the Lord helping me this morning
in spite of my cold trust the Lord will graciously help and
bless us together as we consider his holy word let us turn to
the gospel according to Matthew and chapter 6 verse 11 Matthew
chapter 6 verse 11 give us this day our daily bread give us this
day our daily bread here is the fourth petition of that which
is commonly called the lord's prayer give us this day our daily
bread we've considered on previous occasions the preface to the
prayer our father which art in heaven We've considered the first
three petitions from time to time as I've been able to preach
from this pulpit. We've considered the first three
petitions, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be
done in earth as it is in heaven. And we note the pattern of this
pattern prayer. The first three petitions have
to do with God and with the glory of God. The subsequent petitions have
to do with us and the things which constitute our happiness. And so this fourth petition,
Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread, is the first of the petitions
respecting us and our needs. And we know to gain the position
of this petition in the prayer, generally speaking, we are to
have respect in our praying to the glory of God and to the coming
of his kingdom and the doing of his will before our own wants. In everything we are to seek
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. This, of course,
follows the pattern of the giving of the Ten Commandments. The
Ten Commandments, the first four commandments, have to do with
God and the worship of God. And then the subsequent six commandments
have to do with us and love toward our neighbor. And so this pattern prayer follows
the same pattern. We are to have respect first
and foremost to the glory of God, the coming of his kingdom,
and the doing of his will. And in particular, this petition
is subsequent and subordinate to the first and great petition. You know, the first and great
petition is, Hallowed be thy name. Hallowed be thy name. We are to pray, Hallowed be thy
name, before we pray. give us this day our daily bread."
How many there are who pray, give us this day our daily bread,
and they have no concern regarding the glory of the name of the
Lord our God. They are only concerned with
their wants. That is, we are not to be like
that. This petition is to be subservient,
as it were, to the first and great petition. hallowed be thy
name we are to pray hallowed be thy name before we pray give
us this day our daily bread and in praying this petition give
us this day our daily bread we are to have an eye first and
foremost to the glory and to the honoring of the name of God. And so Solomon prayed in the
Proverbs, Give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with food
convenient for me, that is, give me this day my daily bread, feed
me with food convenient for me, lest I be full and deny thee,
and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor and still and
take the name of my God. in vain. This fourth petition,
give us this day our daily bread, is to be subordinate to the first
and great petition, hallowed be thy name. If we want our prayers
to be heard, we must ever bear that in mind. and this petition teaches us
does it not our absolute dependence upon God for all things necessary
for this life seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all
things for in him we live and move and have our being Paul
again in his preaching says that he, that is God, did good and
gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling our
hearts with food and gladness. James says every good gift and
every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father
of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." Here
in this petition there is the acknowledgement that God is the
sovereign supplier of our every need. Give us this day our daily
bread. The Lord Jesus Christ, here in
the Sermon on the Mount, speaking of the Father, says, For he maketh
his Son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain
on the just and on the unjust. And you know, it's a mark of
the evil and of the unjust not to acknowledge God in anything
that they receive. God is not in all his thoughts,
says the psalmist. It is a mark of the reprobate
to be unthankful. For men shall be lovers of their
own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemous, disobedient
to parents. Unthankful. Unthankful. The child of God is taught very
differently. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord,
O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth all
thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth
thine life from destruction, who crowneth thee with lovingkindness
and tender mercies, who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so
that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's." Well, let us consider
The words of our text more particularly, give us this day our daily bread. Firstly, the words give us. Give us, as we've said, these
words express our utter dependence upon our creator to sustain us
in life. every creature is dependent upon
the creator for its life and for the means of sustaining its
life we read in psalm 104 verse 10 He sendeth the springs, oh sorry,
verse 27, Psalm 104, verse 27. These, that is every creature,
