Amen. Well, if you return in your Bibles to the gospel of Matthew, we are going to look again at the same passage, Matthew chapter 6, verses 7 through 13, Matthew 6, verses 7 through 13, and we'll notice last time how we saw God's knowledge and his power and his goodness towards us and Christ provide us with the utmost confidence in prayer. As God knows the things that we have need of, even before we ask Him, even before we know them, and that our God is one who always looks, always sees, always knows. And if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, our God cares. For He has united you to Christ by your faith and He's not going to allow anything to happen to you that would not be for your true and ultimate and eternal good. That is a certain fact and promise that we have from God by His power and by His love. He causes all things to work for the good of those who love Him and are called by Him and who are His children by grace. And so if you are a Christian, you approach God in prayer as your heavenly Father, we looked at that last time, that He has begotten you again by the Holy Spirit into the family of God and having believed in Christ, He has adopted you as His own son or daughter so that you really are a child of God. You have a new nature. It was purchased by Christ, it was given to you by God and we saw even as a good earthly Father and mother provide for what their children need before they even realize that or know it so. Our God provides for all that we need. In fact, He can do far above more than we can ask or even imagine because He loves us because we are His children. We are children of God and our Father has, we approach God as Father in prayer so that we can worship Him as our God in prayer. And we saw that the fundamental thing that we should desire when we approach God in prayer is that His name would be hallowed. That it would be hallowed in this world, that it would be hallowed in and by us. And we saw that we actually do hallowed God's name when we give Him all of the praise and all of the glory and all of the honor for what He has done in both creation and in salvation what He has done, what He is doing when we pray, when we lift up His name, when we proclaim His mighty deeds, we hallow His name and we should do that first and foremost in all of our prayers. But we also saw last time that God's name will not be rightly hallowed until His kingdom fully comes and until His will is done on this earth as it is in heaven and so those are the parts of the prayer that we will look at this morning, let's pause now and pray to God to bless us as we seek His face in His Word. Father again, we thank you that by your Word, we know you, by your Word, you work in us and we just pray that you would cause your Word to be effectual in our minds, in our hearts and in our lives this morning, for we ask it in Jesus Christ, mighty name. Amen. Here now the Word of the Lord from Matthew, chapter 6, beginning in verse 7, this is God's holy Word. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think they will be heard for there are many words, therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray, 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 forgive our debtors and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and power and the glory, forever. Amen. May the Lord establish this word on our hearts this morning. I want you to notice, first of all this morning, God's kingdom is here. God's kingdom is here. Now in verse 10, we see we are commanded to pray, your kingdom come, so there is obviously a sense in which God's kingdom is not here and we are asking God to bring it, but that doesn't take away from the fact that there is another sense in which God's kingdom is already here. And Jesus Christ knew that and He taught that. In fact, His first words in preaching as Matthew has recorded for us is repent for the kingdom of heaven as a hand. If here, it's right now, it's at the door, so on the Baptist preached the same thing and in fact Jesus Himself came in fulfillment of the prophecy that He would inherit His Father's David's throne, that He would be king over God's people, and so when He is here publicly now on the scene as king, obviously there is a sense in which His kingdom was already here and He knew that. In fact, God's people always knew that. If you remember, when we were in the book of first Samuel, we saw how God was already king over his people before they called any earthly king. The Lord told Samuel, if you remember, at that time when they asked for an earthly king, that it was not Samuel that they were rejecting, but they were rejecting God as king. But God was already their king. In fact, God's kingdom over His people really began with creation when He created Adam and Eve and put them in the garden and commanded them to rule over all of His work for Him. They were to be the king and the queen of creation, God's vice regent, and yet we know that man rebelled in the garden, that man rebelled against God who was His king. And that's what the eating of the forbidden fruit was. It wasn't just taking one piece of fruit or something like that, we can trivialize it. It was cosmic treason. God was man rising up against God and seeking to supplant God and be king instead of God equal with God just like God and with no need of God. But God had mercy upon this would be usurper, and instead of destroying Him, as man should have been destroyed, God promised salvation through a coming man, a man who would descend from, particularly the woman God