WEBVTT 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:12.800 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:22.800 Have a copy of God's Word with you this morning. 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:26.640 I would encourage you to open it to Matthew's Gospel. 00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:36.880 As we continue our study in what Matthew has written about the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:44.240 We were going to take a break from Matthew's Gospel after this morning's. 00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:49.920 This will be the last time we're in this gospel, probably until the first of the year. 00:00:50.479 --> 00:00:51.359 First of the new year. 00:00:51.439 --> 00:00:56.640 So we're going to take a couple of months off, but you're going to have to come back next week to see what we're doing in between now and then. 00:00:56.719 --> 00:00:58.320 So I'm not going to give you that beforehand. 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:00.799 You'll have to come back next week to see where we're going. 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:08.079 But this morning we're going to finish up the Lord Jesus' teaching on prayer in Matthew chapter 6. 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:14.799 Now last Sunday I had a little giveaway of a little book by J.C. 00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:17.359 Rile, Do You Pray? 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:26.000 And then a couple of weeks before that, I encouraged you to find a biography or even his autobiography by George Mueller. 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:33.439 George Mueller was a man who was so trusting of his God. 00:01:34.239 --> 00:01:40.719 He ran orphanages in England during a time when there were hundreds, if not thousands, of orphans in England. 00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:48.000 And he ran those orphanages entirely on faith in God, trusting God to provide everything that was needed. 00:01:48.239 --> 00:02:01.920 I've got a few illustrations that I'm going to share with you this morning from that, but I really want to encourage you, if you want to be challenged in your faith and your trust of the God who provides, find a biography of George Mueller. 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:04.719 More on that in a few minutes. 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:13.919 Matthew chapter 6 is where we are this morning, beginning in verse 11, in the second half of the Lord Jesus' teaching on prayer. 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:27.360 So he says in verse 11 that we are to ask God to give us this day our daily bread, to forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:32.319 Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:37.680 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 00:02:37.919 --> 00:02:45.759 But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:46.960 Amen. 00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:52.240 Guys, do we have my slides available up there? 00:02:56.479 --> 00:03:07.120 In eighteen forty-two, the orphanage orphanage run by George Mueller in England had run out of resources entirely. 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:11.520 They had no food, they had no funds available. 00:03:12.479 --> 00:03:14.639 That was not an uncommon situation. 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:16.080 In fact, it was very common. 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:22.560 And George Mueller has always steadfastly refused to ask anyone for money. 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:24.879 He simply prayed. 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:32.080 God had always supplied their needs, and George always believed that God would continue to supply their needs. 00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:35.919 Because whenever George Mueller prayed, God supplied. 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:37.840 There had always been enough. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:43.199 There wasn't often more than enough, but there was always enough. 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:49.360 Except on this particular day in 1842, there was not enough. 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:53.039 So George did what George did best. 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:57.840 He gathered some of his friends together and prayed again. 00:03:58.879 --> 00:04:08.159 And he anticipated that when the mail came that morning, that the Lord would provide something in the mail for the orphanage. 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:14.080 When the daily mail came, there was nothing in it to meet the needs of the orphanage. 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:20.480 Then, at the last possible moment, a special delivery letter arrived. 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:25.600 It arrived late because it had originally been delivered to the wrong address. 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:32.319 And that delivery contained a large gift from someone in another city. 00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:49.199 The arrival of that letter at that particular time, in a sort of misdirected way, meant that God had begun to answer George Mueller's prayer before George Mueller ever prayed. 00:04:51.600 --> 00:05:04.879 Through a series of interwoven events, through different people having different thoughts and convictions and the timing of several different individuals, God provided at a critical moment. 00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:11.759 And that sort of event happened over and over and over again in George Mueller's life, some say hundreds of times. 