Well, I hope that you're all ready for another good heart-to-heart talk.
And haven't these heart-to-heart talks been interesting?
Oh, I've loved every minute of them.
And I do hope that you have gotten as big of thrill, as great a blessing,
and it has been as profitable time to you as it has been for me.
I mean that.
We've been talking about this all-important matter of prayer.
And you will agree with me that Jesus has made prayers so simple,
so easy, so understandable, that even a little child can understand.
That's why, beloved, watch something very carefully.
And you will find a little child so often getting the answer to their prayers.
They just instinctively know how to pray.
Man has made praying so complicated.
Man has gotten so involved with things that are so unnecessary.
Very often, I think that man has made this thing of being a Christian
and has made the things of God so complicated and so hard
because he has tried to build himself up
and bring glory unto himself rather than turning to the simplicity of it all
and go up find God.
Oh, the simplicity of praying.
It's recorded here in the sixth chapter of Matthew.
Jesus, first of all, began by giving us the place of prayer.
Then he taught us the simplicity of praying.
Then he continued by giving us the pattern.
And in the opening sentence, he taught us to pray,
Our Father, who art in heaven.
And again, I repeat something that I have said in the two heart-to-heart talks
prior to this one, that if you really learn to pray the first six words,
you need not go further.
Our Father, which art in heaven.
That glorious son and father relationship, it's marvelous.
There's nothing more thrilling than that.
Your Father is a Father of absolute perfection.
He cannot lie.
He cannot make a mistake.
He has perfect wisdom.
He's perfect knowledge, perfect in his love, perfect in his decisions,
perfect in his feelings with you and with me.
Therefore, you must realize at the very beginning that the one to whom you are praying,
the one into whose presence you come is absolute perfection.
In making your requests known before the Son of God,
you must realize that the Father's will is a perfect will.
You must realize that you must surrender your will to His will.
Because you are a son.
Your position in this relationship is the position of a child, a son,
and always the Father has the right of command, always.
And Jesus gave us the most perfect example of the surrendering of the will to the will of the Father.
When He Himself, the Son of the Living God, looked up and prayed,
nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.
So often, much of our praying is trying to bring the will of God to fit our will.
When you pray at the very beginning, submit, surrender your will to His will.
You want the will of God for your life?
Are you sincere in seeking His will regarding a certain problem?
Do you really conscientiously want God's will in a given matter?
You will only have His will when you surrender your own will to Him,
when you no longer have a will of your own.
Even as Jesus, when He prayed, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.
Now, what's something else?
This glorious relationship between the child and the Father,
when you can really come before His throne and say, My Father,
it puts mercy in the very heart of judgment.
Oh, I tell you, perhaps God permitted me to have such a wonderful, earth-laying Father.
Of course, He wasn't perfect.
Joe Cruman was not absolute perfection, but I was His child.
I thought everything that He did was perfect.
There is only one perfect Father.
That's our Heavenly Father.
But even as an earthly parent, there was a many a time, I'll tell you,
I did things, I'm going to tell you, I did things.
Oh, if I had not been the child of my parent,
that Father would have turned His back on me
and would have claimed no relationship whatsoever.
He could have just turned His back and could have said, That's not my kid.
You can have her, I don't want her.
Oh, my goodness, all life.
Or He could have taken me and He could have,
out of sheer anger, beaten the daylight out of me.
There are things that, had He not been my Father,
He could never have forgiven me, except for the fact that I was His offspring.
I was His child.
And because I was His child and He was my Father,
it put mercy in the very heart of His judgment.
If I were to tell you that I was a perfect human being,
I would be the biggest liar that ever lived.
That's right.
I'm still in the flesh.
This is still corruption.
I'm still an old body of clay.
I love the Lord, I love Him with all of my heart.
But honestly, sometimes I think I do such ridiculous things,
such things that later I'm so sorry for, I make so many mistakes.
That's the reason I say to you, Please, I do my best.
I do the best that I know how.
I wouldn't intentionally grieve my Lord.
I wouldn't intentionally bring reproach on the things that are most precious to my heart.
I wouldn't bring grief to my Heavenly Father for anything in the world.
And yet I am so human that I know that many a time I bring grief to Him.
There are times when I do such awful things just out of sheer ignorance,
stupidity on my part.
And I come before the throne and I shed more tears over these things.
And I have said, Father, I'm so stupid, it seems I'll never learn.
Would you please forgive me?
Never once has He taken the whip and given me dirty lashes.
Never once when I've cried in real repentance, in real confession,
has He ever looked down in anger and has said to me,
You're no longer my child.
I disown you.
You're no longer my heir.
You're no longer the heir of my only begotten son.
I can't trust you.
I shall cease to use you as a chosen vessel.
Never once, beloved, the very second I come in true repentance and in true confession,
sorry, deeply, sincerely sorry,
He was more willing to forgive than any earthly parent that ever lived.
On all this son and child basis, this father and child relationship is the greatest in the world.
Sure, the Father always had the right of command.
But remember, it also puts mercy in the very heart of the Father's judgment.
And when we say Father, it expresses our faith,
our complete confidence in Him, the same confidence that Jesus had.
If you want an example for everything that Jesus taught, you'll find that example in Him.
And here again, Jesus left us a perfect example of a perfect faith in a perfect Father.
And it was the last example that Jesus left us.
Hanging on the cross with the spittle of His enemies on the flesh of His body,
He looked up with perfect confidence in His Father and prayed,
Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.
But He used the word Father to prefix His words.
Father, I am Your Son with perfect faith, complete confidence in Your perfection,
the perfection of Your power, Your wisdom, Your knowledge, Your guidance, Your love.
Into Thy hands I commend my spirit.
Want you to see something?
The Father is never discovered.
God is never discovered.
He is revealed.
Turn, if you will, please, to the 14th chapter of John.
It's Philip asking the Master to do something.
Philip said unto Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
And what was the answer that Jesus gave to Philip?
This is what He said, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.
And how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?
He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.
The Father is revealed through Jesus.
You've had an idea that God is a vindictive God,
and that He takes delight in letting a man go to hell.
But you don't know God.
You don't really know God, if you think that.
The only perfect revelation that God ever made of Himself, He made in Jesus Christ.
And if you look at Him through Jesus, you'll know what kind of a God He really is.
Did you see Him move with compassion for the restless multitude
who were like sheep without a shepherd?
That's God.
Did you see Him weeping in pity over Jerusalem?
That's God.
Did you hear Him speak to blind Bartimaeus?
All the disciples said, Shut up, you beggar.
But Jesus said, Bartimaeus, receive thy sight.
Did you hear Him speak to the poor woman with the scarlet stain of sin on her soul?
The crowd wanted to stone her, but Jesus said,
Go in peace and sin no more.
That's God.
Did you hear Him on the cross praying for the howling mob that mailed Him there?
That, my friend, that's God.
From the beginning to the end, you'll find Him a God of love.
Jesus revealed God as a Father and as a Father,
He's tender in mercy and perfect in love.
Amen.