James Merritt - Keep On Keeping On
I wanna ask you a question. I kept two of my grandkids over the weekend. And I’m tired. But I kept two of my grandkids over the weekend. And so we asked them yesterday, when they come, my goal is always to make sure they have such a great time, they wanna come back. That’s my number one goal. And so we said, «Okay, where do you want to eat tonight»? So the decision was made and it was really good. You know, when you tell a kid that, you’re putting your life in your hands, but what do you wanna eat? Well, they chose the good one, right? They chose Cracker Barrel. So we went to Cracker Barrel last night. So I’m always trying to set an example for them.
And so when the waitress came, I do this for every waitress, every waiter, I said to her, I said, «Listen, we’re about to pray for our food. How can I pray for you today»? I do it for every person that waits on us. So it’s amazing the stories that you will hear from these women. I’ve had women breakdown and cry. I’ve had men breakdown and cry. So I wanna change the question up, because here’s what I wanna ask you. If I were to come to each one of you this morning, and I were to pull you aside, and I were to say to you, how can I pray for you? Most all of you would instantly tell me there’s something on your heart, something on your mind. You’re in a situation where you really need God to come through. But that’s not the question I want to ask you.
The question I want to answer today is not, how can I pray for you? The question I want you to answer today is how can you pray for you? That’s the question. How can you pray for you? I read this story the other day. There’s a little 5-year-old girl, she was watching her mother in fascination and her mother was rubbing this cold cream all over her face. And so she looked at her and she said, «Mom, what are you doing? And why are you doing that»? She said, «Well, to make myself beautiful». Well, to this girl’s amazement, 60 seconds later, she’s taking that same tissue and wiping that cream totally off her face. And the little girl looked at her and said, «Are you giving up already»?
Now… I wanna ask you a question. It’s a very personal question, and I’m gonna help you answer it, 'cause I’m gonna tell you right now, the answer for me is yes. Have you ever felt like giving up on God? There have been times in my ministry, the answer to that is yes. There have been some Monday mornings in my life, I said, «I’ve had enough. I don’t need this in my life. I think I’d rather go do something else». Not many, but a few. And you pray and you pray and you pray, and you feel like your prayers are making no difference. I bet if I were to ask you this question, have you ever asked God for something? Begged God for something, implored God for something, Got on your knees before God, but he didn’t give it to you. So yeah, I’ve had that. So have I. And you’re just tempted to think sometime, what is the use?
Well, I wanna flip that. I believe there are a lot of times that our God in heaven looks at us and our puny prayer life and says, «Giving up already? Is that it? Are we one and done»? I wish we were all more like a little first grade boy named Eddie. This is a true story actually happened. Eddie wrote a letter to God, and he gives some great advice in that letter. I don’t know who Eddie is, but I’d love to meet Eddie. Here’s what he wrote. «Dear God, very bad people laughed at Noah. They said, 'You made an ark on dry land. You stupid idiot.' He was smart. He stuck with you. That’s what I would do. Your friend Eddie». I don’t know who Eddie is. That kid’s gonna make a great preacher, great theologian, great wisdom. I don’t know what they did. I don’t know why they did it, but God, I’m gonna stick with you. There’s some of you here right now, my piece of advice is, you may be tempted to give up on God. You better stick with God.
Now, with that in mind, I want you, if you brought your little booklet, we’re on page 19, where you can take notes if you want to. If you’re a guest of ours today or you’re visiting online today, we’ve been in a series on the Sermon on the Mount we’ve been calling, «Get Used to Different». And what we’ve been telling our people is that we’ve learned from the most different man who’s ever walked the face of this Earth, just how different following Jesus is. Because if you’re really going to follow Jesus, really, you’ve got to be different. You will be different. People will see you’re different. They’ll know you’re different. You’ll talk differently. You’ll walk differently. You’ll be different. They will know there’s something about you that they don’t have. And today we’re going to read a dynamic, dogmatic, definitive statement about prayer that really shouldn’t just encourage us to pray. It ought to excite us about praying.
