Wrestling For The Power - Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

This sermon, drawn from Isaiah 63:15–19, presents a profound meditation on the necessity of urgent, heartfelt prayer in times of spiritual desolation, emphasizing that the Church's deepest need is not merely external restoration but the visible presence and favor of God. The prophet's prayer, marked by deep emotion, bold pleading, and a wrestling with God, arises from a profound awareness of national sin and divine withdrawal, yet it is grounded in a firm grasp of God's unchanging character and covenant relationship. The prayer begins with worship—acknowledging God's holiness, glory, and heavenly throne—before boldly questioning where God's zeal, strength, and mercy have gone, pleading for a return of divine favor. It then moves into a threefold petition: a cry for God's gaze, a plea for restoration, and a desperate appeal for God to cease hardening hearts, recognizing that divine judgment can include allowing sin to deepen. The prophet grounds his boldness not in human merit but in the eternal, unbroken covenant relationship—God as Father, Redeemer, and the true owner of His people, whose identity is not derived from ancestry or tradition but from divine election. The sermon concludes with a call to the Church to abandon self-reliance, to recognize that God's people, though unworthy, remain His inheritance, and to pray with the same holy boldness, knowing that the world's prosperity does not signify divine favor, but that only God's people are truly His.