Luke 11, verse 1, And it came to pass that as he
was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples
said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his
disciples. Let's pray together. Our Father, This evening we again
thank You for this time that You've given us to be able to
be together. Lord, it's so good to assemble and to call upon You and to realize
that You have been pleased to allow us the privilege to hear
the blessed gospel of Your Son, how we thank You for your kindness
and compassion and your mercy that you've shown us these years
and even until tonight to allow us once again to hear your Word. Lord, help us. We so desperately
need your help. We try. We long for. We want to hear. We ask you. We knock. We seek. Speak to our
hearts this evening. Lord, help us to worship. Help us to hear for Christ's
sake. Amen. Lord, teach us to pray. You know, obviously, one of the
disciples verbalize those words. But those words, truthfully,
come from everyone that's been taught the source of all of their
need, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ, and also the desperate
frailty of their flesh. How blessed we are that the Spirit
of God was pleased Write that statement down. Scripture says
that if all the things had been written down that He did and
He said, the world couldn't contain the
books. I think about that Scripture
that says, as the Lord said. I think it was Paul that quoted
that. As the Lord said. It's more blessed to give than
to receive. That's not recorded anywhere
else in Scripture. Paul said that under the inspiration of
the Spirit of God, and it's not recorded where he said that or
when he said that. But we know he said it. The Holy Ghost would take that
moment in time and have Luke write down what
one of those disciples said to the Lord, teach us to pray. The faith of God's elect manifests
itself. In that, you're coming down to
the very simplicity of the heart. This is something that Every
believer does. And when you pray, you know, and you think about this, you
that the Lord has called out of darkness, what an honor that is to ask. What a privilege. How much do
we know? Lord, teach us to pray. Think
back on the last time you approached Him. It may have been moments
ago, maybe right now. And when you approached Him, did you find yourself struggling,
helpless? Nobody truly teaches but Him. Let's see what he has to say.
Four things I want to say about this just for a few minutes. I thought about this just before
I got up here. I thought, oh my, I want to say
a few things on prayer. Where do you start? What do you say? This is not
going to be exhausted. I'm just going to make a few
simple statements out of the Scriptures. And then after we've
looked at everything that we will look at for a few minutes
here this evening, you'll think we've not even touched, we haven't
even started. Our Lord, after that disciple
asked him to teach us to pray, said this, In verse 2, when you
pray, say, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy
name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be
done, as in heaven, so on earth. So first, the Lord teaches us
as we pray to whom we pray. who God Almighty is to His people
in covenant mercy. This is what He's taught us.
He's your Father. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And He's our Father. That He
in mercy, compassion, and grace, He who chose before the foundation
of the world to show mercy, He chose the bride for the Son. All that you've given Me, the
Lord Jesus said. All that you've given Me, I've
lost none, but the Son of perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. The Lord taught
when you pray, pray to Him, your Father, the Father of electing
grace, our Father who is our Father by His choice, His mercy,
His pleasure. He is our Father. in holiness
and truth because of our relationship to His Son. That's the Father of the Son,
and He's the Father of the Son's people being one with Him. So we pray first. Teach us to
pray. The Lord taught them, when you
pray, you pray to Him who is Almighty God. your Father in
electing grace, the covenant God, with the assurance of your
acceptance by that covenant grace in Christ." Teach us to pray. Okay. This is to whom you pray. Secondly,
the Lord taught by example. At first verse it says, And it
came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place. The Lord's example carries the
weight of a command to His people. He prayed. This is our Lord. Our Mediator, this is our Great
High Priest. This is He who made Himself of
no reputation. This is God Almighty in human
flesh. And He prayed. 1 John 2, 6, He that saith, He
abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk. even as he walked,
striving after, following after. The Lord prayed. He prayed in
the wilderness. He prayed in the garden. He prayed
early. He prayed late. He prayed all
night. John 13, 15 says, I have given
you an example that you should do as I have done to you. How do you pray? The Lord teaches us to pray.
We pray after His example. He was teaching those disciples. They saw Him and were sensitive
enough to know not to say anything to Him. It says it came to pass
that after He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, I didn't interrupt him. He was in meditation and prayer
with his father. And we ought to behave in a genuine
humility before Almighty God and pray as he prayed. He prayed privately. He said,
when you pray, enter into your closet. He prayed publicly. He prayed with his disciples. The Scripture records he prayed
at his baptism. He prayed at his supper. He even prayed at his crucifixion. The Father forgave them for they
know not what they do. And I'm absolutely convinced
that there were those in that crowd that day that were some
of the Lord's elect that God called out of darkness. He didn't
realize it while they were doing it because you can bet this,
He wasn't just praying indiscriminately. John 17, He said, I pray not
for the world. I pray for those that You've
given Me out of the world. So when He said, Father, forgive
them, you can bet the Lord had looked upon some of them in mercy.
