Brother Mahan has been my pastor
all my life, since I was born. And how I have been so thankful
to have you as my pastor. And like Tom, every time we write,
I sign it, your son in the gospel. And that's what I think of you. I thought of one thing that I
think says everything back in 1988. I became very ill. I thought
I was going to die. And I was in the hospital for
two full months. I didn't get out. And my vision
was blurred. I couldn't even read. And all
I had to do was just lay there on my back and think after I
got out of the woods, so to speak, and it looked like I was going
to get better. And there was something that was on my mind
constantly. that I was able to look at death
without fear, looking forward to it for this
one reason. It is finished. All my hope is in those words.
It is finished. That's the first thing that I
felt truly thankful for while I laid there. Couldn't read.
Like I said, my vision was blurred. Couldn't read. I just had to
lay there and think. Tell them to get me things. But the second thing that impressed
me so much is I was so thankful that the Lord had given me a
pastor who was more concerned about me knowing the Lord's name
than his name. Now that says everything. I never was part of your program
or ministry. You wanted me to know the Lord.
And what more could I say than that? So thankful to have you
as my pastor. Would you turn with me to Luke
chapter 11? And while you're turning there,
I want to read a couple of verses of Scripture out of that only
Psalm, Psalm 62, that just caught my attention. It all caught my
attention, but it says in verse 9 of Psalm 62, "...surely men
of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie."
To be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity. You know, the other day I heard
on the radio, the five most powerful men in the United States. And
I thought, they got no power, none at all. They might think
they have power, but they have none. The Lord puts things in
perspective for us, doesn't he? Luke 11, let's read these first
four verses. Now, I have struggled with a
title for this message, but I'm going to title it, What is a
Christian? What is a Christian? And you
and I can find out what a Christian is by reading this prayer that
the Lord gave us to pray. Verse 1, and it came to pass
that as he was praying in a certain place, Well, that's something to think
about, isn't it? The scripture says he spent all night in prayer
at times, in communion with his father. And I love even thinking
about that, our Lord praying to his father and the disciples
were watching. 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 he said unto them, when you
pray, say, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done, be done as in heaven, so in earth. Give us, day by day,
our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for
we also forgive everyone that's indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. You know, a believer, a Christian,
can be defined in so many different ways in the scriptures. As a
matter of fact, just two or three weeks ago, I preached the message
out of Galatians chapter 2, and I entitled it, What is a Christian?
You know, really, every time we preach, we're, who is Christ? What did he accomplish? What
is a Christian? That's in every message we bring.
But if you want to know if you're a Christian, you can leave this
place knowing whether or not you're a real Christian by this
prayer our Lord gave us. Now, I'm interested in this.
I think of Acts chapter 11 where they were first called Christians
in Antioch. They didn't call themselves Christians.
People called them that. There was a reason for it. And
I want to be one of these people called Christians, don't you?
And I want to know if I really am a real Christian, someone
God in Christ has done something for. And we can see this from
this prayer. Now, everybody at one time or
another has prayed. Every human being on the face
of this planet at one time or the other has prayed. You know,
someone once said there's no atheists in foxholes, and you
know that's true. Somebody gets in trouble, I don't
care what nationality they are, what kind of race they are, if
there's a God out there, help me. Help me. If I'm sick, oh,
Heal me. If I'm in trouble, get me out
of this trouble. Prove yourself. Everybody has prayed some kind
of prayer. But the Lord gave us some valuable
instruction when he talked about that publican and that Pharisee
who prayed. And he said the Pharisee stood
and prayed, how? Thus with himself. God didn't
hear him pray. His prayer wasn't getting any
further than the ceiling. He stood and prayed thus with
