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- We need to begin by remembering that God hears everything.
He hears the sound of every electron going around
the nucleus of every atom in the universe.
He hears every thought before we think it, the Bible says.
But the question really is, does God hear the prayers
of an unbeliever with a view to answering them?
When my daughter was little, sometimes she would say,
Dad, get me a drink of water.
I'd say, I can't hear you.
Dad, get me a drink of water!
I can't hear you.
Get me a drink of water, please.
Okay, here you go.
I could hear her, but I could not hear with a view
to answering until she asked rightly.
Well, the Bible teaches us that we have no basis
of believing God would ever hear our prayers.
Though He hears everything.
He wouldn't hear with a view to answering,
unless we come through Jesus, who said of Himself,
I am the way, the truth, the life.
And if that weren't enough, He said,
and no one comes to the Father but through me,
and that includes not only comes in relationship,
but comes in prayer, because in the book of Hebrews,
we're told that we may draw into the presence of God
through the veil that is His flesh,
only by the blood of Jesus, can we draw near.
So, the only basis we have for ever believing God would hear
any of our prayers, is if we come in Jesus's name.
And in Jesus's name is not just a phrase, tag phrase
we add at the end, it means we come in His righteousness.
We come on the basis of who we are in Him, not because
we deserve our prayers to be heard.
So, the bottom line is,
we can give assurance to someone that God will answer
their prayers, only if they come in and through Jesus,
and even then, for those who are in Christ, the Bible
gives several conditions for answered prayer.
Therefore, we can give no assurance to anyone
who's not a believer that God will answer their prayers.
In fact, there's a verse in Proverbs, Proverbs 15:8
which says, that the sacrifices, which would have included
prayers, the sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination
to the Lord, the strongest possible term of hatred there.
But the prayers of the upright are His delight.
So, when the wicked would come, and bring sacrifices,
should they bring sacrifices?
Yes.
Should they have prayed?
Yes.
But to do them without a relationship
with God, God considers an abomination,
even though they were doing what was outwardly
the right thing, it was an abomination if they came,
basically, in their own righteousness.
So what this means in real life, is for someone
who is outside of Christ to come and pray, and assume
that God will hear them because of their sincerity,
or the depth of their need, or whatever,
is the greatest possible offense to God.
So I often present this to people in the case of,
imagine the most pitiful scenario, you can conceive.
The kind of situation that makes the most hard-hearted
atheist weep when they hear about it.
Now imagine that person coming before God,
and pleading that He would answer.
For people to think, you mean, this can break the heart
of an atheist, and God is not touched?
God would not answer?
Oh, God's heart is definitely touched.
But to believe that we can earn a hearing
with God, to believe that God should answer us,
because we are really sincere right now,
or we have a temporary humility, or temporarily,
I don't normally pray, but Lord, I really need you now,
would you answer this prayer?
There is a sense, in which God abominates that.
On the one hand, His heart is touched.
He is a merciful God, and He hears.
But, for anyone to presume
that they can come in their own righteousness,
and God will answer, is a gospel issue,
because it implies, I don't need Jesus,
thank you very much.
God sending Your son, to give me access to You,
oh, that was just a big mistake, in my case.
Is there any greater offense to God,
than that He made a mistake in sending Jesus?
To think that I am righteous enough,
I can be pitiful enough,
I can be sincere enough that God would be impressed,
and hear my prayers, and Jesus isn't necessary?
That's why prayers made without Jesus are an abomination
to the Lord, because it strikes at the heart of the gospel.
There are people who are unbelievers who would say,
I don't care what you say, I know God answered my prayer.
My child was dying, the doctor said there was no hope,
and I prayed, and I cried out to God,
and He saved my child's life,
and I know God answered my prayers.
Normally I don't pray, it's true I'm not a dedicated
follower of Jesus, but I know He answered my prayers.
I think biblically, the better way to understand that is,
God heard the prayers of Christians praying for that child,
or, in the providence of God, that's what He was going
to do anyway, and their prayers had no impact
on the situation, because there is nothing in the Bible
we can offer to an unbeliever and says,
and gives them assurance God will answer prayer.
There are a very few occasions, most notably,
Cornelius in the New Testament, that people will bring up,
and say, look, he was not a believer,
and he prayed, and God sent Peter, and preached the gospel,
and he was saved.
But when the angel comes to Cornelius, it says,
your prayers have ascended as a memorial to God.
Very unusual phrase,
it doesn't say God has answered your prayers.
And how did He answer the prayer?
If He did, whatever degree we can say He did,
He sent Peter to preach the gospel.
Cornelius needed the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So, in summary, God hears everything.
But we can give no assurance to any unbeliever
that God will hear their prayers outside of Jesus Christ.
But how good is God,
that through Jesus, He welcomes our prayers,
and anyone who will come to Him through Jesus,
He will receive them, and He promises to hear us.
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- [Narrator] Thanks for watching Honest Answers.
You can submit your questions by email,
Twitter, or in the comment section below.
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And don't forget to subscribe to find out the answer
to next Wednesday's question.
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