congregation beloved of our Lord Jesus Christ. Two weeks ago when we talked about the first petition of the Lord's Prayer, we saw that that first petition governs all of our prayers here in the Lord's Prayer. We pray thy kingdom come and thy will be done so that thy name may be hallowed. We pray for our daily bread, for the forgiveness of our sins and for sanctification so that God's name may be hallowed. In his commentary on this particular Lord's Day, Ursinus takes that idea of the relationship of the petitions and the Lord's Prayer a little bit farther than that. And he says basically this, that the name of God is sanctified in the coming of his kingdom. so that we pray, as we said a week ago, for the coming of his kingdom in order that his name may be sanctified. But then Ursinus goes on and he says, and the kingdom of God comes by the means which God has ordained. And those means which God has ordained is our faithfully fulfilling the duties which he has given to each one of us in our station and calling. which is, of course, what is mentioned in the Lord's Day itself. So we pray for the hallowing of God's name. In order that God's name may be hallowed, we pray that his kingdom may come. And then in order that his kingdom may come, we pray thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We pray then that we may be faithful in fulfilling our duties, both in obedience to his commandments and in faithfulness to the calling he has given to us. We consider the Lord's day under the theme praying that our father's will be done. First of all, what is the will of God? Secondly, what are we praying for in this petition? Thirdly, why are we praying for it? And fourthly, why do we add to the petition on earth as it is in heaven? First of all, then, what is the will of God? We make a distinction in the will of God between the will of God's command and the will of his decree. When we speak of the will of his command, we mean, of course, his commandments, his desires as to how we should live before him here in the world. That's what we mean by the will of command. When we speak of the will of decree, however, we mean not how he commands us to live in the world, but his predetermination of all the events of history. I believe that this distinction that we make in the word, in the will of God, the will of his command and the will of his decree is a biblical distinction. And I believe that we can find that distinction in both the Old and the New Testaments. In the Old Testament, there is a particular word Ratzon, to be particular. Ratzon, which designates the will of God. Now that word is a word which has various uses and is translated by our translations in various ways in different contexts. But nevertheless, there are some passages in the Old Testament in which that word is translated will, and in which it clearly refers to the will of God's command. One of those passages is Psalm 103 verse 21. It's actually not in the New King James translated his will, but it is the word we're talking about here. Bless the Lord all you his hosts, you ministers of his who do his pleasure or who do his will. Also in Ezra chapter 10 verse 11, Ezra is talking here to the people of Israel and particularly to the priests who had taken to themselves foreign wives and he says here, now therefore make confession to the Lord God of your fathers and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the pagan wives. The will of God particularly in that instance is the commandment to separate themselves from their foreign wives. And also in Psalm 40 verse eight, which we sang just a couple of minutes ago. Psalm 40 verse eight, words of our Lord Jesus Christ, in fact, according to Hebrews, I delight to do your will, oh my God, and your law is within my heart. So this is one of the words that the scriptures use as a designation for the commandments of God, the will of God. There are other words, of course, in the scriptures for those commandments, statutes, and precepts, and testimonies, and ordinances, and judgments, and so on. There are many, many other words that the scriptures use, and you find all of those words in Psalm 119. But this is the word that is used in the Old Testament for the will of God, which we call today the will of his command. However, that word, as far as I've been able to tell anyway, is not a word that's used for the counsel of God in the Old Testament. Not a word that designates the will of His decree. There are various words in the Old Testament which talk about God's decree, and we'll look at a couple of passages now. Psalm 33, verse 11, for example. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. And this counsel or plans of the Lord are in opposition to the counsel and plans of the peoples and of the nations. The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing. He makes the plans of the people of no effect. So you have two words used there in Psalm 33, verse 11, counsel and plan with respect to the decree of God. In Jeremiah 49 verse 20, we have some additional passages, or some additional words, excuse me. Jeremiah 49 verse 20. where we read this, therefore hear the counsel of the Lord that he has taken against Edom and his purposes that he has proposed against the inhabitants of Teman. And also in Isaiah 46, verse 10, yet another word that is used for the counsel or decree of God, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. So if you look at those different passages, you see, I think, four words, counsel, plan, purpose, and pleasure, counsel, plan, purpose, and pleasure, all of them having to do with the will of God's decree, with his eternal determination of all things. It's the word counsel that's of particular interest in the Old Testament for our consideration tonight. Because there are at least a few passages in the Old Testament where that word counsel, which usually has to do with God's decree, seems to come close anyway