Who will intercede Part 4

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Reach a ministry representative at the call center or go to ltw.org. Thanks for joining Dr. Michael Youssef for a very practical and challenging episode of Leading the Way. Up next, experience the emotional moments Abraham pleaded with God for the lives of his family.

Dr. Youssef reveals practical lessons on prayer for your life through this compelling story. Some days in the middle of the night or more like early hours of the morning, I'm able to look out over the city. The city that is full of hustle and bustle and traffic and noise during the daytime. At that time, it's quiet. It is silent. It is peaceful.

It's serene. And one day as I was looking and realizing that in the midst of this serenity, there are cries that are going up to heaven that I could not hear because only God could hear. There are cries of being lifted up to heaven even in the midst of the silence and the peaceful appearance. Only God could hear and see wickedness that is taking place even in the quiet hours of the night. Only God could hear the cry of a child who is being abused by a drunken parent. Only God could hear the cries of the victims of street gangs. Only God could hear the cries of drunken people in a hundred bars that marred the face of the city. Only God could hear the cry of sinful immorality and debaucher.

Only God could hear the cries of a drug addict. Only God could hear the cries of those who are plotting destruction for their competition. And then I thought, of these cries coming out of one city, I must add to that all the cries that are coming out of hundreds, thousands of cities across the land. And then you got to add to that the cries of the rising up to heaven from hundreds of thousands of cities around the world and towns.

The cries of the rising up to God. And God's justice demands that judgment should come upon the wicked. That judgment must come upon wickedness. That is the justice of God. But then I perceive his mercy to be saying, give them one more time, give them one more chance, give them one more opportunity, give them one more day so that they may hear the gospel message and turn and receive forgiveness from the hand of God. Give them one more opportunity to repent. But I tell you with deep pain in my heart that the tragedy in the cities in America today is that they have heard the gospel message for so many years.

That they have rejected it. They've heard the gospel message and they ignore it. They've heard the gospel message but they twist its meaning to suit their purposes. They have heard the gospel message but they neutralize its powers. They've heard the gospel message but then they turned a deaf ear to it. And the judgment of God is in its way.

Now listen to me. The preaching of the coming judgment of God is the most offensive message that can be proclaimed in America today. The warning of the coming judgment of God is the most hated message in America today. The truth of the coming judgment is viewed by many. Church goers, church pastors and priests and preachers as the most negative message that could ever be preached. And I know and you know from the word of God that if we deny the future certainty of the coming judgment of God upon wickedness in the world. So that we can make people feel good. They will literally curse us for all of eternity when we deny them the warning of this truth that God shall judge the world.

That is a fact. And what is the responsibility of every single believer in Jesus Christ between now and the time of the coming judgment? We must lovingly, we must careingly, we must gently and we must thoughtfully warn people of the coming judgment. We are to intercede on behalf of the lost people. We are to pray and cry to God on behalf of lost people.

We are to be consistent witnesses for the salvation that can only come through Jesus Christ. We are to plead and urge lost people please escape the judgment that is coming. We are to plead with God for the sake of the city and for the sake of the nation. We are to intercede with God on behalf of the city and on behalf of the nation.

We are to stand in the gap on behalf of the city and on behalf of the nation. Now I want you to turn with me please to Genesis chapter 18. God tells Abraham that the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great that their sin is so grievous that he is going down to see for himself.

What's that mean? God can't see it from heaven? He's going to come and see it for himself?

No. This is the Bible's way of using human language to illustrate that God is going to give them a fair hearing. That he's not going to arbitrary judge them but he's going to give them every opportunity to turn and to repent.

This is the Bible's way to talk human language to illustrate the watchful eye in the sky. To tell us about the God who is not indifferent to the cry of those who are oppressed. It tells us that God is not indifferent to those who defy his laws. That God is not indifferent toward those who are deceiving and lying and cheating. That God is not indifferent toward those who call evil good and good evil.

That God is not indifferent. And the reason people, some church people get really angry when they hear the message of the coming judgment and they try to shoot the messengers. The reason they get angry about the message of the coming judgment is because they do not want to admit that they're sinners. They do not want to repent of their sins. They do not want to acknowledge their sins. They do not want to turn to God and receive forgiveness for their sins.

They want to keep on sinning but at the same time their conscious is burning within them and they know it. And so they say, we're not sinners. We're just having lifestyle choice.

