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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/andrew-robertson/fervent-prayer/
I want to read in two places with you, please. First of all, Matthew 6. I think I as well have to introduce myself. My name is Andrew Robertson. I think there are some here I've seen in the audience that I haven't seen for years.
And you probably remember me about that high, so it might be a little bit humorous to see me now. But it's nice to see you. It's nice to be here with the assembly and with all the people of God that have gathered today.
We're going to read in Matthew 6, first of all. I want to speak a little bit on the subject of prayer. Matthew 6, and we're going to read at verse 9. Let's move back, actually. Let's move back to verse 5, just for the setting.
And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy father which is in secret, and thy father which sees in secret shall reward thee openly. You can see the direct contrast there between five and six, praying openly and praying for show and then praying privately and praying in communion with the father.
Verse seven, but when you pray, use not vain or empty words, vain repetitions, as the heathen do. Don't use wordy prayers, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking or their many words.
Here's the direct contrast. Verse eight, be you not therefore like unto them, people who use empty words or lots of words, for your father knows what things you have need of before you ask him. He already knows.
After this manner, therefore, pray ye. Our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen. Let's go over to Luke 11, a parallel passage. We're going to read again the context.
Luke chapter 11, please. And verse one, and it came to pass that as he, the Lord, was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
And Jesus said unto them, when you pray, say, our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done as in heaven, so in earth, also in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread and forgive us our sins as we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. He continues with some teaching about prayer, but I want to just stop and focus today on what you may know and what has been termed the Lord's Prayer, although it's very interesting, the Lord would never pray this way.
He was teaching his disciples to pray. I think we should probably call it the Disciples' Prayer. And I'm sure everyone here has some memories about these words. I believe if I can remember back into public school, it was back in a time when they still said these words before class on certain days of the week.
And of course, you know what kind of manner people say these words, don't you? I mean, whether it was said by children in public school or whether you've been to a funeral somewhere and the clergyman at the front begins to say these words, and what happens?
Well, you don't want to look bad by not saying them, and yet you don't want to look too overexcited about saying them, and so everyone just kind of chimes in with some kind of monotone mumble as they try to get through the entire thing.
And we look at that and we think to ourselves, it just seems like no wonder people think the Christian religion is dead or dying. I want to ask today just for a moment because these words actually, in their context, the Lord Jesus was teaching specific men how to pray in such a way that they would turn the world upside down.
These words were not meant to be mumbled. These words were not meant to be repeated like parrots. These words were meant to, intended to teach men how to pray in such a way that the heavens were moved.
I wonder today if that's how we actually pray now. Well, we might not be guilty of repeating the Lord's prayer as it is known in our gatherings together, but I wonder, how was your prayer life? Can I ask as it's confession time?
I know, even as I've been challenged by these texts, I know that my prayer life needs help big time. And sometimes in life, can I just say it now before I forget, I doubt I will forget, but there are times when God breaks us down and humbles us so much that we have nothing left.
But to desperately plead for His power and His mercy. Are we there? As I think of the differences that are made in Matthew 6 between counterfeit prayer and real, genuine prayer, and as we think of the Lord teaching His disciples, and most likely at this point, they are realizing in Luke 11, their desperate need and their inadequacy, their inability to even know how to pray.
I wonder what priority we put on prayer today. I've been thinking about this, because I think if you go back over the history of Christian revival, we've been hearing about restoration, and if you go back over the history of Christian revival, I think you'll find out something.
And I think we're living in a day where we desperately need revival. I think most of us here, I don't know what kind of assembly you come from. Maybe you come from a very thriving place of worship, or maybe you come from a place that is dwindling, dying, getting older, and there isn't much happening.
And our instinct is to say, well, what we need is we need more evangelism. We need to get out on the streets. We need to be preaching more. That's what we need. We need more Sunday schoolwork. We need to get out with the children and make sure that we get them in.
We have to do something to turn this ship around, and we look at it like it's a business. And so we'll have, we have no problem with having a week or two weeks of kids outreach. We have no problem with two, three, four weeks of evangelism.
And we have no problem with one or a couple weeks, and it's almost unheard of to think of three weeks of actual teaching meetings for Christians these days. But when was the last time, and maybe I'm just living under a rock, and I don't know, I'm not from around here, but when was the last time your assembly had a week of prayer meetings?
