If you would, turn to Matthew
chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6, and I want
to read verses 9 to 13. After this manner, therefore
pray ye. Our Father, 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 evil. For thine is the
kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever, amen. Now I know all of you have at
least heard that before. And just about everyone has. What I want to talk about today
is prayer. Prayer. And I will admit to you
at the beginning that I do not claim to be an expert on prayer. I do not actually to be truthfully
honest about it, think I'm very good at prayer. I do try. But I don't think I'm
very good at it. And I will continue to try to
pray. However, we have here in this
statement, by the Lord Jesus Christ, a definitive command
to pray. And he tells us how to pray. Now I will come out and also
start this at the beginning, state this at the beginning.
This is not the Lord's Prayer. I know that's what the world
calls it. I know that's what they all say. This ain't it. If you wanna hear the Lord's
Prayer, the closest thing you're gonna find to it in the scriptures
is in John chapter 17, the whole chapter. That is where the son
is praying to the father. That's the Lord's prayer. This
is the way we are to pray. And notice very carefully. I
said, this is the way we are to pray. I didn't say this is
the prayer that we are to pray. Well, most people. in churches
all around us, in religious societies everywhere, and it doesn't matter
what kind, Pentecostal, Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, I'm sure
Episcopalian, please all stand and recite the Lord's Prayer. And that is exactly what they
do. They recite the Lord's Prayer. That's what they say, and actually
that is what they do. They have it memorized. I had
it memorized when I was a kid. I had it in my head and I would
recite it. What does that mean? That means
you say these words from memory. What also does that mean? You
don't have to think about them, you just say them. And that's
what's done all around us. That is not what the Lord Jesus
Christ was teaching here at all They say it by rote just like
we used to say the multiplication tables when I was a kid 3 times
3 is 9 3 times, you know 4 is 12 3 times 5 is 15 our Father
who art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name There's
some that saying it This is our instructions to pray. But very carefully notice the
first words I started with here in verse nine, after this manner. Okay, here's the negative part. Start with the negative, then
you go to the positive. That's the way I work usually. He did
not say, repeat after me. He did not say, memorize this
and recite it every Sunday. That's not praying. That's not
praying at all. He says, after this manner, this
is a pattern, not a recipe. This is an example, not a formula. That's why they say it that way,
though. Let's all recite the Lord's Prayer. Why? Because reciting
is what they do. And here's the kicker. Reciting
is not praying. It's reciting. We need to pay attention to the
words said by our Lord Jesus Christ. I need to pay attention. He says after this manner in
this way pray to the father, and I'm going to go through it
rather quickly if I can here He says pray ye You pray After
this manner you pray You are to pray to the father if you
know the father You pray He's not making a request. This is
a command. This is a flat statement. After
this manner, you pray. And you are to pray to the father. What's it say? After this manner,
therefore pray ye our father. If he ain't your father, you
got no right to pray to him. Well, God's everybody's father.
You listen to what Christ said to some of these Jews here and
he'll tell them right to their face. He said, my father ain't
your father. If God was your father, you do
the work of Abraham. Abraham saw my day and he was
glad. I do the works of Abraham, and
what you seek to kill me. If he's your father, pray to
him. Our father, which art in heaven, clarify who you're talking
to. We are not praying to a man.
We are not praying to an organization. And this is something I think
I pointed out here before, and I'll say it again. Jesus Christ
never told us to pray to him. He told us to pray to the Father.
Now, he did tell us to pray to the Father in my name, and Jesus himself, in John chapter
17, prayed to the Father. After this manner, pray our Father,
which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. He's holy, holy, holy. His name
is holy, holy, holy. Hallowed be thy name. You gotta
clarify who you're talking to. Because there's some people who
are praying to a God not of this Bible. There's some people who
are praying to a Jesus that's not in this Bible and we're not
told to pray to Jesus. But after you clarify, what's it say? Verse 10, thy
kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Now I looked at this the other
day again, and the funny thing hit me when
I was checking it out online. Thy kingdom come is in the second
Aorist tense. Thy will be done on earth as
it is in heaven. Will be done. That's in the Aorist tense. Both
of these statements by Jesus Christ are in the past tense.
