Well, as we started off in the
first few verses of this section, verse five through verse eight,
I mentioned last week how there's so much mythology and misunderstanding
on this issue of prayer. First of all, the Lord tells
us plainly that we're never to pray so as to be seen of men. And I explained that last week
in the lesson. Somebody says, well, I go out
and I pray before men, but not to be seen of men. That's a difficult
thing for us. Prayer, and I want to make this
clear now, the Lord has given us as true children of God, as
witnesses of Christ, we want to witness, don't we? We want to tell people the truth
of the gospel. He's given us many ways and means
of witnessing, but prayer is not one of them. There's not
one verse in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation that takes prayer
and puts it in the category of a tool of witness. And that's
why Christ says when you pray, look at it again, verse six,
he says, but thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,
And when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy father which is in
secret. It's not that we're trying to
hide away from people, but what he's doing, he's not saying,
it's not that we're ashamed of praying, we pray publicly in
the worship service. I led in prayer, my brother Jim's
gonna lead in prayer, Lord willing, later on. But that's corporate
worship. You see, but when we're out in
the community, we're not to make our prayers public as if that
was a tool of witnessing. And Christ is not saying that
we should be ashamed of our prayers or praying. You know, we ought
to be praying people. We talked about that last week,
but he's given us the reason for prayer. And the reason for
prayer is a child of God going unto his or her heavenly father. to make their petitions known
in particular ways. So understand that, you know,
if you're praying, you know, somebody says, well, I want people
to know that I'm a Christian. And the thing about it is, we've
read this in 1 John 3, the world does not know what a Christian
is. And somebody, you know, all kinds of people pray, heck, the
Muslims, they pray what, three times a day? They turn toward
Mecca? and pray, and they're not Christians.
So, you know, prayer does not show you to be a Christian. You
understand that? Now, are Christians to pray?
Yes. But that's not what prayer is
for. If you want to talk about what shows you to be a Christian,
tell people the gospel, and then pray for them. That's what it's
for. Now, he says, when you pray, verse seven, use not vain repetitions,
as the heathens do, The heathen do, for they think they shall
be heard of their much speaking." Prayer is not chanting or repeating
words. There's no magical words in prayer. There's no magic in words. Now, we're going to look at the
model prayer. Our Father, which are, there's nothing wrong with
repeating the words in the model prayer. Memorize them. and use them. They're good words.
They're the words of our Lord. But if you pray just in the way
of memorization, without knowing what these words mean, it's vain
repetition. That means useless words. Our
Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. What does that mean?
What does that really mean? Somebody says, well that's speaking
of the universal fatherhood of God. Oh no, it is not. The Bible
doesn't teach the universal fatherhood of God. It teaches the universal
creatorship of God. He created all things. But who
is God? A heavenly, spiritual, gracious,
loving, saving father to? Not the world. Only to his children. We're gonna see that. So if you
pray this prayer, I mean, it's okay. Memorize it and use it.
But if you don't know what it means, then it's vain repetition. Chanting, you know, things like
that, that's not prayer. And then trying, somebody says,
well, you know, if we get enough people to pray, God'll hear us.
Now come on now. Now think about what you're saying.
Who do you think God is? Christ will say later on that
a sparrow doesn't fall without our Heavenly Father taking notice.
Oh, if I get a thousand, we'll pray from California to Maine.
You think that's going to change God's mind? Well, the Bible says
it doesn't. Prayer is not meant to change
God's mind. Prayer is not meant to influence
God in any way. And I know that's difficult for
us to understand. And people say, well, if I can't
change his mind, why pray? Number one, because he commands
us to pray. And number two, it is a means God uses to bless
his people. Prayer is an act of worship.
Did you know that? Why worship God? Because of who he is and
what he's done for me in Christ. So understand these things. He says in verse eight, be not
ye therefore like unto them, for your father knoweth what
things you have need of before you ask him. You're not giving
God information that he doesn't have. Christ, who is God man,
knew their hearts, didn't he? The word of God is sharper than
any two-edged sword. It cuts asunder to the thoughts
in the mind. God knows me better than I know
myself. That's what the scripture teaches.
And I'm gonna tell you something, that's a sobering thought. So we're not giving God information
when we pray. God, let me let you in on a secret
or something. There's nothing secret for him,
he's omniscient. That means he's all-knowing.
