6 we read the whole of the prayer
from verse 9 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 forever. Amen. There are, of course, many
scriptures that really are a record of the prayers of the people
of God. Many of the Psalms, you might
say all of the Psalms, in a sense, our prayers as well as praises
being addressed to gods and we we have a detailed account of
the remarkable prayer that Solomon prayed of the dedication of the
temple and then we also have the record of that prayer that
Daniel prayed when the uh... seventy years had been accomplished
for the exile of the children of Yisra'el, that prayer that's
recorded in Daniel chapter 9 and then in the New Testament we
have the record of Christ's high priestly prayer in John chapter
17 and these prayers do service, they encourage us in prayer but
they're not patterned prayers and this particular prayer that
we call the Lord's Prayer is that there really should be a
pattern to us in all our approaches. Christ says after this manner,
therefore, pray ye. In Luke 11 it says, when ye pray,
say, then follows the content of the Lord's prayer. And we've
been looking at this prayer now over several weeks during this
lockdown and we come to The conclusion tonight, and I want to conclude
by simply considering the very last word of the prayer, the
word Amen. The theme then is simply that
one word, Amen. We come to consider Thee, Amen. And we remember what the word
means. It means true or truly. Often, of course, in John's gospel,
it's the word that's rendered verily. And it's a Hebrew word,
and it's been brought over into the Greek language here in the
New Testament, and it's even brought over into our own English
language. It's simply a transliteration,
really, of the Hebrew word which is the word Amen. It's not been
translated. It's simply been transliterated
into New Testament Greek and then into the English language. And you will have observed in
that psalm that we read again tonight, Psalm 72, we have a
double Amen at the end. Amen and Amen. The prayers of David, the son
of Jesse, are ended. And in fact, We have that double
Amen on other occasions also in the Psalms, Psalm 41, Psalm
89, Blessed be the Lord forevermore, Amen and Amen. And we do use this word at the
end of our own prayers. Now what does this word really
signify? We know what the word means,
As I said, it means true or truly, verily. But what does it signify? And the word does have a very
profound meaning. And I want us to consider it
tonight in a twofold sense. First of all, to consider it
subjectively as an expression of the reality of our faith as
we come and utter our prayers before God. And then secondly,
to consider it objectively, as it really concerns the objects
of that faith, that praying faith, the object being the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it's interesting, I looked
up in Cruden's concordance, I'm sure many of you have a copy
of Cruden's concordance, and of course he there has a list
of the names that are given to the Lord Jesus Christ in the
scriptures and there are at least 200 names that are mentioned
by Alexander Cruden and amongst those names of Christ is this
one. He is the Amen. Revelation 3.14
He is the Amen, the faithful and true witness. First of all
tonight to consider the word subjectively Last time, a couple
of weeks ago, I did make some remarks on the
word, that really it's an expression of our faith, our confidence
in God. As we come to the end of our
praying and we use this word, that's what it expresses. And
I think it's brought out In the last question, in the Heidelberg
Catechism, I suppose in England, certainly in Scotland, in the
past much use has been made of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. certainly our spiritual forebears
would have been familiar with the content of that catechism
that was drawn up by the Westminster Divines back in the 1640s and
the remarkable opening question of that catechism, what is the
chief end of man? And the answer, man's chief end
is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. But I think also the
first question in the Heidelberg Catechism is a very significant
question. I'm going to say something presently
about the last question, but thinking of how that catechism
opens. And the first question is, what
is thy only comfort in life and death? And the answer that I,
with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but
belong unto my faithful Saviour, Jesus Christ, and so forth. It's
quite a detailed answer, but that's what it speaks of. In
many ways, I think that that catechism that is so familiar
to Before believers on the continent, a catechism is surely a very
experimental catechism. And he comes out right at the
end. The last question, the last question, question 129 of the
Heidelberger, what does the word Amen signify? And the answer,
it shall truly and certainly be, for my prayer is more assuredly
heard of God that I feel in my heart that I desire these things
of him. How good it is then to remember
that as we utter the word Amen. It is an expression of our assurance
that prayer is not in vain. God does hear and God does answer
our prayer. How is faith expressed? Faith
is expressed in prayer. If we know anything of faith,
we know what it is to call upon the name of God. In fact, put
another way, we can say that prayer is the very evidence of
faith. Remember the assurance that was
given to Ananias in Acts chapter 9? There he was in Damascus,
