1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,160 Good morning church. It is such a privilege to be able to gather with you this morning 2 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:13,200 and to worship our Lord and to be able to serve you now in the preaching of his word. 3 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:17,400 And it has been a little while since I've last been with you, so if I haven't met you 4 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:23,920 before, yes, my name is Justin. I'm from Gosnell's Baptist Church, just 10 minutes up Albany 5 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:29,000 Highway. I'm a student pastor there and also about to enter my final semester at Trinity 6 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:35,120 Theological College. And you know, us down at GBC, we're so encouraged to partner with 7 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:42,240 you guys in the gospel, even as Baptists and Presbyterians, being able to come together. 8 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:48,680 Because we know that the most important thing is the biblically faithful preaching of our 9 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:55,040 Lord Jesus Christ, who has risen from the dead for the forgiveness of our sins. And 10 00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:58,560 so it is really just so exciting to think what it is that we might actually be able 11 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:04,200 to do together over the next 30 years or more, God willing. At least that's how long I plan 12 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:07,800 to be around for. 13 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:12,240 Funnily enough, at Gosnell's we've just finished a series in Matthew's gospel earlier on this 14 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:16,880 year and we're now about halfway through a series in Ephesians, which I think is kind 15 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:21,760 of the exact opposite to where you guys have been now. So that's pretty cool. And while 16 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:27,280 I didn't have the opportunity to preach on this passage at Gosnell's during our series, 17 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:32,840 yeah, it has been such a blessing to be able to prepare this for you this week. God has 18 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:38,640 been particularly kind as we too have had the flu in our household and I actually had 19 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:44,560 pharyngitis this week, which is not so good for a preacher to not be able to talk much 20 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:51,160 and to have much pain in your throat. And so the Lord really has been kind to strengthen 21 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:56,800 me and to have me here this morning, especially in Michael's absence as well, being able to 22 00:01:56,800 --> 00:01:59,680 give him a break. 23 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:07,120 The Lord's Prayer, perhaps one of the most well-known passages of scripture in the Bible, 24 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:12,160 one which will be so familiar to many of us here this morning. But as with every single 25 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:17,760 part of scripture, we must come to it with unstopped ears and with opened eyes and soft 26 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:24,400 hearts, ready to hear again from God so that we might see Jesus more clearly and that we 27 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:28,240 might live for him more faithfully. So please, would you join me now in prayer as we ask 28 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:33,280 our Father to do that very thing for us this morning. 29 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:42,040 Our Father in heaven, how great and holy and majestic and wonderful you are. How precious 30 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:48,240 is the gift of salvation which you have won for us through your Son Jesus. Would you please 31 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:53,000 speak to us through the preaching of your word this morning? Would you please open our 32 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:58,880 eyes and our ears? Would you please soften our hearts so that we might know the loveliness 33 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:04,760 of our Lord Jesus and that we might love him all the more and that we might live for him 34 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:11,160 all the more faithfully. We need your Spirit to do this work amongst us, Father. So please 35 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:19,720 send him to do your work amongst us this morning, we pray, in Jesus' name, Amen. 36 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:24,920 Well just a few weeks ago, in light of one of Paul's great pastoral prayers in the book 37 00:03:24,920 --> 00:03:33,440 of Ephesians, one of our pastors greatly challenged our church about the severe lack of numbers 38 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:39,480 at our quarterly corporate prayer meetings. In a church of almost 300 people, we would 39 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:45,760 have no more than 20 on any given gathering. And it's always the same people, isn't it? 40 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:52,520 It's always the same faithful few. Now there are good and legitimate reasons to not make 41 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:59,080 a prayer meeting. But there is one reason which a humble, faithful, elderly Christian 42 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:06,120 lady, which confessed this after the service, which was somewhat striking. She said, the 43 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:13,600 truth is, I just don't really know how to pray. And perhaps this statement is something 44 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:19,360 that you can relate to this morning. Maybe you have been following Jesus for a couple 45 00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:27,080 of years or a couple of decades, but the task of consistent, genuine, faithful prayer seems 46 00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:33,840 