You are to pray to God that you know His will has been done. Here is the king of glory God
manifest in the flesh on the earth guess what his kingdom
has come You're not a king if you don't
have a kingdom Now there are aspects of the
kingdom yet to come yes But he was a king while he was here,
and he had a kingdom while he was here That kingdom has come
And it is coming, and it shall be forever. And guess what? His will has been done, is being
done, and shall be done forever. Our God is in the heavens. He
hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Past tense. He is doing
whatsoever he hath pleased. And he shall do whatsoever he
hath pleased. Jesus is King and Lord now. And God's will is done. Right
now, in the past, in the future. Give us this day our daily bread. Give us what we need. Our Father
knows what you have need of. And our Father shall supply all
your, what? Now very carefully, needs. This
ain't going into what you want. This is going into what you need.
And guess what? I'm pretty much persuaded by
being a slight student of human nature, we all want a lot more
than what we actually need. And to be honest, in this society
and in this place, we actually have more than we actually need.
He has been pleased to give us more than we actually have to
have. But he gives us exactly what
we need. Pray for it. And forgive us our
debts as we forgive our debtors. Why should we ask for forgiveness? Well, here's something for you. You won't ask that question if
you know you're a sinner. Amen. Because we need forgiveness
every day. Yes, he has forgiven us. Yes, we have been given the righteousness
of his son. Yes, our sins were laid upon
him, but I want forgiveness every day because I sin every day. And if we confess our sins, he's
faithful and just to forgive us our sins. When you pray to him, you're
gonna get a little glimpse, you should get a little glimpse of
yourself. And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the
power and the glory forever, amen. And lead us not into temptation.
He won't. Pray it anyway. Pray it anyway, because we're
liable to temptation. He's not gonna lead us into it.
The Lord tempts no man. And you might be tested, but
not above that which you are able to bear. And yes, you will
fail. Yes, you will fall, but you will
not be utterly cast down. But deliver us from evil. He
will. Pray for it. Thine is the kingdom
and the power and the glory forever. Amen Acknowledge him and his works So like I said, I was gonna run
through that kind of quick now we're gonna talk about it Here's
the question After reading this How are we to pray? After getting
these instructions from our Lord Jesus Christ, how are we to pray? I broke it down into three things.
Now, there's plenty more, but this is, for me, as far as I
can see, the basic pattern, the basic example of what our Lord
said here. First of all, praise God. Second of all, make supplication,
ask. And third, praise God. Praise always comes first. Read
the Psalms. Read the Psalms. Praise ye the
Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord, all ye heavens
and earth, all ye nations of the earth. What? Praise God.
God is worthy of our praise. God is deserving of our praise. If you don't want to praise God,
it's because you don't know it. And that's as simple as I can
make it. Because if you know God in any
little bitty glimpse of him, you'll know that he is high and
lifted up. Why? Because that's where he
belongs. He's worthy of our praise. He's deserving of our praise. He is the creator and sustainer
of this whole universe. You know, I used to know a preacher
who would tell you to take a breath and say, and he'd say, now that
breath is yours. Let it out. The next one is God's.
It's a little theatrical, but it's true. The only reason we're
still here right now is because God wants us here. Not a sparrow falls without my
father. He didn't say not a sparrow falls
without my father knowing it, which is also true, but that's
not what he said. You're worth many sparrows. You're worth many sparrows. There's
no way one of Christ's brethren, one of God's children is going
to fall without him. He is worthy of our praise. He not only gave us life, he
sustains our life even on this planet. If you are in Christ, God is
your father. If you are not in Christ, you
have no reason to say God is your father. Because the opposite's
also true. Praise the work of God he has
performed and promised to perform. Praise him first in your prayer. Acknowledge his work. You know, it's really not hard
to think of God highly if you know him. Because if you know him, you've
seen a little bit of him and he showed you a little bit of
yourself. And you'll realize that there
is a gulf between us. Even though he has brought us
together in his son, we are still fallen creatures. Jesus Christ is made unto me
and unto all of his children, wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption, but I'm still here. Down here. And he's still up there. praise him. We're to praise the work of God
that he has performed and he's promised to perform. We are to
acknowledge his kingdom, his kingship, his sovereignty, his
holiness, his right to rule, his power to rule, on earth as
it is in heaven. You know, we sang that song.