said, the seed of the woman, and this man would be victorious where Adam had failed. This man would be victorious and fulfill God's will for His vice regent, for His king who would rule over His creation for Him. And Adam and Eve were to trust in this promise and to believe in this coming king, and that was their salvation as they looked to God's grace to them through Him. We know that after the flood of Noah, God chose, as it were, a line, a particular line through whom this promised seed of the woman would come, and that was the line of Abraham. And God promised that through His seed, and Paul tells us that was one seed, through that one promised future seed of Abraham, the whole world would be blessed. And that in fact, Abraham and his descendants trusted in God's promise and looked forward to that one that would come. And under Moses, God made that line, as it were, that holy line, that family, into a nation, a nation of millions of people. And he was making them into a nation, he gave them his laws, he gave them the sacrificial system, and yet he promised them one who would come, a prophet, now like Moses, and so God revealed a little bit more about who this coming seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, this prophet like Moses now would be. And then as we saw in 1st Samuel with the choosing of Saul, and then David, God actually made this line, this seed, this family of Abraham, this nation of Israel, he made it into a kingly line, and he promised that it was through David, that this promised savior, this promised king would come, and that yet God was still their king. And God was still the one who was ruling, and David was, and his sons were responsible to rule God's kingdom in the way God commanded, and so throughout all of this time God was king over his people, and even in this time when they had a human king, a descendant of David sitting on the throne, it was still typological and anticipatory, they were looking forward to one who would perfect and bring in and accomplish all of God's will, and defeat all of their enemies as it were, and of course that typological, that anticipatory kingdom came to an end in the Babylonian captivity, and yet God was still their king, and he still promised them that he would say them, that he would protect them in captivity, that he would deliver them, that they were still to worship him, that they were still to trust in him for the forgiveness of their sins, and so for about 600 years from the captivity until the coming of Christ God's people lived by faith in the promise that there would be a coming king, a coming son of David, a coming seed of the woman, and of course in Isaiah, he said that woman was going to be a virgin. David's line would be so humbled that there would not even be a human father, yet God would still keep his promises, and bring his king into the world, and we know that Jesus was that king, as we saw in the early chapters of Matthew, it's being announced, and it's being proclaimed that he is the one who has come, and we know that he accomplished all of God's will in his righteous life and in his atoning death, and then in his ascension, he went up into heaven, the scripture says, to be crowned as king, and he was crowned as king as the universe, and we can read in Psalm 2 and Psalm 110, and in the book of Hebrews and other places, that even right now, Christ rules in the midst of his enemies. He rules over all of the universe, and right now, our job is as what he told his apostles in Acts 1 to be his witnesses to the end of the earth, to proclaim that today is the day of salvation, today is the day of peace, that the king is offering peace to his enemies, that you can enter his kingdom and receive all the blessings of his kingdom because he's coming again, and when he comes again, he will put down all of his enemies, and so we have a season as it were of salvation to proclaim the king's mercy and grace to his enemies, that they would repent and believe in him and become members of his kingdom before it's too late, and he comes and conquers fully and finally, until we see how God's kingdom really was present from creation on, and how Jesus brought in a new phase of it as it was, because now he's come, and he's done the work, he's defeated his enemies, which we know was sin and Satan, and took the wrath of God for us, so he's done all the work. And his kingdom is present as it were, invisibly, spiritually, providentially, we saw in the scripture reading how even over pagan kings and pagan kingdoms, heaven rules, Nebuchadnezzar's head, he was taught that God is the real king, God is on the throne, even over the one who was probably the most powerful king that there's ever been, Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled over the known earth at the time, he had to be taught that there was another king who allowed him to have all the sovereignty that he had, and God could take it away anytime that he wanted, and God taught Nebuchadnezzar that, and our God still rules over all the kingdoms of this world, and disposes of them as he pleases. Psalm 22 verse 28 says, the kingdom is the Lord, and he rules, hear that present tense, he rules over the nation. That was true, even when Israel had their kingdom, and their kingdom, God still was king over all the nations, like Babylon and Persia and all of the rest. And so God's kingdom is here, and we don't want to ever forget that, it's here spiritually, it's here providentially, it's here invisibly, but Christ is as much king over every atom of this universe now as he was from before the foundation of the earth as he will be into eternity. But secondly, I want you to notice God's kingdom is coming. Notice God's kingdom is coming. There's a sense, obviously, in which God's kingdom is not here as well, right? We recognize that all the time. In fact, there are three ways in which we are to pray for God's kingdom to come into this world. And that is, first of all, when anyone is converted, when anyone is converted, God's kingdom as it were, break into their hearts, and they are transferred from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God. In fact, we read about that in Colossians chapter 1 verse 13. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love. Do you hear that verse? If you're a Christian today, God delivered you from the domain, the power, the kingdom of darkness, and he has placed you now in the kingdom of the son of his love. And so when we pray thy kingdom come, when Jesus taught his disciples to pray that he was teaching them to pray for the conversion of all of God's elect, that all of God's people, that God knows from before the foundation of the world, we can read about the book of life and other parts of scripture that's already written. God has every name in there that's going to be saved. And when we pray thy kingdom come, we are praying that God would do it. That God would cause everyone of those people in whom his kingdom is not yet to come and to dwell in their hearts, that they would receive their king, that they would bow the knee in their hearts, that they would be sorry for their sins. We pray for that when we pray thy kingdom come, that people would, that those who do not yet know him would accept him in their hearts sincerely as their king and bow down and worship him all of their days, but there's another way in which we pray for God's kingdom to come. That is probably the most visible way that we see every day, when we see things like the nations in this world, rejecting Christ's kingship, rejecting God's laws, rebelling against God's laws, rebelling against Jesus as their king. That's funny on Facebook, I don't know, a group, whatever it's called, that I liked and it's the RC Sproul group. Just recently I got invited to like it and I looked at it and I said, oh sure, I like this. This morning I woke up and I had like six messages and I clicked on them and the RC Sproul group is now called and I'm not kidding, this is true. A lot is God group. Can you believe it? And I was like, what? And I read a message from the administrator of the web of the site or whatever the Facebook page. He said, somehow, you know, a radical Muslim got into our group and changed the name of our group and I can't change it back. So I'm contacting Facebook and I'm trying to get it to change back to be changed back. But isn't that interesting that someone would do that? Well, that's someone who is resisting God's kingdom. He doesn't believe that Jesus is king. He believes that another God, a false God is king. And so God's kingdom has not come in those ways where people worship false gods where governments pass laws that say certain kinds of marriage are good and right when we know in the Bible, they're evil and sinful. God's kingdom has not come. Those nations are in rebellion against God's kingdom. When we pass laws that call good evil or evil good, we are in rebellion against God's kingdom. And so when we pray the eye kingdom come, we really are praying that every kingdom, that every nation, that every government, that every institution that is in rebellion against Christ would submit, would bow the knee. When we pray the eye kingdom come, we are praying that those that don't bow the knee will be destroyed by him. Our Westminster confession and catechism is clear on that. We are praying for every kingdom to be destroyed that will not submit the Christ. That's what we pray for when we pray the eye kingdom come. We want the conversion of the lost, but those who refuse him, we are praying that they will be judged and overthrown. Calvin says this quote, we pray for the eye kingdom come when he overthrows his enemies and compels them to yield a reluctant subjection to his authority. For to whatever extent iniquity abounds in this world to such an extent the kingdom of God is not yet come. So John Calvin. And so we are praying for all laws, all institutions, all governments to bow the knee to Christ outwardly to conform to his word. And the Bible says that this will fully and finally happen when Jesus returns. That's important. We are never called to do this ourselves. We are never called to take up the sword and to cause the nations or this institution or that government to bow the knee to Christ. That's never the case. Even as we can't in the first way cause someone's heart to be converted, we can't in the second way cause a nation or an institution or government to truly name Christ this king and to truly follow his commandments. Only Jesus can do that. He can only do the first. He can only do the second. That's why we pray the eye kingdom come. We don't say Lord empower us to bring your kingdom. First Corinthians 15 24 says that's exactly what will happen. Listen to this verse. Then comes the end when he Jesus delivers the kingdom to God the Father when he puts an end here this when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and all power. God's kingdom will not come fully to this earth until Christ comes and puts an end to all rule all authority and all power that is not in subjection to him. But