Matter of fact, lemme just say something right off the bat. If you are a part of the family of God, if you’ve been born again into God’s family, if God is your Heavenly Father, if you’re following His will, one thing is 100% true all the time. Here it is. God hears, and God answers prayer. Can I get a big amen to that? God hears and God answers prayer. Now to drive this truth home, Jesus is going to teach us four things that’ll help you keep on praying when you feel like giving up on God. Four things. Number one. Jesus tells us there’s a process to abide by in prayer. There is a process to abide by in prayer. Now we’re in Matthew 7, and Jesus begins with this very strong encouraging word about prayer. Some of you already know it, but I’ll read it. Matthew 7:7. «Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you».
Now, lemme tell you why I know Jesus thought prayer was a big deal. If you’ve been with me all this time, we started the Sermon on the Mount, if you remember, last September, we’ll finish up the end of June. We’ve gone through a lot of things and Jesus has touched on a lot of subjects. But there’s only one topic Jesus talks about twice in the Sermon on the Mount. He doesn’t talk about adultery twice. Divorce twice. Worry twice, angry twice, doesn’t talk about any of that. But twice he talks about prayer. Now, if Jesus says something once, that’s a big deal. If he says something twice, you better pay attention. You better have your radar up. You better have your note pen out. You better know, okay, what is it you want me to know? Well, as you notice, there are three verses in that, three verbs in this verse. Ask, seek, knock. Three verbs.
Now, here’s what you need to know, first of all. Little Greek language. All three of those verbs are in the imperative mood. In other words, when Jesus tells us to pray, it’s not a request. It’s a requirement. It’s not a suggestion. It is a command. He is demanding that we pray. Now, if that is true, buckle your seatbelt. That means if you don’t pray, or you don’t pray very often, or you pray hardly at all, you’re sinning. You’re living in sin. You are living in sin just as much as if you were living in adultery, just as much as if you were dealing drugs, just as much as if you were lying or stealing or cheating. If you don’t pray, or you rarely pray, or you really don’t put any heart into your prayer, you are sinning.
Now, you may never have thought about that, but there was great prophet in the Old Testament, his name was Samuel. Samuel said this in 1 Samuel 12, «As for me, far be it from me,» now listen to what he said, «that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you». Now, we don’t think about not praying as a sin. But it’s such a big sin that when you don’t pray, you actually commit three sins at the same time. First of all, you’re sinning against God who demands that you pray. Number two, you’re sinning against somebody else that’s depending on you to pray. And number three, you’re sinning against yourself by denying a blessing When you do pray. What we fail to forget, remember sometimes is, there are two types of sin, I want you to watch this. One is what we call the sin of commission.
Now, what is the sin of commission? That’s when you do something you shouldn’t do. We all understand that. We all know that, you feel guilty, right? You do something. I know I shouldn’t have done it. I know I shouldn’t have said it. You do it anyway. You sin by commission. But there’s another sin that we don’t hardly think about much. And that’s what I call the sin of omission. Now, the sin of commission is when you do something you shouldn’t do. The sin of omission is when you don’t do something that you should do.
Now, I read about a little boy, he’s in the first grade and he was in a Bible study class. So the teacher said, «Okay, can anybody tell me what the sins of omission are»? And when little boy raised his hand and said, «Yep, those are the sins we should have committed, but we didn’t». No, that is not what we mean. You can sin in one of two ways. You can sin by doing the wrong thing, or by failing to do the right thing. James, the Lord’s brother, said this. He said, «If anyone then knows the good they ought to do, and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them». If you know you ought to do something, but you don’t do it, I know I ought to tell that person about Jesus, but I don’t do it. I know I ought to go to church, but I don’t do it. I know I ought to give to the Lord’s work, but I don’t do it. I know I ought to pray, but I don’t do it. It is sin.
So if you don’t remember anything else about this message, I want you to remember this statement. The failure to pray is the failure to obey. The failure to pray is the failure to obey. By the way, this is the answer to the question I’ve been asked a lot of times in my ministry. I’ve had people say to me, «Can I ask you a question? I hate to ask it. I’m embarrassed». I almost 90% of the time know what they’re gonna ask me. If God already knows what I’m going to pray before I pray it, and God already knows how he’s gonna answer before I ask, why bother? Well, there’s your answer. God commands you to pray, that’s all you need to know. God tells you to do something, you do it. So the failure to pray is the failure to obey. That’s the only reason that you need. Ask, seek and knock. There’s a process to abide in prayer. That’s the process.
