Provision, Pardon, and Protection

I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY GHOST

Good morning, if you have a Bible I want to invite your open up to Luke Chapter 11 as we continue through our 4-week series in The Disciple’s Prayer where we are learning how to pray.

We believe that God desires for us to pray, we have a hunger and desire to grow in prayer, so we are exploring the section of Luke’s Gospel where Jesus teaches them how to pray. And we saw last week the two main ideas out of the opening two verses that we pray to worship and we pray for God’s will.

And so we continue onwards in the next two verses.

Have you ever wondered why Christians, or maybe church-folk do certain things?

There are things that happen, that I just did not understand, couldn’t comprehend until someone or the Word explained it.

Praying a Hedge of Protection (why not a brick wall)

LIek that it, why not a wall? Or an army? You know, there is a whole animated movie, called Over The Hedge…and it has animals constantly going through the hedge.

- But there is indeed a reason, in Job Chapter One, where Satan tells the Lord, “Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side?”

Another one was church cementaries, why? Its a picture of a present reality. That these folks are together, worshipping the Father in eternal glory. It wasn’t viewed as a sad thing, its a beautiful thign.

But a friend asked me recently, why do pray for meals? And I thought about it, and realized, I had not put that much thought too it…Is this a thing we just do because everybody does, or is there a reason? And there is indeed a reason…

See Christians not only have prayers to exalt the Father, and to align with his will…but have prayers that are aimed to their own needs. One of those, including food.

In the passage we are about to read, he’ll open by saying “Give us this day our daily bread.” And so the reason we pray is because we can thank him for providing this daily meal.

So in this passage, the emphasis has shifted from prayers towards God and his will towards prayers for ourself.

See, God wants you to pray for yourself, and the people around you. Its not a selfish thing to do so. But its actually encouraged in his prayer here. So I want you to grow today in your prayers for yourself and the community aroudn you.

There are three requests to pray for on a regular basis in your life and also for the people around you.

So let’s read it and hten we will break it down...

11 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say:

“Father, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come.

3  Give us each day our daily bread,

4  and forgive us our sins,

for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

And lead us not into temptation.”

#1 - PRAY FOR PROVISION.

Notice what he says in verse three. Give us each day our daily bread.

So you and I have to understand something here. There is no prayer too big, and there is no prayer too small to request for the Father. Here, he is saying to pray for our daily needs. Bread, this picture of food, a basic need to survive. And it teaches us something here, that we must not forget where our provision comes from. It comes from God.

So let’s just be real here for a second, we don’t often think about this. At least not in America. We typically don’t Praying for our next meal to be provided, or oru needs. Because that’s something we can handle on our own. But here me out, we are more dependent on God than you and I know.

God has a way of revealing our need for him, even in daily necessities, pretty quickly, when we think we have it all together.

Illustration:

Application: God is faithful to provide our needs. Notice what I said there though, needs, not wants. I dont’ believe if you pray for a new F-150 in Jesus Name that is going to give you that. I mean could, but generally, he will not. And that’s not because you don’t have enough faith, its because he provides our needs, not the extras.

One theologian said it really well, in this passage, you are instructed to pray for bread, not dessert.

Brother, sister, if you truly have a need, give it to the Lord. And he is faithful to answer. The rest of scripture proves that this is indeed true. Consider Matthew 6:25-32 here from the sermon on the mount...

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

National Geographic estimates that there are over 50 billion to at the most 430 billion birds in the world today. And God feeds them all. He’s see you as more valubable then they.

If God is faithful to do this for them, surely, he would be faithful to provide for his children their needs. Trust him, and call to him.

Last thing on this, notice that this is not only a prayer for yourself but it is a prayer for others within the body of Christ.

He says Give US each day OUR daily bread. Its in the plural. So when you pray for daily needs, do not pray for your needs alone, but pray for your brothers and sisters as well. That God would provide for them in their needs. Provision is not a singular event, but it is indeed a church-wide matter of prayer. That all brothers and sisters have their basic needs met by the provision of God.

We are to pray not only for provision, but we are also to ...

#2 - PRAY FOR PARDON.

In verse four, he says “forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone that is indebted to us.”

So we pray for forgiveness of our sins. And this brings to a good question. If you are a Christian, and Christ has indeed saved you from your sins, why on Earth is he telling us to ask for forgiveness? Haven’t we been forgiven from our sins? Haven’t we been justified and declared rightesouss by believing in Jesus? Of course! So why are we re-asking for forgiveness.

