And let us turn to God's word
in Matthew chapter six and verse 13. Matthew 6, 13. Closing words of the Lord's prayer,
the pattern prayer that Christ is teaching us. And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and
the power and the glory forever. Amen. Here in Matthew 6 and verse
13, and we come now in particular to the latter part of the verse,
those words that we know as the doxology. The doxology of the
prayer for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. I'm surprised you to know that
these words are omitted in so many of the modern versions. For example, they're omitted
in the Revised Standard Version, and in the NIV, the New International
Version, and the New American Standard Bible, they are bracketed
In other words, they're marked off as not necessarily being
part of the text. But here they stand before us
in our authorized version. Now, I'm aware that these words,
of course, are not to be found in the other account that we
have of the Lord's Prayer that's recorded in the 11th chapter
of Mark and the opening verses of, sorry, the 11th chapter of
Luke and the opening verses of that chapter. But we have to
remember that that is a different occasion. There in Luke 11, we're
not reading of the Sermon on the Mount a different situation. It's another occasion when Christ
also taught the pattern prayer, as we see from the opening verse
of that chapter. 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. And then we have basically the
same prayer as he teaches here in Matthew chapter six, but there
he does not make reference to the words of the doxology. And
for some reason, the modern versions have decided that it ought also
to be omitted here in Matthew. Although it's found in the in
the majority texts. Well, we come then to this last
part of the prayer. Remember the content that we
have in these verses from verse 9. It begins, of course, with
the words of invocation, how we are to address God as our
Father. And then we've seen how some
seven petitions follow those words of invocation until we
come to the words that we have here at the end. For thine is
the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. As we come to consider
the words, first of all I want to say something with regards
to the fact that in prayer we are those who are worshipping
God. There is worship in prayer. We come with that spirit of real
reverence when we call upon God. We are told concerning the angels
there in Isaiah chapter six, where the prophet sees that remarkable
vision of heaven, the throne of God, the seraphims, the burning
ones, the pure angels about the throne of God. And they have
six wings, and we're told with two they cover their feet, with
two they cover their faces, and with two they fly. They cover their feet, the ground
is holy ground, they cover their faces, the sights, is too glorious
even for those pure, holy creatures. And what is their cry? Holy,
holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of
thy glory, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. And if prayer is such a holy
exercise. What should be our posture when
we come before the Lord? It's interesting to see what
he said in Holy Scripture concerning the position, the posture of
men and women when they come to prayer. Back in Numbers chapter
16 and verse 22, we see that Moses and Aaron were prostrate. They were flat on their faces
before God on that occasion as they prayed to him. And then when we read of Daniel's
prayer, there in Daniel chapter 6, you remember the context,
Darius had been persuaded that prayer should only be permitted
to be made throughout his kingdom in his own name. There were those
who were seeking to plot against Daniel. He was so hated, and
they knew what sort of a man Daniel was. And what does Daniel
do? Well, as was his custom, he goes
to his own house, and three times a day, he opens the windows towards
Jerusalem, and we're told how he kneeled. He kneeled as he
prayed only to the God of heaven, the living and the true God.