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:25.279 George's biographer writes that George and those who served with him sang this song, and I quote, I believe God answers prayer, answers always, everywhere. 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:33.040 I may cast my anxious care, burdens I could never bear, on the God who hears my prayer. 00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:44.319 Never need my soul despair, since he bids me boldly dare to the secret place repair, there to prove he answers prayer. 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:49.439 George Mueller knew his God. 00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:53.680 And he knew how to trust his God. 00:05:54.160 --> 00:05:59.439 And he knew how to pray as Jesus teaches us to pray in Matthew chapter 6. 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:05.680 And it's my hope and my prayer that the Lord will give us the grace to learn to pray in that same way. 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:12.079 And as we learn to pray, to learn to trust who our God is, because he is the God who provides. 00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:21.920 Now, this pattern for prayer that Jesus gives us here, that we often call the Lord's Prayer, focuses on two distinct aspects of prayer. 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:33.680 The primary area is praying for God's glory through the presentation of his purpose and his plan that we would pray that God would do what God's going to do to bring glory to his name. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:39.439 We saw that that is driven by the relationship that God has with his children. 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:49.600 As we come to faith in Christ, we are adopted into his family, given his name, and he becomes our Father who is in heaven. 00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:57.439 There's this assumption then that we have a relationship that gives us direct access to the God of heaven. 00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:02.560 Through the finished work of Christ on the cross, we become his children. 00:07:02.639 --> 00:07:13.759 And so it takes us back to the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount in chapter 5 with the Beatitudes where we are the poor in spirit, to whom belongs the kingdom of heaven. 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:33.759 And if we learn anything from this pattern of prayer given to the disciples, we have to learn that prayer begins with God and his glory, with God and his purpose and his plan, not with me, not with my wants and my needs. 00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:38.560 I have a book in my library entitled Praying Backwards. 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:43.279 When I first purchased it, I thought, well, that's that's a weird title. 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:44.480 Makes me curious. 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:46.480 I want to know what that's about. 00:07:46.959 --> 00:07:48.160 Praying backwards. 00:07:48.399 --> 00:07:54.079 Its thesis is that in our culture today, we have it backwards. 00:07:54.720 --> 00:07:59.439 That we need to pray the way we often end our prayers. 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:01.920 So we need to have the end of our prayers at the beginning. 00:08:02.079 --> 00:08:03.680 How do we often end our prayers? 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:05.439 In Jesus' name? 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:07.360 He says, we have that backwards. 00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:10.639 Let's start in Jesus' name. 00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:25.199 If we pray without beginning in Jesus' name, without seeking God's glory through the accomplishment of his plans and his purpose, then we're not following the pattern that the Lord Jesus has given us. 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:34.159 Now, thousands of years ago, God gave the Ten Commandments, or literally the Ten Words, to Israel. 00:08:34.399 --> 00:08:37.679 And those Ten Commandments were patterned in this same way. 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:46.080 They start by directing the worshiper to who God is, to his character, to his purpose, to his plan. 00:08:47.039 --> 00:08:53.919 They direct the people of God to look to him first, to worship and obey him. 00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:56.639 That's what Jesus does. 00:08:56.879 --> 00:08:58.320 That's how he teaches us to pray. 00:08:58.480 --> 00:09:02.879 Now that's not to say that there's no room for our needs. 00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:10.240 We just need to make sure that our needs don't surpass the glory of God. 00:09:10.879 --> 00:09:13.440 Now we think, oh, I would never do that. 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:14.879 I don't want to do that. 00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:17.120 I would not do that on purpose. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:27.600 But too often we participate in idolatry by placing any number of things in our lives before the glory of God. 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:34.960 How many times do we pray to God on the very first thing we do is pray something about our wants and our needs and our desires? 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:44.799 If our own needs come before God's purpose and God's plan, if our prayer is self-centered, that is a form of idolatry. 