Now, right there in those verses,
Luke chapter 11, that Brother Aaron just read, there is a short
parable. It's called the Parable of the
Friend at Midnight, but I'm not going to get to that this morning,
because I want to preach this morning on the subject, Lord,
teach us to pray. Many of the parables that we've
studied, going through Matthew and Mark and Luke, the Lord has
used comparison to illustrate God's truth. The kingdom of heaven
is like. He compares it to something.
Earthly objects and persons that teach a spiritual truth. But
now this parable uses not comparison but contrast to teach a great
truth. showing the difference. It's
summarized in verse 13 with three words. Here's the contrast. How
much more? In other words, this is the parable,
this is what took place, and I'm showing you what we might
say a reluctant person opening the door to a persistent guest
or persistent caller. called the friend at midnight.
You know that word in verse 8, importunity. That means boldness
or persistence. In other words, the fellow wouldn't
quit until he got what he wanted. And the contrast to that is our
Heavenly Father is not like that. And I want to show you this because
this parable, I believe it's been so abused in a lot of ways
concerning the issue of prayer. And that's why I wanted to start
with talking about how do we pray? Lord, teach us to pray.
Because that's the foundation of understanding this parable.
He spoke this parable, the friend at midnight, in answer to the
disciples' question, Lord, teach us to pray. And then he teaches
them to pray, and then he illustrates spiritual truth with this persistent
guest, or this persistent caller who wanted bread for a guest
of his own house, and he wouldn't quit. And so the fellow finally
got up and gave him the loaf. But there's a contrast with our
Heavenly Father. And he says, how much more shall
your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask
Him? How much more? More than that. that person who
was reluctant, who had to be persistently, the one who had
to persistently knock at his door. And so there's the contrast. The parable uses this contrast
to teach this great truth about God, the God of all grace, in
His readiness and His willingness not only to save all who come
to Him for salvation His way, His way now, by grace through
the Lord Jesus Christ and to give His children all that they
need and all that they want according to His will. According to His
will. He read it. Now, most say that
this lesson, the lesson of this parable of the friend at midnight
is persistence in prayer. I've read so much about that
this week I'm about blue in the face already. Persistence in
prayer, but that's really misleading. That's not what this is about.
Certainly God's people, now listen to me, God's people are to be
persistent in praying. We're to pray always. 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5, listen to this, verse 16, Rejoice evermore, pray without
ceasing. It says that's persistence, isn't
it? Praying without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for
this is the will of God in Christ concerning you. Now that doesn't
mean that we're to constantly be on our knees or constantly
speaking a prayer, but it means an attitude of prayer. That our
lives are to be marked with an attitude of prayer, total dependence
on God. The soul seeking to communicate
with God through Christ. And so, a constant attitude of
prayer. In the book of Luke, chapter
21, verse 36, listen to this. The Lord says, watch you therefore. Now, watch means to be on the
watch. Always on the watch. Always alert. Always ready. And
He says, and pray always. Pray always. that you may be
accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come
to pass in the last days and stand before the Son of Man."
So pray always. We should constantly pray for
each other. And I'll tell you, sometimes
we neglect that, don't we? We should constantly pray for
each other. Listen to the words of Samuel
the prophet in 1 Samuel chapter 12 and verse 23. He says this,
he says, "...Moreover, as for me, God forbid, that's one of
the God forbids, may it never be, that's what that means. God
forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for
you. In other words, if I don't pray
for you, I'm sinning against God. And you know what that's
all about. You can't separate Christ and
His people as towards our responsibility of love. However we treat his
people, or mistreat his people, or neglect his people, he takes
it personally. And so Samuel went on to say,
but I will teach you the good and right way. God forbid that
I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. Prayer,
in Ephesians chapter 6, when Paul was writing about the whole
armor of God, prayer is part of the believer's armor. In fact,
he concludes, when he lists each piece of the armor which speaks
of our spiritual standing and the spiritual warfare we're engaged
in, he says in verse 18, "...praying always with all prayer and supplication
in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance, persistence,
and supplication for all the saints." So we should be persistent
in praying. We who are saved by grace in
Christ, are to be people of prayer. It's to mark our lives. It's
an awesome privilege to be able to pray to our Heavenly Father. It's not a common privilege.