Moses and Aaron were prostrate. Daniel is there kneeling in prayer. And then when we come to the
New Testament, of course, the Lord Jesus speaks that parable
of two men going to the temple at the hour of prayer, the Pharisee
and the publican. And what do we read concerning
that publican? We read of him standing. He stands
far off. And he's so ashamed he cannot
lift his eyes to heaven. He smites upon his breast and
he cries out for mercy. But there we see him standing
in his prayer. And interestingly, we also read
of David. And David actually sits in his
prayer in 2 Samuel chapter seven. and uh and verse verse 18 and
it's it's a it's a lovely prayer that we have at the end of that
particular chapter in uh 2nd samuel 7 18 then when king david
in it says and sat before the lord and he said who am i oh
lord god what is my house that thou hast brought me hither to
and so forth and the prayer is recorded through to the end of
the chapter and it's a prayer that he makes when Nathan tells
him that God has forbidden him to build the temple because he
was a man of blood. He was a warrior king. It was
Solomon, whose name means peace, who was to have that high privilege
of building the temple. But here is David submitting
to the will of God and he goes and sits before the Lord. And of course, that's oftentimes
when we come together for worship is our usual posture. We sit for prayer, but there's
no particular posture that is commanded here in the Word of
God. Some might on occasions feel it more appropriate to be
kneeling before God in prayer. But whatever our posture, we
have to remember that all praying is very much a part of our worship. In fact, the word prayer is in
Scripture sometimes put for worship. When we read a prayer, we're
to understand it in that general sense of a reference to worship,
the calling upon God. In Genesis chapter 4, at the
end of the chapter, we read of Seth. Remember, after Cain had
killed Abel, that other son is born to Adam and Eve. And then we're told, Genesis
4, 26, to him, as to Seth, to him also was born a son and he
called his name Enos. Then began men to call upon the
name of the Lord. There was a godless sleep. And
the godly seed are those who call upon God. They worship Him. And in the psalm that we read,
there in the 17th verse of Psalm 116, I will offer to thee the
sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the
Lord. That is prayer, that is worship,
calling upon God. And the New Testament verse there
in Hebrews 13, 15, Paul exhorts by him, he's speaking of Christ,
by him, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continual. That is the fruit of our lips,
giving thanks to his name. And in that sense, all believers
are priests. We believe in the priesthood
of all believers, And what is the sacrifice that believers
bring? It's a sacrifice of praise. It's worship to God. And that's
what we have here at the end of the prayer. Here is a specific
expression of worship. For thine is the kingdom and
the power and the glory. Oh what a blessed thing it is
then to come before God to take account of the instruction that
the Lord Jesus Christ is giving us in this particular portion
of God's Word. I think at the beginning I referred
to the words of Bernard Gelpin where he says concerning This
prayer speaks of the blessedness of sitting down in a quiet, humble
residence and praying over the Lord's Prayer. What substance,
he says? Adoption. Adoration. Submission. Daily bread. Mutual love. Love even to enemies. Forgiveness. Deliverance. Oh, what richness there is then
in that instruction that the Lord Jesus Christ is giving to
us in these words that we've been considering these past few
weeks. Again, in the Psalm, that we
read, that 116th Psalm at verse 12, what shall I render unto
the Lord for all his benefits towards me, asks the Psalmist. And how does he answer that?
Well, in the following verses, he says, I will worship, I will
praise, I will adore. Look at the language, how he
answers his own question, as it were. Verse 13, I will take
the cup of salvation Call upon the name of the Lord. I will
pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord, truly I am thy servant. I am thy servant and the son
of thine handmaid. Thou hast loosed my bonds. I
will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving. and will call
upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord
now in the presence of his people, in the courts of the Lord's house,
in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. And then at the end, praise ye
the Lord. The great hallelujah. How he
there then ascribes all the praise unto God. We're reminded then
as we come to the closing part of this pattern prayer that our
praying is really an expression of worship. It's an expression
of worship to God, the recognition of who he is. It begins, of course,
with addressing him as our Father, and then praying that his name
might be hallowed, or that that name might be recognized throughout
every part of the earth. And so, as we worship God in
prayer, in the second place here, we also see there's an expression
of confidence in God, that God is able to do those things that
we are asking of him in the previous petitions. Nothing is impossible
with this God. For thine is the kingdom and
the power and the glory forever. And you will observe it's all
in the present tense, not in the future tense. Here is the
acknowledgement then of the sovereignty of God. The heavens do truly
rule. Our Father which art in heaven. For God is in that high and that
Holy place. Again, what does the Psalmist
say? Psalm 115, our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever
he hath pleased. And when the Lord Jesus comes
to the end of his earthly ministry, at his ascension, he says to
his disciples, all power, all authority is given unto me in
heaven and in earth. And what power it is, or the
exceeding greatness of that power that belongs to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Remember the language that we
