Well, we've had a break from
Luke's Gospel for a few weeks over the summer, but I want to
come back to it this morning and return to where we were.
We finished at the end of chapter 10 with our Lord Jesus Christ
visiting Mary and Martha and Lazarus in Bethany. And that's
in Judea, that's in the south of the country. This isn't in
Galilee, because the words we're going to look at in chapter 11,
the first few verses, are what is commonly called the Lord's
Prayer. which appears in the Sermon on
the Mount in Matthew chapter six, but this is clearly a completely
separate occasion. This isn't the Sermon on the
Mount, this is him again in Judea, sometime later, and the disciples
ask him to teach them to pray. Again they say, teach us to pray.
The disciples saw Jesus often praying. Have you ever thought
about the significance of that? Who is he? He's a man. Looks just like any other man.
No comeliness that we should desire him. He's not walking
around with a halo around his head in a garment that's whiter
than anybody else's. He just looks like an ordinary
man. You can tell from the reaction of the Pharisees. And these disciples
who spent three and a half years with him, they saw him often,
the man, praying. But he's the son of man. He's
not an ordinary man. He's God incarnate. They were
able to say afterwards, John said, we beheld his glory. When the word was made flesh,
he said, we beheld his glory. What glory is that, John? It's
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. Walking in a human body, we saw the God-man walk
this earth. The one before whom, when Thomas
saw him risen and realized, and his eyes were open, he fell at
his feet and cried, My Lord and my God! Talking to this one,
Jesus, risen, my Lord and my God. But they saw him praying
to his Father. While he was a man, he was for
a little while, Hebrews tells us, made lower than the angels.
Made a little lower, or made for a little while, lower than
the angels. Limited by space and time. and he's praying to his father.
Why is he praying to his father? Why is he praying? Why does he
need to? Surely God's will doesn't change. Surely God is going to accomplish
everything that he ever purposed to do. Nothing's going to change
that. No prayers are ever going to
change that. Why is Christ, who is God, praying to his father? The only thing I can think of
is that communication is vital. It sounds so trivial, I hope
I'm not trivializing it or sounding irreverent in any way, but it's
communication, it's contact, communication between earth and
heaven. I remember a situation many years
ago, over 30 years ago, with a job I was doing, I used to
interact with the Navy and As part of it, I spent some days
on HMS Invincible, which was one of the Royal Navy's aircraft
carriers. And we were out, oh, hundreds of miles off the southwest
of Ireland in the Atlantic Western Approaches. And it was November,
and there were some stormy nights. I remember that distinctly because
I suffered from some seasickness while I was on that ship. And
I spent some time in the control room. And I used to like sitting
with one of the radar operators who was keeping in touch with
the aircraft. There we were, you could see
the map of Britain, and there was this little dot that was
us, out in the Atlantic, and you could see other little dots.
And these were helicopters, or fixed-wing aircraft, and it was
night. It was pitch dark. The sea was rolling. At some
times the sea was coming right over the bow of that big ship.
And can you imagine, I used to listen to the conversation between
the operator and the pilot who was out there in complete darkness
and isolation and loneliness at the limit of the fuel reserves
of the aircraft. Can you imagine for that pilot
how vital communication with the ship was? Can you just imagine
how essential that was? you know, illustrations are never,
never what they should be but does it give you some sense of
the fact of what prayer is? It's communication the comfort
that earth, we, here, flesh communicating with eternity with heaven Christ
even as a man prayed often, they saw him praying often now everything
the Lord Jesus did taught his disciples something useful all
through his ministry, it's all recorded for our learning And
his praying is no exception. To walk this life as God's children,
as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, to walk by the Spirit,
as Paul says, and not by the flesh, by the lusts of the flesh,
to do that, we need to pray. We need to commune with heaven.
