← Back to sermon library

Please turn with me in your Bibles 
to Matthew chapter six. Matthew chapter six. I'll just pick up reading in 
verse one, remember the context, our Lord Jesus is speaking to 
religious observance, the way that men go about serving God 
Almighty. He deals with almsgiving in verses 
1 to 4, prayer in verses 5 to 15, and then fasting, verses 
16 to 18. So I'll just pick up reading 
at verse 1. Take heed that you do not do 
your charitable deeds before men to be seen by them. Otherwise, 
you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, 
when you do a charitable deed, do not sound the trumpet before 
you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, 
that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, 
they have their reward. But when you do a charitable 
deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is 
doing, that your charitable deed may be done in secret or may 
be in secret. And your father who sees in secret 
will himself reward you openly. And when you pray, You shall 
not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in 
the synagogues and on the corners of the streets that they may 
be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they 
have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into 
your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your 
father who is in the secret place. And your father who sees in secret 
will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use 
vain repetitions as the heathen do. for they think that they 
will be heard for their many words. Therefore, do not be like 
them, for your father knows the things you have need of before 
you ask him. In this manner, therefore, 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 forgive our 
debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, 
but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom 
and the power and the glory forever. Amen. For if you forgive men 
their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you. 
But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will 
your father forgive your trespasses. Moreover, when you fast, do not 
be like the hypocrites with a sad countenance, for they disfigure 
their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, 
I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, 
anoint your head and wash your face so that you do not appear 
to men to be fasting, but to your father who is in the secret 
place. And your father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 
Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, thank 
you for your word and thank you for this gospel according to 
Matthew and for the instruction of Jesus Christ, our Lord. You 
forgive us now, God, of all of our sins and cleanse us afresh 
in the blood of the Lamb and help us, God in heaven, to value 
the place of prayer in the Christian life. Help us, God, to learn 
from these words of our blessed Savior. And we ask in his wonderful 
name. Amen. Well, if I were to ask 
you which is more important, how we pray or to whom do we 
pray, I wonder what our answer would be. Well, I think both 
things are absolutely crucial, how we approach God, but we also 
need to know foundationally the God to whom we approach. This 
morning, we're going to focus just on four words. The preface 
to the Lord's Prayer. I believe it's very instructive 
that we consider the God to whom we pray. It's very instructive 
for us to consider how Jesus sets forth this model prayer, 
how he calls us to invoke God Most High, or how he calls us, 
or examples for us, the manner in which we call upon our Father 
in heaven. This is simply to say that invocation 
or the God to whom we call on should affect petition, should 
affect supplication, should affect the way that we approach him 
and how we pray to him. Remember that the Lord is dealing 
with religious observances, as I've already said. We saw last 
time that he cautions his disciples against praying like the hypocrites 
in verses five and six. He then cautions his disciples 
against praying like the heathen in verses seven and eight. In 
other words, avoid ostentatiousness. That means parading yourself, 
displaying yourself, praying in such a manner so that men 
will see you and approve that you're doing good and wonderful 
things. Don't be like the hypocrites. But as well, don't be like the 
heathen. Don't engage in mindlessness. Don't engage in rote parroting 
of certain words, thinking that that formula will somehow appease 
God and call Him to act on your behalf. So in the midst of these 
cautions, Jesus now prescribes this model prayer, what we might 
call the Lord's prayer. And just by way of some preliminary 
observations, notice that Jesus says in this manner, therefore, 
pray. He doesn't say recite these words, 
empty your mind and just say ten of these things every time 
you go about your task and then everything will be all right. 
It would be hard to sustain such an argument. It doesn't mean 
we can't ever recite the prayer. It doesn't mean we can't repeat 
the prayer. It doesn't mean we can't hide 
it in our hearts. and use it in terms of praying 
to God. But to engage in just a mindless 
repetition is precisely the thing that Jesus condemns when he speaks 
of cautioning us against praying like the heathen. It is certainly 
not meant to be a punishment or a penalty. We're not to spend 
some time in a box with a priest and have him, as our penalty, 
prescribe ten of these. Call us to do these things to 
somehow appease God most high. No, it is a model. In this manner, 
therefore, pray. Think about these petitions. 
Think about these headings. Think about these concerns that 
ought to form and regulate the manner in which you approach 
the triune and living God. As well, after giving the preface 
in verse 9, our Father in heaven, six petitions then follow. And 
the order is conspicuous. The order is conspicuous. By 
that I mean it is obvious. Who comes first in biblical prayer? God. In this manner, pray, our Father 
in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will 
be done on earth as it is in heaven. God comes first, his 
name, his kingdom, his will. After that, then there are three 
petitions which follow for our particular needs, for our sustenance, 
for our forgiveness, for our protection. Those things that 
God says are good and right for us to pray. Ryle says the glory 
of God is the first thing that God's children should desire. 
