Praying For God's Will to Be Done

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Pray in the third petition, which is thy will be done, thy will be done, your will be done.
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Four powerful words that's found in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 6, verse 10b.
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And in saying that, we'd like to have a focus and look at this great truth in the light of the verse that we focused on last
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Lord's Day from our series from the Gospel of John as we're going through that.
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So to begin with, please go with me and let's first turn and look at this one verse of scripture to bring to our focus and to concentrate fully on in John chapter 4.
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So go with me very quickly to John chapter 4. Let's look at this verse that's found in verse 34.
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Verse 34, John 4, verse 34.
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Jesus said to them, and to them is the disciples, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
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My food is to do the will of him, his father, who sent me and to finish his work.
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Jesus' one passion, one mission was to do the will of his father who sent him. To please the father was to die upon the cross of Calvary, to be crucified as the
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Lamb of God that would take away the sins of the world, to suffer, to be buried and to rise again was his mission.
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He that knew no sin became sin that we might be the righteousness of God in him. So also in the light of the father's perspective in heaven, it was also
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God the father's will, God's desire to crush his son, to bruise his son.
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It's incredible, but we don't understand the Trinity here, but we know the triune God was involved in redemption.
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The father, the son, the spirit, as he was in creation. So both the persons of the
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Trinity, all persons of the Trinity, the father, the son and the spirit, in complete union to accomplish this great mission.
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And it was accomplished and it is applied. The father planned it, the son accomplished it and the
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Holy Spirit applies it. This is the great act of redemption.
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Triune God's work. And Jesus says, it's my food.
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This is my food. He says, this is my nourishment. This is what gives him the energy to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
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You know, he had incredible passion to come to die. Now in saying that, please turn with me to Matthew's gospel.
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And let's look at chapter 6. There's so much here, there's so much that could be said in this wonderful sermon on the mount.
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I'd like to begin with verse 9 and read to verse 13.
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Now if you, very quickly let me say this, if you read verse 5, really this begins with the model prayer, all the way and take it all the way to verse 15, you have actually how prayer looks like and what pleases
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God. But the kind of praying that pleases God, the prayers of the hypocrites, the religious ones of the day, the
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Pharisees specifically, were not pleasing to the Lord.
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Even though they had outward appearances. That's what a hypocrite is. There's outward appearances of a religious show.
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A form of godliness as the Apostle Paul says. Let me back up a little bit.
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I want us to see this in its entirety in a sense, but we're only going to focus on the will of God, praying
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God's will. But to understand all that's been said here, we need to see how our
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Lord views praying that pleases God. Verse 5.
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Let's look at this. And when you pray, you should not be like the hypocrites.
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The play actors. Notice what he says, for they love to pray, well they love to pray, but their motives are wrong.
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They love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets that they may be seen by men.
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That was actually their motive. To be seen by men. Verily, verily,
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I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your
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Father who is in the secret place, and your Father who sees in the secret will reward you openly.
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And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathens do, for they think that they will be heard from their many words.
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Therefore do not be like them, for your Father knows the things which you have need before you ask
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Him. In this manner, therefore, pray. Now right here he begins to teach the pattern of prayer, the kind of praying that pleases
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God. And he says pray. And he's not talking about repetition, right?
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Because he's just speaking against repetition. This is a model prayer. This is the blueprint.
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This is how we are to take our prayers and pray before our God. He says this,
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Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.
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Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
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And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
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Amen. And I'll stop right there. This is powerful. But we want to focus on verse 10b.
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Your will be done. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is our
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Lord's words of revelation on how to pray and praying that pleases the
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Lord. So please bow with me as we're speaking here about praying.
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Let's bow our hearts in prayer before our Father now. And let's ask His blessing upon this service.
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Our Father in heaven, You are holy, true and faithful.
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And we do praise You, O God. And it is our utmost desire to know
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You in such an intimate and personal way, Lord. To desire to know
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Your will, to desire just to be consumed with Yourself.
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And Lord, our desire is to love You, and to obey You, and to serve
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You, and to do Your will, to glorify You in all things, in everything that we do in our lives.
