Bible Truth #130 - Isaiah 59:1-2

Isaiah 59:1-2

1  Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short that it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear.

2  But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.

Here is a verse in the Old Testament that tells us God does not hear the prayers of the lost. And it is God choosing not to hear their prayers as made obvious by verse 1 which tell us God is able. Since we are born in sin and since we have iniquity in our soul from our earthly father (Psalm 51:5), we are separated from God from the moment of our conception and there is NOTHING WE CAN DO to change that. God does not hear the prayers of the lost because of their iniquities - WHICH INCLUDES THE “SINNER’S PRAYER” of repentance asking to be saved. Unless, of course, the original Hebrew has an exception that the translators missed, I don’t think so. How about a few verses from the New Testament that reinforces the two verses above?

1 Peter 3:7

You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.

This shows us the the prayers of Christians can be hindered if we do not live right.

James 5:16

Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

Lost men are not righteous (Romans 3:10).

John 9:31

We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will.

I realize that John 9:31 is not a teaching of Jesus and it was actually the Pharisees who were speaking, and even though they knew the law they frequently misapplied it. Were they wrong in this instance? Obviously they were wrong in the context and application by applying it to Jesus, but the biblical principle of God not hearing the prayer of a sinner is valid and sound doctrine.

All this is more proof that God does NOT hear the prayer, ANY prayer, of a lost man. As a matter of fact, God won’t even hear the prayer of one of His Elect if we “regard iniquity” in our heart! (Psalm 66:18) A lost man can not “get saved” by praying any kind of a prayer and anyone who advocates such a notion is letting human emotion take precedence over God’s Word.

So who does God listen to? He hears a righteous man, He listens to the Godly man. God hears only the prayers of those He has chosen and already saved. Well how does a lost man get Godly? He can’t do it of his own volition because he HATES God (John 3:20), he is hostile toward God (Romans 8:7), and he can’t please God (Romans 8:8). And since a lost man CAN’T please God, he CAN’T do what the Arminian thinks is God’s Will (i.e. repent and believe, and “accept” Jesus). A lost man is spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1, 2:5; Colossians 2:13) and does not have the Holy Spirit. Therefore he can understand nothing from the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:14). Oh, he hears the audible Gospel with his ears but he does not accept it because he thinks it is foolishness (1 Corinthians 2:14).

So how does a man acquire Godliness? Because of nothing a lost man does (2 Timothy 1:9, Titus 3:5), God makes a man Godly and He does so ONLY in a man He has chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). God works in a man to MAKE him a believer (John 6:29) by giving him belief (Philippians 1:29). That man is then drawn to Christ and those drawn to Christ by the Father, Jesus WILL raise up (John 6:44). In other words, there is NOTHING a lost man can do, nor is there anything a lost man would WANT to do to become Godly. Why? Because he HATES God.

A lost man can no more do good (like love God) than a black man can change the color of his skin or a leopard his spots. (Jeremiah 13:23)

Salvation is solely of God, it is not accomplished through the cooperative effort of man’s “free will.”