So today, I want to go ahead and do a review, and then we'll see how we do on the rest of this prayer. I mentioned last time, two weeks ago, that because we pray the Lord's Prayer, every Lord's Day together, I wanted us to review this prayer again, consider it again. At our last meeting, as I introduced the overview of the Lord's Prayer, I connected this prayer to, does anybody remember? One particular exercise we have to always be involved with. Renewing the mind. Renewing the mind. Of course, when you hear that word renew, you ought to think of Romans 12 too. Be not transformed, be not conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind. It's that idea, really, that's, when you think of Romans 8, 28, that all things work together for good, to them who are the called, to them who love God, what is the good that all things are being worked for in our lives? Really, you find that out in verse 29. In verse 29, we're being conformed to the image of Christ, His firstborn. or the firstborn among many brethren, all right? So the idea is that this conformity to Christ is the same as being renewed in our minds. At least that's part of it. There's more to it than that. So prayer, as I mentioned last time, is essential to renewing your mind, in making your mind conform to sound theology and ethics. We're always concerned about theology and ethics. You don't want to separate those. We make distinctions, but they stay together. Now, I'm not talking about the kind of prayer that even the unbelieving may pray. Have you noticed there's kind of that component of this idea of prayer in the world we live in today? I'm shocked at how often I hear people talking about, I'll pray for you, or will you pray for me? And they're people that have no concept. Often they're atheists. It's really quite surprising to me. So I'm talking about something quite different than that. I'm talking about this idea, this concept, really this command we have from our Savior, on how he taught us to pray. He says, do not be like the unbelieving, the pagans. In this manner, therefore, pray. If you pray as Christ taught you to pray, it's going to renew your thinking. It's going to work in your mind as you pray, as you speak to the Lord, as you make your petitions known. It will renew your way of thinking about the faith, in other words, theology, and it'll renew your way of thinking about duty. It is a work. Let me read from the ESV, 1 Peter 1.13. Peter said this, therefore, preparing your minds for action, That's kind of the idea of renewing the mind. It's making that mind alert theologically, making that mind alert ethically. Prepare your minds for action was the imperative that Peter gave the audience, those churches he wrote this letter to. Being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now, that's a command given to you by the apostle. The Spirit of God causes you to understand that command and take that command personally You need to pray that command. Father, help me. Give me your spirit's work in preparing my mind for action. Well, see, that renews you. When you pray like that, it's changing the way you think. Now. That's going to take years. It's going to take years and you won't finish it. As I've said before, I'm 72 years, I'm old, I'm still working on renewing my mind. Every single day. It's a work that never ends. Okay. Why did Christ teach us to pray this way? It was not so that we could change God, but so that God's triune will change us. And that's really part of the dynamic of the renewing of the mind. is we are being changed into His way of thinking and looking at things more and more all the time. Among the standards that you hold, you hang on to, that you keep in your mind, things like the Ten Commandments, things like the Sermon on the Mount, there's other things we talked about a couple weeks ago, the things that you come back to repeatedly for self-instruction and self-assessment, One of those things is the Lord's Prayer. You ought to be constantly coming back to the Lord's Prayer. It renews you. It's foundational to discipleship. It puts things in order for us. So keep praying it. I encourage you to develop the habit of praying it consciously every day. One of the ways I make myself pray it consciously is sometimes I add all kinds of things to it. I develop each of the petitions in my own brain as I'm praying and seeking the Lord's face based on the Lord's prayer. That's the idea. So, let's read Matthew chapter 6 beginning at verse 8. Therefore do not be like them, that is the pagans or the hypocrites. For your father knows the things that 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 the power and the glory forever. Amen. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Now, this is the text we're reading, so let me continue my review a little bit. Christ Jesus, our Lord, gave us a direct command to pray, and to pray in this way, remembering, in particular, our Father's love. You ought to, every time you pray, make sure you rehearse that in your brain. Our Father. You should not have the right to call God in heaven Father. But you do have that right. It is given to you. It was purchased for you by Jesus Christ. And He is the one who sent Christ. Don't ever allow this sort of separation to come in your mind that I've faced in evangelicalism over and over in my life. I have had people say to me, oh, I would never say father. Why? Well, I'm afraid to talk to him. Why? Well, I feel comfortable talking to Jesus. That's ridiculous. Thank you for shaking your head. It's ridiculous. Because Jesus purchased this position for us, called adoption, in which we are His younger brothers and sisters. And His Father is our Father. So, we keep this in mind. The Father is the one who sent Christ. Christ came to glorify Him. Christ did that by His work, including His life, His holy life of perfect obedience, His death, in which He died in our place, His resurrection, His ascension, His