Let us turn in God's holy word to Matthew chapter 16. Matthew 16, we'll begin reading at verse 21. You can find that on page 1518 in your Pew Bible. Matthew 16, verse 21. We'll read to the end of the chapter. Let us hear the word of the Lord. From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised the third day. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, Far be it from you, Lord. This shall not happen to you. But he turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan. You are an offense to me. For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men. Then Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each according to his works. Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. Amen. May God bless the reading of his precious and infallible word. I'd like to also confess what we believe, what the scriptures teach concerning the third petition of the Lord's Prayer, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Question 124, page 85 in the back of your psalter. Which is the third petition? Answer, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That is, grant that we and all men may renounce our own will, and without murmuring obey your will, which is only good. that so everyone may attend to and perform the duties of his station and calling as willingly and faithfully as the angels do in heaven. As for confession regarding the third petition, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we Consider the third petition. We find that the first three petitions that the Lord taught us to pray, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, and now thirdly, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, are given to us to properly align us with God in prayer. As I pointed out before in previous sermons, it's like going to a chiropractor and getting the right alignment so that your body functions properly. And so also it is in prayer, when we properly are aligned to who God is, in his holy name, as our heavenly father, and we align ourself to the purposes and the glory of his kingdom, and also submitting and surrendering to his will, then we lay our petitions before him. And so as we think of this, We need to understand, then, when we pray, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, what exactly God's will is. And so as we pray, your will be done, we recognize, first of all, that there are different aspects to God's will, and the first is this. God's will is part of his perfections. It's part of his perfect power. God's will to create, he wills it and he created. He wills to provide for his creatures and he provides. It's based on his power. God simply spoke and all things came into existence. Willed it into existence. So also he redeems in a very similar way. Speaks but a word and he gives new life to dead sinners. This is God's power, His perfection. So we pray, let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We are saying, Lord, you have the power to accomplish all, all things. There's nothing too great for you. So let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That is one aspect of God's will. Secondly, we see His will being also His secret will. A will that we don't know. His secret will is that which is from eternity where he has decreed all things and ordained all things to happen even as they do. We don't know what God's secret will is. We don't know. the time of our birth. We don't know the time of our death. God does. Our times are in his hands. We don't know what afflictions we will have. We don't know what the particular purpose for those afflictions are. God does. These secret things belong to God. We don't know who's elect and who's non-elect. The secret things belong to God. We don't know when and who will turn to him in salvation. These secret things belong to God. And we need to leave them there. As Deuteronomy 29, 29 instructs us, the secret things belong to God, but those things that are revealed belong to us and to our children. And as we pray, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we are surrendering to God's secret will, and we are leaving the secret will of God with God himself. It's an act of surrender and acknowledgement to his power and also his secret will. But what has been revealed belongs to us and to our children regarding the will of God. And so there is also a revealed will that God gives to us. The will that God has given to us reveals himself in the scriptures. And He reveals in the Scriptures everything that is necessary for our salvation. He reveals to us His holiness and His justice. And we recognize that we are sinners and fall short of the glory of God. We acknowledge from Scripture because it's revealed to us that we are sinners under the condemnation of God and we will certainly die. Even though we don't know the time of our death, we do know that we will die. God has revealed that to us. Unless he comes first, we will certainly die. He's also revealed to us that he sent his only begotten son to die for us on our behalf. And we recognize that in him there is life. And God's desire is set before us in his word, his revealed word, that he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked should turn and live. We don't know who will turn and when they will turn, but we know God's revealed will. And he is a God of love