0:01 So we [clears throat] have reached Matthew chapter 6 in our study of the sermon on the mount. Please turn with me there. And we were thinking about in our last 0:19 study about not practicing our righteousness before men. Verse one, not praying to impress people. verse five and the importance of and it says in 0:37 verse six when you pray go into your inner room and close your door pray to your father in secret. You know the reason why we close our eyes or we should be closing our eyes when we pray is to do what it says in verse six go 0:53 into your inner room and close your door. We close our eyes you're closing the door. That means we're cutting out all the other people. And strictly speaking, that is how we should pray where we know there are people around us, but we are 1:08 closing our eyes and concentrating on Jesus. And I'll tell you, you can't get there overnight. But if you work out your salvation from seeking the approval of men and seeking 1:26 to impress people with your prayer, you can come one day to the place where you will pray in public and you will not be thinking of what are other people thinking of my prayer. Imagine coming to that place where you can pray freely in public and you're not 1:45 bothered what anybody's thinking about your prayer. you're just talking to the Lord and leading people and that's a wonderful place to come to. It took me some years to come there. But I had to work out my salvation from 2:01 seeking to impress people when I pray in public. Otherwise, I wouldn't be there even today. I even today I'd be praying and conscious. Oh, people are listening to me. I better impress them. My brothers, it's a battle. But if you 2:13 break free from it, you'll come to a new level in your Christian life. So close your door and get alone with God. Okay. The other thing he says in verse 7 is when you pray, don't use meaningless repetition. We must mean everything we say. Very 2:32 important. A lot of people say hallelujah without without even knowing what it means. A lot of people say hallelujah without knowing what it means. Hallelujah means praise the Lord. It's in Hebrew. You don't need to say it in Hebrew. You can 2:45 say it in English. Praise the Lord. But some people want to say it in Hebrew. Okay. But then mean it. If you don't mean it, then it's meaningless saying it. So that's very important. Meaningless repetition. And I believe one of the 3:00 most meaningless repetitions that found in Christendom is hallelujah. Meaningless repetition. The heathen people do that. They repeat something. Something the priest tells them in their temple to repeat and they don't know what it means and they repeat 3:14 it. And a lot of Christians are like that. We shouldn't be like that. We must think of what I'm saying because I'm talking to Jesus. And I don't want to say something which I don't even know what I'm saying. So don't use words just because you hear 3:28 other people say it. Speak meaningfully to the Lord in prayer. Very very important even when you pray alone and when you pray in public to meaningfully speak every word just like you would when you speak to another human being. 3:43 You mean what you say and it should be real when we pray to God. That's very important. And he says don't it's the heathen verse 7 who do meaningless repetitions. Okay. Then he gave us a patterned prayer to pray. He didn't say that you must repeat 4:00 this. He said pray in this way. That's important to notice in this way. That means this should be the general pattern of all our prayers. It don't have to be the exact words. So you need to understand what is the pattern here and 4:18 uh what does it mean in this way and then as you read through the whole prayer from verse 9 all the way to verse 13. What you see is very contrary to the way we pray. It's almost as though most of us have 4:37 never read this plant at all because Jesus said whenever your whole prayer life must be in this way. That doesn't mean that every single time we pray we have to follow this pattern but our attitude in prayer must be primarily 4:54 Lord I want your name to be hallowed and glorified. That's the number one request. Now we can say that we can divide this prayer first of all into two parts. First is verse 9 and 10 is talking about the glory of God and his kingdom and his 5:13 will being done. In other words, our focus is on God. Then we come down to our needs. Verse 11, our daily bread, the our sins and freedom from sin. And then we conclude again by saying the glory, the kingdom, 5:32 the power are yours. So the main thing the Lord was trying to teach us here when he said pray then in this way is if you want to pray in the correct way put God first. Like like I've often said the first words in your Bible are 5:49 in the beginning God. That's how it must be in our daily life. I've told people as soon as you wake up in the morning in the beginning God. Think about him. As soon as you wake up like while you're still lying in your bed look up to God and 6:04 talk to him. And in in everything in our life, if you put God in the beginning, many many things fall into the proper place. It's when we don't put God in the beginning that so many things go wrong. So what the Lord was teaching us here in 6:22 this prayer is put God in the beginning. That means God's needs before your needs. Seek first the kingdom of God. And then he he goes on later on to say that in verse 33 of this verse. Seek his kingdom first and the other things you need will 6:37 be added to you. See that's the principle. The heathen don't pray like that. They as soon as they start their prayer say Lord I need this and I need this and I want I have a problem here and a problem there and I want I've got a I need some 6:52 money here and I see there's some sickness in my family. Take care of all that. And it's not just the heathen. A lot of Christians are just like the heathen. It's almost as though they've completely ignored what Jesus said here. 7:07 I've observed as I've seen the lives of not only Christians