Turn with me, if you will, to
Luke chapter 11. I cannot imagine a subject about
which I'm less qualified to preach and give instruction to you than
the matter of prayer. And I can't tell you how it pains
me to acknowledge that. It's a subject about which I
must confess I know very little in reality. Very little. I know a good bit
in theory. I've read a good many books.
In fact, when I was in college, they offered a class for the
theology students on prayer, and I took it. I know a good
bit in theory, but in experience. Very, very little. I suppose there have been more
of those silly how-to religious books written on the subject
of prayer than any other. I would recommend any time you
see a how-to book dealing with religion, if you run across one,
run away from it. How to pray. How to live the
Christian life. How to be filled with the Spirit.
How to walk with the Lord. How to be saved. I promise you,
there's nothing of grace in them, nothing of truth in them. Without question, every heaven-born
soul prays. There's no question about that.
Prayer is the cry of our hearts to God. Prayer is the breath
of the newborn child. Prayer is the panting of the
believer's heart after God. It is the constant, known, experienced,
acknowledged dependence of our souls upon our God in faith. And yet, I have no doubt that
every child of God, I have no doubt every one of you here can
relate to the request that was made by one of our Lord's disciples
here in Luke chapter 11. His name is not given us, but
his request is the request that we have made many times. He said,
Lord, teach us to pray. And that's the title of my message
tonight. And that is, unless I am totally deceived, the cry
of my heart this hour, Lord, teach me to pray. Let's read the text together.
Luke 11, verse one. And it came to pass that as he
was praying, the God-man, our savior, our mediator, the man
Christ Jesus, was a man of prayer. He often went out into the desert
place alone to pray. He often took his disciples aside
to pray. He made no public show of it,
but he was often a man of prayer. as he was praying in a certain
place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, Lord,
teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples to pray. Now, our Lord's answer to this
disciple's question runs from verses 2 through verse 13. Tonight
we're going to look just at verses 2, 3, and 4, but our Lord's answer
goes all the way down through verse 13. Look at verse 2. And he said to them, when. He didn't say if, he said when. I often hear folks say, well,
Christians ought to pray. They ought to, but they do. They
do. Prayer, as I said, is the breath
of the newborn soul. When you pray, say. 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 this day,
or give us day by day, rather, our daily bread, and forgive
us our sins, as are for we also forgive everyone that is indebted
to us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Few passages of scripture are
more commonly quoted than these. There are few that are memorized
so early and recited it so often and understood so little as what
men call the Lord's Prayer. The Son of God only on two occasions,
as I was preparing this message that kept coming back to me,
only on two occasions did our Master verbally instruct his
disciples about prayer. Only on two occasions. and in
Matthew 6 in the Sermon on the Mount. That tells me that this is something
more experienced in the heart than learned by books. Our Lord
taught his disciples how to pray. Now understand and remember these
are two separate distinct occasions. Our Lord is not here giving us
the same thing he gave in Matthew 6. In Matthew 6 he was in Galilee
It was in the middle of his Sermon on the Mount that he gave us
these similar words of instruction. Here he is in Judea, and he has
just spent his time praying, and one of his disciples asked
him, Lord, teach us to pray. And the Lord Jesus gives his
answer in response to this disciple's question. His instruction is
given because one of his disciples asked him. Perhaps he was speaking
for all of them because the Master spoke to all of them, The disciples
said, Lord, teach us to pray. We've watched you. We've heard
you. We've seen you. We've been with
you in prayer. Teach us to pray. Now, these brief, simple lines
are full of instruction. I realize I'm not going to expound
them. I don't even make any pretense. But I do believe God has given
me the most prominent and most important things found in them.
I want us to look at them together. Before we do, let me make just
two or three observations. Number one, mark it down at least
mentally, if not literally, somewhere. This is not the Lord's Prayer. It is not. It's often referred
to as such. Most of the old writers refer
to it as such, but this is not the Lord's Prayer. He could not
in any way be said to forgive us our sins. He just couldn't
do that. He had no sin to be forgiven.
