Prayer As Taught By Jesus, Pt 2

Transcript

GRM 1034
6/14/2009
Prayer as Taught by Jesus, Pt. 2
Matthew 6:11-13
Gil Rugh


We've been studying the Sermon on the Mount together in Matthew 6, so if you'd turn there in your Bibles. What Jesus Christ is doing in the Sermon on the Mount which covers chapters 5-7 of the gospel of Matthew is addressing His disciples and ultimately the nation Israel on what will be required for entrance into the kingdom. Remember John the Baptist came on the scene and proclaimed the message, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And what he was doing was preparing the way for the coming of the Messiah of Israel. Then he introduced Jesus to the nation as their Messiah and as their Savior. And he said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He would not only be the Messiah who would rule and reign over an eternal kingdom, He would also be the Savior that would provide forgiveness of sins. The prophets had prophesied of this, a Messiah who would suffer and die, rejected by His people, and a Messiah who would rule and reign with eternal glory. Neither the prophets nor the people in Israel understood the message. The prophets proclaimed it but they didn't understand how could He suffer and die as Isaiah 53 says so clearly, and yet rule and reign on a throne in Jerusalem. Now we understand that this One who came and offered a kingdom would be rejected by His people, crucified, buried, raised from the dead. And there would be a delay, if I can use that word from our human perspective, in the establishing of the kingdom now about 2000 years since His first coming. That kingdom will be established.

Now when Jesus Christ gives the message of the Sermon on the Mount He is speaking to the Jews, to His disciples particularly, but then ultimately to the nation with the information given. This is what is required if you would be part of My kingdom. And we noted in Matthew 5:20 that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. You have to have more righteousness than the religious leaders you have, you have to have more righteousness than you could attain and acquire by trying to keep the 613 commandments of the Mosaic Law. Basically as Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3, you must be born again. And Nicodemus, you are a teacher in the nation Israel, but unless you are born again you will never see the kingdom. As we have noted as we have moved through chapter 5 and into chapter 6, what is required is a changed heart.

This was prophesied by the prophets also—Ezekiel 36, Jeremiah 31 with the new covenant. And I'll place within you a new heart, I'll take that heart of stone which is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things and I'll give you a new heart, a heart of flesh, a heart that is open to Me and My truth.

So Jesus is addressing His followers in this kind of context. He's talked about religious activities, He's talked about our giving in chapter 6, our prayers, fasting. When I say our, those are the practice of the Jews of the time in the context of what Jesus is addressing. But you have to go beyond more than these religious activities. There always is the tendency to move toward a focus on the externals. And over time the externals become the focus and we begin to believe that they are the reality. If we do these things that is what will please God and make us acceptable to Him. That's where the Jews had come in their practices. That's what the tendency always is.

You know a remarkable thing being done in Matthew 6. Jesus has told them about prayer and prayer is not a matter of public display, of addressing God for the benefit of the people so that they will think you are spiritual. There ultimately is a matter of personal communication between a person and God. So He's warned them about the dangers of praying to be seen by men in verse 5. The hypocrites love to stand and pray in the synagogues, on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. They have their reward in full, there is nothing else. They did it to please men, they received honor from men, they should expect nothing from God. But He tells them, your prayer life ought to be between you and God. That doesn't mean you can never pray publicly, we've looked at this. But ultimately the basic issue in prayer is my personal communication with God.

We're not only in a remarkable area so Jesus takes time to expand on this and talk about the subject of prayer in what is sometimes called the Lord's Prayer, which is really simply a pattern and example that the Lord gave so that His disciples would know how to pray. It is simple, it is relatively brief. He says your Father knows what you have need of before you ask Him, verse 9, so don't think that prayer is a matter of informing God. We sometimes come to God in a panic kind of situation as though He doesn't know what is going on. But you understand He always knows what is going on, and He knows every one of my needs before I come to Him. Now that doesn't mean I shouldn't come to Him, He tells me to come to Him. This will get elaborated on, particularly when we come to chapter 7 in the Sermon on the Mount. He'll talk more about a coming to receive from our heavenly Father. But you understand He is sovereign, He knows it all. But yet I am to come to Him.