Spurgeon says, does not the daily bread often come in before the 
kingdom? Don't we often invert the order 
here and God give me, God bless me, God do for me, instead of 
taking time to ponder who God is and to petition him that his 
name be prized, that his kingdom come, and that his will be done 
on earth as it is in heaven. Well, to that end, I think that 
the invocation of the preface is absolutely crucial. We need 
to stop and consider to whom we're praying. We need to stop 
and ponder. We need to think about our father 
in heaven before we go in with our petitions. Once we understand 
that it will frame our hearts are right to approach him with 
the humility, the reverence, the fear and the joy that is 
requisite in our times of prayer. So let's look at the preface 
to the Lord's Prayer. These four words under two considerations. First, the elements involved, 
and secondly, the importance of this particular address. The 
elements involved. As I said, there's four words. 
We can break them down into two groups. Our Father and in heaven. There's a world of theological 
instruction in those four words. Let's look first at our Father. Calvin says we are to recognize 
his fatherly love. We are to recognize his fatherly 
love. To that end, I want to suggest 
six things that our father teaches us. There are several others 
to be sure. I would encourage you to meditate upon this and 
think through this. But as we consider our father, 
this two word statement is suggestive of at least these six things. 
The first is that our father is personal. Our father is personal. Notice how Jesus calls us to 
pray or models for us prayer. He doesn't say there is blind 
faith somewhere existing out there. He doesn't say there is 
chance sort of ordering and ruling and governing this universe. 
No, he says our father. It is a term that speaks of personal 
relationship. It is the term adopted by our 
Lord Jesus when he prays to his father, accepting his cry of 
dereliction on the cross when he said, my God, my God, why 
hast thou forsaken me? This was the preferred way of 
address for the Lord Jesus with reference to prayer. It was father. The Lord Jesus bears a relationship 
in many ways unlike our own. There is an intimacy and a unity 
and a communion that Christ sustains with his Father that we know 
nothing of, but there is communion, there is union, there is blessing 
by virtue of Christ's work on our behalf. In fact, in John 
17, Jesus says, And I have declared to them your name, and will declare 
it, that the love with which you love me may be in them and 
I in them. We relate to a personal God. We relate to a God who is not 
a machine, who is not blind faith or raw power. We relate to a 
God who actually cares for us, which is one of the other observations 
we're going to make as we proceed here. We need to understand that. While the heathen addresses their 
impersonal idol, While the heathen babbles on with countless words 
repetitiously, seeking to make it connect to some deity or other 
that may be out there, the child of God, as he goes to prayer, 
comes in contact personally with the living and true God. And when you go into your secret 
place, your father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly. He's there in the midst of the 
closet. He's there in the midst of the 
storeroom. He's there in the midst of your trials. He's there 
in the midst of your struggles. What's that great announcement 
in Psalm 23? Yea, though I walk through the 
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? Because 
thou art with me. Union, communion, blessed intimacy 
is sustained by the believer and his father. And it's no accident 
that Jesus calls us to reflect on this. You're not engaged in 
a formula. Prayer isn't math. You don't 
drop in the significant amount of money and get back the required 
thing. It's not some sort of a cosmic 
slot machine. Drop in the money and pull the 
arm and hopefully it'll spin up in your favor. Unfortunately, 
that's the way people treat prayer at times, rather than conversation 
with our intimate father. Entering in. Imagine your child 
relating to you in that way. I'm going to drop the coins in, 
dad. I'm going to yank back the arm 
and I hope that you come up with the right answer. Or do you want 
your son to say, hey, dad, how you doing? I love you. I want 
to be in your presence. I want to speak to you. I want 
to converse with you. I want to walk with you. I want 
to know you intimately. What's to be preferred? You want 
your son to text you, to email you, not to say that's always 
wrong. It's convenient. It's helpful. It's handy. But 
if that's how your relationship is sustained, it's going to be 
empty. You want to be with your son. 
You want to lay your arm around him. You want to walk with him. 
You want to enjoy him. You want to delight in him. You 
want there to be relationship. And that first observation is 
absolutely crucial. Our father is personal. We're 
not addressing blind faith or impersonal power or some other 
entity. We are to go to prayer as a child 
goes to his father. A second observation, our father 
is gracious to us. Not just personal, but He's gracious 
to us. The language of the text tells 
us that. How do we call God Father? It's by grace. There's no universal fatherhood 
of God over all men. There is a sense, in terms of 
creation, We are his offspring, as Paul says, to the poets, to 
the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers of the Areopagus. We are the 
offspring of God in that sense, in terms of creation. But this 
prayer calls us to frame it in the context of grace. Our Father. How is he our Father? He is our 
Father because of his gracious plan. He is our Father because 
of his gracious activity on our behalf. He is our father because 
he called us out of darkness into marvelous light. He is our 
father because he's adopted us and he has set his seal upon 
us and he has guaranteed our final inheritance by giving us 
the Holy Spirit as that grand down payment. We are dead in 
our trespasses and sins. We are completely alienated from 
God. But he predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ 
to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. Before 
you run into his presence, stop and think for a moment. How do 
I bear this relationship of father and son? It's by grace. It's 
by sovereignty. It's by predestination. By election, those things that 
ruffle the feathers of God's professing people elsewhere become 
the great comfort to the man who understands his depravity 
before God. Who understands what it is for 
God to reach down in mercy and in grace and to pick us up and 
to cleanse us and to wash us and to purify us and deck us 
with a beautiful garment and fit us for his service. It's 
grace, brethren. Our Father is our Father because 
of grace. Not because of performance, not because of good works. You 
didn't do great things and now you've earned the right to call 
him father. You didn't outlaw everybody else in this world 
and now you have distinguished yourself into that position where 
you are part of the elite that get to address him as father. 