somewhat daunting and out of reach. Never mind praying in public, right? That might 47 00:04:33,840 --> 00:04:40,040 seem impossible. But many of us, when we come to our Father in prayer, can often find it 48 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:46,840 so difficult to pull much more than a few sentences together. And so we dare not attend 49 00:04:46,840 --> 00:04:54,560 a prayer meeting out of fear of not knowing how to pray. Alternatively, maybe you can 50 00:04:54,560 --> 00:05:00,800 pull off a really great prayer in front of people, but a log book of your private prayer 51 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:08,200 times wouldn't have more than a few entries in it. Maybe you know how to pray. And although 52 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:15,240 you really do want to be praying more earnestly, more faithfully, more regularly, for one reason 53 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:21,800 or another that may not even be known to you, your prayer life is missing something that 54 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:30,280 will give you a deep-seated conviction that produces this healthy habit. Or maybe I'm 55 00:05:30,280 --> 00:05:37,240 not describing you, but I think that if we're all truly honest with ourselves, we wish that 56 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:46,080 we could be more faithful in prayer. Prayerlessness surely is a great problem which plagues all 57 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:53,080 of the Christian church. The Sermon on the Mount comes to us from Jesus, the greater 58 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:59,400 than Moses, Son of God, who is speaking the words of God to the new people of God. And 59 00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:05,600 these words are to be as defining for us as the words from Mount Sinai were for the people 60 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:11,960 of Israel. In these chapters, Jesus answers for us the question, what does it look like 61 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:18,600 to be one of God's people? And among many other things, what we have seen in our passage 62 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:24,320 this morning is that it is to be one who is in the habit of coming to the heavenly Father 63 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:30,000 in prayer. And in light of Jesus' words to us, I think that the sense of inadequacy that 64 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:36,960 comes when we are challenged to grow in our prayer life is good and right. Holiness must 65 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:44,080 mark the people of God. As Jesus just said a few verses earlier, you therefore must be 66 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:53,460 perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect. We must be a people who practice our righteousness. 67 00:06:53,460 --> 00:06:58,300 And as we know from these verses in chapter six, the way which we give, the way which 68 00:06:58,300 --> 00:07:06,440 we pray, the way which we fast is actually really, really important. So I want to help 69 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:11,680 us to see two things this morning, which I think Jesus is saying to us. Firstly, it'll 70 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:19,560 be how we should pray, and then we'll see why we should pray, the how and why of prayer. 71 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:25,280 So the how of prayer. Jesus, he's very, very practical in these verses, isn't he? He pulls 72 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:31,920 no punches as he warns against practicing our righteousness to be seen by others. And 73 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:38,040 first, Jesus, he actually tells us how we shouldn't pray. He says in verse five that 74 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:44,620 we are to not be like the hypocrites. These hypocrites, and perhaps he maybe had the Pharisees 75 00:07:44,620 --> 00:07:48,800 of the day in mind, but it could have been anyone who prayed like this. They were indeed 76 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:57,200 praying to be seen by others, weren't they? I mean, why else would you love to pray standing 77 00:07:57,200 --> 00:08:02,760 in the synagogues and in the street corners? There's this certain arrogance to this kind 78 00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:08,440 of person, isn't there? That instead of loving to just be able to have the ear of your heavenly 79 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:15,080 Father, they instead love all the more the admiration, the status, the veneration, the 80 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:23,600 approval of those who are watching on. And these words of Jesus, they can really cut 81 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:30,040 us to the heart, can't they? In a simple verse with this simple illustration, the thoughts 82 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:37,880 and intentions of our own hearts are laid bare. When I read these words, it always makes 83 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:48,080 me think, is this why I find it easier to pray in front of people than in private? Because 84 00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:58,520 it's true, I do. But Jesus says that we must not pray like these hypocrites. We must not 85 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:04,520 pray to be seen by others. And he gives us good reason for it, because hypocrites who 86 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:11,080 love to pray to be seen by others will get what they're asking for. Not what they're 87 00:09:11,080 --> 00:09:17,840 asking for in their prayers, but what they're asking for in their corrupt act of prayer. 