to meaning his command. One of those passages is Psalm 106, verse 13. They soon forgot his works. They did not wait for his counsel. They did not wait for his counsel. Now, if that doesn't mean explicitly his commandment, at least it comes very close to meaning that. It doesn't mean his purpose, his eternal decree, that's obvious. It seems to mean that the people did not wait to hear what God wanted them to do. They did not wait to hear his advice. They did not wait for his counsel. And of course, his advice in this sense anyway has to do particularly with commands. Psalm 107 verse 11 is another example, because they rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High. So you have different words for the commandments and you have different words for the decrees. And you have this one word in the Old Testament, which seems to cross over the boundary that we set up between them, the word counsel. And when we go to the New Testament, we find the same thing happening, but this time with regard to a different word. We read Ephesians 1 a little while ago because there in Ephesians 1, Paul uses all of the words that the New Testament has for the eternal purposes of God. He seems to be enraptured by this idea of the counsel of God and he piles word upon word in order to try to convey to us as much as possible what that counsel and purpose of God mean. In three verses, he uses four different words for the eternal counsel of God. First, verse five, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. The good pleasure of his will. That word good pleasure can correspond to the word pleasure in the Old Testament, and will seems to have no equivalent in this regard in the Old Testament. Then verse nine, having made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, again, which he purposed in himself. And in verse 11, in him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. You see how he piles up the words with regard to God's eternal decree. the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. It would have been sufficient to say, who works all things according to his purpose. He would, in a sense, have said nothing less by leaving off the other two words. But he's interested in piling up these words so that we can understand what this counsel of God means. It's his will, his counsel, his purpose, his good pleasure. Those are the four words that the apostle uses. And it's the word will here in the New Testament that seems to cross over to the idea of the will of command. Look for a moment at Matthew chapter seven, verse 21. We're going to give just two examples here. But there are others as well. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. He who does the will of my Father in heaven. And also in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 36, where the apostle says this, for you have need of endurance so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. Will as decree makes no sense in those passages. He's talking clearly about the commandments of God. So we have these two words, one in the Old Testament and one in the New, which seem to be used in both senses, the will of decree and the will of command. In the Old Testament, it's counsel. In the New Testament, it's the word will. But the idea that I want you to understand tonight, people of God, is that these two things are, in scriptural teaching, distinct. The will of the command and the will of the decree are two separate things, distinct. and yet that in certain instances those words seem to cross over and to embrace both sides of the will of God. And so the question that we need to ask tonight is when we pray thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, what are we praying for? Are we praying that his will of decree be done? or are we praying that his will of command be done? And I think what we have to say here, people of God, in answer to that question is that you cannot make the distinction here in the Lord's Prayer. Why? And we're getting here into our second point, of course. What do we pray for? Why is it that you cannot make the distinction between will of command and will of decree here in the Lord's Prayer. Well, let's take the example of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane who prayed this prayer. Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ was praying there, of course, about a specific event. the drinking of that cup which the Lord had ordained, the drinking of the cup of suffering. And he was asking that the Lord make it possible that he not have to drink that cup. It's clear because he's talking about a future event, a future event, that he's talking about the will of God's decree. Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. He's talking about the decree, isn't he? About what he himself knew about the future because the Lord had revealed it to him, and because he himself had told his disciples about it, that he would be crucified. He understood what was coming, and he wanted that cup to pass away from him, and prayed that the Father's will whatever his own will, that the Father's will with respect to it might be done. But when we pray, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, think about a minute for that, about that qualifying phrase, on earth as it is in heaven. That phrase suggests, doesn't it, that there's a difference between earth and heaven with regard to the will of God. There is, as far as God's decree is concerned, no difference about how the will of God is performed on earth or in heaven. His decrees are done fully in both places. We are praying with regard to the will of his command. Thy will be done, that is, your commandments be done on earth just as they are done in heaven. But how then can we take these two petitions, our Lord praying essentially the same words in the Garden of Gethsemane, and we pray those words according to his commandment in the Lord's Prayer. Both, in both, we