The Biblical Illustrator
Psalms 66:18
If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.
The petitions of the insincere unavailing
I. Consider what is implied in regarding iniquity in the heart. The words do not point to open, profane and scandalous sinners. But there are many who maintain a fair character before men, who, before God, shall be found wanting indeed. They are deceiving themselves, and say they have peace when they have none really. But--
1. These regard iniquity in their hearts who secretly practise it, fearing the world, but not God. They forget Jeremiah 23:24.
2. Who indulge the desire of sin though they may be restrained from the actual commission of it. Many do this in regard to impurity, sensuality and malice. But see the words of our Lord (Matthew 5:27; Matthew 5:21). And--
3. They who reflect upon past sins with delight, or without sincere humiliation of mind. Perhaps our real disposition, both towards sin and duty, may be as certainly discovered by the state of our minds after, as in the trine of action. For sudden temptation may sweep a man away; but the question which determines what the man is, is what are his thoughts and feelings in regard to his sin afterwards (Job 13:26; Psalms 25:7).
4. Those who look upon the sins of others with approbation or without grief. Not as in Psalms 119:136; Psalms 119:158; Jeremiah 13:17; 2 Peter 2:7. Some there are who find mirth in other’s sins (Proverbs 14:9). And--
5. They are to be suspected who are loth to bring themselves to real searching of heart, or that God should try them (Psalms 19:12). Now, all such do more or less regard iniquity in their hearts. But--
II. God will not hear them. This means--
1. When they cry for deliverance from affliction. God does hear the cry of His children (Psalms 91:15; Psalms 50:15). There are three different objects of desire to a good man while in affliction--the Divine presence to support him under it; the sanctified use of it for the improvement of the spiritual life; and, in due time, complete deliverance from it. The two first, he that regards iniquity in his heart will hardly ask; and the last he shall not be able to obtain (Hosea 7:14).
2. He will not hear them when they intercede for others (John 9:31). It is the prayer of the believing righteous man that availeth (James 5:15). How terrible not to be able to intercede for others because we are of those whom God will not hear. How diligent we should be, who have to pray for others, to see to it that we walk with God.
3. When they draw near to Him in worship (Isaiah 1:14; Proverbs 15:8). Nor--
4. When they cry for mercy at the last (Galatians 6:7; Matthew 7:22; Proverbs 1:24; Proverbs 1:28).
Conclusion.
1. Let the ungodly be alarmed: it only regarding iniquity in the heart cause men to be rejected of God, how shall you appear who are living in open and gross sin?
2. Let us each and all examine ourselves whether we be of those spoken of here. Do we mourn over secret sins, and grieve because of the sin of others? Ask God to search and try your ways. Guard against your besetting sins and live continually as in the presence of God. (J. Witherspoon.)
The evil of regarding iniquity in the heart
I. A supposition stated. When may it be said that iniquity is regarded in the heart?
1. When it is permitted to reign in the life.
2. When we offer apologies for its existence.
3. When we evince no solicitude for its destruction.
4. When we make provision for its desires.
II. A consequence deduced. “The Lord will not hear me” (Psalms 66:19). This supposes--
1. That prayer may be offered to God, even when iniquity is regarded in the heart.. Sinners pray when they are in trouble; Pharaoh confessed his sin (Exodus 9:27); the Pharisee stood and prayed in the temple, but his language evinced the pride and haughtiness of his heart.
2. That where iniquity is regarded in the heart, the prayer is unacceptable to God.
3. That the man whose prayer God will not hear is in a most pitiable state.
Inferences.
1. How utterly impossible it is to deceive God (2 Chronicles 16:9).
2. That there may be a fair show of religious profession, even where iniquity is regarded in the heart.
3. That the most effectual way to secure success in our prayers, is to hate iniquity and put away our sin, and beseech God to prove us, etc.
4. That if God has not answered our prayers, we should be solicitous to know the cause, and find out the hindrance. (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.)
When God will be found
There is a great deal of praying that is merely a form, and of the lips only. And a great deal that is “abomination to the Lord,” because the heart is not right. God wile not hear prayer that does not fulfil the conditions of prayer. They are--
I. Obedience. So long as I knowingly refuse obedience, no amount or vehemence of prayer will avail. I must lift up “clean” hands, or He will turn away in righteous anger.
II. Wholeheartedness. They that seek Him with “the whole heart “ will find Him. None other. God is a jealous God. Therefore halfheartedness will find no favour with Him. How often does God find it necessary to try His people and keep them waiting, till their hearts wax warm and in dead earnest, and their whole being goes out to Him in prayer.
III. A cleansed heart. See the text. An evil heart--of unbelief, of cherished sin, of impure desire, of malice, envy, worldliness--may spoil all our prayers and make them a very snare and a cursing. Oh, it is a fearful thing to come before God in prayer By our very prayers we shall be judged, both now and at the day of judgment. What wonder, then, that so many prayers are unanswered? (J. M. Sherwood, D. D.)
Prayer answered only when offered in sincerity
I. What it is for a man to regard sin in his heart.
1. It is to have a constant and habitual love of it. This true of all the unregenerate. It is born with him and he loves it (Ephesians 5:29).
2. An unmortified habit or course of sin. Even a child of God may have this: David had (Psalms 38:5).
3. An actual retention of the mind upon sin.
II. What it is to have our prayers accepted with God. It is to prevail with God for the obtaining of what we desire.
III. How it is that such regard of sin hinders our prayers.
1. Because in such case we cannot pray by the Spirit, and no other prayers find answer.
2. We cannot pray in faith.
3. Nor with fervour
IV. Application. Let all seek when they pray to have sincere hearts, free from hypocrisy and the love of sin. For otherwise our prayers cannot prosper, and, moreover, we incur the danger of a heavy curse (Genesis 27:12). Therefore, before prayer, let us examine ourselves. This, if anything, will clear the coast. Sift yourselves by examining as Satan does by tempting. (R. South, D.D.)
