Our Old Covenant reading is the Book of Micah. And while you're turning there, I just want to remind you we have just completed reading in our family worship the Book of Micah. And the comment that Bunny and I made to each other, I said, boy, it sounds like we're reading the headlines. You have to understand that Micah was preaching to a nation that was under God's judgment, and corruption and injustice was rampant. And yet, I want you to hear what Micah has to say in the fourth chapter, the first five verses. If you will stand for the reading of God's word. See, I almost forgot it again. And it will come about in the last days The mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains, will be raised up above the hills and the peoples will stream to it. And many nations will come and say, come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us about his ways and that we may walk in his paths. For from Zion will go forth the law, even the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he will judge between many peoples and render decisions for mighty distant nations. Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation and never again will they train for war. And each of them will sit under his vine and under his fig tree with no one to make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. Though all the peoples walk each in the name of his God, as for us, we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever." And then our New Covenant reading as we've been going through the Lord's prayer. Matthew chapter 6, and again, after the disciples had asked, teach us to pray, Jesus says this beginning in verse 9, pray then in this way, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy 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. Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions. Thus far, the reading of God's word. Let us pray once again. Lord, burn these words upon our hearts and stir our spirits not only to remember them, but to practice them. Teach us to pray, O Lord. And will you hear and will you answer from heaven? Will you grant us those requests which we ask according to your will and magnify and glorify your name now and forevermore? Amen. Please be seated. We've been looking at the Lord's Prayer and how we are to pray for God's interests first and how the first petition is hallowed be thy name. And we ask that God's name would be held in esteem and reverence by ourselves, by the church, by all men everywhere. And then as an outworking of that, as we spoke this morning, we pray that God's kingdom would come, that his reign of grace would come and abound in our individual lives, in our families, our churches. But we pray for the subjection of the nations also as they come to worship the Lord Jesus which he will bring about in time. And tonight we come to this third petition, Thy will be done by kingdom, the first one, Thy kingdom come, but Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And if you think that Thy kingdom come is a great petition then think about this one. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We'll talk about that. But I was just thinking, and by way of introduction, in the course of life, believers experience the blessings of God's kingdom. You all are participants. If you are known by the Lord Jesus and you know him, you have experienced the blessings of God in Christ upon your lives as individuals. It wasn't always this way, I have to confess. When I was a child, I did not... What's the word? I did not eagerly anticipate the Lord's Day, let me put it that way. best day of the week for me now. That's the work of grace when we are able to meet together with God and with God's people and delight in that and say that's the best day of the week. And we experience it in our families. Lenny and I are in our twilight years. I'm becoming more and more aware of that. And of course, with both of our health, I mean, it's always uncertain. We get up every morning, not every morning, but a lot of the times we get up and we say to each other, isn't this wonderful? Another day to spend together. All this and heaven too. Isn't that glorious? It's glorious, the delight in the common blessings of God. You know that, well maybe you don't know, but yesterday we were in attendance at Caitlin's wedding to Robert. Castee, and it was a glorious day. I was overwhelmed. I was absolutely overwhelmed. I did not preach the service, but I began with welcoming the guests and then taking everything up to Mark's giving his daughter, Caitlin, away. It overwhelmed me because yesterday, of course, was June 3rd. And on June 3rd, 28 years ago, I walked Kimberly down the aisle. And the music for the processional was the identical music. And I was overwhelmed, overwhelmed with joy. And as we assembled as a family, there's a lot of people there. There were a lot of people there. And I just couldn't help but say to those who were around me, particularly to Mark and Kimberly, behold what God has done. It was glorious. A blessing of the kingdom of God's grace. And we experience these things in our churches. I said to you, one of the best, the best day of the week is the Lord's Day. And certainly it's because we assemble with God. But I have no greater joy than to be with you, my family. And for me to be able to preach the word of God to you and to hear your singing lifted me into the presence of God. It was glorious. The blessings of God in His covenant of grace. And it's not unusual when we think of these things in human parlance to describe them as a taste of heaven. And