but seen my own life in the days when I didn't take these words seriously and I grew up in a church where they never taught me to put God first. Imagine being in a Christian 7:21 church which speaks about being born again and they never taught me to put God first in every area. Most churches are like that. Where which church tells you you must put God first in everything? Hardly any church. And yet that's what Jesus was teaching all 7:35 the time. And he was teaching that a lot of things go wrong in your life because you don't put God first. You think if you put your own needs first, your problem will be solved. No. Wrong. You put God first then your problems are 7:46 solved. I can prove that for many many years in my life. And you should be able to prove that in your life so that one day you can say the same thing I say. Put God first and all your problems get sorted out in every area. Put God first. 8:00 It may take time. It's not that things will happen overnight. But if you put God first, so many other things get sorted out. Our father, hallowed be your name. In other words, the Lord is teaching us to be to concentrate on your name, your 8:18 kingdom, your will. Now think of that in relation to not just prayer should be a way of life where my uppermost concern is God's name should be glorified in this earth. It's not being glorified. 8:36 Most people 99% of people don't glorify God's name. 99% of people don't see God's kingdom. They're not interested in God's will. This completely contrary to what 99% of the world are seeking. And we going to be that small 1% less than 8:49 1% 0001%. Then it says God my primary desire is that your name should be glorified in my life. Your name should be respected and honored in the world and beginning with me and your kingdom must come to this earth. I'm longing for the day when 9:06 righteousness will come into this earth and your will must be done. Now no use saying that if I don't really mean it. Now, we'll mean it if we believe with all of our heart that God's will is the best for you. Which human being doesn't 9:21 want the best for them? Children want the best for them and adults, we want the best for us. And God says this is the best for you. Do you believe that God's will is the best for you? Many people don't believe that. They're 9:34 afraid to seek God's will. A lot of pe young people considering marriage, they're scared to say, "Lord, give me the girl you have chosen." Oh, they think God will put some terribly wicked, ugly girl, marry her. They They don't understand God's a 9:50 loving father. They They have all these crazy ideas. Lord, you choose the job I should have. Oh, he'll give you some terrible job where the salary is so low where you used to struggle. That's the idea people have about God. So many false ideas the 10:08 devils put in their head. They're afraid to say, "Lord, I want your will." Well, I'll tell you my testimony today after many, many years when I've sought I sought God's will in marriage. I sought God's will in what I should do in my 10:19 life. I sought God's will in my movements and everything. And I can tell you after 60 years, more than 60 years. It's the best life you can ever live. The best possible life you can ever live on earth if you and I've been a 10:31 Christian now 67 years. And it's the best possible life you can ever live. And you should have a testimony like that as you grow older that you can tell your children and tell others to whom you testify the best possible life you 10:44 can. Not that you won't have any troubles. You'll have a lot of troubles but those troubles will make you strong. It's like those troubles will be like going to a gym and building up your muscles. So I've had lots of problems in 10:56 my life particularly being a servant of the Lord. But it's exactly like going to a gym. It's made give me spiritual muscles that I would never have had if I hadn't been sent by God into this gym called the world full of trial and 11:09 troubles. So keep that in mind and you put God first in everything and you'll find everything else falls into proper place and then it's not that we God doesn't care for our needs but it's putting it in the proper place. It's 11:25 something like to me I look at it like this. People who don't put God first in their life are walking on their hands with their legs up in the air. That's crazy. It's difficult to move or crawling like animals. Put your head 11:41 up in the air. That's the way God wants a man to live. Put God first and then we can pray. And you know the very fact that Jesus puts our earthly physical needs first when it comes to our prayer. 11:58 Even before forgive us our sins. I mean if I were writing that prayer I would say first of all let's forgive our sins. The daily bread can wait. No Jesus is so realistic. I love that he asked us to pray for our daily food more before we 12:14 pray for forgiveness of sins. Isn't that good that he loves us so much? He's concerned when he say daily bread it includes food, clothing, shelter, everything. If you don't have that, where will you be? You can't be occupied 12:30 with getting your forgiveness of sins because you you the needs on earth are so real and the Lord is trying to tell us I'm very interested in food, clothing, and shelter for you. Don't think I'm only interested in spiritual 12:43 things in your life. I think that's the message I get from that. The first earthly request is give me my daily bread. Give me a place to stay. Give me a house to live in. Give me a job so that I can earn my daily bread. That's 12:56 also there in that. How can I get my daily bread if I don't have a job? So that's included. The Oh Lord, give me a job. It's that comes before me sins. What does that teach us? It teaches us that the Lord is very interested in the 13:12 very ordinary practical things of your daily life. He wants you to get a job. He wants you to earn a living. That's the only way you can get the your daily bread. And in a world of insecurity with job jobs and all, it shows you how much