He had not yet been made to be sin, and he could be spoken of
as being true of him in a substitutionary way. This is not the Lord's prayer. The Lord's prayer, if you want
to use that word for any of them, is found in John chapter 17.
This is the Lord's instruction about prayer, and there is a
huge difference. Having said that, number two,
this is not a prayer to be memorized and recited. It is not a piece
of liturgy. It is not a scripted prayer. Now we're going to pray, so let's
say the Lord's Prayer together. Our Lord Jesus, knowing how prone
we are to ritualism, how prone we are to liturgy, how prone
we are to scripted religion rather than to worshiping God in spirit
and in truth, took great care in answering the disciples' question
here not to use the same words as he used back in Matthew 6
dealing with the same subject. He says the same thing, and yet
he says it in different words. The first three petitions are
verbally the same. The latter petitions are worded
differently, but they ask the same thing. And then the doxology
that's given in Matthew 6 is totally eliminated. More than
that, you'll never find a place anywhere in the New Testament
where any of the disciples ever recited these words or repeated
them that we know of. So it is not given for us to
be a repeated prayer that's scripted and recited in a pretense of
religion in a show of piety. But rather these are words of
instruction about prayer. Knowing that we are ignorant
and know not what to pray for as we ought, the Lord Jesus here
teaches us how to pray, what to pray for, and how to pray
for it. Thirdly, Our Lord's prayer or
our Lord's instruction here about prayer is not something that
is, that's to be just a part of religious entertainment. So many times that which is called
the Lord's prayer is sung by men and it just becomes a part
of what's a pretense or a show of religion. But these short
statements give us just the vital aspects of prayer. Our Lord here
tells us in prayer how to pray. The Pharisees were known for
their much praying. They'd stand in street corners
or they'd stand up in the temple and they'd start to pray and
they'd make long speeches. It sounded so good. They impressed
everybody. Our Lord teaches us to pray with
simplicity. He teaches us to pray with honesty.
He teaches us to pray and to state our case before God truthfully. You see, in prayer, we simply
spread our heart's need and desire in utter helplessness before
God, trusting Him. We spread our case before Him.
You remember how the king and Judah spread the letter. It was
a synacrony to spread the letter before the Lord. God, here we
are, and we can't do a thing. Here's what the enemy said he's
gonna do. We can't do a thing. That's what prayer is. It's just
spreading your heart to God in honesty. What are the great desires
of your heart? What are they really? What are
the needs that we have, really? What is it that causes us to
wait before God in utter helplessness. Let's look at the lines before
us this evening and I think you'll see. Our Father which art in
heaven. Prayer, of course, is addressed
to God. You don't need for me to tell you we don't pray to
angels and we don't pray to saints and we sure don't pray to statues.
We pray to God. Our Father in heaven. Teaching
us to lift our eyes toward heaven, the Lord Jesus immediately in
all engagement in prayer teaches us to turn our hearts and our
minds and our eyes away from this world upward to heaven to
set our affection on things above. Our God and our Father is our
God and our Father uniquely. Yes, He is the Father of all
men in the sense that He's their creator. No question about that.