have at the end of Ephesians chapter one, as Paul there really
is engaging in prayer himself. that a part of Ephesians 1 is
really part of his prayer. And what does he say? Well, he
speaks of the exceeding greatness of his power to us who do believe. According to the working of his
mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him
from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly
places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion
and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also
in that which is to come, and hath put all things under his
feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
which is his bottom, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. He is the one, then, to whom
the kingdom belongs, who has the power and must have the glory. Looking at the words that we
have then here in the doxology, we observe the first words, that
little word four, and it indicates that there is a connection between
what is being said here and what was just said in those final
petitions. And we consider those petitions
previously, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
evil. For thine is the kingdom, and
the power, and the glory. Now, we referred the last couple
of weeks to the fact that God's sovereignty is an absolute sovereignty,
even when it comes to temptations. even when he comes to the activities
of the devil. Oh, it's true that God is not
the author of sin, that no man say when he is tempted, I am
tempted of God. God cannot be tempted with evil,
neither tempteth thee any man. God is not the author of sin,
but God is sovereign. And there is a mystery in that
sovereignty, and we see it so strikingly in the experience
of Job, as you know, where the scene is set there in the opening
chapters of Job. Job 1, verse 6 following, and
then the opening verses of the second chapter, we see how when
the sons of God, the angels, come before the Lord, why Satan
is found amongst them. He cannot do anything without
God's permission. That's what's presented to us
here. And all that comes subsequently
upon Job is very much under God's sovereign hand, although God
is not the author of sin. Now, I don't pretend to be able
to explain that mystery. But see how Job himself speaks
in the 23rd chapter. And he is seeking after God in
the midst of all his troubles. Job 23, he says, behold, I go
forward, but he is not there. And backward, but I cannot perceive
him. On the left hand where he does
work, but I cannot behold him. He hideth himself on the right
hand, but I cannot see. But he knoweth the way that I
take. when he hath tried me, I shall
come forth as gold." Oh, in the midst of all these things, he
knows that God is that one who is sovereign in all that is befalling
him. The remarkable faith of Job. You have heard of the patience,
the endurance of Job, says James. And so, these little words, four,
you see, links back to what has been said and we're reminded
of God's absolute sovereignty. Now, this is where we're to place
our confidence. We're to place our confidence
in God himself. Again, look at the words that
we find in that little epistle of Jude in the sixth verse. We
read of the angels which kept not their first estate. That's That's the demons, Satan
and the host of fallen angels. He kept not their first estate,
it says, but left their own habitation. He hath reserved in everlasting
chains unto darkness, unto the judgment of the great day. Those fallen angels are not free
agents. They're not free agents. And
so we can pray to God to deliver us from evil. And as I said last
week, the definite article is there. We could render it evil
as from the evil one. Or God is able to deliver. And
he can deliver us from that threefold evil, Satan. And sin, that sin
that is so bound up in our fallen natures. And that world lies
in the wicked one. God is able to deliver us. Why? For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory. And so, that little word for,
it's a significant word because it reminds us of where we are
to place our trust and our confidence. It is to be in God, who is sovereign. And that confidence is further
expressed In the Amen that we have at the end of the prayer,
what does the word Amen signify? Well, that question is put in
the Heidelberg Catechism. It's the catechism that is used,
of course, in the Dutch Reformed churches. Question 129, what
does the word Amen signify? The answer? It shall truly and
certainly be. For my prayer is more assuredly
heard of God than I feel in my heart that I desire these things
of him. For to say Amen, we are expressing
our confidence that we are heard. We are heard. Amen. It's really a Hebrew word. It's the verb, amen, and it means
to be firm, to be established. And it's there, of course, also
in the New Testament, and we have it many times in John's
gospel in those words, verily, verily. Amen, amen. We might render it truly, truly,
and the Lord Jesus many, many times prefixes his teachings
with that words, that word verily, the double verily. He is speaking
truth. He is speaking truth. He himself
is the Amen, the faithful and true witness. And so when we
say Amen, as those who are his followers, those who are praying
in his name, It's an expression of our faithfulness, that our
prayers are believing prayers. We do believe that God will hear
us in prayer and God will answer our prayers. What does James
say? If a man lacks wisdom, he is
to ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally. God is a liberal
giver. It's more blessed to give than
to receive. But what does James say? Let him ask in faith. Nothing
wavering. But to ask in faith without faith,
it is impossible to please God. He that cometh to God must believe
that he is, and that he is a rewarder of all them that diligently seek
him. Well, we need then that God would
grant to us that praying faith. For thine is the kingdom and
the power and the glory forever. Amen. Oh he is that God who is
able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.
