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Introduction

1. The relationship of prayer: vs 9 Our Father in Heaven. Prayer is a relationship, not a rule. We heard how so often we think of prayer in terms of rules, it’s another rule for us to follow. Pastor Jason said, the more rules you get, the more you and I fail. Jesus, is saying, when you pray, think this! Think Father! Think Dad. Remember the relationship context in which this conversation happens.

We’ve simplified prayer into a to do item on our list and we’re really no different than the Pharisees, in fact, they’ve probably got most of us beat on how often they prayed. Jesus is saying, pray in, and pray because, and pray out of, relationship. Our Father.

2. The realm of prayer

Our Father which art in Heaven: speaks to the greatness of our God. This is the creator of Heaven and Earth, the eternal God, who is for us. The thread thru all history, the the theme of the Bible, is God’s reconciling you back to Himself. This is the Father God who’s made it possible for us to pray.

I’d urge you to go back and re-listen to last weeks sermon.

Then we heard about the request of prayer starting with the Godward request

Hallowed be Thy Name: It’s a desire to see God honored for who He truly is. In my prayer, in my situation, in this day, Your name be glorified! Your name be magnified. Cause Your name to be hallowed. The literal greek meaning of Hallow is to make holy. Question, is God holy? Is His name Holy? Then why say, make your name Holy? Because Jesus knows our hearts weakness and tendency to make other things idols. So he says, Pray like this, pray Our Father, sweet Father that I love and loves me, make your name holy in my heart, be who You already are in my heart and life.

Thy Kingdom come-Jesus had announced that God was ushering His kingdom to earth. He said, repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. That’s why Jesus came, to allow us, to invite us to be apart of His Kingdom, the Kingdom that will last eternally! So this pattern of prayer in , Jesus says, set your hearts on the Father’s Kingdom, not yours. Reign in Me, Lord. Reign in my family!

Your Will be done-God’s will for His Son is the substitutionary, sacrificial death on the cross for His people. It’s an unspeakable will. Jesus’ response was not My will, but Thine. So Jesus tells us, when you pray, pray Father, not my will, but Yours be done. Because God is infinitely wise, Jesus surrenders to this will, and tells us to do the same. Our limited wisdom but submit to the limitless wisdom of our Father.

God, I’m not in control, I can’t be. Even in the face of uncertainty, even in the face of pain, heartache, loss, not my will, but Yours be done.

So today we continue in the requests of prayer, and these are the man-ward requests of prayer.

You see the first 3 statements in this model of prayer have to do with God and His glory. Again, pastor Jason titled them the Godward request. Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be done.

The second half of the model of prayer have three statements/petitions are dealing with our needs and necessities.

Our hearts are to give God His proper place in our hearts and perspective and then we turn to our needs and desires.

I want us to something incredible in these 3 statements. It deals with 3 essential human needs. First,

Give Us this day our daily bread. This is asking God for that which is necessary to maintain life. This is a present tense need. The need for today, the need I have in the present is that you would sustain me God, give me sustenance.

Then we see in verse 12, forgive us our debts. This is the past. We’re to ask God for the present need of bread to sustain us, and now forgiveness of our sins in the past. The presence of God is being pleaded for, in present, in the past, and look at verse 13.

Do not lead us into temptation, this commits all the future into the hands of God.

In these 3 brief man-ward requests, we’re taught to lay the present, the past and the future before the throne of God.

The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 The Disciple’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9–15)

But not only is this a prayer which brings the whole of life to the presence of God; it is also a prayer which brings the whole of God to our lives. When we ask for bread to sustain our earthly lives, that request immediately directs our thoughts to God the Father, the Creator and the Sustainer of all life. When we ask for forgiveness, that request immediately directs our thoughts to God the Son, Jesus Christ our Saviour and Redeemer. When we ask for help for future temptation, that request immediately directs our thoughts to God the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Strengthener, the Illuminator, the Guide and the Guardian of our way.

In the most amazing way, this brief second part of the Lord’s Prayer takes the present, the past and the future, the whole of human life, and presents them to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, to God in all his fullness. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to bring the whole of life to the whole of God, and to bring the whole of God to the whole of life.

But not only is this a prayer which brings our whole life to the presence of God; it is also a prayer which brings the whole of God to our lives. When we ask for bread to sustain our earthly lives, that request immediately directs our thoughts to God the Father, the Creator and the Sustainer of all life. When we ask for forgiveness, that request immediately directs our thoughts to God the Son, Jesus Christ our Savior and Redeemer. When we ask for help for future temptation, that request immediately directs our thoughts to God the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Strengthener, the Illuminator, the Guide and the Guardian of our way.