We need to commune with heaven regularly. We need to commune
with heaven frequently. We need to commune with heaven
constantly. Why? Because God says so. God's
determined to do all His will, but He requires us to pray. It
says in Ezekiel 36, verse 37, God is determined He's doing
something for the house of Israel, but He says this, I'm gonna do
it anyway so I don't need to listen to them. No, He doesn't
say that. Do you know what He says? I will be inquired of,
of the house of Israel, for I am determined to do this thing for
them. All words to that effect. He's determined to do something
for them but he will be prayed to about it by these people,
his people. And so it is with us. He wants
us to pray. He commands us to pray. He calls
us to pray. He encourages us to pray. His
son, the Lord Jesus Christ, gave us the example of praying in
this life, communing with heaven. Think of that little lonely aircraft
in that dark, forbidding place. If it fell out of the sky, it
was certain death. But the communication was so
vital. But what is it to pray? What
is it to pray? Whenever I come downstairs on
a Sunday morning, and I put the radio on, and if it's just after
eight o'clock, then it will be the Sunday morning service on
radio four. And there's a lot of prayer goes
on. All sorts of prayers. Lots of prayer. But not much
of it is scriptural prayer. Not much of it is the true prayer
of the children of God. We read of monks down the centuries
and nuns setting themselves aside for a life of prayer. How religious,
how good of them to do this, to set themselves apart for a
life of prayer. Who are they praying to? About
what are they praying? If it isn't the gospel of grace,
if it isn't in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I don't mean
just using those words, but I mean in everything that he and his
gospel is, it isn't true prayer. We even read about an ex-Pope,
because we've got one at the moment, ex-Pope Benedict, who
resigned, and he's living in the Vatican in Rome, and you'll
hear the BBC's Rome correspondents say that How does he spend his
time? Oh, he spends his time in a life of prayer. He goes
down into the garden to pray. Who's he praying to? What's he
praying about? Does he know the gospel of God's
grace in the Lord Jesus Christ? I think not. I don't think so. You see, people of every shade
of belief and superstition pray to something, to a god of their
own imagination. Others make plenty of impressive
long speeches designed to impress others, other religious folk,
in the name of praying. Their prayers are more intended
on twisting God's arm to get him to do something, to change
his mind, to do it my way, I want this. And one thing that I find
most disturbing is the way in which prayer becomes, false prayer,
false prayer, I must stress this, false prayer becomes the lowest
common denominator of fellowship. You know you hear those who say,
oh well we disagree on this aspect of the faith and that aspect
of the gospel, and we don't agree about this. We certainly don't
agree with particular redemption. We believe that there is this
free offer that needs to be given to everybody because everybody's
got the ability to believe, if only they would. And so therefore,
let's not be too distinctive about our doctrine. Let's all
get together and have a prayer meeting. And so you get this
mishmash of all sorts of shades of opinion coming together in
a prayer meeting. Because we can't agree on anything
else, we can't agree on the preaching, but let's have a prayer meeting.
I tell you, that's false. God shuts his ear to such prayers. God hears and knows everything,
but in terms of hearing effectually, to respond, God shuts his ear
to such prayers. How do I know? His word tells
me. Isaiah chapter 1 verse 15, speaking to the Israelites of
Isaiah's day, very religious, everything in place, the temple,
all of those things, and he says to them this, and when you spread
forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you, yea, When
ye make many prayers, I will not hear. That's what God says
to this praying generation that prays to a God it doesn't know,
that prays to a God of its own imagination, that prays to a
God that is an idol. That's what he says, I will not
hear. Now don't get me wrong, I would encourage, and we should
encourage, all without exception, Christians and non-Christians,
to pray to God who is the creator, but to pray this, speak to me. God who is my creator, speak
to me. Teach me your truth. Guide me in your truth. Cause
me to learn that which is eternally true. We should encourage all to do
this. And it may be that by it, God will bring some. God will
answer some of those prayers and shine his light. He has for
many in the past. But true prayer and true prayer
meetings, not these sham ones, are always for true believers
only. And the basis is unity in the
true gospel of saving grace. And hence, prayer is a vital
component of our meetings. You know, you say, do we have
prayer meetings? Well, we don't have meetings
where we all sit in a huddle and wait for somebody to say
something. No, but when we come together, prayer is a vital component. And you sit in an attitude of
prayer, praying that God will speak to you, praying that God
will open your eyes and show you his truth. Prayer is a key
aspect of our meetings. But seeing Christ pray as a man,
and reading about Christ praying as a man in his word, we, as
children of God, desire to pray aright. And so, teach us to pray. It's a mark of spiritual life.