I think that's right. I think it is a taste of heaven. It's certainly not perfect and we know there are many troubles in the world and there are disruptions in our walk with the Lord personally and in family and in church as well. I can't tell you how great it is to be in the presence of God and his people and to sing his praises. The common denominator, of course, of all of these seasons is the grace of God producing faith and obedience. And the Lord here teaches us to pray for more. We pray for heaven on earth. Now that's a big prayer. But doesn't your soul yearn for that? Doesn't your soul yearn for the will of God to be done on earth as it is in heaven? So that's what I want to look at. Third petition in the Lord's Prayer gives us warrant, I think, to pray for heaven on earth. This side of glory always imperfect, but it will indeed come in its consummation, but it will exceed our expectations. That's what we want. What is heaven on earth? When God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven. And so I want to, first of all, briefly observe the relationship between the petitions. The first one, hallowed be thy name. The second one, thy kingdom come. The third one, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It's kind of like each petition builds upon the previous one. You know those Russian dolls that you, the big doll and then a little smaller doll inside and then On it goes, well, hallowed be thy name is the big doll. And then you open up the big doll and you take out the little doll and well, what does it mean for your name to be hallowed? Well, it means God's kingdom is coming, his kingdom of grace. And then you open that one up and you find out the particulars that we pray for heaven on earth, that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And so each petition builds on the previous one. This petition reflects a concern for God's name. We want God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven because we want God to be exalted. We want him to be reverenced. We want him to rule in our lives and to accept the obedience of faith and the obedience that is produced by faith. And then we pursue the results of that progress of God's kingdom progressively the will of God being done. As I said, I did not eagerly anticipate the Lord's Day, and even into my young adulthood, I did not have an appreciation for the Lord's Day until Morton Smith spoke down with us and spoke to us about the glories of the Lord's Day. The Lord gave us a love for his day that has grown more and more. And I'm reminded again of Isaiah 52. I believe it is. He doesn't say, sanctify the Lord's day. And he doesn't say, you'll grow in your love and affection for me, and then you can sanctify the Lord's day. He says, you will set the day apart, and then Then you'll walk on the high places. Then you'll delight in me. And we found that to be the case. So that's the relationship. They're kind of enlargements and expansions. And after we complete this on our concerns for God, then we go to our concerns for one another as well. That's the relationship. Understand the substance of the third petition. Understand, as we've been trying to say, understand what it is that you were requesting when you were seeking God's will. And the scope of this petition is breathtaking. It's breathtaking. Again, you will be finding out what it is for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven in your own life for the rest of your life. That's what God is doing in you by His Spirit and by His Word and Spirit. He's conforming you to the image of His Son. And what did Jesus do? His will was to do the will of His Father, to do the will of God on earth as it is done in heaven. And that's what God is doing in us. And so really, this petition is asking for the reformation of all life in this world according to God's word. Now, again, when you think about God's will, we can think about two different things. We can think about God's decrees, which must certainly come to pass. I don't think that's what's in view here. I think what is in view here when we pray for God's will, we're asking that God's will will be done on earth as it is in heaven with regard to his revealed will. But nonetheless, I think there's something in this because we know that God's decreed will be done, right? Whatever he does, everything falls out according to the decrees of God from before the foundation of the world. But with regard to those decrees, I think one of the things that we pray for, because it is the revealed will of God, when we speak about this in respect to the decrees of God, we are praying that we would humble ourselves to be content with God's decrees. Contentment. Jeremiah Burroughs wrote a book. the rare jewel of Christian contentment. I commend it to you. It is convicting and challenging at the same time. But I'm trying to learn that. You know how I hate the traffic lights on Stone Drive. The Lord is making progress with me. We came up And we just, we were cruising along, and at the last minute, the red light came on, and the first thing that came to my mind was, oh, we're stopped. The Lord wanted me to stop. Thank you, Lord. And I'm learning to be content even with my own with the Lord's ruling and overruling with my own stupidity. If you try to call me on my cell phone, I won't answer. Yesterday, as I came out of the wedding, I was taking my jacket off, and I said to myself, I'm going to put this on the top of my car, but I can't forget it. And 30 seconds, we drove out of the parking lot. And somewhere, my cell phone is on I-140 or