And he's omnipresent. He's everywhere, you know. And
believers are, we talked about a continual attitude of prayer.
So let's look at the model of prayer in verse nine. Christ
said, after this manner, therefore pray ye. Now over in the book
of Luke, chapter 11, the disciples ask the Lord to teach them to
pray. Lord, teach us to pray. We have to be taught to pray,
don't we? It's not natural, not godly prayer
now. I mean, I know, you know, speaking
under our breath and complaining and all that stuff, that's natural
to us, you know. But to pray in a godly way, as
a child of God, we have to be taught. And so this is what he
said, he teaches them the way to pray. Now remember, somebody,
I told you last week, most people call this the Lord's Prayer.
It's not the Lord's Prayer, it's the model prayer. And maybe some
of you took the time to go over to John 17, for example, and
read that. There's the Lord's prayer. That's
his high priestly prayer. He's praying to the Father for
his people. That's what he does. He makes
intercession for us. You see him praying in the Garden
of Gethsemane when he was suffering under the pain of his sinless
humanity, which he had never experienced before. And so we
see those prayers. Those are the Lord's prayers,
but this is the model prayer. He's teaching us how to pray. And again, like I said, there's
no vain repetition there. There's no chanting here. The
word of God, they're powerful and they're empowered by the
Holy Spirit to get likeness to the truth. So let's look at each
phrase here. He starts off in verse nine,
our father, which art in heaven. Now that is an expression of
an admission, an acknowledgement of God's absolute sovereignty
in salvation. Our Father, which art in heaven. You see, true prayer presupposes
a right relationship with God. I'll just read these passages
to you because I've got them marked here in my Bible, but
they're marked in your lesson here. In the book of Proverbs
chapter 15, it says this, now I'm going to read these fast
so you won't be able to get to, I mean, unless you're just a
super Bible scholar, you know, so I'll read them to you, but
they are marked in your lesson. It says this in Proverbs 15,
29. Now listen to this. It says, the Lord is far from
the wicked, but he heareth the prayer of the righteous. Now
here's the question that I've got to confront in myself. I
know I'm a sinner. Somebody said, well, I had a
man say one time, he said, I'm a sinner, but I'm not wicked.
Well, you don't know what sin is then. Now the wicked here,
admittedly, in Proverbs 29, is referring to unbelievers. That's
who he's referring to. Ungodly, that would be another
term for it. You see, before God saved me,
I was ungodly. Now I'm still a sinner, all right? The Bible speaks of, for example,
in Ephesians chapter two, the children of disobedience. That's
an unbeliever. So when God saves you, you're
a child of obedience. Now that doesn't mean you stop
being a sinner, all right? But he's showing a difference
here between the wicked and the righteous. Well, who among us
is righteous? How can I, a sinner, look in
the mirror and say I'm righteous and not be ashamed, not be embarrassed?
Because I know what I am, I know my thoughts. And again, God knows
them better than I do. There are thoughts I have that
I put out of my mind, but he knows they're there. So that's
the issue in true prayer. The beginning issue is upon what
basis can I come to God in prayer and he'll hear me? Now, the hearing
there in Proverbs 15, 29, the hearing there is not just audibility.
In other words, God heard the noise. For example, Cain came to God
to worship, and God did not hear him, but God knew what he was
doing. He heard it audibly, heard what Cain was doing, but he didn't
hear Cain. He didn't accept him. That's
what that hearing means in Proverbs 15. What is acceptable prayer? Does God hear the prayer of the
wicked? Well, it says God is far from. Now, the issue there
is drawing nigh to God. How can I come close to God?
Remember Mount Sinai, when Moses came down and God told Moses,
you tell the Hebrew children to stay away. He said, if even
an animal crosses that line, he's to be thrust through with
a spear. Because that law, as it relates
to a sinner, demands what? Death. That's why people who
are trying to be accepted with God by their works, they're not,
they're not drawing near to God. They're getting farther away.
There's a wonderful picture of that in the book of Jeremiah,
where he talks about the people coming to the temple to worship
Solomon's temple, but they're backing up. They think they're
getting close to God, but they're backing up. Why? Because they've
got the wrong ground of salvation. And the ground of salvation,
the right ground of salvation, is the only right ground of prayer.