Second thing Jesus talks about is this. He says, «There is a persistence to applying prayer». Persistence. Now, those three verbs I told you, ask, seek and knock. Well, they’re not just in the imperative mood, they’re also in the present tense. Now, in the English language, that may not be such a big deal sometimes, but in the Greek language, it’s a very big deal. 'Cause as I’ve told you before, when a verb is in the present tense, in the Greek New Testament, that means continuous action. So when Jesus said ask, and Jesus said, seek, and Jesus said, knock, this is what he really will say. Ask, and keep on asking. Seek, and keep on seeking. Knock, and keep on knocking.
Now, you’ll notice if you’ll think about it, every one of those verbs is a step up. It’s a step up in intensity. It’s a step up in effort. For example, when you just ask for something, pass the salt, you’re just making a verbal request. But now, when you’re seeking for something, now you get up out of your seat. And if you don’t get that salt, you go get it yourself. But then if you seek and you can’t find it, you go to try to find the right door of somebody’s that got it, and you knock on that door. So you’re not just asking for something. You’re not just looking for something, you’re knocking for a door to be open. Now, prayer actually begins, obviously with asking.
So Jesus says, «Ask, and it will be given to you». Now, why do we ask? Well, that expresses our dependence. Because whenever you pray, every time that you pray, you are saying to God, «I know I am depending on you». It expresses our dependence. Now, there may be times in your life when, and you may be in one of those times right now. In fact, I bet some of you are. And you would never let anybody know it by the way you walked in, the way people look. They’d never figure it out. But there’s some of you right now, you are so desperate in some situation that the most important thing in your life right now is that God come through for you. The most important thing in your life. I don’t know what it is you’re praying for, what you’re asking for, what you’re begging for. You need God to come through. There’s nobody else to go to. There’s nowhere else to turn. There’s no other resource to call on. You need God. Well, when you pray, that’s exactly what you’re telling him. I need you. I’m depending on you. I can’t pull this off without you.
Now, if you’re a parent, you know this. With all of the problems that come with having kids. And unless you’ve had a perfect one, and by the way, you don’t. But if you’ve ever had a perfect one, you know what I’m about to tell you. I mean, raising kids is hard. It’s expensive. They’ll try your patience. You understand after a while why animals eat their young. I mean, you get it. You understand that. But there’s one big advantage. The IRS says you can declare them as dependents. In other words, lemme give you a positive thought. The next time that kid gets on your last nerve, remember this, you can always deduct them.
Now, here’s the bad news. They come to a certain age, and guess what? The good news is, the IRS, I mean, the bad news is, the IRS says, you can no longer deduct them. You can no longer declare them as your dependent. That’s the bad news. There’s worse news. The kids don’t get it. They’ll still be your dependent. They don’t go, «Oh, I’m this old age. I can’t ask you for anything». Oh no, it gets worse. Trust me on that, okay? But here’s my point. In the kingdom of God, we’re all dependents. We never get off the list. You’ll never be so rich, you’ll never be so big, you’ll never be so strong, you’ll never be so popular, you don’t need God.
Matter of fact, lemme tell you something. you’re depending on God right now for your next heartbeat. You’re depending on God right now for your next breath. You’re depending on God to get you home safe from church. You never come off as this, we are always depending on God. That’s what ask does. It expresses our dependence. But then Jesus said, but after asking, they’re seeking. So he said, «Seek, and you’ll find». Now where asking expresses our dependence, seeking expresses our desire. See, it’s one thing to stand still and say, «Would you give me this? Would you give me that»? It’s one thing to stand still and ask for something. But it’s another thing to say, wait a minute. You get up, you get on the move and you start seeking. You start looking for something, and you don’t stop until you find it.