And then we have the example in the prayer, the Lord's Prayer. There are six basic requests in this prayer. We noted they are all given as a form, called aorist imperative in Greek, and that simply is a way to give a command. An imperative is a command, aorist is a tense in Greek. It's a way to give a firm command, but obviously we're not giving God commands when we come to Him in prayer. But it is also used to give a sense of urgency, a depth, a passion to our prayer. You know sometimes prayer simply becomes a matter of my talking to God and how many times have you found yourself “praying” and the next thing you know you are bringing yourself back to reality. Your mind has wandered off to something that has nothing to do with talking with God. Think about how offensive that would be if you are in a conversation with someone and halfway through one of the sentences in that conversation you start talking about something that doesn't have anything to do with this person or what you were talking about. You say I really enjoyed the game the other night and it was interesting to see how they played that in the third inning and _____________________ the winning score. And the person you are talking to would say, he has no interest in me, he's not here ........ What has happened? Well we go to God that way. We start out talking about something and then we're off thinking our own thoughts.

So what we have here in this form used to talk about our coming to address God denotes an intensity, a seriousness, if you will, a passion. That idea. We come to God and this is serious business. You think about it. There is a sovereign God who has created everything, who rules over everything and little insignificant me is able to come into His presence at any time, in any place and talk to Him. I mean, it's amazing when you think about it, that the God who sits enthroned in heaven welcomes me at any time of day or night to come and talk with Him.

So the prayer started out our Father who is in heaven. We know that our Father denotes the intimacy. It limits prayer. We have an idea among religious people that anyone can come and talk to God at any time. That is not true. It is very limited and very specific. It has never been true that anyone in any place could come and talk to God for any reason. There has always been a prescribed, required way to come and speak to God. The Old Testament for the nation Israel with the Mosaic Law, there was a procedure required with sacrifices, the operation of priests ultimately under the authority of the high priest. The activity of the high priest was always foundational to that and priestly activity even before the Mosaic Law. You always came on the basis of a sacrifice. So it is today. We come on the basis of a sacrifice. And only those who have Jesus Christ as their high priest who has offered the sacrifice acceptable to God have the opportunity to come and address God in prayer. They are the only ones who have God as their Father.

So how do I get God as my Father? You must be born again, you must be born from above. You must recognize that you are a sinner, separated from God by your sin, unacceptable to a holy God, in fact the enemy of a holy God. You come and acknowledge your sinfulness and turn from your sin and recognize Jesus Christ, God's Son died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin. I'm trusting Him and Him alone as my Savior. That moment you are washed clean from your sin and defilement, its penalty, its power, and you are born into God's family. Now it's a matter of growing, you are privileged to call Him heavenly Father. Our Father has an intimacy established, you have become one of God's children.

But it's our Father who is in heaven. We talk about theologically emanence of God and the transcendence of God. There is a closeness, an intimacy I have with God as His child. But you understand He is God and I am not, He is my heavenly Father who is in heaven. And there always is that sense of reverence and awe and respect as I come before Him. It doesn't mean I have to come with a formality and a stiffness, with a reservedness. He is my heavenly Father, but there always is that reverence and respect. He is not there to do my bidding. Even as His child I am to honor Him, respect Him.

And so the first three petitions in this prayer have had to do with God's honor. Hallowed by your name. May it be honored, reverenced, held in awe, if you will. Your kingdom come. Concerned about God's perfect plan being accomplished in that time when His will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We noted these petitions related to the revealed will of God in His Word, that time when His name will be hallowed by all the earth, His kingdom will exist on the earth, His will will be done on the earth. Jesus, the Messiah of Israel was addressing those anticipating the kingdom. It is a reminder for us believers today, we, too, look forward to the time when Christ will reign. We always come on the basis of what God has revealed in His Word. That's why it's important to know His Word and know it well. I mean, what does this mean? Some people come and use the word prayer, they talk about the Lord's Prayer, they don't have any idea what the scripture is talking about when it talks about the kingdom. God expects us to come with the knowledge of what He has already told us, we are expected to know His Word. Now I'm growing. If I just trusted the Lord this week, I don't have as much knowledge of His Word and His will as someone who has walked with the Lord for many years and studied the Word for many years. And I am invited to come with the limited knowledge I have at this time. But you know what? It's not acceptable when I've been a believer for ten years to come on the basis of a knowledge of a two-year-old. So I pray informed, and I come and I want to honor God, I want that done which will exalt Him. And the beginning of my prayer is my basic desire that God be exalted, God be honored.

