The Lord's Prayer is the most important of all
the Christian documents. And that's really saying
something. But it's just like that. You and I
have been having some very excellent heart -to
-heart talks together on this glorious prayer
that Jesus taught. You and he taught me to pray.
And in teaching us how to pray, he begins with
two words that are vitally important. Our Father.
And this simple statement in itself constitutes
a definite and a complete system. of theology.
Our father. Before we come to our business, before
the throne of God, there must be a solemn address
to him with whom our business lies. There is
a person into whose presence we come. We address
a person person, not a spirit, not something
that is just a figment of our imagination, but
a person with a definite personality. And Jesus
taught us that that person and the one to be
addressed is God himself, our Father. And right
here at the very beginning, we're taught to whom
to pray. Oh, this is so important. Please pause
for just a minute. Get to this all -important
phase of praying to God. At the very start, we
are taught by Jesus himself to whom we are to
pray. It makes all the difference in the world.
To whom you pray. When you pray, you are to pray
to God only. Not to the saints. Not to angels.
Not to Mary, the mother of Jesus. But to one
and one only. God is the only person. to whom
you are to pray. Consider a moment. The saints
do not know your need. The saints do not have
the power to answer your prayer. The angels are
powerful, but the angels do not know your need.
The angels do not have the power to answer your
prayer. Mary does not know your need. Mary does
not have the power to supply your need. Only
one has that power, and that's God Almighty.
Know that. And you dishonor God. You dishonor
literally the eternal God You pray to anyone
else except God Almighty. And so we're taught
how to address ourselves to God and what title
to give Him. It's just like that. We must address
ourselves to Him as our Father. We must call
Him our Father. He is in a very special manner
a father to the saints by adoption and regeneration.
And it's an unspeakable privilege that you and
I have to be able to come into the presence of
an eternal God, an almighty God, and say, Father.
There's no greater privilege that men and women
have. There is no greater privilege that I, as
an individual, have here on earth than to come
into the presence of an all -powerful God, the
one who literally spoke the worlds into existence,
who said, let there be light, and there was light.
You do not have a greater privilege as a human
being than to be able to come into the presence
of God and address Him as Father. A privilege
that's yours through Jesus Christ the Son. After
your regeneration. After that glorious new birth
experience. And you have accepted Jesus as your
personal Savior in the forgiveness of your sins.
The truth is that Jesus, the Son of God, has
made all of this possible. After that marvelous
experience of regeneration, the new birth experience,
after you have accepted for yourself individually
what Jesus did for you on the cross, in accepting
that pardon, in the forgiveness of your sins.
At that very moment, you belong to God by adoption.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God. You and
I do not have to wait until after death to be
His through adoption. We do not have to wait
until death to be able to come before the throne
of God and address Him as Father. Now, this very
moment. Beloved, now are we the sons of God through
adoption to that which Jesus Christ did for us
in the shedding of his blood. If you have, as
an individual, accepted for yourself what Jesus
did for you on the cross, literally by faith,
accepting the pardon, then you are gods to the
means of adoption. An heir of God and a joint
heir with Christ Jesus. Doesn't that do something
to you? Isn't that thrilling? Do you really know
what salvation means? Sometimes I think we speak
of it so lightly, we take it so matter -of -fact.
When it's so great. I stand in awe sometimes
when this experience and all that it involves,
the inheritance of it all, literally overwhelms
me. Our Father. My Father. Even in prayer, Jesus
addressed him as Father. When Jesus prayed, he
didn't address the saints. Consider that. Jesus
did not address the saints. When he prayed, he
always addressed God as Father. And as our Father,
he'll pity us under our weaknesses and our infirmities.
Who has the pity? Who has the love? Who has the
compassion? Like a heavenly Father. Consider
some things that are vitally important. He knows
what's good for us. He's perfect wisdom. He's
perfect knowledge. We can come to him with holy
boldness. We have an advocate with the Father
and the spirit of adoption when we come repenting
of our sins. The saints cannot forgive our sins.
Please know that. Mary cannot forgive our sins.
No one can forgive sins but the perfect one.