I-40. But it's, last night, as I was beginning to fret, I was thinking, yeah, that was really stupid. And I should have known because even when I put it up there, I said, Brent, this is a dumb thing to do because you're going to forget it. And I did it anyway. But I wasn't going to fret. Even that, Lord. Even my stupidity. It's okay. Now, those are small things, but there are greater things as well. Because we recognize that God has foreordained everything that comes to pass. We've already mentioned those things. Everything God has ordained. We recognize also the mystery of God's decrees in Deuteronomy 29, 29. The secret things belong to God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children that we may keep his commandments. But there's mysteries, but those things we cannot understand, I think we simply learn to trust and adore. And I'm grateful for the lessons that the Lord has taught me. And those hard providences, as I look back over my life, the most difficult, challenging times of my life have been the most useful in my sanctification. Didn't understand them all. Still don't understand them all. We understand some things. We don't understand them all. But we entrust ourselves. And so you trust God's wisdom and goodness in his decrees. And so when the Apostle Paul was setting his face to go to Jerusalem, Agrabus came and said, bound his arms. And he said, like these arms are bound, so Paul, you are going to be bound as well. And Paul said, why are you weeping for me? I'm setting my face to go to Jerusalem. And in Acts 21, 14, this is stated, and since he would not be persuaded, We all fell silent, remarking, the will of the Lord be done. And of course, you know, God's secret working. Indeed, Agabus told what was going to happen, and that was exactly how the Lord Jesus took the gospel to Rome through the Apostle Paul, as he told him he would. But you not only submit, and that's something you ought to pray. You ought to pray for contentment. And so in those seasons when your feathers are ruffled by whatever comes along, ask the Lord to give you contentment, for this is the will of God concerning you. But you also pray that men will love and obey his revealed will and yourself first. When we pray, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we are praying not my will, but thine be done. We pray that men will love and obey his will. Now, if you don't know how to pray for God's will, the primer is this. Take the Ten Commandments and pray the Ten Commandments. And if you're ever stuck in knowing how to pray, then read the larger catechism on the exposition of the Ten Commandments, and you will have a lifetime of prayer requests that are according to the will of God. This is the will of God for you, and may I say that And I want to say this carefully, but if you don't love God's law, you're going to be miserable in heaven if you are in heaven. Because what characterizes heaven? The character of God. What characterizes heaven? God's revealed will is done perfectly and perpetually. And so when you are praying the will of God to be done, you are praying that God would draw you and move you to embrace the law of God and empower you to walk in greater obedience from day to day. And that's a good prayer. That's a good prayer. I pray, one of my, Bunny and I were again talking on the way down this evening and she was just commenting to me how she struggles with sin as we all do. Well, that's a great. thing to do, to struggle with sin. And when you're struggling with sin, then you cry out to the Lord, Lord, I want your will. Because what is sin? Sin is the transgression of the law of God. We pray that God would enable us to love God, to love his law. So we pray that God, that all men will embrace God's law as the standard of his will. It is his revealed will. Everything in principle is contained there. You may pray with assurance because we know that it is God's will. So we pray that men will love God, that we will love God and fulfill their duties to God. We ask that we will acknowledge, embrace God alone as our God, not just as a distant deity knowing about Him and not worshiping Him in a craven fear, but might worship Him in that close and intimate fellowship that He desires for us. As He offers Himself, I will be your God and you will be my people. Oh, that I would rejoice in that more and more." And that's what we ought to pray for ourselves and for each other. And we ought to pray that for a world that lives in darkness. We ask that men and their families will worship God as He desires to be worshiped. I love the regulative principle of God. I love being able to go to congregations that practice that, because it's like, not quite like, but it's almost like worshiping here at Westminster. It's wonderful to go to a congregation that takes the Second Commandment seriously, and all of the elements of worship are included and practiced, and you're just right at home with the people of God. And I pray that God will reform worship throughout the earth. We ask men to revere God's name in word and in life, keeping our covenant promises, contracts, keeping your word. There was a time, my father remembers it, I can remember it in part, when there were Very big business transactions that were conducted with nothing more than the word of mouth and a shaking of hands. And that was it. Wouldn't you like to have that today? Wouldn't you like to have it so that God's name is held in such reference that perjury would never be heard in a court of justice? That would be a measure of heaven on earth. And we ask that men