True and Not True

It is ill to wrench passages of the Bible out of their context, and treat them as infallible Scripture, when they are only the sayings of men.

By acting thus foolishly we could prove that there is no God (Psalm 14:1), that God has forgotten his people (Isaiah 49:14, that Christ was a wine-bibber (Matthew 11:19), and that we ought to worship the devil (Matthew 4:9).

This will never do. We must inquire who uttered the sentence before we begin to preach from it.

Our text is the saying of a shrewd blind man, who was far from being well instructed. It is to be taken for what it is worth; but by no means to be regarded as Christ’s teaching.

The Pharisees evidently admitted the force of it, and were puzzled by it. It was good argument as against them.

This remark of the blind man is true or false as we may happen view it.

I. IT IS NOT TRUE IN SOME SENSES.

We could not say absolutely that God hears not sinners, for—

1. God does hear men who sin, or else he would hear no one; for there is not a man upon earth that sins not. 1 Kings 8:46.

   • Not a saint would be heard; for even saints are sinners.

2. God does sometimes hear and answer unregenerate men.

   • To show that he is truly God, and make them own it. Psalm 106:44.
   • To manifest his great compassion, whereby he even hears the ravens’ cry. Psalm 147:9.
   • To lead them to repentance. 1 Kings 21:27.
   • To leave them without excuse. Exodus 10:16, 17.
   • To punish them, as when he sent quails to the murmurers (Numbers 11:33), and gave Israel a king (1 Samuel 12:17), in his anger.

3. God does graciously hear sinners when they cry for mercy.

   • Not to believe this were to render the gospel no gospel.
   • Not to believe this were to deny facts. David, Manasseh, the dying thief, the publican, the prodigal, confirm this testimony.
   • Not to believe this were to deny promises. “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon”: Isaiah 55:7.

II. IT IS TRUE IN OTHER SENSES.

The Lord does not hear sinners as he hears his own people.

1. He hears no sinner’s prayer apart from the mediation of our Lord Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:5; Ephesians 2:18.

2. He will not hear a wicked, formal, heartless prayer. Proverbs 15:29.

3. He will not hear the man who willfully continues in sin, and abides in unbelief. Jeremiah 14:12; Is. 1:15.

4. He will not hear the hypocrite’s mockery of prayer. Job 27:9.

5. He will not hear the unforgiving. Mark 11:25, 26.

6. He will not hear even his people when sin is willfully indulged, and entertained in their hearts. Psalm 66:18.

7. He will not hear those who refuse to hear his Word, or to regard his ordinances. Proverbs 28:9.

8. He will not hear those who harden their hearts against the monitions of his Spirit, the warnings of his providence, the appeals of his ministers, the strivings of conscience, and so forth.

9. He will not hear those who refuse to be saved by grace, or who trust in their own prayers as the cause of salvation.

10. He will not hear sinners who die impenitent. At the last he will close his ear to them, as to the foolish virgins, who cried, “Lord, Lord, open to us!” Matthew 25:11.

    • One or two things are very clear and sure.
    • He cannot hear those who never speak to him.
    • He has never yet given any one of us a flat refusal.
    • He permits us at this moment to pray, and it will be well for us to do so, and see if he does not hear us.

Observations

Such is the mercy of our God that he will wink at many infirmities in our devotions, and will not reject the prayer of an honest heart because of some weakness in the petitioner. It must be a greater cause than all this that makes God angry at our prayers. In general it is sin. “We know that God hears not sinners: but if any man be a worshiper of God, and does his will, him he hears.” “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” It is our sins that block up the passage of our prayers. It is not the vast distance between Heaven and earth, not the thick clouds, not the threefold regions, not the sevenfold orbs, not the firmament of Heaven, but only our sins, that hinder the ascent of our prayers. “When you make many prayers, I will not hear you.” Why? “Because your hands are full of blood.” God will have none of those petitions that are presented to him with bloody hands. Our prayers are our bills of exchange, and they are allowed in Heaven when they come from pious and humble hearts; but if we be broken in our religion, and bankrupts of grace, God will protest our bills; he will not be won with our prayers.—Thomas Adams.

My words fly up, my thoughts remain below:

Words, without thoughts, never to Heaven go.

—Shakespeare.

God is “neither hard of hearing, nor hard of giving.”

The blood of sheep and the blood of swine are both alike; yet the blood of swine was not to be offered, because it was the blood of swine: so the prayer of an unregenerate man may be as well framed, both for the petitions and for everything that is required immediately to a prayer, and yet not be accepted, because of the heart and person from whom it comes.—Samuel Clark.

It is difficult to illustrate this truth, because, in human life, nothing ever takes place corresponding to what occurs when an impenitent sinner presumes to pray to God. To every government many petitions are presented, but never one by any who are in rebellion against its authority. It is universally recognized, that rebellion against any government of itself cuts off all right of petition to it. So that, for an impenitent sinner to pray to God is one of the most unnatural and monstrous things that can be conceived of.

The fact that God is kind, good, bountiful, does not excuse the presumption of any impenitent sinner in praying to him. That only shows how inexcusable is his impenitence. For if God is good, kind, bountiful, why does he continue impenitent and rebellious?

The fact that he is in great need does not excuse the presumption or lessen the folly of an impenitent sinner in praying to God. It may be that his distress is the punishment of his sin; and for him in that case to pray to God for deliverance is as if a convicted thief were to petition Her Majesty’s Government to release him, on the ground that he found it inconvenient and painful to work the treadmill. Or, it may be that his distresses are the means which God is employing for the very purpose of breaking down his obstinacy and impenitence: by them God is laying siege to his soul. But what rebellious city, besieged by the forces of the lawful government, would venture to ask aid from the government, on the ground that great distress prevailed in it, while all the time its inhabitants had not the slightest intention of surrendering to the government?—The Preachers’ Monthly.