Instructs on prayer by examining Jesus' model prayer in Matthew 6, emphasizing that prayer is not about impressing others but about sincere communication with God. It highlights that God already knows our needs, yet we are called to pray to honor Him and because He has commanded it. The message uses examples like King Hezekiah and Nehemiah to illustrate how spreading needs before God, even when He already knows, leads to His intervention and deliverance. True prayer involves recognizing God as Father, acknowledging His heavenly nature, and prioritizing His name and will above our own needs, leading to a deeper, more meaningful relationship with Him.
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If you want to turn this morning in our Bibles to the Gospel by Matthew chapter of six, we begin our reading in verse five. We're dealing with a subject of the instructions that our Lord gives concerning prayer. They're very important and very necessary. Matthew chapter six, verse five, where we read and when thou prayest, Thou shalt not be as a hypocrite are, for they love to pray, stand in the synagogue, and in the corners of the street, that they may be seen a man. Verily I say unto you, that they have their reward.
But when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy father, which is in secret, and thy father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. but when ye pray use not vain repetitions as the heathen do for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking be not ye therefore like unto them for your father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him after this manner therefore pray ye and you'll notice that word therefore this means our Lord's statement now is a conclusion as to His instruction that he gave concerning prayer.
As he gives to us the manner in which we should pray. He says, Therefore, after this manner pray ye. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts. as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Now may the Lord bless the reading of his word. Let us pray together. Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we bow before you. We acknowledge that thou art in heaven and that thy name is a revelation of thy person and a revelation of thy mind and will to man. Help us today to honor thee as we consider this section of the Lord's prayer. We thank you that he taught us to pray.
We thank you for this pattern for prayer. And we pray that we may be a praying people. For men ought always to pray and not to think. We should know what it is to ask and receive from thy hand. We ask on behalf of each other. And we expect thee to graciously work. we ask you that we may have the balance in our lives that is necessary in order that we ask a right and have thy glory continuously as the one motivating factor of our lives therefore to this end we give thee our grateful thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ help us to appropriate truth today for his name.
Amen. There's a great consistency in the teaching of the Word of God. We find this consistency in the principles that govern not only the doctrine of prayer, they govern the doctrine of the proclamation of the gospel, they govern the lives of God's people. Last week we noted at the close concerning prayer, especially from verse eight, He says that your Father knoweth what things ye need ye have need of before you ask him. And you see the person who examines the Word of God, here's where we find consistency. God knows who's going to be saved.
He knows every one of his people that he's going to save. He knows them from all eternity. For the Word of God declares that no another God are always works from the beginning. But he has commanded us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to whom? To how many? To everybody. Is everybody going to be saved? No. Everybody is not going to be saved. There are those who will not believe the gospel. There are those who will not obey the gospel. There are those who say, well, if God knows who's going to be saved, why should we bother to preach the gospel?
Why? It shows what the heart of man is really like. We should preach the gospel to everybody because God commanded him. And it's our privilege, as we read in Second Corinthians chapter two, to laugh abroad the sweet fragrance of the gospel of Christ. This is our blessed portion. Now, when it comes to prayer, does the Father know what we have need of? He certainly does. He knows what we need before we ask. Well, why should we ask if He already knows what I need? We ask because we honor God by our asking.
We ask simply because He has bidden us to ask. I'm so glad that I serve a God who knows every detail about me. There's a thing in my life that will ever come back, that will embarrass God. After I've been in glory ten thousand years, there isn't a skeleton going to come tumbling out of the closet that will ever embarrass him or will ever embarrass me because when God saved me, He knew all about me. He knew my past. And that spelled one word, failure.
He knew my present at that moment. And that spelled one word, death. I was dead in trespasses and sin. And he knew my future. He knew every time I'd be ashamed to really say what needed to be said. He knew every time I'd be embarrassed because I was a Christian. And I'm afraid to really stand up for that which is right. He knew all about me. And there's a verse in Romans eleven, it's verse twenty nine that I love dearly. It says the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. He'll never change his mind about me. He'll never change his mind about me.
