We're going to have another one of those heart-to-heart talks.
And it's about something that is most important to all of us.
We are in the discussion regarding this part of the sermon,
the greatest sermon ever preached.
And we can have no fear that the one who was preaching the sermon
had his theology wrong,
or that we might be misled in the doctrine.
For the sermon was preached by the very Son of the Living God.
It came directly from the lips of God's Son.
And then we ask you,
who would be a greater authority?
Who would know more about prayer,
and how to pray,
and how to receive an answer to prayer than the Son of God?
So just for a few minutes,
I pray that you'll just empty your thinking
of all the books that you've ever read on prayer.
And believe me when I tell you,
literally thousands and thousands,
volumes have been written on the subject of prayer.
Thousands of sermons have been preached on prayer.
And yet, when Jesus came to the place where He gave us the pattern for prayer,
in exactly the same way that if one was a cook,
and that one gave us a recipe for something,
in exactly the same way Jesus gave us a recipe,
or a pattern for prayer, how to pray.
And sit there just for a few minutes,
just completely empty your mind of all preconceived ideas,
everything you've ever read,
everything you've ever heard.
And just like a little child,
listen to the words, the teaching of Jesus.
I'm going to say something right now.
The Lord has constructed His prayer
with more skill than ever yet a lawyer has displayed in the casting of a deed.
If you want to see a masterpiece,
behold the Master's teaching in this prayer.
So simple a child can understand.
Only a few words spoken.
And really in comparison to the volumes that have been written,
the many books that have been written.
And alongside of that which Jesus spoke in giving us the pattern for prayer,
it's amazing.
And I repeat, the Lord has constructed this prayer with more skill
than any lawyer has displayed in the casting of a deed.
We're coming now to that part of the prayer
that He has taught us to pray in,
forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them the trespass against us.
And this clause is the turning point of the prayer.
It's right in the middle of the prayer.
And right here these words, this clause,
is the turning point of the entire prayer.
Stop for just a few minutes.
We're going to go back for just a second and I want you to notice something.
Jesus has so arranged this marvelous pattern for prayer
and that's exactly what it is. It is not His prayer.
We refer to it as the Lord's prayer. Really it isn't.
It is the prayer that Jesus taught you and taught me to pray.
And Jesus has so arranged this marvelous pattern for prayer
that it covers the entire round of unfoldment of our souls completely.
It omits nothing that is essential for our salvation and to our Christian life.
If all that we had, if we had no other part of the Bible,
if all on earth that we had was just these words,
this prayer that Jesus taught us to pray,
we would have all of the essentials for our salvation and to our Christian life.
And yet this prayer is so compact that there's not a thought
or a word too much.
Every move fits into its place with perfect harmony and in perfect sequence.
Again I repeat, the Lord has so constructed this prayer.
He has constructed it with more skill
than any attorney, any lawyer has ever displayed in the casting of a deed.
Anything more would have been too much.
Anything less would have been incomplete.
The whole thing is there.
I'll prove what I just said.
He begins the prayer and I hope that all of you who are listening to me this very moment
have been following me in our heart-to-heart talk regarding this prayer.
Because what I'm going to say today will mean so much more to you
if you have not missed my previous talks.
He begins the prayer with the most beautiful words.
Those first six words are the most beautiful words
that could leave human lips.
Our Father which art in heaven.
And the very first thing he reminds us of is our relationship.
He tells us right at the outset what God is.
Our Father.
Remember something, not every human being can say my Father.
There is no such thing as the brotherhood of all mankind.
The one thing that all men have in common and that is God as the mighty creator.
That's one thing all of us have in common.
He is every man's creator.
But he does not become that one's father until that one has accepted Jesus Christ
as their Savior in the forgiveness of their sins.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God.
But we do not become the sons of God until we have accepted His Son
in the forgiveness of our sins.
You have no right to continue the rest of this prayer.
The only prayer if you are a sinner, if you've never been born again,
if you know Him only as a mighty creator,
you cannot claim His glorious promises for His children.
The only prayer that God is bound by His word, His promise to answer for you
as an unregenerated person is the prayer of forgiveness.
And it's just like that.
Right at the outset of this prayer, He tells us our relationship to the Father.
He tells us what God is.
And then He continues by telling us what man is.
What's the next step?
He tells us how we are to do our own work.
Thy will be done here and now on earth as it is in heaven.
You are important to God. You are personal to Him.
He makes it very clear.
