We're in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, or they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the street corners that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward, but when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words, do not be like them. For your father knows what you need before you ask him. Praise in like this. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. The Word of the Lord. Just a little bit of structure, I know those of you who have been here each time, or may be tired of hearing it, but we must always reflect back in the sermon on the mount to a thesis statement of Jesus found in chapter 5, verse 20. Jesus talking to his disciples in the hearing of a great multitude says, I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus has told his disciples that they must have a righteousness which exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees. The scribes, the doctors, interpreters of the law, the teachers of the law, in Jesus' day, had a manifest righteousness that everybody was very much aware of, and was cognizant that they did not live up to that righteousness. These were very righteous people. In fact, the other group that Jesus mentions here, the Pharisees, the very name Pharisee means separated one. They were separated from the Hoy-Palloy, the great host of God's people. In a very special category, they viewed themselves as being separate to the Lord and holy and to the Lord. And so they had a manifest righteousness which was very outwardly visible to all, and this is precisely what Jesus is speaking of. He has given us six examples where the teaching of the righteousness of the scribes is exceeded by the righteousness of the kingdom of God. He's talked about divorce and anger and all the rest that you remember. Now he has given us three examples where the outward practicing of righteousness of the Pharisees is exceeded by what the Lord wants his people to do. And he makes the emphasis, do not be like them, do not be like them. In fact, if you think about it a little bit whimsically, the Lord is asking his disciples to separate themselves from the separated ones, in other words, to have a righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees. The three examples that he uses here has to do with the praying, well first of all, almsgiving, which we talked about last week, praying, which we talked about today, and then the fasting. The Pharisees practiced each of these righteousness acts in ostentation and show. Their almsgiving was with fanfare and visibility, an ostentatious show. They wanted to make sure people knew that they were giving to the poor and to the needy. And Jesus warms his disciples and exhorts them to not be like that at all. Here he is dealing with the act of prayer. And he mentions to them that the hypocrites, by the way, that's a word Jesus uses several times in his ministry we find in the Gospels, specifically referencing usually the Pharisees. The hypocrites, very good word, it literally means one who wears a mask and plays a role on a theater stage. When you see the truth that Jesus has tied up in the use of that one term, they're mask wearers. They are not on the outside what they really are on the inside. They appear to be something that they're not. And they're role players. They are going through rituals and roles. They are following a script which they know sells in the marketplace, a script that they know impresses people. And then they're on a stage where they may be seen of everyone. And so our Lord asks His disciples to remove the mask and be authentic to the core. He asks His disciples to abandon the script and to live out a righteous life before the presence of God in authenticity and sincerity. And He asks His disciples to abandon the stage and go to the wings and the back, the secret places for the practice of righteousness. And that's the way it is in all three of these, almsgiving, prayer, fasting. Now here it is applied specifically to prayer. And in this particular teaching of the Lord, we have His critique of the Gentile praying. The Gentiles, of course, the word that's translated Gentile, ethnane, means the nations. It means the peoples. It can mean, and sometimes it's translated in older texts, the heathen and the Gentiles. And at least four different ways, very comfortably. Usually when the reference Gentiles is made, it is a contrast to the Jews. And He is saying that the Gentiles have the way of praying. And almost all heathen, Gentile, popular prayer of almost all the religions of the world involves some kind of display. It's prayer in a mosque. It's prayer that is witnessed by a great throng. It is prayer in a temple. It is a chant on a roadside or in a marketplace. It is an ascension to a hill or a high place where very few go and where the very ascent to the high mountain is seen as a very special act of holiness. There's some kind of display. There's some kind of outward manifestation that this person is special. This person is praying. This person is moving to the divine and moving to the holy. That's a good reputation to have. As you want people to think of you as being special, holy, a better person, perhaps than others. Another feature of Gentile prayer, heathen prayer, popular prayer if you please, is that it involves repetition, incantation, chant, saying a phrase over and over, all prayer. Is the muttering of the soul. In fact, that's one of the words that translated prayer in the Old Testament. Is a muttering sometimes referred to as meditation, a muttering and a saying over and over of empty phrases. In Jesus says, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard, for there are many words, do not be like them. Jesus says this over and over. He sets up a contrast. He describes the righteousness of the Pharisees. He critiques the righteousness of the Pharisees and then he calls upon his disciples to not be like that, to not do that. The next thing Jesus says here in our text is really interesting to me because it's almost like the argument against prayer. He says, for your father knows what you need before you ask him. Excuse me? Your father knows what you need before you ask him. Then why ask? Why pray? If the Lord already knows what we need. And he is beneficent in heart to give it to us as he says he is, then why bother to ask? Jesus doesn't answer that question. He goes upon that premise and says, pray then like this. The premise is your father already knows what you need. It's all asking. I remember a very popular book when I was a kid that was put out by one of the very well-known fundamentalist Baptist preachers was on prayer. And it was called Prayer, the title of the book was Prayer, Asking and Receiving. I never thought of it any more complex than that prayer, Asking and Receiving. The interesting thing about the prayer that Jesus suggests here is the structure of it in terms of the pronouns involved. And that's about all we'll have time to take a glance at today a few minutes ago before the service, Mark, Davis asked me, how are you going to cover the Lord's prayer in 25 minutes? Well, first of all, I don't use 25 minutes. And I told him, I said, there's no way to cover that prayer. You know it, and I know it. But I will try to suggest a few things in the prayer. One of the interesting things about this is there's just a tremendous amount of debate and a tremendous amount of discussion that's taken place over this prayer, including