Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God. The reading is on your hymn sheets
and it is from Matthew chapter 6. We read from verse 1 through
to verse 15. Matthew chapter 6 from verse
1. Take heed that ye do not your
arms before men, to be seen of them, otherwise ye have no reward
of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine
arms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites
do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory
of men. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward. But when thou doest alms, let
not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine
alms may be in secret, and thy father, which seeth in secret,
himself shall reward thee openly. And when thou prayest, thou shalt
not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray, standing
in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that
they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward. But thou, when thou prayest,
enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray
to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in
secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain
repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall
be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto
them, for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before
ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray
ye, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom
come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this
day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our
debtors. And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and
the power and the glory for ever. Amen. For if ye forgive men their
trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if
ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive
your trespasses. Thus far the reading of God's
Holy Word. The word that I desire to bring
before you is that found in the 9th verse, after this manner,
therefore pray ye. The verse on the screen is the
wrong one, it's verse 9. Our Lord here is teaching in
the manner of prayer. It's a very sacred thing. True religion is not just seeking
that praise of men, but of God. And not just an outward actions,
but the inward work that is a real communion and fellowship between
God and our souls. And in prayer, which is so vital
to a Christian, it's his vital breath, and it is also a true
token that which was said of the Apostle Paul, Behold he prayeth. And yet in prayer, there is such
extremes. Those that are in the exercise
of prayer, and yet so wrong, so out of the secret, not really
knowing what true prayer is at all. Our Lord gave that contrast
when He spoke of the parable of the Pharisee and of the publican
in the temple. What a contrast! The Pharisee
had nothing really to ask the Lord, everything to tell what
he'd done, whereas the publican standing afar off was seeking
the mercy of God. A short, simple prayer. And what is very evident in the
Lord's discourse here, and we remember that the Lord has twice
we have recorded concerning what is termed as the Lord's Prayer.
Of course we would include John 17 as really the prayer of our
Lord, but twice he teaches the manner of prayer. This time it
is at Galilee as part of his sermon on the mount, And then
the second time is when he is in Judea, and there he has been
praying himself, and his disciples, when he finished, asked him,
could they, could he? teach them to pray, as John also
taught his disciples. So we have two separate occasions. This is the Sermon on the Mount. And so he says concerning prayer
life, and we would ask ourselves, I would ask you, what is your
prayer life like? Is it closet prayer, what the
Lord says here in verse six, but when thou, when thou prayest,
enter into thy closet? Of course, we do have public
prayer. We do have that prayer one with
another and in the church and in our devotions now. But what
is our spiritual life between us and the Lord like? Then we have the Lord warning
about vain repetitions. The heathen, they said the same
thing again and again, thinking that they would be heard for
their much speaking. The emphasis was not on the actual
petition, but on their much speaking. And yet how close it comes. Our
Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane, three times He prayed the same
words. Father, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thy will be done. That was not vain repetition. It was repetition, but not vain
and empty. Heartfelt, real. And you may
have those prayers like that as well, that you pray again
and again, and they're heartfelt and real. They're not empty. You wait upon the Lord in them.
And so our Lord walked this path, but We are to have short, concise
petitions as what is told here in the manner of prayer by our
Lord. And really what I see in the
prayer of our Lord and the manner that He sets before us is a real
sacred communion between our souls and the Lord. yes we may look at the petitions
and where we have give us this day our daily bread and say well
this is just asking for food for our body and it's not wrong
of course to do so but if we don't come to the true spiritual
teaching of this then we miss the whole worship, the vital
necessity of that communion and fellowship with the Lord. And so I want to just look briefly
at the different parts of the prayer. We have in verse 9, a
coming to our Father as one of His adopted children. There's
nothing so sacred than to be able to do so. And it's done
so with real reverence. Our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. When our Lord was to ascend again
after he'd risen from the dead, he says, I ascend to my Father
and your Father, my God and your God. And it's a blessed thing
when we're brought into that sweet family of God, adopted
into the living family, and view the Lord as our Father. I always used to remember years
ago in Australia, our Trinitarian Bible Society local meetings,
and a dear brother there, now in glory, he was so sacred in
prayer. One could just picture him coming
to one that he really knew and loved, and had a real sweet,
loving, daily, yea, hourly communion with. He was not a stranger to
his God. And may we be like that, to come
before our Heavenly Father as one that knows Him, and yet really
reverences Him. Then we have in verse 10, as
being part of His Kingdom, We desire that His will be done
on this earth as it is in heaven. We mentioned about our Lord praying
in the Garden of Gethsemane and that was concerning the will
of God. It's one of the great changes
that is brought about at conversion, that a sinner, instead of all
the time wanting his own will and his own way, it is what wilt
thou have me to do? And may that be our desire, that
we be part of the kingdom of His grace, and desire His will
to be done by us, and to see it in the world. when we see
it so contrary that it grieves us that it should be so. Then
we have the asking for bread. We mentioned this briefly before,
but our Lord, when He had given the multitude, miraculously,
in John 6, the bread for their bodies, found that they followed
Him across the sea. And when He spoke to them on
the other side, He rebuked them and said that ye seek me not
because ye saw the miracles, but because he ate of the bread
and was filled. Labour not for the bread that
perisheth, but labour for that which endureth unto everlasting
life. And then he spoke to them of
that true manner from heaven, except ye eat the flesh and drink
the blood of the Son of Man, ye have no life in you. And this
was the very point as well, that Satan tempted our Lord, command
these stones that they be made bread. And our Lord had fasted
for forty days and forty nights. But our Lord said that man shall
not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out
of the mouth of God. Quoting from Deuteronomy. And
so the difference of appetite. A natural man can only desire
natural food. But if you and I are spiritually
alive, quickened by God's grace, we'll have an appetite, a need
for, not just on the Lord's Day, but daily, to have the bread
of life for our souls. And may this be your expectation
as we join together on these morning devotions, that the Lord
will give a crumb from the master's table and the bread of life for
your souls. So this simple petition give
us this day our daily bread. Then we ask for forgiveness,
and notice the things here. It is all asking. Yes, there
is most certainly times of prayer when we are coming with thanksgiving. But like with Hannah, for this
child I pray, there was a time she was praying and asking, and
then later a time for thanksgiving. We mustn't forget that. But it's
sad when there's prayers that are all thanksgiving, and there's
never any asking. As a poor, dependent, needy sinner,
we'll hear the manner of prayer is all asking. And so we ask
for forgiveness, mindful of our own sins, and debtors to mercy
alone, and professing to do to others what we are seeking from
the Lord ourselves. In this point, The Lord enlarges
on that in verses 14 and 15 and says, If we forgive men their
trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if
ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive
your trespasses. There is a great weight put upon
the blessing of receiving and giving forgiveness. Then we have
in the verse 13, the first part of it, a hating of evil and a
feeling of our own weakness, that we be not led into temptation,
that that be a path that the Lord steers us clear from, not
thinking, well, we can just go into this trouble and into this
area of sin. We can be like Lot, we can go
into Sodom and not be affected or touched by it. No, if we know our weakness,
we will seek to drive as far away from it as we can. And then to ask of the Lord that
He would deliver us from evil when we are entrapped by it or
that we might not enter into it at all. And then the verse
closes in giving all glory and all honor unto the Lord, for
thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen. So may we have meditation today
upon the manner of prayer. May we examine ourselves as to
how we pray and what we ask of the Lord. do we seek that real,
sacred, spiritual communion, fellowship and prayer with the
Lord ourselves. May the Lord add His blessing.
Amen.