If you have a parent and a child. Children will do what children will do, and they will inevitably sin against their parents. Now, prayerfully, when a child sins against their parents, it doesn’t change the fact that mom and dad still love their kiddo right? Like its their kid, there is nothing that child could do against his or her parents that would force their parents to change their mind on how they feel about him, no matter how bad it is.

If my little girl grew up into a complete rebel and defied me all the time, I would still love her. Why? Because she’s me kid.

But when a kid sins against his or her parents, while it doesn’t mean that mom and dad won’t love them anymore, it DOES mean that their relationship can be hindered. Right? And isn’t that how it goes in general? When you sin against someone else, it hurst the relationship.

So when it comes to God, yes we can sin against him, as his children, we actually do this all the time (Whether we know it or not), and it will not remove us from his love. But our communion, our withness, our closeness, to him will be hindered. And so daily, he asks you and I confess that and ask for forgiveness. Not so that we would be saved from our sins over and over again here, but so that our relationship with the Lord would continually be growing as he sanctifies us and grows us closer to the image of his son, Jesus.

~~

Interestingly enough, the reason we call this series the disciples prayer is hinged primarily on this verse right here. Because understand something. We typically the Lord’s prayer. What Jesus prays. But wait. This isn’t so much what Jesus himself prays, but its what he wants the disciples to pray. Why do I say that? Because how many times does Jesus pray for forgivenss for his sins in the New Testament? Zero. Because he is sinless. Jesus does not pray this line, asking for forgiveness, because he is the one who gives forgiveness.

The prayer is directed for you and I more so than what Christ himeslf prays.

~~

ALso, and there is an incredible important tagline to this that you must understand. This is contigent on something.

He says forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone that is indebted to us.

In other words, if you want to receive forgiveness, you must be willing to forgive others that have wronged you. Listen, there is no forgiveness to be received for the one who is not willing to give it.

See, if we are willing to ask forgiveness but not willing to deal forgiveness, we are hyprocites. Right? To say, Lord forgive me of my trepasses but not be willing to extend that to a brother or sister who has wronged us. Its us saying we are worthy of forgiveness and they are not.

Charles Spurgeon gives a strong warning about this passage...“Unless you have forgiven others, you have read your own death-warrant when you repeat the Lord’s prayer. “ - Spurgeon. He says that you are reading your own death sentence because God does not forgive those who are not willing to forgive.

John Wesley, pastor and revivalist in the 1700s had a conversation with British General Oglethorpe. Oglethorpe had a repuation of being prideful, bashfull, unapproachable. And in his conversation with the general, the general looked at John Wesley and said, “I Never forgive.” And John Wesley looked back at him and wisely said, “Then I hope, sir, you never sin.”

See a true believer is willing to forgive the sins of others, no matter what. And if we don’t display that willingness, we are missing a deep convviction of God’s Character and his will for us. If there is no forgiveness in you, the love of God is not in you, and you are not a true believer.

God has pardoned, so we pardon others. Its what a mature believer does.

We are to pray for provision, pray for pardon, and finally, we are to...

#3 - PRAY FOR PROTECTION.

The last part of this verse says, lead us not into temptation.

Church family, we have to understand that there is an enemy that seeks to lead you astray from the God. Satan himself, the master manipulator, whos cunning placement of temptation is designed so that you would drift from God, unknowingly, and find yourself in a dark place, wading in sin, and feeling like there is no escape. Like a frog being boiled in water, a Christian slowly giving away to temptation.

We pray that God would lead us away from this. Will this free from all temptation, no. We do know that God indeed allows this, so that we can grow in our faith, believe it or not. Consider the life of Job, whom he had every reason to turn away from the Lord in the midst of his challenges, yet he didn’t. God allowed his son to be tempted by the devil himself in the wildnerness for forty days. Yet, he remained faithful.

Temptation will exist, but God promises a way out of it.

Listen to the words of Paul in 1st Corinthians 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.

God always provides a way out of temptation.

Folks, let’s pray that God would protect us. That he would lead you away from this and remain closely to him.

Conclusion

Let’s pray for provision, let’s pray for pardon, let’s pray for protection. Friend, if you are here today and never trusted in Jesus. Where currently your idenity, the core of who you are is rooted in yourself and not in the salvation of Jesus Christ, where you are a slave to sin, a slave to your nature, you no longer have to be! Christ can pardon your sins today.

You can trust in Jesus, and ask for forgiveness of your sins, and he is faithful to forgive. No matter what you have done! Sin that is in the dark, God has a way of exposing it. But sin that is thrown into the light, through the confession to Jesus, God instead of exposing it, he covers, he forgives it, and he remembers it no more.

Give your sin to him. Give your life to him. Trust in Jesus, and today he will be your savior, your friend, your Father and you will belong to the family of God.