You were saved by grace through faith. Not of works, lest any 
man should boast. It is the free gift of God most 
high. And this preface calls us to 
contemplate the fact that God is personal, that God is gracious. Because God is gracious, we are 
brought into vital union and communion with him. And we can 
enter into his presence and unburden ourselves. It's grace. Note this model prayers for believers 
only. You ever prayed this prayer as 
a big, fat hypocrite? Our Father, when you don't know 
Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? Our Father, when you haven't 
believed the gospel? There's no path to the Father 
except through the Son. He says that in John 14, 6. I 
am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the 
Father except through me. Islam won't bring you there. 
Judaism won't bring you there. Secularism won't bring you there. 
Hinduism won't bring you there. Buddhism won't bring you there. 
It is Christ alone who brings you into this relationship with 
God most high. It is hypocrisy for an unbeliever 
to take this model prayer on their lips and to say our father 
when he's not your father. It's hypocrisy. What's the answer? Believe on the Lord Jesus. The 
pathway. to adoption, or rather, the pathway 
to the fatherhood of God is through the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe in him and you will have 
everlasting life. D.A. Carson says the early church 
was right to forbid non-Christians from reciting this prayer as 
vigorously as they forbade them from joining with believers at 
the Lord's table. You don't have a right to pray 
this. It's not proud. It's not arrogant. We're just 
trying to spare you from the additional crime against His 
Majesty by hypocritically addressing Him. Our Father, by grace alone, 
through faith alone, in Christ alone, and it's a blessed privilege 
as a minister of the new covenant to say that if you believe the 
gospel now, you can say, Our Father. It's beautiful. Beautiful. Believe on Christ. Our father is personal. Our father 
is gracious to us. Thirdly, our father hears us. That's good, isn't it? Our father 
hears us. You ever read through Psalm 115 
and the psalmist sounds like he's mocking the heathen and 
the idols. You maybe scratch your melon and say, is that legit? 
Yes, it is legit. What's he mocking them for? They 
pray to their idols. They pray to their little G gods, 
which are not gods. And one of the things that the 
psalmist says of these useless idols is that they have ears, 
but they do not hear. There's a contrast being made 
between the idols of the heathen and the Yahweh God of Israel. And the truth is, brethren, that 
as Jesus says, we are to come into the presence of God. We 
can rest assured that he hears us. That's it. That's awesome, 
isn't it? You ever talk to somebody? I 
get the idea they're not really hearing you. They're just not 
listening. It's disappointing, isn't it? 
You come away from an exchange like that one man. Might happen 
in a husband wife relationship might happen in a parent child 
relationship. Yes, a lot of words have been said, and the direction 
of the head was in that particular way, but we're not convinced 
that hearing or listening has actually been engaged in. When 
you go into your secret place, the Father who sees in secret 
will reward you openly. Remember, we saw this. Prayer 
is an act of faith. We need to believe that He is, 
and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. 
We need to believe that He hears. We need to believe that he listens. 
We need to believe that he understands the Psalter is filled with this 
confession. The Psalter is filled with this 
statement highlighting the hearing nature of God most high. Psalm 
three, I'm sorry, Psalm four verse Psalm three, rather verse 
four. I cried to the Lord with my voice 
and he heard me from his holy hill. I cried to the Lord and he heard 
me. I think we take that for granted, 
brethren. Imagine trying to work yourself up into a frenzy so 
that your idol would respond. You have a picture of this in 
the prophet or at the time of the prophet Elijah. You have 
these prophets of Baal who were calling upon Baal so that he 
would act and so that he would receive the sacrifice that was 
offered up in terms of a contest. They come to the point where 
they're engaged in a frenzy. They begin to cut themselves 
because they're trying to appeal the bail, that He would listen 
to them and that He would render verdict on their behalf. Elijah, 
conversely, prays simply, prays briefly, but prays to a God who 
hears. And what happens? God opens up 
the heavens, He sends down fire, and He laps up the sacrifice 
that Elijah had put out, and all the water that surrounded 
it as well. Our God hears. Next time you're 
struggling with whether or not to pray, realize this. He hears. You know, that's not so noble, 
Pastor. He hears. Pray. Psalm four, verse three. But know that the Lord is set 
apart for himself, him who is godly. The Lord will hear when 
I call to him." I just saw on Fox News something that says, 
does prayer work? Does prayer work? People like 
to ask that question. Does prayer work? Is it therapeutic? Does it heal your soul? Does 
it make you whole? Does it make you happy? Does 
prayer work? God hears me. That's the answer. God hears me. God is glorified 
in it, and God responds to His people in grace and in mercy 
and love. Know that the Lord is set apart 
for Himself, Him who is godly. The Lord will hear when I call 
to Him. Psalm 18 and verse 6. Psalm 18 
and verse 6, same emphasis, same idea, same thing going on. We could repeat passages over 
and over and over again. In my distress, I called upon 
the Lord and cried out to my God. He heard my voice from his 
temple and my cry came before him, even to his ears. You see, 
the idols have ears that do not hear, but when the saint in distress 
cries out to his God, it comes before his ears and he hears. 