and of mercy and of grace, and his promises are set forth in his revealed will. And when we come to him in faith and repentance, he will certainly in no wise cast us out. And so we pray, Lord, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Your heavenly revealed will that you give to us in the scriptures, let it be done here on earth through me, through our church members, through our citizens of our city, province, and nation and through this world. What a thing to pray in the midst of elections. God's revealed will would be done on earth in our nation as in heaven. Sometimes Christians, and I hear this kind of language, I want to go back to God's secret will all of a sudden. Say, hey, you know, God has ordained everything that's going to happen, so it's really not up to me. It's not my responsibility. Well, then why would we pray your will be done on earth as it is in heaven? You see, oftentimes, even Christians, they make God's will the problem. I'm willing, but somehow God isn't willing. The problem doesn't lie with God's will, it lies with our will. Because our will, as we understand from scripture, is in bondage. Our will is in bondage to ourself, our sin, It's in bondage to following Satan and all of his temptations. In a certain sense, by nature, we become slaves to sin and to Satan. And therefore, our will needs to be transformed, and it needs to continually be conformed to the very will of God, the revealed will of God. And so, when we're praying, Your will be done. We acknowledge that our will is the problem. And our will needs to be transformed and conformed to the very will of God. And that's what we find instructed for us in Matthew 16. As Jesus teaches and illustrates for us, that our wills need to be radically changed. And so when we're praying, your will be done, first of all, we're going to see that we're praying for grace to renounce our will, denying ourself. And secondly, we're praying for grace to surrender to God's will by taking up our cross and following him. First of all, then, renouncing, praying for grace to renounce our own will. Jesus sets this in the context of where he is predicting his death and his resurrection to his disciples. And it comes right after. Peter has now confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. And... Jesus answered, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven, he has revealed to you. According to his will, he's revealed to you who I am, and you are blessed because of it. And immediately following, Jesus begins to teach them about what the Father's will is for Jesus. As he tells them, he's going to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things by the hands of the scribes and the Pharisees and the chief priests and the elders. And he's going to be killed and be raised the third day. And then that something very interesting happens. Peter who had just confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, pulls Jesus aside and says to him, as if he knows better, he begins to rebuke him. Christ, the Son of the Living God, I'm going to rebuke you, says Peter. What boldness. And he says, far be it from you, Lord, that this should happen to you. And Jesus turned and he says to Peter, get behind me, Satan. You are an offense to me. For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men. Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah. Get behind me, Satan. What a contrast. What was the problem? The problem was, suddenly Peter wanted to exert his will. He wanted to say, Lord, I want my will to be done and I'm going to rebuke you. This can't happen. You cannot go to Jerusalem and suffer and die. By no means. Jesus, I know better than you. And what had happened to Peter is Satan had a grip on his old will, his own will. A will that still needed to be crucified again and again by Peter. Because this is what Jesus is saying. Get behind me, Satan. Satan, you are coming through my beloved disciple. and you are tempting me. And you aren't mindful of the things of God, but you are stirring up my Peter and stirring up him to be mindful of the things of men. You want him to be praying, my will be done. Isn't a Christian always in this warfare? to crucify our old nature, our old will, and submit to Jesus' will, to God's will. And here Jesus, Jesus is such an example for us, isn't he? So often Jesus is renouncing what we would think a normal response of a human will would be. And he renounces this natural desire that we would have here in this text. No one wants to go to a place where you're going to suffer and you're going to die. Jesus wouldn't have been human if he wanted to and desired to do this of himself. He had to renounce that will, and that's why he had to say, get behind me, Satan. You're an offense to me. This isn't according to the will of my father and my will. This is according to a natural human will. But hasn't he done that many times? I think when Jesus was led in the wilderness to be tempted by Satan, after 40 days of eating nothing, and he comes and then there's this stone. And Satan says, just, if you're God, if you're Jesus, and you can make that stone into bread, just do it already, because then you can eat. Are you not hungry, Jesus? And Jesus says, no, no, I will renounce my human hunger and my desire for bread, because man does