Just before we come to the preaching of the word, we're going to read together what is on the bottom right of your sheet. I know I nabbed somebody's sheet, but I hope everyone has one or can see one. This is 1689 Confession, chapter 22, and paragraph three. And we're gonna read this together. So if you've all found your place, starting with The word prayer, you see it there, we're gonna read it together. Prayer, with thanksgiving, being one part of natural worship, is by God required of all men. But that it may be accepted, it is to be made in the name of the Son, by the help of the Spirit, according to his will. with understanding, reverence, humility, fervency, faith, love, and perseverance, and when with others, in a known time. Amen. It's a wonderful staple, isn't it? It's amazing. I have so many staples for our confession. They have different parts taken from different bits of the scriptures. I'm not going to address it in this sermon, so that's why I'm going to address it now, just where you may have read that, and when with others in a known tongue. Confession was written in the 17th century. Now there wasn't much belief, as far as I know, in the 17th century about speaking in other tongues after the time of the apostles. So it isn't actually referring to that, saying when you're in public, speak in English or in the known tongue, and when you're in private, you can speak in tongues. No, this is a reference to the Roman Catholic doctrine that it's okay to pray in Latin, whether the people understand it or not. And they're saying, if you're in public, as a minister, you preach in the known tongue. You don't preach in Latin, you may know Greek. Enough to preach in Greek. You don't preach in Greek if no one's gonna understand the Greek. You don't preach in Hebrew. This actually gets at the heart of an important doctrine where we differ significantly from the Roman Catholics. And this is that they have this view that simply by being in their worship service, you will be blessed. It's a doctrine in Latin called ex operae operato. Which means ex, by, opere, the working operato works. Which basically means, if you're sitting there, doesn't matter if you're concentrating, doesn't matter if you can understand, say, Will's only speaks English and I'm doing the whole service in Latin, doesn't matter, he's gonna be blessed anyway. We say rubbish. What does the Bible say in Romans chapter 10? It speaks of the need to hear the preaching. And the Bible speaks of the need to understand and then have faith. You see, not just in the preaching, but in the praying, in the singing, we believe that. So that's what that's referring to there. That's what it's warning against. Prayer as worship. Now, we're not going to just think of prayer as worship, but that's the specific framework in which we're going to think of prayer this afternoon. And I'm not going to have any introduction more than that. We've just got three points. Children's sheet. You all got a sheet? Prayer. Firstly, who is to pray? That's the first point. Who is to pray? And under this, we're gonna discuss firstly, prayer is worship. And then after that, we're going to think of who is to pray. But we need to lay some groundwork before we answer the question, who is to pray? In prayer, we worship God. In prayer, God is recognized for who he is. the almighty creator and sustainer who is needed for life, breath, and being. How is that so, you might say? How does prayer show that? Well, true prayer comes in a humble spirit, and it is seeking God with thanksgiving in the knowledge that God is the one who is in control. If you think about it, even a simple prayer, say you wake up in the morning, you pray a simple prayer, dear Lord God, please help me today. Grant me your grace to honor you, help me in all that I do, keep me safe, et cetera, et cetera. What is the assumption that underlies that prayer, if it's spoken honestly? It is that God has some power. You wouldn't ask me Please enable me to be safe when I go to work today, because I have no power. I might have a little power when you're in my presence, although that's limited anyway. But Juggernaut came your way, I couldn't really do very much. But asking God suggests that he is in all places, at all times, and that he has power to help you. So by praying, you are showing who God is, and bringing him glory. in the passage we read in John chapter 19. It's a striking passage, and one of the interesting things in the passage is that Pilate, he asks Jesus, where are you from, verse 9b, but Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate asked him, where are you from? Thinking, I'm in power here, he'll wanna speak to me, he'll wanna say, I'm from here, you need to help me, I'm innocent, you know, don't allow me to be crucified. Because Pilate's in a position of power. What does Jesus do? Gives him no answer. That's, in a sense, rude. Now, it's absolutely right for Jesus to be rude here, because Pilate is an imposter, Pilate is a wicked man, and Jesus is going to the cross by the ordination of his father. But if you were to do that with your parents, for instance, children, you were to go, mum or dad was to speak to you, and then you just don't say anything, and then they say it again, and you don't say anything, and what's eventually gonna happen? Well, you're gonna get disciplined. Because that's rude. You're not recognising who they are. Jesus doesn't recognize who Pilate is, not in that he doesn't know, but he doesn't show it, because he knows that Pilate wouldn't have any power unless God gave it to him. So when we pray, we are showing, we recognize who you are, God. I need your help. This is worship. It's an aspect of worship. It is, in a sense, bowing down to God in our hearts. But also in true prayer, God's wonderful work of redemption is plainly