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Now, Father, I pray, speak to us through Your word. And we pray,
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Blessed Lord, may Your Holy Spirit do a work within our hearts today so that our desire, our utmost desire, would be all -consuming to do
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Your will. And Father, we ask this in the name of Your Son, the
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Lord Jesus Christ, for His honor, for Your honor and glory. Amen and Amen.
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The Puritan, Thomas Watson, in his wonderful way, a wonderful book.
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I highly recommend anyone to study The Lord's Prayer. He also has another one on the
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Ten Commandments and many, many other books. But this one is really a jewel.
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From The Lord's Prayer, his book, says this concerning the third petition on The Lord's Prayer, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
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Quote, he says this, What is meant by the will of God? What is meant by the will of God?
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Watson says there is a two -fold will. First, he uses the
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Latin here, Voluntas Decreti. Voluntas Decreti.
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God's secret will. God's secret will. Or the will of His decree.
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We pray not that God's secret will may be done by us. This secret will, he says, will cannot, of His secret will, cannot be known.
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It is locked up in God's own breast and neither man nor angel has a key to open it.
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Second, he says this concerning God's will, the Latin, Voluntas Revelata.
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Speaks of revelation. Revealed. God's revealed will. So you have the decreed will and now
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God's revealed will. This will is written in the book of Scripture, which is a declaration of God's will and discovers what would have us to do in order to our salvation.
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So actually, end quote right there. So actually what Watson is actually saying comes straight from the
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Scriptures. And if you thought of it, you thought right. It comes from Deuteronomy 29 .29,
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which says this, The secret things belong to Yahweh, our
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God. But the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever that we may do all the words of this law.
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So there you have pretty much where the Puritans, they summarize it and emphasize it and interpret it and apply it, but they're actually everything that they pretty much say is straight out of Scripture.
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If you notice, if you read the Puritans, which today if you mention Puritans, they come across as very legalistic to our age of so -called
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Christians today, but the Puritans really knew God in a deep way. And no, they were not perfect and we may disagree with some of the
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Puritans, but mainly and mostly they were very scriptural, especially
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Thomas Watson. Let me give you someone else that I think in a sense he is a
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Puritan, but some people may not consider him. He was the wonderful preacher from England.
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We hear him quoted here quite often. His name is Charles Spurgeon. Spurgeon had no seminary education.
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He was a man filled with the Spirit of God. He knew the Word of God and he preached the whole counsel of God without compromise.
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But I love what Spurgeon says concerning the Lord's Prayer here. He says this concerning our Lord's Prayer, and I believe this will really bless your heart.
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He says this, quote, This verse comes from the Lord's Prayer and each element can be divided into a most instructive heads.
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And he says this concerning the Lord's Prayer, Our Father in heaven,
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I am a child away from home. Your name be honored as holy.
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I am a worshiper. Your kingdom come. I am a subject.
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Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I am a servant. Give us today our daily bread.
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I am a beggar. Forgive us of our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.
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I am a sinner. And listen to this now. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
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I am a sinner in danger of being a still greater sinner. Amen?
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We need God, folks. We desperately need God. And Jesus taught his disciples how to pray.
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So Christ teaches the Lord's Prayer. It's a model prayer. So many people, you even have church services repetitiously say this prayer, and there's nothing wrong with that.
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But it's not meant just for mere repetition. It's a pattern of how we are to pray.
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It is a blueprint. It's the idea of prayer and is meant to be for the believer's primer, so to speak.
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It's the prime, the pump. It's the pattern. And it is not that a
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Christian cannot pray without going through this pattern of praying. Certainly, I believe that there are times like Peter, where as Peter was sinking into the water, when
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Jesus was walking on the water, and Peter said, Bimmy, come! And Jesus said,
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Come! Come! And at least he wanted to get out of the boat, right? A lot of disciples did not want, but he got out of the boat and started walking to Christ to find the very laws of gravity walking on the water.
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And you know the story. As the storm became boisterous, he got his eyes and attention on the storm and got his eyes off Christ.