Let’s look at each phrase for a moment. verse 11. Give us this day, our daily bread.

I love what theologian Matthew Henry said, every word here has a lesson in it.

We ask for bread, not unnecessary things. We’re asking God to for what is necessary for us to physically remain that we could bring Him glory. So our daily bread may not be enjoyable, but sustaining.

We ask for daily bread, teaching us not to as verse 34 says, take no thought for tomorrow but constantly depend on God.

We ask God not to sell it to us, not let us borrow the bread, but to give it to us. Matthew Henry said, the greatest of men must be beholden to the mercy of God for their daily bread.

We ask that He’d give “us.” This teaches us charity and compassion. Here we see another indicator of living life in context of fellowship and the body of Christ.

It’s interesting to me that in our culture and over indulgent living, how many of us are really concerned about having something to eat to day so we’d survive. Most of us think it terms of what would taste the best, and the older you get, what would taste the best with the least amount of damage, right?

Jesus is giving us a perspective on how we should pray and seek after what is needed to physically be sustained, and how much of our efforts are spent in trying to pay for and enjoy luxuries. No, there’s nothing wrong with a great steak dinner, but this simplistic, basic prayer reveals something about the idol of pleasures in our lives. What if we were satisfied with simple, so that we may make His mane glorious just one more day.

The second man-ward request, verse

12 And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors.

The New King James Version Chapter 6

14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Let’s look at some other passages as some proof texts

bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

The word here in Mattew 6:12 debt, comes from a greek word meaning, a failure to pay that which is due.

So to pray, forgive us our debts, means that we owed something that was due.

Well, around the beginning of the year, one Wednesday night i was in there and went to dispense some ice from this beautiful, stainless steel, machine, and nothing. No ice. After some research, getting out the manual, I discover that there’s a filter in this thing, that has to be replaced every six months, and the refrigerator knows when it’s time, and literally auto shuts off the ice maker! Unreal! So I go back to lowes, buy the filter, went step by step by the book, replaced the filter, reset the ice maker, it said it could take a day or so to make the first batch of ice. So, the next Wed I go in there, and guess what, no ice. So now, I have to find the receipt with all the warranty info on it, find the number to call, why? Because this machine was designed my it’s creators to do certain things, and it needs to fulfill those things.

Well here’s the humbling part. Calling the company to get this fixed, just got away from me. With everything that’s being going on, it just always was out of sight out of mind, or I could never get to that part of the to do list. Two weeks ago, I walk by the fridge, with almost a smirk on my face and press a cup to the ice dispenser button, and guess what. ICE!!! I actually laughed out loud. Why? Because the price we paid for that refrigerator, and this feature of an ice maker has been so inconsistent, with no rhyme or reason, finally decided to make some ice.

Here’s the point. I rightfully have the expectation for Frigidaire to honor the intended purpose of their product, and when it doesn’t, they owe us in making it right.

Jesus uses the word debt here because much like the ice machine, who in here has perfectly lived out your created purpose to honor God and make much of Him? We are debtors! We have not perfectly kept God’s law and we’re inconsistent and as long as we have breath, there will be some way in which we fall short of the glory of God, and in this model of prayer, Jesus teaches us to ask forgiveness.

So, first our physical needs are met in verse 11, and then when we come to the spiritual, the first and most basic request on the part of the inner man is for the forgiveness of sins. That is man’s deepest spiritual need.

That is where God and man must first meet.

For before God can ever lead us at all let alone lead us not into temptation; before God can deliver us at all from anything we must have a relationship to Him which is possible only when our sins are dealt with.

I want to make 4 observations on on this verse on sin. I’ll be brief on the first few, because the second half of this verse is where I believe we’ll need the most help in understanding.

. Sin

2. Forgivness

3. Confession

4. Forgiving

So let’s talk sin for a moment. There a 5 words in the NT for sin. Harmartia is one, used more than other word for sin, and it means to miss the mark.

The second word for sin is parabasis. It means to cross the line. Premeditated sin.

The 3rd is anomia. Open flagrant rebellion against God.

The 4th is paraptoma, means to slip and fall. We see this is , If a brother be overtaken in a fault.

But in verse 12 of , the word for sin is opheilema, meaning a debt. It’s only used in a noun form twice in the NT and here is one of the two.

Last year when we remodeled the Bridge, a large expense was kitchen appliances. After much research on brands and prices, we bought Frigidaire appliances, refrigerator, oven and mircowave.