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:55.519 So this pattern given by the Lord Jesus is designed to direct us away from that and to focus first on our Father who is in heaven. 00:09:56.799 --> 00:10:03.279 That's the primary focus of this disciple's prayer: God's glory, who he is and what he's done. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:10.639 But the second half of it is primarily about our condition as human beings. 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:18.240 In verses 11 through 15, we begin to see there's a shift from who God is to who we are. 00:10:19.279 --> 00:10:25.440 Specifically, Jesus speaks of three different areas in our lives for which we should pray. 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:31.440 So we find here prayer for our daily needs, prayer for grace and for mercy. 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:35.039 All in this, all found in this blueprint for prayer. 00:10:35.440 --> 00:10:41.919 So after focusing our attention on the Father, we are taught to bring our personal needs to him. 00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:47.519 And don't miss how astounding that is. 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:31.039 He is the undisputed ruler of this kingdom. 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:35.919 Everything answers to him, everything bows to him, everything will bow to him. 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:40.000 By grace through faith, we now have access to that kingdom. 00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:50.159 And yet that king, that undisputed monarch, cares enough about the Father's children to tell us to come right to the Father's throne to tell him our needs. 00:11:51.039 --> 00:11:52.480 Can you believe it? 00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:56.799 It's astounding. 00:11:57.600 --> 00:12:02.080 And what's more, he has provided a way to do that. 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:06.320 He says, Do that through prayer. 00:12:07.039 --> 00:12:13.039 And so he begins to tell us now in verse 11 how we ought to do that. 00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:16.879 Just right. 00:12:17.519 --> 00:12:19.840 Tell God about your daily needs. 00:12:20.960 --> 00:12:22.159 It's pretty simple, isn't it? 00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:24.720 Give us this day our daily bread. 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:27.519 But is it is it really that simple? 00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:31.919 Notice here that Jesus uses a plural pronoun. 00:12:32.639 --> 00:12:33.279 Our. 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:36.320 Give us this day, our daily needs. 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:39.440 There's no instruction here to pray for for me. 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:43.440 There's no I, there's no me in this passage. 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:45.840 Singular pronouns aren't used. 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:49.679 That's not to say that we don't bring our personal needs to the Father. 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:55.919 There are other passages of scripture that display praying for personal needs, and we'll look at some of them in a moment. 00:12:56.399 --> 00:13:01.759 The focus here, though, is not on who is receiving the daily bread. 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:06.399 The focus is on who is providing the daily bread. 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:11.440 To whom do you go for your daily bread? 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:17.679 On whom do you depend for your daily provisions? 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:25.759 Is your spirit directed toward your father's hand to receive from him your daily provision? 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:30.320 Or do you trust in your weekly paycheck for that? 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:35.440 There's another aspect to this, I think. 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:41.279 The use of plural pronouns is probably intended to be a challenge to us. 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:52.320 Many of you may have a pattern of prayer where you begin each day praying to God and praying that He maybe even would provide for your daily needs. 00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:57.840 But how often do we pray for the needs of the rest of our Father's children? 00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:07.840 How many times do we pray that the Lord would supply the needs of our fellowship here at Faith Evangelical Free Church? 00:14:09.039 --> 00:14:17.759 I think part of the Lord's intent here is to move our focus off of ourselves and onto the body of Christ as a whole. 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:20.399 Now, what happens when we do that? 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:28.720 What happens when we begin to pray for the needs of our Christian brothers and sisters, both in this fellowship, in our community, and across the world? 00:14:29.600 --> 00:14:33.120 Well, if you do that, here's what will happen. 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:39.919 You will begin to notice that you're concerned about other people. 00:14:40.159 --> 00:14:44.080 You'll begin to wonder, I wonder, I wonder how their needs are being met. 00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:50.320 You'll begin to think about other people, have a watchfulness, even a desire to help meet others' needs. 00:14:50.799 --> 00:14:59.759 We think a part of what Jesus is doing here is directing our attention off of ourselves first by focusing on our God and then by focusing on other people. 