KNEELING IN PRAYER
Dr. W. A. Criswell
Acts 20:36-38
01-14-79
.
. . Instrumentalists and singers in our choir and orchestra. And with
gladness unspeakable we welcome to this service the uncounted thousands of you
who on cable television and in the broadcast of Channel 39 in the Metroplex and
its area and on the two radio stations are carrying this service, the First Baptist Church in Dallas.
This
is the pastor bringing the message entitled Kneeling in Prayer. In our
preaching through the Book of Acts, we are in chapter 20 and now have come
after several sermons to the concluding verses of the chapter.
The
Book of Acts, chapter 20, the concluding verses, “And when Paul had thus
spoken”—addressing the pastors of the church in Ephesus—“when
he had thus spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with them all.
“And
they all wept sore and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him,
“Sorrowing
most of all for the he words which he spake that they should see his face no
more. And they accompanied him unto the ship,” that took him down to Caesarea
and by journey to Jerusalem—his last visit to that city in which he was
arrested, imprisoned and taken to Rome in trial for his life.
But
the word that describes this last meeting with the people in Ephesus is most poignant and meaningful. “And when he had thus
spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with them all.”
There
was a visitor to the Continental Congress of the American republic from Great Britain. And as he stood in the chamber of
that august assembly, he turned to the man standing next to him and said,
“Which one is General George Washington.”
And
the man standing next to the visitor turned to him and said, “When Congress
goes to prayer, the one who kneels, will be General George Washington.”
Kneeling
in prayer. And he kneeled down and prayed with them all. We’re going to look
through the Word of God at these instances where men who knew the Lord have
knelt in intercession and in prayer.
In
the eighteenth chapter of 1 Kings, Elijah said unto King Ahab, “Get thee up,
for there is the sound of abundance of rain.”
“So
Ahab went up and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel.
And he cast himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees
“And
he said to his servant, ‘Go, look toward the sea.’ And he went up and said,
‘There is nothing.’”
And
Elijah said, “Go,” the second time, the third, the fifth, the sixth, the
seventh. And it came it pass after Elijah had prayed down on his knees for the
seventh time, “That the servant said, ‘Look, there is a little cloud out over
the sea like a man’s hand.’
“And
Elijah said unto Ahab, ‘Prepare thy chariot and get thee down that the rain
stop thee not.’
“And
it come to pass that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a
great rain.”
What
an astonishing act of fact. It had not rained for three years and six months.
Literally the heavens were brass and the earth was iron. And yet the prophet
of God stands up to declare saying, “Ahab, get thee up, for there is a sound of
abundance of rain.”
And
God honored that marvelous faith. So God honors the faith of any man,
anywhere, who will trust in Him and believe in God for miracles. The Lord
confirms His Word with signs and wonders. And we are to expect them.
I
tell our people and said so, so many times in recent days. It seems to me when
I walk in the midst of this vast First Baptist Church complex, it seems to me, that I am
walking in the midst of miracles.
On
every hand, on every side, the great mighty arm of God is bared and not the
least of all of the miracles is to see the Holy Spirit of God regenerating the
souls and the lives of these men and woman and young people and children who
come down these aisles, giving their hearts to the blessed Jesus and investing
their lives in the fellowship of this wonderful church.
That
is God. And when we believe God for the miracle, God answers from heaven.
Thus, Elijah down on his knees, asking God to confirm the word that he said.
So we bow on our knees, asking God to confirm and affirm the word of salvation
delivered from this holy and sacred page.
Kneeling
in prayer. I turn the pages of the Holy Scriptures and we stand now in the
beautiful Solomonic temple, one of the wonders of the world. And on this
occasion of its dedication, Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the
presence of all of the congregation of Israel.
And
he kneeled down upon his knees “before all Israel
and spread forth his hands toward heaven.
“And
he said, ‘Would God indeed dwell with men on earth? Behold, heaven and the
heaven of heavens cannot contain thee. How much less this house which I have
built!
“’But,
O God, have respect to the prayer of thy servant, to his supplication, O Lord
my God, hearken unto the cry and the prayer
“’That
thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night.
