Amen. We continue our exposition tonight of the model prayer in Matthew chapter six. It has been said that the problem in your life is not that you don't have time for things, but that you don't have priority. We use the excuse of not having time. Well, I just don't have time, I'd go hunting. Well, I just don't have time, I would be more involved in this or that. Oftentimes, for better or for worse, the issue is true. It's not that we don't have time, it's that other things have our priority, and sometimes this can be good and right, and sometimes it can be sinful and wrong. Where are our priorities? Now, when it comes to prayer, I'm not talking about that prayer ought to be a priority. Of course, that's true. I think we've addressed that before in this series. Prayer ought to be a priority. But the question that I want to address tonight is what ought to be the priority in prayer. You understand? So, not that prayer ought to be a priority. That's given, of course. Prayer ought to be a priority. And we should never say, I don't have time to pray. You should always say, I don't have a priority to pray. But when it comes to time in prayer, as we pray, is there a priority we should have? Yes. Yes, and that's what we address tonight from Matthew chapter 6. Would you stand with me and I'll read the prayer in its entirety? Matthew 6, verse 9. Pray then like this. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Father, would you help us to understand tonight what the priority of prayer ought to be as our Lord Jesus taught us? May we bow ourselves to his teaching and understand this for our good. And Lord, may we have this priority. And even as I pray this tonight, how could I not pray what Jesus taught us to pray here at the beginning? We pray that your name would be hallowed. We pray, oh God, that your name would be set apart, sanctified. It would be regarded as holy in our hearts, in the way that we worship, and the way that we do church. Lord, we pray that your name would be recognized as holy and adored in our nation. Lord, we pray that we would be instruments in your hands to bring this about, that we would be committed to sound doctrine, committed to the gospel, committed to living a holy life. Lord, we need to confess even today that your name has not been as hallowed among us as it should be, as it's deserving to be. We repent of this, we bring this to Christ, we trust his perfect forgiveness. We ask that you give us your Holy Spirit in the sense of aiding us and helping us to strive after this request. Help us, oh God, to be a people who hallow your great name. And we pray in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. So we have spent several sermons just on this verse, talking about our, and then father, and then in heaven. And now finally, we talk about hallowed be your name. And this is the first official petition. So after all this preaching through the model prayer, we come to the very first request that Jesus teaches us to pray. The very first thing that we are to ask, the very first thing that we should say in the prayer, He says, the model here, is that God's name would be hallowed. This is first in order in the prayer, but it's more than just order, it's not coincidental, it's also first in Priority. Thomas Watson notes that this is the only petition in the model prayer that will echo in our hearts even throughout eternity. You see, in eternity, we'll not have to ask God to forgive us of our sins. There'll be no more sin. We'll not have to ask God for the kingdom to come. It'll be fully consummated. We'll not have to ask God, give us this day our daily bread. That will be forever taken care of. But we will forever say before God, hallowed be your name. The people of God desire above all else the glory of God. How often we are guilty in prayer of rushing past God's goodness, rushing past God's glory, and to immediately begin to pray for lesser things. Even the prayer of salvation of a loved one takes a backseat to God's glory. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached it this way, when you come to God, says our Lord, in effect, even though you may be in desperate conditions and circumstance, it may be with some great concern on your mind and in your heart, even then, he says, stop for a moment and just recollect and realize this, that your greatest desire of all should be that this wonderful God, who has become your Father in and through me, should be honored, should be worshiped, should be magnified amongst the people, hallowed be thy name. Amen. This is what Jesus is teaching us in this prayer. in this first petition. Now, the word hallowed is not a common word anymore, really, in our language. It's the, most of you probably already know, it's the verbal form of the word holy. Let your name be holified, but, I mean, we don't, that's not a word, we don't say that, so, let your name be sanctified, let your name be kept holy, that's what the petition is. Two more things I might mention here about this verb, hallowed, in Matthew 6-9. First, it is an imperative. It's in the imperative mood here. Hallowed be your name. So, this is how it is a petition. We're not commanding God, but it is the desire of every believer's heart. It's our plea to God. Let your name be holy. And it's a passive verb, meaning that the subject, your name, receives the action, right? Hallowed be your name. So God's name, who He is, His character, His attributes, it's holy already. He is the holiest, but there is an extent by which His name can be further sanctified, that is, set apart, honored, revered evermore by His people. God can't be holier than he is, he's holy to the max. But there is an extent that he can be more