D. Scott Meadows

Compassion for the lost is a mark of true, biblical spirituality. To recognize the peril of unbelievers on the brink of hell and to suffer anguish for them is the fruit of Christian love. Such burdened saints give themselves to earnest intercessory prayer.

The apostle Paul is a stellar example of these evangelistic virtues. He testified of “great heaviness and continual sorrow in [his] heart.” He said that he could even wish that he were “accursed from Christ for” the unconverted of his concern (Rom 9.1–3). Paul resembled Christ in this. Our Lord Jesus, from infinite love, was voluntarily “made a curse for us” (Gal 3.13). Paul wrote further that his “heart’s desire and prayer to God” was “that they might be saved” (Rom 10.1). This also reminds us that Christ, from love, prays constantly for us (Rom 8.34).

Another echo of Christ’s love animating a Christian is recorded in the prayers of Philip Doddridge (1702-1751), an English Congregational minister. He is most often remembered for his classic book, “The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul” (pub. 1745). Its first half is an appeal to readers not yet true Christians. Doddridge makes a very powerful case to them that their situation is desperate beyond all telling. Christ is their only hope. Anything less than immediate repentance and faith is reckless and extremely dangerous, Doddridge wrote. The climax of his address to the unconverted comes in chapter eleven, entitled, “A Solemn Address to Those Who Will Not Be Persuaded To Fall in With the Design of the Gospel.” It concludes with a moving prayer for their salvation. In many ways, it is a worthy model for us. It teaches by example how we should pray for the perishing.

It is included below. The literary form of this 275-year-old prayer is dated and may be difficult for some today to appreciate. Nevertheless, it is worth repeated readings and careful reflection. Consider three basic exhortations derived from Doddridge’s heavenly specimen.

1. Pray with a Good Conscience about Your Evangelistic Witness to Them (paragraph 1)

Doddridge’s approach to the throne of grace lamented the hard-heartedness of the one who had heard the gospel and was still unbelieving. Then, abruptly, Doddridge rehearsed how earnestly he had delivered the gospel to them. Anyone who has read “Rise and Progress” from the beginning knows firsthand that his testimony was true. With a clear conscience, he appealed to God as witness. Neither the author nor the anonymous Christian friend who, with true love, shared Doddridge’s book, were responsible for this wretched soul’s continuance under wrath. Even if that soul would perish, this prayer asked that the shared evangelistic ministry would have been pleasing to God.

The boldest prayers arise from the clearest consciences. How can we truly attain to anything like blood-earnest pleading in prayer for the salvation of lost family and friends if we haven’t even bothered to convey the gospel to them—the only message which is God’s power to salvation (Rom 1.16)? Admittedly, few can preach the gospel like Doddridge. But who among us is really incapable of speaking a brief word about Christ to them, or writing a heartfelt letter expressing our grave concern, or giving a gospel tract or an evangelistic book? Practical things like this would enliven our prayers. We could honestly beg the Lord’s blessing upon our actual efforts toward their salvation.

Can you pray with a clear conscience for lost people you know? If not, what will you do about it? Why wouldn’t you resolve to convey the gospel to them one way or another, and then promptly act upon that resolution? Having done that, you will surely pray with more sincere fervor.

2. Pray with Strong Confidence in God’s Power to Save Them (paragraphs 2, 3)

Doddridge believed in “the sovereign power of [God’s] efficacious grace.” Holy confidence supports the powerful intercession. Its first line is, “Almighty God! with thee all things are possible.” The particular thing in view throughout this prayer is actually saving the wretched sinner. No problem. God can convict and convert. To Doddridge, God’s “blessed will” was the determining factor in any particular case. The preacher prayed that if God was willing to save this one, that He “wouldst immediately do it!” Then Doddridge bemoaned the sinner’s lostness, begged the divine mercy, suggested the use of means to save, and admitted that the Lord could save even without the usual means. God was perfectly free to save by one mere thought the person might have had in private.

Too few professing Christians understand sovereign grace at all, much less offer prayers that sound like they do. Many believe instead that God sincerely and earnestly desires to save every single human being but that He is limited by the cooperation and assistance of man’s free will. They think that stubborn sinners scuttle God’s redemptive purpose toward them. This is a paltry excuse for theology! It dishonors God and completely eviscerates any basis for pleading with Him to save anyone. Why pray at all if He is already spending Himself in the effort and it is proving fruitless? What justification can be made for evangelistic prayer if the ultimate outcome rests not upon the Lord but on the one who is perishing? Salvation would then be all about human persuasion and we would be reduced to religious hucksters. God forbid! “Salvation is of the Lord” (Jonah 2.9).

If you suffer any lack of confidence in God’s absolute power to save whomever He pleases, whenever He pleases, however He pleases, you ought to learn and consider more carefully the countless assertions and stories in Scripture of His almighty arm in action. Also, seek the help of at least a few faithful books and sermons by men of God like Philip Doddridge who understood these things and proved useful to other Christians in them. “The Sovereignty of God” by A. W. Pink is a noteworthy example.