88 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:24,680 Jesus says that they have received their reward in full. If you pray to be seen by others, 89 00:09:24,680 --> 00:09:31,400 then the approval that you may or may not get is as good as it gets for you. But there 90 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:39,360 is actually something far, far greater that we can hold out for if we pray in the right 91 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:48,720 way. If we pray to be seen and to be heard by our heavenly Father and nobody else, there 92 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:57,080 is a vast and rich treasure waiting for us. A treasure that cannot be compared with even 93 00:09:57,080 --> 00:10:03,640 the greatest admiration and fame that this world could possibly bring. A reward that 94 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:09,680 comes not from the lips of men, but a reward which comes from the creator and sustainer 95 00:10:09,680 --> 00:10:18,040 of all things. Jesus, he does not tell us exactly what this reward is, but make no mistake, 96 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:27,800 on that day that we receive it in full, will be a great day indeed. You might have heard 97 00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:32,440 about the social experiments going around where parents sit their toddlers down, they 98 00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:37,720 place a cookie in front of them and say, alright, if you don't eat this cookie until I come 99 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:43,200 back in a few minutes, then I'll give you two cookies. And it's really a fascinating 100 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:53,040 thing to see these kids' different reactions in this moment. And Jesus says to us, you 101 00:10:53,040 --> 00:11:01,080 could be like the hypocrites and receive this reward now, but if you pray how I tell you 102 00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:11,480 you should pray, there is something far, far greater to come. So instead of being like 103 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:19,160 the hypocrites who love to pray to be seen, we ought to instead make it a habit to go 104 00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:28,600 to our rooms, to close the door, to love to pray where we cannot be seen. It's about as 105 00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:34,760 private as it can get, doesn't it? The picture that Jesus paints for us. And this habit of 106 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:41,480 private prayer is a mark of the new people of God who practice their righteousness not 107 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:49,140 to be seen by anybody else except for their heavenly father. Did you catch that little 108 00:11:49,140 --> 00:11:57,520 phrase in verse six where Jesus says that we pray to our father who is unseen? More 109 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:04,240 literally this phrase is your father who is in secret. And this clever little turn of 110 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:10,240 phrase shows us that when we pray how Jesus wants us to pray, that is when we pray in 111 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:18,640 secret, we have a far greater audience than any number or any quality of person watching 112 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:29,120 on. We have the audience of the almighty God church. Almighty God who holds all things 113 00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:36,200 in his hands, who is sovereign and is powerful over all creation, who is loving and kind 114 00:12:36,200 --> 00:12:48,240 and generous and strong and gentle. Almighty God whom we can come to as our heavenly father. 115 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:57,080 There's so little to be gained by loving to pray to be seen by others, friends. So, so 116 00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:05,520 little in comparison to being in the presence of our Lord and King. Like any one of my children 117 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:14,040 can come to me at any time and can be heard by me. So we can come to our heavenly father. 118 00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:22,960 And just as readily, even far more so, will he give us his ear. So we don't pray like 119 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:30,760 the hypocrites. Instead we make our practice, our regular habit to pray in secret to our 120 00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:38,240 heavenly father who is also in secret. That we might be seen by him and receive our great 121 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:49,960 reward from him. Now Jesus, he also tells us how to pray by telling us not to pray like 122 00:13:49,960 --> 00:13:56,440 the pagans do. We see this in verses 7 and 8 and I wonder if maybe Jesus is stopping 123 00:13:56,440 --> 00:14:03,520 us from over correcting here. So we know that we pray to be heard by God and not by others, 124 00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:09,520 right? We aren't to be like the hypocrites. But now what if we were to start instead running 125 00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:16,880 off and praying like irrational people to somehow get the attention of our God. Now 126 00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:23,880 the warning comes to us in verse 7 where it says, and when you pray, do not keep on babbling 127 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:32,600 like pagans for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do we 128 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:40,000 need to pray on and on and ramble on with the great many words to be heard by God? Jesus 129 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:46,960 clearly says no. Another helpful translation of this word babbling is to heap up empty 130 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:53,120 phrases. This apparently is what the pagans would be known for as they prayed to their 131 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:58,000 gods. They didn't seem to have much confidence that they would be heard in the simplicity 132 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:04,560 of their words. So they felt they needed to babble on to heap up these empty phrases so 133 00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:11,160 that they could be heard by their gods and their gods would be persuaded to meet their 134 00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:20,080 needs. But not so for us church. Jesus says that we are not to pray like this. We are 135 00:15:20,080 --> 00:15:28,000 instead to be clear and coherent and simple and dare I even say it, we can pray short 136 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:41,120 prayers. Why? Because our Father already knows what we need. He already knows what we need. 137 