So when I come to the last three requests then, that puts things in perspective. The most important thing is not me, the most important thing is my God and His honor and His will to be done, His purposes to be accomplished. But I am His child. There are things that pertain to me personally that I want to address, that I seek from Him. And so there are three more petitions given in this prayer, all given in the same form as the first three, with this intensity, this passion, if you will.

We begin in verse 11, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtor. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Give us our daily bread, forgive us our debts, deliver us from evil. Those are three basic petitions that we bring. Again you note the conciseness here. I don't have to go off with great expanses of theology to demonstrate the breadth and depth of my theological knowledge of God. The three petitions related to Him are simple and direct, the three petitions relating to me and simple and direct. And as we will see these begin within the confines of what God has said He desires and intends to do for us as His children.

The first request is a basic one—give us this day our daily bread. I'm coming and asking God to supply my basic needs for today, the daily bread referring to our food, what I basically need for today. Now remember in verse 8, your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Doesn't He know I have to eat? Don't you know, Lord, the cupboard is getting bare? Of course He does. What do I do? I come and acknowledge that He is the source of these provisions and I recognize that if He would withhold them I would have nothing. So even as His child, our Father who is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread. We need you to be our provider and you alone provide. We recognize that. He makes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust, a manifestation of His common grace. And when He withholds the rain in an area and drought comes, if that drought persists, pretty soon famine follows. And the loss there. He is the source of it, He controls the weather, He controls the events of nations, He is sovereign over the details of my life. And God I come seeking from you ultimately the provision of my basic needs, my needs for today. What does that do? It reminds me who is the source of _______, I am acknowledging it before God. You know in our prosperity we become somewhat independent in our thinking. We begin to think we are self-sufficient. It leads to the arrogance and pride which is why Jesus said it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom than it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. We admire something of the confidence of those who are independently wealthy. What does it mean to be independently wealthy? Independent of what or who? Independent of God? No.

We've seen great wealth reduced to nothing rather quickly. He is sovereign. So I come. Give us this day our daily bread. You are the source, Lord. Come back to Psalm 34. David is a great man, he is the man destined to be king but he acknowledges and recognizes that God is the provider. He starts out this psalm, I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul will make its boast in the Lord, the humble will hear it and rejoice. Oh magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together. That follows the pattern of what we saw in the opening part of the Lord's Prayer, hallowed be your name. I mean, that's the desire. What do you want now, David? Magnify the Lord, let's join together and do that, let's exalt His name. Ultimate reality will come when all the earth does that in the kingdom. And even now what is our desire? That the Lord be honored.

Then verse 4, I sought the Lord and He answered me. He delivered me from all of my fears. Verse 6, this poor man cried and the Lord heard him, saved him out of all his trouble. Verse 8, oh taste and see that the Lord is good. How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. Oh fear the Lord, you his saints, for to those who fear Him there is no want. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing. This is acknowledgment that runs through here. The Lord, He is the sovereign One, He is the One to be honored, He is the One to be exalted, He is the One to be magnified. And what about the fact I have to eat. Don't worry about it. Jesus has an elaboration on this later in chapter 6 in a future study on the Lord's provision for His people.

I'm coming now acknowledging Lord, you are the One who provides for all my needs. Lord, I'm seeking from you today what are my necessities in life. And you will provide them. Those who seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. And I come and acknowledge and seek it from Him.

Come back to Deuteronomy 8. This is along the line of what we were mentioning a few minutes ago. They are preparing Israel to go into the land that God had promised them. Forty years earlier they had opportunity to go into the land but they rebelled. So they spent forty years wandering in the wilderness. Now Moses is preparing them for crossing over the Jordan and going in to take possession of the land that God had promised them. The chapter begins, all the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to your forefathers. And you remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart. Now keep that in mind, we'll come back to this verse, testing you to see what was in your heart. That will come up in one of the petitions in a moment in the Lord's Prayer. Whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you, let you be hungry, fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone but lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. You see the Lord wants us to know we are dependent upon Him and His Word, His truth, the spiritual nourishment. He takes care of our physical needs as well.

