Would you turn back to Luke chapter
11? Tonight, I'm going to be speaking
on that part of prayer we just read where the Lord taught us
to pray, lead us not into temptation. I have entitled the message for
this morning, The Believer defined by prayer. Now, if the Lord is pleased to
bless us, we can leave this place knowing whether or not we really
are Christians. I want to know, don't you? If
I'm not, I want to know. And if I am, I want to know.
The believer defined by prayer. Now in the Lord Jesus teaching
us to pray, he tells us what a believer is. Everybody at some time has prayed. Everybody to ever live at some
time has prayed to some higher power. As the old saying goes,
there are no atheists in foxholes. Somebody is in trouble and they
say, Lord, if you're real, get me out of this. Prove it to me.
Prove to me that you're out there and that you can help. Anytime we're physically ill,
Lord, heal me. Anytime we're in danger, Get
me out of this. If you're real, get me out of
this. We have a sick child. Oh, heal my child. Great need
has driven everybody to pray at some time. Everybody, without
any exceptions. Somebody says, how do you know
that? Well, I just do. I don't know how else to say it. I just
do. That doesn't mean they're praying to God. The Lord gave us some insight
into this when he spoke of the prayer of the Pharisee. He said
he stood and prayed thus with himself. Now, he thought he was
praying to God. He said, God, I thank thee that
I'm not as other men are. But he was not praying to God
at all. He prayed thus with himself.
Now, when the Lord Jesus knocked Paul off his high horse, When
he was on the way to Damascus and sent Ananias to preach the
gospel to him, he said to Ananias, you go to Paul, behold, he prayeth. That's how he was described.
Behold, he prayeth. Now he'd gone through the motions
many times. He was perhaps one of those Pharisees
who loved to stand on the street corner and pray before men, but
he never really prayed before. But now behold, he prayeth. You see, prayer is the breath
of faith. Wherever you have faith, you
will have prayer. And wherever you have true prayer,
you will have faith. Now, once again, when the Lord
teaches us to pray, he teaches us what a Christian actually
is. Now, I don't know of a more complete
description of what a Christian actually is than we have in this
prayer that the Lord taught us to pray. When you pray, he said,
say this, say it. Now, the first thing that I notice
about this prayer is it begins with the word, our. There is a we. And there is an
us and we're taught to pray in that manner. Now, when the Lord
Jesus prayed to his father, he said, father, father, but when
he teaches us to pray, he teaches us to pray our father. And there's a couple of very
significant things about that. First, the reason he is our father
is because of our union with the Lord Jesus Christ. He's my father, he's our father. And we pray in the hour, it's
the same hour, it's the same us that our Lord spoke of when
he was speaking to John the Baptist, when he came to John the Baptist
to be baptized and John said, I need to be baptized of thee.
Comest thou to me? He said, suffer to be so now
for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Now, when
we pray, we're praying it in a way there's something a whole
lot bigger than we are. It's the great us of of God before
us who can be against us. We're praying as the little brothers
of the Lord Jesus Christ. All the hour, there's a true
unity here. It's something much bigger than
any of us as individuals. Our father, both he that sanctifies
and they who are sanctified are all of one for the which cause
he's not ashamed to call them brethren. We're the little brothers
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we're praying as an hour. Our father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done. that deliver us, that we forgive. We pray as a we. But the second thing I notice,
our father, a believer is a child of God, a son of God. For him to be father, he has
sons. Our Father, I pray to him as
he's my father, I'm his child. Now, I'm his child. Is everybody a child of God? Now you answer that yourself.
Is everybody a child of God? Are all children of God? Well,
you remember the Lord speaking to that one group in John chapter
eight, where he said, you're of your father, the devil. and
the lust of your father, you will do. Not everybody is a child
of God, but what a blessed privilege it is to be able to say from
our heart, our father. Truly children of God. Now, the believer is a child
of God by adoption. That means God adopted him. God
adopted her. Ephesians 1, 6 says, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto himself.