holy in our awareness, if you will. There is also an eschatological hope in this petition. We'll address that more next week, but we want one day God's name to be revered among the nations. That's our scope. That God's name would be hallowed across the globe. And the one that we depend on in all of this prayer to accomplish the sanctification of His own name among His people in the nations, the one that we're asking to do this is God. It's why we take our prayer to God. We're asking God, hallowed be Your name. That is, we're asking God to do this. In and of ourselves, we're not going to reach down and be able to perform this ourselves and accomplish this ourselves. We're asking God to help us align His priority with, or sorry, I said that backwards, to align our priority with His priority. That His priority would be our priority. The hallowing, the honor, the sanctification, the setting apart, the love and the adoration of His name. So what does it mean, we're gonna look at tonight and next week, what does it mean to hallow God's name? Four points, I'm gonna give you all four, but we're just gonna really cover one tonight. So what does it mean to hallow God's name? Number one, adoration, not admiration. Number two, faith, not frowardness. And that's a King James word, I'll deal with that next week. Three, holiness, not hypocrisy. And four, mission, not maintenance. All of these are what it means to an extent and overlap as we get the fullness of the understanding, what it means to hallow God's name. So tonight, just one point. And that is, to hallow God's name means adoration not admiration. The text says, pray then like this, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Adoration. Not admiration. Now, what does it mean by God's name, okay? God's name is to be equated with his being. In Deuteronomy 28, 58, for example, the Lord is equated to his name when the text says, this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God. Okay, to hallow God's name is not just to think about the name of God, but God himself. You understand, there's an irrevocable, there's an intrinsic connection, if you will, between the name of God and God himself. There's a connection here in this prayer with the third commandment. And providentially, the third commandment is our catechism question right now. So we'll look at that more really next week, but some of that I'll address tonight. But our point right now is that hallowed means adoration, not admiration. I've got a few illustrations. One, and I'll share another one later, but one, I would say this. Admiration is when you're at a football game, and it's right before the game, and the band starts playing the national anthem. And so you look around, everybody else is standing up. They got their hand over their heart. And admiration, you're going to stand up too. You're like, well, you know, you don't want to be different or whatever. And you're like, OK. And you stand at the flag, and you put your hand over your heart, and you sing. Or maybe you don't sing, but you think, you know, whatever. You're standing there, and you're just kind of like, ho-hum. And then you sit down, OK, let's play football. That's admiration. Adoration, and I see this a lot in people who've served overseas. It's people who've served in the military, people who've served our country in various ways. Adoration is when you understand what's happening. What's happening when the national anthem is played is there is a declaration of a kingdom, if you will. There is a declaration that we live in the United States of America. There is a declaration, there is a remembrance of all those, all the blood that has been spilled to bring our nation to what it is. There is an awe or wonder, if you will, the fact that we live in arguably the greatest nation on earth. All of these come to mind. It's not just I'm going through the motions, I'm standing up, everybody else is standing up. No, no. I'm standing up and I'm honoring. The flag. And by the way, you understand that the flag is a representation. It's not that you're like, man, I just love this flag. If I could just go up and kiss the flag or whatever. No, it's not about the flag. The flag represents what? The nation. So maybe, does that help some maybe to understand the difference between just mere admiration and adoration? So now when we go to God, it's even greater. Adoration, or admiration would just be, you're just going through the motions or whatever. Adoration is to understand that the name of God is God, represents God. To honor Him, to live for Him. 1 Peter 3.15, Peter says, in your hearts, it's the same, it's the same verb from our text, I'll explain it, but, in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy. So the idea is, Peter is saying, sanctify Christ the Lord in your hearts, set Him apart, honor Him, hallow Him, love Him. So when Jesus is teaching His disciples to pray, Hallowed be thy name, He means that His people ought to adore God, not merely just admire Him. So, another illustration. Admiring God, I see this all the time. Admiring God is like when an unbeliever posts on Facebook, like a beautiful sunrise or something like that, and they say, look at what God did. That's admiring God, but it's not adoration. And it's really not biblical admiration either, because it's a tip of a hat to God. They will admit, oh yeah, God created this, and then they'll live their lives in rejection and in unsubmission, not submissive to God. To adore God, to hallow His name, means I regard His glory above all else. In any given situation, I seek His honor. Now listen to this very carefully. Think about this. It means before a decision, before an action, before a