The Lord's Prayer

Notes isn't about many of us as Christians, our lives are about. With so many toys so many things Jesus is giving us a principal here that brings us back to basics simplicities in the principles found in the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. Welcome to Renewing Your Mind. I'm doing well thank you for joining us today. Our teacher is Dr. Sinclair Ferguson. This is a message from a series on the sermon on the Mount. Our focus today is on the Lord's prayer.

I want us to notice as we come to the study to particular things that the Lord's prayer is obviously a pattern for praying, but one of the ways in which we can use it enormously helpfully, is to think of it as a passion for living so that we lounged to live in the presence of God member when I was teenager I came across some little book I really enormously fascinating title fight. The title has really meant much more to me than the book it was written by medieval ground out of the common life and it was entitled the practice of the presence of God. I think one of the things I lounged just from not title the book itself is say it's like acute SAG as they say good things in it.

Not so good things in it but one of the things that we land from that title, but that prayer is not a compartmentalized part of our lives, but no footprint is to sleep out flow of the way in which we actually live our lives before the face of God, but expression but you know Calvin love to use Coram day all we live the whole of our lives in the presence of God on the whole of our lives in communion with God is not as though we become schizophrenic under two different people.

But as we grow as Christians we I think develop a consciousness that we are living in two different worlds on we live in the broader circumference of our lives. Within this circumference in which we are living in God's world and God's presence in company with the heavenly father on this this that so obviously characteristic of the Lord Jesus his life is punctuated by seasons of prayer, but he's able to teach his disciples. This prayer because he understands this is the lifestyle into which he is introducing them life lived in the presence of the heavenly father you know that the prayer is divided into two sections really the first book focuses on God and his glory on the second that focuses on ourselves and our need Martin Luther who you probably know, wrote a wonderful little book for as Babar entitled a simple way to pray, taught his bond how to use this as an outline for all of our prayers.

It is an outline not only for living but it is especially an outline for praying I mentioned Luther because one of Luther's great watchwords was less let God be God.

Let God be God.

And this is what the opening petitions focus our attention on the intersession we make here is that God would be God to us. But God would be seem to be God in the world about God's kingdom would come to the rectification in our lives and so we come to him as we've already seen as our heavenly father and we recognize that that intimacy that we have with him is especially wonderful because his name is holy and because we understand.

His name is holy. We want to see his name treated as holy because we have some kind of idiosyncratic prejudice but when the Lord's name is taken in vain.

It higher science not not not because we were some kind of strange sect because you're speaking about our heavenly father. Think about the reaction but you have been… Somebody says offensive about your wife and this is God. We are speaking about. And so with praying within the world God's name would be recognized as the expression of who God is. So we pray our father, hallowed be your name and then we pray your kingdom come. Notices. Interesting isn't it because when Jesus appeared publicly on the scene. His message was that the kingdom of God has drawn near so if the kingdom of God has already come in the person of Jesus.

Why would we pray that God's kingdom would come in the future course.

The reason for back tears, but God has always worked in history and staging posts. Think about the progress that there is in his self revelation in the Old Testament days of Moses people at the sacrifices and and could catch some sense that the sacrifices pointed them to the great sacrifice, but for example it wasn't until the time of the prophet Isaiah that we get these magnificent pictures of of Jesus as the solvent of God who seems to be coming over the horizon of history and dealing with a deeper spiritual bondage from the People's exile in Babylon and with this marvelous prophecy of the suffering sounds and so that in a sense. Isaiah knew something about the coming Savior, but that Moses didn't know that Abraham didn't know, and the same is true when God brings in his kingdom. It is established in Jesus. He defeats the Lord of this world and know he wants his kingdom to move out into the world of the end of Matthew's gospel kingdom gospel, he sends them into all the world because all authority is given to him, but all authority has not yet been extended into the hearts of all the people. This is what we're praying for until the day comes when the kingdoms of this world will be the kingdoms of our God involved his Christ, and the Lord will reign forever and so we want to see the transforming power of God breaking out into people's lives and then balling the needs of Jesus because the blessings and blessedness to be found in Jesus. That is to be found nowhere else. And then, in a sense removing near home where we are moving from God's majesty and heaven to God's expression of magistrate on and then with praying about that that magistrate in our lives, especially among God's people made you and will be done on the positives and housing. Remember what Jesus had said at the end of Matthew chapter 5B prospect because your heavenly father is perfect, what we praying no with praying that her sweet progress towards the full expression of the father's image in our lives as his will is done in heaven, so his will will be done on our end. This is why we live in the presence of God. It is an auto that the old regions to the father that is displayed in the heavenly court will begin to be displayed in our earthly lives as well on if I can put it this way there will be something obviously heavenly about the way we live on our some of you will know the name of the great 17th-century minister called Richard since and there was a man also, in the 17th century, who wrote a little Pulliam about Richard Sims who was a great and godly man. The author's name was Isaac Walton the anointing about the history of fishing. Isaac Walton is the man who wrote the book the complete angler and Isaac Walton wrote about Richard Sims. These beautiful words.