It is a specific, unique, awesome, special privilege to be able
to go to the Lord God in prayer. So persistence in praying is
to mark our life. I believe it was Bunyan, John
Bunyan, who said, Prayer is the breath of a regenerate soul.
I like that. Just like physical air, breath
is the life of the physical part of us. Try to stop breathing. If you can't, you'll die. And
the same thing with prayer spiritually. Bunyan went on to say, he said,
it's the speech of the soul to God. God speaks to us by His
Spirit through His Word, but we speak to God in prayer. So
there's no doubt that this is an important subject. However,
this parable, now as you heard Brother Aaron read it, here's
this person who comes to, he had a guest come at midnight,
and he didn't have anything to serve him. And that was unheard
of in that day, in that culture. You know, they just couldn't
run down to McDonald's and get a hamburger. He didn't have any
bread to give his guest, and that was an embarrassment. So
he went to another friend, knocked on his door, and he said, I've
got a guest here. I don't have anything to serve him. Give me
bread. And the man said, well, I've already gone to bed. The
door's shut. My children are asleep. I can't do it now. And
the fellow was importunate. That's what it says here, importunate
or importunity. And it means he was persistent.
He wouldn't go away until he got what he wanted. Now, this
parable, though, and a lot of people use it, they say, well,
this parable means, then, that if you want something bad enough
from God, just don't let up. Persistence in prayer. That is
not what this teaches. This parable does not teach that
we should pray so persistently as to badger God into getting
what we want. as if we were going to make him
change his mind. Look over at Matthew chapter
6. Now, in Matthew chapter 6, that's the Sermon on the Mount,
and that's where we see what is commonly called the Lord's
Prayer. It's better called the Model Prayer. This isn't the
Lord's Prayer, it's the Model Prayer. He's teaching his disciples
to pray. We have the same words virtually
in Luke 11, but on another occasion. So it's not the same time, you
see, here on the Sermon on the Mount. But when our Lord begins
to teach on the subject of prayer and the Sermon on the Mount,
listen to what He says in verse 5 of Matthew 6. Now listen to
this. He says, 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. They want to be seen of men.
They get seen of men. That's their reward. They get
what they want. If you're in religion, if you
do anything like that to be seen of men, they'll see you. They'll
see you and you get your reward. You know, it's like I often say
about these fellas that preach on the corner down here. You
know, I'll drive by. I have never heard one word they
said. I mean, I wrote down my window,
too, and turned off the radio. I don't hear them, but I see
them. And you see, that's not the way
the Word of God is. Faith cometh by what? Hearing. And hearing by the Word of God.
So that's not the way to present the Gospel. It's through the
preaching of the Word. Not through confusion and listen
to the cars go by and the Harleys go by and all that. You can't
hear anything there, but you can see them. But look at verse
6. Now listen to this. He says,
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet. You see,
we have public prayer here because we're in worship. And that's
part of the worship service. But going out in public and just
praying, some people pray to be seen of men. Some people pray
superstitiously. I had a person tell me one time,
he said, a bite of food will not enter his mouth unless he
blesses it in prayer. That's not grace. That's superstition. Let me tell
you, Paul said it's already blessed by God. Already! You don't have to go to a ritual
to do that now. Now, I certainly am not against
thanking God for a meal. We thank God for every meal.
But don't do it superstitiously. You say, well, if I don't, I'll
get sick or, you know, get salmonella or something. That's crazy. That's
not what this is about. He says, get into your closet.
And when, look, verse 6. 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. Verse 7, but when
you pray, use not vain repetitions. In other words, don't keep repeating
like the words have some special magical power, like a mantra.
Like I told my Sunday school class, we are not Hindus. Om. Don't do that. That's not God's way now. That's
man's way. That's man's way, you know. praying
on a rock, you know, out there, just keep repeating it. You want
it so bad. And he says, he says, pray to
thy father which is sick. But when you pray, use not vain
repetition as the heathen do. That's the way the heathen prays.