these wait all upon thee, that thou mayest give them their meat
in due season, that thou givest them they gather, thou openest
thine hand, they are filled with good, thou hidest thy face, they
are troubled, thou takest away their breath, they die and return
to their dust. every creature is dependent upon
the Creator. We are dependent upon our Creator,
which holdeth our soul in life. We read in another psalm, now we've said on previous occasions
that this prayer, the Lord's prayer, is not to be put into
the mouths of the multitudes. And seeing the multitudes, he
went up into a mountain, and when he was set, his disciples
came unto him, and he opened his mouth and taught them. It
is only the living sons of God, it is only those who are born
from above, who can address God as our Father which art in heaven
and the living child of God is here taught something very wonderful
concerning his father in heaven and it's this he is taught that God his father
loves to give He loves to give. In 2 Corinthians 9 verse 7 we
read that God loveth a cheerful giver. God loveth a cheerful
giver. Why does God love a cheerful
giver? Well because that is how God himself gives. He is the living God and he is
the giving God. Paul writing to Timothy says
that he is the living God who giveth us richly all things to
enjoy. Oh, God loves to give! He is
the Giving God! And if God gives so liberally
to all His creatures, as we've seen, then surely He will give
especially to those who are His children. Here is a great encouragement,
you see, to prayer. We see it later on in the Sermon
on the Mount, don't we? In chapter 7, at verse 7. Ask,
and it shall be given you. seek and ye shall find, knock
and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall
be opened. Or what man is there of you,
whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he
ask of fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being
evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much
more shall your father which is in heaven give good things
to them that ask him. Oh, here is a great encouragement
to prayer. We're taught also in these words,
give us. We are also taught in these words,
of course, that we are to come before our God. We are to come
before God, our father, with all humility of mind. You see,
all that we receive from Him comes to us as a free gift. The words of the petition are
not lend us, sell us, they are give us. Give us. You see, we have no merit, we
have no credit with God. We can therefore purchase nothing
from God's hand. We have no merit, no credit,
nothing that we can boast of or try to exchange, that we might
receive some benefit from God. What hast thou that thou didst
not receive? Paul says to the Corinthians,
To the Romans he says, Who hath first given to him, and it shall
be recompensed unto him again. For of him, and through him,
and to him are all things, to whom be glory for ever. Amen. We can't give anything to him. We cannot do anything for him
that he should reward us and as it were sell us bread. So far are we from deserving
that bread should be put into our mouths because of our sin. Rather we
deserve that bread should be withheld from us. We don't deserve
it. We don't deserve anything because
we're sinners. We've all transgressed the commandment. And so we implore
God in this petition that he would, according to his mercy,
grant us our bread. Is there not a connection between
this petition and the following one? Give us this day our daily
bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. We
are asking God of His mercy and for His mercy's sake to grant
us our necessities. He's not indebted to us. We are
indebted to Him. Like Jacob of old, we must be
brought to this. I am not worthy of the least
of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast showed
unto thy servant." Have you been brought to that? To see your
own utter unworthiness to receive anything from God's hand? Whether spiritual blessing or
a temporal provision. You deserve nothing. I deserve
nothing. we implore God of his mercy to
grant us that which we need the Lord is a giving and a forgiving
God and so we can pray give us this day our daily bread one
might object of course and say well I go out to work I earn money I earn money to pay for my bread.
I earn my bread. Well it's good of course that
you do do that. It's written of the virtuous woman in Proverbs
31 that she eateth not the bread of idleness. Paul commanded the
Thessalonians that if any would not work neither should he eat. No one is suggesting that we
pray this petition and then simply lie on our backs and wait for
the bread to drop out of heaven into our mouths. No, surely we are to pray for
the means and for the ability to obtain our daily bread. Surely
we are to ask the Lord to bless the means that we use for the
obtaining of our daily bread. And establish thou the work of
our hands upon us. Yea, the work of our hands, establish
thou it. But to attribute God's provision
to our own industry is to do exactly what Habakkuk says that
the wicked do. In Habakkuk, that little prophet,
little book of Habakkuk, there we read in Habakkuk 1.16, Therefore
they sacrifice unto their own net, and burn incense unto their
own drag, because by them their portion is fat, and their meat
plenteous. You see what Habakkuk is saying?