“’Hearken
unto the supplications of thy servant. Hear thou from thy dwelling place, even
from heaven, and when thou hearest, forgive.’”
And
then follows God’s answer from glory, “If my people, called by my name, will
humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,
then will I hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
“
Great
God in heaven, look upon Thy people here as we dedicate unto Thee all of this
vast complex called the First Baptist Church in Dallas.
We now cover with these buildings five city blocks, and were still growing and
expanding.
And
Lord God, we dedicate to Thee every brick and every wall. Every assembly room,
every classroom, every area and place of this church, Lord God, we dedicate it
unto Thee.
And
now, Lord, bow down thine ear to hear thy children when they pray. Answer from
heaven. Confirm the word. Bless the congregation in its assembly and may the
Lord pour out His Spirit upon us personally, upon our families and upon the
work of our hands. Kneeling in prayer.
I
turn the pages of this Holy Book again. Psalm 95, “O come, let us sing unto
the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
“O
come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker.
“For
he is our God. And we are the sheep of his pasture and the people of his
hand.”
Do
you notice the plural of that entire Psalm? “Let us sing unto the Lord.” “Let
us make a joyful noise to the God of our salvation. Let us worship and bow
down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker.
“For
he is our God. And we are the sheep of his pasture and the people of his
hand.”
I
would have thought that Coach Stallings had listened to the sermon that I
delivered at the 8:15 o’clock hour in the word that he said. We need
each other. We need the encouragement that we bring. And when we gather in
the house of the Lord, the Holy Spirit of God gathers with us.
You
bring the Holy Spirit in your hearts. I pray my heart is filled with the Holy
Spirit in my heart. And when we come together, as a congregation, as a people
in worship, the Holy Spirit moves in saving grace and in wondrous power.
The
author of Hebrews said, “Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as
the manner of some is.”
We
need this service. We need this hour. We need to bow and to pray. There is
private prayer. There is also public prayer. There is private reading of the
Holy Word. There is also public proclamation of the Holy Word. There is
private devotion. There is also public devotion. There is private worship.
There is also public worship.
And
God meets with his people when we gather as a congregation in the house of the
Lord. “Let us sing unto the Lord.
Let
us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,
For
he is our God and we are the sheep of his pasture and the people of his hand.”
This
is the way God has outlined and purposed that we be strengthened and encouraged
in the faith and in the Lord, bowing down, kneeling in prayer.
I
turn the pages of the Bible again. “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was
signed”—namely, that if anyone called upon a god other than the name of the
king, he would be thrown into the den of lions.
“When
Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he” cringed before God and he
renounced his faith and he refused to acknowledge that he prayed. No!
“When
Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house and his windows
being opened in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled down upon his knees
three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did
aforetime”—absolutely unashamed, full of the courage and spirit that comes from
God.
And
the Spirit of the Lord makes a man like that. I one time heard of a little fella
in school, and he loved the Lord. He was a fine Christian boy. And he carried
his Bible with him.
And
right next to him in his locker room was the big football player, who was an
unbeliever and not a Christian. So he made fun of that little fella carrying
his Bible, “You shrimp. You peanut. You pantywaist. You sissy, carrying a
Bible look at you.”
And
the little fella turned to the big football player and said, “Here, you carry
it for a while.”
Real
courage is always spiritual. Always godly. And so with Daniel. When he knew
that the writing was signed as he had always done, three times each day, with
his window open toward Jerusalem, knelt down and prayed to God.
What
a marvelous thing. It says he gave thanks to God. Look, his country had been
destroyed. His city had been burned with fire. The beautiful temple, the
house of the Lord, this one, the Solomonic temple, was in heaps and in ruins.
He himself was a eunuch and a slave in the court of the king of Babylon.
But
he knelt down and three times a day he prayed on his knees and gave thanks to
God. That’s our life when we are in the will of our Heavenly Father. We give
thanks to the Lord, however the providences of life. The Lord reigns. He’s
king of the earth. He holds the whole nations of the world in His hands. He’s
sovereign.