He listens. The Lord Jesus says that when 
we go into our secret place, the father who sees in secret 
will hear us and he will reward us openly. I believe, brethren, 
understanding our father ought to affect the way that we pray, 
ought to affect the use of that we make of these petitions, ought 
to affect how we approach the triune God. A fourth observation 
in terms of our father, our father cares for us. Our Father cares for us. I was just thinking about this 
recently. A lot of people grow up without fathers. It's a sad 
and unfortunate reality. Perhaps their father died, or 
perhaps their father abandoned the family, or perhaps their 
father was irresponsible in some way or another. I'll just tell 
you kids, if you've got a father in your house, you ought to praise 
God. You ought to praise the Lord Most High. But he's not 
perfect. We praise God most high. We live in a fatherless generation. What's it like having a Father 
who cares for us? Is this what Peter says in 1 
Peter 5, verse 7? Casting all your cares upon Him. Why? Because He cares for you. God in heaven cares for me? God 
in heaven hears me? I mean, notice the gradation 
here. He's personal. That's amazing. He's gracious. 
That's amazing. He hears me. That's amazing. 
But he actually cares. He's not a God who says I can't 
be bothered with you. He's not a God who discounts 
you. He's not a God who devalues you. He's not a God who says, 
you know, I just don't care about what you're going through. Sometimes 
Christians say, can I bring the little things to God and the 
big things? Bring everything to God in prayer. Bring everything 
to God in prayer. Some of the scholastic theologians 
said it was beneath God to talk about and think about things 
like flies and mosquitoes and worms. No, it isn't. God is sovereign 
and rules over all. The very hairs of our head are 
numbered and a sparrow doesn't fall to the ground apart from 
his divine will. That doesn't show us that he 
has some strange view of the menial. It shows us his comprehensive 
sovereignty over all things. He cares for us. He cares for 
your situation. He cares for your agonies. He 
cares for your distress. He cares for your trials. Now, 
realize, He may not always answer the way you carnally think that 
He should. I mean, face it, brethren, the 
temptation is probably common at one time or another in your 
life. The great deliverance from all of the difficulties and trials 
that I face. God, just usher me in now. Translate 
me into your presence now. It's a man by the name of Elijah, 
that same man who I spoke of, who in a simple prayer, in a 
brief prayer, called down the very fire of God. The next scene 
is he's sitting under a juniper tree saying, God, take me. Just take me. I can't do what 
they have. I can't deal with Jezebel. I 
can't deal with these people. God, just take me, translate 
me. The man of God Moses made a similar statement at one point. 
He may not answer in the manner that you deem appropriate at 
the particular time, but that doesn't mean he doesn't care. 
I may not always give my little child something he or she wants. 
Doesn't mean I don't care. I may withhold it from them because 
I care so much about them. You might reason thus, God send 
me a pile of money, send me a bag of dough, send me a million bucks 
and I'll be the biggest giver in my church. You don't get that 
bag of dough and you start to conclude, God doesn't hear me. 
God doesn't care for me. God is not listening. All those 
things I heard in the sermon are not true. No, God knows that 
you wouldn't take that million bucks and be the biggest giver. 
Or you might be, but it would be giving to yourself. You see, 
there are times when a no answer shows a lot more care than we 
may ever begin to think. How many times has God stopped 
us? How many times has God said no to us? How many times has 
God restrained us in a particular way? And we have concluded it 
means He doesn't care when it is the example of Him caring 
for us and governing us according to His wisdom. He cares for us. Fifthly, This flows from these 
other considerations. Our Father, get this. I hope 
you're not learning anything today. I hope you're being reminded. 
Our Father loves us. Isn't that beautiful? You kids, you walk into your 
father's room, you ask him something, you have the confidence that 
he loves you. You have the confidence that he cares for you, the child 
of God. Likewise, we enter into the presence 
of a loving father. This is what John says in first 
John chapter four. God is love. To whom does he 
demonstrate that love to his blessed and beloved son and all 
those in union with him, all those vitally connected to him 
by faith alone? God loves you. He says, I've worked through 
this and I hope we get to the preface and the first three petitions 
on Sunday. So I started thinking about it. 
