So Lord, may graciously help me. I turn your prayerful attention to a word that we'll find in Matthew's gospel, chapter six. And in verse 10, the latter part. The whole verse reads, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Particularly on my spirit of these words, thy will be done. in earth as it is in heaven.

This pattern prayer that the Lord gave to his disciples to pray gives them an idea, a structure as to what we should be praying for and we just first of all just look generally at the whole prayer before we specifically come to the words that I've named as a text. There is six petitions in this prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray.

And the first three are all about God and how we should worship him and how we should honour him. It's really very can be summarized really in what we read at the end of the chapter in verse 33 when it says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. The order. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. And really the first three petitions in this six petition prayer are to do with seeking God. Seek ye first the kingdom of God.

Well after this manner, in verse 9 it says, after this manner therefore pray ye, our Father. It is to be prayed to the Lord, our Father in heaven. The one that is the Father of all our mercies and the God of all comfort. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. The first petition then is that God's name would be reverenced and set up high. In a world that despise and reject God, tries to pretend there is no God, tries to pretend that the whole world is a result of random chance. We're to pray this, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, that we honour him. rather than use his name in a blasphemous way.

And then the next petition, thy kingdom come. We want God's kingdom to come, first of all in our own hearts, that we might be all that we ought to be in the church, that the church may grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Jesus Christ, but also that the that we have an influence on the world around us, that all the world may know something of the greatness of our God as the waters cover the sea, that we may be able to be a witness to the world around us as to what the Lord has done. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. We want God's will to be done.

We live in a world which is so interested in ourselves is what we want no God the Lord Jesus teaches his disciples to pray this thy will be done we'll come back to that uh uh later but then the next uh petition it then petition for is give us this day our daily bread so here we then come to our individual needs when we've sought first the kingdom of God and his righteousness then we are to bring to God our daily needs he knows what we need but we are to bring them to him and he's able to provide as it said here, and all these things shall be added unto you.

God is able to provide all that we need. Give us our daily bread. And then the fifth petition, and forgive us our debts. Here the Lord Jesus teaches us that We will need our debts forgiven. We are sinners. And this is a daily prayer. Just as we pray for our daily bread, we are also to pray for daily forgiveness.

But this shows that we're daily coming short. This shows that he doesn't envisage his people living in sinless perfection in this life here below. They will come to that. There will be a place where faith will give way to sight, where they will be with him, and never, never sin, and then from the rivers of his grace drink endless pleasures in. But here below, daily, we are to confess our sins, because we're sinners.

Sin is mixed with all that we do. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. If we are sinning, then others are going to be sinning against us. Jesus envisaged that. So if you say somebody sinned against me, yes, Jesus envisaged that that would happen. Doesn't justify it, but that's what we're living in a sinful world. And therefore we sin against others and others sin against us.

And there is to be forgiveness. And that's how a church is going to Walk together in love as we forgive one another, not as we're sinless. We're to forgive because we all come short. We say the wrong thing, we do the wrong thing at times, we speak in a wrong spirit at times. Lord forgive us and we need to forgive one another. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. So this is looking to the future. Keep us from falling. Unto him that is able to keep you from falling. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom. But then at the end it comes back to the greatness of God. It finishes with God and his greatness again. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen. So I just wanted to give a quick overview of the prayer in total before we particularly look at what I've named in the 10th verse. This petition, thy will be done.

You see, when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden and Eve and took of that fruit, they were not doing God's will. They were rebelling against God's will. He said thou shalt not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and in the day that thou eatest thou shalt surely die. But they didn't do God's will. They walked in rebellion against God's will. They fell and the whole human race fell with them as they were the federal head of the human race.

So this prayer, you see, that Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, thy will be done, is intrinsically opposite to what we would do by nature. We have a will that goes our own way. All we like sheep. We had it set before us in the Sunday school about sheep. All we like sheep. have gone astray. But you see here, it's a prayer that God has taught, Jesus has taught his disciples to pray daily to do the opposite. To do the opposite.

