The Christian's Secret Life - How To Pray

Matthew chapter 6. I want to pick up reading in verse 5. The sermon today is primarily involved what is commonly known as the Lord's Prayer. Beginning in verse 5 chapter 6. And when you pray you must not be like the hypocrites for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others. Truly I say to you they've received their reward. But when you pray go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret. And your father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them for your father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this. This is instruction to each of us. This is how Jesus Christ the Son of God teaches us to pray. Our Father in heaven hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. And I know if you've got the KJV your new KJV for thine is the glory. And it goes on a few more words. There is a textual variant here. Brethren, this is commonly called the Lord's Prayer. Some people immediately take issue and say it should not be called the Lord's Prayer because the Lord never prayed this. In fact the Lord would never pray this because there's actually an asking in this prayer for pardon from our debts which Jesus obviously had none. This some have said should probably rather be called the Disciples Prayer. He's instructing us. This is for us. This is Sam's Prayer and Ingrid's Prayer. Much more than it's the Lord's Prayer. This is what we should be giving attention to. Now here's something. This is not to be prayed mechanically. It is not to be prayed ritualistically or in any way mindlessly or liturgically. You understand what I'm saying? People love to quote this prayer. You know something I found? I found a soldier not too long ago. I heard a soldier's testimony. I believe it was World War II. He was going into a battle. I believe it was an American soldier. One of the islands in the South Pacific. And he said that as they were approaching the shore he recited the Lord's Prayer. I heard that one of the lifeboats that was set adrift from the Titanic back in 1912 or whenever that sank. That the people in the boat, they all collectively recited the Lord's Prayer. Now you you just tell me why would they do that? Why are people reciting this prayer? And you know what it is. The KJV rendering. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. You know it's it's often recited. It's often known. How many churches of England and Catholic churches do you think liturgically will speak that? I understand your prince that recently died. The Queen's husband. Prince what? Philip. That they recited this prayer at his funeral. Now why is that happening? Think about this. You're a soldier. You're coming into battle. Now you know what it's like. Basically the Japanese knew if there was an assault it was going to come in upon the shores. They had their guns. They had their mortars. They had their machine gun nests trained on these beaches. As you're coming in suddenly there's fire all around you. Why would a man recite the Lord's Prayer? Why wouldn't he say, Lord help me. Protect me. Don't let me get shot. Why wouldn't he say, Lord I'm a wicked man. I've done wicked things. Please have mercy upon me. You know what you had when the Titanic was sinking? Any of you ever heard the name John Harper? John Harper was a Scottish preacher who was on the Titanic. And you know what? When they had in Canada a group of survivors of the Titanic come together. One man stood up and said, I am the last convert of John Harper. You know what was happening? They were in those waters. You could barely live 15 or 20 minutes. Those waters were 28 degrees Fahrenheit. I guess that's like minus 2 degrees Celsius. And you could only live just a few minutes. Harper was in those and somebody else was floating on something. So they were up out of the water and they ended up living. But in those seas he swam over and he said, do you know the Lord Jesus Christ? And he quoted from Acts 16. Call upon the name of the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. But you've got a boat over there where they're reciting mindlessly, reciting the Lord's Prayer. What's the difference there? I'll tell you what the difference is. The difference is that the one people are just simply seeking to placate God. They think this, if I recite this prayer somehow God's going to be happy with me. Somehow that's going to develop some merit with Him and He won't let me get killed. That's what that is. It's entirely ritualistic. They're not even thinking about what they're saying. They're not thinking about hallowed be His name. Oh, this is a holy God. No. It's more like what can I offer to God? And so they spin off this prayer extremely quick. It's a frantic attempt to buy God with price. You know what? We're supposed to come without price. This is somebody coming with price. See what I've got to offer? What do you have to offer? This is basically somebody trying to do business with God on the basis of hey, I can say this prayer. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. See Lord, here I offer this to you. Will you let me live now? Will you let me not be drowned? Will you not let me get shot when I get to shore? And what's amazing is this. Right in the same context is look at verse 7. You see what's right in the context? When you pray, don't heap up empty phrases. Do you know that when people pray this prayer mindlessly and without thought, it's totally Gentilian? What is it to pray like a Gentile? It's to pray mindlessly. It's basically to babble. It's basically to do repetition. It's basically you praying without thinking about what you're praying. And you know what most people do in the world who pray this prayer? They do it mindlessly. They've just memorized it. It's part of the liturgy of the church. They're not even thinking about what they're saying. Brethren, I'll tell you what. That last convert of Harper, he was being confronted by the way to really pray. We're sinners. And you know the way to pray is Lord, I'm not ready to die. I'm going on this beach. I'm not ready to die. I've done horrible things. You know what typically people are doing? They'll stop swearing for that moment and they'll say that prayer. But I'll tell you what. This guy ended up living. How fast do you think he went back to his foul language? How fast do you think he went back to not praying? As soon as he didn't lose his life. As soon as he hit the shores. And you know what? He probably is all the more deceived. Thinking, oh I said that prayer. Because you know what? When I'm hearing his testimony, it was decades afterwards. And he still remembers that he said that prayer. And you know what he's