Expert: Tom Smith - 12/11/2004

Question
I was told by a relative of mine that her preacher stated that god does not hear a sinner when he/she prays. Is this true or untrue and do you have verses to validate your answer?

Answer
I would suspect that that idea comes from verses such as this:

Isa 1:12-15
12 "When you come to appear before Me,
Who has required this from your hand,
To trample My courts?
13 Bring no more futile sacrifices;
Incense is an abomination to Me.
The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies--
I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.
14 Your New Moons and your appointed feasts
My soul hates;
They are a trouble to Me,
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your hands,
I will hide My eyes from you;
Even though you make many prayers,
I will not hear.
Your hands are full of blood.
NKJV

Who is God speaking to here?

Isa 1:10
10 Hear the word of the LORD,
You rulers of Sodom;
Give ear to the law of our God,
You people of Gomorrah:
NKJV

There are people who are extremely corrupt, whose hearts are completely turned to evil, and not the things of God.

There is also an example of God not hearing prayers for such people:

Jer 7:16-17
16 "Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you.
NKJV

Note again he is speaking against corrupt men. As an aside, note the similarity between this reference in Jeremiah, specifically Jer 7:11 and Luke 19:45-46. The reference in Jeremiah is prophetic and is Jeremiah speaking on behalf of the lord of Hosts, an OT reference to Jesus.

God does hear sinners prayers, though, but it is a matter of the heart. We know that He will hear sinners prayers because of the following:

1 Sam 12:9-11
10 Then they cried out to the LORD, and said, 'We have sinned, because we have forsaken the LORD and served the Baals and Ashtoreths; but now deliver us from the hand of our enemies, and we will serve You.' 11 "And the LORD sent Jerubbaal, Bedan, Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side; and you dwelt in safety.
NKJV

And we have the well known John 3:16:

John 3:16-18
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
NKJV

When we are saved, we are sinmners, and our sins are then washed away by the blood which Jesus shed on the cross. We know that all who come to Christ are sinners because Rom 3:23 says so:

Rom 3:23-25
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance
NKJV

Thus if God did not hear the prayers of sinners, none of us would have any hope of being heard when we pray to receive our Saviour's free gift of eternal life.

So while it is true that God does not hear the prayers of some sinners, that is due to the state of their heart. For those who seek Him in sinerity and truth, He does hear.