there's a third way in which we pray for God's kingdom to come and that is in each of us as believers that as believers in Jesus Christ as those who want to keep his commandments. As those who love him and who believe in him and who look forward to him and call him Lord yet we still sin against him. We are still in many ways and in many times rebels against our king. John Calvin says that this way quote all of the affections of our unconverted nature are so many soldiers of Satan opposing the justice of God. Not a fascinating way to put it that even in my heart there are soldiers of Satan that are marching against God whenever I sin whenever I do evil whenever I allow pride to dictate my actions or my thoughts. God's kingdom needs to come more in me and I can't do it myself. I have no power in myself to make God's kingdom come more in me and so I pray to God that he would more and more cause his kingdom to come in me as a believer and that's what you are doing as a believer too. That the loss would be converted that the nations would bother me and that all of us would more and more until we are perfectly righteous love Jesus and call him and truly call him our king. So we pray that Christ would more and more bring his rule to the world of peoples and nations and we pray that he would more and more sincerely in our hearts that we would be ruled by him. Second Peter 110 says this therefore brethren even be even more diligent to make your calling an election sure for if you do these things you will never stumble and now here's what I want you to hear. That's what the background make sure you're calling an election election is certain walk in these things you won't stumble for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly what into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Peter is writing to believers saying there's still an entering of the kingdom that we are doing as we are more and more being conformed into his image and so we pray for this. The Christ would more and more make us real citizens of the kingdom in our hearts. William Hendrickson the great reform commentator of the twentieth century says this quote until the moment of the second coming there is need for this prayer so long as there is still sin in the world. So long as sin is in the world you and I are to pray thy kingdom come may come more in my neighbors may you convert them more may come more in our nation may our may our leaders fear you and do what is right and past laws that are right according to your word and may it come more in me may I repent more may I believe more may I obey more as I ought to. And so thirdly I want you to notice the builder of God's kingdom is Christ the builder of God's kingdom is Christ and Christ alone. I want you to notice here the last part of verse 13 which is often called the conclusion of the Lord's prayer for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever on men. Now if you have an ESV it will only have that phrase in the footnote because that phrase is not in what's called the critical text but I'm not going to go into it today but there is a very strong witness for it in the majority text including some very early manuscripts and in fact these words of our Lord are simply a reflection maybe even a summary of the prayer that David uttered in first chronicles chapter 29. When David was ordaining his son Solomon remember the one whom God said I will not take my love from him Solomon a type of Christ in that sense the type of the one to come. And David prayed this dying oh lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in the heavens and that is on the earth is dying. Dine is the kingdom oh lord and you are exalted as head over all that's first chronicles 29 11 David saying Dine is the power and the glory and the majesty and the victory in the kingdom. And yet David was king and his son Solomon is king David knew who the real king was he knew that he was yet God's placeholder as it were but God was king and David was responsible to reign as God commanded him as king. And God judge the nation according to how those kings obeyed him and how he submitted to him because they were still under God's law and God's kingship even as the rest of the nation was. And so if it's true beloved I want you to think of this if it's true that God's kingdom still needs to come more in me entirely by God's grace in sanctification and if it's true that God's kingdom still needs to come to dead hearts entirely by his grace in the work of regeneration. And if it's true that God's kingdom has already triumphed and conquered entirely by the works of Christ in his great work of reconciliation and if it's true that even my best works are still tainted with the remnants of my sinful rebellion against him. And finally it must be true that all of God's kingdom all of it has been built by the work of Jesus Christ that I can't do it that even as in my salvation I can't accomplish one spec one atom as it were one molecule of my salvation neither can I or any other converted or unconverted person contribute one spec one atom one coat of paint to the kingdom of God. That it must be entirely built by the righteousness and by the works of Jesus Christ the kingdom of God is built by Jesus he alone can build God's kingdom has done all the work already to build build God kingdom that's why he sat down at the right hand of God that's why on the cross he said it is finished what's finished the work the work that my father gave me to do I have done. He talks about that in the high priestly