Lemme give you a great illustration, talking about kids. We had three sons. When our sons were young, and they wanted something, they did what all kids do. They would come to us and they would ask for it. Now guess what? If we either didn’t answer their question or didn’t give them immediately what they wanted, what do you think they did? They kept asking. They kept, «Hey, would you do this? Will you do that? Will you gimme this? Will you gimme that»? Right? Well, the problem is, if they wanted something, and they asked for it, and they didn’t get it, and then if we weren’t close by, they would come looking for us until they found us. And then they would ask for it again. But then Jesus said, after asking and seeking, there’s knocking. He said, «Knock, and the door will be open to you».
So lemme give you a great illustration. Go back to our boys. Alright, our boys were just like your kids, right? They were always asking for things all the time, asking for things. Sometimes we’d answer yes. Sometimes we wouldn’t even answer at all. Well, sometimes, you know, if we were not nearby, they would come look for us. So they could ask for it. Well, there were times that got old. So you know what Theresa and I would do? We’d run and hide. We’d go to our bedroom, we’d shut the door, just to get some peace and quiet. What do you think our kids did? When they figured out where we were? Guess what? You could be as quiet as a mouse. They didn’t care. They weren’t going to keep on knocking till that door was open. That’s exactly the picture that Jesus is painting. When you pray, you ask and you keep asking. When you seek, you keep seeking. When you knock, you keep knocking.
Now where asking expresses our dependence. Knocking expresses our determination. When you keep knocking, you’re letting God know, I’m serious about this, Lord, I’m going to keep on knocking. I’m going to keep on asking. I’m going to keep on seeking. Lemme tell you a true story. There was a, you don’t need to remember this guy’s name. His name was George Mueller. George Mueller lived in the 19th century. He was an evangelist. George Mueller founded an orphanage. He wound up having hundreds of children over the years in that orphanage. George Mueller never asked for a dime for that orphanage. All George Mueller did was pray. All George Mueller did was just ask God, and God daily, weekly, monthly, for years and years and years, God would give him the money to run that orphanage.
Well, one day, one of his sons came to him and he said, «Dad, I’ve got five buddies. I’ve got five friends, and they don’t know Jesus. And would you pray for them»? So George Mueller told his son, he said, «I’m gonna pray for those five boys every day». So beginning that day, every day, George Mueller would pray for those boys to be saved. He prayed every day, 18 months. And after 18 months, the first kid got saved. He kept praying. Four to go. He prayed five more years. The second kid came to Jesus. He kept praying. After six more years, the third kid came to Jesus. I want you to listen to this. 36 years later, when Mueller was an old man, he wrote in his journal of these last two men, I hope in God, I’m gonna keep praying, and I’m looking for the answer.
52 years after that third kid came to Christ, the other two came to Jesus. After he died, God answered that prayer. Jesus said, «There is a process to abide in prayer, but there’s a persistence to applying prayer». Now, Jesus says the third thing, and this is my favorite part of the message. He said, «There’s a promise to answer prayer». There’s a promise to answer prayer. Now, there’s a process. You ask, you seek, you knock. There’s a persistence. You keep asking, you keep seeking, you keep knocking. But there’s also this promise. It’s not an exercise in futility. Sometimes you wonder, will I wear my voice out? Will I wear my knees out? Will I wear my knuckles out? He said, you keep praying, because God answers prayer. We’ve got his promise.
And oh, by the way, it is the promise of the only being in the history of the universe that’s never broken a promise. And here’s what he promised. He said, «For everyone who asks, receives, and the one who seeks, finds, and to the one who knocks, the doors will be open». Now, Jesus said, «If you ask, you’ll receive». Wait a minute. No. You may not always receive what you’re asking for, which we’ll talk about in just a moment. Everyone who seeks find. Wait a minute, you will. But you may not find exactly what you are looking for when you were looking for it. But in God’s time, you’ll find what He needs you to find. You knock, and you keep on knocking. Wait a minute. The door will open. But it may not be the door you thought was open.
You may want what’s behind curtain number one, God will want what’s behind curtain number three. The door will be open, it just may not always be the door that you thought, and you may not find what you were looking for. But Jesus promises. God will hear your prayer. God will answer your prayer. But I need to remind you, there are different answers to prayer. For example. Some answers are direct. And we’ve all had this happen to us, right? We’ve all prayed for something. It’s almost like, man, like the next day, God gave it to us. We’re living in a house right now that we moved into this house three years ago, and we never thought we’d move. Our house was done, paid for and all that. But you know, we felt like we ought to move.