manifest. I say true prayer because I mean prayer made by a true Christian in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. This isn't prayer made to other gods. This isn't false prayer made to the one true God. by those who do not know Him, but rather prayer made by a believer and worshiper of God. Think about this. If you pray to God, why should He accept what you pray? Or not accept, but why should He listen? Why should He help? Why should He answer? You're a sinner. I'm a sinner as well. Why should He listen to us? And so when He does listen, when we're able to be in His presence with boldness, That shows what has happened in redemption. You see, our sins have been forgiven, we have a mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the fact that that is highlighted glorifies God. It is worship. How we lament as Christians the times when we have failed to worship God, when we have not prayed, when we have worshipped ourselves by not recognising our dependence upon God, by not coming before the God who has saved us, showing to him, yes, we know that you are the Almighty One. We, his people, have received a double portion of his blessing, yet we have so often enjoyed his blessings and not gone and thanked him. And so, Prayer is worship. Now, we need to distinguish worship. There's public worship, which is the highest form of worship, what we do on a Sunday, but there are things in life that we do that the Bible describes as worship as well, and one of these is prayer. And so we can answer that question, children, who is to pray? Well, if you look at the confessional answer on your sheet, what does it say? Prayer with thanksgiving, being one part of natural worship is by God required of all men. Let me untangle that. Everyone must pray. Everyone must pray. Now we're not talking, we're not saying that everyone would just be accepted if they did pray. But just because you may not be able to do it right doesn't mean it isn't required of you. The fact that we should pray is evident from the world. You see, some things we have to read the Bible for, don't we? What do we have to read the Bible to know? Who Jesus is, right? You're not gonna find that out from the birds and the bees and the trees and the mountains. You have to read the Bible and there are many things like that, but there are some things that are evident from the world, from mankind and from the world. One of those things is that there is a God. We've discussed this before. It's plain, it's obvious. Obviously there's a God, look at the creation. There is a God. But something else that is evident is that we must pray to that God. Even if you've never read the scriptures, You should be able to know that. Many religions which don't have their roots in Christianity recognize the need to pray to God. Now they pray to the wrong gods, but the fact that they see the need to pray shows that it's evident in the world. Hinduism and Buddhism are very popular religions that require prayer, which don't have roots in Christianity. Those people have just been in the world, they didn't know the Bible necessarily, but they've just realized we need to pray. Like I said, they falsely pray, but they've realized it. But let me read you from an encyclopedia, just a few. It mentions many more religions than this, but I'll just read you a few of the religions that have no roots in Christianity as far as we know, but they recognize the need for prayer. It says this, internalized prayer is found among the Eskimos and the Algonquin tribes of North America, the Seamangs of the Adaman Islands in the Indian Ocean, and the Aborigines of Australia. Prayer in gestures is also found among the Seamangs. Another form is spontaneous prayer, without any precise formulation, which is found, for example, among the Eta, the Baluga, the Eta, and other aboriginal peoples of the Philippines and the Alakaluf Halakawulips of Tierra del Fuego. More developed liturgies and prayer vigils are found even among the aborigines people of the Philippines and the Pygmies of Gabon. There you go, did my best with those names. All those religions recognise the need to pray. Now how did they know that? They haven't read the Bible. Because it's evident from our hearts and from the world. God exists, there is a God. Let's pray to him. Now, like I said, a lot of the prayer is selfish, it's all to false gods. But they recognise that need. It's there in the world. Do you remember 1 Kings, is it chapter 20, when Elijah is on Mount Carmel and there is the greatest showdown between God And Baal, you remember, they set up two altars, and Elijah said, you come down, you Baal worshippers, fire from Baal on this one, and then I'll do it on this one from my God. Let's see who actually has fire. What did they proceed to do? They proceed to pray. Now it's prayer in a horrible form where they cut themselves and whatnot, but they're speaking words. They're praying to Baal, please give us fire. You see, even the Baal worshippers recognise the need for prayer. In man's heart, he knows there is a God, and he knows he must recognize him in prayer. Now, mankind twists that and prays to false gods in false ways and mixes in selfishness, but it is there. This is a very good proof for the existence of God, the fact that it is there. Together with the creation and our hearts, this thing is plain. All men must pray, and we have that in the word as well. So, who must pray? All men and women. That's not men as opposed to women, that's mankind must pray. But how is mankind to pray? Well, mankind is to pray in the name of the sun. In the name, children, your sheet there, I think there's a question on that. In the name of the sun. What is the name of the son? Well, his name is firstly, or perhaps not firstly, but I'm gonna take it firstly, Lord. Philippians chapter two says that