Wait a minute. We need to stop at God for a moment. Think about 
God. Our theology ought to drive our 
prayer lines, our consideration of the attributes of God, our 
consideration of who he is in himself, our consideration of 
how God relates to us graciously and savingly through Jesus Christ. 
We ought to just stop. There might have been a time 
in the history of the church where we could have presupposed the 
people of God had a proper theology. I don't think we can make that 
presupposition anymore. I'm not indicting here. I'm not 
condemning here. I bless God. I'm with people 
that have some biblical literacy. You know, there was a time when 
people understood God is spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. 
It is being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. 
There was a time when every child could recite such things. There's 
one man well said when asked what's the problem with the church's 
theology or doctrine of God today? He said it's the church's doctrine 
of God. What's the problem with the doctrine 
of God? The doctrine of God. He's our bellhop. He's our therapeutic 
machine. He massages my life to make me 
feel better. He's only there to do good things 
for me. He is that cosmic slot machine. 
And I'm going to put the quarters in and pull down the arm. And 
if those things don't come up in my favor, I'm going to whine, 
grumble, and complain. I'm certainly not going to adopt 
the posture of the prophet Isaiah, or the prophet Ezekiel, or John 
the seer on the island of Atmos. I'm never going to fall to my 
feet as a dead man. I'm never going to revere him, 
I'm never going to praise him, I'm not going to worship him, 
I'm just going to entreat him to give me thanks. You see, we 
need to ponder theology. We need to stop and consider 
who God is. We need to understand the one 
we invoke ought to affect the one we petition. That's the reason 
here. Our Father loves us. He who does 
not love does not know God, for God is love. And we have known 
and believe that the love that God has for us. God is love, 
and he who abides in him, or in love, abides in God, and God 
in him. Watson said this. Thomas Watson 
said, He loves his children with such a love as he loves Christ. John 17, 26. He loves his children with such 
a love as he loves Christ. It is the same love for the unchangeableness 
of it. God will no more cease to love 
his adopted sons than he will to love his natural son. That's 
beautiful. He will no more cease to love 
his adopted sons as he does his natural son. The day that God 
stops loving an adopted son is the day he stops being God. Pray to him because he loves 
you. He loves. You see what our father suggests 
to us? And the sixth principle is this, or the sixth observation, 
it is our father alone. The prayer or the model is conspicuous. Our father. Not Saint Christopher. As good as Christopher might 
be. Not Saint Jude. not St. Paul, not Mary, the mother 
of Jesus. We are to pray to God. We are 
to pray to the Father through the mediation of the Son in the 
power of the Holy Spirit. We are to let our petitions be 
made known to the true and the living God alone. Our confession 
in addressing this issue of prayer says that prayer may be accepted. 
It is to be made in the name of the Son, by the help of the 
Spirit, according to His will. Do not call upon angels. Do not 
call upon trinkets. Do not call upon saints. Call 
upon the Heavenly Father. Call upon the One in whom is 
all blessing, all power, all glory, and all majesty. Don't 
waste your time. Don't sin against God. Don't 
recognize as deity something that isn't. It is wrong to pray 
to other things. It is wrong to pray to Mary. 
It is wrong to pray to saints. It is wrong to invoke them. It is wrong to call upon them. 
It is sin. It is blasphemy. You got that? Hail Mary full of grace? No. Mary rejoiced in God, my 
Savior. She's with us. She needs the 
bloody atonement of Christ. She needs resurrection power. 
She needs forgiveness of sins and the imputation of righteousness. 
We don't entreat her as somehow the fourth person of the Trinity 
or quadrinity. We pray to God alone, our Father. And that brings us to consider 
that second element in heaven. Calvin says, fatherly love. is reflected in the statement 
of our father. He says, boundless power is reflected 
in that phrase in heaven. First thing we ought to consider 
is that God is transcendent. Don't want to blow anybody away 
with an undefined word. Transcendent simply means this. 
He is removed from us. He is over us. Yes, He's personal. Yes, He's with us. Yes, the doctrine 
of omnipresence teaches that God is everywhere, but God is 
in the heavens. He does whatever He pleases. 
Transcendence. Think about it this way. If you're 
a foot soldier in a military skirmish, do you want to call 
upon a command that is involved in that same skirmish? No, you 
want to call somebody that's removed. Do you want to call 
somebody that can send in the air raid? Do you want to call 
in someone that has the ability to answer to that skirmish, to 
answer to that conflict with boundless power? Our Father in 
heaven. Paul speaks of this in Acts 17, 
that God is transcendent when he's indicting, when he's condemning, 
when he's calling the city of Athens upon their sin of idolatry. He says God is not in temples. God is not confined. God is not dependent upon you. Turn there for just a moment. 
We need a good dose of God's transcendence in the 21st century. Jesus is, in fact, a friend for 
sinners, to be sure. But we need to remember our father's 
in heaven. We approach him with reverence. 