hear the words, thy will be done. I think the answer to that is, people of God, that you cannot make the rigid distinction between the will of command and the will of decree here with respect to the Lord's prayer. When our Lord prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, thy will be done, he was praying about that cup of suffering. Indeed, he was. But he was also praying, wasn't he, that he would be obedient to that will of God, that he, throughout the endurance of that suffering, would continue to obey the commandments of God. He wasn't just saying to God in a kind of stoical fashion, well, if it has to be, it has to be. Whatever you have decreed must come to pass. And my response to that decree is, so be it. I can do nothing about it. It's not how he was praying. He was praying with full obedience to the will of his Father in heaven, praying that he, through that terrible trial and temptation which was to come, would be steadfast in his obedience to the will of his Father in heaven. And when we pray, In the Lord's Prayer, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we've already said we're praying with regard to the commandments, but that doesn't leave out of account in our prayers the will of God's decree. We are praying also, people of God, that we, with regard to all future events in our own lives, that is, with regard to the carrying out of God's decree in our own lives, may be submissive to his will. to the will of his decree. The ideas come together here in our prayer. Thy will be done, that is all thy desires, whether expressed in your eternal purposes or whether expressed in your commands. All thy desires be done. We are praying for both. We are praying also along with our Lord Jesus Christ, not my will. And by that we mean not my desires, not my plans in the first place, indeed, not my plans, but also not my lusts. not my passions, not my choices, not my desires, none of these things which relate directly to the commandments of God, none of what I choose, do not let that be done, but let thy will be done. Not our will, but thine be done. We're praying with respect to both, even for ourselves. Now, Ursinus makes some interesting comments here, especially with regard to the subject of praying with regard to God's eternal counsel. And I would recommend to you, in fact, that you read the commentary of Ursinus on this Lord's Day. It's not that long, and he has some very helpful things, I think, to say about the meaning of this petition. But he points out in one place in that commentary that when we pray thy will be done, that that involves us praying for certain things within the counsel of God to be done, certain specific things. For example, it involves our prayer that God perfect our salvation. that he gather his elect, that he build his church, that he establish his kingdom, that he fulfill all his promises. When we say, thy will be done, we are praying specifically for certain specific things that we know are in the counsel of God. But we are also, and this is the most interesting thing that he says, there are also certain things that we know are in the counsel of God, at least in a general way, for which we are not praying. We know, for example, that there are afflictions and tribulations to be endured by all the people of God and by his church, as long as it's in the world. Those who will live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution, the scripture is saying. That's in God's eternal counsel. Ursinus points out, and rightly, that we are not, when we say, thy will be done, praying explicitly for affliction. We're not saying to God, bring all the afflictions and all the troubles and all the trials and temptations upon us that you possibly can. We'd love it if you would do that. We are not praying then that God's counsel be fulfilled in those specific ways. We know that he has decreed affliction, but yet we are not praying, bring that affliction upon us. Ursinus uses the example of someone praying for the death of his parents. We don't pray for the death of our parents. We should not pray for the death of our parents. It would be a horrible thing even to contemplate praying for the death of our parents. And yet it's in God's decree, isn't it? We know that it's in God's decree that someday they will die. We do not say with respect to that, well, let my parents die. And there are many other things we could say too in this regard. The point is this people of God, that with respect to certain things in God's counsel, we do not rebel against that counsel, we'll come to that in a moment, but we do not pray either that those things which we know in a general way are in his counsel will actually happen to us. We pray the opposite. We pray that God will relieve us and deliver us from affliction. The Psalms are full of these kinds of prayers. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself prayed it in the Garden of Gethsemane. Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. He was praying that he might not have to endure the affliction that he knew was determined for him in God's eternal counsel. We pray then in certain respects that certain things that we know, at least in a general way again, are in the counsel will not happen. but always, and this is the key to properly understanding it, always with the caveat, thy will be done, not mine. We always, with regard to those things, say, my will may not govern, your will must govern. With regard to his promises, we say, thy will be done, and we hammer on heaven's door until his will is done. But with regard to these other things, we pray, Father, if it be possible, let this pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. And we even, people of God, pray in our prayers that certain things which are not in the counsel of God come to pass. We don't know at the time we asked whether they are in the counsel of God or not, but we pray for our plans