The gifts and callings of God are without repentance. Now God knows every one of you need before he asks. The scripture says so. The Lord Jesus is a speaker. But you honor God when you lay your needs before us. This is vividly brought to our attention in Isaiah, chapter thirty-seven, thirty-eight and thirty-nine in the life of Jeremiah. Not only Jeremiah, but in the life of Isaiah and the king Hezekiah. Hezekiah the king was greatly disturbed because of the Assyrian army that was encompassing the city of Jerusalem.
And so Tariq, the leader of the army, he boasted against God and he wrote a letter to Hezekiah. Now God knew every word that was in the letter. But Hezekiah took that letter and he spread it out before God. And he said, O Lord, look. And God said, I see. And that night God delivered Jerusalem and the angel of the Lord killed one hundred eighty five thousand Syrian soldiers and he accomplished the work of God and the word of God stood fast for God says Sennacherib is going to go home the way he came he's not even going to fire a shot he's not going to build a bulwark against Jerusalem he's going to go home the way he came That's what God said.
That's all God said. And when Hezekiah took the letter and he spread it out before the Lord, it reminds me of Nehemiah. Nehemiah chapter one, in the first chapter he viewed the walls of Jerusalem, that they were broken down and the people were in despair. The city was in desolation and he turned to God in that memorable prayer and he says, Oh Lord, here. Why should the God of heaven listen to me, or should he listen to you? He's so great, and I'm so small. As Nehemiah said, oh, Lord, here, oh, Lord, look, oh, Lord, do.
And God did in a most unique way. And the theme of our Bible school this week was Nehemiah eight, verse ten. The joy of the Lord is your strength, and it sure is. Now, that brings us to the introduction to the Lord's prayer. We need to pray. Men ought always to pray, the scripture says, and not to faint, even though God knows it all. You can't give God any information when you come. But I'll tell you, he's waiting to listen to your voice. And to hear your word.
Because that which you say to God transforms you. Because you're in his presence. That's why you need to pray. That's why the scripture says when you pray. Not if you pray, but when you pray. For he takes for granted that all these children pray. When you pray, enter into your closet. And when you have shut your door, pray to your Father in secret, and your Father who sees in secret rewards openly. Now, our Lord says in the introduction to the prayer, having said that concerning the Father's knowledge of us, he says, After this manner, therefore, pray ye.
Our Lord is supplying a pattern after which our prayers as his people are to be modeled. In other words, we're ignorant. Romans A, verse twenty-six says, We don't know what we should pray for as we ought to. But the Spirit of God who dwells within, when we pray, prays for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he who knows the mind of the Spirit makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Oh, what a privileged prayer is. We have schools today to teach people how to preach. The disciples, and the Lord was the greatest teacher there ever was.
They didn't say to the Lord, Lord, teach us to preach. They said, Lord, teach us to pray. Some of the greatest men I've ever known were just ordinary people who knew how to enter the closet and pray. My father was a praying man. He knew how to pray. That's one of the greatest things you can ever say about a parent. They knew how to pray. They knew how to fellowship with the Lord. Lord teach us to pray.
Now, here our Lord graciously provides for us in this prayer that our brother David sang. He provides for us what we most desperately need. Now Luke eleven in verse two says, When ye pray, say, Our Father, which art in heaven, makes this prayer, as we study Luke chapter eleven, this makes this prayer not only a pattern to be copied, but it can be, is a form to be said. I'm not amongst that group who does not believe in praying the Lord's prayer. I believe the Lord's prayer that was sung this morning is very comprehensive In its message.
Now, there are those who say, well, it's just vain repetition with a lot of people. Well, I'm aware of that, that this prayer has been perverted. But even though it has, that's no argument that it shouldn't be used. Now, this prayer is not a magical charm. Our Lord gave it that we follow as a pattern. The problem is, is when people try to use this prayer as some kind of a magical charm. It isn't that, you see. This prayer teaches us the manner, it teaches us the method, and it teaches us the matter about which we should pray.
