How Kingdom Citizens Pray: Our Plea
Hopson Boutot
Matthew: The King and His Kingdom • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Defender (Call Upon the Name)
Stronger
Welcome (Sam Garcia)
Scripture Reading (Matthew 6:9-13)
Prayer of Praise (God is jealous), Seth Figgers
Crown Him
Blessed Be Your Name
Prayer of Confession (Disobedience), Cameron Harris
Come Ye Sinners Poor and Needy
PBC Catechism #17
Pastoral Prayer (Mike Lindell)
SERMON
Perhaps the only thing worse than being in danger, is being in danger and not realizing it.
On December 6, 1941, the U.S. intercepted a Japanese message that inquired about ship movements and berthing positions at Pearl Harbor. The cryptologist gave the message to her superior who said he would get back to her on Monday, December 8.
At 3:20 AM on December 7, a U.S. minesweeper guarding the harbor entrance reported sighting a periscope. The periscope belonged to one of the five 46-ton Japanese “midget” submarines that would eventually attack the battleships on Pearl Harbor. But after a fruitless search, the periscope sighting was dismissed as bogus so the skipper went back to sleep in his cabin.
At 7AM a radar operator on Oahu saw a large group of airplanes on his screen heading toward the island. He called his superior who told him it was probably a group of U.S. B-17 bombers and not to worry about it.
55 minutes later, the attack on Pearl Harbor began.
By 9:10 AM the attack was over. 19 Navy ships and 328 aircraft had been either damaged or destroyed. 2,403 U.S. personnel were dead.
Only the Lord knows how many lives would have been saved if even one of those warnings had been treated more seriously.
If you’re a Christian, you are in danger.
Jesus warns us!
Jesus not only warns us of the danger we’re in, He tells us what to do about it.
The Christian in danger should cry out to the Father.
Turn to Matthew 6:13
Jesus is teaching Christians how to pray
Jesus lists six petitions (requests)
1-3) God’s name, kingdom, and will
4) “Give us this day our daily bread” (provision)
5) “Forgive us our debts” (the Christian’s prayer for forgiveness and restoration of a right relationship to the Father)
Now if Jesus stopped there you wouldn’t think we were in danger.
But He concludes with one final petition...
Matthew 6:13—“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
We don’t have to be caught off guard like many of the men and women at Pearl Harbor. Jesus has warned us about the danger we’re in and has given us hope to escape.
Ask and answer FOUR QUESTIONS to help us to escape the danger we’re in...
1) WHY Are We in Danger?
1) WHY Are We in Danger?
Why not stop with food and forgiveness?
Maybe you're really not concerned about temptation or evil. As long as your needs are met and your sins are forgiven you’re okay!
If so, you have misunderstood the Christian life
Jesus is clear that Kingdom citizens are called to be holy!
Matthew 5:20—“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
If you aren’t righteous with a righteousness that’s greater than the superficial hypocritical righteousness of the Pharisees, you won’t go to heaven!
Matthew 5:29-30—“If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”
The person who does not labor to kill his sin will go to hell!
Matthew 5:48—“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
If you’ve been adopted by the Father, you’ll start to look like Him!
Matthew 6:14-15—“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
The person who does not labor to forgive others gives evidence that she isn’t forgiven!
Matthew 7:19—“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
The person who does not labor to bear good fruit will go to hell!
Matthew 7:21—“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
Calling Jesus “Lord” isn’t enough to go to heaven. You must actually follow Him.
Matthew 7:24—“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”
It’s the wise man who survives the storm of God’s wrath. And the wise man is the one who obeys.
This sort of teaching is ALL OVER the New Testament:
Colossians 1:21-23a—And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel. . .
Hebrews 12:14—Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
We must be holy, but we are tempted daily to sin!!!
We are in danger because Jesus demands holiness, and holiness is hard!
2) WHAT Must We Do?
2) WHAT Must We Do?
The answer is simple: we must ask for help!
Matthew 6:13—“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
This looks like two requests, but as we’ll soon see it’s really one request stated in two different ways
“Lead us not into temptation”
Why would we pray for deliverance from temptation if God doesn’t tempt us?
James 1:13—Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one.
God doesn’t entice us to sin! He’s not playing games with us or trying to trick us.
Some respond, the word “tempted” can mean “test” or “trial”
In a trial or a test, you’re not enticing someone to sin but you’re putting through a challenging situation to bring about a positive result
It’s true that the word can mean “test” or “trial,” but that translation creates another challenge...
Why would we pray for deliverance from trials if we’re supposed to “count them all joy”?