God has bestowed on him, that is on Jesus, the name that is above every name, that every tongue should confess The name that is above every name, sorry, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is, what? Lord. Lord. The first part of Jesus' name is Lord. What does this mean? Master, ruler, the one above us, the one whom we bow to, Lord. He is the Lord. Then what's next? The Lord Jesus. The angel Gabriel comes to Mary in Luke's gospel, I believe it is, and tells her what? You shall call his name Jesus. Now do you know what Jesus means? Jesus means saviour. Saviour. He is the Lord, the Master, Jesus, the Saviour, Christ, Christos, Messiah, Champion, the one who would come, the one who would win the victory for God, the one that God has earmarked and said, there he is, you watch that one, because he's going to do great things. He's going to win salvation for my people. The one promised of old in the Old Testament. So He is Lord, He is Master, He is Jesus, He is Saviour, He has saved us from our sins. He has died in our place and He is Christ, He is champion. He hasn't just died, He's risen again. And He's ascended to the right hand of the Father and He is victorious over principalities, over powers, over all things, over the devil, over the wicked. And so when we come in the name of this one, the Lord Jesus Christ, we can be accepted. If you imagine a king in the medieval days, somebody like King Arthur, and they fight with swords and shields and armour and whatnot. And there's a rebel in the land, in the realm. It's a great word, the realm. and this rebel has committed treachery against the king, and he's bad-mouthed the king, and he's tried to throw the king off his throne, and he's tried to cause trouble for the king, and he's found out, and he's banished from the land, and never allowed back in. Well, what if he sneaks his way to the gates of the land? Let's say there's a big wall around the land, and he knocks on the gate, and then the gate's open, and he says, can I come back in? And they say, well, why should we let you back in? In whose name do you come? He says, well, I come in my own name. What are they gonna do? Of course you can't come back in, you've been banished forever. You're a rebel, you're a traitor. We're never gonna let you back in. But if the king's son goes outside the gates for a mission, perhaps to kill a dragon or something, remember this is fictional in medieval times. And he kills his dragon, and then he meets this man. And this man repents of his sins to the king's son, and he's really sorry, and he makes friends with the king's son, and the king's son is very magnanimous and generous. And then they go to the gates, and the king's son knocks on the gates, and they open it, and then the man says, can I come in as well? To the people at the gate, and they say, in whose name do you come? And the son says, he comes in my name. May he be let in? Yeah. Now that doesn't explain how we're forgiven our sins. Jesus had to die for us. But the illustration is there to show Jesus is like that. You see, we've been cast out of the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve, stay out. Flaming sword there. Never come back, as it were. But God sends his son out into the world to find us. and sacrifice himself for us, and take our sins, and be our champion, and then we can go to the gates of the presence of God, even now, not physically, although we will get there eventually if we're Christians, and we can enter. We don't even have to knock. In reverence, we enter, but we can enter because we come in the name of Jesus. Do you know this name, Harry? George, Lizzie, do we all know this name of Jesus? Is his name for us? If it is, amen and hallelujah. We have a right to the presence of God. But we come also, how? In the name of the Son, in the power of the Spirit. We need the spirit to help us. Kids, on your sheets, in the power of spirit. We are like those people, you've probably seen this in a television series, or maybe you've experienced it yourself or you've seen someone else do it, who everyone thinks after a terrible accident or some hereditary disease or something, they're never gonna walk again. But then somehow, there's a bit of life And they start to kind of show a little bit of promise, but they have to go through rehabilitation. And you see them, you know those bars that they have, and they're kind of trying to walk on the bars, and they have to use other people's arm and strength, but they're gaining their strength, but they have to be helped. If they were to just pull the bars away, take their arm away, then they'd just fall down. We're a little bit like that. We're dead in our sins, God gives us life through his spirit, but we aren't perfect. In fact, we're a long way from perfect. We need the arm of the Holy Spirit. We need his guidance, we need his help. As we pray, we need his help. Do you know, praying is one of, if not the most spiritual activity. I'm not saying it's the most important, although it's absolutely essential. But when we pray, We are communing with God in a special way. Now we commune with God now, but in prayer it is different. We need the help of the Spirit. You can read of that in Romans chapter eight, in the second half of Romans chapter eight, although we won't turn there now. Pray for his guidance. Pray for his help as we pray. Is it okay to pray for help in prayer? Absolutely. We must do it. But we must do these things, so it's in the name of the Son, how? In the name of the Son, by the power of the Spirit. Thirdly, children, according to the will of God. According to the will of God. And you'll see that these points are really being drawn from that confessional statement on your sheet. 