himself. So when we talk about everybody
praying, everybody has prayed, but not everybody's prayed to
the Lord. They prayed to themselves. But here our Lord teaches us
how to pray. Now, when the Lord knocked Paul
off of his horse on the way to Damascus, and spoke to Ananias,
what did he say? He said, you go after Saul of
Tarsus, for behold, he prayeth. He never had before? Oh, he'd
gone through the motions many times, just like the Pharisee,
but he'd never prayed before. Behold, he prayeth. Prayer is the breath of faith
where you have one, you have the other. And once again, the
Lord Jesus Christ teaches us what a Christian really is in
prayer. I want to repeat, prayer is the
breath of faith. Every believer is a praying man
or woman, every single one of them. Now, in this prayer, we're
first taught by our Lord to pray as an our, we, or us. Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. forgive us our debts as we forgive
our debtors. A Christian is someone in this
great group of our, us, and we. Those who are united to the Lord
Jesus Christ. You know, when the Lord came
up to John the Baptist to be baptized, You can imagine John
saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
How would you feel if the Lord Jesus Christ came to you and
said, I want you to baptize me? You'd feel unequal to the task. Well, you'd feel, I got no business
doing this. But the Lord said, suffer it to be so now, for thus
it becometh us to fulfill All righteousness. He didn't say,
thus it becometh me to fulfill righteousness for you, although
He did in fact do that. He said, thus it becometh us
to fulfill all righteousness. Everything the Lord Jesus Christ
did, He did as an us. And this us is the same us that
Paul spoke of in Romans 8.31, if God be for us. Who can be against us? Oh, I
want to pray as an us, don't you? All of God's people are
united. And this is the way our Lord
taught us to pray. Being united to him, being one
in him, both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are
all of one. For the witch cause, he's not
ashamed to call them Brethren, he's not ashamed of me. I'm perfect
in Christ Jesus. Oh, may we always be aware of
this thing of our, our, we, us. You know, I was thinking, I'm
just as much part of this church as I am part of Todrick Gray's
church. They're all, it's all his church. And we're an us. We're in a we. We're an our.
Our father, the Christian, is a child of God. We cry, Abba,
Father. The believer, the Christian,
is a child of God. The Lord said to one group, you're
of your father, the devil, and the lust of your father, you'll
do. He's not everybody's father, but he is the father to all Christians. Now, how is a child of God a
child of God? Well, by adoption. By adoption. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ into Himself. Now, in
adoption, there's a choice made. He chose me. He adopted me in
His family. So I'm an adopted child. But
I'm more than an adopted child. I'm a born child. As many as
received Him, to them gave He the power to become the sons
of God, even to them which believe on His name, which were born,
which were born, not of blood, not of the will of the flesh,
not of the will of man. Listen to this scripture. Whoso
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born, birth of God. Beloved, if in your heart you
believe, I'm not asking you right now if you believe you're a Christian.
I'm asking you, do you believe that Jesus is the Christ? Do
you believe that He is the very Word of God, God's prophet? Do
you believe He's God's priest? That if He represents you before
the Father, you must be saved because of who He is. Do you
really believe He's God's King? He's the King? He's the Lord
of Lords and the King of Kings. Do you believe that? Beloved,
if you do, you're born of God. You're a child of God. You're
a Christian. That's what a Christian is. He's
someone who believes that Jesus is the Christ. And that is being
born of God. What's the evidence that I'm
a child? for you're all children of God
by faith in Christ Jesus. That's the evidence. Right now,
are you relying on Jesus Christ as all you have to bring you
into glory? Are you relying on Him? That's what's called faith.
Faith. I rest, I trust Him. That's what a child of God is.
Our Father, our Father, who aren't in heaven. And here's the next
thing a Christian is, he's a worshipper. Hallowed be thy name. A Christian is somebody who worships
God. His name is who he is. His name
is the person behind the name. His name is all of His most glorious
and excellent attributes. His name is His holiness, is
His power, is His sovereignty, is His wisdom, is His glory.