Now, don't pray like the heathen. What's a heathen? That's an unbeliever.
He says, for they think that they shall be heard for their
much speaking. Now let me ask you, now you see
that verse there, how would you interpret this parable to be
persistent in prayer when he tells you not to do that here?
You see what I'm saying? He said, well if you don't get
what you want, just come back and do it again. No, he said
don't use vain repetitions like the heathen, as if you're going
to get it because you won't quit. And he says in verse 8, Be not
ye therefore like unto them, for your father knoweth what
things, and underscore this, you have what? Need of. Before you ask him. He knows
what you need. He knows what you need. And then he begins
to teach them to pray. Now go back to Luke 11. You see,
what I'm saying is this. Now, I'm going to get into the
parable next week, but I want you to know this. This parable
is not teaching that in order to get God to give us what we
want, all we have to do is harass Him with repetition and persistence
until He gives in. Now, your children may do that
to you, and you may give in. They may just not quit. I think
you should teach them better. But let me tell you something,
that's not the way God is with His children. It's not teaching that
if we believe and pray hard enough, we can get anything we want from
God. Paul said he sought the Lord
three times about his thorn in the flesh, and the Lord didn't
give him what he wanted. And then it's not teaching that
our prayers can change God's mind, or God's will, or God's
purpose. A God you can change His mind
is no God at all. Now, you listen to me. If you
can change God's mind, He's no God at all. Now, He can change
our minds, and does. Well, part of the Lord's answer
in this disciple's request was this, Lord, teach us to pray.
Now, let me say this, prayer has great power with God. It
does. Not because of any merit in the
prayer. Not because we earn our way into
God's favor and into getting what we want by the prayer or
persuade God to change His mind, but because of the love and the
generosity and the grace and the mercy of our Heavenly Father
towards His children in Christ. He said, if any of you lack wisdom,
in James chapter 1 and verse 5, let him ask of God that giveth
to all men liberally, generously, and upbraideth not, he won't
hold back, and it shall be given him." Look at Luke 11. Look at verse 9 that was read.
He said, I say unto you, ask. What? He didn't say, ask, ask,
ask, and keep on asking. He says, ask, and it shall be
given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. For everyone that asketh, receiveth. Did you see that? Well, that
sounds like a genie in a bottle, doesn't it? I rub it, and I get
one of one. That's not what it's teaching.
He says, "...and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh
it shall be opened." Now, the key to understanding that is
our Lord's teaching on prayer. He's not making God to be out
like some genie in a bottle, or some wishing well. That you
ask, you get what you want. That's not what it's teaching.
The key starts with prayer. And I want to deal with that.
So before we go into the parable, let's consider our Lord's teaching
on prayer. His answer is the same as recorded, as I said,
in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6, but it's not the same
occasion. And He says, look at it, verse
2, He said unto them, when you pray. Now He didn't say if you
pray. He said when you pray. That's important. So it's not
an option here now. Prayer is the breath of the regenerate
soul. when you pray. Now let's take
each one, and I'm not going to spend too much time on it, except
on a couple of them. But listen, he starts out, number
one, our Father which art in heaven. Now the first thing you've
got to notice about that is that if you can pray to God as your
Heavenly Father, that means that the issue has been settled in
your conscience already. of how God can be both a righteous
judge and a loving Father. How He can be just and justify. You see, all true prayer begins
with honoring God as Father. Not Father by creation, but Father
by redemption through Christ. You see, coming to God and addressing
Him as Father in this way presupposes faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ said this, listen, John
14, verse 6, I am what? The way, the one and only way.
I am the truth, the one and only truth. I am the life, the one
and only life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by Me. You can't come to the Father
for salvation, for blessing, for communion, for worship, or
for prayer except through Jesus Christ and Him crucified and
risen again. You see, Romans 8.13, look over
here at this. Turn with me on this one. In
Romans 8, listen to this. This is a precious, precious
privilege for sinners saved by the grace of God in Christ. This is for believers, those
who have been born again by the Spirit, regenerated and converted.
