1 Johnv. 14,15. This is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any tinny according to his will, he heareth us : and if ice know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that toe have the petitions that we desired of him.
PRAYER is universally acknowledged to be a service proper for sinful men to perform ; yet few have any just idea of its efficacy. If a man were to speak of having received an answer to his prayers, he would be considered as an enthusiast, who was deceiving his own soul. Yet it is clear that we are taught to expect answers from Almighty God, and that too even in relation to the specific petitions which we have presented before him. The words which we have just read abundantly attest this, and naturally lead me to shew,
I. The confidence which a believer may enjoy in drawing nigh to God —
He may possess a confidence,
1. Respecting the acceptance of his prayers in general —
[God has been pleased to make himself known to us under this very character, "A God that heareth prayer a." And in the most explicit terms has he assured us, that " no man shall seek his face in vainb:" Ask, and ye shall have; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, nndeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall he opened0." In truth, if this hope were not held out to us, it would be in vain to approach our God at all. Thus far, therefore, the world at large will admit the efficacy of prayer: they will acknowledge that some good will proceed from it ; though their idea is, that the benefit will accrue rather from the meritoriousness of the act of prayer, than from any attention paid to the prayer itself. But we must go further, and assert, that the believer is warranted to enjoy a confidence also,]
2. Respecting specific answers to each particular petition —
a Ps. lxv. 2. b Isai. xlv. 19. » Matt. vii. 7, 8.