to be carried out. We pray for them to come to pass. It may be that God has no intention of letting our plans be fulfilled. And yet we are praying that God will bring our purposes, our desires, our plans to fruition. Again, always with the caveat, thy will be done. Now we pray, as we pointed out with regard to the first petition as well, not only for ourselves in this petition, but also for all creatures. We do not pray just for ourselves, otherwise we would word the petition that way. We pray, thy will be done. Thy will be done by us, but thy will be done by all thy creatures. Thy will be done by all men. And because we are praying for that, of course, just as with the first petition, we are again looking to the future and praying for that day when God's will will be done fully, when all his purposes will be fulfilled and his commandments will be fully obeyed in heaven and on earth. So that's what we pray for when we pray, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Third question is, why do we pray for it? Well, the simplest answer to that question, people of God, is we pray for it because we want it. We pray for it because we want it. We don't want our own will. We want God's will. We don't want our purposes to be fulfilled, whatever the cost to God's eternal decree, far be it from us even to consider such a thing. We don't want our desires, our whims, our lusts to be satisfied, whatever the consequences to God's commands. We want God's will to be done by us, in us, through us. and through and in and by all his creatures. We pray thy will be done because that's what we want. It's very important, people of God, to understand that because if we don't want it and we utter this petition, we're hypocrites. As Jeremiah pointed out to the men who came to him in the chapter that we read, chapter 42, These men of Judah, after many of the men of Judah had gone into captivity, came to Jeremiah, and they said, go and ask the Lord what he wants us to do. Does he want us to stay in the land and live here in the land, or does he want us to go down to Egypt? And Jeremiah said, okay, I'll go and ask. And he went and asked, and the Lord revealed his will, his commandment this time to Jeremiah, and Jeremiah communicated that to those people. He said, the Lord wants you to stay here in the land. He doesn't want you to go down to Egypt. Furthermore, the Lord is promising here that he will bless you if you stay here. But if you go down to the land of Egypt, you're only going to suffer trouble. Those men came to Jeremiah seeking the will of God and saying, this is what we want. We want to know the will of God. And they promised Jeremiah, that when they had heard that will, they would do it. And when Jeremiah came back to them with the word of the Lord, which was contrary to their own desires, what was their word to him? You speak falsely. The Lord our God has not sent you to say, do not go to Egypt to dwell there. They did not mean it when they said, we will do whatever the Lord wills. They did not mean it when they said, we want to know what the will of God is. They hoped for confirmation of their own will. But when that confirmation of their own will failed, they said, forget it. We want nothing to do with the will of God. And they covered it up with more hypocrisy by saying, oh, Jeremiah, you're just lying to us. That's not what God said. God would never say such things. God wants us to go down to Egypt, and that's what we're going to do. We may not pray thy will be done in that fashion, people of God. We may not pray to seek his will, to know his will, if we do not mean to submit to that will when he makes it known to us. When we pray thy will be done, we had better mean what we say. We had better mean it in all sincerity. or the Lord will be very angry with us. But there's a second reason also why we pray thy will be done, and we touched on this very briefly in the introduction, and that is that it is through the doing of his will that his kingdom comes, and it is through the coming of his kingdom that his name is hallowed. We pray thy will be done, people of God, so that his kingdom may come. And there's actually two things that we have to see there. First of all, we pray that his will may be done by us and by all creatures because that's the means by which the kingdom comes. But the very fact of our praying is one of the means God uses to bring his kingdom. We pray thy will be done so that it may be done. and so that his kingdom may come by the means of our prayers. God answers this prayer, thy will be done, by establishing his kingdom, by causing his will to be done in the establishment of his kingdom. Now that's very important because it shows us the effectiveness of prayer. James says in chapter five, the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. I've heard it said sometimes, people of God, that prayer does not change God, it changes us. There's truth in that. God forbid that we should want our prayers to change God's eternal decree. It doesn't change God, and we don't want it to change God. But if one says of this petition that that's a full explanation of what this petition means, that really all we mean by this petition is that we want to be changed, then we fall far short of what our Lord Jesus Christ meant when he taught us this prayer. because it is in answer to our prayers that the Lord's will is done and that his kingdom does come. James uses as his example here Elijah. Elijah came to the court of Ahab And he said to Ahab and to the Cartyrs who were standing there, there's not going to be any rain in Israel until my word is spoken. And rain stopped, Elijah disappeared from the land, and there was no rain for three and a half years. James says of that, Elijah prayed that there would be no rain, and there was no rain. God answered his petition. His prayer was effective. And then James goes on to say, and at the end of those three and a half