It's kind of a funny thing. I don't mean laughing, I mean
strange. I don't understand prayer, to
be quite honest with you. I know that our Lord refers to
it many times in scriptures. This morning I'd like to consider
two different accounts in scripture. If you would, open your Bibles
to Matthew chapter 6. Take one of those offering papers
or something and mark that if you would. And then turn to Luke
chapter 11. You can take your Bibles and
set them down in front of you. My introduction this morning
is going to be a little lengthy. I'd like to consider this morning
what it is to pray. In Matthew and Luke, given a
count of two different points in time, yet both events, our
Lord speaks almost the exact same words. In Matthew, The Lord was in Galilee in the
midst of his preaching. In Luke's account, he was in
Judea and our Lord himself had just ceased from praying. Folks,
I tell you, I don't know about you, but when our Lord says something,
I try to pay attention to it the best I can. But when he says
it twice, we really need to pay attention. Now again, I admit I don't understand
the depths of what it is to pray, but I know that our Lord has
much to say on this very subject. I know that when a man or a woman
come to the point where their life is threatened... Let's put
a man in a foxhole. We've all heard this, haven't
we? Put a guy in a foxhole and have somebody shoot a gun over
his head, he'll start praying. I don't care how atheist you
think you are. or you get somebody down so deep in desperation. I can't imagine what was going
through our brother Lim, what was going through his mind when
he took his own life. But I can imagine, from what
his wife told us about the events that led up to that, the desperation. I've known a few people who have
taken their own lives. And each and every time, those
around them, close enough to see their actions and their life,
will tell you that the desperation is deeper than anything we can
understand. all will begin at one time or
another to pray to something. Every religion prays to something,
don't they? On Facebook the other day I saw
a picture of a tree. Somebody had wrote down this
thing next to it. It had to do with A man who went
out into the woods and he cut down that tree, brought it home,
shaved all the branches off of it, cut it up, spent all the
time cutting that tree up, splitting it, stacking it up in the house
and right outside the door so that he could enjoy the heat
of that wood through the winter. And then after he'd done all
that work, he sat down, started whittling himself out
something. Once he got that all whittled
out, he set it up on the fireplace above that wood that was burning,
and he began to pray to it. That's what all the prayers of
this world are like. unless you're a child of God.
You might as well just pray to a piece of wood, something you've
carved with your own hands, something you've made up with your own
imagination. But what is it for a true child
of God to pray? In the dictionary, The definition
of prayer is defined as worship, to pray to a deity. And the Lord's Word says this,
in John 4 24, God is spirit and they that worship him must worship
in spirit. and in truth. Now that word must
is important. When our Lord says things like
shall, must, those things must happen. Or He's not Lord of all,
is He? To worship the true and living
God, you must take the words of God such as this, must worship
Him. in spirit and in truth, must
be born again. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. We come to this building that
the Lord has provided to hear about a God who truly rules. Especially after walking around
out there in the world of all the confusion with lies and you
don't know what to believe anymore about anything. How does one who is a true believer,
who believes the truth of God's Word, how do we pray? Well, I
can tell you this. That to pray to anything other
than the true and living God is an abomination and a waste
of time just as it is to pray to that piece of wood on the
top of your mountain. And only one who knows this true
and living God is heard of God. Like I said, the whole world
prays to something. But God doesn't hear the prayers
of the wicked. Listen to what God's Word says
about that. Hear these words. Thus saith
the Lord in Proverbs 15.8. The sacrifice of the wicked is
an abomination to the Lord. But the prayer of the upright
is His delight. It's pretty harsh. How about Proverbs 15, 29? The
Lord is far from the wicked, but He heareth the prayers of
the righteous. So far I'm not qualifying as
far as what I can see in my flesh. Let's try another one. Proverbs
21, 27. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination. How
much more when He bringeth it with the wicked mind? Speaking
of those who offer up with their wicked mind, their
wicked abominations, their wicked worship. In Isaiah 57, 21 we
hear this, there is no peace saith God to the wicked. Now when I say no to those who
know the true and living God, There's a lot of people who know
about the true and living God. Do you know the devils know who
the true and living God is? They said to the Lord, have you
come to harass us before our time? They knew who Jesus was. They knew he was the Son of the
Most High. And then the Lord commanded them to go off a cliff,
to enter into a herd of swine and then to go off the cliff,
right? Isn't that what it says? Even the devils know our God.
When I say know, I mean a heart knowledge. Many know the Lord,
many have heard the word of the true and living God, but few
know Him personably. Few know Him on a personal level. Few know Him as their personal
Savior. The Spirit of God melds with
His chosen people in the day of His love. He takes up residence
in His elect. All for whom the Son has shed
His blood, He gives a new spirit of life. He gives new spiritual
ears and we hear the voice of God through the preaching of
His Word. We hear and believe, not just the parts that we like,
but all of His Word. God's people, those who have
been brought to know on a personal level, Love to hear the whole
counsel of God, from the front page all the way to the back.