Thy will be done. Not our own will, not all we like sheep have gone astray. Yes, that's what, that's left to our own will, that's what we do. But this is the great Aim, this is the great desire. And you see here, this is changing our affections. You see, by nature we go forth from the womb speaking lies. We go our own way. We may be religious outwardly, but we still go our own way internally. We still live to our own glory. We still live in some sort of level of self-righteousness.

But you see, this is the great work. as we've sung about, convince us of our sin and lead to Jesus' blood. Thy will be done. This is the aim of the heart of a Christian, to do God's will and to delight in God's will being done. But what is God's will? What is meant by the will of God?

Well, the Lord has made clear in his word those ten commandments, what he delights in, the holiness of God. It shows us what God loves, what God hates, what we are to do, what we are not to do. We are to walk in obedience. So when it says, thy will be done, it's a desire you see that God's will, God's laws, God's commandments, would be done by us, that we may walk in those ways and that others, our families, our churches, our neighbours, may stop walking in a way that is leading to destruction, but may walk in a way of life. will be done. We have the revealed will of God in his word as to how we are to behave ourselves and the precepts and the commandments but also there is a the secret will of God. We read in Isaiah chapter 46 it says this, verse 10, declaring the end from the beginning from ancient times of things that are not yet done saying my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure That is the secret will of God.

We don't know what it is. We don't always know what he's going to do. He's sovereign ruler of the skies, ever gracious, ever wise. All my times are in his hands. All events are his commands, his sovereign will. We don't always know what it is, but we do know what God has told us. And we are to walk by those precepts and we are to walk in his ways.

But it's a wonderful thing, you see, that the will of God is not just limited to those Ten Commandments. If the will of God for us was just those Ten Commandments, well, when we broke them then, what then? What would we do then? And, as you know, Moses hadn't even come down from the mountain before those Ten Commandments were smashed. Those tables of stone were smashed. as he dropped them as he saw Israel given to idolatry with the golden calf. So as we look at this what is the will of God. It's good to recognize if we look in 1 Timothy 1 verse 15 we have these words.

This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Thy will be done. You see, we serve a God that is not only holy and just, has those holy righteous laws, but we have also a God that delighteth in mercy. And therefore, in the will of God, There is also these beautiful aspects of salvation. And so when we pray, Thy will be done, we read in John's Gospel chapter 6 verse 30, verse 40, John 6 verse 40, and this is the will of him that sent me, Jesus speaking, this is the will of him that sent me, so this is the will of God the Father, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up. at the last day.

This is the will of God. Yes, the Ten Commandments are the will of God. This is what he has set out as a standard, the righteous standard. But if that's all his will was, then where would that leave us as breakers of those Ten Commandments? His great plan of salvation, you see. For God so loved the world that he gave, this is the will of God, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Thy will be done. John 6 verse 37 says, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, God's will. And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. I will be done. We're to pray this God's will. Yes. So that we live our lives according to God's pattern as we're given grace. Yes. We come short. But this is the standard. It doesn't change the standard. But there is also in the will of God, this way made, this provision, this lamb slain from before the foundation of the world, before Adam fell, before the sin in the garden of Eden. There was this preparation in the will of God.

Thy will be done. And so as we pray that from the bottom of our hearts, thy will be done. Oh, we have our own will by nature, a will that seeks our own glory, seeks those things which are all we like sheep have gone astray, but the will of God is a purpose of salvation for his church. Thy will be done. So as we come and daily are commanded, thy will be done. Have you come to that? As you look at your own way and think, oh Lord, I want thy way. this matter, in this providential pathway, thy will be done.

And also we read in Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 3, for this is the will of God, even your sanctification that you should abstain from fornication. This is the will of God, God wills, for our sanctification, to be set apart for the glory of God, to be ready for that kingdom, that we may not be living in a way that is inconsistent, that we may be living as those virgins, as it were, waiting for the coming of the Savior. Thy will But then it doesn't stop at thy will, it says thy will be done. It's not just enough to know God's will, it's not just enough to say yes I know there's a plan of salvation, I know there's a right way to walk, I know that we should walk humbly before our gods. Beautiful text in Micah. Micah 6 and verse 8. He hath showed thee, O man, what is good. And what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before our God?

