The Pattern for Prayer part 4
Notes
Transcript
Last week we talked about the sovereignty and supreme of God.
This week we are looking at Gods provision.
This is the type of prayer that builds on itself.
You must believe first that God is sovereign before you are confident that He will provide for you.
Verse 3 marks a turning point in this profound prayer, given by the Lord Jesus Christ to teach believers how to pray.
The prayer divides logically and spiritually into two sequential sections.
The first three petitions, “Father, hallowed be Your name,” “Your kingdom come,” and “Your will be done,” concern God and His glory.
The second three requests, “give us each day our daily bread,” “forgive us our sins,” and “lead us not into temptation,” focus on man’s most basic, fundamental needs.
The order of the two groups of requests indicates that God’s person and purposes must always be given the supreme place.
Only then does everything else fit into its proper place; only when acknowledging God as Father, Holy One, King, and Master can believers establish the foundation on which they ask Him for provision, pardon, and protection.
God As Supporter (v3)
God As Supporter (v3)
The substance of this request, bread, encompasses all the basic temporal requirements of life, such as food, housing, clothing, health care, and perhaps even government that provides peace and order in society.
It focuses on the staples necessary to maintain life, and is far from a greedy demand for luxuries.
This petition is fundamental, because unless the Lord sustains believers’ physical lives, they cannot in this world advance His kingdom, do His will, or honor and glorify His name.
The amazing reality is that the infinite, transcendent creator and ruler of the universe cares about the needs of the humblest of His children.
He is not only concerned with great, world-shaking events such as creation, the flood, judgment, the earthly millennial kingdom, and the new heaven and the new earth, but also that His people have food, clothing, shelter, and the other mundane, yet essential things of life.
How humbling is it that the God that created everything is our biggest supporter and sustainer.
God As Savior (v 11a)
God As Savior (v 11a)
This request goes beyond the need for the things that sustain physical life to the far more significant need for that which provides spiritual life.
Forgiveness is the greatest need of every person, since unforgiven sins expose the soul irremediably to divine judgment and the certainty of eternal punishment. That the Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate, tells us to pray, forgive us our sins, reveals that God is eager to forgive Ps. 86:5.
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
This petition assumes not only that people need forgiveness, but also that God grants it.
Here in this verse Jesus is explaining the Gospel
The Problem facing all men: Sin Rom 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
The only cure for Sin is forgiveness Col 1:14
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Only God who is offended by the sin Ps 51:4
Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.
Can forgive it Luke 5:21
And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
The inescapable problem all people face is that their sins have left them estranged from God and doomed to eternal punishment in hell.
Christ’s embracing of unjust suffering resulted in the greatest triumph in history, His sacrificial death on the cross.
God As Shelter (v 11:4b)
God As Shelter (v 11:4b)
The basis for this request is God’s promise, expressed in 1 Corinthians 10:13, that He will never allow a temptation that is stronger than believers can bear. 1 Cor 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Those temptations He permits are common to all people, and He will provide a way to escape being led into sin by them.
People fall into sin not because they are overpowered by Satan and the demons, or because they were trapped with no way out.
As James explained, “Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death” (James 1:14–15).
When we are temped we must over come just as Jesus did in the desert when Satan temped Him.