1 John chapter five and verse 14 says this. And this is the confidence that we have toward him. that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. If we ask anything according to whose will? His will. He will hear us. There are different things which are referred to by the will of God in the Bible. Sometimes by the will of God is meant the secret will of God, that is everything that will happen in your lives and in the world. But here it's speaking about the revealed will of God, and the revealed will of God is the Bible. And so when we're reading the Bible, and when we're thinking on the Bible, and when we're listening to preaching about the Bible, we are being informed about God's will. What does God want us to do? What does God want us to be like? How are we to be strengthened by God? All these many questions that we go into every week, and I'm sure you do as well, hopefully in your Bible studies, personal studies. This is the will of God. It's not purely a matter of letter, so you only do things or only pray for things if you've got the exact words somewhere, but a matter of spirit. But we are to know the word of God and we are to love the word of God and we are to seek to pray in accordance with God's revealed will. Do not pray against God's will. How do I know what's against God's will? Well, what he says in the Bible, don't pray against that. Don't pray for things that God has forbidden or disapproved of. Don't pray for purely prideful things or for vain glory. Do not pray for wicked things. Search our hearts that we do not do so. We certainly can and must pray for things that God hasn't explicitly said he will give. Salvation of unbelieving family members and friends, for peace and religious freedom in the land. We discussed that before in 1 Timothy 2, didn't we? But there is a scale here. We must not pray for what God has not revealed, and the more we know of God's word, the more we know of God, the more we will recognise what his will is, and the more in accordance we will pray with his will. So those are the first two points there. Who is to pray, all men? How are we to pray? In the name of the Son, in the power of the Spirit, and according to the will of God. But thirdly, in what way should we pray? We've got a number of points in that confessional statement, and we're going to go through them. The first one is this. You've got those seven points there, children. This is the first one. With understanding. With understanding. Prayer is not an anti-intellectual experience. You know what the intellect is? The mind. We aren't to go, right, well, I've got my thoughts and I've got my information and I'm gonna put that aside and come to prayer. You might think, obviously not. But it's actually quite easy to think like that. I'm gonna sit here and I'm gonna just have a wave of spirituality. We pray with understanding. We pray God's word. We pray the Psalms. Yes, there's time for silence and there's time for meditation, but that silence isn't trying to empty your head, which the Buddhists try to do in meditating. Do you know, we believe in original sin, which means that if you empty your head, do you know what's flowing back in? Sin. Fat lot of good that's gonna do you. We don't want to empty it of everything. Yes, we want to try and empty it of sin, but how do we do that? By shoving in good things. By putting good things in our mind, reading the scriptures, praying, yes, thinking on the Lord, thinking on the creation, talking about Christian things. We fill our minds, and therefore, hopefully, the bad will leave. Of course we must mortify sin, I'm not saying that, but prayer is to be with the understanding. Secondly, prayer is to be with reverence. Reverence is a right attitude in which one is showing due respect to God. You children might show reverence to your teachers by calling them sir, or I don't know, what do you call? the lady teacher's Mrs. something or Mr. something. Say your teacher was called Bob McIntosh, it would be respectful to call him Mr. McIntosh, but if you called him Bob, that would be without reverence, you see? That would be naughty, wouldn't it? Because it would be disrespectful. You don't call your parents by their first name. People you meet at school will do that. Do not do that. That is rude. And we know this as well, don't we, adults in life? There are ways in which we show reverence to people. Reverence to people in rightful authority. Just reverence to people because they're human beings, but the reverence we show to God is different. It's the same, but so much more. He must be absolutely revered. In Numbers chapter 20, verse six, Moses and Aaron reverence God by falling flat on their faces. They have such a high view of God's glory that they just on the floor, face in the dirt. Are our hearts, is the face of our hearts, as it were, in the dirt? We don't do the outward symbolism, the new covenant, word and spirit. Nevertheless, it can be good to bow before God, especially when we pray. But is the face of our heart in the dirt? We must have a reverence for God when we pray. Sometimes that reverence will be heightened. Here on church, in church, on a Sunday, we will have a more formal setting for our prayers, and when we pray on our own, you might pray when you're driving, that's fine. Doesn't always have to have the formal setting, but the reverence must be there. So we pray with reverence. How often we have forgotten who God is. How often we pray like God is a buddy. God is not your buddy, he's not my buddy. He is the almighty creator of the universe and we have a wonderful right to be bold in his presence but that doesn't give us a right to be flippant in his presence. Thirdly, humility. Humility is similar to reverence, but it acknowledges our sinfulness, as Dr. Renan says in his commentary on this part of the confession. Murderers and rapists lose their right to speak to normal society because they should either