Thy will be done. It's a prayer. We come short. Sin is mixed with all that we do, but this is what the Lord has left as a pattern prayer. Thy will be done. This is the will that we want in our right minds. In the very heart of Christianity is a desire for this to take place, not just somewhere else, but to be done, to be done in our hearts. yes to be done in others as well because we pray for others, we pray for the church of God, we pray for our loved ones, we pray for the furtherance of the gospel amongst the nations of the world. Thy will be done.

Later on in this same discourse Jesus used that well-known picture or story of the two builders, the two people, two men that built houses, one on the rocks, one on a rock and one on the sand. And they both built seemingly good houses, it seemed, until the flood came. And then the one that was built on the sand, the foundations washed away and it crumbled down. And Jesus pictured that and said, it's like those that hear the word of God, but don't do it.

And so the great emphasis is not just knowing what the will of God is, not just knowing the right way that you do need to know that you need to read the word of God and you need to know the right way. But if that's all you do is know it and then ignore it. It's actually going to work against you because to know the right way and then to turn away from it is worse than not knowing it in the first place.

So we are to pray, thy will be done. There needs to be a working out of it in our lives, in our pathways, in our families. But we know that the Lord Jesus, you see, he writes, we read in Ezekiel of the writing the law on our hearts so that we desire these things.

This is the great blessing when the Lord makes these precepts a delight to walk in. as he makes it our greatest delight. Psalm 119 is so full of it. The Psalmist delights in God's commandments. The law has been written in his heart and so it's his greatest desire. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness.

This is a evidence of being a Christian is when your heart is changed. Saul of Tarsus or the Apostle Paul in Romans 7 says, I delight in the law of God after the inward man. That shows clearly that he was not in unregeneracy in Romans 7, as some have said. He was a believer. Yes, he was still struggling with indwelling sin, but he delighted in the law of God after the inward man.

Well, we've looked then at this, thy will be done. Then there's a qualification in Not done just when we get to heaven, not just done in heaven, but done in earth. Now, while you're living day by day, this is when it's to be done, now, in each of our daily lives. This book makes it personal. In that place where in Judges it's described as every man did what was right in his own eyes. This is where we are to live.

We are to pray, Thy will be done in earth. In that place where rebellion rules the day. That place where the law of God is scoffed at. The word of God is despised. Where evolution is pumped as truth. Thy will be done in earth. In this earth, in this fallen earth, where people could say, well, with all these difficulties and diseases, how can there be a God?

Yeah, God made it perfect, everything perfect, and yet sin has marred that creation. And yet we're looking for that restoration. Think of recently the resurrection, the resurrection from the dead. the life given out of death. And here it is below that we are to live this out.

Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. So in earth we've looked at, but then as it is in heaven. So this is another tremendous truth. If we think of how God's will is done in heaven, let's think of that firstly and then realise the enormity of this request. This is a high request. Thy will be done in earth, here below, with all our fall, with all our faults, with all our shortcomings, surrounded with sin, that thy will be done here as it is in heaven. How is it done in heaven? Well, in heaven, the angels always do perfectly the Father's bidding. They do it perfectly.

They do it willingly. They do it immediately. They do what they're told immediately, not dragging their feet, not unwillingly. They do it completely. They do what God tells them to do. And they do it joyfully. They do it with worship. That's how the will of God is done in heaven. God's will is performed perfectly. But this is what this request is saying. Thy will be done in earth. You say, well, you know, when the circumstances are nice and when everything's, we're amongst Christian people, yeah, we can do these things.

But no, we're to do it on earth as it is in heaven. We're to seek to bring heaven down to earth. heaven's order and way of carrying on here below. We want heaven begun below in God's people, you see. As they are to do these things as unto the Lord, then we are to bring, as it were, that order in heaven into our individual lives.

Perhaps as I've tried to expound this a little, you start to realise greatness of this request. This is not a small ask, is it? And yet this is what the Lord Jesus has bid us pray. Thy will be done. That holy law of God, that way of salvation, that will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Christ, you see, perfectly fulfilled this. When he came to earth, he did do his father's will on earth, exactly as it is in heaven. Christ is the perfect fulfillment of this prayer. He didn't pray, teach his disciples to pray something that he didn't do. He was no hypocrite. He did this. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. He came down from heaven to do his father's will.