00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:10.320 So we should be challenged to not only pray for our own provision, of our own needs on a daily basis, but for the needs of others as well. 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:14.399 And so he tells us to pray for our bread. 00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:23.200 Often that was a term used to just refer to physical sustenance, what you need to survive on a daily basis. 00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:30.720 But I think Matthew has already told us that there's more to life than just what you eat. 00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:33.519 Let's think about this for a minute. 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:40.399 He says, to pray to our Father who is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread. 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:45.360 So we have a Father who is in heaven, and it's from him that we are to seek our food, right? 00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:47.519 Why would we do that? 00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:50.240 Well, let's think about a few passages of scripture. 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:56.639 First from Psalm 104, beginning in verse 14, and then going into the later part of that text. 00:15:56.799 --> 00:16:08.320 He says, You, speaking of God, cause the grass to grow for livestock, plants to grow for man to cultivate, so that we have food to eat. 00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:14.559 We have wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make your face shine, and bread to strengthen a man's heart. 00:16:14.720 --> 00:16:24.399 And then he goes on in that psalm, you can look at it for yourself, to talk about various aspects of God's creation, kinds of animals, kinds of fish in this world. 00:16:24.639 --> 00:16:28.720 And then he says this later on in the Psalm, beginning in verse 27. 00:16:29.759 --> 00:16:33.120 All of these things look to you. 00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:38.799 To give them their food in due season. 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:43.840 When you give it to them, they gather it up. 00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:46.080 They take it in. 00:16:46.799 --> 00:16:49.759 When you open your hand, they are filled with good things. 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:58.399 Now that that shouldn't surprise us, even if you don't know your Old Testament, because Jesus says that same thing later on in chapter 6, in verse 26. 00:16:58.559 --> 00:17:00.799 He says, Look at the birds of the air. 00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:12.880 They don't sow seed, they don't reap in the harvest, they don't gather up supplies into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:16.319 See what Jesus is doing? 00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:20.160 He's pointing us to the nature of our father. 00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:34.960 He's not some guy who has a gambling addiction and doesn't bring home a penny of his paycheck. 00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:42.400 He's a father who has endless resources, who loves to provide for his children. 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:46.880 If you have any questions about that, all you have to do is look at the birds. 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:49.359 That's your father. 00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:59.359 And so you are to come to him and ask him to open his hand to give to you. 00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:07.440 Now we need to we need to be a little careful there because a guy by the name of Agur in Proverbs chapter 30 said this to God. 00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:14.000 He said, God, don't give me too little and don't give me too much. 00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:16.640 Don't give me poverty and don't give me riches. 00:18:16.880 --> 00:18:20.240 Instead, just feed me with the food that I need. 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:28.079 And so come to the point where I say, Well, who's God? 00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:29.279 What's he done for me? 00:18:30.799 --> 00:18:35.839 He says, I don't want to be so poor that I have to steal and bring dishonor to your name. 00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:44.559 So Jesus encourages his child to come to your father for today's provision. 00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:46.640 Today's provision. 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:54.400 But remember that our daily needs are not just what goes in our mouths. 00:18:55.359 --> 00:19:00.160 There's much more that we need for nourishment than food. 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:02.799 We've already heard that from Jesus' own mouth. 00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:06.000 Just look back at chapter or two at chapter 4 and verse 4. 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:08.799 Jesus is out in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights. 00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:13.920 He's hungry, he's weak, and Satan comes along and says, You're the Son of God. 00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:17.920 What's the big deal about turning a few stones into some bread to fill your stomach? 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:19.839 What does Jesus say? 00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:28.240 Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:35.759 Jesus said, Listen, there's more to your daily needs than simply physical sustenance. 