And
however providences may be in our lives, He rules and He knows and He
understands and He fits what is best for us. And for our part we bow in His
presence upon our knees and we thank God for whatever choice He makes for us.
“He always gives what is best to those who leave the choice to Him.” And we
shall thank Him.
If
I’m well, Lord, thank Thee that I am well. If I am sick, Lord, be with me and
fit for me the blessing that I need to learn in this illness. If I am affluent
and successful, Lord, thank Thee that I am able to support Thy work. If I am
poor and have nothing, Lord, help me in my want and poverty to glorify Thy
name.
“In
everything give thanks unto God, for this is the will of the Lord concerning
you.” And Daniel kneeled down upon his knees three times every day and gave
thanks to God as he did aforetime.
I
turn the pages of the Bible. Luke 22, “And Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane was withdrawn from them about a stone’s
cast.
“And
he kneeled down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if it could be, remove this cup
from me’—the awful execution of death on the cross—‘But not my will, thine be
done.’
“And
there appeared an angel from heaven strengthening him.” In an agony He prayed
for His strength. Sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to
the ground.
At
any hour of crisis they will come, inexorably, inevitably. No one of us shall
escape it. In an hour of great crisis, kneel down and pray. He kneeled down
and prayed. It was not the Father’s will that He escape crucifixion and
death.
And
then He prayed, “Thy will be done.
“And
there appeared an angel unto him from heaven strengthening him.” And God will
send His angel from heaven to strengthen you when you kneel down and pray.
I
believe that guardian angels watch over each one of us. The Bible says so.
There are 10,000 things that I can think of in the review of my life that could
have been so terribly tragic had it not been for an intervention from heaven, a
guardian angel watching over.
And
there are guardian angels that watch over you. And when you kneel down, and
pray, and ask God, an angel from heaven will strengthen you. And whatever the
choice and will of God is for you and your life, He will give you ableness for
it. Hell see you through. Kneeling down to pray.
I
turn the pages of the Bible. In this seventh chapter of the Book of Acts, “And
they stoned Stephen as he called upon God and said, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit.’
“And
he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, ‘Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge. And when he had said this, he feel asleep.’”
What
a beautiful way to describe the Christian’s death, “He fell asleep.” That’s
where you get the word cemetery, koimētērion, sleeping place, koimaomai,
sleep, koimētērion, sleeping place. When you spell it out in
English, it is spelled out in our language: cemetery.
What
a beautiful way. The Christian doesn’t die. He just goes to sleep in the arms
of Jesus. And how magnificently did he die. As they stoned him in bitterness
and in hatred, he kneeled down and prayed, “Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge.”
Never
any bitterness or hatred, can you conceive of that? These men with vicious and
violent vitriolic countenances and faces, throwing stones at him that destroyed
his life. Looking back at them, the Bible says, his face shone like the face
of an angel. Without malice. Without bitterness. Without hatred.
“Lord
Jesus, forgive them. They don’t realize what they do. Lay not this sin to
their charge.”
Bitterness
and hatred are poisons. They ruin your heart. They destroy your spirit. They
literally plow up your life. Ask God to deliver you from it. All of us have
cause for frustration and that are in like measure. Returning evil for evil
and hatred for hatred.
Ask
God to deliver you from it. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that
despitefully use you. Then your life and the Father in heaven.
He
kneeled down and prayed for them. No bitterness. No hatred. Just love,
intercession, kneeling down in prayer. And I turn the pages of the sacred
Book. In my passage and my text, “And when Paul had thus spoken, he kneeled
down and prayed with them all.”
Now,
you look at those people. “And they wept sore. And they fell on Paul’s neck
and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, they should
see his face no more.”
Can’t
you sense and feel, in just reading the words, the love that bound that little
Christian band together? That’s what ought to be seen and to be found and felt
in this congregation of the Lord.
“Man,
you don’t know how welcome you are. You don’t know how much we have prayed
that you might come. Don’t know your name, this is my name. God sent you
here. Welcome.”