Then the danger, verse 9. You area coming into a land that is plentiful, you'll eat food without scarcity, you won't lack anything and so on. Verse 10, when you have eaten and are satisfied you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you. They are going to take this by military conquest, but never mistake the fact it was not your military conquest that enabled you to acquire the land. It was given you by the gracious hand of your God. Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today. Otherwise when you have eaten and are satisfied and have built good houses, lived in them, when your herd and your flocks multiply, your silver and gold multiplies, all that you have multiplies, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery, led you through the terrible wilderness, provided for you there. Down to verse 17, otherwise you may say in your heart, my power, the strength of my hand made me this wealth. But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you the power to make wealth that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers as it is this day.

Understand, we gather here today prosperous and a nation that has been blessed. We have a certain sufficiency and a self-sufficiency that people in other parts of the world don't have. Every day they have to look for what they need for that day. We are privileged to have an abundance. But nothing changes, you understand. Every day, every moment of every day I want to have a heart filled with gratitude, recognizing and acknowledging, Lord, I am looking to you for every provision for me. You have enabled me to store up some for tomorrow, I give you the glory and thank you for it. And if you take it away before tomorrow comes, I will look to you tomorrow for my daily needs. I'm not looking forward to what I have stored up, as though my confidence were in that, my confidence every day is in the Lord who takes care of me, the Lord who provides for me.

James 1:17. We've noted that James is most like the Sermon on the Mount in content of any book in the New Testament. Verse 17, every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation of shifting of shadow, a shadow caused by turning because He changed. You understand Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. The eternal god is an unchanging God, our heavenly Father doesn't change. How glad I am about that. I call Him my heavenly Father today, I come and seek from Him my needs for today and I don't have to worry about tomorrow. Lord, give me enough for tomorrow in case you are not there, in case there is a change. In whom? Him? No, there is no variation with Him, there is no shadow caused by turning, changing. Every good and perfect gift comes down from above, the One who is our heavenly Father.

Now we want to keep this in context. This does not allow for laziness, it does not mean if I decide not to get up and go to work today, that's all right. I'll start out by honoring the Lord in prayer and then asking Him to meet my needs today. And I'm sure if I get up around noon and just wait, He'll take care of it. The Lord knows our sinful heart. Back up to II Thessalonians 3:7. Paul is using himself as an example. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it. But with labor and hardship we kept working day and night so we would not be a burden to any of you. And not because we didn't have a right, because he is ministering the Word of God. And he wrote to the Corinthians, the Lord has appointed that those who minister the Word of God should be supported in that ministry. So Paul said that's a right I chose not to exercise. Why? So he could set an example, verse 9, for them. For even when we were with you, verse 10, we used to give you this order, if anyone is not willing to work then he is not to eat, either. We hear some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all but acting like busybodies. And of course it's the responsibility of believers to take care of me. No it's not in that sense. Now there are times, sickness or loss of a job, any of us could go through difficult times. And yes believers ought to step up and be a help. But I have to be careful that I don't think it is my right to be supported by other people because I am not really in the mood to be energetic enough to work.

Come back to Proverbs 6 and then we have to move on to the next petition. Look at verse 6, go to the ant, oh sluggard. Observe her ways and be wise. Which having no chief officer or ruler prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provision in the harvest. How long will you lie down, oh sluggard? Scripture has a way of getting right to the point. When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and your poverty will come in like a vagabond and your need like an armed man. If you are lazy you're going to always be in need. That doesn't mean you may not be a diligent worker and always be on the edge, having just enough. I want to be careful I am doing the best I can, I'm trying to work as hard as I can to make the provisions. That's what the Lord uses to provide for me. I may sometime get into a position where because of physical condition I am not able to work, because of the job situation. I've lost a job and not yet been able to find one. And needs come, of course. But the general pattern is I work as hard as I can and God told Adam that because of the fall, by the sweat of our brow you will provide. We have the idea today that if your job is not fun, you oughtn't to have to do it. You understand that's the mentality of the day, that's not a teaching of scripture. He's not going to talk about the ants do it because they think it's fun. So we take a lesson from the ants, they do the hard work that is necessary. And you may not feel like getting up and we have all kinds of reasons for that today, and we're depressed, so it's not my fault. I have the disease of depression and in my depression I don't feel like getting out of bed. Well scripture addressed that and we need to move on.