behavior, I want to think this chief thought, does this bring honor to God? Children, listen for just a moment. Some of you, profess to be Christians. Is this your practice before you roll your eyes at mom and dad? Before you go, are you thinking in your little heart, does this honor God? Before you pick on your sibling, I don't like you, give me that toy. Is this what you're thinking in your heart? before you disobey? Is this what you're thinking in your heart? Are you thinking to yourself, I want God to be hallowed. I want God to be honored. I want God to be adored. I want Him in my heart and in my life and in the lives of others, Him to be set apart. Is this what you're thinking? Of course, the answer is no. Now listen, adults, it's easy to look at the kids and be like, aha, I got you. No, no, no. It's true for us. It's true for us. Same application. We want adoration, not mere admiration. Thomas Watson says, the reason God's name is no more hallowed is because His name is no more loved. So there is a Right application here is we pray for God's name to be hallowed. It's right and it's good for the church to also pray that God would increase our love for Him, that He would increase your affections for Him, your affections and your love for holy things. And then again, remember the context. This is the first petition. This is the first thing that we are taught to ask for. Our Father in Heaven. All of that is just the address, right? All that's who we're talking to. We're talking to the Father through Christ. Our Father, which art in Heaven. Okay, now that's out of the way, as it were. I'm not being irreverent. Now I'm just saying, Now that's set aside. Now what? Now we get to asking for things. And what's the first thing we're asking for? Well, it's not for a job, it's not for a car, it's not for health, it's not even for the salvation of the nations. The first and foremost thing that we're asking God is that His name would be hallowed. His name would be honored. That He would be our priority. That His priority would be our priority. That His great glory would be our desire. Now I'm gonna get to the third commandment more next week, but just mentioned, this is from this morning, we just started these questions this week. So question 61 in our catechism says this, what is the reason annexed to the third commandment? Answer, the reason annexed to the third commandment is that however the breakers of this commandment may escape punishment from men, yet the Lord our God will not suffer them to escape his righteous judgment. So listen, the confession or the catechism is saying that the Lord takes with utmost seriousness the hallowing and the profaning of his name. This past week, I saw something I really didn't keep up. I just don't have time to perpetually live in an election cycle. I remember growing up when it seemed like the election cycle, it seemed like was like every four years. And now it seems like it's every four days. You know, you always got to keep up. But I did see some people and I think rightly based on some things I read, I saw some people were concerned about the elections that happened this week. Of course, I think it's appalling that the election of New York with the first Muslim as the mayor of the city. I mean, just a couple of decades after 9-11 and where he stands politically on things. I think that's, I think we should be concerned about that. But I'm a pastor. And so let me give you my theological take, which I think is most important. One of the reasons we're dealing with the things that we are in America today is not because we don't have some better conservative political strategy or whatever. One of the reasons, if not the main, the main, I should say, the main reason that we're dealing with things like we are in America today is because America has profaned the name of God. Elections matter. Amen. Policies matter. But the deeper issue is this. Our nation has profaned the name of God. People cannot mock the holiness of God and then expect the blessing of God. Our crisis then is fundamentally theological because that's where politics flow from, our theology. I was reading this week and one author says this, the United States is in the middle of its own cultural revolution. And we are blithely and serenely going on our way as though the foundations have not been destroyed. We are still acting as though one more election will fix things. And that's what we have to be careful of. We live this way, don't we? It's like, okay, well the next, so maybe we elected Donald Trump, a conservative representative for us, and we're like, okay, now we'll just rest. And we think, okay, well next time we'll elect someone, and this is gonna fix the problem. But we have already warned and addressed it. That's not gonna fix our nation. Our theology as a nation is not one of hallowing the name of God. I'll give you an example. We print, I don't know if I, I don't think I have any money in my wallet. We print on our money in God we trust. And yet with the same money we fund the murder of unborn children. We say things like God bless the USA with our mouths. And with the same mouth we advocate for the marriage of homosexuals. The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. A nation as a whole that profanes God's name cannot expect God's blessing. Now, this also hits close to home because I saw this just this week. Just this week. I am a fan, I'm appreciative, I should say, of our state governor. She shares many of our values. She professes to be a Christian. But just this week I read this on our own page, the honoring of the pagan Hindu festival of Diwali. I'll read to you, this is her words. She said, it's no accident