The Lord of one blood has made all men for to dwell upon the
face of the earth. He's appointed the bounds of
their habitation. In him we live and move and have
our being. That's true of all men. But our
God is our God in a special, distinct way. He is the father
of his elect by divine grace because he has adopted us as
his sons and daughters. He has chosen us. He has reconciled
us to himself. He brought us into union with
himself by faith in Jesus Christ, his son, so that we are given
by his grace the spirit of adoption. That's what happens in the new
birth. God Almighty comes to sinners, adopted in covenant
love before the world began. And he comes to sinners by the
power of his Spirit, giving them life, causing them, as they look
to Christ the Lord, to turn their eyes toward heaven and look upon
God in his glory as our Father. Oh, what a wonder! The God of
heaven is my Father. He's my Father. Our Father, which
art in heaven. Now, as the children of God,
it is our privilege, yes, it is our right, it is the
right of a child to look to his father with expectation. That's
the right of a child. Not the right in a legal sense,
though certainly that's true too with regard to prayer, but
it is the right of the child by virtue of his relationship. My children have every reason
to look to me in any time of need to take care of them. They
have every reason to. I'm the father. I'm the father. Look in Hebrews chapter 4 for
a moment. Hold your hands here. You're
familiar with the passage. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 16. Because God is our father. because
Christ is our high priest. Let us therefore come boldly. Now that doesn't mean bombard
the gates of heaven and demand things from God. The word means
freely, freely. There was a time when I was utterly terrified to approach God. A time when
I thought I had to do something to get God in the notion of being
gracious to me. A time when I feared coming to
Him. David, not anymore. Not anymore. There was a time when I feared
confessing to Him what I am. I was afraid He was going to
find out about what I am. I was afraid He was going to
find out who I am. Not anymore. Not anymore. I'm glad he knows.
I'm glad he knows. And now, as his children, we
come to him with nothing to fear. Can you imagine that, Lindsay?
Nothing to fear from God. Nothing. Nothing. We've been
robed in the righteousness of Christ, washed in his blood.
accepted in his time come freely to the throne, the sovereign
throne of God Almighty, the throne of him who holds all things in
his hand and rules the universe absolutely, the throne of that
monarch in heaven whom no man can shake. But it's the throne of grace. grace come to your father's throne
the throne of grace oh that being the case we have
every reason to anticipate that grace is going to come down from
that throne and that is going to come from him who has the
power to secure it he sits on the throne how come Well, preacher,
I don't, I don't feel like praying. I just, I don't know how to pray. I'm so frustrated. I'm so beat
down. I just, that's the time to come. But I can't, that's the time
to come. Come that we may obtain mercy. Mercy. Bobby asks us, do you need mercy?
Come then. Come on. Do you need mercy? Come on. and find grace to help. When? When you need it. In every
time of need. Well, I don't know. I don't want
to take that to God. Don't want to trouble Him. It's
no trouble to God to be gracious. It's a trouble to me sometimes,
not to Him. No trouble to God to be merciful. No, no, no. In
every time of need. Come pour out your heart to God. We pray to God, our Father, in
heaven as our fathers, and we pray as the children of God.
We come to him with our needs personally, with our needs individually. We come to him with our needs
collectively, and we come to him seeking his mercy and his
grace for our brethren. Our Lord didn't say to this one
disciple who asked the question. It was one who said, teach us
to pray. And the Lord turned around and looked at him and
said, when you pray, say our father, our father. He's my father, says the son
of God, our mediator. And he's your father. He's your
father. Nothing so unites God's people
in experience as praying one for another. So in the very opening
words of instruction, our master teaches us to call upon God our
Father in heaven and to call upon him on behalf of our brethren
as we kneel before his throne seeking his mercy and his grace. See then that you pray one for
another. Look at the next line, back in
Luke 11. Yeah, Luke 11. You remember what our Lord told
Moses? We saw it in Leviticus 10 this morning. I will be sanctified
of them that come nigh me. This is exactly what our master
teaches us in prayer. Hallowed be thy name. Hallowed
be thy name. This is an expression of desire. It's the cry of the heart. of one who knows God. The name
of God represents all that he is. As you read through the Old
Testament particularly, numerous names are given by which God
identifies himself and identifies his attributes. Those attributes
are just the qualities of his nature, the character of his
being. They're things that are essential
to his being as God. Here, the Lord Jesus says, when
you pray, seek the honor and glory of God
in heaven. Let this be your chief, primary,
first concern. Nothing will be more peaceful
to your life on this earth. Nothing more satisfying while
you live in this world. Nothing will give you greater
contentment as you walk in this world than a willing, voluntary
surrender of everything all the time to the glory of God. Everything. Everything. You see,
God is going to be glorified. And in our heart of hearts, that's
what we want. The Lord created this world for
his glory He made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked
for the day of judgment. All providence tends toward his
glory, for of him and through him and to him are all things
to whom be glory forever. The object of God in saving sinners
is for his glory. The psalmist said, nevertheless,
he saved them for his namesake. The object of our Savior in his
death was above all else the glory of God. You remember John
12? He said, Father, glorify thy name. That's exactly what
he's saying right here. Hallowed be thy name. Listen to this. Turn over to
First Peter for a moment and just listen. I want to read three
portions from the Psalms to you. They're almost identical, but
in these three different Psalms, this desire of the believer's
heart is identified. Let them shout for joy and be
glad that favor my righteous cause. The Lord Jesus is speaking.