We approach him with trembling. We approach him with fear. We 
approach him as the God of absolute sovereignty that the Bible sets 
in for us. Notice in Acts 17, Paul says, 
I even found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God. 
You see, that was the methodology of a heathen. We know there's 
gods out there, so we're going to just babble and pray. We're 
going to repeat ourselves, hoping that those prayers connect. Hopefully, 
that one of the deities will hear us and will answer us. We'll 
make this idol, we'll call it to the unknown God, or this altar 
rather, and we'll hope that whatever one up there is favorable toward 
us will answer us today. Notice what Paul says, I even 
found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God. Therefore, 
the one whom you worship without knowing him, I proclaim to you. Paul didn't say, well, you know, 
I understand in Athens you have a God for everything. I understand 
this is a polytheistic culture. I understand you're just expressing 
your religiosity. I understand that you're just 
expressing your religious nature, as ever appeals to you. It says, 
the one you worship in ignorance, him I proclaim to you. There is a true God. There is 
a living God. Men need to respond favorably 
to that one, not fancy an idol, fancy an altar, make something 
that appeases you. You see, religion has become 
this therapy session for man to feel better about himself. 
The religion of the Bible sets forth the glory of God as creator, 
the glory of God as governor, and the glory of God as redeemer. Notice, God, verse 24, who made 
the world and everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven and 
earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he worshipped 
with men's hands as though he needed anything, since he gives 
to all life, breath and all things. You see, he's transcended our 
father in heaven. But as well, the Bible says our 
father in heaven, he is sovereign. We've already alluded to that. 
He is removed, but He's present. He's powerful. He's active. He 
has comprehensive and universal sovereignty over all things. 
Again, Psalm 150, Psalm 135, that contrast between the idols, 
between the heathen idols and the true and living God. Our 
God is in the heavens. He does whatever He pleases. 
You can pray to those idols. You can appease or seek to appease 
those idols. They're not going to act for you. They're not going 
to do anything. They can't. They're dumb. They're foolish. 
They're nothing. But our God is in the heavens. He does whatever 
he pleases, his transcendence, his sovereignty. These are suggested 
by this idea of him being in heaven. But as well as omnipotence, 
it's power. He's not just up there. He doesn't 
just have sovereign control. He actually exercises it. And 
later on, the third petition in terms of God, what's Jesus 
say we are to pray for? Something we don't always pray 
for. He says, we're reminded in the last hour we don't have 
faith. Who here actually prays in faith, God may your will be 
done on earth as it is in heaven? Who prays that in faith? Well, 
we know it'll never happen, but Jesus taught us to pray it anyway, 
so we're going to go through the motions. Do you actually 
pray, actually believe, actually exercise the faith that God can 
change things with abortion? Maybe people just don't pray. 
which evidences people just don't care. We have not because we ask not. 
God shut those clinics down. Not only do not allow it to be 
subsidized, but make it criminalized. Haul people up on conspiracy 
to murder who would engage in such an atrocity. Oh, that'll 
never happen. I don't see Jesus here telling 
us to reflect on our carnality, whether we think something's 
going to happen or not. He says, pray, pray that God's 
kingdom would come. Pray that God's or first God's 
name would be hallowed and that God's kingdom would come and 
that his will would be done. And what's the standard that 
is set forth to us on earth as it is in heaven? You see, brethren, 
we need to realize he's transcendent. He is sovereign. He is omnipotent. That means he has absolute power. 
He has absolute authority. He has the ability to rightly 
execute his holy will. I mean, if my son came to me 
and asked me for something and I didn't have the power to give 
it to him, it would be sort of a useless exercise. I mean, it 
would be nice. I would appreciate the fact that 
he had the thought to ask me. But I mean, in the long run, 
it would be sort of an exercise in futility. That's not prayer. 
It really isn't. Well, we prayed this for 15 years 
and we haven't seen it happen. Pray for another 50, pray for 
another 30, pray for another 60. You in this for the short 
term. We are such an immediate gratification, 
people, things don't change right now. I'm going to pray. You know, I prayed about this 
and nothing happened. Pray more. Pray earnestly. Be like that 
importunate woman. Judge, judge, judge, judge, judge, 
judge, give me my verdict. What's Jesus say about that situation? If that unjust judge who doesn't 
fear God or regard men answers her, what's the implication? Shall not God avenge his own 
elect who cry to him day and night? Maybe we live in a generation 
where God's elect isn't crying day and night. I'm not saying 
again the formulaic, I prayed 20 hours, God ought to give me 
these benefits and blessings. I hope that's not what you take 
from that statement. We need to understand he's omnipotent. 
He's all powerful. He has the ability. The prophets 
speak of this in the most beautiful way. Isaiah chapter 40 says, 
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, 
the creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is 
weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak and 
to those who have no might. He increases strength. Even the 
youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly 
fall. But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. 