Those three things. Now, every clause of this prayer can be traced to clauses that are found in the Old Testament. Every one of them. In other words, the first thing I learn about this prayer when he says, after this manner, therefore pray ye, I learn that my prayer is to be scriptural. My prayer is to be based on the word of God. Do I have the word of God to ask for what I'm asking? It should be prayed according to the word of God. First John chapter five, verse fourteen says this. It's a verse that a lot of people know. And often close. But think it through.
It says this. If we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. What does it mean to ask according to his will? It means that we pray back to God, what God has given to us in his holy word. That is praying according to the will of God. And why would we consider the great test of evangelism getting the gospel to the ends of the earth. How has God instructed us? He has instructed us to go into all the world and to preach the gospel to every creature. And we can pray that back to God and we can tell him how limited we are.
But we're praying to the God who is all-powerful, who can move the king's heart, which is in his hands. He can move it as the rivers of waters. and make us go whithersoever he will. You see, it's prayer that does the work. After this manner, therefore, pray ye. Now notice the object of the prayer. Our Father, which art in heaven. When we address the great God, thus we are assured of his love and of his power. For our text says, Our Father, who art in heaven. Our God is a divine person.
This divine person has our best interest at heart. Do I really believe this? God never is against me. God is always for me. He's never against me. And in Romans eight I read it, God before us. Who can be against us? This one who has my best interests at heart invites me to draw near to him. Now when you think of that expression, our Father, he is our Father in a threefold sense. First, by creation.
Navakai chapter two, verse ten. We are all his creation. We are his by creation. He made us. But in a special way, he is our Father by covenant relationships. because of our federal union with Christ. When we were saved by divine grace, we were brought into federal relationship with Christ, the one acting for the many. Christ died for my sins. He died in my place, in my stead. And because God is his father, he is my father. This is what our Lord told us. Mary Magdalene on resurrection morning in John chapter twenty seventeen he said I ascend unto my father and to your father to my God and to your God therefore we are his not only by creation we are his by covenant relationship and more than that we are his by regeneration In regeneration when we are born of God, Second Peter chapter one in verse four says that we are made partakers of the divine nature.
He is my father. I have, by regeneration a new heart, I possess his nature. And it is the outworking of his nature in me that enables me to know. that I am truly born of God. Now, the Old Testament saints, in a time of trouble, they boldly pleaded their relationship to God. When they got in trouble, oh, how they pleaded their relationship to God. Let's read just a verse or two from Isaiah chapter sixty-four. And verse three, we'll begin at verse three, and then we'll skip down because of time.
Verse three says, And now did terrible things which we looked not for. Thou cameest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence. Look at verse six. But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness is over as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities like a wind have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name that stireth up himself to take hold of thee. For thou hast hidden thy face from us and has consumed us because of our iniquities. But now, O Lord, what? Thou art our Father. We're in this condition, Lord, because of what we've done. But, oh, thou art our Father.
We are the clay. Thou art our potter. And we are the work of thy hand. So when we pray, what an object, our Father, our Father. But notice this word, our Father, teaches me something else. It teaches me that I am to recognize the brotherhood. He's a Father not only of me, but of every other one who is born of God. Everyone who is in Christ can say, our Father. And therefore we don't simply... and only pray for ourselves. But then he adds, Our Father, which art in heaven.
This reminds us of these elevated positions and of the greatness of our God. The scripture says, God has prepared His throne in the heavens. Not only the throne of government, from which He ruled the universe, but also the throne of grace to which you and I are invited to come and obtain mercy and find that grace to help in time of need. Heaven is both a place of prospect and a place of purity. Nothing that defiles can ever come there. Heaven is a place of prospect because this is where we expect to go, according to John fourteen. Our Lord says, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there you may be also.
What a prospect. But it's also a place of purity. Nothing that defiles can ever enter his presence. Therefore, friends, we need to remember. that if God is in heaven, then our prayer needs to be more than words that come out of it. For no physical voice can ever rend the heaven. Now, I'm allowed. You could tell me if you were sitting on the curb, you see. I know that. But my voice is not able to rend the heavens, and neither is yours. Now, if you're going to pray to the God in heaven, and that's what we're instructed here, our Father, which art in heaven, then our souls need to be detached from earth.