years, Elijah prayed for rain and the heavens gave rain. Elijah's prayer was effective. God answered it and sent rain as Elijah had asked. That's James's point. Now, if you go back to the story of Elijah, and especially to the story of his praying for rain, what do you find? It's in 2 Kings 17 and following. Well, you find this, that Elijah was living outside of the land of Israel at that time and the Lord came to him and he said to him, I want you to go back to the land of Israel and I want you to go back to the land of Israel because I'm going to send rain again. And he made all the arrangements with Elijah for the display of his power on Mount Carmel. God told Elijah, I'm going to send rain. So Elijah went back and he did what God had commanded him to do on Mount Carmel, and when it was all done, what did he do? Did he say, well, God said there's gonna be rain, so now we'll wait and see what happens? God said it. There's no need for me to pray for it. God said it was going to happen. No, he went and prayed. He went and asked God to send rain. He asked God seven times for rain before the rain came. He believed, people of God, that God would send rain, yes. But that did not stop him from praying for it. He prayed. Why did he pray? If it was in God's eternal decree, and if he knew what God's eternal decree was already, why did he pray? Was it necessary for him to pray? Absolutely! Absolutely! He had to pray. Why? Because it was by the means of Elijah's prayer. that the rain came. God ordained not only that rain would come, but also that rain would come by means of Elijah's prayer. Don't say then, our prayers mean nothing. Our prayers cannot be affected All that is going to take place has already been determined and our prayers have no influence on what is going to happen. It's simply not true. And it's not true, people of God, because God has ordained the fulfillment of his purposes and the fulfillment of his counsel through the prayers of his people. It's not just that he determines that all things will be done, but he determines the means by which they shall be done. And part of those means are our prayers. It's true, we don't change God, we don't want to change God, but our prayers are effective nevertheless. God answers them. He uses our prayers. to accomplish his purpose. You should be convinced of that. He uses our prayers to accomplish his purposes, to bring about the fulfillment of his own eternal purposes. You have a part to play through your prayers in the fulfillment of the promises of God. It's a part of faith, trusting God, believing His promises, and praying on the basis of those promises. And through that prayer of faith, bringing those promises into effect. Finally then, why do we add to our prayers? I will be done on earth as it is in heaven. By that addition to our prayers, we set before ourselves and before our God an example of perfection. We set before ourselves, first of all, the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, who does the will of God, even now as he sits at God's right hand, perfectly, is obedient to the will of his father, even as he sits at his father's right hand. So we read in Psalm 40, verse 8, I delight to do your will, O God, and your law is within my heart. And in John 6, verse 38 as well, these words of our Lord Jesus Christ, for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And we may say he went up into heaven also to do the will of him who sent him. We set before ourselves then by this prayer the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That is, may we do and all your creatures do your will as faithfully and perfectly as the Lord Jesus Christ himself. executes that will from his throne at your right hand. We set before ourselves the example of the angels, who are his ministers to do his pleasure, according to Psalm 103, verse 21. We set before ourselves the example of just men made perfect, who also perfectly do the will of our Father who is in heaven. We are praying, make earth be like heaven. Make earth be like heaven in the doing of your will. And God answers that prayer when he renews heaven and earth and all things in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So pray, people of God. Pray that his will may be done. Pray that you may be obedient to his will, to his commands. Pray that you may submit to his decrees as you see those decrees working out in your life, bringing sometimes trouble and affliction, sometimes prosperity, whatever the case may be. Pray, thy will be done. Pray that all may obey his commandments. Pray that all his purposes may be fulfilled, because it is through your prayers that the kingdom comes, and through your prayers that his name is hallowed. Pray even, people of God, for your own purposes and plans. You have purposes and plans? Well, pray. Pray that God will see them come to fruition. Make your requests known to God. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, it's very wrong for you not to pray that your plans may come to pass. Pray that they may come to pass. But always with the caveat, thy will, not mine, be done. Pray, people of God, because this is the way that you receive His Spirit. This is the way that He has ordained, at least in part, for the accomplishment of His purpose. Do you understand? He has ordained your prayers as part of the way for the accomplishment of His purpose. Pray fervently. Pray earnestly. Pray, people of God. Pray without ceasing. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Pray because your prayers are effective, because God answers them, because God does respond to the prayers of his people by doing what they ask, He does. That's why we pray, Thy will be done. Because we know that God hears, and that He will do His will in us and in all His creatures. That He will bring to pass the perfection and glory of all the things of which he has spoken. Having heard the word of God, let us say Amen.