Upon what basis do I come to God in prayer? Well, it's whatever
makes me righteous. And there's only one thing in
the book of God that says makes you righteous, and that's His
grace through the blood of Jesus Christ. You come to God upon
any other basis. You're coming as a rebel, not
a son or a daughter. You're coming as an outcast. That's the issue. Look over at
John chapter six. You can turn to this one, because
I want you to see it. John chapter six. He says, our
father. Now, that's an awesome statement. Because the Bible says, now this
is where we come to issues of the gospel, where it can truly
be said that people hate the light. Do you know that every, and you
think about this, you say, well, this sounds extreme, but it's
true. Before God brought me to a saving knowledge of my sinfulness,
And the only way that I could be righteous in his side and
be forgiven, be washed clean from all my sins is the blood
and righteousness of Christ imputed. Before he brought me to that
knowledge, every prayer I prayed was a sinful prayer. No matter
how sincere I was or how eloquent I was, if I had repeated the
Lord's prayer, they call it here. because I was coming to God on
a wrong ground, a ground that dishonored him. Well, look here
in John chapter 6, 44. It says, no man can come to me
except the father which hath sent me draw him. And I will
raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets
and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath what? Heard. Heard what? Well, heard
a message that hath learned of the Father. What is that learning
of the Father? That's the gospel. How can I
call God my heavenly Father? I'm a sinner. You see, and the
issue goes back to this. How can God be both a righteous
judge, and judge rightly, righteously, and He has to, and still be my
heavenly, loving, merciful Father? How can that happen? Well, I
don't know that by nature. I have to be taught that, learned
of the Father, not learned that there is a God. Even the heathen
believe, some of the heathen, most of the heathen believe there
is a God. But how can I, a sinful person
who deserves nothing but death and damnation, come to God as
a loving, merciful, heavenly Father who embraces me and accepts
me? How can I do that? Well look
at it, he says, hath heard and hath learned of the Father, cometh
unto me. That's Christ in his mediatorial
glory. That's his person, the God-man. and the accomplishment of his
finished work, he put away my sins by the sacrifice of himself
on Calvary and satisfied the justice of God in my place as
my surety and my substitute. The Bible calls that propitiation.
That means the wrath of God is turned back. Based on what? Well, I made a decision when
I was 12. No, that doesn't turn back the wrath of God. Or I got
baptized? No. Or I prayed the sinner's
prayer. You know when people say, well,
repeat after me, you ought to get away from them. I'm telling
you. Well, pray this prayer with me,
you know. No. You know, look at the publican. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. You know that word, be merciful,
you know what it is in the original, be propitious. He recognized
not only that he himself was a sinner, but that justice had
to be satisfied by someone who can do it in order for him to
approach God and find mercy. And what will do that? Nothing
I do. Does that mean I shouldn't do
anything? No. It means that I shouldn't try to do anything in order to
do what Christ has already done. And if I do, it's a denial of
Christ. That's what I'm saying. My hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
You see what I'm saying? So when we come to God, now we
saw that last week in Hebrews chapter four and I think I've
got that listed in your lesson today too. But what that tells
us is that we come unto God in prayer to a throne of grace to
find mercy and help in time of need because we have a great
high priest. So true prayer, now listen to
this, true prayer is an expression of our faith in and our confidence
in Christ. And what he accomplished in my
behalf and nothing about what I do or deserve. You know, I
had a man tell me, he said, he said he couldn't pray today.
And I said, why? And he said, he had a fight with his wife.
I said, well, you better go pray to your wife. That's what I told
him. Beg her forgiveness or she, you that's kind of, that has
nothing to do with God. What is our worthiness in prayer?
The fact that we had a good day today? No. Whether we have a
good day or a bad day, we have every right to come to God in
prayer if we know Christ, if we're submitted to His righteousness,
if we're washed in His blood. He is my right to pray. He is my merit. He is my worthiness
to pray. Not anything I do or don't do.