And so we found this house, Theresa found this house. She really liked it. And we just weren’t sure about it. So we went to bed one night, and we prayed about what we ought to offer on this house. This was back when, I mean, real estate was just going bonkers. And so we prayed about it. We both came up with the same figure. So we called our realtor, and we said, «Hey, look, we really prayed about all of this, and this is the offer we ought to make». I said, I don’t wanna embarrass this guy. Does this guy know who I am? I don’t think he knows who you are. He said, why? I said, well, we’re gonna make an offer, and it’s just, it’s not what he’s asking for, and I don’t wanna embarrass the guy. He said, well, go ahead and tell me, it won’t hurt to ask.
And so I told him the offer, when he starts laughing. And I said, so it will embarrass the guy. He says, «It’s gonna be real close». He said, «But all he can do is say, no, make the offer». So we made the offer 11 o’clock, he calls me 11 o’clock in the morning. He says, okay, the offer’s on the table, we’ll know by noon tomorrow. I said, well, why are you rushing the guy? What’s the rush? He said, «It doesn’t take long to say no. Don’t worry about it». The next morning, 11 o’clock on the button, we’re driving to Kroger for groceries, phone rings. Guy on the other line said, «Pastor, you sitting down»? I said, yeah, «I’m driving. I always sit down when I’m driving». He said, «You got yourself a house». 24 hours, God answered my prayer. Now, we all wish it was like that. It’s just not. But sometimes God’s answers are direct.
Now, sometimes, God’s answers are delayed. You see, God is so wise, he not only gives us what we want or what we need, but he gives it to us when we need it. I’m gonna give you a great illustration. I probably wouldn’t be here today if this has not happened. So my first church out of seminary was Mississippi. I pastored in Laurel, Mississippi, great city, great town, great people. But I’ll be honest, I always had a hunger to come back to Georgia. I’m a Georgia boy, Georgia-bred and all that stuff, you know, and Georgia On My Mind, right? God rest you, Ray Stevens.
So anyway, I just wanna come back home. But I started praying and just nothing. And I finally realized I was praying the wrong thing the wrong way, and I said, Lord, I wanna go back home. I wanna go back to Georgia, but I don’t want to go back if you don’t want me to go back. I’ll go where you want me to go. I’ll stay where you want me to stay. But if it would be in your will, I want you to open a door for me to go back home. I prayed about four months. Well, this church comes open in Marietta, Georgia. I won’t tell you which church it is. This church comes open in Marietta, Georgia. I came in, I told Theresa, I said, «We’re going home». She says, «What do you mean»? I said, «I’m telling you we’re going home». She said, «What do you mean»? This church came open.
Now, I was the first youth pastor that church ever had. I started their youth ministry. Had a great ministry, worked for them two summers. And I mean, I had a lot of people there that loved me. So the pastor I worked under retired. And I just knew. I said, man, I’m telling you right now, start packing your bags. We’re going to Marietta. I’m telling you we’re going. I didn’t even get a call. I didn’t get a letter. I didn’t get, dear John. I didn’t get nothing. I didn’t hear a word. I couldn’t believe it. I just couldn’t believe it. So disappointed. I said, God, I asked you. And this church came open. I knew it was the church. But then three months later, I got another call from a church south of here that was a 50 times better situation than that other church would’ve ever been.
See, God gave me what I wanted, but it wasn’t what I thought I wanted. And he gave it to me later than I wanted. Sometimes God’s answers are delayed. Now you won’t like this next one. But sometimes God’s answers are denied. I hate to tell you this, no is an answer. No is an answer. I can honestly tell you. Listen, I look back on my life, and I think I’m more thankful for the prayers that God said no to than I’m the prayers that God said yes to. Because if God had said yes to my prayers, I wouldn’t be married to the greatest woman in the world today if God had answered my prayers the first time. God knows what he’s doing. He’s never late. He’s never early. He always says yes when he needs to say yes, there’s a God-guaranteed statement. There’s a promise that will never be broken.