that Diwali, the festival of lights, happens when the days are getting short. It was an honor to host our second Diwali celebration at the governor's mansion today. It's a reminder that while we live in a broken world, light is always more powerful than darkness. I want to give her the benefit of the doubt. I do not think that she sat around and thought to herself, how can I dishonor God today? I'm going to dishonor God, I'm just going to do this, okay? I think that she did it in an undiscerning manner, but her actions violate the third commandment. She has equated darkness with light. I note this simply because you guys know, I mean, it is clear. Let me just say it this way. I note this because dishonoring God's name is not confined to one political party. Now, We do not play the game of third wayism here, you know, where it's like people say this from the pulpits, you know, what's, you got a lamb or you got a, how's it go? You got an elephant and you got a donkey, but we have a lamb or something like that. And they kind of, what they're trying to say is like, it doesn't matter. You know, we don't advocate that. You guys know that we've been very clear from the pulpit that the Democratic Party, as it is today, I'm not talking about a hundred years ago, but the Democratic Party of today is gone. They've turned into complete advocation for communism. We would say so much that you cannot be a faithful follower of Christ and be aligned with such vileness as platformed in that party and its desire to destroy humanity and our great nation. The left's goal, by the way, is not atheism, not to erase the worship of God. It is actually to replace the worship of God with worship of the state. You understand? If we do not, though, rightly proclaim the truth to the GOP, then its trajectory is eventually going to make it unrecognizable to conservatism altogether. Do you understand? If we're going to be faithful prophets, as it were, if we're going to be faithful, if we're going to have conviction and courage in these dark days, then we have to stand up and we have to say, our nation has profaned the name of God. And whoever is guilty of profaning the name of God, you must repent. It doesn't matter if you're voting blue or red, which, by the way, we're not advocating third wayism. Yes, it absolutely does matter if you're voting blue. But the point I'm trying to make is that this transcends political lines. If you don't hallow the name of God, then you're part of the problem. And you must repent. You must repent. If we want to see real revival in our land, it will begin with God-wrought repentance, and one of the fruits of that repentance is going to be hallowing the name of God in policy, procedure, attitude, and action. But now let's just stop talking about the government for a minute, and let's hit closer to home. Jesus says to his disciples, hallowed be your name. This is what we ought to pray. And we come directly into the church for a moment. The church today, churches all across our nation, the place where God's name ought to be hallowed above all, where God should be adored, not merely admired. And sadly, You want to know, why do the people in Washington not hallow the name of God? Because too many in the professing churches across the nation do not hallow the name of God. The place where God's name should be above all. This can come across in the way, now listen, some of this may apply to you. If it does, take it to the Lord, turn from it. Does this come across in the way that we just talk about God sometimes? far too cavalierly, far too casually, far too flippantly. We use God's name as an interjection. Oh my God! We use that as an illustration. We use the name of the Lord Jesus Christ as an exclamation. We yell out the name Jesus Christ if something happens. We use the name holy. Hopefully you don't use it with a curse word, but maybe you're saying, like, holy cow! These are treating the reverent things of God with irreverence. And we ought to repent. We ought to take seriously the hallowing of God's name. This can, of course, come across in other ways in churches. It can come across in singing. when the glory of God and the sovereignty and beauty and majesty of God takes a backseat to people and their feelings? We're talking about this afternoon when you're singing about God and you don't know if I'm singing about God or a girl or a significant other. Well, we're guilty of profaning God's name. Alex brought that up in our meal. We're talking about that at lunch. When God's name is just used tritely, it's just used in a song or even in a sermon, just flippantly. It can come across in man-centered sermons. It can come across in minimizing or neglecting or flat-out adulterating the gospel of Jesus Christ. Do you know that God does all things for the glory of His name? For the hallowedness of His name? So, creation, why does it exist? It's for His glory. Providence, why does it happen? For His glory. Judgment and justice, why does it happen? For His glory. But did you know that where the focal point, if you will, the pinnacle, if you will, the radiance of the glory of God, do you know where that resides? In the fullness of the work of Christ. which I might add is not separated from the work of the Father and the Holy Spirit in the planning, implementation, and application of the gospel. In sum, the brilliance of God's glory shines supremely in his gospel. Hallowed be your name. The whole reason, now listen to me, the whole reason that Jesus Christ came was not merely to teach us His truth, but also to pay for our violation of this truth. And enable us now to live out the reality of this truth in our lives. If the only commandment, if God