Come back to Matthew 6. Hard work is required and the Lord provides for us through our hard work. That's the point. But we see we acknowledge that even my hard work would produce nothing if it weren't for the grace of God. He is the ultimate source of my provision in every circumstance.

The second petition on the personal side, forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors. We not only look to God for the provision of our physical needs, we look to Him for the ongoing provision of our spiritual needs. You know I have been forgiven my sin, I have been cleansed and made new, I've been given a new heart. You understand I still don't live a perfect life. There is no excuse for it, but I still do not live a perfect life. And I recognize the need from God for ongoing cleansing. That defilement that comes, pictured when Jesus washed the feet of the disciples. And Peter thought after some interaction, Lord, maybe you ought to wash my whole body. No, that's been taken care of. But there is defilement that comes.

Forgive us our debts. We don't have time but there is a series of different words used in the New Testament to talk about sin. One word means to miss the mark, another means to step across the line, another means to slip or fall, another means just flat out lawlessness, another means the word here—debt. Forgive us our debts. In other words our failures, our sins are viewed as obligations toward God. You know when I lose my temper, or when I did before I got sanctified, I didn't sin against the person I lost my temper against first and foremost. I sinned against God, right? Who is the ultimate One offended by sin? If I tell a lie I could hurt someone with that lie. The ultimate offense has been incurred against God. So that's what we're talking about here. Lord, forgive our debts, forgive our sins. I started out when I was born again with the recognition of the huge unpayable debt I had against the holy God. Everyone who is ever saved starts out at that point, with a recognition and conviction that I am a sinner, I am guilty before a holy God. We cast ourselves on His mercy. Lord, my only hope is to claim the salvation you have provided in your Son. That's my only hope, that's my only trust.

But you know my life goes on now and I recognize that continual forgiveness of sin comes from Him. When I fail to do what I should have done, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin, the scripture says. I sin by not doing what I should have done. Or I did what God says I shouldn't do. I sinned again. I need His cleansing. There is a debt I incurred against a holy God. Do you realize if it weren't for God's grace that provides that ongoing cleansing, I would have been lost a few moments after I got saved? I mean, have I ever gone a day in my life as a believer where I lived perfectly? How sad to say, no. But as God continues His cleansing work, yes. But I come and acknowledge I need that cleansing from Him, that He is the source of my salvation, it is because of Him I continue to call Him Father, the provision He has made for me.

Now you'll note here He says forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors. Now we've been through this earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, that a manifestation of the fact that we have received genuine forgiveness is we readily and quickly forgive whatever offenses have been done against us. We're not keeping any records of how people have offended us. We've been to Matthew 18 not too long ago, but come back there again. Jesus will give an account here. Peter says, verse 21, this is after accounting on church discipline in verses 18-21 and there how you have to discipline those who are believers and continue in sin. But what about a believer who sins against me repeatedly? Then Peter came and said to Him, verse 21, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times? I mean if he sinned against me and repented and I said, you are forgiven. And he did it again and I forgave, he did it again and I forgave, seven times this happened. Peter thought he was going out here and the Lord would say, you have it right, Peter. Jesus said to him, I don't say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. That would be 490 times. But He's not telling him to multiply it out. Peter, you don't keep track. What kind of situation would we be in if the Lord said, all right, Gil has trusted in Christ as his Savior and I'm cleansing him. Oop, there he goes again, that's one; he sinned again, that's two. Gabriel, you know he only has twelve. I mean, where would I be? Is the Lord keeping track like that? But we do it and we think we are justified because we'll say, you don't know what they did to me. Which is what? I'm justified in not forgiving them. I mean, their offense has been so great or so many that I don't have to forgive them. And I'm justified. That's the very thing that Christ is addressing. Peter, after seventy times seven you will not be justified in not forgiving him.