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:45.839 He's referring back to the Old Testament, to Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse 3, where God, through Moses, is reminding Israel of what God did for them. 00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:50.480 Moses reminds them of 40 years of wandering in the desert. 00:19:51.039 --> 00:19:53.680 And he reminds Israel that God humbled them. 00:19:53.839 --> 00:19:54.640 How did he humble them? 00:19:54.799 --> 00:19:58.160 By taking them into a desert where there was no food and no water. 00:19:58.559 --> 00:20:01.200 And yet what did what did God do? 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:03.519 He fed you with manna. 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:07.839 Manna is a word that simply means, what is it? 00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:10.960 They didn't know what it was. 00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:15.119 God said, This is bread from heaven. 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:21.759 And he said, You take what you need for today, because if you keep any over for tomorrow, it's gonna rot and stink and grow worms. 00:20:22.559 --> 00:20:25.200 He said, I'm only giving you what you need for today. 00:20:25.279 --> 00:20:26.880 This is your daily bread. 00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:30.079 You didn't know anything about it, your fathers didn't know anything about it. 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:32.319 Now, why in the world would God do that to them? 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:37.200 Why would God cause them to have to trust him day after day for their daily bread? 00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:41.279 Well, he says, I want you to know that you don't live by bread alone. 00:20:43.440 --> 00:20:50.000 It's not just about what you take into your body or what you wrap your body with on a daily basis. 00:20:51.119 --> 00:20:55.519 For your survival, you need the word of God on a daily basis. 00:20:56.400 --> 00:20:59.279 And God has given it to you, He has handed it to you. 00:20:59.359 --> 00:21:03.440 So he says, Jesus says, Go to your Father for what you need for today. 00:21:03.680 --> 00:21:09.519 Yes, physical sustenance, but don't forget what is even more essential, your spiritual sustenance. 00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:13.039 And he tells us to focus on the needs of a single day. 00:21:13.200 --> 00:21:15.279 Give us today's bread. 00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:22.480 You know, there are many cultures throughout the world, even today, that only prepare as much food as they can eat in a day. 00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:23.440 No more. 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:27.119 They just prepare their food, their food, their bread for today. 00:21:27.680 --> 00:21:31.680 It's made up and then it's eaten and consumed that day. 00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:40.559 And I wonder if there isn't a personal challenge to our faith that is implicit in that prayer lesson. 00:21:41.359 --> 00:21:45.119 We live in a time and place where we want to stock up. 00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:48.240 We're encouraged to stock up. 00:21:49.599 --> 00:21:53.359 All you have to do is go to the grocery store the day before a snowstorm. 00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:57.119 And you can see our tendency, right? 00:21:59.200 --> 00:22:02.960 Some of you Want to have a week's worth of meals in the freezer. 00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:07.200 I've heard of people who prepare a week's a week's meals in advance. 00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:12.319 It's comfortable to us to have a fully stocked pantry. 00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:29.039 But when Jesus tells us to pray for today's bread, he's telling us to move our focus on trust in our pantry to our father's hand. 00:22:31.519 --> 00:22:40.799 He says, Don't have your trust in your pantry, but your trust in your father because he cares for his children. 00:22:42.319 --> 00:23:00.000 By seeking for today's bread from our father, we are acknowledging we depend on him for even our most basic needs, that we're not trusting in our paycheck, we're not trusting in our employer's stability, we're not trusting in what we have stocked up, we are trusting in our Father. 00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:04.160 It's the Father's grace that we have such abundance today. 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:11.599 If we really had to, many of us could probably live for days or even weeks just on what we have in our homes today. 00:23:13.680 --> 00:23:18.400 But what does that do for our trust in our Father's provision? 00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:20.720 I'm not saying don't stock up. 00:23:21.119 --> 00:23:22.240 That's not the point. 00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:37.519 The point is that our prayers must be settled, not in our jobs, not in our paychecks or in our pantries, but in our Father who knows what we need and who loves to provide. 00:23:43.599 --> 00:23:47.920 In his diary dated on yesterday's date, October 26th. 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:59.519 He wrote, Yesterday morning, when I took my hat from the rail, I found in one of my gloves a note containing a five-pound note. 00:23:59.759 --> 00:24:03.599 Remember, he's in English, England, so their money's in pounds. 00:24:04.400 --> 00:24:17.359 Found in one of my gloves, stuck in my hat, a note containing a five-pound note, and the following words, quote, two pounds for the orphans, the rest for dear brother and sister Mueller. 