had only, I know this is weird, but just go with the illustration for a minute. I understand it doesn't work, but just go with it. If the only commandment God ever gave was Thou shall not take the Lord's name in vain. You shall not take the Lord's name in vain. That was the only commandment. If that was it, you would be guilty enough to go to hell. And yet Jesus came and hallowed God's name in His heart, in His soul, in His mind, in His actions. In all ways, He set apart God as holy, being actively obedient to His law. Now, this is not just true, of course, with the analogy, because it's true of all the commandments of God, all of God's law. Jesus is the righteous one. And as the spotless Lamb, He sheds His blood on behalf of those who have violated the third commandment and the other nine. He sheds His blood, the righteous one, on behalf of the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God for our breaking of God's law. And then rising again from the dead to justify His people. that in the context of the Sermon on the Mount, that the poor in spirit might look to a helper, might look to a Savior, might look to a Redeemer, that they would turn and they would understand in and of themselves they have nothing, but that Christ offers them everything, and that they would repent and believe the gospel. What I'm saying here is that we have work to do in our nation, yes, work to do even in our city, yes, but we also have work to do in the church too. We will never hallow God's name rightly apart from the gospel. We must never lose it, hide it, detract from it, minimize it. Law and gospel, by the way. We need both. The law to show us where we've fallen short and what God demands. The gospel to show us what Christ has done in obeying and paying for our law-breaking. And to show us now, by Christ's work and the Spirit's indwelling, what it means to live for Christ, to walk now according to God's standard. And part of that is that we don't merely want to admire God, we want to adore Him. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. So what about you? It's a Sunday night crowd, I get it, but are you an admirer of God or do you adore him? Do you hallow his name? Would you just consider for a moment tonight, is the hallowedness of God's name the priority of your heart? Is God's glory above all, even your own health, your money, even the salvation of your family, is coming to God and setting Him apart first and foremost as your all, as the hallowed one, is that the priority and the focal point of your life? Some within the church, it's not true. The Lord has, now think of it this way. You're here on a Sunday night, and the Lord has mercifully and graciously approached you with this through His word. The Lord has mercifully and graciously come to your heart, even tonight, through the preaching of your word and essentially said, you're not where you need to be on this. And he comes to you in mercy. He comes to you in grace. How do we respond to that? Well, you can respond to that if you want to, if you want to be foolish, you can respond to that and say, that's not me, I'm not doing that. Or you can understand and say, yes, God, Yes, I see where I need to improve in this area. And I know the only way I can is by your mercy and grace. And I repent for my violation of your law. And I look now to Jesus alone as my Savior and King. I look to the Holy Spirit as the one to empower me. You understand Christians need the gospel too. To pray, hallowed be thy name, is to desire above all that God be treasured as holy in our hearts, in our homes, in our church, and in all the nation. Seriously, I hope this week, will this affect the way that you pray? Will this be a priority for you? And remember, again, who is the one who is working in us to make his name holy? Who is the one at work in the church today? Who is the one sanctifying the people of God? It is God himself. So don't only pray for this and try to adjust your actions, but also trust His work. And rest in that. Remember what we learned in Sunday school this morning. It is God who works in you to will and work for His own pleasure. Of course, I'll close with this. It's possible that there'd be one here tonight who doesn't know Christ. You don't love God. You don't prioritize the hallowedness of God because you're not a Christian. You love sin and self, and you'd rather deify yourself and your actions. And to be honest, if you were honest with yourself, all of your life up to this point would be that you're really praying this, hallowed be my name, not God's. Well, the warning is, you continue in that, you will now escape the righteous judgment. But there's mercy in the Lord. There's mercy. If you'll go to Christ. To understand the only way you pray, hallowed be thy name, is through what Jesus has already accomplished. Go! Go. Don't try to grit your teeth and say, well, I'll try to say the right words better in my prayer. No, no, no, no. That's not going to help you. What you need to do is to go to Christ and believe. Rest in Him. Stop defending yourself and lay yourself at the feet of our King who graciously offers to pardon all who come to Him. What is the priority of our prayer? The priority of our prayer is the hallowedness of God's name. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Let's pray. Father, we pray that your name would be hallowed, not just in a sermon, not just in a, oh, yeah, okay, but tangibly, practically, effectively, that we would be a church that hallows your name in all that we do, all that we pray, all that we say, all that we sing, everything. We want your name to be hallowed, and we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Would you stand?