the Lord is 13:28 interested in helping us [clears throat] in our very downto- earthth earthly needs. Heavenly Father, give me my daily bread. I need it. And I believe you're the one who gives it. If I can see that my earthly needs are something God is very 13:45 interested in. My earthly needs includes a house to live in, a job to support myself and food, clothing, shelter, all these things. God is very interested in that. That's what I get in that first request of our when there shifts from God's 14:02 glory and then when it comes to my needs first of all my earthly physical needs that shows how much God loves us you know just like little children when your children grow up what are they thinking of first they're thinking of their 14:17 earthly needs they need food shelter and that's the Lord teaches us like children then gradually we tell them about forgiveness of sins that's the order Here give us this day our daily bread which which teaches us that God is 14:30 interested in all our earthly needs. When it says daily bread, it includes everything earthly and then we can ask God to forgive us our sins. Sin is a debt. I don't know whether you see that like that that it's like you borrowed money from somebody or 14:47 you took somebody's money. Better to think of it like that. Not that you borrowed, you stole somebody's money, you're in debt to that person. When I sin, I've stolen something from God and I'm asking him to forgive me. And 15:06 he's asks us to forgive. You see this? Forgive us. Let me read it like this. Uh, heavenly father, please forgive me my sins in exactly the same way as I have forgiven that other guy who hurt me and forgiven that other person who did a 15:25 lot of evil to me some years ago and exactly like I forgiven that like that person who cheated me and deprived me of something and the Lord asked how did you forgive him? How did you forgive that other person who cheated you and deprived you? You 15:45 want me to forgive you in exactly the same way? Are you meaning what you say? There are some people who find it difficult to forgive their husbands and wives. Can you say, "Lord, forgive me exactly like I have forgiven my wife. Exactly 16:01 like I have forgiven my husband for everything. All the stupid things he or she has done, I forgiven." because I'm praying father you forgive me in the way I have forgiven others and if you don't have a deep assurance in your heart my brother sister that god 16:17 has forgiven you completely probably the reason is that you're asking God to forgive you the way you forgive others and that's the way we should pray and God is forgiving you the way you forgive others which is keeping grudges in your 16:32 heart and uh holding something against him and always remembering that rotten some guy who did so much to me and the Lord you're asking God to forgive you like that. So be very careful when you pray this prayer. This is the way we should pray. 16:50 Forgive me Lord in exactly the same way as I have forgiven that person and now think for a moment right now of different people in your life who harmed you and hated you and did harm to you and especially did harm to your children 17:05 or to your family. and made you suffer some loss or maybe you lose your job or maybe you lose something. Think of somebody like that. Can you think of one person like that? How have you forgiven him? And you're asking God to forgive you in exactly the 17:17 same way. I believe many people don't have a free fellowship with God because they haven't forgiven others. And later on he went on to say that verse 14 and 15, if you forgive others, your heavenly father will forgive you. 17:34 That's a a big capital I if and if you don't forgive others verse 15 your father will not forgive your transgression. See there are many requests in this prayer. Three requests for God's glory kingdom and name. Then request for forgi uh food 17:51 forgiveness and overcoming temptation. Six requests. And interestingly, out of all the six requests, at the end of the prayer, he picks out only one of those six and emphasizes it. Out of the six requests, he picks out one. 18:08 And he says, "Now I finished telling you what you should pray. And out of these six requests, I want to emphasize one particularly because that's very, very important. If you don't, if you forgive others, your heavenly father will forgive you. 18:24 And if you don't forgive others, your heavenly father will not forgive you. Now I want to ask you, what will happen to a person if he dies without having forgiven somebody? Apply it to yourself. Supposing you die tonight. 18:41 I hope you won't, but if you die tonight and you have not forgiven somebody right now and you die in that condition, it says here your father wouldn't forgive you. Is there some place after death where you can get some forgiveness 18:58 so that you go to heaven? So my question is this. If a person dies without having forgiven somebody and according to this words of Jesus, God does not forgive him. Where will he go? I don't know what you think. I say I don't care how long he's been a 19:16 believer. He's he'll absolutely certainly go to hell. Even if he's a believer for 25 years because he didn't forgive someone. Why do I say that? It's not because I want him to go to hell. I'm just saying I don't know about the future and 19:34 eternity. There's only one person who came to this earth who knows about the future and eternity and that's Jesus. And he said whatever you may say if you don't forgive others your father will not forgive you. You see that's 19:46 referring to people who don't know the Lord. No he didn't say God won't forgive you. Please read verse 15. If he said God won't forgive you. Ah, then he's talking about unconverted people. He said, "Your father." 