And listen, he says in verse 14 of Romans chapter 8, listen
to this, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God. Now where
does the Spirit of God lead a sinner? He leads them to Christ. He leads
you to the blood of Christ for the forgiveness of all your sins.
He leads you to the righteousness of Christ, imputed, charged to
you for your whole justification before God. That's the only way
God can be just and justify a sinner, through Christ. And he says they
are the sons of God. Not everybody is the sons of
God. Somebody says, well, God created everybody. He's not talking
about creation. Creation fell in Adam. You see,
man by nature fallen in Adam is ruined. He's dead in trespasses
and sin. He's alienated from God. The
only way God can be our Father now is by grace through Christ. It's called the adoption of grace.
He adopts us into His family. He chose us. He justified us. He redeemed us in Christ. And
my soul, He regenerates us. He gives us life. to see Him. And so he says in verse 15, for
you've not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but
you've received the spirit of what? Adoption. You've been adopted
into the spiritual family of God and He's your Father. Whereby
we cry, Abba, Father. That word Abba is an interesting
word. But what it means is it is indicative
of a special, close communion with God. Not an over-familiarity
now. There's too much of that going
on. No respect, no reverence, no fear of God. But it is a special
communion, a relationship with God, of a father to child. I think it was Tim James that
first brought this out to me. It's almost like saying, Papa,
Papa. You see, it's not a disrespectful
term. It's not the man upstairs or
the old guy with the beard. It's our Father. Our Heavenly
Father. Abba Father. And so he says in
verse 16, "...the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit
that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs of
God, and joint heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with
Him, that we may be glorified together." You see, He's our
Heavenly Father because of the Son's work on the cross. And
God is the source of our whole salvation, our Father which art
in heaven. He's the source of our whole salvation in and by
Jesus Christ. God is our Father by electing
grace, justifying grace, redeeming grace, adopting grace, and regenerating
grace in Christ. And without Christ, He's an enemy. He's an enemy. And this is why
God's been reconciled to his people in Christ, and his people
must be reconciled unto him in Christ. Years ago, one of the
former presidents of the Southern Baptist Convention got into trouble
with the known world, the press, because he's made this statement.
He said, God does not hear the prayers of a Jew. He made that
statement, and I believe he retracted it. But let me tell you how I
would put that. God does not accept or approve
of the prayers of any person, Jew or Gentile, who rejects Christ
as Savior. who rejects Christ as the Lord
their righteousness, who rejects Christ as their intercessor,
for the Bible says in the book of 1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse
5, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus. You come to God without Christ,
He does not approve or accept that prayer. For we have a great
high priest, Paul wrote in Hebrews chapter 4, which is passed through
into the heavens. He's our great high priest. And
therefore, because of Christ and His work of redemption on
Calvary and His intercessory work in glory, we can come to
God boldly, confidently, freely as our Father. We also come to
God as children who are totally dependent upon our loving Heavenly
Father for all things in salvation and eternal life. When you say,
our Father which art in heaven, you're saying, God, I'm totally
at your mercy. God, I'm totally dependent upon
you for everything that I have and am and will be. Totally dependent,
like a child. We depend upon His power, His
goodness, His faithfulness, His love, His wisdom, His mercy,
His grace, everything. We don't depend upon ourselves
for anything. You see, prayer is a covenant
relationship with God by grace through Christ. And then look
at the next line. Here's the second thing. He says, Hallowed
be thy name. Verse 2. Hallowed be thy name. What that means is sacred. God's
name is sacred. God's name is to be revered.
God's name is holy and unique. There's none like Him. Years
ago, Queen Mary, or Mary Queen of Scots, made this statement
about the old reformer, the Scottish reformer, John Knox. She made
this statement. She said, and she was Catholic,
and she said, I fear the prayers of John Knox more than all the
assembled armies of Europe. Now, that sounds at the surface
like it's pretty good, is it? Not so. You see, John Knox's
name is not to be hallowed. John Knox's prayers are not to
be hallowed. Neither are yours or mine. God's
name is to be hallowed. You see, whether it's the prayer
of a great reformer named John Knox, Or it's the prayer of an
old publican beaten on his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me,
the sinner. It's not the power of the prayer.