I want you to notice something about this style of praying that the Lord was teaching today. I'm not here right now to point out the substance of these prayers, but there's something very intriguing in how he taught them to pray, not just what he taught them to say or what content they should have, but I want you to stop and think about how he taught them to pray.
This is amazing, I want you to hear this. When you think of the phrase, our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name, I think we subtly misinterpret it, and we think that what he's teaching us to say is to acknowledge hallowed is the name of our Father.
Is that what it is? Is he just stating a fact? Is he saying when you're praying, I want you to state certain facts when you start? No, this isn't stating a fact. And in fact, in the Greek language, he's not even getting them to ask a question, because we think of prayer as asking things, don't we, or asking for things, but this kind of prayer is different, and I have to say at first, it sounds a little strange at first, a little extreme, and then try to temper it a little bit, but every single time, except for the final when he says, lead us not into temptation, every other request, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our trespasses, every single request, I want you to get this, it is actually, well, in the technical term, I'll say that first, it's actually an imperative.
You know what an imperative is? It's imperative that we eat. That means it's necessary that we eat, and when someone in the Greek language used an imperative, what they were doing was they were making a command.
Now this is a little extreme, I know, I gotta back up for a moment, because the moment we hear that, we say this can't be true. How could it be possible that we could ever command God? How could we ever do this?
And if it wasn't the Lord himself teaching us to pray this way, we might have a little problem with it. If it was Paul, we might be saying, I believe Paul in a lot of places, but I'm not sure he's quite there now.
But this is the Son of God from heaven with all the authority of deity behind him telling us with imperatives to pray. Scholars have scratched their heads over this, what does this mean? How is it that we can make commands when we pray?
And it's not really a command in this term, but I want you to get what the Lord is doing. He didn't say come out and make requests, or ask questions, or to make suggestions. It's called the imperative of entreaty.
And what it is now, it is a desperate, urgent, strong, confident plea. Lord, Father, hallowed be your name. It's not a statement. And it's not just a question. Could you please make sure your name is hallowed?
No, it is a statement that is so firm and with such conviction, a request, an entreaty that is going up that is so desperate. Father, nothing else matters. Hallowed be your name. Is this how we pray? Is this how we come on whatever night of the week when we gather with the purpose of praying?
Is this how we gather before an evangelistic meeting when we're gathering to preach the gospel? Is this how we pray with this firm conviction? Father, nothing else matters in this meeting, but your name be glorified and your name be hallowed.
I just want to point out just a few things, a few conclusions that come from the fact that the Lord was teaching us to pray with imperatives. It's one thing for a child to command, or for a father to command a child, isn't it?
I want you to think about this. The first conclusion is relationship. We are coming to our father, and many times in Scripture, and in the New Testament especially, when we're dealing with God in prayer, it is a relationship of child to father.
We're coming as a child dependent upon our father. Now, it's one thing for a father in a natural human relationship, it's one thing for a father to command a child. And usually that command has the best interest of the child in view, doesn't it?
Son, you have to take that medicine. Honey, eat your vegetables, right? We know what these commands are. We know why we say them. We're not torturing our children. We're saying them because we're interested in their well-being.
But it's a different thing, isn't it, when a child commands a father? Don't you think that's just a little bit off? We've been dealing with a man back home. I still remember, it was just this summer. We've been dealing with him for a long time and praying for an opportunity to share Christ with him.
And it came up this summer. His father died, father passed away, and found out he has some Christian relatives. We didn't know that. And he was telling us in a conversation about just before his father was diagnosed, he was very ill, very ill, and he went down very fast.
But he was very proud as well. He didn't want to go to the hospital. And finally, his children, I believe it was his wife and one of his daughters actually told him, dad, if you don't get in the car now and go to the emergency room, we will call 911.
And the ambulance will come down our street and every single neighbor around us will see that you're sick. All of a sudden, they're making a command of their father because they have his best interest in mind.
They care about him. And here goes father, and they were respectful. They were pleading with him with such urgency. Maybe if I am up here another time, I'll get into the substance of this prayer because it reveals the glory of God.
But at this point, I just want us to realize we're not coming to a heavenly vending machine. Sometimes we come in prayer and immediately, we might rush through a few words of praise and worship, but we come almost immediately to our problems, don't we?