a faithful disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, doubtless aware
of the activists of that arch-persecutor Saul of Tarsus and now here is
Saul coming to Damascus to lay violent hands upon those who
are the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then Ananias
is instructed to go to the street called Straits and he will find
this man Saul and he is to lay hands upon And where is the assurance
given that he won't come to any harm? Well, he is simply told,
behold, he prayeth. Behold, he prayeth. Their doubtless
sword of Tarsus, as a Pharisee, had said many prayers. But here
is the evidence now that the Lord has met with him and saved
him. And he has assured his faithful disciple Ananias that this man
is to be the servant of Christ and to preach the gospel, and
Ananias finds his assurance in those simple words, Behold, he
prayeth. Prayer is the evidence of saving
faith. When we utter the word Amen,
that is an expression of our faith in God. We're told, remember
in Hebrews 11, 6, without faith it is impossible to please God.
He that cometh to him must believe that he is, and that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek him. And the opening words
of that great 11th chapter, we're told their faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. By it the
elders received a good And then it goes on to speak of the elders
as it were, those faithful servants of God in the Old Testament. We're familiar I'm sure with
the content of Hebrews 11 and the various signs that are spoken
of there. And look at the language that
is used, verse 13. It says, These all died in faith,
not having received the promises but having seen them afar off,
and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed
that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. And then
when we come to the end of that catalogue, again it says these
all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the
promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that
they without us should not be made perfect. Faith then is what is being spoken
of when we utter this word Amen. It is that assured belief that
our prayer is not in vain. Or think of another prayer that
we read of David's prayer of thanksgiving when they brought
the Ark to Jerusalem. David would establish the worship
of God there in Jerusalem upon Mount Zion. And the ark is brought. And we read of his prayer, and
the end of the prayer there, 1 Chronicles 16, 36, all the
people said, Amen, and praised the Lord. So we have the exhortation
in Psalm 106, that all the people say, Amen, praise ye the Lord. or we come then in faith. That gift of God's, that subjective
thing, that confidence in God. He is able to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh
in us. This is to be our confidence
then when we come to prayer. We go and think of the language
that we have there in the first chapter of the epistle of James. If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and that braideth
not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, not
in wavering. For he that wavereth is like
a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let
not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.
A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. For to be able
then to utter that great word, Amen, it indicates that we are
not coming before God to play the part of a hypocrite. There's no pretense in our prayer. We mean, we mean what we are
saying. Now here, in this pattern prayer,
there are seven petitions. And we consider these various
petitions by turn and what we're saying with the Amen is that
these petitions are the real objects of our desire. Remember
the order. And the first three are very
much directed towards God. In first of the petitions, hallowed
be thy name, let thy name be holy. Thy kingdom come, thy will
be done in earth as it is in heaven. Or we come primarily
concerned with God and the glory of God. Oh yes, we make requests
for ourselves, but all centers in God. And then the doxology,
for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen, for of him and through
him and to him are all things to whom we glory forever and
ever. Man's chief end, to glorify God
and to enjoy him forever. But having said something with
regards to the subjectivity that is indicated when we utter this
word, it's an expression of our of our faith, our confidence,
our assurance that God would hear us and we are coming before
him in all sincerity. Let us turn to the objectivity
of this word, Amen, because we know that with faith, with saving
faith, the vital thing is the object. The object of faith is
the all-important thing. Or what does God say in the Old
Testament, Luke 45, 22? When we say Amen, we're saying
that we are truly looking to God, looking only to God. Again,
the language in the New Testament, Hebrews 12, 2, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. And there, the verb that's used,
and I think I've said this many times previously, but the force
of that verb, to look, is literally to look away to Jesus. In other words, there's just
one object. The eye is turned from every
other object looking only unto Jesus. the author and finisher
of our faith. You see, in saying Amen, we really
address the object of our prayer, because Amen is actually the
name of God. Now that's the case in the Old
Testament. Isaiah 65, 16, we read these words, He who blesseth
himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth.