It's not even the humility of the pray-er. It's the greatness
of God. It's the goodness of God. It's
the power of God. Hallowed be thy name. Who is
like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like Thee, glorious
in holiness, fearful in praises, doing one thing? There's nobody
like Him. His name shines forth in its
greatest glory in the salvation of a sinner, no matter who that
sinner is, by the Lord Jesus Christ. To whom will you liken
me, Isaiah, the prophet said of God, and make me equal, and
compare me that we may be like? You can't compare anyone to God.
There's no God else beside me, he said, a just God and a Savior.
There's none beside me. Look unto me and be ye saved.
All the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. Hallowed be thy name." Somebody said, well, boy, that
fellow sure can pray. I'll tell you what, I believe
our prayers are pretty pitiful, actually. But I want to tell
you something. The God to whom we pray, the
Christ upon whom we stand as our High Priest and Intercessor.
There's no equal. There's nothing like Him. He's all in it all. So you see,
it's not the eloquence of the prayer. It's not the greatness
of the prayer. It's the greatness of God in
Christ. That's prayer. It's not the power
of the one who prays or the prayer. It's the power and glory of God
to whom we pray, whether it's the prayer of Moses, the mediator
of Israel, or the prayer of Hannah, the barren woman, just wanting
a child. Either way, it's God. It's God
who's to be hallowed. Look at the next line, number
three here. He says, Thy kingdom come, His
kingdom of grace in Christ. We pray that his kingdom, God's
sovereign in all things. You know, that's a submission
to the sovereignty of God. Thy kingdom come. I'm not the
captain of my own faith. I'm not the ruler of my own destiny. I'm not in control, even though
sometimes I act like I think that. Thy kingdom come, O Lord,
God's sovereign. He shall reign over the house
of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
in whom we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will." This is a prayer for the salvation of all his
people. Look over at John 17. Thy kingdom come. This is the kingdom of grace. And it's not just praying, Lord,
come and get everybody who I don't like. It's a prayer that God will save
His people. We know He will, but we express
it as our desire, too. Christ prayed this. Now, if you
want to know where the Lord's prayer is, here it is in John
17. This is the Lord's prayer. This is our Lord praying to His
Father. Luke 11 and Matthew chapter 6
is the model prayer. In fact, we could call this the
disciples' prayer, because in that, He's teaching His disciples
how to pray. For example, he teaches us to
pray this. He says, Thy will be done. But
when he prays, you know what he says in John 17? Read the
whole prayer sometime. I don't have time to read. He
says, I will. I will. I will. Now you can't do that. I can't go to God and say, now
God, I will. I will. I will. I have to go
to God and say, Thy will. Thy will. Thy will. So here's
the Lord's Prayer, but look at the first few verses. It says,
These words spoke Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven,
and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy son, that thy
son also may glorify thee, as thou hast given him power over
all flesh, so that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. That's thy kingdom come. He's
going to give eternal life to as many as the Father gave him. He said in John 6 and verse 37,
"...all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." He went on to
say, "...and this is the will of the Father who sent me, that
of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but raise
it up again at the last day. Thy kingdom come." Go back to
Luke 11. Here's the fourth thing. He says
in Luke 11 here in verse 2, in the last line, Thy will be done,
as in heaven, so in earth." Now, here's a great key to prayer. It's submission to God's will.