I may not understand everything in this book, but I believe it. We come to see the truths of
His Word. The truths about this. My sheep, says the Lord Jesus
Christ, hear my voice. We believe His word because we're
His sheep. Because we were chosen from before
the world was. That in the day of His love,
in the day of His power, He would come to each and every one. And
when God comes to the very last one, The very last one for whom
He laid down His life for, there's no reason for anything else to
go on. The Lord will return as He has promised. He'll return. And we'll be with Him in eternity
forever. Sharon is with Him right this
very moment. To be absent from the flesh is
to be present with the Lord. He said to the thief on the cross,
He didn't say, you're going to go somewhere and wait for me,
or someday I'll come to you again. He said, no, today you shall
be with me in paradise. My sheep hear my voice and I
know them. I know them. Christ knows everybody. He knows everything. But He knows
you and I personally. He has to know us personally
to have taken all of our sin upon Him, does He not? Can there
be any other conclusion than that? He knows our every thought, our
every action, our every desire of the heart. He knows personally. He goes on to say, and they follow
me. Irresistible grace. By his grace
he called Lazarus from the dead and Lazarus came forth. Without
hesitation, by His grace and His power of love, He passed
by men on the seashore and said, come, follow Me. And they left
everything and followed Him. By His power and His love, He
brought each and every one of you to a church where you would
hear the gospel of the true and living God preached. And He said,
come, follow Me. And what did we do? We followed
Him. Irresistible grace. speaking with Roger and Cheryl
and Mike Loveless in our Friday night Bible study, talking about
how the Lord called us out of darkness. I love to hear the
stories of men and women and how the Lord called them out.
How they left those other religions behind. When? When they first
heard the Word of Truth. You see, God's children will
not go back to what it was before. Once you've heard the truth,
the power of God will keep you there, if you're one of His. I will give unto them, he says
in verse 28, eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Isn't that what God's
word says? They'll never go back. I'll never go back to the religion
of John Reeves and how the world was all about him. Why? Because
my Lord is the Jesus Christ. My Lord is the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in verse 29, My Father
which gave them Me is greater than all, and no man is able
to pluck them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one. You see folks, we come to see
the truth of who the Son of God truly is. We must worship Him
in spirit and in truth. We come to see the truth that
all the fullness of the Godhead dwelleth in Him bodily. Look at Luke chapter 11. Did I skip something? What did I do here? Let's keep
going. We come to see the truths of
who the Son of God truly is. We come to see all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. We come to see that salvation
is of the Lord. And then we come to see that
He is Lord of all. We come to see that our only
uprightness, our only righteousness, is His righteousness imputed
to us. As we read in 2 Corinthians 5.21,
for He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. We come to see
the grace of God for what it truly is, as we read in 1 Corinthians
4.7, for who maketh thee to differ? one from another. And what hast
thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it,
why does thy glory as though thou hast not received it?" We see that it is by His grace
that we have received anything. That's why we sing the song,
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound. In Ephesians 2.1 we read this
way, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sin, where in times past he walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince and the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Who
makes us to differ from those who walk this earth? Who makes
us to differ from those who will go into that door marked death
and pass on into hell, into the pit of fire? It is our Lord and
our Savior who is gracious to us. For as all men, we walked
as children of disobedience. It says so in verse 2 of chapter
3 of Ephesians, verse 3 of chapter 2 of Ephesians, among whom also
we have all had our conversation in times past in the lust of
our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But,
oh, to hear these words, but God, who is rich in mercy, God who is rich in mercy for
his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in
sins and hath quickened us together with Christ by grace ye are saved
and hath raised us up together and made us to sit in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. Now I've said all that to lay
this table. What a privilege. What a privilege it is to come
to God in prayer. But not just to come to the true
and living God, but to be heard of Him. When we first cried out, mercy,
Lord have mercy on me. The only reason we cried out
is because God gave us life to do so. You see, salvation is of the
Lord. Even our crying out for God to have mercy on our souls
is by the grace of God. What a privilege that we have
to come to God in prayer, to be heard of the true and living
God. Look with me, if you will, at our text in Luke chapter 11,
beginning at 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. And then in verse 2, he says
this unto them, when ye pray, say, Our Father. Now let's stop
there for just a moment. Our Father. Folks, we have been made, that's
right, made, the sons and daughters of the Most High. Our Lord is
the potter of all things, and by His grace He has made some
vessels unto dishonor and some vessels unto honor. Those who
are made unto honor shall come to the Lord, as it says, and
all that the Father hath given shall come to me. and they shall
hear His voice." We hear the voice of God because He called
us. And because of that, He can say,
along with myself, as I call Him Father, you call Him Father
also. Think back to when you were young
children. Some of you may not have great