So here’s how you can pray for you, alright? There’s a process you gotta follow. You ask, you seek, you knock. There is a persistence you’ve got to exercise. You keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. There’s a promise you can rely on. God said he would hear me. God says, I ask, I will receive, seek, I will find, knock, it will be opened. But now Jesus knows, just telling them is not gonna be enough. So what does Jesus do? He does what he always did. He loved to tell stories. So Jesus said, «Lemme tell you a story».
So the last thing I want you to notice is there is a parable that advocates prayer, all right? So Jesus says, ask, seek, knock. He knows you’re just like the people back then 2000 years ago. Yeah, I’ve heard this before and I’ve tried, but God didn’t come through. It didn’t work. I gave up. So Jesus says, okay, tell you kind of a little bit of a story. «Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks you for a fish, will give him a snake». Okay? Now, lemme just say this, what is true for your kids is doubly true for your grandkids, right? I mean, I’ve got one of the most beautiful granddaughters in the world. She’s not gonna like this, but she’s sitting there next to Theresa. She is just beautiful. Not just outside, she’s beautiful inside, she just loves Jesus. That’s what I love about her so much.
Now she gets on my last nerve sometimes, but she does love Jesus. See, she knows something about her pop. She knows this. Her brother knows this. «If I ask pop, I’ll get it». But she knows that. She’s just there, all right? But here’s what Jesus said. «Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake»? Then he says, «But if you then though you are evil,» we’ll come back to that in a minute. «Though you are evil, if you know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him»? Now understand what Jesus meant.
You say, that really doesn’t compute today. Let me take you back 2000 years, you’ll understand. If you’ve ever been to Israel with me, you get to go to the Sea of Galilee, you’ll see this. On the seashore of Galilee, these little limestones. And it’s really amazing. A lot of them look just like little loaves of bread. And then in the sea of Galilee, there are certain fish, they’re like little eels, and they look like little snakes. Well, there was a saying back then that no good father would give his child limestone if he asked for bread, or give your son an eel if he asked for fish. They said no father would do that. Now, even the best earthly father that you know how to be, or moms, the best earthly mother you know how to be. I hate to burst your bubble. If you then, though you are evil.
Now, don’t get mad at me. Hold on. «Are you calling me evil»? No. Jesus is calling you evil. Why would Jesus say that? All right, I’m gonna teach you a theological lesson. People are not basically good. People are basically bad. I hate to break the news to you. If you don’t believe that, if you think, oh no, people are just born good, they just go bad. Take two 2-year-old kids, put them in a room with one toy and step back. You don’t have to teach kids to lie. You gotta teach 'em not to lie. You don’t have to teach kids not to fight with their baby brother. You gotta teach 'em not to. Why do they do that? Because we’re all born in sin.
So no matter how good a dad you think you are, at the core of who you are, without God, you’re evil. I don’t care how good a mom you think you are, at the core of who you are without God, you are evil. He says, look, even though you are evil, that is compared to your heavenly Father who’s perfect. Even though you’re evil. If you know how to good gifts to your children, how much more do you think I will give good gifts to you? Now that in and of itself, we can stop right there and say, good gosh. No wonder I should pray. Because I have a father who’s not just good, He is perfect. And I have a heavenly Father who, unlike my father who wants what’s good for me, always does what’s best for me.
See, we don’t always do sometimes what’s best for our kids. Let’s just be honest. Listen. If you’re a parent, you are guilty of what I’m gonna tell you 'cause I’m guilty of sin. We’ve all said this as parents, particularly as you get older. Well my mom and dad were never able to do this for my kids, but I’m gonna do this for my kids, right? So case in point. My mom and dad didn’t ever made, my dad was a truck driver. My mom was a beautician, didn’t make a lot of money. They couldn’t afford to buy me a car. Every car I’ve ever bought, I bought every car I’ve ever owned, I bought it. Every car, they couldn’t gimme a car. So when Teresa and I got married, I made a promise to myself, I’m gonna give my kids a car. Tell you I’mma give every kid a car. My dad, mom couldn’t gimme one. I’m gonna give my kids a car. Alright? She was telling me this story yesterday.