00:24:18.640 --> 00:24:19.680 End quote. 00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:25.920 There came in still further yesterday two pounds, twelve shillings and sixpence. 00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:30.799 Thus we are again supplied for about three days. 00:24:38.960 --> 00:24:57.599 In reference to the note which was put into my hat, containing the five pounds, I just add that I had repeatedly asked the Lord for means for our own personal expenses previous to the reception of it, because we had but very little money for ourselves. 00:24:57.920 --> 00:25:10.640 Indeed, the very moment before I took my hat from the rail, I had risen from my knees, having again asked the Lord for means for ourselves and for the orphan. 00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:16.720 Oh, to trust our God for daily needs. 00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:51.599 As a child who knows and trusts that his father loves him and is going to take care of him. 00:25:53.759 --> 00:26:02.559 I was reminded of this just yesterday as I was driving in the car listening to an audio Bible of 1 Kings. 00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:06.799 And I was reminded of the accounts of Elijah. 00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:12.880 Elijah was running for his life from King Ahab and his wonderful wife Jezebel. 00:26:14.079 --> 00:26:19.599 And God told him to run out into a place where there was a brook. 00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:25.440 He said, You're going to hide by this little brook, and that brook is going to give you the water you need. 00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:28.960 And then he tells Elijah just something astounding. 00:26:29.119 --> 00:26:33.920 When you get there, I'm going to command the ravens to bring you your food every day. 00:26:34.160 --> 00:26:38.720 He says, I'm going to command the birds to give you your daily bread and your daily meat. 00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:51.519 So if we consider that with chapter 6 of Matthew and verse 36, what God is saying is, I'm going to command the birds to get their food, and I'm going to command the birds to get your food and bring it to you. 00:26:52.799 --> 00:26:55.920 Not enough for today and tomorrow, but just enough for today. 00:26:56.960 --> 00:27:03.440 Then there was a time when the brook ran out of water because that was in the midst of a three-year drought. 00:27:03.759 --> 00:27:09.039 So when the water ran dry, God told Elijah, get up and go north. 00:27:09.440 --> 00:27:16.720 I want you to go to a community called Zarephath, and in that little community there's a widow there, and she has a son, and she's going to take care of you. 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:21.039 So Elijah goes north and he finds this widow. 00:27:21.279 --> 00:27:28.960 And when he finds her, he tells her, please make me a small cake to eat. 00:27:29.119 --> 00:27:31.519 And she says, I'm sorry, I can't. 00:27:32.640 --> 00:27:36.960 I can't because all I have left is a tiny little bit of flour and a little bit of oil. 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:46.160 She said, I was just coming out to gather some sticks so I could make a fire and mix up my oil and my flour to make a last meal for my son, and then we're going to die. 00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:50.960 And Elijah said, Don't worry about that. 00:27:51.200 --> 00:27:55.920 Go and make it up and make some for yourself and your son, but first give me a little cake from it. 00:27:56.319 --> 00:28:01.039 Because God has promised that until it rains, it's never going to run dry. 00:28:01.440 --> 00:28:04.079 Your flour and your oil are never going to run dry. 00:28:05.359 --> 00:28:06.799 So she did what he said. 00:28:07.200 --> 00:28:08.400 And guess what? 00:28:08.640 --> 00:28:10.160 There was always enough. 00:28:12.079 --> 00:28:15.680 Your father knows what you need before you ever pray for. 00:28:17.119 --> 00:28:20.640 And he says, pray for your daily needs. 00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:37.039 If your father can feed Elijah through ravens, and if he can make the widow's oil never run out, then he can provide for you. 00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:45.359 If he can provide for George Mueller and hundreds of orphans days in advance, then certainly he can take care of you. 00:28:47.039 --> 00:28:49.839 I could give you personal examples from my own life. 00:28:50.079 --> 00:28:52.000 One of them will suffice. 00:28:52.480 --> 00:28:54.480 I don't know exactly when this was. 00:28:54.799 --> 00:29:00.400 We were living in the southwestern corner of the state of North Dakota in Marmoth, North Dakota. 00:29:00.480 --> 00:29:02.960 Don't blink while you're driving through or you'll miss it. 00:29:04.240 --> 00:29:08.960 My dad was pastoring a church plant there, and I didn't know it at the time, but we were poor. 00:29:09.680 --> 00:29:11.599 I didn't know we were poor, but we were. 00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:18.960 So I was probably sometime between, sometime around the age of six, seven, eight years old, something like that. 00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:25.359 And I remember very clearly that our mower, our lawnmower broke. 00:29:26.079 --> 00:29:28.799 Wasn't running, and my dad could fix anything, right? 00:29:29.119 --> 00:29:30.559 Doesn't matter what it was. 00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:34.799 He could fix it, but he couldn't get our lawnmower running at all. 00:29:36.160 --> 00:29:41.519 And I remember my dad telling us that we didn't have money for a lawnmower. 