May it please God to bless the
reading of his word to our soul's prophet this evening. We'll read
a few verses from the Gospel of Matthew and we'll read part
of chapter 6. Part of chapter 6. No doubt you will remember that
of course this is a part of what we term the Sermon on the Mount
that Jesus spoke when he went up into a mountain and spoke
to his disciples and those that gathered there. So we'll read
from verse 5 for a few verses. 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 is 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. Well, we'll leave the reading
there. And you will note obviously from
those few verses that we read together, it's the words that
the Lord Jesus Christ speaks to his disciples, giving them
and of course giving us really a template for our prayers. And we should be thankful that
God in his wonderful mercy has given us therefore a picture
of how we should pray. And he tells them, and it's good
to remember the words he speaks. 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 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. Well that's very
gracious isn't it of our God to give those words to us to
direct us how to approach unto God and sometimes of course We're
tempted to think that if we repeat things and say things again,
that it will have more effect. But quite clearly, it's not so,
because what it amounts to is, as the Lord says, a vain repetition. as the heathen do, for they think
that they shall be heard for their much speaking. We're told
the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avoideth much. So as we do come to our God in
prayer, it's important that we come honestly with that real
desire and to pray fervently that the Lord will hear and the
Lord will answer our prayers. And then the Lord gives us what
of course we familiarly consider to be the Lord's Prayer. And
he tells us, after this manner. It's not word for word. He gives
us a picture, he gives us a template. After this manner is how we are
to pray. After this manner, therefore
pray thee. Our Father, which art in heaven. The great blessing is we can
approach unto our Father in heaven through the merits of our Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Because he it is that is now
in glory, seated on the right hand of the Father, there to
present our prayers to his Father. It's a wonderful consideration
that, isn't it? To think that with all the millions
and billions of people in the earth, that nonetheless our prayers,
insignificant as they may seem, come unto the Father through
our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. That great God who sits on the
throne in glory hears our prayers. What a wonderful favour and blessing
that is. And then he says, hallowed be
thy name. We have to realise that God is
a holy God. He's not someone that you and
I should rush into his presence and just pray in a haphazard
way. We should come realising this
is a holy occupation, a holy scene. and a favoured scene to
be able to approach unto the majesty on high through the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so what a blessing it is,
therefore, if we come and come with not long prayers, you see,
short prayers, and that prayers which come from the heart, and
we come truly seeking that our God will hear our prayers. And then he says, thy kingdom
come. And we can think of that as the
glorious gospel being spread abroad. And what a great desire
that surely is, that God's word, his kingdom may come into this
vain world. And there may be much blessing
as the gospel is set forth. Thy kingdom come. Easy, isn't it? Not a long statement. Thy kingdom come. And then he
says, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Clearly we
know that God's will is done in heaven because heaven is a
perfect place, there's no sin, there's nothing which is against
God, everything is perfect and therefore everything is in accordance
with his will. But he comes and tells us to
pray, that we may do his will on this earth and that his will
may be done on this earth and our concern should be that we
pray for his will to be done on this earth and not to be concerned
about our wills wanting this and that and the other. Very
easy it is for us to be self-centered and to want God to do things
that we want, rather than coming in this way, praying that His
will might be done. And always submitting to God's
will. The reason is that we know that
God's will is always better than our will. And we can believe
that God's will is perfect. So, what words of wisdom this
is for us to take hold of. Thy will be done in earth. as it is in heaven and it's good
to have that analogy because we know that there is perfection
in heaven and therefore we should try and come therefore with the
right desire and the right attitude and the right prayer. It's very
easy just to ramble on forgetting that we are actually praying
to almighty God. And then we see that he gives
us this prayer, give us this day our daily bread. That's not a long statement,
is it? Simple, isn't it? We all need food day by day. Remember Israel of old, they
were blessed when passing through the wilderness with that manna
from heaven, the same every day. But it was that perfect food
that was satisfying to them. God provided it every day. And so the Lord now comes and
says, we are to pray like this. Give us this day. We need to
come every day. When we commence today and pray,
the Lord will provide for us. Provide for us with our natural
food. We perhaps think, well, we don't
need to. Pray for that in the day and age in which we live.
Well, we make an assumption, therefore, that everything's
gonna be provided, which it will be. But it's good to come to
our God and pray for it. We're instructed, this is the
pattern we have. Give us this day our daily bread. And then he asks then, forgive
us our debts. as we forgive our debtors. And we have a debt, don't we?
A debt of sin that you and I can never repay ourselves. We can never get rid of our debt
ourselves. That debt which began when we're
born into this world. We're born in sin and shaped
in iniquity. And therefore how important it
is that we do pray every day that our sins will be forgiven. Forgive us our debts. And then
he says, as we forgive our debtors. And again, that's good to recognise.
It's easy for people to do things and say things against us and
to hold it in our minds against them. Well, the Word of God tells
us here to forgive those that are debtors. We're to forgive
them just in the same way that we desire God to forgive us. We're not to hold things against
people. We're to freely forgive them.
We trust God freely forgives us. And therefore the example
is for us to forgive them. And then I often think this is
a wonderful statement that all of us should pray every day and
lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. You know there are temptations
all around us and the devil is very keen to provide those temptations
so that we fall into temptation and the result is that we sin. That's the tragic outcome. And
so the prayer is a good one, a right one to remember and lead
us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Deliver us from
evil. We live in an evil age. We have
a great adversary, the devil, who goes about seeking whom he
may devour. And he's always there to attack
us. He's always waiting for an opportunity. to enter into our hearts and
to turn us away from the things of God. So this prayer is so
apt and so good and right, and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. And then he says, for thine is
the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. What a good
ending that is to this prayer that the Lord sets before us,
to come to our God and say for thine is the kingdom, the kingdom
of glory, It's all His and the power, all power, belongeth unto
God. That power to touch our hearts,
that power to turn us from evil to good, that power to keep us,
as the Apostle Peter so ably says, kept by the power of God,
through grace, unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
times. of God. God is able and how good
it is therefore if we come recognising that and plead and acknowledge
for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory. As I often say we are on the
earth not for our glory but for God's glory. And that is a very
powerful consideration. It's a very necessary consideration. It's a very humbling consideration,
especially as we see how often we fail in this. But nonetheless,
let us realize what these words tell us. For thine is the glory. It's the power, it's the kingdom,
it is the glory. And then he says, forever, forever. That's something beyond our comprehension. Forever is something beyond time. We live in time, we understand
time. We don't understand forever. We don't understand eternity.
It's just beyond our natural comprehension. But here it is. for us to realise as we come
in prayer to acknowledge before our God that we recognise this
great and glorious fact for thine is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever. And then he says, Amen. So let
it be. Well, it's a very short prayer,
isn't it? But it's a very full prayer and
it covers really everything you and I need in our little lives
as we travel through this world. And what a blessing therefore
to be willing to submit ourselves to such a framework in our prayers. And so finally, the last couple
of verses we read, for if we, if ye forgive men their trespasses,
your heavenly Father will also forgive you. We must have a forgiving
spirit. It's a sad truth when you hear
people say, well, I'm not going to forgive. My friends, if God
was to say that to you and me, I'm not going to forgive you.
How terrible that would be. What a blessing then to believe
we have a God who does forgive. For if ye forgive men their trespasses,
your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. If ye forgive not
men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses. Clear, isn't it? We don't need
a dictionary to understand these words, but they're here for our
instruction. Remember, the Saviour spoke these
words in that seminal amount, and it was a wonderful statement.
And may we therefore remember these words for our good and
for the honour and glory of God. Well, we'll leave these few comments
there this evening.