00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:49,240 An emphasis on that word need. When we come to our Father in prayer with our needs, we 138 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:56,320 can do so in confidence knowing that he hears us for we are his children and knowing that 139 00:15:56,320 --> 00:16:03,080 he is not unaware of the need that we are bringing to him. If he sees what is in secret 140 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:10,320 then he sees everything and he is well aware of any need or any situation that we can bring 141 00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:18,000 before him. And so we can come to him in simplicity and coherence even in brevity because our 142 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:28,480 God sees and he knows and more than that he cares. He cares so deeply for you friend and 143 00:16:28,480 --> 00:16:35,200 so you can come to him with what you need. Now you may not always get the answer that 144 00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:43,760 you are looking for but remember that you do always get an answer from God. Sometimes 145 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:51,840 it is yes, sometimes it is no but in my experience and I imagine many of us here this morning 146 00:16:51,840 --> 00:17:01,840 so much of the time the answer is wait. God often answers our prayers by saying to us 147 00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:09,480 wait and the really hard thing about this is so often it feels like he isn't responding 148 00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:22,800 to us. Wait so often feels like silence and silence feels like God doesn't know and he 149 00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:34,280 doesn't care. But let me encourage us church that wait means so much more than that. Nearly 150 00:17:34,280 --> 00:17:42,720 12 years ago my wife's sister Zoe she passed away at the age of 22 with cystic fibrosis. 151 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:48,480 It's a truly awful disease where your lungs basically suffocate themselves as they produce 152 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:55,240 this thick sticky mucus from the inside of themselves and over the course of Zoe's life 153 00:17:55,240 --> 00:18:01,680 I would have imagined that thousands of people would have prayed for her to be healed. And 154 00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:07,040 in the days leading up to her death hundreds of them would have been praying for her healing 155 00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:15,360 too and that her days with us would be extended. But when she wasn't it left many of us wondering 156 00:18:15,360 --> 00:18:22,720 why God hadn't answered our prayers. But one of Zoe's closest friends he said something 157 00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:31,040 to me which I will never forget. He said God did answer our prayers but just not in the 158 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:40,640 way that we expected him to. Don't you think Zoe is healed and whole in his presence right 159 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:51,560 now? No amount of babbling or heaping up of empty phrases would have given Zoe another 160 00:18:51,560 --> 00:19:01,000 second of life. Even prayers with the purest of intentions and desires for good things 161 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:09,360 might not be what God considers best in his infinite wisdom. He might not deem it to be 162 00:19:09,360 --> 00:19:19,920 what we actually need. And so we can take confidence that he hears us and that he already 163 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:30,600 knows what we need and that must shape the way that we pray. So Jesus he has told us 164 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:37,920 how not to pray, that we shouldn't pray like the hypocrites and like the pagans. But now 165 00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:46,520 as we come to verse 9 he tells us how we should pray. Let me read it again for us. Our Father 166 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:54,120 in heaven hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in 167 00:19:54,120 --> 00:20:01,720 heaven. Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven 168 00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:13,640 our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. Now we could 169 00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:20,560 spend a sermon on its own unpacking this prayer but let me take us through it just briefly. 170 00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:25,160 Obviously I think we would do well to note that Jesus does not say that this is what 171 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:32,680 we should pray but rather this is how we should pray. Meaning we do not only say these exact 172 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:38,280 words every time that we pray. Maybe sometimes we do say these exact words and that's been 173 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:44,600 a very helpful thing for many Christians throughout church history. But it is not a prayer just 174 00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:51,160 to churn out to tick a box. Rather Jesus I think intended this to be something that we 175 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:58,440 can model our prayers off. For when we see these individual petitions we too can follow 176 00:20:58,440 --> 00:21:06,040 them and we can tailor the specifics of our situation and our needs to this model. It's 177 00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:09,880 so practical and hugely helpful from Jesus if you're feeling like you don't know how 178 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:17,680 to pray. This is so helpful for us. Another interesting note is that Jesus teaches us 179 00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:24,280 to pray to our Father in heaven. This is something Eric picked up on earlier. After telling us 180 00:21:24,280 --> 00:21:32,800 to pray in our rooms with the doors closed Jesus is now teaching us how to pray corporately. 