That's how He prayed. And while He was praying by example,
He taught us His baptism, His crucifixion. He prayed in the
garden. He prayed in the wilderness. He prayed, He prayed. The Scripture
just records that He prayed. He taught us don't engage in
activity relying upon your own wisdom and your own strength,
when you pray, pray with thanksgiving. In everything,
give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you. 1 Thessalonians 5.17 says, pray
without ceasing. I've wondered about that. Pray
without ceasing. In prosperity, in adversity. When things seem to be going
well, when things don't, depend upon Him. Be regular. Prayer is just as natural to
a believer. I mean, there is no time element, though I would
strive Make time. Make time. Set a time. Daniel, Scripture says he prayed
three times a day. Is that a rule? No. That's what Daniel did. But I
pray as the Lord gave me some direction. When thou prayest, Matthew 6,
5, Thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are. They love to pray standing
in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they
may be seen of men. But thou, when thou prayest,
enter into thy closet and pray to thy Father in secret." When
you pray, use not vain repetitions. When you pray, as our Lord did
in front of His disciples, Sometimes we pray and it's strange
to me. Pray in front of somebody. You just struggle with it. You
want to say the right thing. You don't want to appear to be
insensitive. Make much time with the Lord.
Pray. He taught by example. Lord teach
us to pray. He teaches us to pray by chastisements,
trials, tribulations. Listen to this, Hosea 5.15, I
will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offense
and seek my face. In their affliction, they will
seek me early. It's sad to say, but we need
to be recovered from the wounds of sin that plagues us. We're in a body,
as I said last Sunday, that same body in which you were born.
This is a fallen body. It's plagued with sin, with the
presence of sin. And no healing is found like
the chastening of His hand. Don't you find yourself enlivened
to seek and ask and knock when things come your way that cause
you to be tried? When adversity comes, oh, what we learn from Him. Listen to what the Scripture
says concerning Him in adversity. And let me ask you this. What
ought we to do? Luke 22, verse 44, "...and being
in agony, He prayed more earnestly, and
His sweat was as it were drops of blood falling down to the
ground." That was the Lord Jesus as our
substitute. That's the Lord Jesus. That's
our high priest. That's the Lord Jesus in the
garden praying. He teaches us by chastisement
how to pray. You know, a believer is going
to get honest with God in adversity. You'll get honest. And I tell you, by the grace
of God, that's how He draws us to Himself often. David said
in Psalm 119, 71, it's good for me that I've been afflicted,
that I might learn thy statutes. To be brought to a place to where
you can truthfully say from the heart, it's good. It's good that
God's afflicted me. This has been for my good, been
for His glory and His honor. He teaches us to whom we pray.
He teaches us by example. He teaches us through adversity.
And lastly, He teaches us to pray as God the Spirit directs
us to pray. We don't pray. or not to pray with just vain
repetition. You know, it's so easy to, I'm
telling you, I'm just, I'm talking about me. It's so easy because
there's so many things that I think about consistently, you know.
And once we get into that pattern of praying, just a vain, repetitious
prayer, there's no heart to it. Careful, there won't be. Careful. I'm telling you, this is the
frailty of our flesh. Pray, Ephesians 6 to 18, praying
always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto
with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. We don't know
what to pray for. We ought to ask as we begin to
pray, Lord, help me. Lord, direct my heart. Lord, tune my heart. That's what
the songwriter says to sing of your grace. Help me. I don't know what to ask. That's
what the Scripture says. Likewise, Romans 8, 26, the Spirit
also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not we should pray
for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercessions for
us with groanings which cannot be uttered." It is the Spirit
of God that draws us to Christ. It is He who teaches us what
He said, shows us the glory of God's blessing We behold our victory in Christ. In life or death, we're more
than conquerors through Him that loved us. Lord, teach us to pray. That's
what he said. Sincere, sincere. I don't doubt
that for one second. You that believe, you can enter
into that request right now. Lord, teach me to pray. Lord,
in that way that You know best, I read in the Scriptures, Lord,
where You said to pray to the Father. Lord, You taught us by
example. Lord, I felt the pain of the
chastisements that drew me to You. And Lord, I realize I don't
even know what to ask for. Direct me by Your Spirit to ask,
to petition, and to be thankful for those things that I don't
even realize what I should. If you then, being evil, the
Lord said, know how to give good gifts unto your children. If my kids were to ask me for
something, and I truly thought it was for
their good, I do whatever I could give it to them. How much more
shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that
ask Him? Can you imagine that petition
to the Lord Jesus? The Lord teaches us to pray. It's written in the prophets,
and they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh to me. We come to Him for life. We come to Him for learning.
We come to Him for comfort. Happy is the man that's taught
by the Lord Jesus Christ, because He knows the way to the throne
of grace. I'm going to ask some men if they'll come forward.
Let's remember our Lord in the observance of His supper.