No one can give grace but the perfect one. When
we come begging for grace, when we come begging
for peace, and the inheritance and blessings
of sons, oh, it's such an encouragement that
we come to God, not as an unreconciled, avenging
judge. No, my friend, no. When I come into the
presence of my heavenly Father, and I say, Father,
I've sinned, I failed. I'm sorry. I've come short
of the glory of God. I've made this mistake and
I'm sorry. And when I come into his glorious
presence, I do not come to the presence of one
who is an avenging God. But I come to the presence
of one who is a loving, a gracious Father. My
Heavenly Father. And as our Father in heaven,
so in heaven all the saints of God who through
generations have come to him receiving mercy
and grace. Not one having merited the mercy and
the grace that was given them. Oh, that's glorious.
Our Father, who art in heaven. Remember something.
Heaven is a place of perfect purity. And we must
therefore lift up pure hands. We must study to
sanctify his name. who is the Holy One, and he
dwells in that holy place. That's one reason
I believe that Jesus taught us that we are to
say, our Father who art in heaven, we must always
remember that heaven is a holy place, that God
is the Holy God. Sometimes I think that we forget
these things. Sometimes I think we forget. That
heaven is a holy place. No sin can enter there.
There is no sin in heaven. There's no unrighteousness
in heaven. That's the reason when Lucifer, when
he began to ascend into heaven to dethrone God,
Lucifer the angel, with sin in his heart, becoming
jealous of God, began to ascend, he was thrown.
to the earth because no sin can enter heaven.
Heaven is a place of purity. God is a holy God,
greatly to be praised. Thus all of our prayers
should correspond with that which is our great
aim as Christians. And that is to be with God
in heaven. Oh, this is something. Hallowed be
thy name. It's the same word that in other places
is translated sanctified. But here, the word
hallowed is retained only because people. We're
used to it in the Lord's Prayer. In these words,
we give glory to God. Hallowed be thy name. In
so saying, we recognize the fact that we're not
coming into the presence of a mere man. We're
not coming into the presence of one of the saints.
We're not coming merely into the presence of
angels. Hallowed be thy name. There is no name
above the name of our Heavenly Father, God Almighty.
We give glory to God. Remember that. It may be
taken out as a petition, but as an adoration.
As that. As an adoration, the Lord be magnified.
The Lord God be glorified. For God's holiness
is the greatness and the glory of all his perfection.
And so we must begin our prayers with praising
God. We must begin our praise praising the Holy
One. He is the one to be served first. We should
give glory to God before we make any petition
known. Before we expect to receive mercy and
grace and forgiveness from him, we must first
of all magnify him and glorify him. Give him
the praise of his perfections and then let us
have the benefit of his mercy. And his power
and his giving. Oh, if only I could get you to
see something that means so much in my own life.
And it'll mean everything in the world to you
if you learn his glorious secret. That is the
reason why it's very often in a great service.
You've heard me say it over and over. Perhaps
standing before thousands of people on the stage.
Posing right now. at the very beginning of the
service and say, now, we're going to pause for
just one full minute. Not asking him for a single
thing, but just stand quietly and worship him.
Don't say a word. Be absolutely quiet. We have
forgotten that there's such power in quiet. It's
so noisy out there. Oh, there's so much confusion
out there. That's the reason there's so much
frustration. That's the reason most people are
suffering from a nervous condition, a nervous
disorder. They've never learned that wonderful
secret of blessed quietness. Blessed stillness.
Blessed worship. Worshiping a holy God as we
come into the presence of the one altogether
holy. Be still, be quiet. There's such strength
in quietness. Oh, there's such strength in just
being still in his presence. There's such encouragement.
There's such glory in just being still in His
presence. In silence there can be worship. Sometimes
I think we've lost the art of worship entirely.
We've forgotten how to worship God. It'd be so
wonderful in all of our services if we would
just take so much time to just worship you. That's
the reason I did the chorus. Alleluia. Only one
word is spoken. And that one word is universal
in all languages. That's one reason that that
little chorus is literally sweeping the world.
We began singing it in our services in the Shrine
Auditorium, and it wasn't long until the whole
world was singing it. If I could get the whole
world to adore him, to worship him. Just the
one word, Alleluia. In the book of the Revelation,
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, heard
the saints, the voices of the saints, worshipping
and adoring him. Alleluia. Our Father, who art
in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Hallowed be
thy name. We adore you. A God to be magnified.
A heavenly Father to be glorified.