181 00:21:32,800 --> 00:21:37,520 No doubt he's also teaching us how to pray privately here but whatever warnings there 182 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:44,280 were about praying to be seen by people do not undo the vital importance of us praying 183 00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:52,960 together. So with that being said let us briefly unpack these six petitions in the Lord's prayer 184 00:21:52,960 --> 00:22:03,560 and let us learn from Jesus himself how we must pray. First hallowed be your name. Hallowed 185 00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:09,120 it can be quite an old timey word can't it? We might use the word hallowed maybe of the 186 00:22:09,120 --> 00:22:16,280 MCG turf and not much else these days I think. But the word just means to sanctify or to 187 00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:24,000 set apart as special or to be holy. And this petition is asking that God that he would 188 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:31,640 make his name that is his entire being who he is more holy and more special than anything 189 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:40,800 else. And of course because he already is we pray this prayer because what we need more 190 00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:50,360 than anything else in our prayers is a grand and glorious vision of who our God is. As 191 00:22:50,360 --> 00:22:58,320 we heap praise on our God as we seek his glory and his fame and his honour it frames anything 192 00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:07,720 else that we could pray in light of who he is. And that is a good place to start. If 193 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:13,400 you're struggling to pray if you just spend the first few minutes praising God for all 194 00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:19,800 his goodness and pleading with him that he would make himself more glorious to you and 195 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:25,840 to the world around you I have no doubt that it will quickly warm your heart to keep on 196 00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:34,440 praying. The second petition your kingdom come and the third your will be done are very 197 00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:41,440 similar to the first. While we pray that God would be known and would be more holy and 198 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:47,880 more glorious than anything else we also pray that his kingdom would come that is his rule 199 00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:55,160 and his reign would be extended and established over everything else especially including 200 00:23:55,160 --> 00:24:03,640 our own lives. It is his will that we are to seek to be done because he knows what's 201 00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:12,200 best because his plan is perfect because his ways are good. We want things to be done on 202 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:18,720 earth as it is in heaven. In heaven right now his rule is total and complete nothing 203 00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:26,560 in rebellion apart from it. But here on earth while we are waiting for his rule to be established 204 00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:35,000 fully and finally we'd long and to pray for that day to come that he would continue to 205 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:40,780 extend his rule and reign in the hearts and lives of his people and within his church 206 00:24:40,780 --> 00:24:49,440 and within this world. Now these first three petitions they are entirely God centered aren't 207 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:55,320 they? They make God the most important reality and anything else that we could possibly pray 208 00:24:55,320 --> 00:25:05,360 for ought to only be in light of seeking God's glory his rule and his will. These petitions 209 00:25:05,360 --> 00:25:11,400 they surely ought to rightly order our own hearts shouldn't they? Before we bring him 210 00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:18,680 our own needs, before we confess our own sins, before we ask for strength and guidance from 211 00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:28,360 him. I mean can you really pray for the latest land cruiser or for a bigger house in light 212 00:25:28,360 --> 00:25:34,360 of these petitions? I mean I suppose you could but I just don't see how you would even want 213 00:25:34,360 --> 00:25:42,000 to. And it most certainly seems to shape the things that we are to ask for. The fourth 214 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:47,240 petition give us today our daily bread it more literally says give us today our bread 215 00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:54,080 which is necessary for existence. Which is a far cry from asking for the latest land 216 00:25:54,080 --> 00:26:00,560 cruiser model. But of course because this is a model of prayer not exactly what we need 217 00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:06,240 to ask. We aren't just praying for the food that we need to eat for the day but we pray 218 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:14,120 for every need that we have both physical and spiritual. We pray that God would sustain 219 00:26:14,120 --> 00:26:22,840 us in every way by providing what we need. Today it could be patience towards your kids 220 00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:28,280 or it could be strength to keep loving that difficult family member or good sleep because 221 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:33,600 your work has been really demanding lately. Or for God to provide your financial means 222 00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:41,960 so that you can pay that bill. Our needs in any given day could be endless. And Jesus 223 00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:48,480 he is commanding us to bring our daily needs before our Father and ask that he would grant 224 00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:58,200 them to us. The fifth petition forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors. 225 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:03,340 Has some great complexity to it which I'll come back to in just a few moments. But as 226 00:27:03,340 --> 00:27:13,440 we pray we must confess our sins before God. And we must also bring our grievances to him 227 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:20,080 of those who have sinned against us. Did you know that prayer it is actually one of the 228 00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:27,080 most important means