of true prayer? When they were all
at peace among themselves, happy in their own minds and full of
communion with God, then they would begin to pray for God's servants.
Put it first or last, may this peace come to you and may there be
hearty pleading prayer to God that His blessing may rest upon the
Church and upon the testimony of His servants.
Now we draw to a close, Brethren. Prayer is sought most earnestly by me
at this moment. I speak, I think, in the name of all those who have to
stand prominent as preachers of the Gospel of Christ. We beseech you,
our beloved Friends and fellow laborers, that you wrestle together with
us with God on our behalf that our testimony may be with power and with
success, for the times are very difficult. The very air is full of
unbelief! The solid earth seems well near to tremble with
unrest–social and political–a deep and terrible unrest that fills us
with dark forebodings of the future. The hope
of the world lies, under God, in the Church of Jesus Christ. Therefore
we beseech you, Brothers and Sisters, if in other days and softer times
you did, in a measure, hold back prayer, do so no longer, but wrestle
for us with God! What is coming no man knows. We wish not to play the
Cassandra, prophesying evil things continually, but who is there,
though he is a Prophet bright-eyed as Isaiah, who can give you a good
forecast? Are not all the signs of the times big with terror? Therefore
to your tents, O Israel, and in your tents cry to God that a blessing
may come upon this nation and the world!
Men are perishing all around us! Whatever may have been the state of
the world in Paul's day–and it was, no doubt, horrible to the last
degree–it is not much better now! The population of the world has so
largely increased since those days that all her problems have become
more difficult. We are much more aware of the miseries of vast
populations than people could have been in Apostolic times. Paul knew
but little of the world except that portion of it which bordered on the
Mediterranean Sea–the whole world, then, seemed to lie in a
nutshell–but now our discoverers and geographers, our steamboats and
telegraphs have brought a greater world close to our doors. We share
with the sorrows of India! We groan in the darkness of Africa! The
cries of China are at our doors and Egypt's griefs are our own! If a
population anywhere is starving or suffering oppression, our newspapers
declare the evil to all readers and general feeling is awakened! Our
sympathies for humanity are called forth much more than in former times
and, so far, this is good, but then it heaps heavier burdens upon the
thoughtful and increases the terrible responsibility of those who are
able to lend a helping hand! Increase of knowledge demands increase of
prayer! "The world for Jesus" is our motto, but how can the world be
for Jesus if the Church of Jesus does not wrestle in her prayers?
Dear Brothers and Sisters, remember that the Truth of God, alone, if
not enforced by the Spirit of God, will not sink into the hearts of
men. They say, "Truth is mighty and will prevail." But this is only
half the case. If you put the Truth of God upon a shelf and let the
dust lie on her record, of what use will it be to men? Truth
unknown–how can it enlighten? Truth not felt–how can it renew? There
must, therefore, be the preacher to call attention to the Truth–but
how shall they preach except they are sent? And how shall they be sent
aright except in the power of the Holy Spirit? And how can we expect
the Holy Spirit if we do not ask for His working? Therefore, we pray
you, wrestle together with us in your prayers, that the Holy Spirit may
go forth with the Truth of God and by the Truth of God!
This will be to your profit. No man hears his pastor preach without
deriving some benefit from him, if he has earnestly prayed for him. The
best hearers who get the most out of a man are those who love him best
and pray most for him. God can make us dry wells to you if you offer no
prayers for us! He can make us clouds that are full of rain if you have
pleaded with God on our behalf!
But the master argument with which we close is that which Paul
mentions–"For Christ's sake." Oh, for God's sake, for His name and
Glory's sake, if you would honor the Father, if you would let Jesus see
of the travail of His soul, wrestle together with us in your prayers
for the Divine working! It is so, Brothers and Sisters, you know it is
so that we are wholly dependent upon the Spirit of God! If it is so,
that without God's blessing we can do nothing, and that God's blessing
is given if we inquire of God for it, then I need not press you
further–you will pray for me and for other preachers of the Word of
God! If your hearts are right, you will, each one, resolve to offer
special, continuous and fervent prayer in private and in your families
and in our holy convocations–and these shall deepen into an agony
before God– and then a blessing shall be given us which we shall
scarcely have room enough to receive! Lord, teach us to pray!