will sanctify and delight in the Lord's day. Don't you desire so many more to join together in our worship together? I mean, I'm grateful. I am so grateful to see the Lord adding to our number and worshiping together. I want that for more and more and more, that men would love the Lord's Day, that those who are of our, even our own membership, that are absenting themselves from worship, not because of necessity, but just because they are not here, how I long for them to be present and share with the worship of God on the Lord's Day, delighting in His day and being refreshed. And we pray that men will love each other as well, fulfill their duties to men. And you know these things. that all men everywhere would recognize and practice his world order in the sense of honoring authorities. There would be an order restored instead of the rebellion and the treachery that we see all about us. That those under authority would obey from the heart and that those in authority would exercise that authority according to God's word instead of their pernicious lying hearts plundering men rather than serving. I think about this when Jesus spoke about the nations, and he was telling his disciples, you know, the kings of the nations lord it over them, and men call them their benefactors. but it will not be so with you. He will be first among you, must be the servant of all." And I was thinking about it, the great King of Kings and Lord of Lords that we spoke about this morning. How does he rule? He rules by giving himself, protecting his people, providing for his people, not plundering them, but providing for them. And we want to see I want to see and I believe the Lord would have us to pray that men would honor authority and would be honorable in the exercise of authority in the church, in the family, in the world. We ask that men would protect life. I mentioned this morning I long to see the abortuary shut down. Bristol has become a destination for people to kill their unborn children. They're coming from all states all over the place. They're coming from all over the place. I long for the day when men and women will no longer desire to put to death their children. I long for the day when the lives of men will be held in esteem in value, to protect life, that men will value and guard the family. I talked to you about the joys of family, and it's all the grace of God. It has nothing to do with us. Somebody asked us how We observe your children. We see the grace of God in them. What did you do? And I said, well, if it depended upon us, they wouldn't be. It's all the grace of God. But I think God answers prayer. And he blesses families. And I long to see families enjoying the things that we enjoy as the people of God. I long to see those things where families are ordered by the will of God, where husbands desire the will of God, wives desire to do the will of God, children desire to do the will of God, and it is done as it is in heaven. Property and truth and the heart. Pastor Rob just preached through the Ten Commandments. So there you have a summary of the will of God, and then all the permutations of that in the particulars of Scripture. And so those are the things. We pray that men will love and obey his revealed will, ourselves first. And that takes us back to the revealed will of God in his law. And we embrace the aspiration, the third petition, as I've already said. What we are praying for is heaven on earth. And you say, well, that's a little bit too much. What does Jesus tell us to pray for? Jesus tells us to pray, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Progressive in history is what we are asking, and yet completely in glory. But we believe that God is making a new heavens and new earth. Old things have passed away. All things have become new. And I just want you, we look at the aspiration, the third petition, I want you to notice that the focus or the locus, the place where this is to take place is earth in space and time. Thy will be done, where? On earth as it is in heaven. And this, by the way, is not to diminish those admonitions and those commands which are the will of God that we should set our affection upon things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, that we would desire to be with Christ as he prays for us that we would be with him that we might see his glory that is not to diminish that at all but simply to point out the context that's the context and we live life in earth that's that's where our where our heart is, but we recognize that that has its impact upon earth and we want others to have that aspiration as well as God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven. God would have us to be concerned about time and eternity, but also for earth. Certainly believers are to pursue heaven and eternity. We don't want to ignore it. And we do desire and pray for Christ's return, but not as an escape that relieves us of duty, but rather as the context in which we seek to do the will of God. And so our Lord reminds us to be concerned for his work on earth. Please understand as we are not polishing the brass on the Titanic. or that's what some people accuse us of doing, or moving the deck chairs on the Titanic. And I have heard some of my friends who basically say, it's a waste of time, don't bother with anything on earth because nothing's going to happen until glory. And I say, listen to what Jesus tells us to pray. your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Don't you desire that? I don't come near it, I recognize that, but that's my desire. So you pray for God's