Sermon Tone Analysis

How Praying for the lost mirrors our savior.

1.

Consider the barriers to the lost.

To view the Biblical portrayal of the lost as being:

1. children of the devil (John 8:44

2. under the authority of Satan (Acts 26:18

3. a strong man‟s house (Mark 3:27

4. prisoners of war (Isaiah 14:17

5. blinded to the gospel (II Corinthians 4:3-4

All of these are daunting reasons why we must pray for the lost if they are to have any hope of salvation.

This passage clearly teaches that Satan has blinded the minds of the lost specifically to keep them from understanding the gospel.

Lewis Sperry Chafer says,

“The blinding or veiling of the mind, mentioned in II Corinthians 4:3-4, causes a universal incapacity to comprehend the way of salvation, and is imposed upon unregenerate man by the arch enemy of God in his attempts to hinder the purpose of God in redemption.

It is a condition of mind against which man can have no power” (Chafer 57).

Charles H. Spurgeon shares the testimony of his conversion:

“I confess that I had been tutored in piety, put into my cradle by prayerful hands, and lulled to sleep by songs about Jesus.

I had heard the Gospel continually.

Yet, when the Word of the Lord came to me with power, it was as new as if I had lived among the unvisited tribes of Central Africa and had never heard the tidings of the cleansing foundation filled with blood, drawn from the Savior‟s veins.

When for the first time I received the Gospel and my soul was saved, I thought that I had never really heard it before.

I began to think that the preachers to whom I had listened had not truly preached it.

But, on looking back, I am inclined to believe that I had heard the Gospel fully preached many hundreds of times before.

This was the difference: I then heard it as though I did not hear it.

When I did hear it, the message may not have been any clearer in itself than it had been at former times, but the power of the Holy Spirit was present to open my ears and to guide the message to my heart.

Then I thought I had never heard the truth preached before.

Now I am persuaded that the light shone often on my eyes, but I was blind; therefore, I thought that the light had never come there.

The light was shining all the while, but there was no power to receive it.

The eyeball of the soul was not sensitive to the divine beams” (Spurgeon 26-28).

Sharing the gospel with those for whom no one has prayed is like encouraging a blind man to view a beautiful sunset with you.

It is a hopeless case, for he is blind.

He cannot see!

And unless the Holy Spirit removes the demonic blinders and opens his mind and heart to the gospel, he cannot be saved because the things of God are “foolishness to him” (I Corinthians 2:14

The Greek word for foolishness is “moria” from which moron is derived.

Webster‟s defines moron as “the highest classification of mental deficiency, above imbecile and idiot.”

So, a lost person sees the gospel as moronic and stupid, but it is the “strong man” in his life that causes this negative attitude toward the gospel.

2. The War of Prayer

Our desires can match God’s desires.

Look at how God see the salvation of souls...

God’s solution includes the need to pray..

This little reminder at the end of verse 18 is the reminder that God is not looking solely at our responsiblity for our own stand but how our stand effects those around us.

CLOSING: Parable of the Audacious Friend...

That set of verses comes from a parable told in Luke 11

Notice the difference vs 13 says that God will give the Holy Spirit to those that ask.

for what purpose for the good of others.

what he is calling for is a disciple that sees the great need of the day as a need for the Holy Spirit of God to open the eyes of people and then will call on him in prayer.