This is our confidence in when we come before God in prayer. We are worshipping God in our
prayers and as we're Worshipping God, so we must be those who
are coming in faith. Without faith, it's impossible
to please Him. Whatsoever is not of faith is
sin. Our confidence is in that He will hear and answer, and
nothing is impossible with Him. And then finally, what we have
here, of course, is brevity in prayer. Observe the shortness
of the prayer. We have it in the compass of
just these few verses, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13. Just a few verses. And what a
prayer it is. Look at the context. Christ says
in verse seven, when you pray, use not vain repetitions as the
heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their
much being. We're not to multiply vain, empty,
futile words. Or think again of the language
of the preacher, there in the book of Ecclesiastes, the words
that we have at the beginning of chapter five. Ecclesiastes five. Keep thy foot
when thou goest to the house of God. Be more ready to heal
than to give the sacrifice of fools. For they consider not
that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth. Let
not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God. For God
is in heaven, and thou upon earth. Therefore let thy words be few. What have we to say? What have
we to say? We must use words, in fact, we're
bidden to use words. The prophet Hosea, Hosea 14,
to take with you words, he says, and turn to the Lord and say,
take away all iniquity and receive us graciously. Have you no words? Ah, think again. Words flow apace
when you complain and fill your fellow creatures' ear with the
sad tale of all your care, or that we might have words. But
the important thing, of course, is that we come with those words
that are sincere words, real prayers. What does God say to
us? Psalm 81, verse 10, open thy
mouth wide and I will fill it. And here we see how God fills
the mouth of his people. We have these words, the instruction,
the teaching of Christ. He says, after this manner, therefore,
pray ye. And again there in Luke 11 too,
when you pray, say. He has given us instruction and
direction. And the important thing I say
is that we learn to use the Lord's own words. or the old Puritan. He said that, did he not? That
we need to thicken our prayers. We need to thicken our prayers
with God's words, to surround the Almighty with his own promises,
to plead the things that God has said to us. He's given us
his word. How we need to pray over that
word of God. And isn't that the mark of the
true Christian? When Saul was converted there
at Damascus. That blasphemer, that persecutor,
he'd gone from Jerusalem with letters from the Jewish council
to lay hold upon those Christians. And the Lord meets with him and
the Lord saves him. and he's struck down with blindness,
he's led by the hand to the street called Straight, and then Ananias,
one of the Lord's disciples, is told to go there and to lay
his hands on this man who was a persecutor, that he might receive
his sight. He is the Lord's servant. Ananias
is told that, but Ananias is also given a certain assurance. How can he know that this man
is a real believer now? And you know the words there
in Acts 9, 11. Behold, he prayeth. That was the mark that would
mark Saul of Tarsus as one who was now a real and a genuine
follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold, he prayeth. Doubtless as a Pharisee, he had
said many prayers. He lived the life of a Pharisee.
And now the Pharisees would observe the regular hours of prayer day
by day, but he'd never really prayed before. All prayer is
the mark of the real Christian. And it's in prayer that the Christian
comes to worship his God. Think of that woman who comes
to the Lord Jesus, that Syrophoenician woman, she was a Canaanite-ish
woman. Cain and I are cut off from the
congregation of the Lord forever. It says in the Old Testament.
Ah, but when we come to the New Testament, oh, the grace of God,
where sin abounds, grace does so much more abound. We're told
how she came to the Lord Jesus and worshipped him, saying, Lord,
help me. Oh, what a prayer. Can we not
pray that prayer? the brevity of prayer, the shortness
of prayer, just those three words. And yet, it's real worship to
say, Lord, help me. Then again, the words that we
began with tonight, there at the beginning of the 116th Psalm,
I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my supplications. because he hath inclined his
ear unto me. Therefore will I call upon him
as long as I live, for thine is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever. Amen. And the Lord grant his
blessing upon this world. Amen.