Let this just praise to that blessed man because in that heaven was in him before he was in heaven. Note, Walton said that because Sims was an outstanding Christian, but actually that's true for every Christian.

The presence of the Holy Spirit, the love of God being shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit means that we taste heaven even in the midst of and as we do that naturally, our desire is let more and more our lives and the lives of God's people will have a heavenly atmosphere about an auger as Jesus has said down there on in the sermon on the Mount, although we are unconscious solvent people will take note of this.

They will see our good works and glorify our father, who is in heaven.

So the alley petitions with taken up with God and his glory. And that means we see that he is adequate for the second half of the prayer.

The second series of petitions because of who he is. We know he is adequate to meet our needs and so we begin to pray about our particular needs.

We begin to pray.

For example, about our daily need for provision give us this day our daily bread has been a great deal of discussion among New Testament scholars is the point about what daily lightning doesn't mean give us enough bread to get us through tomorrow does it mean give us enough bread to get us through today. In a sense that some that's an incidental matter that the scholars can discuss. But the key thing is this that already exists prayer which is a pattern for prayer is also become a pattern in our lives. We are beginning to think in town solve daily dependence on the Lord, we realize no matter how much we have, but the heavenly father does not mean us to live in dependence on what we have, rather than in dependence on him, but you daily bread's already in the supermarket, isn't it and bend in the refrigerator. Perhaps you've a ton of it in the freezer argue you've got all the ingredients for your marvelous breadmaker, so that's not a prayer for the 21st century is a how do we have so much bread. This is the breadbasket of the world. How do we who have so much bread. Can we really pray we being hypocrites and not overly pious when we pray, less of course, what we need to learn is that without our dependence on the Lord and his provision for our needs. We can open the refrigerator door. We can get the bottom line and we can get whatever it is you do like to spread on the Torsten the morning. It's really a prayer that spreads out into all the little details of my life, but I actually don't have it in myself to use the resources but I think belong to myself. Think about certain in so many different ways. Think about it in terms of of the medicines that you may be on just the medicines themselves sure you apart from the sanctifying work of God. I think for example of ways in which sometimes people are marvelously held by Madsen and sometimes not helped or told by Madsen. Why why should that be doesn't doesn't God superintend those things as well. So that really no details of the basic needs of our lives in which we are not saying to the Lord, Lord, I see. Is there but it won't do me any good. It would be an encouragement to me to list for you. Unless you are the one who provides for me my daily bread. And of course one of the things that this does follow says it leads us to live in the presence of God and to live constantly in the dependence of faith. I think in that respect, but all the same.

We we always would like to think that is a plan B. We always would like to think it will be okay Lord want to if I don't trust her, but is a plan B on the loggia signal is no plan B is only one way to live and that is the way of day by day dependence upon the Lord on this does something to us when we pray this way it mixes. I think instinctively ask the question, do I really need it. Do I really need day and I asked my father for this.

All the kinds of things that that you have all would like to have on day you just assume you can have them because the layer see one of the things this prayer does is it it delivers us from the clinging nature of the material world in which we live, in which our lives tend to be measured by the possessions we have the houses we live in the cars we drive on the size of our bank balance and here Jesus is teaching us the principle of prayer, but carries a principle of life do I need this so obviously that I would go to the King of the universe and say give me this day. This gives me this day. This is a kind of litmus test doesn't because there are so many things that our hearts rise to the safe wouldn't it be great if God gave me about that when we learn to pray this way, we are delivered from these things and we long to live without the things we think we need know it's true isn't it that many of us as Christians lives are cluttered up with so many tires so many things in Jesus is giving us a principle here that brings us back to basics simplicities so we pray for our daily bread. We also pray daily apartment license. This is a daily pattern for prayer. We also pray for the forgiveness of our debts on the forgiveness of our sessions and we pray that you notice in a very striking way.

Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors and then just to explain this, Jesus says if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses website about is less but if I am not engaged in forgiving others.