Now, when somebody adopts somebody, they select that person, don't
they? They choose that person. They elect that person. That's
what God did. He had chose us to be adopted
children. And not only are we children
by adoption, but we're children by birth. Not simply adopted
children, but children by birth, regenerated, being born again,
being born of God, being born of the Spirit, having the actual
nature of God. You see, Aubrey is my child. She's got my DNA in her. She's
got my genes in her. She's got, that's your problem,
I'm sorry. But the fact of the matter is
every believer is born of God. As many as received Him, to them
gave He the power to become the sons of God, even to them which
believe on His name, which were born, not of blood, not of the
will of the flesh, not because of an act of man's will, not
of the will of man, not because a bunch of men got together and
said, we're going to pray and do the same. No, they're born
of God. Partakers, 2 Peter 1 verse 4
says, of the divine nature. Now, I'm adopted. Adopted by
God. I'm born of God. Now, how do
I know? That's making a big claim. How
do I know that I'm a child of God? Well, the scripture says,
whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Do you believe? that Jesus is
the Christ. God's prophet, the very Word
of God. God's priest, the one who brings
you into the presence of the Father and you're accepted. Do
you believe that He's King? God's King? Who so believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Galatians 3.26 says for
you're all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Are you
relying on Christ Jesus right now as all that's needed to make
you accepted before thrice holy God? If you are, you're a child
of God. You're born of God. Thirdly, first we pray as an hour, we
pray to our Father, and next he says, hallowed be thy name. The believer is a worshiper. Now there's such significance
in this, hallowed be thy name. Now the name of the Lord is who
he is. You talk about the name of the
Lord. You're not just talking about a name you audibly mention.
It's the person behind the name. It's all of his most excellent
and glorious attributes. You're talking about his sovereignty. You're talking about his holiness.
You're talking about his omnipotence. You're talking about his justice. You're talking about his grace.
You're talking about his wisdom. You're talking about who he is. Hallowed. Holy. You're a worshiper. Holy is thy
name. You love everything about him.
You love the way he is. And you worship him for who he
is. If you don't worship him for
who he is, you don't worship him at all. Hallowed. Holy. To be revered is thy name. That is worship. Now there is
such a thing as true worship. The Lord said, the hour cometh
and now is when the true worshipers. You know, we read in the scriptures
of vain worship and ignorant worship, but here the Lord speaks
of true worship. Don't you want to be somebody
like that? I want to be somebody who truly worships. He said the hour cometh and now
is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship him. They that worship him must. This
is an absolute necessity. They that worship him must worship
him in spirit and in truth. Two things necessary for worship. God the Holy Spirit. I cannot
worship Him without God the Holy Spirit causing me to worship
Him. And the next thing that's needed
is the truth. the truth of who God is, the
truth of how He saves by His grace, how He saves by His Son,
the truth concerning who He is, the truth concerning who I am.
There's no worship of God apart from the truth. In Philippians
chapter 3, verse 3, Paul said, We are the circumcision which
worship God in the Spirit. by the Holy Spirit. And here's
what people who worship God in the Spirit do. They rejoice in
Christ Jesus. They look nowhere but Christ.
They have confidence only in Him and they have no confidence
in the flesh. That's what the scripture says.
Now that is the worship of God. It's to rejoice in Christ Jesus
and to have no confidence in the flesh, worshiping by the
Spirit of God. The believer is a worshiper. Are you a worshiper? Do you say,
hallowed be thy name, or do you argue against who he is? Well,
I don't believe God's like that, or I don't agree with that. No.
If you're a believer, hallowed. be thy name." Every attribute
of God you love, you worship Him for who He is. A believer is a worshiper. A
believer is a part of the great us. If God be for us, who can
be against us? A believer is a child, and a
believer is a worshiper. Now let's go on reading, verse
2. Luke chapter 11, and he said unto them, when you pray, say,
our father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom
come. The believer is a subject of
another kingdom, the kingdom of Christ. And their heart prayer is thy
kingdom come." He's a citizen of another country. This world
is not his home. He is in the kingdom of God,
the kingdom where Christ is loved and recognized as king. Now,
the Lord's king of the universe. He's king over everybody. But
he's king, you might not be in his kingdom. The only people
that are in his kingdom are those who love him as king and recognize
his kingship, his absolute reign and rule over all things. That's
the kingdom of the Lord. And we pray thy kingdom come. You know the thief on the cross.