that you have of coming to a place where you can actually forgive 229 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:35,600 someone who has deeply hurt you. We can and we ought to come to a heavenly Father with 230 00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:41,920 these burdens of hurt and we bring them to him and we ask him that he would help us to 231 00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:52,840 forgive them. These are the prayers that our Father loves to answer friends. And I'll come 232 00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:57,840 back to this petition again in light of verses 14 and 15. So we'll just move on to the sixth 233 00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:03,360 and final petition for now and that is lead us not into temptation but deliver us from 234 00:28:03,360 --> 00:28:09,280 the evil one. Now we can know that Jesus does not mean for us to pray that we would never 235 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:16,200 be tested right. In James 1 we are told to rejoice when we are tested because these trials 236 00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:23,160 actually refine our faith. Trials and temptations they are God's given means of making us more 237 00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:30,320 like Christ. But we can rightly understand this petition to mean that we pray that the 238 00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:39,040 Lord would not allow us to fall away completely because of a particular temptation or test. 239 00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:46,480 Prayer is this greatly important means of us holding fast to God in faithfulness and 240 00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:54,520 also God holding onto us and never letting us fall. More and more I'm finding in my own 241 00:28:54,520 --> 00:29:02,400 prayers that it includes something to this effect saying, Lord help me to love you more 242 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:12,680 and my sin less. Church if you took this prayer as a model, if you went into your room and 243 00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:18,840 you closed your door and you spent just two or three minutes praying and expanding on 244 00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:24,160 each one of these six petitions, I can imagine that would just be such a wonderful time of 245 00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:31,560 prayer with your heavenly Father. You could know that you are praying prayers that the 246 00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:39,520 Lord loves to answer. You could know that he has truly heard you not because you twisted 247 00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:46,440 his arm with your many words but because you are faithful in obedience to praying as your 248 00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:54,280 Lord commanded you to. You could know that your Father who is in secret has heard what 249 00:29:54,280 --> 00:30:01,880 you have said in secret and that he has a far greater reward awaiting you than anyone 250 00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:15,280 else could ever give. This is how our Lord taught us to pray. Practical, simple but profoundly 251 00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:27,960 deep and brilliant. And then comes these curly couple of verses at the end. Verses 14 and 252 00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:34,680 15. Jesus says, for if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father 253 00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:44,320 will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive 254 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:54,560 your sins. Jesus, what happened to justification by faith alone? What about if you believe 255 00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:59,800 in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord you will be saved? 256 00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:05,480 What about whoever believes in the Son will not perish but have eternal life? Are you 257 00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:14,000 now saying that we must believe in you and forgive others to be saved? As he concludes 258 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:21,120 this section on praying, Jesus seems to expand this fifth petition and forgive us our debts 259 00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:27,360 as we have also forgiven our debtors. But Jesus, couldn't you have just left it at 260 00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:37,160 verse 13? What is going on here? Well lest we begin to believe that a quality prayer 261 00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:45,640 life is what will make us right with God, Jesus actually ups the ante here. Which is 262 00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:53,480 quite typical of him in this Sermon on the Mount. And he shows that something far more 263 00:31:53,480 --> 00:32:03,440 than just being good at prayer is needed to be one of God's people. Something more than 264 00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:09,200 just being good at prayer. What is needed is actually a completely renewed and transformed 265 00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:18,480 heart. So renewed and so transformed that we would be perfect like our Heavenly Father 266 00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:28,080 is perfect. Even in the ability to forgive people of their sins. Now please don't mishear 267 00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:34,680 me. I don't want to take any force away from Jesus words here. I don't want to sidestep 268 00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:41,400 these verses and just make this dogleg back to justification by faith. But I really do 269 00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:47,440 believe that this is what Jesus is showing us here. By using this fifth petition and 270 00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:54,720 connecting these verses to prayer, Jesus is showing us that why we pray is not so that 271 00:32:54,720 --> 00:33:03,040 we will achieve our salvation or merit our redemption or make us right before God. But 272 00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:09,600 that it is only a heart that it has been truly renewed by the grace of God so that