Are there things I should do? Yes. Are there things I don't,
should not do? Yes. But that's not, that's not
what gets me to the throne of grace. You understand what I'm
saying? That's not what makes, that's not what brings God to
hear me. The prayer of the righteous is
the prayer of a sinner saved by grace, looking to Christ,
believing in Christ and resting in him. Now he says, our father, which
art in heaven. Now let me, let me, heaven is
not a matter of geography. It's not that God is living up
there above the clouds somewhere. God's everywhere. The world is the Lord's. The
earth is his footstool. I mean, these are all metaphorical
phrases. Which art in heaven simply means this, God is much,
much, much higher in his nature, in his purpose, in his thoughts,
in his glory than we could ever imagine. He's high above us.
Our God is in the heavens and it speaks of his sovereignty.
He doeth as he pleases. That's what that means, which
art in heaven. He's not limited like we are.
I'm limited to the earth. You are too. Now, if we're saved,
we have a spiritual existence. But right now we're still trapped
in these bodies. The scripture says that. These
dying bodies. We're talking about that and
all the pains and aches that we're going through. You know,
the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because
of righteousness. But God is above us. And here's
what that means when you say, our father, which art in heaven,
I cannot attain to God. He's too high for me. If salvation
is to come to this center, he's going to have to come down to
me. Salvations of the Lord, it's from heaven above. The law came
by Moses, but grace and truth come by Jesus Christ, who came
to this earth. God the Son, and took into union
with Himself, His deity, a sinless humanity, created for Him in
the womb of the Virgin by the Holy Spirit, it comes to us. Salvations of the Lord. It's
not me trying to work my way up, it's God coming down and
As Hannah prayed, lifting the beggar off the dung heap. Brother Tim James used to say
that before God saved me, my address was dung heap drive. And he was religious. That's
what it is. He lifts the beggar off the dung
heap. He saves us in spite of ourselves. The Bible says in
James 1 17, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above
cometh down from the father of lights with whom is no variables,
variableness, neither shadow of turning. So when you say our
father, you're talking about the God who saves centers by
grace through Jesus Christ, based on his righteousness. And when
you talk about who art in heaven, you're talking about one who
in whom all power. salvation is it lies in him. Now look at verse let's see I've
lost my place here yeah look you look at verse this Matthew
6 look at verse 9 again it says hallowed be thy name that means
holy is your name separate Distinct, unique. God is holy. There's
no one like God. There's no one to compare God
to. There's no one equal to God. Hallowed be thy name. Now his
name is, it's not like the Jehovah's Witnesses say. They just repeat
the name Jehovah. Say, well that's okay, but they
don't know what Jehovah means. It means God, my salvation. And actually, if you were to
pronounce that from the original, you couldn't pronounce it because
there are no vowel points in the Hebrew language, the Hebrew
Bible. Be something like, you've seen
the word Yahweh, you know, something like that. But it means God is
my salvation. His name is His glory. His name
is that which identifies and distinguishes Him from every
other thing or every other being. There's no one like God. His
name is a just God and a Savior. His name is the God of justice
as well as the God of grace. His name is revealed through
Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. And in the accomplishment of
His work. It's the revelation of who He is. He's a merciful,
loving, gracious God. But He will not pervert justice
in order to show love and mercy and grace. He must be both. That's
what the Bible teaches. The first revelation of God was
God in his justice. He told Adam, he said, here's
all the trees of the garden. You can eat of every one of them
except one, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And in the
day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. Justice will come
down. Why did Christ have to die? Because
God, it wasn't just a token. It wasn't just a symbol, and
it certainly wasn't just as a martyr. Christ had to die because God's
justice demanded perfect payment for the sins of his elect. That's
why he had to die. And so, hallowed be thine, this,
I'm telling you, this sets God apart. There's no God like him. All the other gods that men try
to concoct today and fool with, they don't even come close. That's
so unique about God, the true God. He must be both a just God
and a Savior. Hallowed be thy name. It's not
just saying God. or Allah or Buddha or whatever. No. No. It's the one who saves
me from my sins through the blood of his son who is himself God
in human flesh. You don't know God apart from
Christ. You may know some things about God. You may know how he's
such a great creator, that he's powerful. Romans 1 talks about
that. Romans 1 18 on. but you don't really know God
as Savior, God as Heavenly Father, apart from Christ. The Bible
says, Christ said in his prayer, the Lord's Prayer, John 17, I
believe it's verse three, verse two or three, he said, this is
life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God and Jesus
Christ whom thou hast sent. All right, in verse 10, he says,
thy kingdom come. John the Baptist preached, the
kingdom of heaven is at hand. What was he doing? He was ushering
in the time of the Messiah. The Lord himself said, and when
he began his public ministry, repent for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand. It's about to be established. In the Beatitudes
that we read, and it was started off in this series on the Sermon
on the Mount, he gives the character and the state or the standing
and the reward of those who are citizens of the kingdom of God."