The question is, do you mean it? He rules over all. Because his will is supreme. Praise him. Secondly, ask God. Ask God for
what he's promised to do. Ask God for his blessings. Ask
God for grace. Ask God for faith. Lord, I believe,
help thou mine unbelief. That's still in us. There is
an old man and a new man. Paul said, there's an inward
struggle every day. When I would do good, there's
evil present within me. What? Leads us not into temptation,
but delivers from evil. It's there, it's in us. Ask God
for your daily bread. That may sound simplistic, but
we need bread every day. Now, is this physical bread or
spiritual bread? Yes. I like answering questions like
that. Is that this or that? Yes. You're right. Yes, it's
spiritual. And yes, it's physical. We need
both every day. But always remember, the asking
in this example that Christ gave us comes after thy will be done. Thy will, God's will, comes before
our asking. And it's supposed to guide our
asking. Christ said, if you ask anything
in my name, Father will perform it. Now there are people who
want to take that and run with it and say you can ask for anything
and just say in Jesus name. It's not a formula. It's not a magic phrase. If you're
asking in the name of Christ, you're asking that the Father's
will be done no matter what you want. That's the spirit of prayer,
the spirit of asking in prayer. Because the asking comes after
the admonition that his will is to be done. Christ said it himself. Nevertheless,
not my will. This is God manifest on the flesh.
But he was praying to the Father. He said, not my will, but thy
will be done. And guess what? They're the same
will. And it was done. He was comforted. But Christ
said that, how much more should we? And thirdly, close with praise.
Thine is the kingdom. What? Thine is the power. And thine is the glory. Now, right now, 2,000 years ago
when this was said, right now and forever. It doesn't matter
what day you read it, now, thine is the kingdom, thine is the
power, and thine is the glory. Because you got to acknowledge
who is king in this relationship. Or you don't have a relationship
with the father. Because the son did the will
of the father. We're in him. God doesn't accept
us in ourselves. He accepts us in his son. and
only in His Son. And His is the power, His is
the kingdom, and His is the glory. What? Now and forever. Guess what? That will never change. The kingdom, the power, and the
glory will always be the Father's. Always. Then what you say? Amen. So be it. Prayer starts and prayer ends
with the praise of God the Father. Now, very quickly, I do need
to point this out. Because before Jesus gave us
this pattern, I started in this place particular because this
is what I wanted to do. But you gotta go back just a
few verses to Matthew chapter six again. But back up to verse
five. The reason he said after this
manner you pray is because he already did the negative and
told him don't pray this way. I wanted to give you the positive
that way first. Now we'll go back to the negative. And when
thou prayest, thou shalt not be what? As the hypocrites. For
they love to pray standing in synagogues and in the corners
of the streets. that they may be seen of men,
verily, truly, I say unto you, they have their reward. And that's
all the reward they're gonna get. That's what that means. That's what he just said. They
have their reward. Guess what? You pray in public
to be seen of men. He's not saying don't pray in
public. We pray here, and this is public.
But, he says, if you're praying in public to be seen a man, you've
got your reward, there ain't nothing else for you. And that's
what people live for. Verse six, but thou, when thou
prayest, enter into thy closet. And when thou hast shut the door,
pray to thy father which is in secret, and thy father which
seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. You don't go out to pray for
a show. Prayer is not for show. Worship service is not for show. Nashville notwithstanding, they've
got stages and curtains and bands and orchestras. They have dancing
and everything else. Why? It's the country music capital
of the world. That ain't got a thing in the
world to do with the worship of God. It's got nothing at all
to do with prayer. It's not to be a show. You pray
in secret, and our Father, which seeth in secret, will reward
you openly. But here's the kicker. But when
ye pray, use not vain repetition as the heathen do, for they think
that they shall be heard for their much speaking. You know what vain repetition
is? That's the way the heathen pray. Now, that's not my definition. That's
the definition of Christ, Jesus, the Lord of glory. That's what
he says. The heathen use vain repetition.
Y'all know what a rosary is? Okay, I was born and raised Catholic.