That's His name. That's who He is. And you know
what every Christian says? Hallowed, holy, reverend is Thy
name. Every Christian is a worshipper
of God. Hallowed be thy name. You know,
I remember one time I was reading a commentary on this and a fella
said, well, what that means is let your name be glorified. And
I thought, no, His name is glorified. Hallowed be thy name. We worship Him for who He is. You know, somebody doesn't worship
Him for who He is, they don't worship Him at all. They that worship Him, the scripture
says, must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Two requisites
for worship. God the Holy Spirit. You know you can't worship Him
unless God the Holy Spirit enables you. And the truth, the truth of who
He is, how he saves sinners by his grace. Paul said, we are
the circumcision which worship God in the spirit. We rejoice, we glory in Christ
Jesus. He's all of our confidence and
we have no confidence in the flesh. A Christian is a worshiper
of God. When you pray, say, our Father
which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come. A Christian is a subject of his
kingdom. He's the king. We're his subjects. It's the same kingdom that the
thief knew about when he was hanging on the cross. He knew
that one on the cross was not a defeated reformer. He said,
Lord, remember me when you return as a mighty conquering king in
your kingdom. He knew. He knew. So does every
other Christian. He's the king of this mighty
glorious kingdom. Now a kingdom has a jurisdiction. His jurisdiction is everything
and everywhere. He's a glorious King over all
things. He's in absolute control of all
things and we want His kingdom to come, don't we? Don't you
look forward, I mean His kingdom is already here, but don't you
look forward to when all opposition is put down and every knee is
made to bow the knee to King Jesus. A believer is a subject
of his kingdom. And next he says to teach us
to pray, thy will be done. A Christian not only is a subject
of his kingdom, a Christian is a willing servant. Thy will be done. And if your will crosses my will,
let my will be crossed. Thy will be done. That's what
we want more than anything else. We really mean that. Thy will
be done, whatever it is. Thy will be done. You see, thy people shall be
willing in the day of thy power. That's what's so amazing about
our Lord. You know, me and you can't make
anybody willing, can we? Can't make ourselves willing.
He can. He does. Every Christian, this
is the very desire of their heart, thy will be done. Verse 3, give us day by day, our daily
bread. A Christian is someone who's
poor and needy, has nothing, and is completely dependent upon
the charity of God for everything. You know, you only pray about
what you don't have any control over, what you don't have any
power in. That's what you pray about. You
know, you can't get it done. And you ask the Lord, Give me my daily bread, whatever
it is I need materially, whatever I need to eat, whatever I need
emotionally, whatever I need spiritually. Give me what I need. I'm always poor and I'm always
needy. And I need my daily bread. I
can't come up with it. I'm completely dependent upon
you at all times for all things. That's what a Christian is. He's
one who's dependent. Now, would that be you? Would
this describe you? Do you feel this about yourself? Verse four, and forgive us our sins. A Christian is a sinner. Matter of fact, only Christians
are sinners. Now, what's a sinner? Well, John tells us in 1 John
3, verse 4, sin is the transgression of the law. So a sinner is someone
who breaks God's holy law. Thou shalt have no other gods
before me. Sin is putting something before
God. The commandment second against
idolatry, making graven images or false ideas of God. Sin is
making a false image or idol of God to fit your own thoughts
and your own ways and to make things convenient for yourself. Sin is taking his name in vain. It's a failure to have a proper
reverence for his holy name. Sin is failing to rest. Failing to rest. Remember the
Sabbath day to keep it holy, a commandment to rest. Sin is
a failure to honor authority. It's a failure to honor your
parents as you should or any other God-given authority. Sin
is murder. murdering people's bodies, murdering
people's characters by innuendo and slight. Sin is sexual sin,
committing adultery in your mind. Sin is stealing, being a thief,
taking that which doesn't belong to you. Sin is lying, bearing
false witness, not telling the truth. Even when you tell the
truth, you're putting a slant on it to make yourself look better.
Sin is covetousness, desiring that which God hadn't given you.
Sin is the transgression of the law. A sinner is someone who
breaks the law. Let me tell you this about a
sinner. Here's what a sinner is. A sinner is somebody who
all they do, is sin. They cannot not sin. They cannot look down their nose
in moral superiority at anybody. They know it. And a sinner is
someone who has absolutely no claims on God. If he passes me by, just and
holy is his name. A Christian is a sinner who needs
the forgiveness of sins. Oh, how I need my sins forgiven. blotted out, put away, cancelled. If we confess our sins, if we
agree with God regarding our sins, He's faithful and just
to forgive us our sins. and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, a Christian is a sinner
who needs the forgiveness of sins. Oh, how I'm a sinner who
needs, needs the forgiveness of sins. But notice what else
he says, and this is just as important. He says in verse four,
and forgive us our sins for we also forgive everyone that is
indebted to us. A Christian is someone who forgives. When we pray to God, forgive
me of my sins, I'm actually saying forgive me as I forgive others. Now that's what the Lord says.