And he told Nicodemus, he said, except you be born again you
can't see the kingdom of God, you can't enter the kingdom of
God. The Jews would commonly pray the kingdom of God's Messiah
come and then he came. What happened? His own rejected
him. So did we. But Christ showed that he is
the Messiah sent forth from God, and he had come to establish
this kingdom by his work as the surety and substitute of his
people, Jew and Gentile, by his work on the cross. It's finished,
he said. A lot of things were finished. All the Old Testament prophecies
come to their fruition right there. All the types in the pictures
of the Old Testament were fulfilled right there. All of the establishment
of God's kingdom in time were fulfilled right there. His kingdom
is a kingdom of righteousness. His scepter is a scepter of righteousness. So what are we praying for here?
Well, we're praying for the furtherance and the fulfillment and the culmination
of the kingdom of God. We're not citizens of this world
if we're believers. We're citizens of a heavenly
kingdom. I've often told you about environmentalism. I honestly believe that we should
be responsible to make sure that our earth, as we live here, is
clean and you know I've told you I don't want my children
or grandchildren drinking dirty water or breathing dirty air
I don't want I believe we should be responsible good stewards
but I'm not an environmentalist because man cannot save this
world this world is cursed and it's headed to destruction well
look at the next one he says he says in other words the kingdom
of God that's what he's talking about He says, thy will be done
in earth as it is in heaven. Now this is key in prayer. We
let our desires, what we want, our petitions known. But it's
always under the umbrella of God's will be done. That's it, submission, that's
what that means. Submission to God's will. You
see, thy kingdom come and thy will be done on earth as it is
in heaven. That's an expression of submission to God's providence. And he says, in earth as it is
in heaven. God is the God of both heaven
and earth. He's actively evolved in providence. He said he works
all things after the counsel of his own will. Now there are
many areas that we know God's will. It's called his revealed
will. Here's what God says, and this is so. We know what his
will is. But there are many areas and
problems we don't know what his will is. I don't know what God's
will is for me the rest of this day. I know what I would like
to happen. There are things that I want,
all right? And I'm gonna pray for them.
but it may not be God's will for me. So what do I say? Well,
heck, I just won't pray at all. No, no, thy will be done. Thy will be done. That's submission
to God. You know, people argue about
free will. Free will's a myth. Your will's not free from yourself,
okay? What the issue is is not free
willism, it's autonomy, self-government. Man wants to govern himself and
he doesn't want God to govern him. But when you say, if you
mean it from the heart, thy will be done, you're submitting to
God's government of things. God, you know what's best for
me even better than I do. And then let me conclude with
this. He says in verse 11, give us this day our daily bread.
That's our total dependence upon God for all things, submission
to God, knowing that we are totally dependent on God. For physical life and eternal
life, it's all by His goodness and His grace for His children.
And I know this, you know, you think about this. In true prayer,
we need to acknowledge that we've never earned or deserved anything,
any of the good things that God has given us. Not even the next
breath we take. And let me give you this in closing.
You know, we may come up with a great idea. We may work hard
to succeed and it may result in success. We may make a lot
of money. We may work hard to raise our
children. They come up to be, you know,
Joe College and Susie Sorority and whatever, you know. They
may be just the model kids, you know. May not, but they may. But know this, somebody said,
well, give us this day our daily bread. What do you mean give
us? I work for my daily bread, don't you? Well, let me tell
you something. Who gave you the brain that you
got? Who gave you the body that has the capability of getting
from here to there and working here? Who gave you the opportunity? Who opened that door? It's all
a gift from God. Yes, we use the means. Yes, we're
to work. In fact, the Bible says those
who don't work, who are capable of working, don't eat. But it's
all still ultimately a total gift from God. And give me the
food that I need to sustain me for each day. That's what he's
praying.