How Should We Pray? Pt. 5
Back to the Basics • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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The Story: Paco in Madrid
Ernest Hemingway once wrote a short story about a Spanish father and his teenage son, Paco, who had a bitter falling-out. Paco ran away from home and disappeared into the streets of Madrid.
Desperate to find his son, the father set out for Madrid and searched for weeks without luck. As a last resort, he placed an ad in a local newspaper, El Liberal. The ad read simply:
“Paco, meet me at the Hotel Montana, noon, Tuesday. All is forgiven. Papa.”
When the father arrived at the plaza outside the Hotel Montana at noon on Tuesday, he didn't find just one Paco—he found eight hundred young men named Paco standing outside the hotel, all orphaned from their families, estranged, and desperately hoping their fathers had sent a message of grace.
All of us are much like Paco; we desperately need and desire the forgiveness of those we have wronged, so that we might have a restored relationship with them.
We are continuing our Back to the Basics study and are on the fifth Sunday of The Lord’s Prayer.
I am deliberately spending a bit more time on prayer than on some other basics of Christian living, simply because prayer is essential to our walk with Christ and our fellowship with one another. Yet although we know it is important, many of us do not treat it with the seriousness it deserves.
Let’s take a moment to read The Lord’s Prayertogether before we proceed to today’s subpoints.
“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
‘Give us this day our daily bread.
‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’
We began our study of The Lord’s Prayer by looking at verse 9, and we understand that when we pray, it should be with Worship, recognizing the holiness of God!
In verse 10, we see that when we pray, we recognize the need for Submission to God’s will, not our own.
Last week, we studied verse 11 and saw that prayer should be offered with a sense of Dependence. For it is God alone who provides for all our physical needs.
Thus, the Lord’s Prayer begins by offering praise, worship, and submission to our Heavenly Father. Only then do we turn to our own needs, both physical (vs 10) and spiritual, as we will see in verses 12 and 13.
Let me read verse 12 again for us.
‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Then the footnote verses found in verses 14 and 15, which read…
“For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
“But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.
We use the acronym SPAR to represent our four principles.
The “S” in SPAR stands for Sin; man has a sin problem that must be addressed.
Man has a Sin Problem
Man has a Sin Problem
We spent a great deal of time addressing the various meanings of Greek words and how they all point to Sin and how all of us are guilty of each one.
“P” stands for Provision.
God has provided a provision for your sin problem called Forgiveness.
This is the second principle found in these verses… “The Provision of Forgiveness.”
The Provision of Forgiveness
The Provision of Forgiveness
Last week, we introduced two types of forgiveness… there is what is called Eternal or Judicial Forgiveness, and then there is what is called Familial or Parental Forgiveness.
Eternal or Judicial Forgiveness is unconditional.
You can do nothing to earn it.
It is given to you freely by the Lord Jesus Christ.
You receive this forgiveness at the moment of Salvation, and it covers all past, present, and future sins.
This morning, we want to spend our time understanding Familial or Parental Forgiveness.
We must know and understand the difference between the two types of forgiveness, because if we don't, this passage in the Lord’s Prayer can become very confusing.
Although we are believers, we still need forgiveness for the daily sins we commit.
Paul understood this truth when he wrote Romans 7.
Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
Peter recognized his own sinfulness before Jesus…
But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
Let me bring it home with a passage we are quite familiar with, and I want to point out something you may or may not have noticed.
Turn with me to John Chapter 13 in your Bibles…
Jesus is about to have The Lord’s Supper with His disciples, but He takes a moment to wash their feet.
Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.
So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?”
Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.”
Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”
Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.”
Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.”
Now, for many of us, this story doesn’t necessarily resonate.
Now, I did grow up in an environment as a missionary kid and as a missionary in Thailand, where it was commonplace to have a wash basin outside a home for people to wash off their own feet before entering someone's home.
However, here in America, we don’t typically wash each other’s feet as a practice.
During Jesus’ time, this was a common practice, typically performed by the lowliest servant.
The reason for washing feet was practical, much like when I was in Thailand.
They wore sandals, and the roads were primarily dirt, so they were either dusty or muddy, which would leave anyone's feet dirty.
To avoid bringing dirt or mud into people's homes, the practice was to wash their feet.
Here is the word picture from this passage that we need to get, especially from verse 10.
Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.”
When Jesus says, "He who has bathed," He is stating that there is no longer a need for Forgiveness for Salvation.
That is done; you are clean.
Jesus paid that price for you.
You don’t need another bath.
What you need is to wash your feet…
When you and I wake up and walk about life, we pick up the dirt of sin, which begins to cake us, and we are not in a state to sit down and have fellowship with our host.
What do we need to do?
We need to wash our feet by confessing the sins we have picked up throughout the day.
This brings us to our third principle in SPAR.
“A” which represents Appeal.
Appeal by Confession
Appeal by Confession
Perhaps the most familiar passage of Scripture addressing the believer’s need to confess sin and the Familia Forgiveness given is found in 1 John.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Let’s put this in human terms and perspective for a moment…
When my son or daughter sins against me, they do not suddenly lose their right to be called my child.
But the communication, the sense of communion and fellowship, is strained and even broken.
Until my son or daughter comes to me and admits they have sinned against me, there is no freedom in our relationship. But as soon as they confess that sin and ask for forgiveness, there is a clear line of communication, and the joy returns to the relationship.
The same goes for the Christian and God… some of you may recall the complete joy and excitement you felt the moment you were saved.
You knew what God had saved you from, and because you were so in love with Jesus, you couldn’t help but talk about Him and talk to Him.
Here is the beautiful truth about God’s forgiveness… just as much as we cling to verses about salvation, in which God, willing, laid down His life for you and me, He also desires and delights in forgiving us now.
One of my favorite Bible characters is King David.
David was an adulterer and a murderer, yet through it all, God still called him a man after His own heart.
How could this be?
I think it is because David learned to truly confess his sins before God.
Turn with me to Psalm 51.
Confession is acknowledging that you have sinned…
Acknowledge You Have Sinned
Acknowledge You Have Sinned
For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me.
Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.
David didn’t just offer a vague “I’m sorry”; the text says, “He knew his transgressions.”
Many of us want to skirt the issue of sin, so instead of meeting it head-on and confessing, we say something generic.
Folks, confession means stating the exact sin, naming it, and acknowledging it for what it is.
Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.
David calls it “evil in God’s sight.”
Don’t sugarcoat sin; if you have sinned, confess it and be direct with your words.
Confession is not only an acknowledgment but also a desire to repent of your sin.
Repent from Your Sin
Repent from Your Sin
Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
To repent of sin is not only to acknowledge the sin but also to see it as God sees it and to desire to do things God’s way.
It’s a desire to be pure before God and man.
Last but not least, true confession of sin brings restoration.
Confession brings Restoration
Confession brings Restoration
Notice, David never lost his salvation… but what the confession of his sin did was restore the joy of salvation.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit.
Just as a human relationship can have joy in fellowship, so does our relationship with God have joy when sin does not block that fellowship with Him.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
I have always said and still feel that when we have no sin to hide and have confessed what we know to be wrong, there is no greater joy and freedom than that one can have.
Are you walking in Freedom today?
Or do you have any sin in your life that you need to confess?
Confession of sin will restore joy to our relationship with God and a fellowship with Him that we all eagerly desire.
Next week, we will address the “R” in SPAR, which will hopefully clarify our understanding of verses 12, 14, and 15.
Let’s Pray.
