Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for the joy that you have shown abroad in our hearts. Jesus Christ, risen from the dead on the first day of the week, ascended and seated at your right hand, interceding for us, bringing our prayers to you as we pray as we learn about prayer, as we worship. Lord, would you move in our hearts and lives, in Christ's name, amen. So, if you, A, are a teacher and, B, have a class, you can take them. Otherwise, we are going to continue with our study on prayer. So this morning we're looking at the third petition of the Lord's Prayer. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. That's the first request that we make. Thy kingdom come is the second request. We looked at what it means for God's kingdom to come last week. The kingdom of God is set over against the kingdom of Satan. the works of the flesh in Galatians 5 describe the kingdom of Satan and Paul immediately after the works of the flesh said do not be deceived no one who practices these things will inherit the kingdom of God and then he goes to give the fruit of the spirit so the the kingdom of God and kingdom of Satan are set over against one another Which leads then to our third petition, which is, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Now, I have many dear brothers and sisters. I want to be clear. Dear brothers and sisters who are Pentecostal. I believe we are brothers and sisters in the Lord. They are saved by grace through faith. They are looking at Jesus Christ. Doesn't mean we agree on everything. But my dear brothers and sisters who are Pentecostal will often look at this third petition as grounds for the expectation that the perfection that is in heaven God is going to realize here on earth. And so, what is God's will in heaven regarding disease? There will be no more disease. Therefore, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, then it must be God's will on earth that there is no disease. What is God's will in heaven regarding death? There is no death. So, God's will on earth. And so they would see this as the grounds or kind of the motivating influence for asking God to do miracles here on earth. This is God's will being done on earth as it is in heaven. Now, I think that that, obviously, I do not agree with that understanding. But I think it also, if we look at the prayer as a whole, what we have been emphasizing, what Jesus Christ has been teaching us to emphasize is that our greatest aim is that God's name be made holy as I reflect His character, that I be a holy reflection of God's name. Our greatest concern is that the kingdom of grace be brought in, ourselves and others established in it. Ourselves established in it, others, ourselves and others brought into it. and the kingdom of glory hastened. But the kingdom of grace is our primary desire when we pray, Thy kingdom come, and therefore, Thy will be done is properly an extension of this. So our Shorter Catechism says, what do we pray for when we pray, Thy kingdom come, or I'm sorry, the third petition, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We pray that God would, by His grace, make us able and willing to know, obey, and submit to His will in all things. even as the angels do in heaven. The angels know, obey, and submit to God's will perfectly, continually, joyfully. That's our prayer is that we would know, obey, and submit to God's will continually, joyfully, perfectly in all things. Now, how many have ever maybe picked up a book about discovering what God's will is for your life. Fairly common, right? There are hundreds of such books published. What is God's will? What is God's will for my life? What is God's will for me in this situation? How do I discover God's will? What is God's will? How do I know what God's will is for me? The answer is disturbing in how simple it is and how dissatisfied we are with it. Can someone read for me 1 John 3 11-15? So we're answering the question, how do we know what God's will is? 1 John 3 11-15. First John, chapter 3, verses 11 through 15. For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Sodom and Gomorrah, who was worthy of the evil one, and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his enemies were evil, and his brother was righteous. We should not be surprised whether or not the world hates us. So what is the will of God? That we love one another. When we pray, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, God says, here is my will, that you love one another. So much so that John says, this is how you know that you are actually born again. By this we know that we have passed from death unto life, that we love the brethren. God's will for your life is crystal clear. It is abundant. It is as clear as the sun at noonday. God's will for your life is absolutely clear. This is His will, that we love one another. John is, now we may just think John is, you know, everybody knows John's kind of a hippie. He's all squishy and loving and all that stuff. Paul, though, Paul, Paul is the lawyer. Paul knows what the will of God is. Paul is not going to do this squishy love stuff. Or someone read for me 1 Corinthians chapter 13, verses 1 through 3. The will of God for our life is disturbingly simple. It's disturbingly clear. The will of God for our life is, in every single situation, to reflect Jesus Christ. The way that I speak to my wife Paul says, is a reflection of Christ's relationship to the church. The way that my wife speaks to me, Paul says, is a reflection of the church's relationship to Christ. We are reflecting the love of Christ, we're reflecting the love of God in the way that we engage our world around us. And so when we pray, your will be done, we're praying that we who know His will would know how to love correctly, how to love rightly. Disordered love is one of our biggest problems. Loving one thing that is out of proportion to another or There's all kinds of ways, but if we can love as Christ loves, if we can model Christ, when we say, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we're praying that God would enable me to know what His will is, how to love, to obey His will, to actually love, and to submit to His will. Because frankly, one of the times that you and I feel least loving is when our will is being challenged. I'm chill with my wife as long as she's adoring me and agreeing with everything I say. But when my will is being challenged or my words or whatever being challenged, that's when I need to say, thy will be done. in me, knowing, obeying, and submitting. So I'm hammering this because I think it is ironic that, A, we have so many books telling us how to discover God's will when I think we pass over what God's will is. Also, when we pray to God, we're often asking Him to bend to our will. That's often what our prayers are. And I think that's why the Lord's Prayer is given to us