Here’s the point. I rightfully have the expectation for Frigidaire to honor the intended purpose of their product, and when it doesn’t, they owe us in making it right.

Arthur Pink said this, “As creatures, we owe a debt of obedience unto our maker and governor. And through failure to render the same on account of our rank disobedience, we have incurred a debt of punishment, and it is for this that we implore a divine pardon.”

So that’s the first word, sin. The second word is forgiveness.

If sin is the problem, forgiveness is the provision. Aren’t you glad for that? Forgiveness is the provision.

ness.

Forgiveness is taking away our sin, covering our sin, blotting out our sin and forgetting our sin. Taking away our sin. Why? , “He has taken the iniquity of us all and laid it on Him.” Right? He’s taken away our sin, and then it means He’s covered our sin. , “Thou hast covered all their sin.” And He blotted out our sin, . I love this verse. “I am He that blotteth out thy transgressions.” And then He forgets our sins. He remembers no more. God literally eliminates our sin.

Church, do you understand this? You know, if you ever get to the place in your Christian life where this becomes common place stuff, and you have lost that in inestimable joy of understanding forgiveness, then you’ve hit kind of a dry place in your life. Oh how thankful we should be for such forgiveness. And, listen, it’s only possible because of Christ. God couldn’t just pass by your sin unless He placed the punishment for it on someone else, and that is exactly why Christ Jesus died.

Church, do we understand this? You know, if you ever get to the place in your Christian life where this becomes common place stuff, and you have lost that in unspeakable joy of understanding forgiveness, then you’ve hit kind of a dry place in your life.

Oh how thankful we should be for such forgiveness. And, listen, it’s only possible because of Christ. God couldn’t just pass by your sin unless He placed the punishment for it on someone else, and that is exactly why Christ Jesus died.

But what do we do with that second part, as we forgive our debtors.

If Christ has eliminated my sin, why do I ask forgiveness, and what does that have to do with forgiving others?

I want to submit to you that there are two types of forgiveness. The first is Judicial.

The New King James Version Chapter 6

14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Let’s look at some other passages as some proof texts

Judicial forgiveness. This is the full, complete positional forgiveness granted by God as the moral judge of the universe, and by it our sins, past, present and future, are totally, completely forever forgiven. We are justified, declared righteous eternally. That happens when you’re saved. When you put your faith in Jesus Christ, at that moment the righteousness of Christ is imputed to you and you who have sinned and come short of the Glory of God are instantly made righteous in Christ.

The righteousness of Christ is imputed to you. God drops the gavel of His sovereignty. He hits the table with it and you and I are declared righteous in Christ.

bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

That is an absolute, that is a positional truth, that is as eternal as God is eternal.

32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

That is unchangeable and forever. The moment I put my faith in Christ, God’s righteousness is imputed to me. It is granted to me. It is placed upon me. It is put into my account. It is eternal. God is satisfied. That is settled. And that’s why 8 Romans says, “No one will ever separate us from the love of Christ.” That’s why 8 Romans says, “No one can ever lay any charge to God’s elect.” That is settled. We saw, didn’t we, when we looked at judicial forgiveness, there are many words to describe it. We said it involves God taking away our sin, covering our sin, God blotting out our sin and God forgetting our sin. It is done with; judicially settled for good.

So why is Jesus telling us to to ask for forgiveness of our debts?

Because there’s more than just judicial forgiveness that secures our eternity. There’s parental forgiveness that restores our fellowship today.

We could call it other things than parental, but I’m suggesting parental from Jesus’ lead, in starting this prayer with our Father.

Many scholars have suggested that we have mistakenly called this passage the Lord’s prayer, this was not Jesus’ prayer. Jesus has no sins to be forgiven of!

This wasn’t to be prayer of an unconverted sinner. Unrepentant hearts don’t ask for God to be glorified, or His name be Hallowed.

This is the prayer model of a disciple. A Follower. A child of God.

So we are not dealing with God as a righteous judge, we are dealing here with God as a loving father.

Now listen, even though we have been judicially forgiven and forever that is settled eternally and never changes, we still sin don’t we? And when we sin, something happens in our relationship to God. The relationship doesn’t end, but something is lost in the intimacy of it, right?

If my children sin against me by disobeying me, the relationship doesn’t end.

They’re still my children. I’m still their father. And there is a certain forgiveness in my heart that is automatic because they are in my family. You know what I mean.

How many times have you said, but they’re family. And that’s why we keep doing and forgiving.

But something has happened in the relationship that causes a loss of intimacy until they come and say, “Daddy, I’m sorry,” and then the intimacy is restored.