As an individual, He has a perfect will for you.
In His perfect knowledge, He holds the blueprint to your life in His hand.
Not every man and every woman is living according to God's perfect will.
Thousands have never lived a day of their lives according to God's great blueprint.
Because man is so constructed that man has a will of his own.
You have a will separate and apart from the will of God, even as a son of God,
had a will separate and apart from the will of the Father.
And before Jesus could fulfill the perfect will of God,
He had to yield His will to the will of the Father.
That's the reason He prayed that marvelous prayer.
Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.
Father, I submit, I surrender my will, which is separate and apart from yours,
to you so that your perfect will can be carried out.
God has a plan for you that He has for no other person.
No one else can do your work for you.
And He never willed, He never in a thousand worlds willed
that any creature of His creation should ever live a defeated life.
Never.
Do you think that God ever willed that any man should be a drunkard?
Do you think that God in His tender mercy ever gave life to you
that you might live the despicable, the defeated life that you are living?
The answer is no.
You have chose to live the life that you live.
You have willed to live the life that you are now living,
a life contrary to the will of God.
That's why in this prayer, watch it,
Jesus begins by telling us what God is, then what man is,
then how we are to do our own work.
There is a plan.
God does nothing promiscuously.
Then He explains the way in which we are to receive our true nourishment.
He knows that we are living in an old material world.
That's the reason some people, you know, get so ethereal,
so impractical when they come to living a Christian life.
My friend, the Christian life is a life.
It's living.
It's the most practical thing in the world.
God the Father is not only interested in the spiritual part of your life,
He's even interested in your bread and butter.
He wouldn't be a heavenly Father if He wasn't.
And He goes all the way.
He has promised a daily rake, all the days of our life,
so long as we shall live.
Not only the bread and the butter.
He knows that there would be days when there'd be sorrow,
there'd be temptations, and always know the cross will never be any greater than His grace.
Know that.
He has promised that if you surrender your will to His will,
that He would make it possible that all things would work together for your good and to His glory.
And that with every day, with the beginning of every day,
until the clock strikes the midnight hour, closing that day,
that there would be a daily rake for every day of your life.
He will give you a full allowance that would meet every need of your life for that day.
Now we come to something.
Hold on.
Remember what I told you when I began this little heart-to-heart talk today?
That the Lord has constructed this prayer with more skill
than any lawyer, any attorney, has ever displayed in the casting of a deed.
Oh, say, you talk about an example of psychology.
You talk about skill.
Do you want to see perfect wisdom displayed in a pattern?
It's here.
Up until now, He has said nothing about the forgiveness of sin.
Now one word.
Had He begun this prayer with sin, there'd be those who'd be scared to death.
And that's one thing.
Let me remind you of something.
The forgiveness of sin is the central problem of life.
I repeat it.
The forgiveness of sin is the central problem of every man's life.
That's right.
It is, of course, rooted in selfishness.
All men are selfish.
Oh, some woman says right now, goody, goody, goody, goody, miss, goody.
Now when I use the word men, I mean all human beings.
And women are just as selfish as men.
I had to throw that in for good measure, just in case someone listening in
would throw it up to their husband tonight when he came home.
You do.
You are a part of humanity.
That's the truth.
The forgiveness of sins, listen, it's the major tragedy of human experience.
And He leads us right to this subject of sin.
But prior to it, He tells us of God, our Heavenly Father.
Oh, and that's thrilled.
He tells us that the Father has promised to take care of His children.
Oh, what could be more wonderful?
I was in a department store only a couple of days ago when after I had made my purchase,
the clerk came very close to me and said, Miss Grumman, I'm Roman Catholic.
And she said, would you please autograph something for me?
And I said, of course I will.
And then she came back in just a few minutes.
And she brought out of her purse something that was very precious to her.
She said, you know, I belong to the Order of St. Francis.
And she had her nice little card.
She said, will you just autograph this for me?
And I did.
I knew how much it meant to her.
And then after I had written my name on the card, I looked up and her eyes were brimming with tears.
And she whispered it.
She said, I get so discouraged, Miss Grumman.
How can I overcome my discouragement?
What can I do?
I said, listen, when discouragement comes, just look up and remember to who you belong.
That's all you do.
Just look up and know that he is your heavenly father, your rich.
And in the light of his love and his power, you can never be discouraged.
In my next heart to heart talk, we're going to come face to face with the most important part of this prayer, the forgiveness of sin.