probably still thinking? That got me merit with God. God heard that prayer and God spared me. But all it is is a delusion. Brethren, hardly anyone knows the words that come right before this prayer. Don't heap up empty words. Don't heap up empty phrases. When you pray to God, stop with any hypocrisy. Stop with any... Brethren, people all the time, we become so adept at posturing ourselves in front of each other. This is classic. How are you doing? I'm doing well. Are you okay? Are you okay? I actually say yes to that because I haven't figured out your whole salutary thing yet. But listen, how are you doing? I'm doing okay. We are so adept at posturing ourselves in front of each other. And you know what we do? We take that hypocrisy right before God. And we come before Him and we pray in certain ways or we say certain things to Him. Just like saying this prayer mindlessly. Beloved brethren, empty phrases. What does that mean? It means speaking without thinking. I'll tell you this, the Lord Jesus Christ gave us this prayer to think. Not to say mindlessly. He wants us to think about every single thing He is telling us needs to make up our prayers. You think about this guy. This guy is coming into battle. He prayed, Thy will be done. Was he really even thinking about what he was praying? Was he surrendered to the Lord? I mean people, hallowed be Thy name. That's... Brethren, he hardly knows what he said. It's just a bit of religious life insurance. Jesus said they think they'll be heard for their many words. They think so. But how many... I'll tell you this, we know about the people in that lifeboat. We know about Him because they ended up living. But I just ask you this, how many people in battle prayed the Lord's prayer and then were blown directly into hell? A bunch. You can be sure. And what they found out is that prayer actually was not merit. It was wickedness. And it counted towards their destruction. You say, how can that be? How can praying a prayer? Because God said not to take His name in vain. When you start talking to God, and hallowed be His name, and Thy will be done, and you don't really mean the words that you say, you're just uttering these things repetitiously and mindlessly. What do you think that is? That's just taking God's name in vain. That's not doing Him honor. That's doing Him dishonor. You know where honor starts? Right where this sermon on the mount starts. Blessed are the poor in spirit. When you come to God and it's like you're hanging your head. You know what? People that quote that prayer, they're not hanging their head. They're coming with their offering. Look God, look at my prayer. Now don't kill me. Poor in spirit. I can't even believe. That you would allow me to call you Father. What have you done for me Lord? Hallowed be your name. Hallowed. Brethren, we've got to think. We've got to think. This prayer is given to us to think. Something that's vain repetition or babble, just there's no thought. There's no heart. I mean, you use the Lord's name in vain. What does that mean? It means it came off your lips with no worship. With no heart. With no adoration. With no awe. It's just frivolous, liturgical, mechanical. And here's the thing. I don't believe that Jesus gave us this prayer even to be prayed. I don't think that's His agenda. He's saying pray like this and what He means is with your whole heart, mind and soul. Give yourself to these categories in your prayer life. Why do I think that? Because we've got lots of prayers in our Bible. Do we not? You comb the New Testament. You know what? You have prayers of Paul. You have prayers in the book of Acts. There's plenty of prayers in the New Testament. Do you know what you'll never find? You'll never find this prayer. You'll never find that anybody ever prayed this prayer. Here's the thing. Listen to this. Here is a New Testament prayer. One of my favorites. When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God. And here's their prayer. Sovereign Lord. They didn't say Our Father. They said Sovereign Lord. Who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them. Who through the mouth of Our Father David your servant said by the Holy Spirit, why did the Gentiles rage and the people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, against His anointed. For truly in this city, they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel to do whatever. Now notice this. To do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. Do you see how they're honoring the Lord? They didn't do it by script. They didn't just quote from Matthew 6. But it's the flavor of it. Is Sovereign Lord hallowing to him? You are the God who made the heaven and the earth. You are the God who ordained that all these things would happen. You are that God. You see, it's the flavor of it. It's the Spirit. Now Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness. Anyways, it goes on. It seems none of the New Testament saints ever looked at the Lord's prayer or the disciples prayer and said, oh, Jesus meant we're supposed to pray exactly those words. No brethren, it's not that. It's a pattern for prayer. It's these broad strokes of categories that really, it doesn't even have to do with the words that we speak. It has to do with the heart matter of our prayers. What we feel. What we believe. Our worship in it. We need to think. Each one of these ought to bring us to think. Think, think, think. That's the issue. It's having our hearts engaged that matters. Now here's the first thing that I want you to specifically see about this prayer. This is key. Do you recognize that every pronoun in this prayer is plural? None of them are singular. Listen. Pray then like this. Our Father in heaven, give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors. Lead us. Deliver us. Not a singular pronoun in this prayer. You say, oh, okay, we pray collectively. Uh uh. Yeah, we do. But did you not remember the context? This whole context is about our life in the secret place. Did you not remember here that in chapter 6 and there in verse 6, you see 6 is right before 9. When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. It's the same context. Oh, and by the way, when you get to fasting in verses 16 through 18, you look there in 18. Your Father who is in secret. Your Father who sees in secret. See this whole section is about how we live our Christian life in secret. Let me tell you something. You need to put both of those together. Say, what do you mean? I mean just this. When you go into the secret place, do you know what God wants you to take on your heart in there with you? Anybody have any idea from plural pronouns? Each other. He doesn't want you in there just