Prayer is more than simple saying words. Faith must wing our petition into the very presence of God. Our Father who art in heaven. And this means that our desires and our aspirations of the children of God are heavenly and not earthly. Or you don't bound to earth. That earth dictates The manner of life is our second. Our father, which ark himself, answered this manner, therefore, pray ye. Now he asked, hallowed be thy name. If you would come in his prayer, there are seven requests. The first three have reference to God, but last four have reference to our own self.
In other words, this prayer immediately teaches me that self and all its needs must be given a secondary place. And the Lord Himself must be given preeminent. You see, God's great name is the ultimate end of all things. We cannot pray a right, friends, unless the honor of God is permanent in our hearts. You are one of the glory gods above all else. In other words, I can never ask God to do anything that His divine holiness would not be so. I can never expect God to help me in my sin. In this When we come before God, we say, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
By the name of God he's meant that God himself is meant. We're coming into God himself. It's as we have in the twentieth psalm in the first verse. Let me quote it to you. The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble. The name of the God of Jacob defend thee. when we say our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name that name means everything the name of the God of Jacob defend thee you see the maker of heaven and earth is pleased to reveal himself in his words in the Holy Scriptures and supremely in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ hallowed be thy name he has revealed himself in his matchless attributes of omniscience, of omnipresence and omnipotence, those three attributes that only God has.
For the more, he has been pleased to reveal himself to us in his holy character, in holiness, in righteousness, in mercy, and in goodness. He has revealed himself to us through the many titles that are found in the word of God. He is called the God of all grace. He is called the God of all comfort. He is called the rock of Israel. These are titles that reveal his glorious person. Now in praying that God's holy name be hallowed. Hallowed be thy name. We're asking him.
that he so acts that his creatures may be moved to render adoration to him, the one to whom it is due. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Oh God, I want you to so move in answer to prayer that it will cause me to worship you. to adore you for who you are and for what you revealed about yourself. I'd like to leave four things with you very quickly in closing. Number one, how easy it is to utter these words without the slightest thought of their profound and holy import.
This is what we must guard against. It's so easy to say these words and even sing them without having the slightest thought of their import and their profound and holy means. The second thing I want to leave you with is, now if we offer this partition from the heart, we desire that God's name be sanctified by us. We want him to be glorified in every situation of my circumstance. That was brought out so vividly in an article that I read in a magazine concerning a woman who had taken care of her mother, who was seriously ill, and she had a monumentous task for years in taking care of her mother.
And before her mother died, she was struck with blindness. And everybody was pitying her. And she said, don't talk like that to me. She said, if you pray for me, don't pray that I get well. You pray that I learn what God wants me to learn through this that has come into my life. I want to glorify him. That's what we mean when we pray our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. In other words, the third thing we need to realize is that if we are called to pass through deep waters, God is to be glorified through the light.
There's a fourth lesson, and we just reclose. Only a believer can genuinely say our promise. Only a believer can say, I am His by covenant relationship. You have entered into that relationship through the blood of the new covenant, shed on the cross on Calvary's Hill, by the word of glory. If you're here and you're not a believer, you cannot really, oh, you can say the word, but they don't mean anything.
It's only a believer who can say, our Father, who art in heaven hallowed be thy name are you his in the final analysis this is a bottom line if you are his then you can look into the face of the father and you can say our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name it means you are bad to his lordship And you say, I'm so thankful you know everything about me. And I can bring everything to you. I am an open book to you.
And you love me in spite of who I am. Is this yours? Or if it isn't, don't go away without it. Let us give you the opportunity to settle the matter. and know that you are truly born of God. That it's not simply words, that the gospel hasn't come to you in word only, just words, but in power, in the Holy Spirit and with assurance. We've looked at those words, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. I think we should stand together and sing number thirty-four, the first and last.
All hail the power of Jesus' name. let angels prostrate fall bring forth the royal diadem and crown him lord of all and you see since we say that word our father means we recognize the brotherhood that last stanza says oh that may be under sacred throng we at his feet may fall bring forth that royal diadem and crown him lord of all