prayer that he has been faithful that he's done it all that he has accomplished all of the work necessary for the kingdom of God and now having built and established the kingdom of God he sat down at the right hand of God. That's why I emphasize this so much because when we see God's kingdom non-established here in governments in nations in hearts in institutions we need to recognize that the reason why that is the case the reason why God's kingdom the reason why God's king has not been fully acknowledged and submitted to here on earth is because of the sinful rebellion of man because there is no power that we have as human being. There is no power that we have as converted Christians that enables us to overcome sin only by the grace of God right we we have means of grace that we are to use but they're only effectual by the grace of God God's word goes out and identifies as people but only by the grace of God if God doesn't bless it to our hearts it bounces off bounces off the the stony hearts of the unconverted God has to make us that good soil. And if I need God's grace to forgive my transgressions my continued transgressions as a believer and if I need God's grace to overcome my temptations the continued temptations I have as a believer how can I think that I by myself or with other Christians or in the collective efforts of ministries or churches or programs can bring God's kingdom to the earth how can I possibly think that. But I can do anything except add sin to whatever I do if it's looked at absolutely in according to the righteousness of God I'm not denying that as Christians we do good works but they are only good and accepted by God is good because they are washed in the blood of Christ only the Christian can obey God Martin Luther says but he understood very well that our obedience has to be accepted as it were through grace because it's imperfect. Isaiah chapter 64 says that all of our righteousness is or like filthy rags there's a sense in which I'm not under God's condemnation for my worst rebellions against him I'm under his condemnation for my best efforts to obey him because there's sin mixed in those efforts there's pride mixed in my good works there's selfishness there's sin in all of our good works. So how can we possibly think that if we can't add to or accomplish any of our salvation that somehow we can add to or accomplish the building of the kingdom of God. We've already seen in this sermon that the kingdom of God is to those who are poor in spirit that's the first be attitude it's not to those who are strong and are out there diligently using their gifts that the kingdom comes no it's to those who are poor in spirit. There is the kingdom of heaven when we acknowledge our poverty poverty of spirit that's when the kingdom is pronounced as ours and of course the lack be attitude the last blessing is also those who are persecuted for righteousness. There's is the kingdom of heaven and it isn't interesting the first and last be attitude the poor in spirit there's is the kingdom persecuted for righteousness sake there's is the kingdom but never is there a blessing on those who somehow by their efforts can build the kingdom of God. See this said earlier in this in this passage that our righteousness has to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees in order to enter the kingdom of heaven and that those who teach the least of those commandments that he gives they will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. And there is a sense in which God's kingdom is in our hearts increasing right as we are submitting more and more to the king but that's different from us somehow adding to the kingdom. If it's true Christ rules over every molecule in the universe how can I make this kingdom bigger or more full than it is. I can proclaim him as king and proclaim people to bow to the one who is king but I can't extend his kingdom somewhere where it isn't already it's already there and the problem that I'm addressing here is there are so many churches and so many ministries who have mission statements that speak about building God's kingdom that speak about establishing God's kingdom where it isn't already. That speak about growing God's kingdom as if it's not perfectly established in the work of Christ and already full grown that speak of bringing again God's kingdom and invariably these mission statements speak of doing this through social programs invariably through things like building houses which is good through things like giving food to the poor which is good. Or giving having people learn how to work and job programs and all of those things are good but let's not think that all of those things which every unbeliever can do in any way increases the kingdom of God in any way causes it to grow or to increase unbelievers can do all those things just as well as we can. How can we possibly think that that's bringing God's kingdom to the city when God's kingdom is already in the city when Christ already rules entirely over the city it's not beloved the sufferings of man but it's the simple rebellion of man that eclipses the kingdom and we need to remember that regardless of our physical condition regardless of our social position regardless of our economic and financial status. Every human being right now is either in the kingdom of God or outside of the kingdom of God and it doesn't matter if you're sick or if you're hungry or if you're dying Christians get sick Christians get hungry and Christians die but they are in God's kingdom because they bowed