Instead of praising God and giving thanks to Him, it is to praise
the means. It is to praise secondary causes
rather than the first great cause of all things. But thou shalt
remember the Lord thy God, for it is He that giveth thee power
to get wealth, In the book of Exodus it is written
of Bezalel and Aholiad, them hath he filled with wisdom of
heart to work all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning
workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet,
and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do
any work, and of those that devise cunning work. You see, them hath
he filled with wisdom and power to do these things. Psalm 94
says that it is he that teacheth man knowledge. King David didn't sacrifice to
his own net or burn incense to his drag. Blessed be the Lord
my strength which teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to
fight, he said. And you just think of all the
wheels of providence that are involved in bringing food to
our tables. The government, the economy,
the farms, the shops, transportation, the weather, all these things
are involved in bringing food to our tables. No wonder then
that we are obliged to pray to Him who orders all things after
the counsel of His own will, give us this day our daily bread. We are dependent upon all these
wills of providence, but above all we are dependent upon the
God of providence. Well, let us consider secondly
the words this day. Later on in the Sermon on the
Mount, the Lord Jesus forbids anxious care or worries about
tomorrow. At the end of this chapter, at
verse 34, we read, Therefore take no thought for the morrow,
for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient
unto the day is the evil thereof. The Lord supplies his people
day by day. The petition in Luke's Gospel
reads, give us day by day our daily bread. The children of
Israel were supplied each and every day with the manna as they
traveled through the wilderness from Egypt to the promised land. And they gathered it every morning,
we read, every man according to his eating. Now that is, of
course, except on the Sabbath, on the day before the Sabbath,
they gathered twice as much. And the children of Israel did
eat manna forty years until they came to a land inhabited. They
did eat manna until they came unto the borders of the land
of Canaan. A daily provision was made for the people of God.
And so the church today is to live upon a daily provision. We are journeying through the
wilderness of this world. fleeing from the city of destruction
to go to the celestial city therefore take therefore no thought for
the morrow for the morrow shall take thought for the things of
itself sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof and so we're
taught to pray here in this pattern prayer give us this day our daily
bread give us this day our daily bread we are to live upon a daily
provision and are we not taught by these words this day something
again of our frailty for we must be sustained by the hand of providence
and we're taught here are we not the brevity of our lives
how short our lives are give us this day our daily bread. We are creatures of a day. We read in the Psalms, thou turnest
man to destruction and sayest, return ye children of men. That
is, return to the dust out of which you were formed. Return
ye children of men for a thousand years in thy sight is but as
yesterday when it is past. and as a watch in the night thou
carries them away as with a flood, they are as asleep. In the morning
they are like grass that groweth up, in the morning it flourisheth
and groweth up, in the evening it is cut down and withereth.
Such is our life here upon this earth. In the morning it flourisheth
and groweth up, in the evening it is cut down and withereth.
We are creatures of a day. And so we're taught to pray,
give us this day our daily bread. We're not bidden to pray, give
us tomorrow our daily bread. Why not? Because there is no
guarantee that there will be a tomorrow. There's no guarantee
for any of us that there will be a tomorrow. James says, go
to now ye that say today or tomorrow. we will go into such a city,
and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain, whereas
ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your
life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth
for a little time, and then vanisheth away." I remember the late pastor Mr Matrinola
preaching once from Hebrews 11 verse 8, some of you might remember
the sermon, I do, He preached on that verse, Jesus Christ,
the same yesterday and today and forever. And he asked the
question, why doesn't it say Jesus Christ, the same yesterday
and today and tomorrow? And the answer, of course, is
because there is no guarantee that there will be a tomorrow,
not for any of us. There is no guarantee that there
will be a tomorrow for the world as a whole. There is no guarantee
that there will be a tomorrow for any of us individually. Think of the parable which the
Lord spoke in Luke chapter 12, verse 16, and he spoke a parable
unto them, saying, the ground of a certain rich man brought
forth plentifully, and he thought within himself saying, what shall
I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And
he said, this will I do, I will pull down my barns and build
greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and all my goods,
and I will say to my soul, soul, thou hast much goods laid up
for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But
God said unto him, thou fool, thou fool, This night, this night,
thy soul shall be required of thee. A few months ago in London, there
was a terrible fire in a block of flats. There were those who went to
bed that Sunday night, no doubt thinking about what they were
going to do the next day, Some of them setting their alarms
because they had to go to work in the morning. Little did they
know that there will be no tomorrow. And so it will be for each one
of us, you know. One of these days, for each one of us, there
will be no tomorrow. Where will you spend eternity? Think! Where will you spend eternity? We are taught our frailty, we're
taught the brevity of our lives in these words. Give us this
day our daily bread. And if we have more than enough
for one day, or enough for more than one day, how thankful we
ought to be. We have more than we deserve,
and we have more than we pray for. Blessed be the Lord who
daily loatheth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation,
Selah. In the third place, let us consider
the words, our daily bread. our daily bread. Why are we exhorted
to pray for our daily bread? Well, we've noted on a previous occasion that all
the petitions in the second part of the Lord's Prayer are in the
first person plural. Us, we, our. There is no I, me
or my. We are to pray with one another,
we're to pray for one another. bear ye one another's burdens
and so fulfil the law of Christ and we have the words us and
our in this particular petition give us this day our daily bread
now doesn't this show us that families are to pray together
families should pray together they ought to pray with each
other There should be in every family
a daily act of worship, preferably morning and evening. Albert Barnes makes this comment,
he says, and I quote, it is evidently therefore intended to be used
by more than one, by some community of people. No community or congregation
can meet every day for worship but families. It is therefore
evident that this prayer contains a strong implied command for
daily family prayer. It's the little word, us. Us. It does seem to intimate,
doesn't it? It seems to imply family prayer.