We look at in Psalm 40 those beautiful words. Prophetic of the Lord Jesus. Psalm 40 verse 8, then said I, this is prophetically speaking of Christ, lo, I come. In the volume of the book is written of me. I delight to do thy will. You see, there's delight. There's willingness. There's delight in his father's will. Oh, my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. You see, Christ did these things. He delighted to do it.

He delighted in his father's will. You might say, yes, well, when it's all easy, we delight to do somebody's will, perhaps if it goes along with what's comfortable and easy for us. But you see, he was willing to do that will when that will meant going to Calvary. You see, In Gethsemane, Jesus speaks of this will.

If it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. You see this is resignation. This is submission. to God and this is all included you see in as we pray this prayer thy will be done in the providences of life which are difficult to take that seem to come as Job describes it though he's slimy yet will I trust in him.

When those providences come and seem to threaten whether God does love you, and if God was good, why would he allow this to happen? Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. When Christ, you see, was in that Garden of Gethsemane, he prayed, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. If it be possible that he wouldn't have to go through all that was before him at Calvary.

And yet, nevertheless, perfectly fulfilling this, nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. And in our lives, you see, in the pathways, we come to junctions, we come to places and we might have our own idea as to what would be the better way, what would be the easier way, what would be the more comfortable way, but we're then to submit to our Father's will. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. But when we do that, may we recognise what was God's, what was God's, the Father's will when he said to him, when he did not accept, as it were, that statement that Jesus would not have to go to the cross.

His will was the purposes of redemption. You see if he'd have said to his son, no we don't have to go this way, where would the church be? Thy will be done. God's will is a purpose of redemption. redemption of his people, buying them back from the slavery of sin, setting their feet upon a rock, bringing them into fellowship and love with him in eternal paradise. This is his purpose. Thy will be done. And you see God the Father had this will of redemption for his church. And you see, as we go through our pathway, as we come to those places where it's difficult for us, we're to want God's guidance, you see. Which way should we go? Some things are clear from scripture.

We don't need to pray whether it's right to go and steal from our neighbour. We don't need to bring that to the Lord and say, Lord, I'm really struggling to know, is it right to steal my neighbour's car? You say, well, you don't need to pray about that. There's no need to pray about that. Because God has said clearly, thou shalt not steal. So we don't need to pray about that. We need to work that out in our lives and not steal or not do those other breaking of the commandments.

There are those things which are clear. But there are other things, you see, which are not clear. Should we live in this house or that house? Should we go to this place or that place? And neither of them are, if you like, a bad place to go. They both seem equally, perhaps at first thought, to be equally suitable.

And we then come with this prayer, thy will be done. What is the will of our God? What would he have us do? because we want him to be with us. We want his guidance. We want his blessing. We want him to go before us. You see, and as we come and pray this prayer, not in self-will, not saying, Lord, what will thou have me to do? But I really want to do that. That's not really seeking God's guidance. That's seeking God to rubber stamp what we've decided to do anyway. But if we really say, Lord, what will thou have us to do?

Thy will be done in earth, in my life, in my family, in my church, amongst God's people, thy will be done, that we be a people that are guided by God's will. Because God's will is a will of eternal salvation for his church. It's a perfect will. It leads us to glory. How will you see? Well, Adam's will, it didn't do good, did it? It led Adam's will of sinning in the garden. Oh, thou hideous monster, sin, what a curse as thou brought in. All creation groans through thee. Pregnant cause of misery.

That's our way. But you see, thy will be done enough as it is in heaven. Have you come to realize that your own way is left to yourself will not be a good way. The world may congratulate you. It may be lots of people will say, oh yeah, love to have that sort of pathway. You see the world is, it lives a lie. It makes a picture of what seems to be so great and perpetuates that so that others will follow and think how great it is.

I remember a story told by an American minister and he was on the plane and sitting next to somebody and this man, he got talking to him and this man had retired early and he was playing golf all around the world. And so he talked to him and he said, And this man, of course, because he thought everybody would say what a wonderful thing it was that if you could retire early and do nothing but play golf right round the world. But this minister said to him, don't you think that eventually you'll get tired playing golf?