We come to the issues and almost immediately, whatever they are, we have the list. And I got to get through this before I go to bed tonight. So here it is. And so we start through the list of our prayer requests, one after another.
And it seems like we're just coming to some kind of vending machine, hoping to press the right buttons. And if we press them in the right combination, maybe we'll get at the bottom what we're asking for.
The fact is we are not coming to God. I think what the Lord is teaching us and teaching His disciples here, we're not coming to our Father just so we can get what we're asking for. We're not coming to see what He can give.
We're coming to find out who He is. It's all about relationship before anything else. It's about learning Him. That leads me into the second point very quickly. And these are all going to run very closely together.
But not only do these imperatives tell us about relationship, a connection that is going on here, an interest and so on, but secondly, it is the idea of knowledge. We need to know something in order to pray this way.
We can't just come and pray this way without knowing something, not about God, but actually knowing God, knowing something of His greatness. You can go through the Scriptures and read many of the examples of prayer that we have.
Nehemiah 9 is a wonderful one. And when you come to it, you know what you find out? There are a lot of times when men prayed or when women prayed and they used Scripture when they were praying. Do you know why they use Scripture?
Because that's how we know God. And it's often good to come to God in prayer with Scripture in our minds. Father, this is what you've said. This is how I know. This kind of a command, not a command, I'm gonna use the word entreaty from now on.
If I say command, I mean entreaty, and my brain is not processing properly. But this kind of entreaty can only come when we really know God. When we are deep into His heart. When we see Him for who He is.
I find it interesting in Matthew 6 that He contrasts this way of praying with those who use empty words. Do you know why? Because they think that their words are going to save them. We're hearing about idolatry already.
And sometimes our words in prayer can be a subtle form of an idol. We're putting our trust in our words. If I have the phrase right, if it sounds right, if everyone else thinks it's wonderful, then, well, it's an effective prayer.
Not realizing it's not about knowing how to put words together, it's about knowing who God is. It's not about our words. It's not about the power of language. It's about the power of our Father, knowing Him.
What does that lead to? Relationship leads to knowledge. And knowledge leads to confidence in prayer. And I can only think of one of the greatest examples of this is the way Abraham prayed in Genesis 18.
And as you hear Abraham praying and saying, will you, indeed, God has just opened His heart. You see, what has happened is Abraham has some knowledge of God. And not just knowledge about God, knowledge of God's heart.
He knows God, and he knows something of God's plans and God's purposes. You see, as we learn the scriptures, we understand the heart of God, and we begin to realize what God wants more and more and more in life.
And with that comes greater confidence in our praying. We're not still suggesting things. We're not saying, well, Lord, if you want this to happen, maybe, please, and so on. We're actually understanding something of the will of God.
And the more we understand that, the more confident we can be. Like Abraham, who has come into something of the purposes of God and says, will you, indeed, sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are 50 righteous within the city.
Will you, indeed, sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of 50 righteous who are in it? Listen to these words. Far be it from you to do such a thing. That's a man who knows God. That's a man who is praying with confidence to slay the righteous with the wicked so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike.
Far be it from thee, shall not the judge of all the earth do right or deal justly? There's a man praying. In fact, it is in such forceful language. He's actually challenging God based on what he knows of God.
Point. He's entered into the heart of God and now he is wrestling. This is prayer. For any who think prayer is boring or prayer is monotonous, I don't think we've really learned how to pray yet. I don't think we're praying the way the Lord is teaching us here to pray with urgency, with confidence based on our knowledge and understanding of who God is.
And listen, before he ever gets to a request about daily bread, about daily necessities, before he ever gets to our daily needs down here, he consumes himself first of all with who God is. That is the basis of our confidence.
All right, that leads to another one. This one is extremely important. Relationship leads to knowledge. Knowledge leads to confidence. And that confidence, as we continue to pray, will lead more and more and more to passion or desire or to action.
We're gonna use the word action because sometimes we think of the, again, I'm using this word lightly, the Lord's prayer, the disciples' prayer. Can I put it that way? We look at this in the English language almost as a very passive prayer.
Thy kingdom come. I mean, it's coming anyways, so let it come. Thy will be done. After all, it's going to be done anyways, so let it be done. Is that how we pray? After all, God's purposes and plans are going to be done anyway, so why bother praying?