And he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth. Twice there we have that expression
the God of truth. Literally it is the God Amen. It is the God Amen. Now it is in the It is the Lord Jesus Christ who
is the image of the invisible God and the firstborn of every
creature. No man has seen God at any time.
The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father,
John says, He hath declared Him. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. It is the Lord Jesus Christ,
then, who has come to reveal God. He is that one who is the
great prophet, that one that's promised back in the 18th chapter
of the Book of Deuteronomy. But does Moses say, verse 15,
the Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the
midst of thee of thy brethren, like unto me, unto him ye shall
hearken. And then God repeats it, verse
18, I will raise him up a prophet from among their brethren, like
unto them, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall
speak unto them all that I shall command him. Oh, it is the Lord
Jesus Christ. who is that one who comes to
speak the words of God. Christ is, as I said, the Amen,
the faithful and true witness. He is God's witness. He is speaking
faithfully the words of God. John 3.34, He whom God hath sent
speaketh the words of God. For God giveth not the Spirit
by measure unto him, he is the anointed, he is the Messiah,
the Christ. What does he say when he comes
to the end of his earthly ministry? In that great prayer of John
17, I have given them the words which thou gavest me. Again he
says, my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. for this is the Lord Jesus Christ
and remember how throughout the gospel according to John we have
that word verily and so often we have that word repeated the
Lord prefixing his message that he had received from the Father
he prefixes his words verily, verily The 72nd Psalm is a messianic
psalm. It's a psalm for Solomon, whose
name means peace. But as I said on the Lord's Day,
it speaks of a greater than Solomon. A greater than Solomon is there
in that psalm. That one who is the Prince of
Peace. And it is Christ, you see, that we have there at the
end of the psalm. He is the Amen and Amen. or is that one who utters those
words time and again, amen, amen? For what is it that the Lord
Jesus Christ declares? He declares gospel truth. The law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And we know that that gospel
is the word of God's promise. All the promises of God in him
that is in Christ are yea and in him are meant to the glory
of God by us. Oh in Christ then we have that
truth which God who cannot lie promised from before the foundation
of the world. What is it that Christ declares?
He declares gospel truth. And when we come to pray, we
are to plead God's words. We are to plead all that the
Lord Jesus Christ has said, all those promises that in Him are
yea, and in Him are amen, all those promises that He has sealed
by the shedding of His precious blood. When we say amen, we are
truly invoking the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is one God and one mediator
between God and men and man, Christ Jesus. It's through Him
that we have access, by one Spirit unto the Father, in whom we have
boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him, says the
Apostle. Now we have to invoke the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is what we do when we
utter our Amen, we're asking for his sake. He says, if ye
shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. And what is that
name? Oh, it is Christ who is the Amen,
the faithful and true witness. And almost The very last words
of scripture there in Revelation 22 20 remind us again of him. Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus. And so when we conclude our prayer
and after this blessed word, we want the Lord Jesus Christ
to come to appear for us. To show that he is that one who
is not only hearing our prayers, but answering all of our prayers.
and that one who will surely do those things that we desire
of him. Oh, the Lord then be pleased
to help us to see what profound truth is found in this great
word, the Amen. Oh, the Lord be pleased to bless
these few thoughts to us before we turn to God again in prayer. Before we pray, let us sing our
second phrase in 387.