exaltation to the Father's right hand, and the Father received Him and gave Him all authority in heaven and earth. Our Father in heaven. We ought to always remember that we have the Father's love, and we'll be anchored and confident then in the priorities of this prayer if we remember the Father's love. And by the way, this prayer, properly understood, is difficult. Just because you say it every Sunday, just because you may repeat it in your own daily life, doesn't mean it's easy. The words are easy. The petitions are very difficult properly understood. You need a father in heaven who's going to help you work through these petitions. So we began two weeks ago to look at that simple fact of our father and the fact that he takes to heart, so to speak, all our needs and will provide them for us. so that Christ rooted our praying in the Father's love and his grace to us as one of his churches, and we as each of us as his children. Remember, by the way, so that you don't become discouraged, that Christ prayed this prayer perfectly. I never have. He always did. And it's the righteousness of His praying that is given to you and imputed to you. So, by adoption we are the Father's children. We recognize that our Father is the Father in Heaven, recognizing His sovereign power as Creator, recognizing that he is the one who supplies all creatures, recognizing that he is the covenant maker who fulfills his promises to his children. Now, you have the text there. I'm not going to go back through them. We went through them before. Then we got into the first petition. We are taught in these petitions how to think about God. So it's his name, his kingdom. His will, His provision to us. And I put that in a more personal way, your name, and et cetera, down through the outline. So the first petition is, be hallowed. In other words, we're called to, and maybe you remember this, we're called to submit our minds to what He has revealed about Himself in the Word of God. That's the first step in hallowing God's name. going to His Word, and then honoring Him based on what He has taught us about Himself, what He has taught us about His name. We have this idea given to us in 1 Peter 1. I'm going to read from the ESV since I'm already there. It says in verse 15 of chapter 1 of 1 Peter, As he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Since it is written, be holy for I am holy. So we have this idea right at the beginning of God's name is holy. We holy his name. We hallow his name. We reverence his name. That means we must know what his name means. So we have to go to his revelation to sort this out. So the first petition is a request that we will learn the biblical doctrine of God. Always thinking and speaking of God as he has revealed himself in the scriptures. It's not a feeling of holiness, it's the knowledge of holiness. And we hold that knowledge as precious. And we develop a love for that knowledge of God's holiness. And for Him, because He is holy. I want to run by something real quickly. Take your hymnal out. And turn to the back to the confession. And notice something here. I've said this before. You're going to hear this again. I'm repeating myself, I'm old, I get to repeat myself. In our confession, the most fundamental doctrine in our confession is the doctrine of God. Now, if you're astute, you're paying attention, pastor, the doctrine of God doesn't begin until chapter two. No, the doctrine of God begins in chapter one. Notice the very first paragraph. The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience, although the light of nature and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God." What have you learned about God? Right here at the beginning. This is the light in nature. This is general revelation. God is good. and wise, and powerful. People that aren't even Christians can know that. Now we know they suppress it, but they can know it. Well, we could go on reading here, but do you see the idea? Right at the beginning of our confession, we're being introduced to the doctrine of God. So you go to chapter two, very personal. The Lord, our God, is but one only living and true God, whose subsistence is in and of himself, infinite in being and perfection, whose essence cannot be comprehended by anybody but himself." Okay, I can't comprehend who he is, but there's some things I can know about him. And those things are true. They're rocks. They're our refuge. They're where we run to when we need help. When you pray, hallowed be your name, you are praying, God, teach me. I need to learn who you are. That's part of hallowing his name. Well, you can go on through this whole section here on the doctrine of God and of the Trinity. There's several things that are beautiful in this. I'm going to tell you my favorite, okay? I'm a teacher, I get to do that. Paragraph 3. In this divine and infinite being, there are three subsistences, the Father, the Word, or Son, and Holy Spirit of, this is my favorite line in the whole, you know what, I change from time to time, but this is the one I'm stuck on right now. Of one substance, power, and eternity. There are three subsistences, but there's one substance. This is what really helps me. Each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided. Can I say to you, if you want to stay away from heresy, if you want to stay away from great error regarding the nature of God, the doctrine of God, get that phrase in your mind. It's beautiful. Each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided. The doctrine of God. You've got to have the doctrine of God. You look at chapter three. God has decreed in himself from all eternity, the most wise and holy counsel of his own will. Chapter four. In the beginning, it pleased God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Do you see what I mean? This doctrine of God is stated as such in chapter two, but it's being developed throughout the whole confession. You need this doctrine of