the knee to the king because they have accepted him in their hearts and they worship him. And we are called to do good works and to relieve the suffering of this world but that is not the work of the kingdom. Jesus did that he finished it and we proclaim him as king and we do good works but we do good works because we're witnessing to our king and calling on the nations to obey the king. And so fourthly and lastly I want you to notice our role in God's kingdom in this world our role in God's kingdom in this world. Now this time I want to read all of verse 10 your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it isn't heaven many theologians have seen the close relationship between these two petitions these two the askings of God as it were God cause your kingdom to come God cause your will to be done to be done here on earth as it's done in heaven how is God's kingdom in heaven it's perfectly established we get glimpses of it in Isaiah in the book of Revelation where the angels and the elders are bowing down there singing praise to the king the king is perfectly honored and adored and worshiped in heaven. His will is perfectly done in heaven but until his will is done on earth like it's done in heaven his kingdom will not be here on earth like it is in heaven and therefore his name will not be hallowed as perfectly as it should be by his creation until his will is done and until his kingdom comes. And so really these following these two petitions following hallowed be your name are in a sense in service to this great petition that we have the greatest desire of Christians right hallowed be the name of our God how that his kingdom would fully come to the earth how that his will would be done on the earth just as it's done in heaven and here we are not talking about the decreed of will of God. You know that the will of God by which he has predestined all things the will of God by which everything that God has willed and desired in his secret will Jesus speaks of this right where he says not a sparrow can fall to the ground apart from your father's will. I was driving into the church this morning and there was a little bird on the hill going up the hill from Coriopolis little sparrow and he took off and he started to fly and I'm thinking oh he's going to turn out of the way and he didn't turn out of the way and I'm driving and there was too late to hit the break. I didn't see what happened did I hit this little bird I didn't want to hit him I looked in my rear view mirror and I didn't see anything behind me. He must have sort of escaped off to the side I thought maybe stuck in the grill you know that happened sometimes but thankfully that wasn't the case so it must not have been God's will that I hit the head part prays the Lord I didn't want to hit one but the Bible says it couldn't happen. It couldn't happen unless God in his will that's it happened not even a sparrow. I mean a butterfly right now on the outskirts of Mongolia some field can't flap its wings one more time than God has willed from before the foundation of the world. If it is secret will by what she accomplishes all things by which is providence rules by what she holds and sustains all things in existence the molecules of our bodies of this creation would blink out of existence that God did not continue to will them to be. God's decreed of will is done we don't that's not our business. We don't pray into that we're not praying Lord do your decreed of will that you were gained all things in all matter and all spirits and everything to be what they are to be know that's not what we're praying we're praying for that aspect of God's will that's not done on earth as it is in heaven and that is God's preceptive will. When we pray that I will be done on earth as it is in heaven beloved we are saying. God cause your commandments to be kept by us from our hearts. That we would obey God because everyone obeys God perfectly in heaven Jesus Christ has built God's kingdom by his blood and righteousness he sat down at the right hand of the father he gets all the glory he is causing his will to be accomplished by his spirit. His elect are being brought in as the nations are being born witness to and his judgment is going to come he's going to come again. And he's going to cause his will to be done and his kingdom will come down to the earth from heaven revelation says it's already built it's going to enter into this world the new Jerusalem from heaven descending down out of the clouds not built at all by us but built by him and it will be perfect. And that's true for even John Calvin Martin Luther Peter Mary you name it we can't do it God has to do it so what is our role we're praying for God's preceptive will to come or to be done on earth as it is in heaven. We pray that that part of his will that we ourselves don't fully obey again once again we're praying for ourselves that we would be more conform to his will not just the unbeliever not just the unconverted but I'm the one who doesn't do his will I'm the one who disobeys Lord cause your will to be done in me Paul prays this right in Romans remember when he says you know that the things that I will to do I don't do the things that I hate that's what I do. Who will deliver me from this body of death Paul says say speak to God through Jesus Christ our Lord he knew and his confidence was that someday he would perfectly do God's will even though he wasn't yet doing it he hadn't yet arrived he said but he presses on for the goal and so also you and I have not yet arrived and