I’m a happily married man. Wouldn’t have it any other way; getting better all the time.

And if I should sin against my wife by a thoughtless deed or word or something that was unkind, it doesn’t change our relationship.

She’s still my wife, she’s stuck with me. I’ve told her more than once, if you leave me, I’m going with you.

But something is in the relationship that causes a loss of intimacy until they come and say, “Daddy, I’m sorry,” and then the intimacy is restored. I’m married to my wife happily. Wouldn’t have it any other way; getting better all the time. And if I should sin against my wife by a thoughtless deed or word or something that was unkind, it doesn’t change our relationship. And there is a sense in which I am forgiven just because I’m under the umbrella of her constant love. But there is something lost in the intimacy, until I ask her forgiveness, that is found again as soon as I do. That’s what he talking about here. This is not some unbeliever praying for salvation. This is not some Christian pleading that God would please forgive his sins.

So there is a sense in which I am forgiven just because I’m under the umbrella of her constant love. But there is something lost in the intimacy, until I ask her forgiveness, that is found again as soon as I do. That’s what he talking about here. This is not some unbeliever praying for salvation. This is not some Christian pleading that God would please forgive his sins.

A great picture of this parental forgiveness is found in David’s confession in . He’d sinned greatly. Sleeping with Bathsheba, arranging her husband Uriah’s death. David was redeemed! He was saved. He loved God, He believed God.

Look what He says in verse 10

The New King James Version Psalm 51

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,

And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11 Do not cast me away from Your presence,

And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,

And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

It doesn’t say restore unto me thy salvation. He says restore unto me the what? The joy of it. Now here it is folks. Judicial forgiveness takes care of the fact of salvation. Parental forgiveness takes care of the joy of it.

There’s so much that could be said here.

So this is why we’re asking God to forgive, but what about the next part of vs 12, as we forgive our debtors.

You could translate it, “Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven.” The idea is before we ever seek forgiveness for our own sins, for our own sin against God for which we are indebted.

Before we ever do that, we already have forgiven those who have sinned against us. That’s pretty potent stuff, folks. First, we forgive, then we are forgiven.

Remember, this is parental forgiveness. If I die today as a believer, but I’ve got a grudge against someone, I’m still going to Heaven.

But my fellowship with God is broken.

He deals with us as we deal with others. He measures us by the yardstick we use on others. The prayer is not forgive us because we forgive others, but forgive us even as we have already forgiven others. That’s the idea. He’s going to deal with us as we deal with Him.

Another illustration that’s very clear. Jesus said this: give and it, what? Shall be given to you. In whatever measure you give it out that’s exactly how God will give it out to you. Hmmm. , how about this one? Sow sparingly, reap what? Sparingly. Sow bountifully, what? Reap bountifully. God deals with us the way we deal with Him. Whatever we invest in His kingdom, we receive a return on. If we harbor sins and grudges and so forth, we cut ourselves off from the blessedness that can accrue to us because of those things.

We have been taught so many times that as you give, you invest with God, you receive a return on it. The same thing is true on your confession of sin and seeking forgiveness. God deals with you the way you deal with others, and maybe the short circuit in your spiritual life is just that you have some people that you’re holding bitter resentment or a grudge against.

One of the best illustrations I’ve seen is this picture of relationships. If things are off in your horizontal relationships, they will absolutely be off in your vertical relationship.

As a dad, I’ve experienced this a few times. I’ll witness one of my children being so ugly or hateful, be so mean to their sibling, then that same child a few moments later will come to snuggle with me or have a good laugh.

How does that make a father’s heart feel? I’ve had to say son, daughter, I love you, you’re my child (judicial forgiveness), but the way you treated your brother or sister just now, that’s not ok, and I can’t laugh with you right now, I can’t sit here and cuddle like everything’s ok, because it’s not. You’ve got to deal with this broken fellowship before you can enjoy my fellowship.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, if you understand what you’ve been forgiven of, you’ll understand you have no right to be unforgiving. And I know some in here may have deep wounds and offenses, and you need to understand that forgiveness isn’t saying that offense is ok.

You’re able to forgive only because you’ve been forgiven of so much. You may say, well I have never hurt someone like they hurt me!

O really? And why did Jesus die on the cross again?

Thomas Manton said, “There is none so tender to others as they which have received mercy themselves, for they know how gently God hath dealt with them.” Now listen to me, one of the reasons you need to acknowledge your sin as it exists and confess it by name on a constant basis is that you will be constantly reminded what a sinner you are, how constant His forgiveness is, and thereby in the midst of that reminder, you will be more prone to forgive others.