O
Lord, how we need it. When somebody is lonely, when they feel sad or down or
oppressed, when they feel left out and discouraged, where do they go? If they
went to a bar would they find less personal condemnation? Would they find a
better welcome? Would they find an invitation?
And
if they came to the church, would they feel the condemnation and the
hostility? Unwanted. Unspoken to. Uninvited. O Lord, I have often wondered
if in the midst of great sorrow or sin or falling, dear God, will the world be
better to me than the church?
What
a castigation and a condemnation if the world were better to a fallen sinner
than the people of God. They brought that woman to the Lord Jesus and flung
her down at the feet of the Lord. “Look at this flotsam and jetsam. Look at
this thing. We caught her in the very act of adultery and the law says she is
to be stoned to death. What do you say.”
Of
course, it was a temptation for Him to violate the conscience of the people.
The Lord said, “That’s fine. Stone her to death. But let the one without sin
cast the first stone.”
One
by one, they turned away. She was alone with the Master. And He said,
“Forgiven! Rise, find a new life, a new hope, a new day, a new promise, a new
golden tomorrow. Go in this new, in this new forgiveness, this new life, go
and sin no more.”
Lord,
Lord, would to God our church was like that. I don’t care who you are, glad to
have you. Welcome. Welcome. This Sunday school class is just for you. This
whole department is just for you.
We
are holding these services just for you. Welcome. All of us sinners saved by
grace. One of us sinned one way. One of us sinned another way. One of us sin
still another way, but all of us sinners alike, just saved by the grace of
God.
Welcome,
sweet friend. Welcome, neighbor. Welcome, stranger, loved, cherished, glad to
have you. Lord, Lord, give us a people like that. Kneeling in prayer.
And
then for the passage that you read. In the third of Ephesians, “For this
cause, I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
“That
you be strengthened with might, by the Spirit in the inner man,
“That
Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith,
“That
you may know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye might be
filled with all the fullness of God.”
I
bow my knees unto the Lord, praying for the strength and the encouragement and
the help and the love and the filling that only comes from His gracious
nail-pierced hands.
And
how beautiful and how lovely just the thought, much less the saint! You know,
there are 10,000 big things in my childhood that are absolutely lost in my
memory. But I’ll tell you one that I can remember as though it had happened
yesterday.
We
were living in a store building in a little tiny town, in an empty store
building in order that I might go to school. And there came into the home
there that mother was making in that empty store building, there came a man.
And he introduced himself as the pastor of the Baptist
Church in that little town.
And
he read the Bible to my mother and to me. And then he knelt down on his knees
and prayed for us. I can just see as though it were yesterday that godly man,
down on his knees, praying for my mother and for me.
Isn’t
that what it is all about? This is the faith. This is the religion. This is
Christ in us. “For this cause, I bow my knees,
“That
you might be strengthened by the Spirit.
“That
Christ may dwell in your hearts.
“That
you might know the love of Christ.”
And
the best way to ask is down on your knees. Somehow it just fits that I am down
on my face when I speak to the great God of heaven. When I take upon myself to
speak unto Him. I who am but dust and ashes, I bow on my knees.
I
turn the page of the Bible and come at last to the great denouement of the age,
to the Apocalypse. There is not a dramatic word in all literature and not in
the Bible, there is none more sweeping, more imaginative, more meaningful or
moving than the fifth chapter of the Revelation.
There
in the right hand of Him Who sits upon the throne is the book of redemption.
And it is sealed. And the names of all God’s children are in that book. And
they search heaven and earth to find someone who is worthy to open the book and
to break the seals and to deliver and to make known the redeemed of God’s
saints through the ages. And they couldn’t find one in heaven, or one in earth
or one under the earth who was worthy to open the book and to break the seals
and to look thereon.
And
when John wept because there was none found worthy, the chapter says, “Lo, in
the midst of the throne, in the midst of the four cherubim, in the midst of the
four and twenty elders stood a Lamb as it had been slain.
“And
he came and took the book out of the right hand of him who sat upon the
throne.”
And
when He took it, the four cherubim and the four and twenty elders ...