Yea, let them say continually, let the Lord be magnified. Let all those that seek thee
rejoice and be glad in thee. Let such as love thy salvation
say continually, the Lord be magnified. Let all those that
seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee. Let such as love thy
salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified. You remember
how Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10, Whatsoever you do in word
or in deed, do all to the glory of God. Look here in 1 Peter
chapter 4 verse 11. If any man speak, let him speak
as the oracles of God. If any man minister, serve, let
him do it as of or with the ability which God giveth, that God in
all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise
and dominion forever and ever. Our Lord says then, this is how
you pray. This is how you live. This is
how you come to God. This is how to walk with God
in this world. Seek his glory. Subject everything
to his glory. Boy, that's demanding it is. It is. Contrary to the flesh,
it is. It is. But it's the only way to live.
The only way to live. I want to get
you through some things. Somehow I know God's going to
get glory from this. Thy kingdom come. Our first concern
must always be God's glory. Our first concern. First concern. Our second concern is for the
welfare and building of his kingdom for his glory. We seek in all
our prayers that the Lord God will be pleased to establish
and to enlarge his church, his kingdom in this world. The prayer
that our Lord here gives, or the instruction our Lord gives
us here in prayer is very much like the prayer expressed in
Psalm 122. Listen to this. Pray for the
peace of Jerusalem, that they shall prosper that love thee.
Peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces,
thy kingdom come, thy kingdom come. To pray thy kingdom come
is simply to pray, Lord, save your people and establish your
kingdom in this world. You see, God's concern with everything
in this world is his glory and the saving of his people. and
our concern with everything in this world ought to be, and in our hearts
it is, His glory and the saving of His people. That's what we
want. We pray for the kingdom of grace to be fulfilled, knowing
that it shall. It's written in Romans 11, 26,
all Israel shall be saved. God has chosen all who are the
citizens of the kingdom of grace shall be born into that kingdom
and saved by his grace. And we pray for the kingdom of
glory to be established. And it will. We, according to his promise,
look for a new heaven. I have no idea really what it
will be like but this I know when Christ comes again he's
going to dissolve this world in a blaze of fire and create
all things new and he's going to put his people here in resurrection
glory and in this world where he had been so dishonored there
will dwell nothing but light and righteousness. God's creation shall indeed be
his temple. There'll be righteousness covering
the earth as waters cover the sea. The knowledge of the Lord
shall reach from north to south and east to west and there'll
be nowhere where men and women don't worship God in truth. Or I'd look back at the text.
Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Prayer is not us trying to get
God to do what we want Him to do. That is not prayer. That's lust. That's selfishness. That's asking amiss that we might
consume it upon our own lust. That's what we don't have. That's
not what prayer is. Prayer is not us taking a check
and filling in the amount from the bank of faith and saying,
well, this is what I want. Give it to me. That's lust. That's
base, carnal desire. It's not prayer. It's not prayer. A preacher, what on earth is
prayer? Prayer is the voluntary leaving of our will to his will. Nevertheless, not my will, thy
will be done. Like I said, I don't know much
about it in reality. But that's what prayer is. Wonder
if I've ever prayed. This I know, our truest happiness,
our truest happiness is submission to the will of God. That's where
you find it. Kicking against the bricks won't
bring you anything but trouble. Won't bring you anything but
more heartache. Prayer is a voluntary surrender of my will to his will. Yes, we want to obey God's revealed
will. We want all men everywhere to
surrender to and obey the will of God, believing on the Lord
Jesus Christ. But here, our Lord is teaching
us to sincerely, heartily, honestly, constantly surrender everything
to and earnestly desire God's will to be done in this earth
exactly as it is in heaven. And you know what? There's something real blessing
about knowing that you have what you really want. Because we know that his will
is, has been, and shall be done in this world exactly as it is
in heaven. Exactly. Even when Lucifer lifted
his fist and tried to shove God off his throne, God said, this
is the purpose, this is the purpose of the whole earth. Nothing's
changed. He works all things after the
counsel of his own will. Our concern then is for God's
glory, God's kingdom, God's will. Oh Lord, teach us to pray. Look at the next line. give us
day by day our daily bread. What an instructive word. We ought to seek God's providential
supplies, both for ourselves and for our brethren. Seeking
our daily food as a gift from God, knowing that if we eat,
God feeds us. I worked for my bread. I remember
years ago, I was just a boy. That movie came out, Shannon
Doerr with Jimmy Stewart sitting at the table. Some of you will
remember it. He's sitting there in days of Civil War, proud,
arrogant fella. And his wife was a little religious,
so he had to pray. He led the family in prayer and
said, Lord, we thank you for this food, even though our hands
have prepared it. We plowed the soil. We weeded
the garden, we harvested the food, we worked and put it up,
but we thank you that we did it. That's just about how most
men think. Prayer is looking to our God
day by day for our provision. Our Lord tells us here to seek
no more than is needful for us as we walk in this world for
his glory, serving his kingdom, doing his will. Bread. Not gold, just bread. Just bread. Daily sustenance. And as we're
taught here to pray, he teaches us to seek no more than our daily
provision. Give us today what we need. Some of the commentators Suggests
that the words might be translated give us day by day our future
bread That would be directly contrary to what our Lord gave
in instruction in Matthew chapter 6. He's taking us over tomorrow
But rather we look to him and ask him to give us our daily
need daily So that we're made constantly to look to him Give
us day by day Give us this day our daily bread. As we look to
God, our Heavenly Father, to provide all the needs of our
souls, faith looks to Him to take care of all the needs of
our bodies. So we'll preach that. How important
is that? If you don't do the one, you
don't do the other. look to him to take care of my
soul spiritually, turn on me, and look to him to take care
of my earthly needs. In other words, we acknowledge
our entire dependence upon God for life, for health, and for
all things. We ask him to take charge of
us, provide for us in all the concerns of our lives in this
world. This is the prayer that Solomon
asked of God. He said, with food or with bread
convenient for me. Let me see if I can put it in brown
bean cornbread language. God, honor your name, save your
people, perform your will, and give me. what I need every day, whatever it is, and forgive us our sins. Our Lord here teaches us to acknowledge
our sins. Our Lord tells us here to continually
and constantly seek the forgiveness of sins. Somebody said, We're
saints now. We're not sinners. We're not
to confess our sin. That's forgiveness of our sin. We did that a long
time ago. The Son of God tells us to seek the forgiveness of
sins continually because we're constantly sinning. And while
we have full forgiveness, absolution, pardon, absolute justification,
We need continually the fresh application of the blood to our
souls and we need to make it personally so that we confess
our sins. And if we confess our sins, if
we confess our sins, God would learn something about that. Not
to a priest, not to a preacher, not to the church, not to anybody,
but God himself. And they're not a harder place
to do it. It's not too hard for me to talk
to James Jordan about my sin, because you and I are just alike.
But to talk to God Almighty about what I am, just take off all
the pretense, all the guard, all the shell, all the covering.