be executed or put in prison. They've lost that right to be in and amongst the society. How much more we, who have rebelled against God, have lost the right to be in His presence. So when we come in the name of the Son, which we rejoice in, we still recognise we're sinners. And that's why we're always praying. Thank you for forgiving us our sins. Would you please accept our repentance? Because we must come in humility. We know why we are accepted in God's presence. It is because of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified for our transgressions, who was bruised for our iniquities. And when we come to God, we always come through the mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. And when he stands before God, mediating for us, will we fail to come in humility? when he, as it were, showed his nailed, pierced hands to the Father as proof of what he did for us. And the Father hears our prayers because of that. Will we come in pride? We need to humble our hearts as we come before God. Fourthly, fervency. This means earnestness or urgency. James chapter five and verse 16 says, the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. When speaking with fervency, you will be speaking in a serious manner. When you speak about something you really care about, you will generally speak with fervency. your loved one or your friend is with you and they collapse on the floor and don't appear to be breathing and you ring 999, are you going to ring with flippancy? Oh, hello, this is, you know, this is the emergency services. And you say, oh, the ambulance please. And then the person gets on the other end of the phone and you say, oh yes, hello, I'm having a lovely day. It's just really interesting. I like the weather. I think the crops are doing quite well. Somebody collapsed on the floor. Send the ambulance now, what do I do? Or the new entrepreneur who has a project that he is desperate to work. When he speaks about it with friends, with people who might contribute, with people who might help him, he's gonna speak with fervency. This is a serious matter. We must not always be stressed and quick when speaking to God. That's not what I'm saying, but we must be earnest. We are speaking with the one who has power, with the one who is holiness itself, and we want to see his kingdom grow. We want him and his son to be glorified. Let us speak with fervency. The last three will be quicker. Fifthly, faith. Obviously we must pray with faith. We must believe in the one to whom we pray, and we must believe that he is able to do what he says he will do, and He will do what is right. He is worthy of our faith, so let us put all our faith in Him. Simply, love, we are to pray with love. We are to have love of God in our prayers. For God, but also for people around as we pray. and how our hearts should and sometimes do overflow with love when we pray to God and we think of what He has done for us. Love is not a mere feeling that you have to wait for. Love is an act of the will. As a Christian, seek to recount who God is in prayer, what He has done for you. Give Him thanks and there will be love. And as unbelievers, Ask God to give you faith and love for him. Seventhly and lastly, perseverance. Jesus tells us in Luke's gospel, we preached on this parable a while ago, but he says to persist in prayer. Hang on to God in prayer like Jacob wrestled with that man through the night, even though he put his hip out, yet he continued to wrestle. Do you know how difficult it is to wrestle with your hip put out of joint? It's actually impossible because your hip is needed for all the movements, all the twisting movements that you need to do when you wrestle. You need your hip. So he's had his hip put out of joint, but he continues wrestling. I think wrestling is maybe a bit ambitious. He probably is just holding on. Don't go until you bless me. Even if God puts us through difficulties for our own sanctification, hold on to God. If it is the last thing you do, and if it is the last thing you do, you will go to heaven. Of course, we know we're saved by Christ, not by our fervency in prayer. Nevertheless, let us hold on to God, persist seeking his grace. Jesus did all these seven things perfectly. With an understanding of the scriptures that far exceeded ours, he prayed about what was upcoming in his life to God. He knew the word of God like nobody else, and he prayed with that understanding. He showed reverence for God. He showed a dependence upon God, even though he is God. He showed reverence for God. How much more must we? He was not a sinner, so he could not humble himself in the same way that we did, but he humbled himself in the sense of going to a cross to be treated as if he had sinned. He prayed with fervency. His prayers were so conscious of the reality and the seriousness of life and what was to happen, that when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweat drops of blood. And was there anyone who ever had faith in prayer like Christ? The one who prayed, into thy hands I commit my spirit. No word of doubt, though God's fire of torment was upon him. And he prayed in love for God, that no man on earth could equal when he prayed, Father, glorify your name. And finally, he persevered in prayer right to the end. Through his ministry, through the wilderness, through teaching the disciples, through the garden of Gethsemane, through the cross, through saying, why have you forsaken me? Through saying, it is finished, he persevered. Christian, Jesus sets our example. Let us follow him. But praise God that when we fail over and over again, though we improve, I hope and pray, we can return to God and plead the righteousness of Christ which avails for us. And know that if you really are a Christian, even when we fail to pray, do you know who prays for you? Jesus.