I love thinking about the thief on the cross. And I know this. He believed the Lord would be
successful in whatever he did. And he said, Lord, remember me
when you come into your kingdom. Thy kingdom come. The thief wanted
that. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom. Oh, the kingdom of God. Romans
14, 17 says the kingdom of God is not meat and drink. It's not
do's and don'ts. It's not rules and regulations.
The kingdom of God is righteousness. Christ's righteousness. My righteousness
before God. And the peace that comes from
believing He's my righteousness. And the joy that comes out of
that. Righteousness and peace and joy
in the Holy Ghost. The kingdom of God. Now the believer
is the subject of another kingdom. He says, thy kingdom come. And next, the believer is a servant
of God. He says, thy will be done. That's what he wants. That's
what he desires. Thy will be done. And if my will is contrary to
your will, get rid of my will. Take my will and make it thine. It shall be no longer mine. All I want is his will. And I want my will crossed out
and taken away. Thy will be done. That's the desire of the heart
to be made willing. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. Willing for what? Willing for
his will to be done. That's what we want. That's what
we desire. Thy will be done. The leper understood this. Lord,
if you will. We, we understand the supremacy
of his will, the glory of his will. We want his will to be
done. We know that's what's happening
in salvation. It's his will being done. We
know that when Christ came, he did the father's will and our
desire in all ways is thy will be done. Thy will be done as in heaven.
So in earth, I love the way the Lord's will is done in heaven.
It's done in heaven so willingly, so immediately, so joyfully. Let thy will be done on earth,
even as it is in heaven. A believer is someone who desires
the will of God to be done. And even if, and you, you really
do believe that if your will is contrary to it, Lord cross
out my will and make it thy will. Here's the next thing a believer
is in verse three, give us day by day, our daily bread. A believer is one who is poor
and completely dependent upon God's provision in all things. Give us, not let us earn it,
Give it to us graciously. Give us day by day our daily
bread. We are dependent upon him for
all things physical, all things material, and most especially
all things spiritual. Christ, the bread of life. Oh Lord, give me this bread.
Evermore give me this bread. I love the way the children of
Israel were to gather manna. They couldn't come up with the
food. They were in the desert. And that manna came down from
heaven. And they gathered it up. The
Lord didn't just put it on their plates. They gathered it up.
It came from Him, but they gathered it up. That shows us that's what
we're doing right now. And it came early in the morning.
If you waited till noon, it would vanish away. This comes first,
gathering this daily bread. And you only gathered it for
that day. If you gathered enough for tomorrow, it'd breed worms
and stink. That's death. No, it's looking
to Christ right now the way you first looked to Him. Looking
again. And trusting Him with tomorrow. And we see Him as our
daily bread and we're utterly dependent. This is so important. We're utterly dependent upon
Him to give it to us. Whatever it is, that daily bread
represents so many things, all my needs. I'm poor and I'm needy,
and I'm completely dependent upon Him to provide for me. Give us this day our daily bread. In verse four, and forgive us
our sins. A believer is a sinner. Don't you find that rings true
with you? A believer is a sinner. Now, by the word sinner, I don't
mean by by that, by what most mean. Are you a sinner? Well,
sure, I'm a sinner, isn't everybody? I make mistakes. I'm not perfect.
I'm only human. I'm not going to beat myself
up over it. I mean, I'm sure I'm a sinner, but you know, who's
not? You know, we are, we're all, we're human, aren't we?
That person doesn't really believe they're a sinner. A sinner is the one who commits
the sin. A sinner is somebody who all
they do is sin. They haven't kept one commandment
one time. Now, how do you line up there?
A sinner is someone who cannot not sin. Would that describe you? A sinner is someone who genuinely
Truly in their heart, they believe they can't sit in judgment on
anybody. No matter how bad that person
may be, they know they're worse. Before God. And a sinner is someone
who has no claims on God. I can't say the Lord's got to
do this for me because I know they have no claims on God. They sin. And their constant
prayer is, forgive us of our sins. Aren't you glad the Lord
forgives sins? We sure pray, Lord, forgive us. That we're confessing our sin,
we're confessing our sinfulness, and we're asking the Lord to
forgive us. Forgive us. our sins. We're sinners. A believer is
a sinner. But look what else it says. And
forgive us our sins for we also forgive everyone that is indebted
to us. Now, that is very powerful, isn't
it? The Lord says for us to pray, Lord, forgive us of our sins
because we forgive everybody who sins against us. A believer
is someone who forgives because he has been forgiven. I wrote that article in the bulletin,
five very powerful reasons to forgive. And the Lord teaches
us to pray, forgive us for we have forgiven everyone that's
indebted to us. Let me give you five reasons
to forgive. Number one, because if you don't, you won't be forgiven. The Lord said, if we forgive
not men their trespasses, if you forgive not men your trespasses,
neither will your heavenly father forgive you of your trespasses.
That's what the Lord said. Here's a second reason. We will be forgiven as we forgive. You forgive. You will be forgiven. And you will be forgiven as you
forgive. Now that, that's what the Lord says. Now
here's the third powerful reason for forgiveness. If you forgive,
you'll be a whole lot happier of a person. You know, it's so joyous and
cleansing to be able to forgive somebody from your heart, whereas
when you feel unforgiving, when you feel resentful, they've done
me this way, they've wronged me this way, and you just, all
you hurt is yourself. You're the one who is blessed
in forgiving others, and you're gonna be a whole lot happier
of a person if you forgive. And if we fail to forgive, according
to 2 Corinthians 2, 10 and 11, Satan has the advantage over
us. He's got us under His thumb. Can that happen to a believer?
Sure it can. What about when the Lord said
to Peter, get thee behind me? Who? Satan. He said that to Peter. If we fail to forgive, Satan
has the advantage over us. And here's the glorious reason
to forgive. You know, it lies in the very
nature of God to forgive. That's who He is. He forgives. And when I forgive somebody from
my heart, truly, that's the most God-like thing I ever do. Be
ye kind, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for
Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. So, a believer is a sinner,
but he's a forgiven sinner. and he's a forgiving sinner.
That's what a believer is. And look what he says next. Verse four, lead us not into temptation. A temptation in the scripture
means two things. It means trial and it means temptation to sin.
And I say, Lord, Lead me not into trial. I don't want trouble.
I don't want trial. I don't want heartache. I'd much
prefer to get out of it because I know that I don't do well with
it. And I know any trial He sends
my way, it's for my good. And we're to count it all joy
when we fall into trials. The Scripture says that. But
I'm also taught to pray, Lord, let me not be tried. I don't
want to be tried. When I preached the message last
week on forgiveness, I got to thinking, oh no, something's
going to happen where I'm going to have to forgive somebody.
They're going to really do me wrong. I thought, oh, don't let that
happen. Lord, deliver me from that. I don't want it to happen.
I don't want to be tried. You know why? Because I'm so
weak. I'm weak before trial. I'm messing up. And as far as
temptation to sin, my soul, I know what happens when I'm tempted.
Lord, don't let me be tempted. I'm so weak that if I'm tempted,
I'm afraid I'll fall. Don't let me be tempted. Put
a hedge about me and don't don't even let me be tempted. Now,
the Lord could be wasn't tempted because he doesn't have the evil
nature we have. I mean, the devil tried to tempt him, but he was
unsuccessful because the Lord didn't have this nature. But
we have an evil nature that is so weak that we Lord, Let me
not even be tempted. So a believer is somebody who
is weak. He's so weak, so weak that he
has to cry out, Lord, don't let me even be tempted. A weakling before temptation, a
weakling before trial. But also remember this, this
thing of being weak, what a blessing it is. Didn't Paul say, when I'm weak,
then I'm strong. A believer is someone who is
weak and has to cry out, Lord, lead me not into temptation.