Praying is a mark of spiritual life. It's like breathing. It's
like the baby breathing. It's a mark of life. When Saul
of Tarsus went to Damascus and Ananias was concerned about going
to this man who he'd heard such bad things about, God said to
him, don't be concerned, he's praying. He's a child of God. What's the mark of it? He's praying.
He's spiritually breathing. But we ourselves don't know how
or for what we should pray. We don't pray for the right things
in the flesh, so often our praying is motivated by fleshly lusts.
This is what James says, chapter 4 verse 3, he says to them, you
ask, you pray, and you receive not. Why? Because you ask and
miss. You ask in the wrong way. Why?
That you may consume it upon your lusts. You ask for things
that you really want in your flesh. And you say, Lord, if
it be your will, do this for me. You're consuming it on your
lusts. You receive not, because you
ask amiss. We don't know what to pray for.
Romans 8, 26, Likewise the Spirit of God helps our infirmities,
for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but The
Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered. The Holy Spirit intercedes. We,
in this flesh, we pray but we have wrong motives. But thank
God, the Spirit of God intercedes with groanings which cannot be
uttered, prays for his people, intercedes. What prayer will
God hear? What is the prayer? Teach us
to pray. Lord, teach us to pray. What
prayer will God hear? Otherwise we're just wasting
our breath, because he said, when you make many prayers, I
will not hear. So Lord, teach us to pray. This
is what the disciples said. Teach us to pray, as John also
taught his disciples to pray. Teach us to pray. First of all,
a basic request. I want you to see this. The actual
thing that is called the Lord's Prayer, falsely, as I'll show
you in a moment, is only in verses two to four, two, three, and
four. It's all contained there. The final benediction that we
get in Matthew chapter six in the Sermon on the Mount, for
thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, that is not there
in this account of it, because it's a different situation. But
the basic request, I believe, is in verse 13. Because after
the instruction has been given, Jesus goes on to teach them by
a parable about the need for persistence in prayer. He says,
you know, if you've got a friend, and however tolerant a friend
is of you, if you go knocking on your friend's door at two
o'clock in the morning asking for a loaf of bread, he's not
going to be very pleased with you. if you ask me for something if
I can possibly do it I'll do it to help you but please don't
come knocking on my door at two in the morning unless it really
is an emergency this is what he's saying but he says if that
one comes persistently he'll open the door to him and give
him what he needs because of his impotence he's teaching his
disciples about the need for persistence in prayer but then
at the end of it he says this verse thirteen if you then even
being evil, being sinners not having the holiness of God in
your flesh. If you know how to give good gifts to your children,
because if your child asks for a fish, you're not going to give
him a scorpion, if he asks for bread, you're not going to give
him a stone to break his teeth on, if you know how to give good
gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? The Holy Spirit.
What should we ask for? What's the basic request? Give
me your Holy Spirit. As David prayed, take not your
spirit from me. This is what the child of God
wants. The spirit of God, come to me. Show me eternal truth. Show me Christ by your spirit. Reveal the things of Christ to
me. Reveal the blessings of redemption accomplished to me. Give me what
Paul calls the mind of Christ. Give me that trust in the eternal
sovereign God. Give me that confidence in God,
that peace, that assurance that comes from resting in the knowledge
that all things are in his control. This is the basic request, isn't
it? Don't just do things for me and then leave me to my own
devices. Give me your spirit with me all the time. If I have
God's Holy Spirit, then what does it matter about all other
things? All other things will be taken care of. This is what
Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount about all these other things. These things do the Gentiles
seek after, but your Heavenly Father knows you have need of
them before you ask him. He'll supply all of your needs.