praying for yourself. He wants you remembering you're a part of a people that have been bought by Christ. When you go into that secret place, pour yourself out for one another. Think, think, think. Think about what He's teaching us here. And think when you go into the secret place, the prayer meeting, your interaction after we're done, the fellowship that you have. Brethren, do you realize one of the essential things about our prayer meetings and about the fellowship that we have after we get done is to find out where people are at, what's going on in their life, so that when you go in there, you've got some reasonable informed ideas about what people are struggling with, what people need, where they're at, where they're spiritually. You want to pray for yourself, yes, in that secret place, but you want to pray with plural pronouns. If your pronouns in the secret place are primarily in the singular, first person, then you're missing the very heart and soul of how Christ wants you to pray. That's the first thing. Second thing, hallowed be thy name. Pray then like this, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Now, you see, I just find that this prayer just speaks volumes about what's true. What's true? Well, here, what does our Lord want us to think? What does our Lord want our hearts to be engaged with? I can tell you from pastoring God's people, being in public worship and prayer meetings for the last over 30 years, the fact is that a lot of God's people, a lot of God's people will get on their knees or they'll bow their heads and they are asking God for something in the first or second sentence. That's not how He taught us to pray. You know what He wants? Not for you to go to your knees praying, simply thinking about what you need or what you want. He clearly wants us engaged first and foremost. He wants our hearts thinking about who God is. He wants us focused in that direction. Think about what hallowed means. It means set apart. You know that. I mean, anybody that's ever studied the word holy, we recognize it's in that word group of sanctification, to sanctify, to set apart, to consecrate. Brethren, one of the things that you want to go out of your way, see this is all about the heart. This is all about our thinking. Jesus is saying think. When you go to pray, yes, use the plural pronouns, but think about who God is and think about hallowing His name. Think about His kingdom. Think about His will. Think there, before you ever get to asking for your daily bread. Think about who God is. Think about what kind of God you have. Think about, hallowing His name is separating it. Brethren, I'll tell you this, we don't ever pray for His sake. We pray for our sake. And when you start remembering who God is, that'll do tremendous things for your faith. I'll tell you this, I cannot think that it is even profitable for people to just jump on their knees and start praying, or however posture you have in prayer, to immediately start praying for things. Brethren, I want to think about who God is. Why? Because once you start thinking about who God is, it will help you to determine, for one, what right things you ought to pray for. Are the things you're praying for actually fit with hallowing God's name? But then you start thinking about the kind of God we have. Brethren, you recognize right away we don't have gods like the Gentiles. We don't have gods that are idols, that don't have eyes and can't see. We've got the true and the living God. Did you hear how they prayed in Acts chapter 4? They didn't just say, oh, you know, Lord, would you please give us boldness? No, they start off by saying, Sovereign Lord, you created this, and you created that, and you're this God who ordained all of this, and yes, the nations rage, and yes, this battle's going on, but you predetermined the whole thing. You're the God that's in control. You're the God that created it all. Brethren, I'll tell you, you start praying like that before you actually start asking for things, and once you get to asking for things, it'll give you a boldness like you never had before. Why? Because you begin to think about who God is, and you start thinking about His attributes, and you start running them through your mind. This is the God who has shown mercy. This is the God who hardened Pharaoh. Yes, He did. But this is the God who also has compassion upon whom He'll have compassion. And it's like suddenly you're thinking, this God's had compassion upon me, and He's even told me I can call Him Father, our Father. See, brethren, you start thinking these ways. You never want to start your prayers with, Father, give us our daily bread. Our prayers consistently start with asking. Stop. Just stop. You're not thinking right. You're not thinking right about, yeah, I'm a brethren. Yes. Are there times when immediately I've got to run into God's presence? When I have a dire need and it's like, I don't, this is serious. I've got a situation right now, right here, and I need help. Of course, of course, we can go to Him. But what Jesus is saying, we need to cultivate prayer in which our minds first think about the Lord God. We want to think about His greatness. We want to think about His coming, His kingdom. I mean, think about this. Your kingdom come. Thy kingdom come. Where? On earth. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I tell you, the Post Mill guys, whatever your eschatology is, I'll just tell you this. You want to be thinking about His kingdom. And you want to be thinking about it being done. And you want a mindset. They didn't dive into asking for stuff. You know, I know we can need a job. We can need ability to pay the bills. I recognize. We've got family. There can be medical needs. I recognize that. But brethren, these early Christians, they did not dive directly into asking. They got around to it. And now, Lord, look upon their threats. Grant to your servants to continue to speak Your Word with all boldness. But you see what they're asking for. Isn't that amazing? They didn't just run off and they say, Lord, we need a car, we need a house, we need a job. Right in the beginning, what are the big things they're asking for? Lord, give us boldness so that we can preach the Gospel. Again, it comes into having to do with the spread of His kingdom. I mean, brethren, one of the things we need to do is look up and down our streets before we start asking, you know, well, Lord, give me a mower, give me a new set of silverware, give me whatever we're asking for. And listen, brethren, it's right to ask for everything. Anything that we need, it's right to ask for. But I'll tell you, one of the things you want to do is look around. See the darkness. See the lostness. I