And here is the account. The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him 10,000 talents was brought to him, he didn't have the means to repay. His lord commanded him to be sold with his children and repaid to him. The slave asked for forgiveness, mercy. Verse 26, the lord forgave that debt that that slave could never repay, verse 27. Then that slave went out, found one of his fellow slaves who owed 100 denarii. That's nothing compared to the debt he owed. And what did he do? There will be no forgiveness until every dime is paid. Verse 30, he was unwilling to forgive. So when the master heard he was moved with anger, verse 34, and required that he pay his whole debt. My heavenly Father will also do the same to you if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart. That's where we've been in chapter 5 of the Sermon on the Mount, right? It's the heart, I have to forgive him. I don't have to do it just externally because if I don't other people in the church will think he should have forgiven him. But in my heart I'm still hoping and praying he gets his because he sure deserves to suffer. It's not forgiven then.

You understand the issue here is if you really understand the forgiveness of God as one who has experienced it, that has to shape and control your whole life. Have we not been made partakers of the divine nature, Peter said, when we were born into God's family. For as I John said, His seed abides in us. We haven't become divine, but His character is being reproduced in us now, His mercy, His forgiveness become characteristic of us. And the person who is an unforgiving person is revealing the fact that they have never understood true forgiveness through salvation in Christ. I'm not saying you didn't “pray the sinner's prayer,” but true salvation changes a heart and makes you new. And now I function as a child of God manifesting His character. So I can only come to Him with a true heart. Forgive my debts, Lord, just as I am forgiving others. Now remember He knows everything about me when I come. What about so-and-so? What about so-and-so? What about this? You are still holding a grudge against your husband or your wife. That happened last week. You're still bitter against people at church because they did this, a person at work because they did that. Now you come and say, forgive me as I am forgiving those. Wait a minute, you're not forgiving those. You don't know anything about My forgiveness. What audacity that a self-righteous, arrogant person like you would storm into the courts of heaven with your unforgiving spirit and say, oh, God, forgive me. There is no forgiveness there. We don't come to God on our terms, we come on His terms. True salvation brings a change of heart. Only God can do it, it's not the natural thing. Humanly speaking we all reach “the end of our rope,” enough is enough, but in reality aren't you glad that God's forgives you? I can't think of how many times, I wouldn't even want to try, I'm glad I don't keep a ledger going back to the 1950s when God saved me. Can you imagine how many books? I have a lot of books in my library, but I'd have to have a library of multiple size if I were keeping ledgers of every one of my sins. The little ones count, you know. I mean, how would you keep track? God is not, He forgives them all.

Come over to Ephesians 1. You know we're all about what God has done, we have to break into a long sentence, it's broken up for us. Verse 6, to the praise of the glory of His grace which He freely bestowed on us in the beloved. I mean, we begin, we talk about what God has done for us, we have to begin to multiply words that are just emphasizing. I mean, it's to the praise of the glory of His grace. Grace is that which is unmerited, undeserved, but it was freely bestowed on us. So we begin to talk about free grace as though there were any other kind of grace. But it's freely bestowed grace. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses. There is our forgiveness, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. Paul just can't get it all out, about the forgiveness he has received in Christ. It was lavished upon me, grace.

Turn over to Ephesians 4. He's writing to the church at Ephesus who had lost sight of the lavish grace that has been bestowed upon them in forgiveness, so he has to tell them, verse 31, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. How has He forgiven me? If we can give our testimony, He just lavished His grace on me. You don't know what a vile, hell deserving sinner I was. If anyone was defiled, it was me. That's Paul's attitude, he says I was the chiefest of sinners, the worst of the worst and He saved me. We acknowledge that, that's my testimony. Then we're bitter, we're mean spirited, we're angry with others. Wait a minute, just as God in Christ has forgiven you, so you forgive others. Sometimes people come up to me and say, has anyone in that church ever wronged you? Not that I can think of. Well I'm sure as long as you've been there, there are people who have done things to offend you. I don't know, nothing comes to mind. Isn't that to be our attitude? I mean, we're not keeping any records, right? We've forgiven it, it's cleaned up. Has anybody ever offended you? I don't know.

I had someone come to me one time, they wanted to apologize for the terrible letter they wrote to me. I didn't know whether they'd be offended or not when I told them, I don't remember any letter from you that was telling me all those bad things. So don't bother going through them now because neither one of us needs to go through it. Do I want to keep that, a file of all the things that were done? I mean, what a terrible way to live, what an ungodly, unchristian way to live.