He sees, he knows those things. Ask him for this thing above
all else, the Holy Spirit. Ask him for that, that you have
the Holy Spirit with you. You do as a child of God. If
any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Oh,
take not, as David prayed, your spirit from me. If I have God's
Holy Spirit, all other things, are taken care of, because they're
all under his sovereign control. And what does he say? He causes
all things to work together for good, to those that love God,
who are called according to his purpose. That's the basic request. But let us look at what I call
the disciples' prayer, not the Lord's prayer. The prayer he
taught his disciples to pray in verses two to four. The disciples'
prayer. Your requests to God your requests
to God as his people on this earth, in the flesh, should consist
in these things. This isn't a set of words to
be parroted, you know, repeated like a parrot might repeat without
any understanding. They did it on the service on
the radio this morning. They come to that point where,
let us now pray the prayer of the Lord toward our Father which
art in heaven, hallelujah. It's just, you just wonder, how
many of them for one moment are even thinking about the words
that they're repeating? These are not words to be parroted
at all. Really, I'd be very, very suspicious
of an assembly in which these words are parroted out as a communal
thing week by week, because it's so prone to not really thinking
about what they're about. No, not parrot repetition, but
your prayers must be this, they must be simple. Is it not a simple
prayer? Look, let's read it. Our Father,
which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done as in heaven,
so in earth. Give us day by day our daily
bread, and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone
that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. That's it. That's it. Simple. Simple. Just a simple prayer.
A sincere prayer from the heart. A spiritual prayer. It's primarily
asking for spiritual things. not asking, as James says, to
consume it on your lusts, and brief. Is it not brief? Jesus said quite clearly about
those who gather together to make long prayers to impress
one another with what good religious folks they are, he says you're
not heard for your much speaking. He condemned the Pharisees for
standing on the street corners openly demonstrating to everybody,
oh, I thank thee, God, that I am not like other men, just making
an open show. No, discreetly, he said, when
you pray, go into your closet, go into the quiet place where
others won't see you, and pray there, to your Father, in secret. No, not showy, open, but what
does he say we should pray for? How do we begin? Our Father,
which art in heaven. This is the first point. This
is what our prayers should be like. When we come as those living
in the flesh on the earth to pray, if we're children of God,
we pray, Our Father in heaven. Our Father in heaven. There are
prayers in the scripture to Jesus. When Stephen, the martyr, was
dying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. That's fine, but there's
a general pattern we're encouraged, we're taught to pray through
Christ on the basis of the merits of Christ to our Heavenly Father. Are you a believing child of
God? Are you a believing child of
God? Has the Spirit of God witnessed, does He witness with your spirit
as Romans 8,16 says that you are God's child? How do you know
that God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. It's
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Do you believe the truth of the
Gospel? Do you know that you are numbered with those children
whose flesh Christ partook for redemption? Hebrews 2. Hebrews
2 tells us that just as the children that the Father had given to
the Son before the beginning of the time partook of flesh
as we have now, so Christ partook of the same flesh that He might
redeem those people. Are you numbered amongst those
children? Do you know this by belief of the truth, by sanctification
of the Spirit? Then pray to God. Pray to Him
as God. Pray to him as the universal
sovereign. He's the sovereign ruler of the
universe. He created it. He sustains it. He upholds it. He causes all
things to work together for the good of his people. He orders
the events of history. History is his story from start
to finish. Pray to God as sovereign. But
this one who is sovereign, we pray to as Abba, Father. Abba, It's the Hebrew word, the
Jewish word, daddy. Daddy. This is how to come. Daddy. Our heavenly daddy. Our father,
which art in heaven. We come as to one who knows how
to give good gifts to his children. We come to one who is never,
you say, oh he's given me some hard things. Job at one stage
thought that God had given him some hard things. No, he knows
how to give good gifts to his children. Always, always. And if we're his children, think
what that means in terms of how he regards you, his child. You're his child by eternal election. For some reason, known only to
him, and most definitely not known to us, before the beginning
of time, he said, by grace, this one I will give to my son. by
justification from all eternity. You're his child. He cannot have
that which is unholy, but before time began, he made his child
holy, justified in him. He called with that name of the
Lord Jesus Christ and put us in him, Romans 8, 29-30. You're his child by redemption.