not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God. That's Jesus. renouncing what we would think of as a normal human will. But most of all, when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, and even though his disciples couldn't follow his revealed will to them to stay awake and pray, pray for him through this trial, And they couldn't even surrender to that will. Jesus is a stone cast away on his knees in the dust, with his sweat becoming as great drops of blood as he begins to bear the wrath of God for sin. And there he prays, Father, if it is your will, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but Yours be done. Your will be done. What an example Jesus set before us. To deny our will. to renounce our will. Not to merit anything, not to earn something, not to atone for our sin or make payment for our sin. Jesus did that once and for all sin. Rather, because he has purchased us with his own blood. He has brought us into his glorious kingdom of grace, and we belong to him, both body and soul. Then he calls us, renounce your will. Deny yourself. As if anyone desires to come after me, he says, let him deny himself. What does it mean to deny yourself? It means that God has given us grace to do so because we would never have done it ourself. It all originates from God. But we still do deny ourself. When God gives us the grace to do so, we certainly do. Our passions and our lust, after the things of this world, after following our own wills, need to be renounced. Our idols need to be renounced. Our desire for fame and fortune and self-glory, it all needs to be renounced. You know, in the Bible times, they did a lot of fasting. Something we don't do so much as Christians today. It's a spiritual exercise of denying ourself something, whether it's food or maybe even entertainment. A spiritual exercise that reminds us of the importance of self-denial. Jesus says, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, renouncing his own will. Maybe young people, you can discuss What it means to deny yourself. Not only the food that fills your bellies, but maybe your technology, your cell phones, the entertainment, your favorite hobby. To fast from it, not to earn anything, to have this spiritual exercise of denying yourself. So you may meditate upon what our will really is. And confess before the Lord, Lord, I don't even trust my own will. Because it's man-centered, so man-centered. I always want my will rather than submitting to your will. And Lord, how often I bring all of my wants before you in prayer, but I never really consider what you want. You see, this petition turns that right on its head. It says, no, I want what God wants. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Lord, I want in my life what you want for me in my life. But that gets challenging, doesn't it? when a loved one gets sick, seriously ill, maybe even comes to their deathbed, to say, Lord, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Is it wrong then to ask the Lord to restore a loved one to health? Absolutely not. Matter of fact, we ought to do so. Yet, like Jesus did, not my will, but your will be done. And so we do so in faith, trusting that God knows far better than what we do, how his name will be glorified even through this suffering. and brings us deeper even in prayer, that we would ask the Lord for grace to serve and honor Him even in the midst of our weakness, in the midst of our afflictions, as we rest in His perfect will, knowing that His strength is sufficient for me in all of my weaknesses, that I glory in the power of God and His glorious purposes. You see, then that's not only denying our own will, renouncing our own will, but submitting to God's will. You see, when we submit to God's will, as we see secondly, we do pray for the grace also to surrender and submit to God's will. We're called to take up our cross. Deny ourself, take up our cross, and follow Him. It's interesting that Jesus uses the cross here. He hasn't even gone to the cross. His disciples are like, take up your cross. What would have they thought of? Well, for the Greek, a crucified man is someone who's utterly humiliated, the worst humiliation you could ever imagine. And for a Roman, a crucified person was shameful, evil, and powerless. And to a Jew, a crucified man was cursed by God. And Jesus says, take up your cross. If you're going to come after me, you're going to need to deny yourself, renounce your own will, and submit to my will by taking up your cross and following me. What are our crosses? Could be cross of affliction, suffering, It could be that we have an ongoing illness or illness in our family. It's a cross. It could be that others around us have challenges and we help carry their cross. But see, to bear a cross is not something you do passively. It's something you do actively. We don't suffer and we don't endure persecutions and we don't endure afflictions passively. No, we do so actively, taking them up. Taking them up. To bear it means to face it and carry it. And so we face sometimes losses of our comfort, of our time, of relationships, of whatever it would be. We suffer. The cross is a normal thing for a Christian. It's a normal thing for everyone, actually, under the curse of sin. Many times our crosses are shameful. Many times we're humbled by our crosses. But Jesus