God. If you're going to pray the prayer, hallowed be your name, you've got to get this doctrine in your head. You've got a confession. You can review it anytime you want. It's beautiful. You go to chapter five, God, the creator of all things in his infinite power and wisdom does uphold, direct, dispose and govern all his creatures and things. Chapter six, although God created man upright and perfect. Chapter seven, the distance between God and the creature is so great that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto him as their creator. You see what I mean? This doctrine of God is being developed. Chapter eight, it pleased God in his eternal purpose to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus. When you pray, hallowed be your name, this is the kind of thing you want to bring into your prayer. Chapter 9, God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty and power of acting upon choice that is neither forced nor by any necessity of nature determined to do good or evil. He's telling you something about God as well as by yourself. Remember how Calvin puts it in the start of the Institutes, there's two things you need knowledge of? What's the first one? God. Number two, yourself. You've got to have knowledge of those two things. Chapter four, I mean, chapter nine, paragraph four, when God converts a sinner and translates him into the state of grace, how did you become a Christian? We all have different experiences, but this teaches us who God is and how we became a believer. Okay. This is a hard one to stop on, but we've got to keep going. The most important thing about this prayer is that it directs our minds to God, to knowing Him in every situation, in every relationship, in every event, whether tragic or wonderful in our estimation. You need to know who God is, and you need to run there every time. Every difficulty, every blessing, all day, every day, wherever you may be, pray the Spirit of God will bring it to your thinking. And when he does, thank him that he did. Hallowed be your name. Second petition. We've got to move. I'm going to run out of time, aren't I? All right, your kingdom come. Now, I don't know what you think of. And by the way, it's helpful if in each of these petitions, you get a concept work in your brain that helps you understand the meaning. All right. I've already given you one. When you pray, Halabi, your name, what do you need to have in your mind? I need to know who God is. I need his revelation about himself and I need to be conforming to it. However you want to distill that down and express it in your own mind, that's up to you. We're all going to be a little bit different. And it's going to change from one day to another, isn't it, as you pray like this, as you pray in this manner, as our Savior taught us. But you're going to pray, your kingdom come. Get something in your brain that helps you understand what that means. When we pray, your kingdom come, We're praying that he will give power to the word of God preached. So when I think of your kingdom come, the word preached is the idea I have in my brain. And with it then I'm coupling, give me grace to submit to the word preached. And notice, I didn't say read. Now why didn't I say red? Because what if we lived 500 years ago or 600 years ago when not everybody read? Could they grow in Christ? Well let me ask you this, could they memorize this prayer? I guarantee you they did. and they memorized the meaning of the prayer, and they memorized the meaning of the petition, and they were renewing their minds even though they couldn't read the Word of God. Why? Because they heard it preached. All right, well, 1 Peter chapter 1. I'm going to stick with the ESV since I'm already there. Look down at verse 23. You have been born again. There's regeneration, the new birth, the holy calling. You have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and abiding Word of God. In other words, regeneration coincides with the preaching of the Word of God. Typically, a person becomes a believer because they're believing as they hear the word preached. I know that's how it happened to me, I don't know how it all worked out for you, but Peter's sorting this out doctrinally for us. For all flesh, he goes right back to Isaiah, for all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower fails, but the word of really the word he's quoting Yahweh, he's quoting Isaiah, which is so he's Isaiah said the Lord or Yahweh, the word of Yahweh remains forever. Period. Whoever numbered the verses in the New Testament made a mistake, they should have numbered the next sentence. So we would see it as a little bit separate, distinct, but following. And this word, which word? The word that brings life, the word that's imperishable, the word that is living and abiding. The word that's not like the grass of the field. This Word is the Good News or the Gospel that was preached to you. I don't think I can belabor this too much. The preaching of the Word of God is essential to your well-being. It's essential to you coming to life, and it's essential to you growing in the faith. When you pray, your kingdom come, you're praying because Christ taught you to make this petition, cause your word to have power. So pray that for your pastors and your teachers every single week. And when you come, anticipate that God's gonna answer your prayer. By the way, it'll renew your mind in how you think about gathering with God's people on Sunday morning. and it'll keep renewing your mind. Okay, it's beautiful. Let's keep going. Third, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is a prayer that we will submit to his authority. His authority is expressed in two ways. This may help you think about this particular petition. Your will be done. What in the world does that mean to pray that God's will is done? Well, think of God's will in two ways. I'm not saying this is all that there is to God's will, but these are two