fond memories of who your father was, but did you not always look
to him and call him father? Our father, the Lord says. Sons
and daughters of the Most High, John 1.12, we read it this way,
but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. In
Romans 8.14, we read it this way, for as many as are led of
the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. In Galatians 4.3-4.7
we read it this way, Even so we, when we were children, were
in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness
of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that
we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons,
God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a
servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ Jesus the Lord." We cry out. We pray to
our Father in Heaven as our Lord and Savior prayed in the 17th
chapter of John. And then next we see in that
verse 2, hallowed be thy name, holy is the most high, truly
righteous is all thy doings is what the servant David said. Then we see thy kingdom done,
or thy kingdom come. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me is what the Lord says. That's the kingdom
of God. All of His people spending eternity. Today thou shalt be with me in
paradise is what the Lord said to that thief on the cross. And then we read, Thy will be
done. In Isaiah 4611, yea, I have spoken
it, I will also bring it to pass, I have purposed it, I will also
do it. Folks, the Lord God Almighty
is sovereign in everything. Thy will be done. Did you know that the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself submitted to the will of the Father? Before He went to that cross,
He cried out, Lord, if it be possible, may this cup pass Me
by. That's the burden of our sin
that was laid upon Him. He who is so holy, that He cannot
even look upon sin, took our sins upon Himself. And the burden
of that sin made Him cry out to His own Father, Father, if
it be Thy will. Nevertheless, nevertheless, Thy
will be done, He said. He knew He had to go to the cross. Yea, I have spoken it. I will
also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also
do it. Not just in heavenly places,
but in all it is, even so in the earth. Philippians 2.9 we
read this, Wherefore God hath also highly exalted Him, speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving Him a name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things
in heaven and things in the earth and things under the earth. Next, let's look at verse 3.
Give us day by day our daily bread. Can anybody here go for very
long without eating? I last four hours. That's it. And if I get in my truck and
start driving my truck, I last about ten minutes. We got to have food. You ever watch one of those shows
where they put people out in the middle of the wilderness
and they have to figure out how to survive out there with nothing
but a pocket knife and a string? It's interesting. You see them
come on to the first days and they'll be like normal people. You get a little puffy on the
cheeks. They're OK. They're not overweight or anything,
but they're not thin either. There's this one where they got
to go 100 days and the one who makes it to 100 days gets a million
dollars. Well, they don't eat very well
when you're out there and there's no safe way down the street to
go to. And by the end of the time of
the show, when it's all done after their season, they're all
losing 40 to 50 pounds. If you don't eat, you're going
to shrivel up and die. Give us day by day our daily
bread. Folks, you and I need the Lord
Jesus Christ day by day by day by minute by minute by minute. Oh, how often we've taken our
sorrows and our troubles and put them at the feet of Jesus and left it there. Every time I do, I walk away
feeling fed. Every time I hear the Word of
God preached, I feel like I've been fed because it takes my
eyes off of the things in the world and brings my eye to the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we go to a church
where Christ and Him crucified is preached. Instead of that
big one down there in Roseville that all they want to preach
about is the ambulance that the kids raised enough money for
down there in Mexico. or like that one up in Pollock
Pines that wants to preach about what Saint Patrick did in all
the Catholic churches that he started. That doesn't do me any
good. Christ Jesus and him crucified
is what does me good. What about you? What about you? Our bread is the bread of life. The manna that came down from
heaven for Israel was a picture of our bread of life. Our daily
sustenance. Our nourishment. That which sustains
us and gets us through our daily walk. John 6.35, we read it this way,
and Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life, he that cometh
to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall
never thirst. The very fact that we'll come
to this table in a very short time is that picture of that
very thing. We feast on Christ. It's what
gets us through this life as we walk through the valley of
the shadow of death, and we commit our sin, and we go on about our
way, and we're reminded by looking to God's Word that it is not
the works of men. We cannot have any confidence
in our flesh. Our confidence is in what He
has done. Looking to the bread of life.
Look at verse 4. and forgive us our sins for we also forgive
everyone that is indebted to us and lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil. Don Fortner wrote this about
this forgiving part. We must never forget the next
line of this sentence. Forgive us our sins for we forgive
everyone that is indebted to us. This is the only line in
this passage that our Lord expands and explains. He does so because
this is the part that we are most apt to overlook. Turn over
to Matthew now. Matthew chapter 6. This is what Don is writing about,
expanding in those very words. Look at verses 14 through 15. And 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. Now before you go too far in
thinking that, listen to this. Our Lord here teaches us that
if we are unforgiving, we are yet unforgiving. That's what
it's teaching. If we are not gracious, it is
because we have not yet experienced grace. He's not suggesting that
the forgiveness of sin is conditional upon sinners forgiving one another.
