The Prayers God Will Not Hear

Happy Sunday. It was about 518 BC, 2500 plus years ago. A prophet named Zechariah is warning the people of Israel to not like act like their ancestors. What have their ancestors done?

Let me read to you from Zechariah 7, beginning at verse 11. Your ancestors refused to listen to this message, the message of the prophets. They stubbornly turned away and put their fingers in their ears to keep from hearing. They made their hearts as hard as stone, so they could not hear the instructions or the messages that the Lord of heaven's armies had sent them by his spirit through the earlier prophets.

That is why the Lord of heaven's armies was so angry with them. Since they refused to listen when I called to them, I would not listen when they called to me, says the Lord of heaven's armies. Now, I stopped at verse 13. Verse 13 bothers me.

Listen to it again. Since they refused to listen when I called them, I would not listen when they called to me, says the Lord of heaven's armies. I don't like this one bit. Is this really saying that there's a line that we can cross that leads to God no longer listening to our prayers?

This question came from today's verse from Proverbs. It's found in chapter 28:9. There we find this. When one will not listen to the law, even one's prayers are an abomination.

When will when one will not listen to the law, when they're not living right, even one's prayers are an abomination. Now, there's several verses in scripture that seem to say that there is a point when some people are no longer heard. Psalm 66, beginning at verse 16, tells us, "Come and hear all who fear God, and I'll tell you what he has done for me. I cried aloud to him, and he was extolled with my tongue.

If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened." From Isaiah chapter 1, we find this beginning at verse 15. When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen.

Your hands are full of blood. On to Isaiah 59. Chapter 59. See, the Lord's arm is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.

Rather, your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. Wow. Now, this teaching sounds very Old Testament, doesn't it? However, it is continued in the New Testament as well.

In Matthew chapter 6, we find this Jesus talking about about prayer. Jesus said, "And whenever you pray, don't be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners so that they may be seen by others. Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward." When you're praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words.

They think that they will be heard. Perhaps they are not. 1 Peter 3:12 says, "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." Sadly, there are people who have hardened their hearts so much that they are not heard.

I found this letter from one such person and let me share part of it with you. The letter goes just a little bit about myself. I'm 28. I was born from a Hindu background, never practiced as I considered myself an atheist.

I came to Christ in the mid in mid 2020. And yes, there have been ups and downs, but I've always returned to him throughout those years. But the past 6 to9 months, I have willingly muted myself and withdrawn from him because of stupid reasons. And that pushed me into depression.

And I've been willingly sinning and hardening my heart by ignoring his warnings. The letter continues, "I've been pulled back into pornography. I've been telling lies day by day, and it's a bad habit, I know. I've been cursing like a sailor, and it's becoming worse.

I feel so stuck and lost and disgusted with my own self. The worst part is that I know the truth, and I know my wrongdoings, but yet I do not care to change. I'm hopeless and lost and don't even know whether I can return to Christ." Look at the warning in Hebrews chapter 6.

Well, that's a sad letter. And he ends with, "Look at the warning in Hebrews chapter 6." What does Hebrews chapter 6 teach? I'll begin at verse four.

For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened, those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come, and who then turn away from God. It's impossible to bring such people back to repentance. By rejecting the son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame. Hebrews 6 continues, "When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God's blessing.

But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will condemn soon condemn that field and burn it." Today, I pray that you remain close to God. Pray for Christians around you.

Stay in the word. Stay in fellowship. Be a good listener and an even better doer. Let's pray.

Lord, we pray for the world around us. For the people that talk the talk but don't walk the walk. We pray that there's still hope and there's still a chance and we don't give up. Father, it's hard to understand that line that people cross.

Thankfully, I don't understand it. I pray none that are watching understand that or even get close to it. But, Father, help us to take our relationship with you seriously. It's in the powerful name of Jesus I pray.

Amen. God bless. Thanks for being with me today. See you next week.