mean, see the people that are not living according to the will of the Lord. They're in, remember what? Kingdom. King means there's a king. The D-O-M means dominion. King, dominion. People are not living surrendered to our King. Kingdom come means people are falling down in surrender before Him. That's what kingdom come means. I mean, God is sovereign. For His kingdom to come means that domain in which people are subject to Him is increasing. That's what we want to be involved with. Our Lord said this. Our Lord is teaching us here to prioritize in our prayer life. Asking for stuff is not, you want to totally reshape and rethink. And you know, I mentioned this verse before. This verse is found in 1 Samuel chapter 2. Those who honor me, I will honor. Those who honor me, I will honor. And listen, you know one thing about our Heavenly Father? Is He is honorable. See, what do you mean? I mean He's worthy of our praise. It's not like you have to force this. Once you start thinking about this God, listen, you know what scripture says? All these things were written for our benefit. What things? He divided the Red Sea. He brought ten plagues on the most powerful nation and its gods in the world. He knocked down the walls of Jericho. David overcame Goliath. Why are those stories there? So that when we need a building in Manchester, and more than that, when we want to see God fill it, and more than that, when we want to see God raise up labors, and more than that, when we want to see them go forth to the nations and make disciples, and more than that, when we want to see the people that are made disciples persevere to the end, and more than that, when we want to see it happen more than once, we want to see it happen over and over and over again, but you start thinking about the God of scripture, and the God who, when they sought Him, oh, you go through, I've been reading through Kings and Chronicles. You look at every single one of those kings. When they sought the Lord every time, the Lord answered. I'll tell you what happened. Anytime one of those kings went and say, they sent a bunch of money to the king of Syria, here come one of the prophets. You sought Syria, but when they sought the Lord, it didn't matter how many were coming. It didn't matter how much they were outnumbered. God brought them victory. Now think here. Oh, brethren, this can really, I think, change the way you pray. You've got to think. Thy will be done. I am absolutely convinced that among reformed people, this is one of the most misused and abused utterances that we can make when we pray. Thy will be done. You say, but it's in the prayer. Well, it is, and I don't want you to stop using it. I just want you to use it correctly. You say, what do you mean? How can it be used incorrectly? I fear that basically the word of God is used incorrectly. I fear these words are used to capitulate. You know what capitulate is? It's basically just to give in. You know what can happen? We can justify our unbelief by these words. What do I mean? Here's what I mean. You've heard me quote this. I keep quoting it. You heard me quote it just the other day. Jesus said, whoever believes in me, the works I do, they will do, and greater works they will do. That comes out of John chapter 14 verse 12. If any of you doubt the scripture says it, you can look that up for yourself. It says it. It doesn't say it to the apostles. It says it to everyone who believes. If you quote those words, and you follow them with, but thy will be done, you've just capitulated. You have just heard a promise of God, and basically justified your unbelief, and why you have no expectation of actually seeing it come to pass. Or how about this? Jesus said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. And you know what? I take every commandment in scripture as a promise. If he said, I'm going to be with you, go make disciples. You know what he's promising? When you go forward to make disciples, you will make disciples, because I'll be with you. And I'm going to cause to happen in those people what needs to happen for them to become disciples. If you follow that with, but thy will be done. As though what? Well, you're really not certain if you can take that to be applicable to you. We don't know if we can really expect this. And so what happens? We add our, but thy will be done. I'll tell you this, get rid of the but. It's not, Jesus doesn't have it in there. It's not in the prayer. Don't ever use it. You don't say that. We add our little, but thy will be done. Why? So often it justifies unbelief. It's like we pray for something, but then we kind of give God this out. Well, but thy will be done. You know, like we don't really necessarily expect that it's going to come to pass. Have you ever considered that these words are actually words that we ought to be bold with? Just the opposite? Take the but off the front. Lord, you said we will do the works you did and greater. Don't put a but on it. Say, thy will be done. And that is your will. Because you promised it. You see the difference there. It's not you're giving it out to your unbelief. It's you're saying, Lord, you promised. Askers will receive. Seekers will find. You promised it Lord. Thy will be done. Because that's His will. Brethren, what you need to do is find promises that are distinctly expressing His will to you and then go to Him and pray that way. Thy will be done. With an expectation that we're going to see this. Why? Because it's His will. Don't make it an out for your unbelief. But thy will be done. As though, well, we know you said this, but we know. Brethren, all it does is undo what you prayed for. Yes, brethren, I recognize. Do we want to come to the Lord humble, poor in spirit? Do we want to come surrendered? We do. But it is not surrender when God gives a promise and then you talk like you can't even hardly take Him serious as to whether He's going to fulfill it or not. But thy will be done. Like, well, we know what you said over there, but you know, there might be a good chance that you're not actually going to be good to your word or you might not want to be good to your word with me or with us. I mean, after all, who are we? Brethren, do you realize this? If you're in Christ, all the promises are yes and amen in Him. Have you never read that? If you've got a promise in the Word, don't be attaching but thy will be done as though, well, give God an out. God doesn't want an out. If He promised to do it, He means to do it and that's what His will is. And so when you pray thy will be done, I recognize this. Hey, is it possible that I could ask for something that God recognizes I'm not praying for as I ought? I recognize that. But do