And it's certainly very appropriate for the use of families, is it
not? Give us this day our daily bread. And the little word our, besides
teaching us that we are to pray for one another and with one
another, both in the church and in our families, it also teaches
us that we are to look to the Lord for the bread which belongs
to us. We're not to covet another man's
bread. We are not to ask the Lord for
that which is needful for us and then use wicked means to
obtain it. Bread of deceit is sweet to a
man, but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.
God will not bless that which is obtained by fraud or deception. We are asking the Lord to grant
us that which we seek to obtain by our own honest labours and
endeavours. Give us this day our daily bread,
our daily bread. and we note that those who by
grace can address God as our Father can also pray for our
daily bread this is the high privilege of the children of
God for all things are yours whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas
or the world or life or death or things present or things to
come all are yours and he are Christ's and Christ is God's
the bread is yours and it's yours for the asking. Give us this
day our daily bread. I like what the Puritan Thomas
Watson says on these words. He says, See the privilege of
believers. They have both a spiritual and
a civil right to what they possess. They who can say, Our Father,
can say, Our Bread. Wicked men have a legal right
to what they possess, but not a covenant right. They have it
by providence, not by promise. With God's leave, but not with
His love. Wicked men are in God's eye no
better than usurpers. All they have, their money and
land, is like cloth taken up at the draper's, which is not
paid for. But the sweet privilege of believers is that they can
say, Our bread, Christ being theirs, all is theirs. Oh, how
sweet is every bit of bread dipped in Christ's blood. That's how we should view everything
we receive, I believe, in providence. Bread dipped in Christ's blood. We are to ask for our daily bread.
Give us this day our daily bread. What we are taught to ask for
here is the bread that we need for today, that this day's supply.
It's the same as we have in the Proverbs, which I quoted earlier.
Give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with food convenient
for me. And we note the simplicity of
the request too. Give us this day our daily bread. We're not to ask for extravagant
things. What can be more basic than bread,
I ask you? There's nothing more basic, is
there, than bread? we read in Psalm 104 again of
bread which strengtheneth man's heart we're not to seek great
things for ourselves and seekest thou great things for thyself
seek them not for behold I will bring evil upon all flesh saith
the Lord remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ what shall
it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his
own soul In the Proverbs we read, better is a little with the fear
of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith. Better
is a dinner of herbs where love is than a stalled ox and hatred
therewith. Oh, it is better to enjoy a little
with the love of Christ than great riches without his love. I would say to the world, you
can keep your riches, just give me Christ. I would rather have Christ than
all the riches in the world. What can we compare to Christ? These words, they teach us Christian
contentment, don't they? Isn't there an encouragement
here to Christian contentment here in these words? Give us
this day our daily bread. The apostle says, but godliness
with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into this
world, and it's certain we can carry nothing out. And having
food and raiment, let us be content therewith. These words teach
us Christian contentment. Give us this day our daily bread.