You redeem something when you buy it back, when you pay for
it. You're his child by redemption,
for Christ paid for you, his child, in the blood of his cross.
You're his child by adoption, not by natural birth, but by
adoption. You're grafted, as we were seeing
a couple of weeks ago in Romans 11, grafted into that pure olive
tree. Wild branches grafted into that
pure rootstock. by adoption. You're his child
by regeneration, for his Holy Spirit comes. And where there
was no life, he gives spiritual life. You're his child by faith,
for you walk by faith and not by sight. You walk according
to the Spirit's leading and not the lusts of the flesh. And hence,
as a child, we're encouraged to come boldly. Hebrews 4.16,
come boldly before the throne of grace. Come before that throne
of grace with confidence, boldly. You're coming into the presence
of the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God of the universe.
Come boldly, the scriptures tell the children of God. As the child,
the story was told of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United
States, and highly revered for his wisdom and his statesmanship
in the mid-1800s, around the time of the Civil War, and the
things that he did. Highly revered, and everybody
wanted an audience with Abraham Lincoln, how could they get into
the presence of Abraham Lincoln? And the story's told of the little
boy who goes and takes the person that wants to see him straight
into the room. Why? Because he's his child. He's
the little boy, he's the son. To the little boy, President
Abraham Lincoln is first and foremost, Daddy. Just that, Daddy. He's the president of the United
States, revered by all. But to this little boy, he's
daddy. Come boldly before the throne of grace. Come as David
did. We read earlier in Psalm 25.
Just turn back to those first couple of verses of Psalm 25.
Psalm 25, a prayer of David. Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift
up my soul. When people pray, when people
pray in churches all around this land and all around the world
and in their religion, who are they praying to? Who do they
pray to? David says, Unto Thee, O Lord,
O God of my salvation. Jehovah, Jesus. Unto Thee, O
Lord, do I lift up my soul. Come to Him. Come to Him. This
is soul prayer. Oh my God, I trust in Thee. This is prayer from the soul. I have an immortal soul, says
the catechism, that shall never die. That's what I lift up to
God, the God of the universe. To God, the absolute sovereign. the One who is perfectly just
and holy, the One who is perfectly wise in all things, the One who
is omnipotent, all-powerful, can do all His holy will, to
Thee, O Lord, my God, my Abba Father, do I lift up my soul,
coming to Him from earth to heaven, our Father, which art in heaven.
Teach us to pray, that's the first thing. Come as children
to your all-powerful, all-able, sovereign Lord and God, who is
Abba, Father. And what do we pray first? Hallowed
be thy name. Hallowed be thy name. That's
the next component of it. Hallowed be thy name. Basically,
glorify your name. The child of God in this world,
above all else, should desire and seek and pray that the glorious
name of God, in all of his attributes, should be glorified, should be
revered. His name is his attributes of
character, his wisdom, his holiness. His power in creation. His glory
in redemption. Show me your glory, said Moses
in Exodus 33. Show me something which will
amaze me, just like Elijah. Show me that earthquake, wind
and fire. Show me these things. But it
was in the still, small voice. and in the display of grace that
Moses saw the glory of God. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. Glorify thy name, that God's
name might be glorified, his attributes of character, his
creative power, his redemption, all for the glory of God, that
God might be glorified. This is the prayer, oh that all
who now despise God, because God is despised on every side,
nobody has time for God, nobody has a moment to think of the
things of eternity, nobody has time to do anything other than
pursue their own selfish interests in this world, all that now despise
God, that they might all bow the knee to God. that they might
all bow the knee. Oh, it's going to happen. The
Scriptures tell us, Philippians 2, verses 11 and 12, that every
knee should bow and acknowledge that Christ is Lord. Every knee,
without exception, should bow. All those that reject should
bow to Christ and acknowledge who he is, that he's Lord, for
what purpose? To the glory of God the Father. Hallowed be thy name, that God's
name might be glorified. This is what we should pray.