To which he replied, I already have. And that's the lie. He was living the lie. He wanted everybody to say, yes, that must be a wonderful, that's wonderful. If you can just do no cares but just play golf, if that's what you like, all your life, no cares, that's living. But when this minister said, won't you get tired eventually of playing golf? I already have. He wouldn't have said that normally. Everybody else, he'd have said, oh yeah, how wonderful. It's living a lie, you see.

Thy will be done. You see, God's will will end in glory, in blessedness, in redemption. Father, I will that these also be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. That's his will. Thy will be done. Oh, if we come to turn away from our own will, turn away from what this world calls good and great, oh, it dresses up sport and leisure and all those things as if that's living, that's what it is to live. They have their place. But if that's what we're living for, it's pretty empty. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth, as it is in heaven, to surrender, to recognise that God's ways are higher than our ways, and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts.

There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death, but to recognise that thy will be done. in our lives, to surrender to that greater will, not with gritted teeth, not with saying, well, I suppose I have to. I've got no other option. I wish I was somewhere else, but this is where I am. I suppose I have to walk like that.

That's not how the angels are in heaven, is it? They're not gritting their teeth and saying, I suppose I have to fly to take this message to somebody. No, they do it willingly. They're always worshipping. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. They're always worshipping. Thy will be done.

This is the way to live. This is the way to have purpose and meaning in our lives. Oh, this man on the plane going to his sporting activities all around the world, he thought he had purpose and meaning in life. And when it was really questioned, he said there was none. He'd already got fed up with it.

But you see, to be, to have this as our master, to be part of this kingdom, to be seeking to build up this kingdom, to seeking to love Zion, you see, My soul shall pray for Zion still, while life and breath remains. They're my best friends, my kindred 12. They're God. My Savior reigns. That's the pinnacle. It's where God, my Savior reigns. Thy will be done.

Oh, that we might be a people that are sick of their own will and wanting to do God's will. Lord, what will thou have me to do? Saul of Tarsus had many ideas of his own of what he was going to do. He was going to hail men and women into prison. He was going to overcome this kingdom. Until he became overcome by that kingdom. That kingdom of love. That kingdom of salvation. And he then lived for the rest of his life for the glory of God. Thy will be done in earth as in heaven.

What a request, what a high standard to submit to God in our lives as he comes with the hard providences at times, but yet to recognise that God has a perfect will, his perfect will, and it is for us, as it were, to be conformed to the image of his Son. and as our Lord and Saviour in that great time, as He sweat, as it were, great drops of blood.

If it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but Thine. He submitted His own will to His Father's will, but His Father's will was a will of redemption. It was a will of salvation. Oh, we thank the Father for that will. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

You see, we stop then being little gods in our own kingdoms, don't we? You see, if we just left your will, then you build your own kingdom up. But you see, we're not here to build up a kingdom. We're here to be stewards of what God has given us, to build up his kingdom, that we may be part of an everlasting kingdom. With one song to sing, Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory. This kingdom is a kingdom that has a song, worthy is the lamb. That's the song of the redeemed. A song that will not weary though sung continually.

Because God's will is a will of eternal blessedness. for the people of God. We read, I have not seen, nor ear heard, nor entered into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them that fear him. We cannot even begin to enter what it would mean, what it must be to be there.

May we then come with this prayer, thy will be done, in earth, in my family, in my heart, in my church, in my country, amongst the people that I meet, thy will be done on earth. In that way it's done in heaven. You say, well, it's a high petition. But this is what Jesus has left on record, thy will be done. And you see that will in our lives then, you see we We turn away from our ways. We say, Lord, what will thou have me to do?

Show me where to go. If I'm to go here, I'm happy. If I'm to go there, I'm happy. I'm happy on one condition, that thou art with me. Thou art with me. Then I'm happy. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. In earth as it is in heaven. May we pray that prayer. May those who as yet think what an empty prayer I want to pray for all the things of this world can good can be great for me. If you have all those things they will must and shall passed away. But if you have part and interest in this kingdom, an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that faded not away, you'll never have to leave that treasure behind. It will be an eternal treasure, and you'll be able to be with him forevermore. May the Lord have his blessing, amen.