20:03 Your father. Who's he talking to now? He's not talking to the unbelievers. He's talking to less than 1% of people. Do you know that there are less than 1% of people in the world who are really born again? I know that because I've traveled to so 20:17 many countries and I met so many types of Christians and I'm absolutely convinced that less than 1% of people in the world are born again. Less than 1% of people in the world are God's children. It'd be I'd be surprising if it is 20:31 anywhere near 1% is much less than 1%. That small number is the one who have a right to call God their father, our father who art in heaven. And he tells that small group of people, I mean, you're a small group of people on 20:49 your way to heaven, but you won't get there if you die without forgiving somebody. Now, it wasn't like that in the Old Testament. The Old Testament, you know, where God gives less light to people, he expects less. It's like saying a child in the 21:09 first grade when they're doing a math problem. What type of problems will a teacher give to a first grade student? Add, subtract, very simple things. It won't be complicated things like long division and many many other things in 21:28 mathematics. No. So God also treats people at the level they are. And in the Old Testament, the level was so low compared to the New Testament. It's like it's almost like heaven and earth. I'll tell you why I say that. Because 21:45 Israel was an earthly people. All the promises in the Old Testament given to Israel was earthly. And all the promises given to Christians in the New Testament are heavenly primarily. And so because they were an earthly 22:03 people, God did not tell them that if you don't forgive others, you won't be forgiven. To whom more is given, more is required. If to use an illustration if God gave suppos supposeding you're working in a company and you're 22:22 traveling with some money to some distant place to do some to go and purchase something for the company and he's given one person $10 and he's given another person $10 million to buy something for the company. He's obviously going to expect much more. The 22:35 company's going to expect more from the person who was sent into the market to buy $10 million worth of stuff for the company and much less from the person who was sent into the world to buy $10 worth of stuff for the company. That's 22:46 exactly the difference between a person who lived under the Old Testament and the New Testament. Tremendous difference that God doesn't expect that. I'll tell you why. If you read in when you get time, you read in one Kings chapter 2, 23:02 you'll read about David. how he died. He died without forgiving somebody. And I ask people, where do you think he went? I think David went to heaven. How did he go to heaven without forgiving that Shimi who cursed him? 23:21 He he even told Solomon, he says, "Don't spare that fellow. Kill him because he cursed me." That and the next sentence says, "David died. He goes to heaven. to whom less is given, less is required. But today, 23:39 God could not David could not call God his father. No, he was God. But today, when you say God is my father and you don't forgive others, I believe with all my heart, such a person will go to hell. I don't have any doubt about it in my heart. Clear as 23:58 crystal. So, it's very, very important. Forgive us our sins as we forgive others. And Lord don't lead us into temptation means don't lead us into temptation that is too strong for us. So it's an expression of weakness. You know 24:11 whenever I'm praying I'm expressing my weakness. Lord I I don't need to pray if I'm strong. The very fact that I pray shows I'm weak. And one of the areas I'm tremendously weak is temptation. Lord please don't lead me into 24:22 temptation that's too strong for me. God will not do it. There's a promise in 1 Corinthians 10:13 which says God will not allow you to be tempted beyond your ability. But he still wants us to pray. Lord, don't lead me into temptations 24:35 that are too strong for me. But deliver me from all evil. Deliver me from the I don't want any evil. I don't want It's like we don't want to touch dirt. I don't want to. Evil is like a dirty thing. I don't want to have anything to do with it. I don't 24:49 want to be like a pig wallowing in the dirt. Keep me away from all evil. And Lord, when you've done that, I will acknowledge yours is the kingdom, yours is the power, and I'll give you all the glory. And at the end of God, having 25:03 answered all our prayer, we say, Lord, I don't want any credit for myself. I want to give all the glory to you. This is so very important that we take this prayer seriously. Putting God's desires first, putting our desires, put 25:20 the kingdom of God first and these other things will be added to you. So there are some very important things in this prayer that we need to think about and there is a book of mine which you can even look up on the internet also the 25:34 CFC website called God centered praying. It's a book entirely about the Lord's prayer. [snorts] So if you get time you you can read it and you can it's just an explanation of verses 9 to 15. So let's concentrate on that and say 25:53 Lord please make my prayer more like what you want us to pray at all times because he said pray then in this way that means basically all my prayers should be in this way as I've said when you begin the day 26:13 as soon as you open your eyes talk to your heavenly father first and worship him. Give him the glory due unto his name and say, "Lord, I want you to put you first my life." Say, "Lord, you want to live a life dependent on him." In the same way, when 26:31 you come to the end of the day, before you go to bed, ask the Lord to forgive you your sins as you have forgiven others and to give you a peaceful sleep at night. I believe we should ask God to give us sleep at night. I do that 26:45 regularly. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your care and love for us. We want to be, you know, that even when you ask us to forgive others, it's for our good because our life becomes healthier when we have forgiven others. Help everyone 27:03 here to be gripped by this. Lord, help us to honor you in our lives. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