I cannot have experience the forgiveness of God, the forgiveness of God is like a flood that washes on forgiveness of my soul. That's what you say so. We pray father forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors, not as a quid pro quo. If I forgive them. You should forgive me, but in the knowledge that he is a God who comes to us with hands full of forgiveness and as we looked about, forgive contemplated all on forgiveness is washed away out of our lives. Someone said to me just last week in the course of the class I was teaching. I have a friend who says but I am justified and so I don't need to ask for forgiveness. Would you say, the first thing you would say to that would be also so you don't think the Lord's prayer is an irrelevance in your life. The other thing you would say there is less bias in the New Testament with in college to last for forgiveness.

But why do we need to this forgiveness. If we've already been justified because the justification means our sins are pardoned and we are coming to the righteous in God's sight and select question lies in the big word is intent. He is not just the judge who justifies us. He is the heavenly father who enters into a relationship with us.

You know how often people illustrate justification and adoption by saying you know, the judge acquits you many steps down from the bench and says not going to take you home and going to be my son.

Those are two different kinds of relationship would charge once and for all acquits you, but you've got to live with her father for the rest of your life and when you grieve him you need forgiveness. The older writers and a lovely phrase to describe less. They spoke about keeping sharp accounts with God. That's a good way to put it is intent you want so to live in sensitive love for the heavenly father but that you will never grieve him or offend him. This is actually part the Bible means when it speaks about the field of God. The fear of God is not cringing town. The seal of God is the spirit in a child of God that wants to see the father smile on his or her life and wants to avoid ever doing and nothing that would bring a thriving to his face, but sometimes we do, don't worry, we grieve him and we need to come to him and the great thing that we are landing here is when we grieve him we still of this instinct to high heat from him. But whenever we remember he is our heavenly father we go to him and find his fatherly embrace centers.

Father make forgiveness is because we realize we need forgiveness that we also pray father don't lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one would God ever lead us into temptation, but he would never solicit tolerance to temptation, but if you think about it. It wasn't so long ago that Jesus had actually been land into temptation and that ofttimes it seems in the economy of God when in his wisdom, he will expose says to testing and alter that we may resist it and grow stronger as a result, and sometimes like testing can be very severe. You know, we have we have sinful desires, but interesting.

Sometimes we have low sinful desires and with no opportunity to express and sometimes we have opportunities to express sinful desires and but they don't seem to be so powerfully present in our hearts, but sometimes slow locations when that is external opportunity and that is internal desire and when those two things come close to one another. We stand and what the New Testament refers to as the evil day, and we need to put on all the armor of God because he is such a wise insolvent heavenly father. Sometimes the heavenly father will take us places where we would not goal because he wants us to see that he is able to keep us from falling. And he wants to see that we really know that we actually trust him, but it's a fearful thought doesn't that we might find ourselves in a test that we might fail.

And so with praying here in dependence upon them knowing our sinfulness, knowing our tendencies, knowing as Robert Molly McShane says that the seeds of every known sin in our hearts and we pray father so he provides our needs.

He forgives arson the protectors time of temptation course because his father. It's almost unimaginable.

Is it the God who holds the stars in place really cares for his people with patience and kindness as a loving father. Understanding that truth that really puts all of our anxieties and perspective wearing a portion of Dr. Sinclair Ferguson series on the sermon on the mount this week here on Renewing Your Mind were glad you've joined us today in 12 messages. He explains how the sermon on the Mount equips us to live a godly life in this fallen world. We invite you to request this 12 part two DVD set when you give a donation of any amount to look in your ministries. You can reach us at 800-435-4343.

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The sermon on the Mount is Jesus longest discourse. He explains how God's law applies in ways the ancient Israelites never imagined, all pointing to our desperate need for a Savior, God Ferguson is spent many years in the classroom as well as in the pulpit and that he brings that scholarly pastoral approach in providing an in-depth look at the Beatitudes the Lord's prayer and Christ's exhortation to love our enemies. So again, call us today with your donation of any amount and we will send you the series on the sermon on the Mount.

Our number is 800-435-4343 in our web address is Renewing Your Mind.org. Thank you for your support of this ministry at your gifts, allow us to make teaching series like this one available to believers around the world. We rely on the regular, supportive friends, just like you and were grateful tomorrow. Dr. Ferguson will show us how Jesus revealed the one true cure for anxiety during these challenging times. It's a message we need to hear to see right back here Friday for Renewing Your Mind