Teach us to pray, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed
be thy name. Oh, that your name might be glorified.
Next, your kingdom come, thy kingdom come. What is that asking
for? Thy kingdom come. it's asking
for the completion the final accomplishment of the salvation
of all whom the father gave to the son that's what it's asking
for He set them apart before time began. He justified them
from all eternity. He gave them to the Son who came
to this earth to satisfy divine justice in time at Calvary by
shedding His blood, which was His life, which was the price
of sin, that infinite life for that number that no man can number
of His people. The completion of that salvation
is not only bringing each one of them from children of wrath
to those who believe the Lord Jesus Christ, but taking them
finally to glory. That's when it's accomplished,
when it's all finally finished, when we're reunited with our
resurrected bodies. That's it. That's why I can't
say amen to the prayers of those who deny that gospel truth of
particular redemption. You can gather with them all
you like and they can say all sorts of things, but if they
don't believe and they're not praying on the basis of God accomplishing
the salvation of that people whom he gave to Christ before
the beginning of time, how can you say amen to those prayers?
They're praying to a different God. They're praying to a God
of their own imagination. They're praying to an idol. And
what do we pray? Thy kingdom come. How does that
work out? How do you pray, thy kingdom
come? You pray that some, that some, who even now, as the scripture
says, are children of wrath, even as others, that they will
prove to be trophies of God's grace. Who does it include? Whoever the Lord lays on your
mind. Family members. We've all got family members
who don't believe the truth of the gospel of God's grace. Oh,
thy kingdom come. Oh, if it please you, if it please
you, show to that one the truth of the gospel of your grace.
Work colleagues, neighbors, Lord, lay on our hearts those for whom
to pray, because you've purposed to call them out of darkness
into your marvelous light. The scriptures encourage us,
Psalm 122, verse six, We're encouraged. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is symbolical of the Church of God. Pray for its peace. Pray for its unity. Pray for
the fellowship of God's true people. Thy kingdom come is what
that is praying for. That God might be glorified in
all the earth for who he is. That his kingdom, his purposes
of getting glory through salvation might be accomplished. And then
next, fourthly, Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. There's
no question, is there, that in heaven, the will of God is done
perfectly. Oh, we pray that God's will might
be done on earth. Well, God's will shall be done. God's will shall not be thwarted
in any way. Who can frustrate the will of
God? So what is this saying, thy will be done? Of course God's
will will be done. None can stay his hand, all his
holy will. I think what we're doing here,
what we're being taught, is to pray for the grace to submit
to God's will in our lives in all things, in all things, in
all things, thy will be done. Cause me to submit in this flesh
which is naturally rebellious, which all the time wars with
the spirit of the new birth which the Holy Spirit has given, at
conversion, cause me to submit to your will in all things. It's
not praying to change God's will, it's not seeking to persuade
God to act differently to his will, but give me your Holy Spirit. Give me the mind of Christ that
I might more readily accept whatever you may bring my way. You know,
think again of Job, all that he took him through, all that
fleshly pain and heartache, but think what he brought him to,
finally, in the end. Cause us to rest in your will. Thy will be done. Cause us to
rest in it, happy with it, contented with it, whatever it might be,
knowing that where we are, if we're in your will, That's a
better place, whatever our flesh might think, than being outside
of your will. Think about Noah, in the ark,
when the storm was raging outside. Did Noah sleep well? I have a
very strong feeling that Noah slept like a sleeping baby, not
one that lies awake all night. Did he sleep? I'm sure he did.
Wow, there was a raging storm of the judgment of God outside
of the ark. Did he sleep? I'm sure he did.