so we pray that God's will would be done in our hearts as it will be done as it is done right now in heaven. By the way that means that there's no sin in heaven right there's not a single desire in heaven that's not perfectly for God's glory that's not perfectly for God's commandments that's not perfectly against sin. There's no coveting in heaven there's no impure sexual desire in heaven there's no desire to steal or to harm or anything else not even in the mind not even in the thoughts let alone in the words or in the actions. It's all perfectly done in heaven and we pray that one day it will be that way on the earth that God's name will be perfectly hallowed that his kingdom will fully come that his will will be perfectly done and you know what's interesting about all of these prayers. They will happen whether you pray them or not whether I pray them or not God's name will be hallowed the Bible says his glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. That his kingdom will come we saw that in our scripture reading we saw that in our call to worship God's kingdom will come perfectly to this earth he is permitting this rebellion for a certain time until he gathers his elect in. But his kingdom will come even if all the nations rage and rebel against him God laughed and says what I've already set my king on the holy hill of Zion rule in the midst of your enemies and Jesus is ruling right now and raises one nation up and puts another down and we can't figure out all those things but we know that he is ruling. And of course God's will will be done on earth as it is done in heaven scripture assures us of those things and so at this point I want to close with the final thought of within why do we pray. Why are we told to pray for something that God most certainly will do whether we pray for it or not whether we try to bring it in or not whether we resist it and if everyone in the world would resist it will still happen perfectly exactly at God's time when God desires. The way God wants it will perfectly happen why do we pray will beloved we've already seen from the earlier verses of this of this tax when you pray don't be like the heathen do don't use vain for petitions and don't be like the heathen because your father knows the things you have need of before you ask God already knows. So we're not giving God knowledge God already loves us we're not trying to get him to listen to us because you know he doesn't like us until we win his affection or something like that that's not the reason. Why do we pray some say it while we have to give God the power because you know somehow he's locked out of this world by some deal with the devil or something and we have to empower God or release him it's absurd. Satan would blink out of existence of God one of them to God knows nothing to any creature he's created at all for his pleasure he can cause any of it to cease at any moment. It's absurd to say that we have to give God the power to do these things why do we pray well first of all because God commands it and that should be enough God commands you and I to pray he commands us to pray for his name to be hallowed for his kingdom to come and for his will to be done he commands us to do it it's just like when kids are in school and the teacher commands them these are the books are going to read. That's enough they don't sit there and argue if they're good students and they expect a decent grade they don't argue why do I have to read these books and not another they do it because the teacher has authority and they honor the teacher and they obey soldiers in an army when they're commanded to do something they don't sit there and talk to their commander but why do we have to take that shield and not that he'll they do what they're commanded to do because their soldier is their general is over them and they obey. Because they owe him that obedience because that is the position of honor that they are to honor how much more beloved are God who has made us who keeps our minds functioning that we could even that we would even have the ability to question him is by his grace. How could we possibly need anything more than I've told you to pray that's enough that's all we need he commands us if even a soldier recognizes he doesn't need to know more to obey his office or how much more should we as believers know that if God commands us to pray that's enough but God in his goodness doesn't just command us he does give us reasons and the first reason in addition to his command that he tells us over and over in scripture is because we need to pray. When I'm praying I don't give God information that he doesn't have I don't stir him up to duty that he's not diligent to perform and I don't cause him to love me or to put any affection in him that he doesn't already have for me. When I pray I'm not trying to change God if I could it would be for the worst because he's perfect and I'm not trying to get him to change his plan again if I could change any of his plan it would be for the worst because his plan is perfect. I changed my mind all the time people bring information to me that I wasn't aware of oh I didn't know that I better adjust that doesn't happen with God he knows all he ordains all he's empowered over all so I can't give him new information that he didn't know I can't add to his righteousness which is perfect so I'm not praying to change him I'm not praying to change his plan I'm praying because I need to be changed because I need to be made like him and as I draw near to him and prayer and he