They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and 
not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. 
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting 
God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, neither 
faints nor is weary. I asked a dear person one time 
that was involved in Roman Catholicism. I said to this particular lady, 
why would you pray to Mary? She said, because God's busy. 
See why theology is important when 
it comes to pray? See why what you think of God 
and what you know of God and how you've been informed concerning 
God affects the manner in which you approach God? You see why 
it's only four short words? There's a world of theology and 
implication and importance and truth in those four words. Our 
Father in heaven. He stop and think, he ponder, 
he reflect. I'm not suggesting you're about 
to run your car off the cliff and you're going to your sudden 
death. I need to think through my theology, pray, pray, cry 
out to God, spare me, cause my car to sprout wings and let me 
fly home, whatever. The general course and ebb and 
flow of the Christians' lives were not heathen. We're not pagan. Christian worship isn't about 
emptying the mind. Christian worship is about filling 
the mind. Do not be conformed to this world, 
but rather be transformed by what? By the renewing of your 
mind. We have a mindless Christianity 
that approaches this mindless God that seeks mindless things 
in the midst of a mindless age where Jesus says, contemplate 
our Father in heaven. Then bring these petitions to 
him, lay these out before his throne. These are the things 
that have the sanction of God most high himself. We've seen 
the elements. Now, the importance I've already 
touched on in prayer is to be intelligent. Now, by that, I 
don't mean you have to have a Ph.D. in prayer. Intelligent doesn't always mean 
the most intelligent in the world. You know, a preacher might say, 
Church, we need to be intelligent. That doesn't mean we all have 
to graduate with PhDs. In fact, at times it might mean 
just the opposite. Certain places where you get 
a PhD, you don't come out very intelligent, at least biblically 
speaking. Intelligent means understanding. See, the Eastern religions empty 
their mind to try and connect. Christianity is about feeling 
the mind. It's about understanding who 
God is. Prayer is to be with. As our 
confession says, understanding, reverence, humility, fervency, 
faith, love, and perseverance. The practice of Christian prayer 
is not emptying one's mind and approaching the idol in a spirit 
of ecstasy and carnality. Why do you think they brought 
their babies and threw them into Molech's arms? Why do you think 
they brought their babies and offered them up to Baal? He didn't 
have a thinking man's religion. They didn't think in terms of 
scripture. They didn't think in terms of how God relates to 
his people through Jesus Christ. They had a useless idol, and 
all they were trying to do was whip up religious fervor to try 
to appeal to him. Christianity isn't about whipping 
up the most religious fervor. We often do that. I was worshipped 
today. I was kind of dull and dry, kind of boring. Well, how 
do you measure that? Again, I've often wondered this. 
How do you measure what good prayer is? Good prayer as it's 
affected me? Worship as it's affected me? 
Again, maybe God is pleased and glorified and exalted when people 
aren't thrilled carnally, but spiritually they're engaged in 
the things of God. Prayer is to be intelligent. 
To that end, prayer presupposes knowledge. We must know the God 
to whom we pray. We must understand certain truths, 
not every truth exhaustively. I'm not saying you've got to 
be C.H. Spurgeon, or you've got to be Louis Burkoff, or you've 
got to be Robert Raymond in order to pray. Believe on the Lord 
Jesus. Call God Father. Pray. Absolutely. Most assuredly. You know, to 
sustain a prayer life, learn God. Learn who He is. Learn about 
His attributes. Learn about these things we've 
outlined. Learn about the fact that He is our Heavenly Father. 
Learn about the fact that He has boundless power. Get your 
mind around those things. What's most helpful in a time 
of distress and calamity? Your ability to cope. Really, 
have you gone through a trial and looked back and said, wow, 
what really stands out to me in that trial is that I was able 
to handle it. Or is it, God sustained me. Psalm 23 is right. Though I walked 
through the valley of the shadow of death, I confess I feared 
a little. I sought to resolve not to, but 
God was with me. His rod, his staff, they were 
there, they comforted me. He saw me through the trial. 
See, biblical prayer life reflects on who God is. We do wrong if 
we approach this model prayer simply as the how. The church 
is drowning in the how. Do this for a happier marriage. 
Do this for a happier prayer life. Do this for a happier work 
situation. Do this for a happier life as 
a citizen in society. God's Word addresses us at this 
level. Think this. Consider this. Contemplate Him. Be renewed by the transforming 
of your mind. Love Him with your heart, soul, 
mind, and strength. Brethren, in terms of some application 
and then we close. First is the use of this model. We need to understand our father. 
What's Jesus envisioning here? He's envisioning the church at 
prayer. Corporate emphasis. It's a plural 
noun. Plural pronoun. It's a nice tongue twister there. 