3. Pray with Calm Resignation to God’s Sovereign Mercy (paragraph 4)

Doddridge’s prayer, besides brimming with boldness, drips with deep humility before God. Insistent intercession is coupled with this beggar’s bending low before the divine throne of grace. Like Abraham of old who was very concerned to confess his audacity in asking anything of God (Gen 18.27, 30–32), Doddridge prays, “But I prescribe not to thine infinite wisdom.” He says in effect, “Lord, if You’re willing, save him now, but if not, at least use it to rescue others, and, above all, be glorified whatever You are pleased to do.”

The truth is that we have no idea whether any unbeliever for whom we might pray is one of God’s elect, chosen for salvation before the foundation of the world. No matter: we pray for them anyway. And having prayed, we calmly and gladly leave their destiny in the hands of “God only wise” (Rom 16.27). As the sacred poet admirably said, “What e’er my God ordains is right” (Samuel Rodigast, 1675; translator Catherine Winkworth).

Any spiritually-healthy Christian knows experientially the dead weight of godly grief for a lost father or mother or for someone else very close to us. Let that strong affection and deep concern be expressed in ardent prayers for them. But even before you say “Amen,” let your heart acknowledge before God that He will be gracious to whom He will be gracious, and show mercy to whom He will show mercy (Exod 33.19). This highest prerogative is the glory of our infinite Sovereign. We are but His unworthy servants, privileged to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness (Matt 6.33). We can look forward to a fuller revelation of His wisdom and power on the Last Day. Then, countless sinners for whom we have faithfully prayed will be saved to the praise of His glorious mercy, and others shall remain to show His powerful wrath, to the praise of His glory (Rom 9.22–24). Let us, too, have the spirit of Jesus who prayed, “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Matt 11.25, 26). Ω

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Excerpt: “A Prayer in Behalf of an Impenitent Sinner, in the Case described above” By Philip Doddridge, “The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul,” end of chapter 11

[1] “Almighty God! with thee all things are possible.” To thee therefore do I humbly apply myself in behalf of this dear immortal soul, which thou here seest perishing in its sins, and hardening itself against that everlasting Gospel which has been the power of God to the salvation of so many thousands and millions. Thou art witness, O blessed God! thou art witness to the plainness and seriousness with which the message has been delivered. It is in thy presence that these awful words have been written; and in thy presence have they been read. Be pleased, therefore, to record it in the book of thy remembrance, that ‘so, if this wicked man dieth in his iniquity, after the warning has been so plainly and solemnly given him, his blood may not be required at my hand,’ nor at the hand of that Christian friend, whoever he is, by whom this book has been procured for him, with a sincere desire for the salvation of his soul. Be witness, O blessed ‘Jesus, in the day in which thou shalt judge the secrets of all hearts,’ that thy Gospel hath been preached to this hardened wretch, and salvation by thy blood hath been offered him, though he continued to despise it. And may thy unworthy messenger be ‘unto God a sweet savor in Christ,’ in this very soul, even though it should at last perish!

[2] “But, oh! that after all his hardness and impenitence, thou wouldst still be pleased, by the sovereign power of thine efficacious grace, to awaken and convert him! Well do we know, O thou Lord of universal nature! that he who made the soul can cause the sword of conviction to come near and enter into it. O that, in thine infinite wisdom and love, thou wouldst find out a way to interpose, and save this sinner from death, from eternal death! O that, if it be thy blessed will, thou wouldst immediately do it! Thou knowest, O God, he is a dying creature! thou knowest that if any thing be done for him, it must be done quickly! thou seest, in the book of thy wise and gracious decrees, a moment marked, which must seal him up in an unchangeable state! O that thou wouldst lay hold on him while he is yet ‘joined to the living, and hath hope!’ Thy immutable laws, in the dispensation of grace, forbid that a soul should be converted and renewed after its entrance into the invisible world: O let thy sacred Spirit work while he is yet as it were within the sphere of its operations! Work, O God, by whatever method thou pleasest; only have mercy upon him! O Lord! have mercy upon him, that he sink not into these depths of damnation and ruin, on the very brink of which he so evidently appears! O that thou wouldst bring him, if that be necessary, and seem to thee most expedient, into any depths of calamity and distress! O that, with Manasseh, he may be ‘taken in the thorns, and laden with the fetters of affliction,’ if that may but cause him to ‘seek the God of his fathers.’

[3] “But I prescribe not to thine infinite wisdom. Thou hast displayed thy power in glorious and astonishing instances; which I thank thee that I have so circumstantially known, and by the knowledge of them have been fortified against the rash confidence of those who weakly and arrogantly pronounce that to be impossible, which is actually done. Thou hast, I know, done that, by a single thought in retirement, when the happy man reclaimed by it hath been far from means, and far from ordinances, which neither the most awful admonitions, nor the most tender entreaties, nor the most terrible afflictions, nor the most wonderful deliverances, had been able to effect.

[4] “Glorify thy name, O Lord, and glorify thy grace, in the method which to thine infinite wisdom shall seem most expedient! Only grant, I beseech thee, with all humble submission to thy will, that this sinner may be saved! or if not, that the labor of this part of this treatise may not be altogether in vain; but that if some reject it to their aggravated ruin, others may hearken and live! That those thy servants, who have labored for their deliverance and happiness may view them in the regions of glory, as the heaven, ‘to him who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us,’ of condemned rebels, and accursed, polluted sinners, ‘kings and priests unto God; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever!’ Amen.”

Source: https://ccel.org/ccel/doddridge/rise/rise.iii.xi.html (accessed 29 April 2020)