Rip open my heart in its darkest, most loathsome chambers, and
acknowledge God, this is who and what I am. What are you, Don Fortman? My
name is Steve. What do you do? I see it. That's
all. That's all. Nothing but see it! He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now,
let's not forget the next line. Forgive us our sins for we forgive. everyone that is indebted to
us. You see, our sins are a debt,
a debt that Christ has paid, a debt that God has freely forgiven
through the blood and righteousness of his son. And yet our Lord
here teaches us to pray for forgiveness for or because we forgive those
who are indebted against us. It's interesting. This is the
only line of instruction that our Lord gives about prayer that
he expands upon and explains. Turn back to Matthew chapter
6, I'll show you. Verse 14. For if you forgive men their trespasses,
your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you forgive not me
and their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your
trespasses. For what on earth is he saying?
Is he telling us that in order for us to get forgiveness, we
have to forgive? No. Is he telling us that we
merit, earn, or qualify for forgiveness on the basis of our being forgiven?
No. No, no, no. This is what he's telling us.
If we aren't forgiving, we've never had forgiveness. It's telling us, Merle Hart,
if we're not gracious to each other, we've never experienced
God's grace. Forgive us our debts, our sins. We know something about this. sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet grace
is the grace of God implanted in the hearts of vengeful, self-serving,
self-loving, hateful, hating rebels. Makes them glad to forgive
each other. It's what grace teaches men to
do. Forgiveness breeds forgiveness. Grace breeds grace. Love experience
is reflected in love displayed and given freely. And lead us
not into temptation. Very much the same thing our
Savior prayed for us. He said, I pray not that thou
shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest
keep them from the evil one. Wise people seek to avoid danger. In prayer, ask God who rules
all things to keep you from the danger of temptation. May he
who orders our steps order them away from temptation. You see,
we are weak. We have no power to resist evil. Sometimes people think, well,
I wouldn't do that. If God lets you alone, the right
place, the right time, then nothing you won't do. As a father growing up with one
daughter, other than concern for her soul, and every father
here can identify with this, you're concerned about the girl's
moral virtue. Faith got to be about 10, 11
years old. I started talking just as plain
as I possibly could to her about those things, and I asked a dear
friend who'd had some heartache. I said, I want to talk to my
daughter. I want to give her some instruction. How do you recommend taking a
girl aside and telling her to protect herself, chastity, not
to get herself involved in sexual impurity. He looked at me in
pause a little bit and he said, I don't know. I guess the best
thing to do is try to convince them never to put themselves
in a position where they can't say no. What great advice. What great advice. Lead us not
into temptation. Lord God, don't let me have my
way. Don't let me go where I would
go and dishonor you and destroy myself. Wise people seek direction
away from danger, not into it, but deliver us from evil. That means deliver us from everything
that can hurt us in body, or in soul, especially from every
weapon that is formed against us by that fiend of hell who
would destroy us. The evil of this world, the evil
that's in it, the evil that's in our own hearts, the evil one
who seeks to destroy us, God deliver us from evil. Deliver
us from all the evil results And blessed be his name, he shall. He shall deliver us from evil
in this world, for there hath no temptation taken you, but
such as is common to man. But God will with the temptation
make a way to escape, and that way is Christ the Lord that you
may be able to battle. He will deliver us from evil
in the hour of death. and bring us into his father's
dwelling place, in his father's house, where there are many mansions. And in resurrection glory, he will deliver us from all evil. Absolutely. Now Ron, this is
more than I can get hold of, but somehow, when he gets done,
Our God will deliver us from all the evil consequences of
all sin. He'll present us holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight. Oh, what a day. As chaste virgins pure before
God. Lord, teach us to pray. We're going to sing that hymn
in Songs of Grace, I think it's number 75. As we sing this hymn,
Merle, a few men will come and prepare the Lord's table and
then just take a seat. I want to make some comments. I rarely
do, but I'll make a few comments with regard to the Lord's table.