You see, God is inviting us as his children into this work so that we can labor together with him in prayer. And this is not just a passive prayer of letting go and letting God and so on and saying passively, your will be done, Lord, whatever it is in my life.
No, it is actually seeking out the purposes and the will and the plan of God and saying actually with an imperative. Get this, please. I can't put this into words. It's gonna take time. You're going to have to take this home with you and meditate on this for a while that he's not saying, oh, Lord, so let it be.
No, he's saying, Father, your will be done in this world. I love this. Let's go to Gethsemane for a moment and listen to the Lord Jesus pray. Luke 22. Father, if you are willing, if thou are willing, remove this cup from me.
Here's the words. They almost sound passive, don't they? Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, but thine be done. We almost look at that as saying, Father, this is what I want, but it's not about what I want.
Let what you want be done. That's not it at all. When the Lord Jesus in that Gethsemane prayer said thy will be done, he was speaking with imperatives again. Father, your will be done on my cross. Let your glory be known.
Let your name be glorified. Let all of your glory be seen and let every purpose and desire of your heart be done in this world at the cost of my life. Your will be done. He's moving to the cross, not passively.
He's moving actively with purpose and devotion. Lastly, the use of imperatives is again reminding us of simplicity in prayer. Long prayers are rare in scripture, I believe, and the Lord in this prayer said so much.
I think of Acts 4 when the apostles were together praying and we read that the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, shaken. And it also says that they continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
It wasn't about long prayers. It wasn't about wordy prayers and about going all around the heavens and then all around the globe and coming down. It's not about before we gather together to give thanks for the food that we have to reach every continent in the world.
I remember some here know Mr. Tim Kember, and I used to love having him at our house because he knew how to give thanks for the food. When he gave thanks for the food, it was something like this. Father, thank you for the food.
Amen. And as a kid, it was great. You know what he used to say? He used to say, you know what? When you give thanks for the food, give thanks for the food. I think he was a man in touch with God. I'm not saying that long prayers aren't necessary and there are places where we pray persistently, but you wanna hear something beautiful.
Listen to a new believer pray. There are no pretenses. There's no wondering what people are gonna think about what I'm saying. They're just praying as a child to God. And the Lord is teaching us very clearly here with imperatives, with these entreaties.
It's not about our words. It's about knowing him and having a heart that is deeply in tune with his purposes and just wanting his glory to be known in this world. I started by asking the question, I would challenge all of us today.
Maybe it is that we need more evangelism. Maybe it is we need more kids outreach. Maybe it is. I don't think so. I hear a lot about activity everywhere, but I wonder, maybe it is we need more prayer, more time together praying, more Christians, families getting together, just couples to pray at times.
Maybe you've got someone you'd like to pray with. Maybe we need to pray more with our spouses and with our children. Maybe it is. John Wesley, you probably know his story. He came back from North America, came back to the UK, a failed missionary, and in fact, not even a Christian at the time.
Was sitting in a, he was standing or attending a meeting on Aldersgate Street in London. And this failed missionary, John Wesley, through the writings of a commentary on Romans was converted. His heart, he says, was strangely warmed.
That was a meeting that was put on by the Moravian brethren. Started at a time when Christians gathered together back in the early 1700s in an estate in Moravia, an estate that was owned by a man by the name of Von Zinzendorf.
Maybe you know his name. At a time when there was a lot of division, a lot of strife, Christians weren't getting along. They were deeply grieved. And they actually set up because they knew that what they needed more than anything else was prayer.
And in desperation, they called for concerted prayer that God would send a new Pentecost to their community and heal their divisions and make them one so the whole world would know that Jesus is Lord.
To this end, this is what they did. They instituted a 24-hour prayer vigil, two women and two men praying every single hour. Wherever Moravians went, they were known for this. It was a birthplace of a man by the name of John Wesley.
And the revival that came from John and Charles Wesley was not about John and Charles Wesley. It was about people that were praying, literally, around the clock. What do we need? It's quite possible. Maybe there's some who already know this in your experience, wonderful.
Maybe there are some like me who need to be challenged more by this. We need to get into the heart of God and to know what it is to plead urgently, confidently in prayer.