Let me give you five real brief good reasons to forgive. The Lord said, if you forgive
not men your trespasses, neither will your heavenly father forgive
you your trespasses. That's a pretty good reason to
forgive, isn't it? The Lord said that. Secondly, we will be forgiven
in the same manner we forgive. The Lord says that. forgive us our debts as we, as
we, in the same manner as we forgive those who are indebted
to us. Thirdly, if we forgive, we'll be happier people. You
know, there's nothing more miserable than being outraged at somebody
for supposed wrongdoing. You feel bad, you're mad, I shouldn't
be treated this way, you become bitter, resentful. How miserable
does that make you? I'd be a whole lot happier to
freely forgive. Make me a happier person. Fourth,
if we fail to forgive, Satan has the advantage over us. I'm
going to read a passage of scripture in 2 Corinthians 2, verse 10. To whom you forgive anything,
I forgive also. For if I forgive anything, to
whom I forgive it, for your sakes forgive I it in the person of
Christ, lest Satan should get an advantage of us. We forgive when we forgive. And I want to say this reverently,
as reverently as I know how. It's the nature of God to forgive.
That's one of the glorious things of his person. You know, when
he proclaimed his name before Moses, the Lord, the Lord God,
merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity and transgression and
sin, abundant in goodness and mercy and truth, that will by
no means clear the guilty. But it's his very nature to forgive. And the most God-like thing mere
you can do is forgive. Truly forgive. Forgive us our
debts as we forgive our debtors, forgiveness of our sins. So what
is a Christian? He's a sinner who needs forgiveness. He's a
sinner who forgives. Verse four, lead us not into
temptation. A Christian is someone who is
so weak that he can't face temptation.
And he asks the Lord, don't let me be tempted. Don't let me even
be tempted. I'm so weak. I'm so sinful. If the temptation comes toward
me, I'll fall. I don't want it to happen. Lead
me not into temptation. Lead me not into trial. You know,
I want to get out of trials any way I can. I want to just believe
God. I don't want to be tried. Now, I know I'm going to have
trials and I know you're going to have trials, but Lord, lead me not
into temptation. Cause me to just believe your
Word where I don't have to be tried. Don't let me even be tempted
because I know what will happen when I'm tempted. Don't let it
happen. Put a hedge around me. Encircle me. Enclose me. Let
me not be tempted. I'm too weak. What a blessing
it is to be weak, though. That's when you pray not to be
tempted. When you're strong, you can handle it. When you're
weak, oh, when I'm weak, Paul said, then am I strong. A Christian is one who prays,
oh, I'm so weak, don't let me even be tempted. Now, is that
your prayer? Is that in your heart? whether
you're a Christian. And finally, the Lord teaches
us to pray, deliver us from evil. A Christian is someone who cries
out, deliver us from evil. Deliver me from the evil one. I'm no match for him. I don't
want to be turned over to him. I don't want to be left to myself.
Deliver me from the evil one. Protect me. Deliver me from this
evil world. The lust of the flesh. The lust
of the eyes. The pride of life. Pleasure. popularity, power. Those are
those temptations. The lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes, the pride of life. Deliver me from that. I'll get
swallowed up by it. Deliver me from that. Most especially,
deliver me from me. I am the evil one. You know,
when the Lord was speaking to His disciples in this same chapter,
He said, if you then being, what? Evil. It's what the Lord said. He was speaking to his disciples.
Does anybody say, who's he talking to? No, you know, don't you?
You know. If you then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall
your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit good things to them
that ask him? A Christian is someone who needs
rescue. Rescued, delivered from evil. Deliver me from Satan. Peter heard the Lord say this
to him, Peter, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift
you as wheat. But I pray for you. In the Lord teaching us to pray,
he teaches us what a Christian is, one of the great group called
us, we, and our. The same us as if God be for
us, who can be against us? Those who are united to Christ.
The same us of which Christ said, thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. A Christian is a child A Christian
is a worshiper. A Christian is a subject of the
kingdom. A Christian is a servant praying
for God's will to be done. A Christian is one who's completely
dependent upon the charity of God. A Christian is a sinner
needing the forgiveness of sins. A Christian is one who forgives. A Christian is one who realizes
he's so weak he doesn't even want to be tempted. A Christian
is one who needs the Lord to rescue him from evil. Is that you? Beloved, you are
a Christian. Amen.