you know what Scripture also says? Scripture says very dogmatic and emphatically, everyone who asks receives. That's His will. Everyone who asks receives. I do recognize sometimes you may not receive exactly what you want, but I'll tell you that portion of Scripture that that comes from is not indicating to us that typically when we ask for one thing, God goes and gives us something else. Lord, I want you to save charity. There's His will. Askers receive. Seekers find. Knockers get access. And then there's this. Give us our daily bread. Now listen, as much as you're familiar with the Lord's Prayer, you're familiar with that line. Give us this day our daily bread. But what does that mean? You know, when I come across these, I sit at my desk and I just think, Lord, why did you say that? Why tell us to pray that? Because I don't think any of you are praying that. Not at all. You can't even feel your need. It's like, Lord, are we too wealthy? Why would you tell us to pray like this? Lord, what do you mean? I mean, this almost sounds like a foreign language. But again, we have to think. As I try to grapple with this, all sorts of questions flood through my brain. I mean, don't I need other things besides daily bread? Why would He tell me only to pray for my daily bread? Aren't there many things? Why didn't He phrase it somewhere else? Pray for all my needs. Why didn't He say that? You know, down just a few verses, it says to lay up treasure in heaven. Lord, I need something with which to give in order to lay up treasure in heaven. I need that. Down a little further in the same chapter, He talks about the fact that we not only need food, but we need clothing. Why didn't He talk about clothing? And in the chapter before this, He said, man doesn't live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. So, if I need spiritual food more than I need physical food, why didn't He emphasize the spiritual food? It's like all these questions run through my mind. Is this all I really need? I mean, I think we live in a country where, brethren, you know the reality? We live in a country that if somebody won't work, the government will practically put the food in your mouth and not just bread. Every kind of food under the sun. Who's praying for bread? Like I say, none of you are praying this way. It's like, Lord, what are you doing with this? Well, again, the Lord's giving us these categories because He wants us to think. Because I would say this, would you have that bread even? We ate burgers yesterday. And ice cream bars. Way beyond bread. But there was bread. The buns were there. But would I even have that? I mean, would He put me in a place right now where I wouldn't be getting any bread? Could He do something to the economy or my freedom and put me in that place? Is that bread there only because God gave it? You remember, John the Baptist said this, a person cannot receive even one thing unless it's given to him from heaven. What you do want to remember by this statement is this, I don't necessarily think that Jesus is saying that every day when you get up, you need to pray for your daily bread. Again, I don't find a single New Testament Christian or Christians plural ever prayed that way. But I'll tell you this, again, it's a heart matter. I think what He wants from us is a sense of our utter dependency. When you think about praying for your daily bread, you just think. I'll tell you, all God would have to do is give the word and there's an aneurysm. Bang! Your brain doesn't work the same. A stroke. A car accident. Ruby and I came so close to having a major accident on Thursday. And God gave the word and it wasn't meant to be. But do you recognize that everything is happening? See, sometimes we think, well, it's the things that are hard to get. You know, the thing that I just don't, it just doesn't happen automatically every day. It's almost like our food happens automatically every day. My bread happens automatically every day. I don't even have to pray about it. It's the things that aren't so automatic. Well, you know, we're praying for this building. Why? Because getting a building like that is not automatic. But what Jesus is saying to us here is you need to think about the least things in life. You are totally dependent on the Lord. And we are. I mean, when we really stop and think, every single thing that we have, and I'm talking right down to your abilities, if you've got an ability with math, or with computers, or with gardening, or with construction, if you've got any, if you've got just a nice personality, or you've got beautiful hair, or you've got food on your table to eat, the thing is, every single thing, that's utter dependency. He's saying think, think, think, think. I mean, I just ran through this line of reasoning here. Question one, do I ask for daily bread? Answer, no. I mean, maybe some of you are way beyond where I'm at, but my answer would be no. Honestly, I don't. Do I pray for lots of things? Yes. But do I pray for my daily bread? I can't even think if, when, and if I've prayed for that. So, the answer, you know, the next question is why not? Why don't I pray for it? Well, the answer is, well, because it's always there. When I don't pray for it, it's always there. And so it doesn't incline me to pray for it. New buildings are not always there, so I pray for that. The salvation of my daughter is not always there, so I pray for that. I mean, that would be the answer. I'm going to spend my time praying for the things that I don't so easily receive. Then the next question is this, then why does Jesus pass by all the other things we could possibly ask for and focus our attention on the most basic, mundane, yet absolutely necessary thing that I need? Well, to get us to think. A person can't receive even one thing unless it's given to him from heaven. And I'll tell you this, when you really start, you know, we sing a song, Count Your Many Blessings, but a lot of times we don't even, I think, here's the problem. If you're not praying for your daily bread, and you're not even thinking about your daily bread, and you're not even thinking about many of the mundane things that you have, or many of the things you take for granted. You know, there can be many things that you don't even ask for because they're always there. I was thinking of the Jones Garden. We have many things. You can take many things for granted. Utter dependency. And the thing is, if you're not asking for things on a regular basis and you begin to take them for granted, I'll tell you what happens. You're not thankful for them. But see, I mean, I really believe, I don't think when it comes to food, for myself, that that necessarily is the case, because