He is simply declaring that grace experienced in the soul makes
saved sinners gracious to one another. Does that mean we're going to
be gracious every time? No. If you say you have no sin, then
you call God a liar. But you do come to know that
when you are gracious, it's because the Lord is gracious to you. It's not John Reeves being a
good guy and saying, oh, that's okay. It's God Almighty inside of John
Reeves saying, I was gracious to you, and I see His graciousness
to me, so therefore, I can turn to those who have sinned against
me and say, okay, that's alright. No big deal. Everything's by
His hand, and it's for my good. We must especially remember this,
goes on Don Fortner, that our Lord teaches us constantly to
acknowledge our sinfulness, and constantly seek forgiveness through
His blood. We are to confess our sins continually,
not in the ear of an earthly priest, but in the ear of our
Father who is in heaven, seeking forgiveness by the merit of our
great High Priest who is in heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Lord, you've got no reason to
forgive John for anything other than for what your Son has done
for me. Christ is our atonement. The
triune Jehovah freely forgives our debts through the merits
of Christ our Lord, yet though the work was finished in the
purpose of God from the foundation of the world and finished in
the execution and the purpose of our Lord and Savior at Calvary,
we constantly need forgiveness because we constantly sin and
we constantly have that forgiveness through infinite perpetual merit
and the efficacy of Christ's blood." End of Don's quote. Now
here in Matthew we also see a detail of what not to look, what not
to do. Look with me if you would at
verses 1 through 15 of chapter 6. Our Lord and Savior says this
to each and every one of us, take heed that you do not Take
heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them,
otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven." I didn't see it, but there was
a young man, several months back, came to visit us. And it disturbed a couple of
people here who did see it to a great extent. He walked to the back of the
church, turned around, and did this in front of everybody. And then walked out. We haven't
seen him since, so I don't know what that was all about. But
that's what this is talking about. He's talking about those who
give, thinking, look what I have done. Look what I'm giving. See, I'm a good person. I'm giving
to the church. But that's exactly why I've said
over and over again, God's people We don't expect anybody to give
who does not have a giving heart that was given to them by the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord will move his people. Take heed that ye do not your
alms before men to be seen of them, otherwise ye have no reward
of your Father which is in heaven. Verse 2, Therefore when thou
doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee as the
hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they
may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward. But when thou doest alms, let
not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth. You know what
I see when I read that? I see this, I see... John sees
himself doing this over here, he's going to start bragging
about it with this over here. I'm that weak. I really am. But by God's grace, I don't look at what this is.
Because I know this will start bragging. Verse 3, But when thou doest
alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that
thine alms may be in secret, and thy Father which seeth in
secret himself shall reward thee openly. Verse 5, 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 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
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 there is much speaking. But not ye,
therefore, like unto them. Be not ye, therefore, like unto
them. For your Father knoweth what
things you have need of, before you ask of Him. After this manner,
therefore pray ye, Our Father, which is in heaven, 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 the evil. For Thine is
the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. 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. Now let's look Let us close with one more example
of a true child of God in His way of praying. Turn back to
Luke, if you would, and this time look with me at chapter
18. Back in the book of Luke, once
again. Chapter 18. Luke chapter 18 verse 9, and he spake this parable unto
certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and
despised others. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a Republican. The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself. Notice that he prayed thus with
himself. This confirms what I was saying
earlier, the Lord Jesus Christ does not hear the prayers of
the wicked. This man was praying just like anybody else that would
have prayed to a wooden idol. He was praying to himself, to
the pride of himself. God, I thank Thee. Now listen
to this, God I thank Thee that I am not as other men are. Thank
You Lord that I'm not as bad as all those other people out
there. Ah, I know, I sin a little bit, but I'm not as bad as some
of the people out there. Thank You Lord that I'm not as
them, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican over
here who is just over there in the corner. Here's how good I am. I fast
twice a week. I give tithes for all that I
possess. And then he talks about one of
God's children who pray this way. And the publican, standing
afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven,
but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. How often do you pray that prayer? I do all the time. Shankfully, admitfully, I do
it more than once a day most of the time. Lord, be merciful to me for what
I just thought a moment ago. One who knows the true and living
God knows the holiness of God. And when you know the holiness
of God, you can see nothing in this flesh but sin. I heard it said this way, the
true child of God is the most happiest sad person there is
on this earth. Sad about the flesh, but happy
about grace. You see, God's grace is bigger
than anything that is of me. He's God. I tell you this, says our Lord
Jesus Christ in verse 14. This man went down to his house
justified rather than the other, for everyone that exalteth himself
shall be abased. and he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted." Child of God, how do we pray? We pray with
this mind in us. Ephesians 2 verse 8, For by grace
are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is
a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Amen.