And praying this petition cannot but teach us the art of Christian
contentment. Give us this day our daily bread. But is it bread only that we
are to ask for? Can we ask for nothing else but
bread? Well, clearly not. There were
those that we read of in the Gospels who came to the Lord
Jesus Christ. They asked Him many things. There were those who asked that
He might heal them. And He did heal them. He healed
them all, all who came to Him. He healed. Not one did He turn
away. Paul writing to Timothy says,
I exhort therefore that first of all supplications, prayers,
intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for
kings, and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a
quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this
is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior. We
are clearly not confined to just asking for bread. You know, there
is a, I think I've probably mentioned it before in preaching here, but there
is a figure of speech called a synecdoche. And that's what
we have here in the fourth petition of the Lord's Prayer. Now a synecdoche
is a figure of speech where a part is put for the whole. And so,
for example, a hired hand is a workman who has been hired
to do a job. But of course it's not just the
hand which has been hired, it's the whole man. And so a part,
the hired hand, is put for the whole. The whole man is employed.
And that's what we have here. Give us this day our daily bread.
The word bread refers to all that we need. Martin Luther, in his Catechism,
asks the question, what do you mean by daily bread? And the
answer he gives is this. I mean by it everything that
belongeth to the want and supply of our life. That is meat, drink,
clothes, dwelling, gardens, lands, flocks, money, wealth, happy
marriage, virtuous children, faithful servants, upright and
just magistrates, peaceful government, wholesome air, quietness, health,
modesty, honour, true friends, faithful neighbours, and other
things of the like kind. In this sense then, are we to
understand the word Breadth? It's a synecdoche, it's a part,
it's put for all that we have need of and we are to seek all
that we need from the hand of our Heavenly Father. give us
this day our daily bread and so the apostle says but my God
shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ
Jesus now what of our spiritual need? what of our spiritual need? we're not just body are we? that's
what the atheist thinks that we're just body we have no soul
We are more than just body, we are soul as well, we have spiritual
needs. I remember it was, Mr. Randalls was in hospital on one
occasion, he told me, and he was engaged in a conversation
with a chap in the bed, in another bed, and he said, and this chap
said to him, why should I go to church? And Mr. Randalls replied, because you
have a soul. I thought that was a good answer.
because you have a soul. In fact he said more than that.
He said because you have a soul that needs saving. That's what
he said. Because you have a soul that
needs saving. We have spiritual needs. If we
are to seek our temporal need from the hand of God, how much
more our spiritual need. There is not only the need of
our bodies, there is the need of our souls. And for the believer,
the word of God is food to his soul. Job says, I have esteemed
the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Jeremiah said,
Thy words were found and I did eat them, and thy word was unto
me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart, for I am called by thy
name, O Lord God of hosts. And so it is with all those who
are called by the Lord's name, all those who are called by free
and sovereign grace, the word of God will be the joy and rejoicing
of your heart. You say, how do I know that I'm
called by grace? Is the word of God the joy and
rejoicing of your heart? That's how you can know The psalmist says, I rejoice
at thy word as one who findeth great spoil. And just as bread gives nourishment
to our bodies and strengthens our hearts, so the word of God
gives nourishment to our souls. It strengthens and increases
our faith. Paul speaks of being nourished
up in the words of faith and of good doctrine. The child of God must daily seek
food for his soul from his Father in heaven. Give us this day our
daily bread. You seek bread, the living bread,
from your Father in heaven. You beg God that he might satisfy
your longing soul through his word. The psalmist puts it, strengthen
thou me according unto thy word. remove from me the way of lying
and grant me thy law graciously grant me thy law give us this
day our daily bread or would you beg God that he might fill
you with the good things of his gospel day by day in feeding
upon the word you know there is a feeding upon Christ who
is revealed in the word Remember the words of our Lord Jesus.
He said, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Oh,
we feel our great need as sinners, do we not? We feel it daily. And so we are daily constrained
to beg for that bread of life that we die not. I am that bread of life. Your
fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This
is the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat
thereof and not die. We look to the crucified Saviour
for life. We look to Him who suffered,
bled and died that He might have us. that he might redeem us from
our lost estate. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. But
we are every day, we are every day dependent upon the Lord Jesus
Christ to sustain us, to strengthen us, to save us, and to keep us. And we cannot live one day without
Him. I cannot live one day without
food. I'll tell you sometimes I can't
live one hour without some food. But can I? I cannot live one
minute without Christ. one second and so we must pray give us this
day our daily bread give us this day to live upon Christ by faith
give us this day to feed upon him who is the living bread sent
down from heaven give us this day to live upon a crucified
saviour Jesus said, so he that eateth me, even he shall live
by me. We cannot live without Christ. The Lord then bless his word
to us today. For his name's sake, give us
this day our daily bread. Amen.