So James, my first-born, 16 years old. We get him a car. Now there’s a law still in effect in Georgia, still in effect. So you need to remember this, sweetheart. When you get your license for six months, you can’t carry anybody in your car. If you’re 16 years old, you just can’t get a bunch of kids to get in your car. It’s against the law, right? You got, you can take be with family members, but you just can’t get your buddies to go. Well, James hadn’t had his car very long. She was telling me this yesterday. James hadn’t had his car very long at all. We sat down and I looked, you can’t have anybody in the car. One Sunday after church, James pulled outta the parking lot. I didn’t know it. She didn’t know it, really, I don’t think. He pulls outta the parking lot. He’s got three of his buddies from church in the car. They’re going up the road. He doesn’t get 500 yards up the road.
Take a guess who’s right behind him. Somebody just take a guess. Who? Who? The police. Oh no, it’s worse. Mom. She was behind him. Oh, he didn’t know it. But she’s doing the Barney Fife. Citizens arrest! Citizens arrest! She pulls him over. James is like 10 to 2, staring straight ahead. «What you doing son»? «Nothing». «Who’s out in the car with you»? «Nobody». She said, «Go home». She took the kids, took them home, got home. What’d you do? Took the car keys. Okay. Can’t drive the car for a while. Now it all worked out, but here’s my point. We’ve all at times, given our kids things we probably shouldn’t have given them. We’ve all at time, given our kids things that at the time we gave it, we probably gave it at the wrong time. Your heavenly Father never makes that mistake. He gives you exactly what you need, and he gives it to you exactly when you need it.
So it’s always at the right way, at the right time for the right purpose. Listen, God is so good, that not only does he always hear our prayer and answer our prayer, he is so wise, that when he does answer our prayer, it’s right on time, and it’s always what’s best, it’s always for His glory. It’s always for our good. But you got to keep on asking, and you’ve got to keep on seeking, and you’ve got to keep on knocking. You cannot give up on the God who never gives up on you. So I’m gonna close with this, we’ll be done. Howard Carter was a British archeologist.
Lemme tell you his story. One of the joys of being able to travel as I’ve been able to travel is you get to see things sometimes that other people never get to see. One of the most fascinating things I’ve ever seen in my entire life, ever, is a casket that today is worth $1.2 million. It’s a casket. But it’s worth $1.2 million. It holds the remains of a man that died thousands of years ago. And it contains the remains of a famous Egyptian king, King Tut. Now, have you ever seen it? I’ve been to the Egyptian museum. You ought to go. But this is a picture of the casket. But I’ll never forget the first time Theresa and I walked in the museum, and that’s what I made my, that’s what I said, that’s the one thing I gotta see, I gotta see this. I gotta see this thing. And I’ve said it, I told her, I can’t believe it. I’m looking at a casket that is $1.2 million.
Now let me tell you the secret behind that casket. It’s fascinating. Howard Carter was a British archeologist, 1922. Over a hundred years ago. Walked into an Egyptian tomb. At first he didn’t see anything. That wasn’t surprising. Because for more than 20 centuries, for more than 2000 years, archeologists, tomb robbers, tourists, scientists, had been looking for that for 2000 years. Everybody knew about King Tutankhamun, the most famous pharaoh of all the pharaohs was King Tutankhamun. They knew he was buried, 'cause every king was buried, but they could not find this casket. So after 2000 years, for a good period of time, everybody thought, everybody was convinced.
Look, we’ve looked everywhere. There’s nothing undisturbed. There’s nothing untouched. This thing just does not exist. They gave up. Except Howard Carter. And Howard Carter said, «I know that casket is somewhere. I know it is». We just hadn’t found it. But he had to pay for it. So he went to some private investors and said, «I want you to pay for me to keep looking for this tomb. I know it sounds crazy,» and it did, «and I know nobody’s found it in 2000 years, but I’m telling you, I know it’s out there».
So some men, even though against their best wishes, ponied up the money, and they paid him. He looked for a year, found nothing. He looked two years, found nothing. He looked three years, found nothing. He looked four years, he found nothing. He looked five years, he found nothing. He looked six years, he found nothing. But he knew it was there. One day, one day, one day. He found this cave. And he walked into this cave, and they began to excavate, but they didn’t find anything. It was next to a pyramid. And he dug and he dug and he dug, but it wasn’t there. He started to turn around, and something inside of him said, «Keep digging». He was only six feet away from something that no one had seen in over 2000 years. And finally, that shovel hit that piece of dirt, and the hole collapsed. And when they shone their flashlight, they could not believe their eyes.