James 1:2-3—“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”
The key to understanding this part of the prayer is seeing the two lines as connected.
“Deliver us from evil”
Some translations say “the evil one” and that’s a possible translation
John Calvin—There is no necessity for raising a debate on this point: for the meaning remains nearly the same, that we are in danger from the devil and from sin, if the Lord does not protect and deliver us.[2]
The point is, we don’t want to be trapped in evil
What do we do with the danger we’re in?
We ask God to protect us from giving into temptation. We ask Him to protect us from doing evil. We ask for Him to help us be holy.
The Westminister Larger Catechism says this is a prayer that we may be...
“… kept from being tempted to sin; or, if tempted, that by His Spirit we may be powerfully supported and enabled to stand in the hour of temptation; or when fallen, raised again and recovered out of it, and have a sanctified use and improvement thereof: that our sanctification and salvation may be perfected, Satan trodden under our feet, and we fully freed from sin, temptation, and all evil, forever.”[3]
This prayer says...
God, protect me from temptation today.
God, help me to resist this temptation I’m facing right now.
God, forgive me for giving into temptation. Please restore me!
But that’s not exactly right, is it?
God, protect US from temptation today.
God, help MY BROTHER to resist the temptation he’s facing right now.
God, forgive MY SISTER for giving into temptation. Please restore her!
It’s not enough to pray for your own personal holiness, but to pray and work for your brother’s holiness too!
Hebrews 10:23-25—Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
We are in danger, so we must pray to the Father for help.
3) WHERE Is Our Hope?
3) WHERE Is Our Hope?
Knowing you’re in danger isn’t enough. Neither is knowing why you’re in danger. Neither is knowing what to do.
Several U.S. military personnel at Pearl Harbor suspected they were in danger. They reported their suspicions to their superiors. But those reports were not taken seriously.
God is not like that. He is strong and kind. He can deliver you from evil and He wants to.
Matthew 6:8—“Do not be like them [the pagans who babble in prayer], for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”
Matthew 6:32—“For the Gentiles seek after all these things [food and clothing], and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.”
It’s not necessarily comforting if God knows what you need, unless He also supplies what you need.
If Jesus wants us to trust the Father to supply our physical needs, can’t we also trust Him to supply our spiritual needs?
Our hope for deliverance from the dangers of sin isn’t ourselves, but God! He cares more about our holiness than we do!
One way God did this recently...
“Two Sundays ago, I was ready to confront my boss about the stressful and frustrating work environment we were experiencing and how unhappy we were. I was prepared with a written letter I was going to read (so I was not diverted off topic or forget what needed to be said) and was going to explain what changes needed to be made. My letter was tactfully written, but it was a bit blunt and I knew it was going to sting a little. I’ve worked with her for many years and this was not going to be our first confrontation.
Sunday morning’s pray of confession was the sin of grumbling and complaining. Oh boy, I was smacked in the face with that one. Feeling conflicted, I immediately began to wrestle with how to move forward on Tuesday when I went back to work.
Then you preached on prayer . . . and pointed out two pitfalls. 1) Not asking and 2) Asking selfishly. That was a hit on the head! Guilty, guilty and guilty. I had not prayed about work, at least not recently and when I prayed, I prayed selfishly.
Now in a serious quandary I didn’t know what to do except pray. I have been praying every morning in my devotional time for the past two weeks and I will have you know the office (my boss) made an immediate 180 degree turnaround. It’s not perfect and I don’t know if it will be lasting, but for now it’s better and I am seeing a change for the good. My letter still sits in my desk drawer, unread. [4]
Look at all the ways the Father showed His care in this one story...
Exposing unconfessed grumbling
Protecting this member from taking matters into her own hands rather than trusting God
Growing her faith by answering her prayer
Protecting her and her co-workers from a conflict that could’ve led to more temptations to sin
Encouraging me in a moment of discouragement
Philippians 1:6—And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Martin Luther—"This life, therefore, is not righteousness but growth in righteousness, not health but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise; we are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it; the process is not yet finished, but it is going on; this is not the end, but it is the road; all does not yet gleam with glory, but all is being purified."[5]
We are in danger, so we must pray. But our hope isn’t in our awareness of temptation, or our ability to ask for help. Our faith is in the Father who will hold us fast.
In just a moment we’re going to stand and sing that song, and after we sing we’ll take the Lord’s Supper together.
If you have children in PBC Kids, we invite you to gather them while we sing.
If you’d like to talk with or pray with someone before we take communion, you’re welcome to head to the white flag.
He Will Hold Me Fast
Lord’s Supper
It Is Well
Benediction (Romans 16:20)