Don't let me even be tempted. And the last thing the Lord tells
us to pray is deliver us. Rescue us. is the word from evil. The believer is someone who needs
to be rescued from evil. Now, Satan is the evil one. The Lord calls him that. The
Lord also calls him the tempter. You know when He says, deliver
us from temptation, lead us not into temptation. Well, Satan's
the tempter. I pray for deliverance from the tempter. But He's also
called the evil one. And I know this. I'm no match
for Him. Lord, deliver me from Him. Because
if He gets hold of me, He'll turn me inside out. He'll make
my night look just like day. He'll have me so confused and
helpless. deliver me, rescue me from the evil one. But there's
also this world. You know, this world we live
in is an evil place. It doesn't have any love for
God. We're warned By John, love not the world, neither the things
that are in the world. For all that's of the world,
the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life is not of the Father, but of the world. Now, the lust of
the flesh, I need delivered from that because I've got evil flesh.
Lord, deliver me from the lust of the flesh, the pleasure of
seeing, the lust of the eyes. What's that? It's being concerned
about what other people see. You know some people are controlled
by what other people think and by what other people see. Keeping
up with the Joneses, keeping up appearances. Lord, deliver
me from that. Popularity. Lord, deliver me
from that kind of thinking. The pride of life. Man's love
for power and control and so on. Lord, Deliver me from that. Deliver me from this evil world.
Deliver me from the evil one, Satan. Deliver me from this evil
world. But you know who the biggest problem with evil I have? Deliver
me from this evil. This evil. I... When the Lord said to His disciples,
He said this to His disciples, If you then Being evil. You do the double take when the
Lord says that? No. If you then, Lord, rescue me
from myself. Lord, save me from myself. I need delivered from myself. Deliver me from evil. The evil one, the evil of this
world, and most especially, this evil person. Deliver me from
the evil. That's a strong word too. Evil. Paul said, when I would do good,
evil is present with me. Lord, rescue me from evil. Now, in this simple, glorious
prayer, the Lord teaches us to pray. He teaches us exactly what
a believer is. A believer is a part of this
great us. Thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. If God be for us, who can be
against us? He's a part of those who are
united to Christ and he prays our. A believer is a child of
God. Our Father, who art in heaven. A believer is a worshiper. Hallowed be thy name. His name is who he is and we
say, hallowed, holy is your name. We worship him for who he is. Not for what he does. I'm thankful
for what He does, but we don't worship Him for what He does.
This is so important. That Syro-Phoenician woman, when
the Lord just remained silent to her, and then said, He's only
sin for the lost sheep of Israel. You know what she did? She came
and worshipped Him. She didn't know if He was going
to give Him what she wanted, but she worshipped Him for who
He was. The leper came and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, if You will,
You can make me clean. We worship him for who he is.
A believer's a worshiper. Thy kingdom come, the believer
is a subject of another kingdom. This world's not his home. We're
just passing through. The believer is someone who from
the very depths of their heart wants God's will to be done. Thy will be done, as in heaven,
so in earth. A believer is poor and totally
dependent upon the charity of God. Give us this day our daily
bread, our needs. And a believer is a sinner. Forgive
us our sins. And a believer is a forgiven
sinner who forgives. Forgive us of our sins as we
also forgive everyone that's indebted to us. A believer is
someone that's so weak, so weak that he cries out, leave me not
into temptation. I'm afraid of what will happen
if I'm tried. Leave me not into temptation. And a believer is
someone who needs rescued. Rescue me from evil. Rescue me from the evil one. I'm no match for him. Rescue
me from the evil of this world and rescue me from myself. Now, does the shoe fit? Does the shoe fit? then wear
it. If that describes you, my beloved
friend, you are a Christian, a real Christian, someone whom
God has saved by his grace. What a blessed thing it is to
be a believer. Let's pray together.