There in this cavern, were wooden animals, statues, treasure chests, chariots, carved cobra faces, daggers, jewels. There was a throne that would be priceless today, but that wasn’t what he was looking for. Finally shining that light, boom! He hit that casket. He almost jumped for joy. He knew who it was. He knew what it was. He knew exactly how valuable it would be. That is now known today among archeologists as the greatest historical discovery in the history of archeology. If that guy had quit one day earlier, if he had quit six feet sooner, I would not have this illustration to be preaching to you right now. But he just kept digging. And he hit pay dirt.
So, just a simple question. How much greater are the rewards waiting for us if we just keep on asking, and we just keep on seeking, and we just keep on knocking, believing that God will move, believing that God will act, believing that God will come through, and believing what God specializes in, doing what you need when you need it, so it’s always for your best and always for His glory. Don’t ever give up on the God who never gives up on you. And oh, by the way, if I still haven’t convinced you to go back to that little prayer closet, if I still haven’t convinced you to dust off that little prayer rug, if I still haven’t convinced you to go back and take up that prayer request you’ve been looking for, that answer you’ve been needing.
I’ll leave you with this. If you ever doubt that God hears your prayers. If you ever doubt that God answers your prayers, I want you to think about a cradle that held a baby boy 2000 years ago. And I want you to think about a cross where that baby boy was nailed for your sins 2000 years ago. And I want you to think about a cave where that grown man came out and conquered sin and death forever, and God gave us the greatest need to our solution. God gave us greatest answer to every prayer we’ve ever prayed. He gave us forgiveness and he gave us eternal life. So I’m telling you right now, there’s an answer for your prayer. There’s a solution to your problem. There’s a healing for your hurt. It may be a day away, it may be six feet away, it may be years away. You keep asking, you keep seeking, you keep knocking, because the God that never fails will not fail you.
So would you, just for a moment, very quickly just bow your heads and close your eyes for just a moment. Can I just share one thing with you? I wanna talk to two groups of people real quickly. There are some of you, I know why God never answers your prayer and you shouldn’t expect him to. You know why? You’re not a part of his family. You’ve never become his child. He’s not your father. He’s your creator. He’s not your father. Prayer is a privilege for only God’s children. And the first prayer that God wants to hear you pray is a prayer of salvation. It’s a prayer when you come to God and say, «God, I am evil. I am sinful. I need a savior to forgive me of my sins, and you’re him».
And I’m gonna invite some of you in a moment to make the greatest ask of your life ever. The greatest ask. And that is when you simply ask Jesus Christ to forgive you and save you. I want you to listen to me carefully, thought about this a lot. I know I’ve had a lot of people through my ministry say this prayer, but I looked out at the way they lived. They didn’t mean it. They didn’t pray it. They just said it.
There’s some of you in this room right now, we’re gonna talk about this later in the sermon, 'cause Jesus talks about people like some of you. Oh, you walked down an aisle, you filled out a card, you got baptized, you set a prayer sometime, and you think you’re good to go, but you’re not. Because the difference between saying the prayer I’m about to tell you and praying the prayer I’m about to pray with you is this. If you say it, nothing will change. If you pray, everything will change. So if you today would say, I get it, I understand. I need a savior. I’ve never truly been saved, but I wanna be saved today. Then I’m gonna ask you to pray this prayer right now. Right now in your heart, pray this prayer:
Lord Jesus, I’m sinful. I’m evil. On my own, there’s nothing good about me at all. Nothing. I need a savior. And I believe Jesus, you’re that savior. So this seat I’m sitting in, this computer I’m looking at right now, this television screen in front of me. I’m telling you right now, Lord Jesus, today. I’m a sinner. I confess I’m a sinner. I’m lost. I need you to come into my heart right now. I want you not just to forgive me, not just give me eternal life. Change my heart. Make me a new me. Become my Lord. Become my savior. I surrender everything I am to everything that you are. Thank you for hearing my prayer.