things that are essential to you thinking properly about God's will. Number one, God's will of precept. His commands. His imperatives. By the way, imperatives are always building on and based on indicatives. What's the indicative in this prayer? our father. The indicative is, by grace, I've been adopted into the father's family. That's the indicative. There's nothing you can do about that. It indicates who you are. Imperatives tell you what to do because of who you are. Does that make sense? Are you with me on that? So when you're praying, you're running these thoughts through your brain, and you're renewing your mind. So you're praying, help me understand your precepts and submit myself to your precepts, live by your precepts. Why? Because your precepts are good. Your will be done. The second way that God expresses his will that we need to be concerned about here is in providence. So when you pray this prayer, you're praying, help me submit to your precepts, help me submit to your providence. Why? Why do we pray such a thing? Because it's hard to do that. We don't always want to obey His precepts and we don't always want to submit to His providence. So we pray that He will help us to do so. Submission to precepts means that we are asking that God will move us along in sanctification or mortification. Mortification is probably the most important technique involved in sanctification. It's where I have to die to myself. I have to put my sins to death. Every time a sin creeps into my mind, into my thinking, I go to war against it. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. You can think to yourself, well, look, if you're still there in first Peter, chapter one, verse 22, having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth. obedience to the apostolic imperatives, love one another earnestly from a pure heart. It's interesting, isn't it, that when we think about, in Peter's way of thinking, that we think about obedience to the truth, right there at the top ought to be love for one another. That's beautiful. I'd love to camp there, but I can't. All right. So that's the idea. Augustine put his when he prayed this, he put it this way. The angels do thy will. May we do it also. Sometimes Augustine can be really succinct in his little statements. The angels do thy will. May we do it also. There's a there's a negative and positive side to keeping God's precepts. We resist sin and we love his commands. We're praying for that. The second one, providence, well, look with me in 1 Chronicles. In 1 Chronicles 29, or just listen as I read it, as David was praying, both riches and honor come from you. and you reign over all. In your hand is power and might. In your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all." That's a good summary of providence. God does as he pleases in heaven and earth and the seas below. And that's from Psalm 115. Philippians chapter 4 helps us also. where Paul, and that's really what Paul's talking about here, he's talking about how he deals with God's providence in his life. But I rejoice greatly, I'm in chapter four, verse 10, but I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again, though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. In other words, they had provided physical needs for him. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, That's his way of describing whatever providence is working out for me. To be content. Are you always content in God's providence? Be honest. How often do you chafe under God's providence? Well, not more than once or twice a day. I'm confessing. I don't think there's a day goes by I don't have to rebuke myself for complaining about some aspect of God's providence. I hope I'm doing that better than I did 40 years ago or 30 years ago or 20 years ago or 10 years ago. I have learned in whatever state I am to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Now you know what that verse is referring to. It's not winning your baseball game. It's not even succeeding at something you hope you'll do at work. It's learning to be content in God's providential dealings with you. Some of you know I like to build porches. I just like to build stuff outside, all right? Some of you also may know that I have a direct command from the deacons to not work on things on Saturday. You know why? Because I hurt myself. Fairly consistently. I walked in last night. Okay, I did work for a little bit on the porch yesterday. Cindy said, what's that blood on your arm? I don't know. I don't know where that came from. All right. I am learning to be content with God's providence in my life. Because everything I do, it doesn't matter what it is, I'm gonna make mistakes. I'm gonna hurt myself. It's gonna have some difficulty related to it. So I'm praying. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I'm praying God make me content in your providence. All right, we need to keep going. Fourth petition. Give us this day our daily bread. That's a petition that covers in general every physical and material need that you may have. And I have a good word from you. Turn back to Matthew chapter six. Look down at the end of chapter six. Christ gave you this direct command, verse 31, therefore do not worry. Saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear? For after all these things, the Gentiles seek. Let me put it this way, the pagans, the unbelieving, the heathen, what marks them? Well, of other things, fear marks them. Christ said, do not be afraid. For your heavenly father knows that you have need, that you need all these things, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore, do not worry. Do not be afraid about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring will worry about its own thing. Sufficient to the day is its own trouble. Now, how do you get this to this point where you're remembering your heavenly father knows that you need all these things and you're seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness? You pray. Give us this day our daily bread. Now, sort that out however it helps you do it, but do it. Fifth petition. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Forgive us our sins. All of that idea of pardon, of forgiving of debts, of God forgiving us, rests on imputed righteousness. It rests on this idea of redemption. Paul put it this way to the Ephesian church. In Him, that is in Jesus Christ, we have redemption through His blood. We ought to think that every time we take the cup in our hands, every time we have the piece of bread. In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. I know you. Your sins plague you. But I have a word for you. In the blood of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven according to the riches of His grace," Paul went on to say. This is beautiful. This is why you need to pray. Forgive us our sins. God shows mercy, God forgives, God pardons, God imputes righteousness, and reconciles those who repent and believe in His Son. You need remembrance of that every single day. But you also need something else. You not only need grace imputed, you need grace imparted. Do you understand the difference between those two words? Imputed is something that's just simply given to you, it's credited to you, it's put to your account, it's a legal forensic term. You are no longer thought of one way, you are now known to be this way. All right, so grace imputed is the righteousness of Christ clothing us. Grace imparted is God working grace in us that actually changes us. So we pray, forgive us our sins or our trespasses or our debts as we forgive those who trespass against us. That's the one thing you can be sure of. Well, there's two things you can be sure of. You're gonna sin and others are gonna sin against you. Are you married? When was the last time you sinned against your spouse? Today? Probably. Grace imparted. We're praying that we'll receive grace from God to be the people we ought to be. We're submitting ourselves to grace. We're asking for sanctifying grace to be given to us so that we will forgive. So that when it gets down to verse 14, of chapter 6, excuse me, for if you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. If you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses. You're praying for grace to do that, to be that kind of person. when you pray the fifth petition. Again, 1 Peter, chapter 4, verse 8. You look at it later on yourself. Above all things, Peter says, love one another fervently. You ever heard of that idea of somebody who's a Calvinist and they're in the caged stage? Why do we refer to them as being in the caged stage? Because they're fervent about the five points of Calvinism. What does that mean to be fervent about the five points of Calvinism? It means that's all they wanna talk about. They're occupied with that every day. All right, what does it mean to, above all things, have fervent love for one another? There's some competition for the five points of Calvinism. And it's really not competition, isn't it? Is it? It's the rounding out of proper understanding of God's sovereignty. I love my brothers and sisters in my church and in general out from there. So I'm praying for that to come to me. For love covers a multitude of sins, Peter went on to say. We need regular remembrance of his saving grace, and we need to readily show this to others. Remember what? Paul told the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 13. What if you can speak in tongues and you know the tongues of angels? What if you give your body to be burned? What if you give generously to other people? What if you have all kinds of knowledge but have not love? What are you? You're nothing. And you have nothing. Well, you pray that prayer. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. That's what you're praying for, is that you will love others the way you've been loved by the Father in heaven. Sixth partition. I've got to hurry here, don't I? Your spiritual preservation, you're praying for God's spiritual preservation. Do not lead us into temptation. It has two parts. Do not lead us into temptation and deliver us from the evil one. Well, look with me back again at Matthew chapter six. I'm in the wrong place. Here we go. Maybe that'll get it to me. No, it's not. That's the one thing about using your phone is your Bible. Matthew 26. Christ is in the garden of Gethsemane. He's brought his disciples with him, the twelve disciples. He gets Peter and John and James and says, come with me, we're going to pray. They go to pray and they go to sleep. And what did Christ pray? He prayed, O Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. He submits himself to the providence of God. Then he came to his disciples and found them sleeping and said to Peter, what? Could you not watch with me one hour? Peter's like us, isn't he? We're falling asleep, and we should be awake and alert. Watch and pray, lest you, now it's very interesting, he's talking to Peter, that's what Matthew tells us, but the word you there is in plural. So he evidently was talking to Peter, but he was including John and James. At the very least, maybe all of them that were there nearby. Watch and pray, that's the imperative, watch Be alert and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Well, temptation can refer to two things, affliction or suffering, that's the idea, or temptation to sin, the enticement. to break one of God's laws. We confess in this prayer, when we pray, do not lead us into temptation. We know that God will not literally lead us directly into enticement. God doesn't entice us. He doesn't need to. We're already inclined to enticement. So we're praying, Father, I'm weak, I'm vulnerable. I face the pure danger of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Please work to keep me from temptation to sin. And when affliction and difficulty come, give me grace and strength to endure that