The hindrances to acceptable prayer
I. The blessing designed--that the Lord will hear us. This supposes--
1. That our prayer be rightly endorsed and presented, which can only be through the atonement of Christ. True, when men, like Balaam, are set on their iniquity, God will at times let them have their way. But the text speaks of a right answer to a right prayer.
2. That our prayers are for permitted things.
II. The declared hindrance to prayer--“If I regard iniquity in my heart.” Now--
1. This is not sin in the life so much as in the heart which is contemplated. The blind man’s reasoning was right (John 9:31). And yet men will keep up the form of prayer though purposing to sin.
2. And it need not be some definite sin that is designed, but if the desires of the mind be turned to sin, then prayer is hindered.
III. The reason of this declared connection between sin and disregarded prayer. Because in such state of heart we cannot pray. We may recite words, but we cannot pray. Let us deal honestly with God in our prayers. (Daniel Moore, M. A.)
Prayer with iniquity in the heart
If iniquity is regarded in the heart--
I. Prayer must be insincere.
1. For the most part, when men engage in prayer, they ask those things for which they are taught to pray.
2. If they regard iniquity in their heart, they cannot be sincere.
3. For they cannot really desire such blessings.
II. Prayer must be faithless.
1. Without faith, there is no prayer.
2. Faith, if it exists, is one of many graces, and itself purifies.
3. If we regard iniquity in our hearts, we cannot have faith, and, therefore, God cannot hear us.
III. Prayer cannot be in accordance with the Divine will.
1. Supposing that the man who regards iniquity in his heart be sincere, his prayer must be for what, etc.
2. He must be rejected.
IV. God will show His displeasure by refusing to hear.
1. Supposing that the man, etc., is offering a prayer for promised blessings, and--
2. That he is sincere, yet--
3. God has a controversy with him.
V. The ends of which we seek the accomplishment, through the blessings asked, must be discountenanced by God.
1. The man asks what is right.
2. He asks sincerely. But--
3. He asks right things for an improper end. We plead the glory of God--the name of Christ. (J. Stewart.)
When may iniquity be said to be in the heart? -
I. There would be iniquity in the heart, in professing to be penitentially humbled on account of any course of action, with which we have had nothing to do, or that is right in itself.
II. There would be iniquity in the heart, if we committed ourselves to any enterprise, without consulting God’s will at the outset.
III. There would be iniquity in the heart, in imploring the Almighty to bless means essentially inadapted to the end.
IV. There would be iniquity in the heart, in supplicating the almighty to enable one class of his sinful creatures to inflict injuries upon another.
V. There would be iniquity in the heart, in entreating Him to bless any instrumentality which He has prohibited. If Christianity expresses the will of God, and if Christianity is embodied in the life of Christ, then war is prohibited. And to ask Him to bless it, is to ask Him to promote rebellion against Himself. (Homilist.)
Iniquity in the heart a hindrance to prayer
Is there any difficulty in seeing why the utterances of one that cherisheth sin can never be wafted thus on high? How comes it that we weak men can ever engage in a work so lofty, so hard, as prayer, a work requiring the putting forth of all the powers of mind and soul? Is it not because there is a Spirit who helpeth our infirmities? Shall His voice be heard from the chamber of a heart in which the love of sin reigns? Will He, the Spirit of purity, work with a heart which is the willing slave of corruption? Again. As the man who regards iniquity in his heart cannot pray in the strength of God the Holy Ghost, so he cannot pray in faith. It is only when our heart, honestly questioned, carefully examined by the rule of God’s commandment, does not condemn us, that we can have confidence towards God. As the Spirit will not inspire, nor faith give wings to the prayer of the lover of sin, so neither can the prayer of such have any glow of life. In such prayers there can be none of that “violence” to which-alone the kingdom of heaven will yield; none of that seeking, knocking, striving, without which we can never find, never have heaven open to us, never enter by the strait gate. A great teacher of the Early Church, one who by God’s grace was rescued from a sinful life, and was enabled when he was converted to strengthen his brethren, confessed that at one time he had been in the habit of praying against a foul sin, nursing all the while a secret hope that his prayer might not be granted. Let those whose first thought on hearing this is one of incredulous horror diligently ask themselves whether, were they as honest as he in the task of learning to know themselves, they would not have to fall under the same condemnation. “I dread to sacrifice to the gods with unwashed hands,” said a grand old heathen warrior, “nor is it comely to present my supplication besmeared with blood and strife.” Besmeared with blood and strife we surely are as often as we come into God’s presence by our bedside or in His House of Prayer with thoughts and deeds of cruelty, of pride, of selfishness, of meanness and unkindness unrepented of; unwashed our hands surely are when our spirits are defiled with the stains of sin which we do not loathe, and in which we acquiesce, instead of being unwilling to rest until they be blotted out. Forgiving, tranquil, pure must his breast be who would worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; he that would take upon him the name of Christ must see to it that his steps depart from iniquity; he that would pray aright must sift his heart ere he kneel, lest he offer the sacrifice of fools; he that would rise from addressing God and joyfully cry with the psalmist, “Blessed be God which hath not cast out my prayer, nor turned His mercy from me,” must first approach God’s awful presence with fear and trembling and a reverent heed that the hands which he lifts up be holy hands, that the heart whose desires his lips are to declare be one that regardeth not iniquity. (G. H. Whitaker, M. A.).