Not only in the future, not only in heaven, but here and now. It's saying this. It's submitting
to this. Whatever God does, that's the
right thing to do. Thy will be done. You say, but
now here's what I want. Well, your Heavenly Father knows
what you need better than you do. Just like these little babies
and these little children. Sometimes they might come up
to you and they might say, Daddy, would you buy me a new car? And
they don't even have their license yet. Now you know that would
not be good for them, don't you? And so you say what? What's your
answer? No, it should be no. I hope it's
no. Because you have more wisdom. And you love them. And you know
to go out and buy them a new car and put them behind the wheel
of the car would be deadly for them and for others. But they
want it. And they want it so bad. And
they may even believe they'll get it if they keep at you. You say, no, no, no. Well, that's
the way our Heavenly Father is, too. Little children. Now, what
John calls us little children, Gerald, that means you, too,
little children. Me, too. I'm 55. Little children in the
eyes of my Heavenly Father. And I want things. And I'll pray
for them. But you know what? Sometimes
the answer is no. And you know why? Because thy
will be done. God's will is the best way. God
knows what I can handle and what I can't handle. He knows what's
best for me. And that's what he says. That's
the issue. Thy will be done, as in heaven,
so in earth. He goes on, look at the next
one. He says in verse 3, give us this day, give us day by day
our daily bread. What that shows, when under thy
will be done, we're praying for the Lord to give us what we need
to live. The psalmist prayed, Lord, don't
make me rich lest I be lifted up and forget God. Don't make
me poor lest I go out and steal. Just give me my daily bread.
Now, the problem is we want more than our daily bread, don't we?
I want, I want, I want. But God's going to give His children
what they need to live physically and spiritually. In fact, He
tells us, be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known
unto God. Let God know what you want. But
always understand this, it must be according to His will. Sometimes we ask for things amiss,
James told his hearers. He says you have not because
you ask not. When you ask, you ask amiss.
You ask in a way that is dishonoring to God and uplifting to the flesh. Somebody might say, well, I want
salvation, but I want it on my terms. You're not going to get
it, friend. because your terms are not good
enough. You want salvation, you're going
to have it on God's terms, and His terms is grace through His
Son, His blood and righteousness alone. You come presenting your
works, don't ask God for salvation. You know, everybody wants to
be saved. But people want it their way,
my way, with my friends and my family. If you've got to come
God's way, God's way, and give us this day, day by day, our
daily bread. The thing about it is, Romans
chapter 8 says it this way, if God's given us His Son, how shall
He not with Him freely give us all things? We're blessed with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. We have more. And then look at verse 4. Now,
he says, "...and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone
that is indebted to us." Pray as a sinner seeking mercy. Don't come proudly like the Pharisee. Lord, I thank you that I am who
I am and you've enabled me to do what you've enabled me to
do. I ought to be a good addition to the kingdom. Come as a sinner. who doesn't deserve the least
of God's blessings and favor, and who cannot earn the least
of God's blessings and favor. I'm a sinner seeking mercy. I
was a sinner when I first came to God seeking mercy, and I'm
a sinner today coming to God seeking mercy. Forgive me. Lord, I thank You for Your mercy. And this assumes that we need
forgiveness and that God gives forgiveness. Unforgiven sin exposes
the soul to divine judgment, eternal death. Therefore, forgiveness... You know what? You say, I'm sitting
here thinking, what do I need more than anything? I'll tell
you what I need more than anything else. Forgiveness. That's my
greatest need. Forgiveness. Now, upon what grounds
will God grant forgiveness? Will He grant forgiveness based
upon my works? The Bible says no. Will He grant
forgiveness based upon my faith? No. My repentance? No. My tears of remorse? No. My obedience or promises to do
better? No. Will He grant forgiveness
based upon my prayer? No. No. The Bible says this. And almost
all things are by the law purged with blood, talking about the
blood of the Old Covenant, the animals. And then it goes on
to say, without the shedding of blood is no remission. That's forgiveness, pardon. Upon
what ground will God grant forgiveness? I'll tell you what, blood. Does that offend your sensibilities?
The only ground upon which God will grant forgiveness is blood. Well, what are you saying, preacher,
I need to cut myself before I pray? No. No. Not your blood. Or my blood. That's not good
enough. It's the blood of His Son. That's
right. The blood of the God-man. Look at 1 John chapter 1. Now,
I heard a preacher say one time, and it kind of surprised me,
this particular preacher. But he said this. He said, the
cost of forgiveness is repentance. So that if you repent, then God
will forgive you. Now, let me tell you something.
That is not right. It is not right. The cost of
forgiveness is the blood of the Lamb of God. That's the cost. And it's from there that repentance
is given by God to His people. Look here in 1 John 1. People
talk about confession of sin. We've got to confess our sins
and God will forgive us. Now let me tell you, that's a
misleading statement. And I want to show you why. Now
look at what the Scripture says. Look first. At verse 6 of 1 John
1, it says, If we say that we have fellowship with Him, now
that fellowship with God, fellowship with the Father and the Son comes
through Christ, which includes prayer and communion with God.