Say plural pronoun 15 times. Our father. What is Jesus assuming 
here? That the church is going to be 
praying. The church will be a community of people that pray. The church 
will gather before God and pray. They will say our father in unison. They will think the same things 
in terms of petition. There will be solidarity. There 
will be unity. There will be community that 
rally around these things that God has specified in terms of 
our approach to him corporately. That doesn't mean we can't use 
this prayer, this model, privately. R.T. Frantz says it is the prayer 
of a community rather than an individual act of devotion, even 
though its pattern would also appropriately guide the secret 
prayers in the storeroom. You want to know what you ought 
to pray for tomorrow morning? That God's name would be hallowed, 
that God's kingdom would come, that God's will would be done 
on earth as it is in heaven, that He would sustain you with 
your daily needs, that He would forgive you of your sins, and 
that He would protect you in your daily lives. Who couldn't use that model? I don't know what to pray. It's 
right here. It's like, you know, guys that 
like outlines love this prayer. It's easy to outline preface 
petition, God, word one, two, three, man, word one, two, three. It's beautiful and it's brief, 
But it's comprehensive, isn't it? Boyd-Jones makes the point 
here. Before we pray to God to save 
sinners, as important as that may be, before we pray to God's 
Spirit to bless our worship, as important as that may be, 
we start with God. We start with Him. And this idea 
of our father in heaven, my prayer is, is that it will stop us in 
our tracks, cause us to reflect, cause us to contemplate, cause 
us to consider, and engage in the how. To whom we pray. Calvin says, Christ embraces, 
therefore, in six petitions what we are at liberty to ask from 
God. Nothing is more advantageous to us than such instruction. 
Though this is the most important exercise of piety, yet in forming 
our prayers and regulating our wishes, all our senses fail. No man will pray or write unless 
his lips and heart shall be directed by the heavenly master." I've 
already touched on the importance of theology in prayer. When you're 
two and you list, I love you, Daddy, Daddy's happy. I mean, that's supposing at two, 
they're straining full sentences together with a subject and a 
predicate. I love you, Daddy. I don't know. Does that happen 
at two? Might happen at three. When you're a two-year-old or 
three-year-old, maybe he's the genius. Maybe at one, I love 
you, Daddy. Daddy's heartwarming. That is beautiful. That is wondrous. When that son comes back at age 
21, says, Dad, I've seen you in your character. I've seen 
you in your conduct. I've seen you walk with the Lord. 
I've seen you conduct yourself with others. I have seen the 
kind of man that you are. Dad, I love you, and I want to 
be a man like you." Isn't it the same when we come 
to our Father? We come out of the womb and say, 
I love you, Daddy. But you know, after 20 years, 
I hope we're able to say, I've seen your conduct. I've seen 
your character. I've witnessed your attributes. 
I've seen you answer my prayers. I know that you've always been 
there. I know that I can cast my burdens on you. I know that 
I can cast my care upon you. When we come at 21 as a Christian, 
we say, I love you, Daddy. That's what should be going on. 
That's what should be happening. It's our knowledge of God. It's 
our understanding of theology. It's really bugs me. You want 
to bug me? Say theology doesn't matter. Theology matters for 
everything. Theology is absolutely crucial. 
Theology feeds Christian devotion. Theology feeds Christian worship. Theology dictates, or defines 
rather, the God with whom we have to do. Don't ever say it's 
unimportant. I do want to leave this question 
with each and every one of us. Can we honestly pray today, our 
Father? Can we honestly pray today, our 
Father? Have we, by God's grace, come 
to Jesus Christ in faith? Children, if I led us in the 
recitation of this particular prayer this morning, I'm not 
going to, but if I did, Would your our father be hypocritical 
or would it be legit? Would it be a lie? Or would it 
be a blessed truth that you delight in? Not just children and young 
people, but adults as well. If we engaged in a corporate 
our father. Would it be a lie? Would it be 
hypocrisy? You have no business praying 
our father if you haven't come to the cross. You have no business 
praying our father if you haven't looked and lived. You have no 
business praying our Father. Your first priority is to believe 
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That good news that teaches 
that Jesus came into this world, lived in obedience to the law 
of God, fully executed the Father's will, died at the hands of godless 
and wretched men. Then on the third day he was 
raised again, and then he ascended on high. And he sits enthroned 
at the right hand of his father and he says, all that come to 
me, I will certainly not cast out. Have you believed? That's 
how you learn to pray. Not just by listening to a sermon, 
not by reading a book, but by coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on him and you shall 
be saved. Well, let us pray. Father, thank 
you very much for this pattern this model that our Lord Jesus 
Christ sets down for us. I just pray, God in heaven, that 
we would consider who you are. But as we come before you in 
prayer, we would consider that you are our Father in heaven, 
that you are the God of heaven and earth who has sent his Son 
to die and to rise again. You are the God who loves his 
children, and the God who hears his children, and the God who 
does bless his children. We just ask now, Father in Heaven, 
that you would go with us. I pray for any and all who cannot 
call you Father, who do not call you Father. I pray you'd open 
their hearts. I pray that you would give them 
the faith that they need to believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. Grant them repentance unto life, 
those saving graces that you alone can give. And we ask through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.