will to be done like it is in heaven. And again, I want to dispel these things. This is not, I mean it, we have We have such low aspirations. We're satisfied with crumbs when the Lord wants us to have the feast of glory. Not just in eternity, but the taste of it now. Again, the weddings that we have been able to participate in, they're little tastes of the great marriage feast of the Lamb, but it is a taste. of the marriage feast of the Lamb. Well, how is the will of God done? We ask that we and others will do the will of God voluntarily. Psalm 110, again one of the most quoted passages in the Old Covenant, 110.3, your people will volunteer freely in the day of your power. Guess what? Lord's Day is a day of His power. Monday is a day of His power. For all authority, all power has been given to Jesus Christ. And He must reign. It's the day of His power. And so we desire to do the will of God voluntarily, eagerly. We want to do it eagerly. And if you're saying, well, that's just not me, I mean, yeah, I kind of I obey grudgingly because I'm afraid to do anything, and that's okay. It's okay to fear God. I mentioned that one of the things that helped me through my teenage years was first a respect for my mother and father. I didn't want to do anything that would hurt them. But there was also a very good restraint. I did not want what would happen to me if I really messed up from my father and mother, and that was a healthy thing. But the first thing was that I didn't want to disappoint them, eagerly, joyfully, universally. And you're saying, well, Pastor Bradley, that just, that sounds impossible. And may I suggest to you that's an aspiration But should we not expect God to answer the prayer that he tells us to pray? Should we not expect some measure of that to come about? How is God's will done in heaven? It's done all of these ways. And so we pray in faith that God will answer this petition. It is a huge request, but it is a huge request for which you have divine warrant to pray. and belief. Listen to Zechariah 8.6. Thus says the Lord of hosts, if it is too difficult in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, they thought it was impossible to return to the land. If it's impossible in your eyes, will it also be too difficult in my sight? says the Lord. See, I think we have too small of a view of God and what He wants us to pray for. So don't despair because of the power of sin in your life. Pray that God would enable you more and more to do His will as it is in heaven, and sin's power, which has been broken, will be dissipated more and more. And remember that Christ has conquered the power of sin in principle and expect progress and holiness both personally and culturally. And remember what we read in Micah in the midst of that corrupt nation where injustice and plunder by the people of God against each other was rampant. He says in the last days. The nations are going to stream up to Zion, and they're going to ask that they might be able to hear the will of God. Why? That they might walk in his ways. That's another way of saying we want to do the will of God. And I pray that you will pray that prayer. So do you know God's revealed will? Well, ask the Lord to fill you with the knowledge of his will so as to walk in a manner worthy of him. that you may increase in the knowledge of God. Be students of the word. Do you sincerely desire God's will above your own? If not, ask the Lord to subdue your will and give you that contentment and that obedience to his revealed will and contentment in his decretive will. And are you praying for heaven on earth in your life and relations? Or is the Lord's prayer simply something that you recite on Lord's Day morning without thinking about it at all? And are you thinking, yeah, we'll pray that God's will would be done on earth as in heaven, but I don't think it has a snowball's chance in a very hot place of ever coming about. That's unbelief, my friends. And may I encourage you then, this is something for which we are to pray for one another. This is something that we need to be stirred to pray. I began to look at this thinking about what I should preach to you all, because we need to be a praying people. And I'm grateful the Lord is stirring us to pray, but I want us to learn how to pray. I want us to learn to pray the prayer that Jesus taught us. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. And at the conclusion of Zechariah, I've thought about this and it's remarkable, he talks about the last days as well. And he says, the bells on the horses, insignificant things, and the common cooking pots in our homes will have written upon them, holy to the Lord. That's what I want. And the Lord tells us, let's pray for it. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your kindness to us. We thank you that you give us warrant to pray great things. And we ask that you would forgive us for our weak faith, our shallow petitions, when you have given us warrant to pray for great things. Yes, Lord, I know. I know we are living in very dark days, and our flesh doubts that you can do these things. And yet, Lord, we would lay hold by faith and appeal to you that you will indeed enable us more and more to do your will as revealed in scripture, more and more like it is done in heaven. and that you will extend your grace and favor and give us hearts to desire that more and more and let us wait, let us wait until you come in that power and send those seasons of refreshing which we've never seen before but you promised to send for the sake of Christ in whose name we pray, amen.