says to bear our cross, take it up, Take up this instrument of death, he says, of humiliation, of shame, and of cursedness, and bear it. Submit to God's will. You see, that is the most unnatural thing for any one of us to do. Our natural inclination is to avoid suffering at all costs, to avoid sacrifice at all costs. And yet Jesus is saying, if you want to follow me, you want to be my disciple, you want to be a Christian, it's gonna come with a cross. To follow me is to be cross-bearers. And to be cross-bearers means that you are going to take up that cross, renouncing your old will, and you're going to follow me. And here's how you follow me. Jesus uses an illustration, John 4, verse 34, when he says, my food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to finish his work. My will is to do my Father's will. My will is to finish the work that he has given me to do, to lay down my life for my people. And that's why Paul can boldly say in Philippians 5, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who was in the form of God, didn't consider to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. He humbled himself, taking him on the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. So obedient to the will of his Father, surrendering to it, submitting to it, in perfect obedience. What does it mean to take up our cross? And to follow Jesus comes with humility, bearing the consequences of sin, surrendering to God's will in it, but also to follow him in obedience to the will that he has revealed to us in his word. Our catechism instructs us. We are to pray for the grace to do our duties in this life as willingly and faithfully as the angels do in heaven. To do so faithfully. Isn't that what his disciples, cross-bearers, do? And as they enter into glory, In faithfulness they are rewarded. Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord. This is what the angels are doing all of the time since they've been created, the angels in glory. Faithfully serving and surrendering to God's will. That's what Adam was created to do until he fell. These angels remain in this state willing, with a willing desire, as faithful servants of the Lord. Never complaining, but instantaneously surrendering to the will of God. Instantaneously going and doing what God's will for them is. Isn't that what Paul tells us in Philippians 2 as well, that we are to do all things without complaining and disputing. You see, the angels, God gives them an assignment, and they immediately do it. You maybe have children in the home. And you give them an assignment, a task to do, to clean their room, to do the dishes, whatever. And they complain, and it takes them half an hour, and they still haven't gotten started. And then finally, finally, after harping on them and harping on them, then they do it. The angels in heaven aren't that kind of example. And isn't that also so true for our own lives? God comes to us with his word again and again and again. Here's my revealed will for you. And it takes us so long to get it, and so long to faithfully do it. And we do so sometimes, murmuring and complaining as the Israelites do. and did. As angels in heaven do so faithfully, they do it with joy. And so also, the Word of God comes to us and reminds us that His commandments are to be our delight. And we're called to serve Him with sincere zeal, even as the angels do. As Paul reminds us in Colossians 3, do it, do all things, whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord. Faithful, faithfully submitting to His will. And to do so as the angels do unconditionally. Having no strings attached, but by blind obedience, doing the will of God, humbly submitting to it. Like Abraham, when he left Ur of the Chaldees and went to a land that God promised him, unconditionally he left with his family to the land that God promised him. He didn't say, Lord, if I have to leave Ur of the Chaldees, I want this and I want that, and I want my will to be done, I want it done in my time. Even though he tried to hurry up the time on certain things, it didn't work out very good for him. He needed to learn again and again to unconditionally follow the Lord's will, even if he's growing old in age and he doesn't have a child yet. Even the best of the great cloud of witnesses found in Hebrews 11. didn't unconditionally follow God's will, but the angels in heaven do so. And so did Jesus, faithfully, unconditionally, and thirdly, constantly, with uninterrupted service to the Lord. Angels and His people in glory are always ready and always serving. We find in Revelation 7, verse 15, therefore they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple, constantly, instantly, unconditionally, faithfully serving the Lord. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven by the angels. and those who are triumphant in glory. But on this earth, we also have many motivations to pray for grace to surrender to God's will. Because of his glorious promises extended to us, It says, Jesus was so greatly humbled in Philippians 2, so he was so greatly exalted, given a name above all names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. And we too, therefore. Therefore is this conclusion. In verse 12, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not in only my presence, but also in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, because it's God who's working in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. There's great motivation to work out your salvation, because it's God who's working in you, to will and to do of His good pleasure. And He, as He works in you, is discipling you, disciplining you, You know, when you are exercising and you have the discipline of exercise, you have to give up things to gain and to make gains in whatever your goals are. You're giving up energy, you're giving up something to become something greater. And so also in a Christian life, we deny ourself and we surrender and take up the cross and we follow Jesus for gain. The cost is high, but it's the best investment you'll ever make. Because we don't suffer a permanent loss. Can we serve God so radically that God would ever become indebted to us? Not at all. Not after all he's done for us. And so Jesus says, whoever's going to save his life will lose it. You see, dear congregation, if we live to gratify ourselves in this life, and if we get all that we can from this physical life, all the pleasure, all the happiness, the longest living person that ever lived, whatever it be, you will still die. You could gain the whole world and you will still die. You could enjoy all the most extravagant vacations and luxuries in life. You could be the best golfer, the best hockey player. You could master all the video games that are in your console. But it's ultimately self-defeating. Because you've given all of your exercise to the things that have no lasting value. But Jesus says, whoever wants to save his life will lose it. And so if you gain the whole world and lose your soul, what do you have? What motivation? What motivation we have to surrender to God's will, to receive eternal life, and eternal glory, eternal riches. All of the world's attractions, they will all come to an end. Eternal life is worth more than all the pleasures that this world could ever offer. Can I ask you, what would you trade for your own soul? Do you have an answer? Jesus said, all you have to do is trade in your life, renounce your will, and you can have eternal life. And what you do You will receive an eternal reward. Not because you're looking for a reward, but you will receive rewards to the glory of God and his grace in your life. They will all be bonuses. Because the Lord never forgets. There's no kind word. No good deed that will ever be forgotten by the Lord. There's no sacrifice that we make that won't be rewarded by God. There's no amount of suffering and persecution that God will forget. And he will reward in his grace. There will be crowns of righteousness, and we will take those crowns and cast them before the Lord and confess that we are unworthy, but he is worthy. He is all by grace and grace alone. He will reward each one for what he has done. The world has its rewards, Does. Some of you probably have been watching the Maple Leafs. And the crowds are cheering. A couple overtime victories. Exhilarating. But the applause fades. The hockey players grow old. Their fame is forgotten. And their fortunes are passed on. And the Lord never forgets. What motivation to surrender to God's will, to receive eternal reward, better than the Stanley Cup could ever be. Because then we'll see something far greater. We will see the glory of the Lord. We will see our Savior. We will be with him forever, beholding his glory. Verse 28, he says, the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and he will reward each one according to his works. He's coming again, we will see him in the fullness of his glory. When this world and all of its sacrifices and afflictions end, there will be no more tears and no more weeping, no more sorrow, no more pain, no more death. His people will dwell with Him in glory forever. And maybe then we will look back and we will see those providential afflictions and we'll begin to understand the purpose and the beauty of cross bearing that Jesus calls us to. We will see the difficulties and the challenge and the afflictions and how all things, as Paul says in Romans 8, all things work together for good for those who love God and to those who are the called according to his purpose. And then, then in righteousness at last. We will rejoice to see his face and his glory, the glories that abide forever and forever. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Is that what you're praying? Lord, give me grace to renounce my will, and give me grace to surrender to your will in all things. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we give you thanks for your word, for how you have taught us to pray, in how you call us and reveal to us your will for us as your disciples. That we would deny ourself and take up our cross and follow you. Grant us grace day by day to do so. For Lord, what would it be to gain the whole world and lose our own soul? And what would it be to call for the rocks and the hills to cover us when you return in your glory, the glory of your Father with your holy angels, and reward each one according to his works? Lord, draw us unto yourself, and we would renounce our will and follow you, taking up our cross, submitting to you in all things, and becoming obedient, willing servants to the honor and glory of your name. For we pray it in Jesus' name, amen.