as a model, because if we start the day, if we start the day saying, Lord, today, make me, by Your grace, able and ready to know how to love, to obey and actually love, to submit in love to the situations that you place me in, even as the angels do in heaven, make me that kind of person, then it's going to shape our day really, really well. It's going to really set us up for walking in a joyful and Christian manner. Now, the Oh, so yeah, where I was going with that is often our prayers are not make me know your will. Our prayers are would you please accommodate my will. And Thomas Watson contrasting God's will with our own will. He says, misery has always attended the doing of our own will. Our first parents left God's will to fulfill their own in eating the forbidden fruit. And what came of it? The apple had a bitter core in it. They purchased a curse for themselves and all their posterity. Whenever we leave what is God's will, to pursue our own will. We always go wrong. Now, another thing that I find interesting, because I'm probably guilty of doing this myself, is when we pray according to the will of God, or when we pray that God would do something for us, kind of my go-to is Jesus saying, if it be your will, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. Okay? So I pray that in particular, you know, Lord, would you please allow this thing to happen, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. you know if it is according to your will and all that which is proper and right don't hear me negating that but what I am struck by is when you get to the place of saying not my will when you get to that place That's a different place. That's a different place from saying, my delight, my food is to do your will. Jesus is in the greatest moment of agony. that any human will ever face. No one will ever know the agony that Jesus was facing as He knew what was coming, as He knew what was going to happen, as He knew that He who knew no sin was about to become sin for us. Jesus was in His deepest agony. And in His deepest agony, He still said, I want your will. That in his moment of deepest agony was simply the continuation, like an oak tree. We see in there the oak tree, but the roots of that oak tree are his continual delight in doing the Father's will. His food is to do the Father's will. He came not to do His own will, but to do the will of the Father who sent Him. He joys in communion with the Father. So when I'm praying, please let this happen if it is your will, am I way over here on the verge where I'm saying, I want you to bend to my will, if at all possible, continually, all the time, And that's the, you know, I live in this arena of petition to God versus where Jesus lived was my delight, my food, my joy, my heart is to do the will of God, to do the will of Him who sent me. And I think, again, your will be done, me knowing what God's will is, me knowing how to love, me actually loving, and me submitting in love to God's will, places me on a daily basis over here in the right arena, because frankly, and this is not said of Jesus at all, I'm saying this 100% of me and me alone, When I pray, not my will but yours be done, and then God does his will, how often am I resentful? When I pray, you know, Lord, please let me get that thing, but if it be your will. And then, nope, I don't get that thing. Oh, God doesn't love me. Exactly. Exactly. Right. That's right. So this is beautiful because you're anticipating my very next point. You're anticipating my very next point. Someone turned to Psalm 40. Let me find my watch. See how much time we got. Alright, I'm alright. Psalm 40 verses 6 through 9, and then someone else be ready to read Hebrews 10, 5 to 10. So Psalm 40, 6 through 9. Are we speaking in tongues? Psalm 46 through 9. So to give you the bigger context, you can look at the title. This is David who is writing this psalm. And the bigger context, he's speaking about the joy of communion with God. You can see that in the verses before and after. He's speaking about the richness of communion with God. But in communion with God, it produces this delight in God's will. So David moves from communion into a delight in obedience. Now, Hebrews chapter 10. Verses 5 through 10. Hebrews 10, 5 through 10. I think your life comes to your will, God, and is written for me in the scroll of love. Place it above your eager desire for pleasure and sacrifice, and offer it to the first offerings and second offerings. These are offerings to the law. In the end, your life comes to your will. It doesn't wait for the first in order to establish the second. By that rule, we have been set. So in Psalm 40, who is saying, I have come to do your will? In Psalm 40? David. In Hebrews 10, who is speaking Psalm 40? Jesus. And so one of the most beautiful comforts of the Christian life is the doctrine of union with Christ. We are united to Him. We are united to Him in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, reign, and glory. We are one day going to be with Him completely without sin, not God ever, of course not, but we will behold Him and know Him even as we are known. There will be no broken fellowship, no broken relationship, and all of that is the full flowering of our union with Jesus Christ. Paul says in Ephesians 2, you who are dead in your trespasses and sins were raised up together with Him and seated with Him in heavenly places. We see this union with Christ in a seed form, particularly with David, but throughout the Old Testament. But here, David slash Christ. Christ as King David's greater son. Christ as the anti-type, the reality that the picture was always pointing to. Christ as the perfect King David. And as we are united to Him, then that gives us the ability to take joy, to delight in God's will. So that was where I was saying, it comes back to your question, or your comment, that as we see this connection with David and his delight in the law of God, the connection with Jesus Christ, and His delight in the law of God. Of course, Hebrews is saying that Jesus Christ came and perfectly did all that was necessary, the one final sacrifice, but His delight in God's law. Then, you and I, in union with Christ, we realize the benefits of that union most richly when we are intentionally seeking God's law, God's will, to delight in Him. And again, just to come back to where we began, it's not that complicated. It's just we don't like it. I'd rather know God's will for me regarding a car, a house, or anything else than to know that God's will is that I love one another. So, all right. Well, I've gotten the wrist tap, so let me Are there any other thoughts or comments? All right, let me close in prayer. Father, help us to know how to love, help us to love, and help us to lovingly submit, to see and pursue and delight in your will in every aspect of our lives. We pray in Christ's name, amen.