prayer 273 00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:16,680 is an overflow. So that the forgiveness of others who sin against us is an overflow 274 00:33:16,680 --> 00:33:26,520 of what God has done inside of us. And so Jesus can say, if you don't forgive others 275 00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:36,400 their sins, then it is evidence that you have not experienced the grace of God in your own 276 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:46,080 life. And therefore he has not and will not forgive your sins. It's such strong words 277 00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:55,360 from Jesus, isn't it? But oh how we have sinned far greater against God than what anyone else 278 00:33:55,360 --> 00:34:04,840 has ever sinned against us. Without the renewing grace of God, our hearts are dead in sin. 279 00:34:04,840 --> 00:34:13,280 We are haters of God and lovers of evil, rejecting the very one who has created us and sustains 280 00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:20,440 us and gives us life and breath and every good thing. While God deserves all the praise 281 00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:30,240 and all the glory, we rob it from him by giving it to created things. But when we've been 282 00:34:30,240 --> 00:34:36,680 forgiven of that, when we have been given new hearts, ones that are filled with the 283 00:34:36,680 --> 00:34:45,080 Holy Spirit, we can love God truly and we can long to live more faithfully in the ways 284 00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:58,760 which he has created us for. And that means forgiving others just as we have been forgiven. 285 00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:05,080 John Stott, he really helpfully puts it in this way. Once our eyes have been opened to 286 00:35:05,080 --> 00:35:12,920 see the enormity of our offence against God, the injuries which others have done to us 287 00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:21,440 appear by comparison extremely trifling. If on the other hand, we have an exaggerated 288 00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:33,280 view of the offences of others, it proves that we have minimised our own. Therefore 289 00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:42,000 may I be so bold as to put it before you that your prayers are ineffective if you are harbouring 290 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:52,920 bitterness and unforgiveness. Why? Because you have not seen your great need for forgiveness 291 00:35:52,920 --> 00:36:00,280 from God. And because you are not truly practising your righteousness, which needs to be received 292 00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:13,160 from Christ alone and cannot be found even in the best of giving or praying or fasting. 293 00:36:13,160 --> 00:36:21,960 This is why we come to pray to our heavenly Father. Not as a way to earn our righteousness, 294 00:36:21,960 --> 00:36:26,880 but to practise the righteousness which has been won for us on the cross of our Lord Jesus 295 00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:35,000 Christ and has been freely given to His people who come to believe in Him. This is the great 296 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:40,720 reward from our heavenly Father, isn't it? That we would be granted life with the Son, 297 00:36:40,720 --> 00:36:45,920 that we would sit with Him at His right hand and that we would be in His presence and rule 298 00:36:45,920 --> 00:36:55,520 and reign with Him for all of eternity. All because of what Christ has won for us on the 299 00:36:55,520 --> 00:37:02,840 cross. Full forgiveness, full pardon, full assurance that we have been made children 300 00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:12,320 of God. And so we come to pray to our heavenly Father because Jesus has won full access for 301 00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:24,520 us. So church, may we be a people who are humble and earnest and dependent children 302 00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:31,840 of God, who are resolved on practising our righteousness, which has been freely given 303 00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:39,960 to us. Coming to our heavenly Father in prayer, not to earn our righteousness, nor to receive 304 00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:48,760 the praise of men, but in light of all that our Saviour has done for us. Let's come to 305 00:37:48,760 --> 00:38:05,320 Him now in prayer. Gracious Father, thank you for how beautiful and how wonderful and 306 00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:14,120 how glorious the things that you have done for us. Thank you that in the fullness of 307 00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:21,800 your mercy and your love and your compassion for your people, you have rescued us through 308 00:38:21,800 --> 00:38:30,320 the work of your Son. And thank you that He has won full access to you for us. Thank you 309 00:38:30,320 --> 00:38:35,600 that we can come freely to you and that you have not only opened up that way, but here 310 00:38:35,600 --> 00:38:41,400 in this passage, you've taught us so clearly how to come to you in prayer. That we can 311 00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:46,640 pray things that please you Lord, that you want to hear, that you want to answer for 312 00:38:46,640 --> 00:38:54,360 us. So we pray Lord, would you give us confidence to pray to you in light of all that you've 313 00:38:54,360 --> 00:39:02,580 done for us? Would you help us to grasp these words, to put them into practice, to live 314 00:39:02,580 --> 00:39:10,400 as people that belong to you? And as we do so Lord, would you give us joy as we have 315 00:39:10,400 --> 00:39:18,280 intimacy and fellowship with you in prayer? Father, would you help us to see all that 316 00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:25,400 it is that you have forgiven us? And so that Lord, we would forgive others and that that 317 00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:32,520 would be a clear marker that we do belong to you. That we are your people, that you 318 00:39:32,520 --> 00:39:42,400 have renewed our hearts and that you have given us full salvation. Strengthen us Lord, 319 00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:50,040 to love you, to walk more faithfully in our prayer lives, for your glory Lord and for 320 00:39:50,040 --> 00:40:07,080 our good. In Jesus name, Amen.