You know, I know you got a little beads. That's vain repetition. You say
10 Hail Marys, then you say one Our Father. You say 10 Hail Marys
and one for each bead and you count them as you go along so
you don't lose count. That's what it's for. That's vain repetition. They think they're heard because
of their much speaking. You say the same thing over and
over and over again, and everybody says it together. Let's recite
the Lord's Prayer. He just said don't do that. What does that make us if we
do that? Just like the heathen. We do
not do that here, and by God's grace, we're not gonna start
doing that here. And I know Walter agrees with
me on that. And Earl before us, because we've
had this discussion, he told them not to do it, so what do
we do? Recite it. And these are people who named
the name of Christ. They named the name of Christ,
but they don't know him. What did Jesus say about this?
There are those that honor God with their lips, but their heart
is far from me. That's the way you show it. You
do exactly what he told you not to do. Welcome to religion. That's what it is. Welcome to
religion. That's the way religion works.
I'll give you another Catholic example if you want one. The
front of this table here says, this do in remembrance of me. There was a teaching in the church.
Now they say they've gone away from it, but sometimes they say
they're not so much. It's still in their literature. And I don't
think anybody wrote a book saying, don't believe that we were wrong.
Or don't believe that we were lying. Because they taught at
one time, this do, the Lord's table do, because it is me. By what they call the transubstantiation
was the technical term they used. And they used to give their instructions
to their priests, I've read these. where you need to be a solemn
man when you're raising that host up because you're calling
Jesus Christ out of heaven to inhabit that host and you are
actually distributing the body of Christ. And that's a lie.
I don't care if you're Catholic or not. I'm sorry. Been there, done that, not doing
it anymore. This do in remembrance of me. We are to pray after this manner. Praise God, ask God, praise God. And that's the only way I know.
And I will always try to do this whenever I pray. And I can recommend
it to you. I will give you this, put it
in there. Thy will, not mine, be done. Because if it's good
enough for Christ, it's good enough for us. And I don't know any other way
to pray without praying His will be done, Mason. I don't. Because
the last thing I want to be with God is presumptuous. I don't
want to presume anything. This name it, claim it bunch
of clowns out there. Health and wealth gospels. miss the whole point of prayer.
Because I'll give you this as the last thing. Prayer, prayer
is an expression of submission to God. If you're not submitting to God,
you're not praying. I can tell you that. I may not
be able to tell you anything else about prayer, about how to pray
or anything else, but I can tell you that. If you're not praying
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, it doesn't have
to be in those exact words. But the meaning's gotta be there.
You're not praying. Because literally, to praise
God is to submit to God. You can't praise God how good
he is without understanding a little bit and knowing how bad you are. You're putting him up here and
you down here and that's submission. That's bowing to God. That's
bowing to the Son. He's God and we're not. True worship, true worship is
to bow to God, the Father, the Son, the Spirit. Most religious
people call prayer, telling God what they want. Some of them actually seem to
order God to give them what they want. And if you don't get it,
it's your fault. There are three answers to prayer.
Yes, no, and none of your business. James told us. James told us
what happens. You ask and receive not. What? You pray and you don't
get an answer. Or you don't get the answer you
want. Ye ask and ye receive not. Because! And this is a big because. Because ye ask amiss that ye
may consume it upon your own lusts. James was a student of human
nature also. That's the way we are. We always
want more than what we need. Ye ask, and ye ask amiss. You ask wrong. Own up. Take it. What do you say? Take
it like a man. Gird up thy loins like a man,
and I will ask of thee. Sometimes the answer's no. Why? Because that's the will of God
and not your will. Grow up. I mean, this is it. Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the
Anointed One, the Holy One of Israel submitted himself to the
Father and to the will of the Father. You had better submit. Because I need his will to be
done because it's his will in bringing many sons to glory. And that's part of the will I
want. Thy will be done, O Lord, on
earth as it is in heaven. And it is, and it shall, and
it always has been. His will is done. Our Father,
thank you for this time. Thank you most of all for our
Lord, your son, our Savior, our Redeemer. Thank you, Lord, for
giving him for us and being a just God and a Savior. We can't praise you the way we
should, but we do want to. And we do recognize your will
and your authority and your kingdom in this present world. Thank
you, Lord. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen.