today. Someone pointed out to
me last week in a service that that we have such good hymns
in our hymn books that even in some places where the gospel
maybe isn't preached quite as clearly as it should be and as
it used to be that people are still singing the gospel and
these hymns that that men and women have written in days gone
by. Such a blessing to the church.
If you will now turn with me to Matthew chapter six. Matthew chapter six. Many of you know that I have
been bringing messages from the Sermon on the Mount The Sermon
on the Mount includes Matthew chapter 5, 6, and 7, and I wanted
to bring a message this morning from chapter 6, and especially
about our Lord's words on the subject of prayer. We're going
to look at the pattern that he gave for prayer, but before we
do, I want to remind us of these very simple but profound truths
about prayer. Three truths, simple but very
profound. What is prayer? Well, first of
all, true prayer is an audience with God the Father. Some say
it's a conversation with God. I like to use that word audience
because after all is said and done, we must remember that he
is in heaven and we are here upon the earth. And that he is
a great God. When you go in to meet a person
in this world who is in an office or a position of greatness, you
are granted an audience with that person, an audience with
the queen or the king, an audience with the president or the prime
minister. You don't just have a conversation
with them usually, you're granted an audience. And prayer, after
everything is said and done, is an audience with God, the
great God, the creator of heaven and earth and all things therein. The God who holds our life in
His hand, that our breath, every breath that we breathe, that
He grants that breath to us. We have an audience, we're speaking
with Him. The second thing is true prayer
is an audience with God the Father on the basis of the mediation
of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me say that again, true prayer
is an audience with God the Father on the basis of the mediation
of Jesus Christ, his son. And by mediation, the mediation
of his son, I especially refer to his death, to the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We know there's one mediator,
just as there's one God, so there is one mediator between God and
man, the man, Christ Jesus. And when we go to him in prayer,
when we have an audience with him, we converse with him, we
do so on the basis of the mediation, the mediatorial work, the sacrifice,
especially of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I think of that one
verse in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 19, which says, having
therefore brethren boldness, boldness to enter into the holiest
by the blood of Jesus. And of course that has reference
to that old tabernacle, how that only once a year the high priest
could go into the holiest part of that tabernacle and never
without blood. He always had to carry blood
in there. We know when the Lord Jesus Christ,
when he died upon the cross, when he said, it is finished,
that at that particular time, that veil in the tabernacle,
and that wasn't a flimsy piece of cloth, by the way, it wasn't
like a sheet, it was a heavy piece of cloth, and it was rent
from the top to the bottom. confessing and declaring to all
the world that the way into the holiest, which had only been
pictured in the Old Testament by those types and those shadows
of those priests and the blood of those animals, but that now,
by the blood of Christ, we have access, we may enter into the
holiest, by the blood of Jesus. And when we think of the holiest
place, the throne room of God, into the presence of God. True
prayer is an audience with God the Father on the basis of the
mediation of Jesus Christ, his son. What does that mean? Well, let me give it to us in
these simple terms. It means We approach God, we
have an audience with God based on the mediation of His Son. It means that if you, if I, if
anyone were to approach unto God, trusting in any other thing,
coming in any other way than through the mediation, through
the blood of Jesus Christ, when we speak to God, we will receive
a deaf ear. He'll turn a deaf ear to us.
He will not hear us. But he will hear those who come
in the name of his son. And that's what, of course, it
means in the gospels when our Lord said, whatsoever you shall
ask the Father in my name. It doesn't mean you just tack
in Christ's name onto the end of your prayer. But it means
you recognize when you pray that you have access unto God through
Christ, through his blood, and only through Christ and only
through his blood. And it means that when we come
to God trusting in his son, we come without any guilt. We don't
have to come crawling into the presence of God when we pray. We come into the presence of
God knowing that we come without any guilt. It's been taken care
of. When Christ took our sins upon
himself and hanged there upon the tree, our sins and the guilt
of our sin was punished. And now when we come unto God,
we come without any guilt. We come, as we will see in this
passage, we come as a son or as a daughter would come to their
father. Many of you, or most of you,
I should say, are very young compared to some of us here.
But I remember when John F. Kennedy was elected president.
is the youngest man, seemed like, who'd ever been elected to the
presidency, and so different from other presidents that we
had known as young people. And then he and his wife had
a child named John, remember, John Kennedy. And of course,
other men, they They had to have an appointment. They had to go
through secretaries to get into the presence of the president. And then you'd see pictures of
John, about two or three years old, crawling underneath the
desk of the president. I mean, he had access to him,
didn't he? And he came just as a young child
would come to his father. It didn't mean anything to him
that his father was the head of a great, powerful country.
No, he was just his dad. And when we come in prayer to
God, we come as children knowing that the guilt of our sins, it's
been taken away. We don't have to come in fear
and trembling. Reverence, yes, absolutely. And number three, it means that
we come to God trusting in his son. We come thankfully. We come joyfully. Thankful that
we have access unto him. joyful that we may speak unto
him. And third, true prayer is an
audience with God the Father, with God the Holy Spirit's introduction. Keep your place here in Matthew,
but look with me in Ephesians chapter 2 just a moment. True prayer is coming to God
and being introduced by God the Holy Spirit. Here in Ephesians
chapter two and verse 18. The apostle Paul writing to these believers at
Ephesus, many of them of course were Gentiles, not all of them. For through him, who's that? That's Christ. There's one way. He said, I'm the way, the truth,
and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. That's always true. For through
him, we both, that is Jew and Gentile believers, doesn't matter
what race, there's only one human race, right? We're all descendants
of Adam. If we're saved, we're all saved
by the blood of Christ who represented his elect people. For through him, through Christ,
we both, that is Jew and Gentile, have access by one spirit unto
the Father. Now that word which is translated
there, access, it really means an introduction, literally means
an introduction. God the Holy Spirit helps our
infirmities, the apostle Paul tells us. And where do we feel
our infirmity the most? Well, maybe not the most, but
quite often it's in prayer, isn't it? When we go to the Lord in
prayer. Here we are, and we're not going
to just run into the presence of God in a disrespectful way. But yet we have that liberty
to come to him. But always knowing that he's
God Almighty, and yet here we are just men and women upon the
face of his earth, his creatures, and we can speak to him. We don't pray, To the saints,
we're not taught to pray to the saints. We don't pray to the
virgin, we're not taught to pray to the virgin. As we will see
here as we go through this prayer, the Lord willing, this pattern,
that's what I'm calling it this morning, this pattern or model
prayer here in Matthew chapter six. Jonathan, our son, told about
visiting a church in Singapore several times, and at the beginning
of the service, they would sing, you know, this prayer's been
put to music, it's been called the Lord's Prayer, and every
at the beginning of every service, they would sing this prayer.
And when I heard that, I thought, oh, that'd be wonderful, you
know, for the service just to start off our father singing
this prayer. But you know, it was never given. Something like that can turn
into a tradition. It can turn into a ceremony. And this prayer was never given
for us to repeat it over and over. And we know that because
when it's given in Luke, there's some differences. And so it's
not that we are to memorize this prayer, although this is probably,
from what I read, probably the best known portion of scripture
in all the world, this pattern prayer, this model prayer here. Let's look at it this morning.
First, Our Father, here it is in Matthew chapter six and beginning
in verse nine. After this manner therefore pray
you, our Father which art in heaven. Does that bless you? Does it? It does me. Just the idea, just
the truth, I shouldn't say that, just the truth that I can call
God my Father. Our Father. which art in heaven. And this enforces what I said
just a minute ago about the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because
as a creator, he is a creator, he's the father of all men. No
doubt about that. But in this relationship here,
our father, which art in heaven, it is only through Christ, through
his work, His redemption through His blood that we are made sons
and daughters of God and may begin this prayer, our Father,
which art in heaven. Remember that verse in Ephesians
chapter one, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places before the world began. according as he hath chosen us
in him, chosen us in Christ. Those who can truly pray this
prayer this morning, who can bow our heads and say, our father,
which art in heaven, we recognize that we may call him our father
because of his work, because of his electing work. And because he has predestinated
us, that verse goes on to say, to the adoption of sons. How did we become a son, a daughter
of God? By God's sovereign grace and
God's sovereign work through his son, Jesus Christ. Our father, which art in heaven. You say preacher? Our Father,
which art in heaven, he's everywhere. I recognize that. I'm not present. And when Solomon built that beautiful,
beautiful temple in Jerusalem many years ago and dedicated
it, he confessed to this fact. He said, the heaven of heavens
cannot contain thee, much less a building that some puny man
could make. But yet we know While God is
everywhere present, that there is a place called heaven. The
Lord Jesus Christ in John 14, didn't He say, in my Father's
house, I go to prepare a place for you. There's a place called
heaven where God Almighty especially manifest His glory, the presence
of His His manifestative glory. That's amazing that there's a
place called heaven, but you know there's something even more
amazing than that. God dwells in the hearts of His
people. He dwells in the hearts of His
people. That's what Paul wrote in Colossians,
Christ in you, the hope of glory. And then that passage in Isaiah,
which says, for thus saith the high and holy
one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in
the high and holy place. Doesn't stop there, does it? God said, I dwell in the high
and holy place with him also. that is of a contrite and humble
spirit. Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Now this is a first request,
and you know it is a request that is always in the heart of
God's children. Hallowed, reverenced, sanctified
be thy name. That's our desire, isn't it,
that our God and Father be recognized in this world, be reverenced.
We live in a day, and I know it's always been bad, but God's
name today, we live in a generation, folks. You know it's true. Young
people, old people, middle-aged people, we just live in a day
when God's name is not sanctified. when it's not set apart, that
people feel the liberty to use God's name in any different way
they so choose. God's name is great, and one
of His commandments is, thou shall not take the name of the
Lord thy God in vain. Hallowed be thy name. That's
our desire, and it grieves us, doesn't it? You watch some of
these television programs and almost every word, every other
word is, oh God, oh God. It grieves you, doesn't it? It
grieves you to see how the world, but we shouldn't expect any different
from the world. But the sad thing is it's coming
into the churches because the truth about God is not proclaimed
today as it once was. in the house of God. Hallowed
be thy name. Now when we speak of his name,
we're speaking of him, of him. There's none other name under
heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Speaking of
Christ is, it's not a slavish fear that
we desire, that word hallowed is actually sanctified. It's
not set apart. He's set apart in our hearts
and in our lives, in our conversations, in our speech. He's set apart. That's our desire for ourselves
and for others as well. And then there's a verse in the
Psalms which tells us, thine enemies take thy name in vain. I sure don't want to be in that
category, do you? Thine enemies take thy name in
vain. Third, thy kingdom come. Now,
God's kingdom comes where the gospel is preached and believed
and Christ enters into the heart. Christ comes into the heart.
He's our savior. He's our prophet. He's our priest.
He's our king. He comes into the heart to reign.
When we pray thy kingdom come, we are praying for the conversion
of sinners. And the Lord uses his gospel
in saving his people. For some reason last week, I
was thinking about the three instances in the gospels when
the Lord raised someone who had died back to life. You know the
case of Jarius, his daughter, I think about 12 years old, and
then the widow of Naam, her son, young man, and then of course
Lazarus. And I looked at each one of these
places again just to make sure, but things happened like they
were carrying the coffin of that young man out. And here's a procession,
no doubt, as they're entering into the town called Nain. And
the Lord Jesus Christ came to that coffin and he touched it. But you know, that body was still
just as cold and just as lifeless as it had been until the Lord
Jesus Christ spoke the word. Until he spoke the word. And
then he sat up. And the same thing was true about
Jairus' daughter. He took her by the hand, but
she doesn't move. She doesn't respond until he
speaks the word. And of course, we're all familiar
with the case of Lazarus. Lazarus, come forth. And he came out of that grave.
The point I'm making is God uses his word. and saving his people
and calling his people. In John chapter six, the scripture
says, the words that I speak, the Lord Jesus Christ said this,
the words that I speak unto you, they're spirit and they're life. That's the reason you've heard
many times, if you only hear the voice of the preacher, you're
not going to be be helped in any way. But if in hearing the
voice of the preacher, you hear the voice of the Son of God.
He said, my sheep hear my voice and they know me and they follow
me. And we can't explain this, but
we know it's a, it's a. Miracle, and it's a mystery. The wind bloweth where it will,
but as the word of God is proclaimed, God calls out his people. He uses his word. He uses the
gospel. The gospel is still the power
of God unto salvation unto everyone that believe it. Thy will, for thy will be done
in earth as it is in heaven. Think about that. Thy will be
done in earth as it is in heaven. Who is in heaven to do his will? Who is in heaven to do his will? Well, the holy angels are there.
The holy angels are there. They're there to do his will.
And let me tell you someone else who's there, all of the saints
who have the part of this life. They're there. Some of our congregation
that we worshiped with, they're there. Thy will be done in earth as
it is in heaven. How is it done in heaven? By
the holy angels, by The saints who've gone on to be with the
Lord, to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better.