We're just having sexual preferences. This is the way you do business these days. This is the way the world is today. Michael you've got to understand that there's a new definition of Christianity today. Christianity is no longer about sin and salvation and judgment and heaven and hell. But Christianity now is about believing that all the religions are going to lead to the same place. That the definition of Christianity today is about tolerance of all lifestyles. That the definition of Christianity today is that it doesn't matter what you do and what you believe as long as you do some good. Totally contradicting 4,000 years of Bible writings and Bible writers and revelation of God and His word.

But this modern deception should never, listen to me, this modern deception should never, never, never deter us not for one moment from interceding on behalf of lost people. And we have the biblical example here in Genesis 18. The people of Sodom were totally absorbed in their own sin and sinful lifestyle. They were totally oblivious to the fact that Abraham was up there on the mountain interceding for them, pleading with God on their behalf. But that did not stop Abraham from continuing to intercede. It didn't matter whether they knew it or not.

It didn't matter whether they understood it or not. He kept on interceding. He kept on praying. This prayer is a model prayer. It's actually the first prayer of its kind in the whole of the Bible.

There are three things about this prayer that you must remember as you pray for this great nation, as you pray for your neighbors, as you pray for your friends, as you pray for your family members. First, it was a penitent prayer. Secondly, it was a persistent prayer. And thirdly, it was a persuasive prayer. It was a penitent prayer.

What do I mean by this? Being the first type of prayer of its kind in the Bible, it sets the example for all of us. In fact, somebody said that we are never more like Jesus or more pleasing to the Lord than when we pray for others. And yet, Abraham did not come to God in a posture of demanding anything. He didn't say, God, please do this.

It's very important for you to do this. He did not come to God in a posture of presuming on God's grace. He did not come to God enumerating all of his righteous deeds, all of his righteous acts and says, God, I've done this and I've done this and I've done this for you. Now it's time for you to cough up and do something for me.

No, no, no. In fact, in verse 27, he said, I am nothing but dust and ashes. It was a penitent prayer.

Beloved, listen to me. Whenever we pray and intercede on behalf of our cities and on behalf of the nation, listen to me. Whenever we pray, we come to God not in any self-righteous way at all, not in any self-righteous attitude at all. No, we come to God conscious of our sin that is forgiven by Jesus. We come to God as broken people who have been healed by Jesus. We come to God conscious of his grace that has redeemed us. We're conscious of his mercy that's been extended to us.

We come to God claiming only the merits of the shed blood of Jesus Christ on Calvary. We come to him in intercession in a penitent attitude. Secondly, it was a persistent prayer.

This second point is probably convicting to all of us and your pastors included. Probably the Achilles heel in our prayer life is lack of persistence in prayer. How often do we give up persistence in prayer so easily? How we give up persistence in prayer so quickly? How we give up persistence in prayer too soon? How we give up persistence in prayer and lose heart in prayer so fast? Abraham persisted in his prayer. He persisted in his request of God.

Although his prayer is not really a spiritual model that you need to follow more than it's a cultural thing. I want to explain that to you. You have to grow up where I grew up to understand this bargaining process that was going on. You've got to understand that in that culture, when somebody feels so small approaching someone who is so great, you don't come out there and you blab it and say, give me this. You don't do that. What you do, you test the water. You just tip your toes in there and you say, can I get this? And if he invites you on, you'll ask for more. And then you ask for more. And then you ask for more.

That was Abraham's culture. And here he is so conscious of the fact that he is a creature and that he is talking to the creator God, the God whose very breath is in his hand and he recognized that so he comes to him approaching him slowly. That's how you talk to powerful people.

You approach and you ask for one thing, then the next, then the next. And six times, six times Abraham would make his request of the Lord. And every time he sees the grace of God extended. So he becomes emboldened to ask for more. In many ways, God really was encouraging Abraham to do that. He was inviting him. See, God was growing Abraham in the faith. He was growing him in the faith.

He didn't rebuke him. He said, now Abraham, come off it. I know you're asking for 50 if there are 50 people who saved the city.

And I know really your ultimate goal is five. No, no, God didn't do that. God was patient. God is gracious and he wants to teach Abraham a lesson of faith.

Remember this, Abraham did not have the Bible. He did not have 2,000 years of Christian history. He just had an encounter with God and he is learning about his God. He was growing in the faith.

He was just beginning. He was learning about the vastness of God's mercy firsthand. He was just learning about the immensity of God's grace firsthand.

He was learning about the boundlessness of God's blessings firsthand. I am convinced that sometimes I personally think that God is disappointed at the timidity of his children in asking him. You know, sometimes I hear people pray. I say, well God, I don't want to ask for too much. Well God, I just don't want to trouble you, God. Well wait a minute.