some say, well, this is not really the Lord's Prayer. This is the disciples prayer. This is the prayer Jesus told them to pray. The Lord's Prayer, they say, is found in John 17 where Jesus prayed in the garden. That they say is the Lord's Prayer, and I would like to suggest to you that this is the disciples prayer, Jesus told them to pray to be sure, but it's also the Lord's Prayer. It follows the structure. If you read the prayer in 17, you see the elements of the structures here in this prayer. Now commonly it's divided into kind of a prologue, then a listing of petitions, and then an epilogue or a doxology at the very end. You'll notice that the doxology there for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory is not in the text. We'll see, that's another point of debate and issue. There's a textual issue. Some of the better manuscripts do not have that in it, and there's a strong argument to be made that that was appended to the prayer in later years by scribes and by devote people seeking to use this prayer in liturgical worship. They appended a little conclusion to the prayer for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen. It is not found in the text here, nor in Luke 11, where the parallel passage is found in the synoptic gospels. But I assure you that phrase is biblical. That is the phrase that Solomon used in his prayer when he dedicated the temple in Jerusalem to God. So go back in the Old Testament and look it up, and Solomon concluded his prayer for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever, amen. So when we use that in our liturgy, we're still being very, very biblical, very scriptural in our use of it, even though in the sermon on the mountain, the text, I think what we have before us, public bears, better weight. Your father knows what you need, Jesus said before you ask him, so then ask him. The interesting thing about the prayers of the Gentiles is that they are centered upon themselves. It's the personal we, us, give me, give us. Jesus gets to that in the prayer, but he doesn't start there. He starts with reference to God. When you pray, pray, our father in heaven, howled be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and then the petitions move to the asking of things for our daily needs. Give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our debts, and lead us not into temptation, falls neatly into two parts. That which we pray in extoling and recognizing God, and that which we pray in asking him for the things which we need, which basically brings up, I think, the underlying thing that we need to know about all prayer, and that is prayer is based upon a relationship. Prayer is a conversation, it is a dialogue, it is a asking God, it is a calling upon the Lord, it is a plea, it is a cry, but it is also a doxology. Next giving, a glorifying, an uplifting, a recognizing of who God is, and that relationship is between mortal people and the sovereign, infinite God of the universe and all creation, and Jesus brings it down to this relationship between a father and a child. If you don't hear anything else this morning here that prayer is a relationship, it is a child talking to his heavenly father. It is a child talking not to an earthly father, earthly fathers fall so short of what we should be at the heavenly father, infinite in grace, in mercy, in love, in care, and goodness, a heavenly father who has done everything for his child, creation, providence, and redemption, all are the great works of God on behalf of his children. And we pray, it is a private, personal, perpetual conversation. Prayer is an attitude of heart, prayer is you and your father talking about who he is, what he has done, who you are and what you need. How does it get any more intimate than that? How does it get any more real than that? Your father knows what you need. Ask him. In the process of asking you praise him. You talk about his will, his kingdom, his holiness, how would be thy name, his sovereignty, and you talk about your needs, and their physical and their spiritual. There's daily bread, and then there is the freedom and the victory of the throldum of sin in our lives. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. The evil one is principally. Now in just a minute I have left, I'd like to just suggest that this is the prayer of Christ. Christ recognized his father. He made a great distinction in his ministry between himself and his incarnate person and his heavenly father. He spoke often that his father loved him, his father had sent him, but he had glory with the father. Jesus understood the little relationship between himself and his father as no other man did. He knew that he was the first born of many brethren and the rest of us are younger children falling in line with our file leader. The author and finisher of our faith and Christ recognized his sonship as we should recognize our sonship. Jesus when he prayed this prayer prayed that the father's name would be holy. Jesus said, I have glorified you on earth, glorify thou me with the glory which I had in thee before the world was. That's the way Jesus literally verbally prayed to his father. Wrecking, your kingdom come. The whole thrust of the ministry of Christ was about the bringing in the entering of the kingdom of God. He and John the Baptist initially preached repentance. Jesus talked perpetually, even in his last hours he was speaking of the kingdom of God. Your will be done. That was his prayer in the garden. That was the thrust of his obedience. That was his life. Is that the will of God would be done on earth as it was. It happened. In fact, he came in order that the will of God would be done on earth as it was in heaven. It had meant for the work and the life and the ministry of Christ God's will would never be able to be done on earth as it was in heaven. He prayed for the forgiveness, not for the forgiveness of his personal sins, but he prayed for the forgiveness of others, forgive them. He prayed to the Father. They know not what they're doing. He told Peter, said, Satan is taking you and he's going to sift you and winnow you like the wheat. But I, Jesus said, have prayed for you. His intercessory work is found in his mediatorial work upon the cross where he bore our sins in his body and paid that penalty. The thrust of his life was the forgiveness of sins. He came. He lived. He died. He rose again. He intercedes now all for the forgiveness of our sins. This is truly his petition and lead us not into temptation. Nobody knew temptation like Jesus there in the desert and in the wilderness and throughout his lifetime. He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. And his petition to the Father was ever delivered me from the evil one. The great nemesis of Christ throughout his entire life was the onslaught of Satan. Every time Jesus turns to where he saw the ugly face of the serpent, he even saw it in the face of these Pharisees about whom we spoke a moment ago. He would say, you are of your father the devil. He noticed the family resemblance between them and their desire to impede his work. Jesus Christ knew temptation and he knew what it was like to fight a battle with Satan and he pushed and he persevered until one day he was finally put upon that cross and hung between heaven and earth and there on that cross. He crushed the head of the serpent. Well, that's his prayer, deliver us from the evil one and he did it. He did it for us. Oh, this is the Lord's prayer, okay.