affliction and suffering with trust in you. Let me give you a quote real quickly from John Gill. I recommend, if you have John Gill in your library at home, go read John Gill on this particular petition, the sixth petition. I'm just going to read you a snippet of his quote. Do not lead us into temptation. That is, into the power of it, so as to be overcome by it and sink under it. You see how it's a confession of our weakness. In which sense the phrase is to be understood here. We are not here taught to pray against temptations at all, or in any sense, for they are sometimes needful and useful. In other words, temptations are going to come. We're praying, do not let me be overcome by it. but they may not have power over us or destroy us. That's the idea. So we confess our weakness. We're praying. Well, John Stott puts it this way. In your providence, deliver us from being overwhelmed when we face testing of our faith. Martin Lorne Jones put it this way. Do not bring us into a situation where we are liable to be tempted by Satan. There's a lot of different ideas that are included in this. You'll have to sort through it. but finally deliver us from opposition of the evil one, which includes the world and the flesh and the devil as well. Let me give you some encouragement here. Look with me over in 1 Peter chapter 5, 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 8. Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion. OK, so you have an adversary. Personally, we as a church have an adversary. And there's no give in him. He's a roaring lion. He wants to devour you. That's what you face. resist him steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings... Are you experiencing some kind of affliction or suffering or difficulty in your life? The same things happening with your brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. Now, hang on to that. And think about what he said in 1 John chapter 3 verse 8. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. You have an adversary, but there's a way in which it's proper to think about your adversary is a defeated adversary. You remember that way Luther put it? That Satan is like the organ grinder's monkey. You remember that picture? It goes back all the way to medieval ages. The organ grinder is out on the street. He's trying to earn a little bit of money. And he's got attached to that organ grinder a chain. And on the end of that chain is a monkey. And that monkey can't go anywhere but in the radius of that chain. It's the same way with Satan, the evil one. Yes, you should have a proper, appropriate fear of him. Not afraid, but aware that you have an adversary who's seeking to devour you. But he's on Christ's chain. Don't be overcome by that. But don't be presumptuous. All right, conclusion. We confess, yours is the kingdom, yours is the power, yours is the glory. In other words, yours is the kingdom. It's your rule. You have the right of dominion. Yours is the power. You have absolute sovereignty over things. Yours is the glory. In other words, eternal splendor and majesty are yours forever. If you want a verse to chew on when it comes to that very last statement, chew on Psalm 145, verse six. David confessed, he wrote there, I will meditate on the glorious splendor of your majesty. You know what each one of those words mean? Glorious, splendor, majesty. They all mean light. God has a light about his majesty. He has a splendor and a glory about his dominion and his power that's beyond anything we understand or know. We're praying. Not only do we believe that, we're praying that we'll grow in understanding it. In a way, you're all the way back to the first petition, aren't you? Hallowed be your name. Well, I've given you some other verses that you can look at and think about. If you want to do some further study on the Lord's Prayer, let me recommend to you Augustine. He's very good on the Lord's Prayer. Abracal, Wilhelmus Abracal, very good on the Lord's Prayer. And by the way, you can get Abracal from monergism.com for free. That's four volumes. And you can look up the Lord's Prayer in there. Another one is Martin Luther. He's very good on the Lord's Prayer. John Calvin's good on the Lord's Prayer. I've already said it, John Gill. A lot of John Gill you can get for free, you'll have to check that out. And Martin Lloyd-Jones, he's probably the modern commentator that I think is one of the best. I love Martin Lloyd-Jones. He's excellent on the whole sermon on the mount. For further study. Go to your Baptist Catechism. The whole Lord's Prayer is sorted out in the Baptist Catechism. Go to the Westminster Larger Catechism. If you really want to chew on the Lord's Supper, get the Larger Catechism and look at its exposition of the Lord's Prayer. It'll help you. It'll give you a lot to think about. And not to toot my own horn, go listen to my sermon series from 2014. I think it'll be helpful to you if you want to take time with that. Okay, you've been very patient. I've gone over time. Let's pray. Our father in heaven, thank you that we can call you our father. Thank you that you reside in heaven above all things. Separate, powerful, full of majesty. And yet you've come near to us in Christ. You've come near to us in sending your son to be our savior. You've brought grace abundantly to us in him and by the power of your spirit. And so we ask, give us grace. To learn what you've taught us in your word about yourself. Fill us with all the fullness of yourself. Cause us by the great love with which you have loved us, you've poured out upon us to be moved. To get to know you better than we know you now. Give us grace to do the meditation and the prayer and the study that we need to do. Hear our prayer, we pray, dear Father in heaven. We pray this as a church together. I pray this for my brothers and sisters, and I pray this for myself. Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. In Christ's name we pray, amen.