00:29:42.319 --> 00:29:48.240 There were no funds whatsoever to fix the mower or to get a new mower. 00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:50.960 And so he said, all we can do is pray. 00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:53.200 Ask the Lord to give us a new mower. 00:29:53.759 --> 00:29:57.119 I don't have any idea how long we prayed. 00:29:57.920 --> 00:30:02.799 You know, as a little kid, those days seemed long and endless. 00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:05.200 Maybe it was only a week, I don't know. 00:30:05.359 --> 00:30:06.720 But it seemed like forever. 00:30:06.799 --> 00:30:15.119 But every single day at lunchtime, I remember we prayed as we asked the Lord to bless our lunch, we prayed that he would provide us with a lawnmower. 00:30:16.640 --> 00:30:21.359 You know, that was still in the time of my life where I'm thinking, is this really going to work? 00:30:22.960 --> 00:30:24.799 We prayed and we prayed and we prayed. 00:30:24.880 --> 00:30:36.160 And I remember one day driving across the state line into Montana to Baker, Montana, and we stopped for gas and fill up the gas and the pickup. 00:30:36.319 --> 00:30:42.640 And next to the gas station was this little trash pile, trash heap. 00:30:43.200 --> 00:30:45.839 My dad saw a lawnmower sitting there. 00:30:46.720 --> 00:30:52.559 And he went over and looked at it, and the the lawnmower deck was just all rusted out and you know, full of holes and useless. 00:30:52.720 --> 00:30:54.400 But the engine looked good. 00:30:54.720 --> 00:30:58.240 So my dad asked the guy inside, he said, Can I can I have that mower? 00:30:58.319 --> 00:31:00.400 And he said, I'll sell it to you for five dollars. 00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:04.799 My dad gave him five dollars and we loaded the lawnmower up and we took it home. 00:31:05.039 --> 00:31:12.319 And my dad took the engine off of that rusted out mower deck and swapped it out for the mower deck that we had on our other one that didn't work anymore. 00:31:13.440 --> 00:31:14.400 And it ran. 00:31:16.000 --> 00:31:18.319 It was sometime in the mid-1980s. 00:31:20.240 --> 00:31:21.839 Let me tell you something. 00:31:22.880 --> 00:31:26.799 I was using that mower until at least 1996. 00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:33.920 God provided for the needs of his children. 00:31:34.160 --> 00:31:36.319 This is one small example. 00:31:36.559 --> 00:31:42.640 If your father can do things like feeding Elijah, then he can take care of your needs. 00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:44.480 So come to him with your daily needs. 00:31:44.960 --> 00:31:47.599 We have to get moving on here, we have more to cover. 00:31:47.759 --> 00:31:51.839 Verse 12, he says, forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. 00:31:52.000 --> 00:31:58.400 So he says, Come to your father with your daily needs, but also come to him with your petitions for grace. 00:31:59.119 --> 00:32:00.720 Because you need to have grace. 00:32:00.880 --> 00:32:05.839 Now, this this could be a reference to the release of debts every seven years. 00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:10.240 God commanded, people of Israel, that every seven years there was to be a release of debt. 00:32:10.319 --> 00:32:12.960 So maybe, maybe that's what Jesus is referring to. 00:32:13.119 --> 00:32:14.240 We don't know. 00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:21.440 I doubt that that's exactly what he's referring to, because later on in the Gospel of Luke, Luke has this same statement. 00:32:21.519 --> 00:32:24.799 But instead of debts, he uses the word sins. 00:32:25.519 --> 00:32:27.440 Forgive us our sins. 00:32:28.559 --> 00:32:38.720 So most likely I would say that these are probably referring to spiritual debts owed to God in the same way that we would owe debts to another person. 00:32:40.400 --> 00:33:00.160 Now, if we if we have as our purpose as Jesus' disciples to bring about the reconciliation of people to God, of sinful people to God, that's what 2 Corinthians 5.8 says, if that's our purpose, then we cannot hold on to grievances against other people. 00:33:01.519 --> 00:33:07.359 Later on, Jesus very clearly says that only the forgiving will be forgiven. 00:33:09.359 --> 00:33:25.440 Those who are truly part of Jesus' kingdom, who are the poor in spirit, mourning over their sin, meek in spirit, hungering and thirsting for Jesus' righteousness, those are the people who are merciful to others, who are the pure in heart. 00:33:25.920 --> 00:33:30.240 Those kinds of people, Jesus says, will have a forgiving spirit. 00:33:30.400 --> 00:33:33.119 And God will in turn forgive them. 00:33:34.079 --> 00:33:40.160 See, what it's doing is asking God, asking our Father to be faithful to his word. 00:33:41.920 --> 00:33:44.240 Because God has promised to forgive you. 00:33:44.480 --> 00:33:48.240 If he forgives you, then you need to forgive others. 00:33:49.599 --> 00:33:54.960 Jesus has a commentary on this in verses 14 and 15 that's pretty blunt. 00:33:55.680 --> 00:33:58.240 We might even say feels kind of harsh. 00:33:59.519 --> 00:34:06.160 Forgiveness will not come from God if we have not forgiven others. 00:34:06.880 --> 00:34:08.400 You don't have to get mad at me for that. 00:34:08.559 --> 00:34:09.840 Jesus said that. 00:34:11.280 --> 00:34:13.440 He pulls no punches, does he? 00:34:14.960 --> 00:34:22.960 The ones whom God forgives are the poor in spirit mourning over their sins. 00:34:24.639 --> 00:34:30.400 And they forgive others because they know how much they have been forgiven. 00:34:33.119 --> 00:34:41.440 I'm certain that every single family has experienced something like this story that I'm going to share with you. 00:34:42.400 --> 00:34:44.559 I'm certain that somebody's made it up. 00:34:44.800 --> 00:34:47.440 Two brothers, Harry and James. 