He said, If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk
in darkness, That is, not in the truth of grace, we lie and
do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as
He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood
of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. Did you see
that? Now, what cleanses us from sin?
The blood. Now if we say, verse 8, that
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If
we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now did you see there, if we
confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive. What's he talking about? How
can God be both faithful, merciful, and forgiving? and still be just
in forgiving our sins. How can He do it? The blood of
Christ. The blood of Christ. That's it. It takes death. Whose death? His death. God doesn't
forgive sin just by looking the other way. He doesn't forgive
sin just by being compassionate, merciful, loving, and gracious.
He's got to be just when He justifies. He's got to be just when He forgives.
All sin must be punished with death. His justice can only be
satisfied by the full and complete punishment of every violation
of His law, and the due penalty determined is infinitely severe. It's eternal damnation. And nothing
that we offer to God, nothing that we do, nothing that we say
or feel, religiously or morally, can ever change that. We have
no capability. to satisfy the justice of God.
No ability to remove ourselves from under a just judgment. Oh
Lord, if Thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, who would stand?
So then how does the forgiveness of sins come? Our Lord taught
His disciples in Matthew 26 and verse 28. He says, For this is
my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the
remission of sins. It's by the blood of Christ.
He's our propitiation. And therefore, the gospel is
a message of forgiveness, and it therefore involves the fact
that you understand your sin as convinced by the Holy Spirit.
You understand something of its nature and its consequences,
what you deserve and what you earn. The wages of sin is death.
And only from God our Father, in and through the blood of Christ,
is the forgiveness of sins. And that's sure. To the Lord
our God belong mercies and forgiveness, though we rebelled against Him."
What am I saying? God will forgive sinners for
Christ's sake. And that's it. And out of that
comes a confession. This word sin here, forgive us
our sins, is to miss the mark. And the mark is perfection. Absolute
righteousness and holiness. And we all miss it. We all fall
short. He says, in verse 4 here, he says, for we also forgive
everyone that is indebted to us. Sin is a debt. We owe God
perfect obedience, and when we don't give it to Him, we owe
Him a debt. Well, my friend, our debt was
laid on Christ, if we know Him. Before the foundation of the
world, He was set up to be our surety. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. You
notice there he says, forgive us our sins for we also forgive
everyone that is indebted to us. In Matthew chapter 6 it says,
forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass
against us. It's not that our forgiving others
is the condition or basis of God forgiving us. But what he's
simply teaching is this, it's useless for me to claim to be
forgiven by God in His mercy and grace in Christ, when I didn't
deserve it and didn't earn it and done everything to deserve
damnation, it's useless for me to claim that forgiveness and
not have a forgiving spirit myself. That's a sham. Our forgiveness
of each other is not the cause of God's forgiving us, it's the
evidence that God has forgiven us. Lord, keep us in Your forgiveness. and forgiving others. And then
look here in verse 4. He says, lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Or the evil one. Let me just
close with this. Now, the word temptation can
mean a couple of things. It can mean a luring or coaxing
to sin. Well, God never lures us or coaxes
us to sin. In fact, James 1.13 says this,
let no man say when he is tempted In that sense, I'm tempted of
God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He
any man. But temptations here can also mean testings or trials
which are from God. James 1 verse 2, My brethren,
count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations as trials,
knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience,
endurance. So what is this saying? Lead
us not into temptation. Number one, it's recognition
and admission of our own sinfulness and weakness and impotence to
go through the trials and temptations of life. God, I'm useless. I can't make it. I have no power.
And secondly, it's a plea to God to be our protector against
all that comes from Satan, the evil one. Protect us. You see,
Satan, listen, Satan is no match for God. But we're no match for
Satan. And we have Christ who defeated
the devil. So he says, Lord, keep us safe
from ourselves and keep us safe from the devil. Only God can
deliver us.