even though I may not be asking God every single day when I sit down to eat, I don't know how it is with you, but when I thank God before I eat, I'm sincere. I mean, I'm thinking about the Lord giving me this. But you know, there's many things that are very mundane in life that we can so take for granted. And if you're taking them for granted, then thankfulness is probably not there. But then there's this. If you go down to verse 34, listen to how this, therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Here's another thing I think comes out of praying for our daily bread. I think you want to put the emphasis on daily. Notice verse 34. Don't be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself, sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Put the emphasis there on daily bread. Pray for present needs. Certainly the prayers of the saints in the New Testament are not desperate pleas for something that's needed right now. I mean, one of the things you want to think about is present needs. What do we need presently? We should be taking these present needs and that should definitely be something that has a primary place in our prayers. I don't find a single prayer in which Christians in the New Testament ask specifically for bread. But I do find that they're asking for a number of other things. Listen to this. God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. Notice the now. It's a present need. I mean, you even think about when, say, Paul prayed that the thorn in the flesh be removed. What do you think he was praying? Lord, remove it three weeks from Thursday at five o'clock in the afternoon. When do you think he wanted it removed? Like yesterday. Right? I mean, you don't pray for these things. There's an urgency. We have an urgency. There's a need. There are things we need now. Listen to this. Psalm 40, verse 17. As for me, I am poor and needy. That describes us. But the Lord takes thought from me. Ah, how encouraging is that? You're my help, my deliverer. Do not delay, oh my God. You see, this is the thing. When I go, I often take courage in the fact that I know that a number of the Psalms, in Psalm 102 is the one that always jumps out at me. Do I even have it here? Yes, right here. Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Notice that. In the day. That day. Incline your ear to me. Answer me speedily in the day when I call. Do you recognize the Scripture is all about that? Jesus is telling us about that. You don't need to be all concerned about tomorrow. Wow, you may not even make it till tomorrow. But we have needs today. Go to the Lord today. We have needs now. And brethren, that doesn't mean that you can't pray about the broader things. But what we're talking about here is we have a Lord that's teaching us. And he's teaching us how to pray. And he's teaching us what are the most important things that ought to take up our prayer life. And this is, there is a need immediately. Answer me speedily. Do you ever pray that way? Do you go to God and say, answer me speedily in the day? Listen to this, Psalm 69. Hide not your face from your servant, for I am in distress. Make haste to answer me. Listen, this is being bold, not presumptuous in prayer. I'll tell you what Scripture says. It says boldly approach the throne of grace. Why? So that you can get what? So that you can receive what? Grace and mercy in the time of need. Help in the time of need. When do you need help? In the time of need. You see when you go, do you know what the Psalms are all about? The Psalms are example prayers to teach us how to approach God. If God didn't want us to run to him for immediate need, he would not give us all this kind of teaching in Scripture. Can you go to the Lord and say, answer us speedily? I mean one of the things I'm praying about the building, look we got people, we have people who are asking where we meet every single week. We are having people that, it is going to be very difficult to continue to be over here with the way, it just seems like the Lord is bringing all this necessity upon us. I want to pray that. Lord, I'm not looking for any long drawn out thing. If you're going to give us the building, don't delay until next year. Please, speedily Lord. Grant us that now. That is very consistent with praying according to Scripture. How about Psalm 143? Answer me quickly O Lord. My spirit fails. Hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit. Do you recognize what he's saying there? Those who go down to the pit. Who are those who go down to the pit? Well that's not a good thing. You know what he's saying? Is that basically I as one of your people, when I pray, Lord if you delay in answering, that's no different than the guy who prays and you never answer. Because he's got no place there and he goes down to the pit or he's already dead or he's already cast into hell. Lord, it's the same. The guy in hell, he pleads for mercy, but there is none. And if I plead for mercy and you delay, well it's just like I'm like him. Lord, what's going to show the difference is when you answer, so answer me quickly. And you know what? The Spirit of God is moving these men along and saying, this is going to be written for their sake. Those people that meet there in West Hawken on that certain day, it's for them. And that's what Scripture says. These things are written for our benefit. They're written for our encouragement. And we just hasten, Lord. And then there's this. Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors. Okay, think here. The questions that arise in my mind. I mean, listen, explain the doctrine of justification to me. Anybody? And it's very short, concise. What's justification mean? Made right with God. Made righteous before God. It's legally to be declared righteous, right. It is to have the guilt of our sin legally removed, placed on Christ. He suffers in our stead. Well, here's the thing. Why would those who are calling God Father, who are calling God Father, need to continue to go back to God on a regular basis and ask for their sins to be forgiven? So there's a relationship aspect. But you know what? The reality is this. Sometimes we get people that like to define justification as God forgiving all our sins, past, present, and future. But you know the Bible never says that. The Bible never speaks like that. People speak like that, but the Bible never speaks like that. The Bible never talks about future sins as though they're already forgiven. Why? Because they haven't been committed yet. But I'll tell you what the Bible does. It speaks this way. If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now if you look at the context there, that is not somebody being converted in the very beginning. Well, it works then as well, but this is about the ongoing life of the Christian. And it just flows right into chapter 2 of 1 John. Listen to this. My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. You see, brethren, the thing is this. The Bible never speaks about our future sins as being forgiven. Rather, it speaks this way. It speaks about an ongoing ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ as an advocate interceding on our behalf. Listen to this. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who is raised. Who is at the right hand of God who indeed is interceding for us? See, it's an active ongoing ministry. Hebrews 7 speaks the same. He always lives to make intercession for them. Listen, I'll tell you this. This is extremely valuable in your prayer life. Extremely valuable. It helps us keep focus on the ongoing intercession of Christ. It keeps our eyes on Him. Brethren, that is, I'll tell you, anything in the Christian life that helps us to keep our eyes on Christ is healing and it's helping and it's empowering. Brethren, I think this and what follows lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. One of the reasons that Christians don't get more victory over sin than what they do is because of these two aspects. When they come to praying before the Lord, these two things are missing predominantly from their prayers. One, thinking, oh how healthy it is when you go to pray to begin to think about your failures. Not to drive you into despair. Not to drive you into discouragement and depression. But to once again see your desperate need of the blood of Christ to wash it away. Brethren, to recount your failures and your falls and then ask the Lord to forgive and set your eyes once again on the cross for you to start praying with that kind of emphasis is so healthy. Remembering the ongoing intercession of Christ, your need for Him at the right hand of the Father. Listen, what He did on the cross, remembering all over again, I don't have access but by Him. Brethren, He's an advocate and He's an ongoing advocate. And when we sin, we have an advocate with the Father. And so that's one aspect that is absolutely essential. The other one, like Sonny said, it's relational. The truth is we can grieve the Holy Spirit. What ungrieves the Spirit? When I come repentant, when I come confessing and asking a friend fresh for forgiveness, that is so healing to the relationship. Listen, how does a Christian ever go about ungrieving a grieved spirit? Just this way, confession, repentance, asking for forgiveness anew, setting our eyes on the cross all over again. And then Jesus throws this in here. It's not a request, it's a declaration. We pray like this, forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. See, we ought to be able to, as much as we ought to be able to come before God and proclaim our failures, we ought to be just as bold to proclaim where things are right. Do you know the Scriptures do that? I've mentioned this before, but it's well worth thinking. The Lord is my portion. David prays, I promise to keep your words. Or you have this in the Psalms, but as for me I shall walk in my integrity. Redeem me and be gracious to me. You see, again the psalmist is not saying that there isn't integrity or there isn't righteousness there. He's saying there is. I made a promise to keep your commandments. I'm striving to walk. The interesting thing about David is in one psalm he can be talking about his integrity and the next one he can be bemoaning his failures. That's how we should approach the Lord. There's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with you being able to say to God, I forgive others. To the best of my knowledge I'm not harboring anything against anybody else. Because the reality is where we go from here, from this prayer, is Jesus comes back to this. Like this is super essential. If you're not forgiving people, your Father in heaven isn't going to forgive you. Oh, that just sits so wrong with our feelings about the doctrine of justification by faith, by grace through faith. We don't like that. What are you saying? I can lose my salvation? People always want to run right there. Oh, that's an attack on the perseverance of the saints. Well, you call it whatever you want. It's the words of the Lord Jesus Christ and He's saying if you don't forgive, you won't be forgiven. However you want to spell that out. If you don't show mercy, mercy won't be shown to you. That's what we saw back in the Beatitudes. These realities are in Scripture. We ought not to recoil at them. But the truth is this. You know what? Another thing about prayer is not just a time to rehearse your sins and ask for forgiveness. It's not just a time to think about your most basic needs and how you're utterly dependent. And before all of that, to think about the glory of God and who He is. But brethren, there's really a place there to do inventory on whether you're holding grudges against anybody. Whether you've got bitterness in your heart towards anybody else. Because I tell you, if you do, you're seriously severing and harming your communion with the Lord. And I mean, there are truths that are just so in our face. Like a man is married to a woman and if he's not living with her in an understanding way, what's going to happen to his prayers? They're hindered. What happens? You see, God's looking at our relationship with other people. Remember the Corinthians? He killed them in their relationship with one another. They were despising the church of God. I'll tell you this, God's watching. And when we go to the Lord in prayer, we want to do an inventory. Look, I recognize there are some situations in life where you realize there probably can't be peace there. You may have some struggle with somebody in your family and the struggle is you're a Christian and they're not and they don't approve of it. And so it's the kind of thing you can't really deal with. We need to be wise as serpents, harmless as doves. And as much as possible, as much as lies within our ability, we need to be at peace with all men. And I recognize that sometimes you just can't be at peace. We know this. If you're going to desire to live godly, you're going to be persecuted. You're going to have enemies. There's not going to be any getting away from that. But the truth is, you ought to be able to look across the spectrum of your family, your spouse, your children, your church, the people in your life, and you ought to be able to do a spiritual inventory. And it ought to be, you know, even if there's friction in one place, it's like, you know, that's something new, that's something I recognize needs to be resolved. You