What are you talking about? You're talking about the God of the universe. We need to persist in praying mighty prayers because we have a mighty God. We need to persist in praying big prayers because we have a big God.

We need to be bold in prayers because God wants us to. It was a penitent prayer. It was a persistent prayer. It was persuasive prayer. How was it persuasive? Was he twisting God's arm and said, oh God, you know, do this.

I'm trying to persuade him. What I mean by persuasive prayer is that it was pleading. It was pleading the character of God. That is a persuasive prayer. When you plead with God on the basis of his character, on the basis of who he is, on the basis of his promises, and this was a prayer that was persuasive because it claimed the nature of God. It was a persuasive prayer because it laid hold of the glory of God.

It expressed jealousy over God's honor and God's name. He asked the very core, the very heart of his prayer, God, will you destroy the righteous with the wicked? God, you're a just God. You're a fair God.

And that's what he's appealing to. And he said if there are 50, then there's 40, then there's 45, and then 40, then 30, then 20, then 10. But God knew there weren't 10 there. Abraham was hoping, putting hope against hope, that Lot and his wife and his kids and his family have grown and they're walking with God. He did not know.

He thought at least there would be 10. But God knew there was only five. He answered his prayer, but not the way Abraham wanted it, because the burden of his prayer was the justice of God. That was the burden of his prayer. And what did God do? God said, you know, Abraham, I'm going to answer your prayer. I'm going to remove, I'm going to rescue the righteous and destroy the wicked.

And that's how it's going to be in the last day. Where those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ, those who have trusted them with their life, those who have received the forgiveness from his hand, those who surrendered to him as the Lord of their life, they will be caught up in the air, the apostle Paul said in Thessalonians, and the others will receive the judgment of God. It tears me up to talk about it, but it's a fact. And that is why we must not rest until we warn every person, every boy, every girl, every man, every woman.

You know, the question that people often ask, I mean, it's always, it's in the media, it's in personal conversations. One question, always people come up, if you start sharing Christ with them, if you talk about the gospel with them, they say, well, how can a good God allow bad things to happen? In their minds, when they ask such question, they are saying, why doesn't God just overlook my sin?

That's what they're saying. Listen, but God sacrificed his son so that through him and him alone can offer forgiveness of sin. And God would be unjust if he does not judge sin. God would be untrue to his word if he does not punish the wicked. God would literally be mocking his own son who died on the cross if judgment does not come upon those who have rejected him.

God would not be just if he does not bring eternal judgment. As he had said he will on those who have rejected his plan of salvation and they thought they know better or they can do better and rejected his plan of salvation. So let me plead with all of the Abrahams out there that you must continue interceding with penitent prayer, persistent prayer, and persuasive prayer.

Pray for those who deny the very power of the gospel that they claim to believe. And we know from the word of God that God blessed the household of Laban because of Jacob. That God blessed the household of Potiphar because of Joseph.

That God saved all the passengers on the ship to Rome from the shipwreck because of Paul. We know it in the scripture. It's very clear it's there.

And I believe with all my heart that God is still blessing this great nation because of the faithful prayers of his people. To be sure, most of the economic power structure are not conscious of that. Most of the political power structure they're not conscious of that. Most of the military power structure not conscious of that. They're oblivious to it.

Just that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were oblivious to the intercession and the prayers of Abraham on top of that mountain. But it's the truth. It is true. But it doesn't matter whether they know it or not.

God knows it. And therefore we must never be deterred. We must never be discouraged. We must never give up praying for America.

We must continuously pray and intercede for our cities and for this great country. But there may be somebody here today who would say, Michael, this is new to me. I'm into religion. I grew up in this denomination or that denomination and I go to church but I really don't have an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. I don't know how to communicate with him. Like a friend communicates to a friend like I hear Abraham did and many others do.

The answer is simple. Today you can say, Lord, I'm done with religion. I'm done with denominations.

I'm done with all the other trappings. I want you Jesus to come into my life. I receive you as my Savior and I receive you as my Lord. Come into my life.

You can be sure. Not because I said so but because Jesus said so. He said, Whomsoever would invite me, I'll come and I'll sup with him and he with me.

And he with me. Dr. Michael Yusef, challenging you to intercede for our broken cities and the lost. This is Leading the Way. Now, if what you heard today has brought up some life questions, do remember that you can speak with a Leading the Way pastor or counselor when you fill out a contact form.

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