How is His will done by them? Well, it's done constantly. It's
done speedily, instantaneously, I should say. Cheerfully, perfectly,
and completely, and all when we love. his will, his revealed
will to be done on earth like that. Wouldn't we love to do
his will like that? Fifth, give us this day our daily
bread. We've come through this prayer
thus far before we ask anything for ourself. But we do have this
privilege as God's children to ask him for our physical needs,
to meet our physical needs. And not only do we have this
privilege, but we have his promises that he'll meet our needs. Look
ahead in the next chapter, chapter seven, just a moment. Matthew
seven and verse seven. He said, ask and it shall be
given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock
and it shall be opened unto you. And before I go read more there,
I just have to say this one more time. You say, well, the Lord
hasn't saved me. Well, have you asked him? Have
you asked him to save you? Have you? Ask, isn't that what
he said? Ask, and it shall be given you.
Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. For everyone. that asketh, receiveth, and he
that seeketh, findeth, and to him that knocketh, it shall be
opened. What man is there of you whom
his son asked bread? Now, this is what we're asking
here in this prayer. Give us this day our daily bread. What kind of a father, if his
son asked for bread, would give him a stone? That'd be a pretty cruel type
guy, wouldn't it? I don't know if I know anybody
do that. I mean, your son is hungry, and
he comes to you, and, man, you say, well, there's some bread
over there on the table, son. And he goes over there, and he's
barely tall enough to look over there, and what's on the table? Rocks. Rocks. That's a pretty mean guy. You
wouldn't do that. You wouldn't do that, would you?
Wasn't our Lord saying, well, if you being evil, and we are
by nature, if you wouldn't do that, why in the world would
you accuse your Heavenly Father of not giving you bread if you
ask bread and need bread? Day by day, we sang that hymn.
He's taken that charge upon himself, hasn't he? To beat our needs
day by day. What a blessing, what a blessing.
Number six, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. You know, and the parallel passage
is forgive us our sins. Sins may be called debts when
we realize that when we break God's law, And sin is a violation
of the law, the transgression of the law. When you break God's
law, that law requires satisfaction. It's gotta be satisfied. So we
owe a debt. Forgive us our debts, our sins. And we know that the only way
our sins are forgiven us is through Christ paying that debt. I owed a debt I could not pay.
He paid a debt he did not owe. Amen? Praise God. It's through Christ's satisfaction
that God forgives us our sins. I've met a few men over the years,
a few people over the years, they say, well, I don't need
to pray that because, you know, I've got to the place I don't
sin anymore. Well, I'm going to stay with
the Apostle John. I really am. When he said, if
we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth
is not in us. And at the same time, he said,
if we confess our sins, he's faithful, he's just, and he doesn't
forgive any sin. No sin would ever be forgiven
unless it could be forgiven in a just way. In a just way. In other words,
it's not going to tarnish the holiness of God. Because the
sins which are forgiven are satisfied. The debt's paid. And upon that
basis, the debt is forgiven. Number seven, lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil. Isn't that a confession
of our weakness? Isn't it? That we must pray,
that we're taught to pray. Lead us not into temptation,
because I confess I'm so weak, I'm so weak, I'm so unstable,
that without your grace, without your sustaining power, I might
just be led off into into some error, into some sin, into some
evil. God, lead us not into temptation
and deliver us from the evil one. You know, I've been reading a
book called The Suffering Savior by a Lutheran pastor, a Cromacher,
lived in the 1800s. wonderful gospel sovereign grace
man. But in reading this book, he's
had several chapters on the fall of Peter. Think about Peter,
an apostle of the Lord. Though all men will offend you,
Lord, or be offended, Lord, it's you, not me. I'm, oh no, not
me. But he failed, didn't he? He
fell. He denied that he even knew the
Lord. But you know what? He fell, but
he did not fall out of the hand of Christ. He didn't fall out
of the hand of Christ. His sheep are in his hand, and
no man is able to pluck one of his sheep out of his hand. Yeah,
he fell. But he had an advocate, Jesus
Christ, and you do too. We all do. Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one. And I close with this last line,
for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever
and ever. Amen. The pattern here This model
prayer, it ends by ascribing all glory and all majesty unto
God. And this is a confession that
the Lord our God, the Lord our God, the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the God we worship, the God we serve, the
God we love, he's King of kings and Lord of lords. He is worthy
of our worship today and forever. I pray the Lord would bless these
thoughts to each of us here.