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Advent Productions

Benjamin Ng

When God Says No

Father in Heaven, thank you so much for this time.

Thank you Lord that we are able to come and study your Word again.

Lord, you are so good to each and every 1 of us.

We are so thankful for your watch care and your mercy towards us.

And even now as we come to study Your Word, we need Your help once again.

We need the enlightenment of Your Holy Spirit.

Please, Father, speak to our hearts, help us to hear Your voice, and guide us with your word we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

You know, life circumstances often bring us to our knees to seek God in prayer for help.

And most of the time we're praying for good things, healing for a loved 1, for a job, freedom from habitual sins.

Praying for a young boy, I remember 1 time who fell off the back of a truck in US, and he went into a coma and never recovered and never came out from it.

I remember praying for the life of a friend's baby.

I remember praying for people for their salvation and that never happened.

Praying for marriages and spouses and relationships and for healing, emotional and physical.

And sometimes they get answered, and sometimes they don't.

And at times, you know, God, even though our prayers are desperate cries and pleas for help to God, sometimes in His infinite wisdom, He says no.

And this morning I want to look at the reason why.

To get a glimpse into the heart of God, at least from what we see in inspiration and scripture and what's revealed to us today.

This morning I'd like to start off with a character in the Bible, his name David, King David.

He had committed adultery, fornication with Bathsheba.

She was already the wife of another man, his name Uriah.

And he was 1 of the mighty men in the army of King David.

And when King David found out that Bathsheba got pregnant because of him, he quickly called Uriah back, tried to get him to go back home and and spend some time with his wife and sleep with her, but he refused.

He was a soldier in the army and he would sleep on the doorstep of the palace and refused to go back.

And so finally David sent Uriah back into battle and asked his captain to put him at the forefront so that he would perish.

And In comes Nathan the prophet to give him a parable and he gives this parable about 2 men.

The rich man had many sheep, the poor man had only 1.

And basically the parable was to point at David saying, you are that man, that rich man that took away the poor man's sheep even though you had so much.

And he pointed at David saying that you had acted unjustly, you had sinned against God And now this was to happen.

In 2 Samuel 12 14 it says, How be it because of this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.

Because of the sin of David and Bathsheba, the child was sentenced to die.

In 2 Samuel 12, verse 15, and Nathan departed unto his house and the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and it was very sick.

David therefore besought God for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night upon the earth.

And the elders of his house arose and went to him to raise him up from the earth but he would not neither did he eat bread with them and it came to pass on the seventh day that the child died Even though David prostrated himself on the dirt floor there, even though he was praying and fasting all day and all night, God had sentenced this child to death and that's exactly what had happened.

Because of the sin of David and Bathsheba.

There was a consequence for his sin and sometimes God says no because there is something that we have done in our lives that have caused it.

In Galatians 6, verses 7 and 8, the Bible says, Be not deceived, God is not mocked.

For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

Friends, what we sow is what we will reap.

But who knows the mind and the will of God?

And so, as we've looked at the story of King David, the first reason that we understand as to why God says no to good things and our prayers sometime is because of our sin and because of what we have done.

The reason, it's obvious in this story and we can see that as we trace it back.

We don't really need to stand there scratching our head sometimes isn't it?

Let's go to another story found in Mark chapter 5.

In chapter 5 it talks about 1 who seemed more prominent But in Mark chapter 5 we start reading in verse 3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs And no man could bind him, no, not with chains Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains And the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces, neither could any man tame him.

And always night and day he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones.

He would come out and greet the disciples and Jesus who had just spent the night on a boat, storm and rocked to and fro.

They were ready and happy to get off onto dry land and here is what greets them.

He's making a loud noise and he's got these chains still on his hands even though they've been broken and he's rushing at them and the disciples turn around and are ready to run back into the boat and sail off again but Jesus he puts his hand up and he stops the man from coming forward anymore and ultimately he would cast out this the demons that were in this man that is tormenting him day and night, he would give them permission to go into the swine and they would run down into the water and drown themselves there.

But then, we read in Mark chapter 5, Verse 15, And they, speaking of the townsfolk, who had heard about what had happened to the pigs, they come to Jesus and see Him that was possessed with the devil and the legion sitting and clothed in his right mind.

A man that has been possessed all this time, now he's been delivered by Christ, he's in his right mind, he's clothed, he's a sane man, and the people, they come and see him and they are afraid.

Verse 16, and they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil and also concerning the swine, and they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.

You know sometimes our prayers are such off the mark that it's unbelievable that we would pray such prayers.

But we can pray it's possible for God to leave us alone.

But yet, These people are praying, God, please leave us alone.

Have you prayed such prayers before, friends?

Asking God, please take anything except this.

Whether it's my relationship, whether it's my fashion, whether it's how I spend my money, whatever it is, my degree on my studies or my work, we pray many prayers and sometimes we pray, God leave us alone.

But why were these people praying for Jesus to leave?

You see, the demons that were in the man, they went into the swine and killed the swine.

And they were afraid that if Jesus stayed any longer, they might lose more money or possessions.

They were happy for the man to stay possessed.

Because it meant that the demon was isolated to that man and could not trouble them.

And now they see that the demons had come out of the man and they seem to be floating around and causing trouble.

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When God Says No

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