Why? because thy will be done. He
was in God's will. He was in the place of God's
choosing. God had shut him in there. Did he sleep? I'm sure
he did. Thy will be done. Cause me, whatever
my situation, whatever my circumstances, to be contented with your will.
Next, fifthly, give me day by day our daily bread. give us
needful provision this is something we should pray for physical needs
in this life but needful provision it doesn't say give us this day
our daily gold it says give us this day our daily bread I believe
that this generation, this last fifty years I would say the last
fifty years are almost unique in the history of man in that
in the western world We've been cursed with material abundance
to the extent that nothing has more effectively taught people
in general to banish God from their thoughts. Man did not like
to retain God in his knowledge. And the excessive materialism
of the last 50 years has never been bettered in terms of its
ability to teach man that they don't need to retain God in their
knowledge. What should we pray for? What
should God's children pray for? That which we need. Give us our
needful daily things, and cause us to be contented. Isn't that
the teaching of Scripture? Elsewhere, Paul says, learn that
in whatever state I am, to be content therewith. Godliness
with contentment is great gain, acknowledging utter dependence
on God. The one in Proverbs prayed, give
me neither poverty nor riches, just what I need for this life.
Remind me constantly that man shall not live by bread alone,
the things of this world, but by every word that proceeds from
the mouth of God. Psalm 30 verse eight, feed me
with food convenient for me. Just give me what I need. It's
an acknowledgement of utter dependence for everything. For the money
you need to feed your family, to house your family, to do whatever
you need to do, give us this day our daily bread, and let
us give thanks to God for what he's given us. And then, sixthly,
forgiveness. Forgive us our sins, for we also
forgive everyone that is indebted to us. We're justified from eternity. The price has been paid at Calvary
for believers. There is no sin to pay for. We
shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ and be declared
righteous and holy in Him. So why do we need to pray for
forgiveness, forgive our sins? Why do we need to pray for that?
Well, He taught His disciples in the washing of the feet, John
13 verse 10, They didn't need a bath, they're washed every
whit, but every day they need to pray, they need to seek that
daily cleansing, that washing of the defilement of the world
and of the flesh. We're justified, but we're still
in the flesh and we're still sinful. John puts it this way
in his first epistle, 1 John 1, 8 and 9. If we say that we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves, because in the flesh we do, and
the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us. from
all unrighteousness. And then in chapter two, if any
man sin, and it's not a you might or you might not, when any man
sins, we have an advocate with the Father. Who is that? Jesus
Christ, the righteous. And if we are those who have
been forgiven, we will be those who will be forgiving and gracious. It's not that if you don't forgive
you can't be a child of God. It's not as if it's a condition,
a qualification for being forgiven of God. It's a fact that if you
are forgiven, if you have experienced the grace of God, you will be
forgiving and gracious to those around us. Somebody once wrote
that it's one of the most blessed things is to be offended so that
you can know something of the grace of forgiving. of knowing
something of the grace of forgiving. And then finally, because I've
used up all the time, finally, keep us from evil. Keep us from
evil. Deliver us from evil. Keep us
in this world from evil. Satan is all around us. This
is what we should pray. These are the things we should
pray for. Simple, sincere prayers. Keep us from evil. Satan is all
around. Peter says he's like a prowling
lion seeking whom he may devour. Oh Lord, keep us from evil. He's
always on God's chain, Satan. He's never able to go beyond
God's permission. And Christ prayed for his people. In the Lord's Prayer, which is
John 17, verse 15, I pray not that thou should take them, his
people, out of the world, but that you should keep them from
evil while they're in the world. Keep them from evil. Let me just
close with this. Teach us to pray. Simple, statements, spiritual, for the
glory of God, for the extension of His kingdom, for us to be
submissive to His will, for Him to give us that which we need,
for we depend on Him, to forgive us that daily defilement of the
world, and that we might be forgiven, and to keep us in this world.
And this is the benediction that Jude gives, and we'll finish
with this. Jude verses 24 and 25, now unto him that is able
to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before
the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise
God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power,
both now and ever. Amen.