But as you fail to acknowledge your own sin, as you cover it up and not deal with it, you not only will lose your intimacy, and your joy, and the fullness of usefulness, but you will find yourself becoming unforgiving to others, because you’re not being honest about what God is forgiving in your own life.

One author put it this way, he said, “He who cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass.” Your life requires forgiveness therefore you are required to forgive. And all this happens because of, and by the power of the gospel.

The last verse in this prayer, considering we’ve already addressed 14 & 15, look at verse 13.

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.

This prayer began with Godward request, Hallowed be Thy Name, Your Kingdom come and Your Will be done.

Lord Herbert, I think, put it very well, he said, “He who cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass.”

Then we see manward request. God, because You’re over all, You reign, Your Kingdom is coming, provide my basic physical needs that I may honor you. God, forgive me in proportion that I’m forgiving others, but not only that, not only my past sins, but here in verse 13, guide me in such a way that I avoid future sin.

If you’re a true Christian, I believe in my heart that you are just as concerned about your future sins being avoided as your past ones being forgiven. Did you get that? Everybody is really happy that the past is forgiven, and if that is a genuine expression of saving faith, I believe we are just as anxious that we be delivered from the future one.

Why? Because to be a believer is to have a changed attitude toward sin. It is, on the one hand, thank You, God, for forgiveness from the past and please, God, deliver me from sins of the future. I am just as concerned about the future and not sinning as I am about the past and what I have done. The sinner whose evil past has been forgiven longs to be delivered from the tyranny of sin in the future. I know what sin does in the past. I don’t want to get involved in it again in the future. God has been so gracious to forgive the past, I’m not anxious to tread on His grace in the future.

We not only need forgiveness, we need more than that. We need preservation.

The troubled song writer said, bind my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it! Prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above.

But what do we do with this prayer asking God to avoid trials, but James tells us to count it all joy when we experience trials.

Nobody likes a trial. Nobody seeks a trial. We run from a trial. There’s a dread and a fear in our hearts about going through certain trials, but we know that even in the midst of those trials there’s a working of strength.

There’s an exercise of spiritual muscle and we’re better for them and stronger for them. It’s not unlike our dear Lord who said, “Father, let this cup pass from me.” I mean there was something in His humanness that didn’t want that, and yet it was through that that He redeemed the world, you see.

And so there is something in the human heart that says, “Lord, if you can spare me the trial, do it. But if I have to go into the trial, then deliver me from the evil potential that is there,” you see? That’s the essence of it. It is a prayer based on self distrust. It is the humility of self distrust that grows out of the previous petition because I know I’m a sinner, because I sense my debt, because I have gone through the pain of confession so many times, because I am so battered and bruised by a fallen world around me that continues to bump into me, I ask God, Deliver me from these things.

When the prayer says, “Lead us not into trial,” I believe the implication of the prayer is, “Lord, don’t ever lead us into a trial which will present to us such a temptation that we will not be able to resist it.”

By the way, the word “into” – “lead us not into” – it’s an interesting word. It’s eis in the Greek, and some have compared it to the Hebrew “into the power of” or “into the hands of.” So that what it’s saying is, “Do not cause us to be led into the hands of the trial.” In other words, if the trial is around us, that’s one thing, but don’t let us get into the hands of that trial. That’s when it becomes a temptation. In other words, as long as we’re in the boat, the sea can churn all at once - just keep us in the boat. Don’t let us get in the sea or we’ll drown. Don’t let us get caught in the vortex of the trial. Keep us in your hands in the midst of that trial.

Martin Luther said, “We cannot help being exposed to the assaults, but we pray that we may not fall and perish under them.” It’s a prayer for God to defend us when He tests us, so Satan and the flesh do not turn His tests into temptation, which become irresistible and draw us into lust and lust into sin.

I hope this encourages your faith today. As I was preparing and studying, specifically this verse, it was like, yes! This totally explains where I’ve been lately. God, I trust Your Sovereign path and plan for me, but keep me from sin during this very difficult time.

And in total appropriate and beautiful fashion, after recognizing

He’s Our Father, sweet relationship,

Hallowed be Your Name, Your name be glorified,

Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be done-reign in me!

Give us this day our daily bread-my focus, my aim, is to honor you so my request is what I need to be sustained to do that.

Forgive me the debt of sin, restore my fellowship with you as my fellowship is well with others.

Keep me from sin as I go thru trials and tests.

After all that, Jesus perfectly and rightfully ends this prayer with this doxology,