Come to I John 2, then we have to move on to the last one quickly. Verse 1, my little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. You understand the cleansing power of God and His provision for us. I never, ever have to sin again. His provision is sufficient for me to live a sinless life. It's pathetically true that I don't. But the intention is that I do. And if anyone sins we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation, the satisfaction, for our sins. Not for ours but for those of the whole world. By this we know we've come to know Him if we keep His commandments. Not the Ten Commandments, not the Mosaic Law, but the commandments we have now in the letters we're studying like I John. God cleanses me and now I come, God, forgive me for my trespasses and I know you do. The blood of Christ keeps on cleansing me. What an awesome truth, God. And that's why I keep on forgiving what is done against me. I couldn't do it in my own strength, from my own energy, I'm not that kind of person. I hold grudges, I get bitter, I resent, I think I deserve vindication, I deserve to be shown that I was innocent. No, Lord, I don't deserve any of that, least of all that you would lavish your grace on me. Oh, Lord, it is a privilege to come and know that in you I find forgiveness and it is a reminder to me that I come having forgiven all that. I don't come asking for them to be punished, I come, Lord, gladly having forgiven. I come with no offensive on my mind that have been done against me.

Come back to Matthew 6. The last request, lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil. The command here, if I can use the word command, the form of an imperative, is the second part of this—deliver us from the evil one. So we have it and the way it is follows the pattern of the original—do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. The sixth petition here is deliver us from evil. In the context here it is do not lead us into temptation. Deliver us from evil or the evil one and his activities. Now we're not talking about God leading us into sin.

We have to go back to James 1:13, let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. And when lust has conceived it gives birth to sin, when sin is accomplished it gives birth to death. You know I can never say God wanted me to be immoral, God wanted me to lie, God tempted me to cheat. Never, contrary to His nature to lure us to sin. This word though, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, that word temptation is in itself a neutral word. It means testing, trial. And in James 1 we are told about the good things that come from the trials, same word, temptations, testings that come into our lives. And that these trials and testings develop our character. We all know what it is like under pressure, through difficulty we learn to trust the Lord in greater ways. We learn to depend upon Him and so on. We grow, we mature.

Back in Genesis 22:1, now it came about after these things that God tested Abraham. This will have to do with the sacrifice of his son. He tested him. That's what he is doing. He didn't lure Abraham to sin, but He put him to the test to see if he would be obedient in the most difficult situations.

Come back to Matthew 4:1, then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, tested by the devil. There the devil would try to lure Him to be disobedient, but you'll note it was the Spirit of God who led Him into the wilderness for this confrontation with the devil so that might take place. We're not talking about being lured into sin, but the trials and testings which if not handled properly could lead to sin. But the testing is not. Like with your children, you test them, give them a certain amount of money to see if they will handle it wisely. Now your attention is not to tempt them into using it unwisely, but to put them to the test and through that test they learn something.

I recognize when God brings me into testing and trials there is a purpose in it. But I want to be delivered from the evil one. Remember Job? What happened? God allowed the devil to bring trials into Job's life, testing. I'm asking the Lord to deliver me from the evil one, the trials and testings that he would bring. If the Lord should choose, as He did with Paul, to send a messenger of satan to buffet him in II Corinthians 12, then Paul learns to trust the grace of God. But it's not wrong for me to say, Lord, don't lead me into temptation and deliver me from the evil one. That's my desire. So ___________ daily provision for my life day by day.

Hebrews 4:14, therefore since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted, tested in all things as we are, yet without sin. ___________________________ but never tempted to sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, there is one of my favorite verses in scripture. Let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace. That's the throne of my heavenly Father, my Father who is in heaven. So that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. You see you have to have a great high priest, verse 14. Not just anybody can come before the throne of God with confidence, only those who have been born again by faith in Christ Jesus. But what we have is the greatest privilege we could want, to call God my Father, to come with confidence, not cockiness, because He is my Father in heaven. But I come with confidence because for me it is a throne of grace. He welcomes me because I come, not because I think I'm worthy, but because Jesus Christ is my high priest, He's my Savior. And I receive mercy and all the grace I need for the ______________.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the wonder of your salvation that we hell-deserving sinners can know what it means to be clean, to be pure, to be holy, to be forgiven. Thank you for the Savior who loved us and died for us, the One who is now our high priest, the One who makes it possible for us to come with confidence before your throne in heaven and to find everything we need in your grace. We praise you in Christ's name, amen.