draws near to me by his spirit I am changed I become like him I was talking with one of the elders after the testimony and he was telling me about how he was going golfing with another one of the elders and he'd say see his son walking down the course and the the elder and his son were walking the exact same way down the course because the son spent time with his father and he took on some of his father's habits and became like his father I remember hearing my dad's voice and in my brother in the way he would talk and say things because he spent time with my dad when we spend time with God we're changed when we draw near to him in prayer the sanctification that we need the lack of which is the result of so many of our problems so many of our problems we have so many anxieties and stresses and so many difficulties that we wrestle with because we're not drawing close to God as we should I'm not denying that there aren't real mental conditions that you need treatment for that's not my field but so many things are affected by our sin and by our distance from God and we wonder where God is and we wonder why he's not helping us and then how much time do we spend in prayer five minutes a day if you only spent five minutes with your spouse do you think your spouse would think that you loved him or her we need to be close to God and in prayer we are changed by God and lastly God promises to bring God God assures us that he will bring his promises to pass through our prayers doesn't isn't the scripture filled with examples where though God doesn't need people to pray he commands the prophet to pray and then he heals the person for God doesn't need the prophet to pray before he does a miracle but he commands the prophet to pray and then he does the miracle God shows us over and over in scripture that he's going to accomplish his eternal purposes through our prayers which are also in his eternal predestination our prayers are a part of it we should be encouraged to pray because we know God will answer our prayers he will use our prayers to change us to change others to save people to cause his will to be done we should pray because we love God and we want to be a part of what he's doing in the world I'll just close with this last illustration when we were in our first house and we were finishing the basement and we just had I think at the time two of our kids Calvin and Daniel and my father and I law and I are down in the basement we're working and we're cutting wood and so forth and I could hear my one son he wants to come down he wants to come down he wants to come down you know help finally Robin let's you know is it okay if I let him down I'm not going to say which one so at least if you're a little bit there finally we let you know she lets him down and you know Bob and I were talking some lines on some drywall and he said you know here you know we're going to hold these two lines and you just grab the middle and you pull it up and you snap the line for us you know and oh he was so happy he's going to help you know pop up and dad you know we're building their room in the basement so you know it's a line of course anybody who's ever talked a line the first time never done it right you know you don't pick it up enough you know pull it off the side you know so we get this wiggly line we show him do it again you know did we need did we need him to accomplish our work no was there a sense in what we even had to slow down to get him involved in our work as it were of course we didn't it's real his grandpa and me to have you know my son and the grandson helping us helping us to do what we didn't need him to do but we made him a part of it and that line that he talked we cut on we actually he really did contribute to the work by our help and by our efforts and so forth and wasn't he thrilled to be a part of it and shouldn't that be the case with us in prayer yes God's going to accomplish his perfect plan his perfect purposes but he privileges us to draw near to be a part of it and if we love him shouldn't we want to do that and shouldn't we be confident that he will use our gifts and our graces and our works as feeble as they are he will use them to save people to cause needs to buy and to cause our own hearts to be sanctified let's pray father we thank you but you are our God that you are our father that you love us that you keep us in the palm of your hand that you will never leave or forsake us and that you work in us and yet Lord we thank you that not only that but you privilege us to call upon you to be the vessels through whom you do your perfect works more God we're all broken vessels we couldn't even hold water and yet you fill us with the water of life that you give to others even through our prayers through our witness through our through our works how much more Lord God and in human things and yet even in supernatural things you use us you privilege us to be the vessels of life to those who are only known death father we thank you help us to believe help us to pray knowing that you will hear our prayers that you will change and do mighty things in this world not change from your plan but change from what it looks like would happen in the natural and we know Lord God you will use our prayer so help us to believe and to actually pray to you stir up our hearts so that we would be those who would hollow our father's name who would see his kingdom come and who would cause his will to be done even a little bit more here on earth as it's already done in heaven we pray this in Jesus name amen.