00:34:48.400 --> 00:34:57.360 They finished eating their supper and were playing until bedtime, and somehow, as it always happens, Harry hit James over the head with a stick. 00:34:58.159 --> 00:35:01.920 Tears and fighting followed. 00:35:02.559 --> 00:35:08.079 Charges and accusations were leveled at one another along with all kinds of threats. 00:35:09.280 --> 00:35:14.719 Mom instructed James, before you go to bed, you're going to have to forgive your brother. 00:35:15.360 --> 00:35:20.400 James thought a few moments and then said, Okay, mom, I'll forgive him tonight. 00:35:20.719 --> 00:35:24.559 But if I don't die before I wake up, he'd better look out in the morning. 00:35:30.400 --> 00:35:31.280 We laugh. 00:35:32.159 --> 00:35:33.119 Rightly so. 00:35:34.079 --> 00:35:37.519 But isn't that how we forgive so often? 00:35:38.480 --> 00:35:51.119 If we've been hurt, if we've been offended, if we're if we hold a debt that somebody else owes to us, we just can't wait until they pay us back. 00:35:52.960 --> 00:35:54.880 Or we take payment. 00:35:56.400 --> 00:36:06.320 See, the issue here is whether or not we mirror the forgiveness that God gives us in our relationships with others. 00:36:07.599 --> 00:36:18.639 To ask and to receive forgiveness from God while at the same time holding on to something against another person is hypocritical. 00:36:18.800 --> 00:36:21.440 That's the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. 00:36:22.719 --> 00:36:33.840 But those who seek God's grace in the form of forgiveness of their sins must turn and extend that same kind of grace to others by forgiving them. 00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:40.559 Jesus is going to deal with this in far more detail later on in Matthew chapter 18 in the parable of the unforgiving servant. 00:36:40.800 --> 00:36:43.840 He was forgiven much, but he couldn't forgive a little. 00:36:45.440 --> 00:36:50.159 And you and I are in desperate need of God's forgiveness. 00:36:50.480 --> 00:36:51.119 Daily. 00:36:52.320 --> 00:37:00.320 And as we seek that from him, we must ask ourselves if we have genuinely forgiven those who owe us. 00:37:01.519 --> 00:37:06.320 Can we write off their debt and say, it's done, it's over, I'm good? 00:37:07.440 --> 00:37:10.079 All because the Father has forgiven me. 00:37:13.280 --> 00:37:24.880 Our prayer needs to include prayer for our needs, prayer for grace, and then we see in verse 13 that our prayer should include petitions that rest in Christ's finished work. 00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:37.039 Now, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Matthew shows us something here that is really truly special, really unique in this part of Jesus' teaching on prayer. 00:37:37.280 --> 00:37:39.599 And it's important that we see this. 00:37:40.079 --> 00:37:42.559 I want you to look back with me at chapter 4 again. 00:37:42.719 --> 00:37:45.199 Chapter 4, the first 11 verses. 00:37:46.719 --> 00:37:47.760 What happened there? 00:37:47.920 --> 00:37:58.880 Now we know, right, that Jesus was out in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights without any food, so he was hungry, he was likely thirsty, he was physically weak. 00:37:59.199 --> 00:38:03.280 Prime opportunity for the enemy to come and offer him the world on a platter. 00:38:03.920 --> 00:38:05.920 Say, here you go, Jesus. 00:38:07.440 --> 00:38:10.880 But what really happened in that moment? 00:38:11.440 --> 00:38:14.880 It's been a while since we looked at this, so I want to point out some things to you. 00:38:15.119 --> 00:38:22.880 Matthew 4, verse 1 says, then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 00:38:23.360 --> 00:38:24.960 So what happened there? 00:38:25.360 --> 00:38:32.960 First, God the Holy Spirit led God the Son out into the desert to be tempted, right? 00:38:33.920 --> 00:38:37.360 He was led out for the purpose of being tempted. 00:38:37.519 --> 00:38:43.679 In fact, in the Gospel of Mark, it says the Holy Spirit drove him out into the desert. 00:38:44.639 --> 00:38:47.760 And then it says the devil tempted him. 00:38:47.920 --> 00:38:51.760 He was led by the Spirit and tempted by the devil. 00:39:11.199 --> 00:39:14.480 He said that we need to change the way we translate it. 00:39:14.800 --> 00:39:22.639 His argument was that do not lead us into temptation was not right. 00:39:23.199 --> 00:39:28.000 So he was suggesting that apparently for 2,000 years we've been translating this wrong. 00:39:28.400 --> 00:39:37.599 Instead, his argument was do not lead us into temptation is not a good translation because it speaks of a God who induces temptation. 00:39:37.920 --> 00:39:40.079 It's Satan who leads us into temptation. 00:39:40.159 --> 00:39:41.199 That's his department. 00:39:41.360 --> 00:39:54.000 So the Pope suggested that we translate this differently, that we can have a little bit of liberty there and say that God should not allow us to fall into temptation. 00:39:56.079 --> 00:40:04.159 In other words, God can change whether or not he permits us to fall into the devil's arms. 00:40:05.920 --> 00:40:09.119 But is that what Matthew is telling us? 00:40:09.440 --> 00:40:10.719 Is that proper? 00:40:11.519 --> 00:40:14.239 I think the answer to that is no, it's not proper. 00:40:14.320 --> 00:40:17.760 And all we need to do is look back in the context to chapter 4. 00:40:19.440 --> 00:40:30.639 In some way, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert and given over to the devil to be tempted. 00:40:32.239 --> 00:40:36.639 He was led, he was driven out by God to be tempted. 00:40:36.960 --> 00:40:44.159 But the language that Matthew uses here is quite clear as to who is doing which action. 00:40:44.880 --> 00:40:51.519 Greek scholar Dan Wallace writes about the specifics in the language, and then he makes this comment. 00:40:51.760 --> 00:41:05.440