take inventory, it's like, yeah, that thing isn't right. We need to deal with that. I need to go talk to them. Because that is your responsibility. If you know a brother has any issue with you, Scripture doesn't let you off the hook either way. It says, if your brother is sinned against you, you've got to go to him. It says, if you know your brother has ought against you, you've got to leave your gift there at the altar, you go to him. Either way, you're not let off the hook. So when you go to the Lord in prayer, do that spiritual inventory. Can you really say, I've forgiven my debtors. Prayer is a time to take that kind of self-inventory. So, I just want to say this. The last thing here, lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil. You don't want to be self-sufficient. You may forget to pray about your daily bread, but let me tell you something. We each have sins that are most vicious, most real, if I can even use the word besetting. But look, the reality is, some people are not getting victory over sin, simply because they're not asking God to give them victory. Oftentimes the reason we can't kill sin is because we live like we don't need the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus tells us to pray this way, lead me not into temptation, deliver me from evil. And you know what? A lot of times, we as Christians, we end up praying after the fall, not before it. And you know what that is? That is presumption. And that is pride. It's independency. It's self-sufficiency. It's basically approaching life. I blow up in anger, well then I think maybe, you know, sheepishly, I've kind of got to bow my head and go before the Lord, and I know something's not right here. Rather than getting up in the morning, the first thing you did was, Lord, you know I'm given to anger. Please help me. You know I'm given to lust. Please, Lord, I need a covenant with my eyes. I need help. You know, Lord, I struggle with jealousy towards this one person. Lord, I don't want it. Please kill it. Please help me. Please overcome. Please! Why? The reality is this. We have these promises in Scripture. We have the promises in Scripture that Jesus Christ, I mean, what did they call His name? What's Jesus' name? Jesus. Why did they? Yes, because, right, He's going to save His people from their sins. The reality is this. We have a promise in 2nd chapter of 1st Peter that says that He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree. Why? So that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. You recognize there is power in that cross. But what He's telling us is this. You need to pray for that. You need to plead with the Father for that. One of the things that we don't have is sufficient victory over sin because our prayer life is defective and you don't have because you haven't asked. Listen, Jesus is not telling us these things because it just doesn't matter. He's not indicating to us that, well, after all, it doesn't really matter if you pray or if you don't pray because remember Sovereign Lord? Remember how they prayed? Sovereign Lord. It means He's sovereign over everything. He rules over everything. So it doesn't really matter if you pray not to be led into temptation, not to pray to be delivered from evil. Why? Because whatever is going to happen is going to happen and God is sovereign and God ordains everything that He ordains so it doesn't really do any good. Jesus isn't teaching that. Jesus is teaching that this is what you want to do. He's obviously indicating that if you pray to your Heavenly Father to not lead you into temptation, He's assuming that this prayer is going to be answered and there will be results that will be different than if you don't pray because the reality is you know that when you don't pray, how often do you fall into these things? You end up falling into laziness or you fall into pride or you fall into anger, you fall into lust, you fall into some kind of temptation. Brethren, this is battle and if we're really going to fight this battle and sometimes I think when it says deliver us not into evil, I think it could be or evil one. The reality is there is an enemy out there and you want to pray because listen, He that's with us is much, much greater than he that's in the world and He can deliver you. He can free you. Satan's the tempter and you know what he roams about like a roaring lion seeking somebody to devour and you know what all he needs? You think about this, God is sovereign but do you ever find that perhaps somebody gets a little too bold? Well, I'm not going to deny you and then what happens? Brethren, we need the Lord. We need Him desperately. Again, I want to come back to this. Next time you read the Lord's Prayer, don't think about memorizing it so that you can just recite it like blindly. Brethren, you really want to think. What is the Lord after here? He wants us to think. Not to pray this verbatim, not just to recite this. If you want to memorize it, that's good but as you play it over in your mind, you want to think about the broader categories. You want to open these, you want to unpack this for what He's really saying to us about our prayer life. This is essential stuff here. He knows what's important in prayer. So learn, learn. That's what He gave this for, to instruct us. Well Lord, we pray that you would indeed help us to be a better praying people. Teach us Lord. Move, help. Lord, this is a time of need. It's a dark day and Lord, we're poor and needy, just like the psalmist, poor and needy. Lord, please, answer us speedily. Please Lord. Father, we know that the spiritual needs of this church are far greater than the physical things. But Lord, we are on the eve of having our brother Jeff go and seek the Lord's prayer on our behalf concerning a building and Lord, we would ask you please, may we hear a response speedily. May it, Lord, I want to ask very plainly. I'm asking you please, give us that building as a base for the gospel to be proclaimed and Christ to be exalted. Lord, I so desire when we speak of prayer, that Wednesday evenings that place would once again hear the prayers of your people echoing off the walls. And on the Lord's day and many other days, that the songs of glory, the songs of our redemption would likewise echo through those halls. Lord, please, you are our heavenly Father and we pray that you would hallow your name. Show greatness Lord. Lord, we do, I know, I greatly desire to be able to hallow your name with regards to this building and just the testimonies and the stories that we'll be able to tell. I pray, Lord, that you'd allow that to come to pass. We pray this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. You're dismissed.