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And what happened? He began to sink. And when he got his eyes off Jesus Christ and on the storm, and how easy it is for all of us to do that.
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We can't condemn Peter for that because we do the same thing. And he began to sink and he started to drown and he cried out three words,
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Lord, save me. I love that. Jesus reached down his hand of mercy and compassion and pulled him up.
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And he gave him a loving rebuke. He needed to have faith.
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Well, think of this. However, in this pattern of prayer, as we're looking at, we see the priority of praying, which is often neglected when we pray without its structure.
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The invocation of the prayer is, Our Father who art in heaven.
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Literally sets the atmosphere of true worship. This is where true worship begins.
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Our Father in heaven. You think of that. We're adopted into the family of God and it's not my father necessarily, it's our father.
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It is corporate as God has his believers across the globe.
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You're part of something big, saints. We may be small here today, but you're part of something very big.
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And if you're a child of God today, you're adopted into the family of God. And God is your father.
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Isn't that great? And your hearts cry as Abba Father. From our hearts, we are to pray and worship an all loving, all knowing, ever present, loving father that loves you dearly.
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Keep this in mind. We are to pray with trust, faith, out of a motive of love to our heavenly father.
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Aren't you glad that God is not this cold force, this cold killjoy that wants to just take away your joy.
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Now he wants to give you true joy and true peace. But it's through being part of the family of God and we call him our father.
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And this intimacy was with God that we have the privilege to come to him and calling him our father is purchased by Jesus Christ on the cross.
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And I want to point out something important here that we all can take this for granted and may God forbid that we may take it for granted.
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Because our privilege of praying today to our father in heaven has been given through the blood of Christ.
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Think of that. So every time you pray, think of that. It's been bought and paid for by a very high ransom.
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That's why the prayerlessness of sin of not praying is sin.
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Prayerlessness. Keep in mind that Jesus died on the cross and by the way, all the benefits that we have is through the cross.
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Through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. I like when
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MacArthur says we can look at the cross of Calvary and ultimately God gave
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Christ sent him to the world to die for our salvation but first and foremost, did you know
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Christ died for the glory of God to please his father.
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So it's not necessarily just about us even though he died for our salvation that's secondary.
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But first and primary, Christ died for the glory of God. All the benefits that we have as a believer is through the cross.
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All the attributes of God as we see, can be seen at the cross. That's why
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Paul was passionate about I preach Jesus Christ and him crucified. I determine not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
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We preach not ourselves but Christ crucified. Because all that we have the benefits of heaven the benefits and all the blessings in spiritual places is through Jesus Christ.
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Through his death on the cross. If we ever lose this and sight of this and faith we have lost the heartbeat of Christianity.
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So Jesus Christ's death on the cross therefore we come into God's presence we can come at any time any place, anywhere because what
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Christ did on the cross. May we never ever ever forget that beloved.
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When we neglect our praying we are forgetting that we have the great privilege that was paid for at the high price of Jesus Christ and it was his precious blood.
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Is there any price higher than that? I don't believe so.
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The cost of his precious blood gives us access right into the throne room of mercy and grace that we could come before him and to bring our cast our burdens upon him no matter what it may be we can tell
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Jesus he is our great intercessor. And by the way Brother Keith and I was talking about this.
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Do we pray to Christ or do we pray to the father? That's a good question, isn't it?
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But Jesus here teaches us to pray to our father. We pray to our heavenly father in the name of Jesus.
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Through Jesus Christ in his name he gives us access to the father. He's reconciled us to so we do pray to the father and yes there's times we can speak to Christ because he's our great high priest, right?
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Because he's interceding for his people at the right hand of God is the high priest. He forever intercedes for the saints.
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That's the will of God. His ministry continues as a great intercessor and it's by the power of the
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Holy Spirit. Let us not forget the third person of the Trinity because we cannot come into his presence unless the power of the
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Holy Spirit brings us right into his presence. So the triune
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God is all involved but yes we do pray to our heavenly father in the name of Jesus through the power of the
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Holy Spirit. And can I say this? What a great privilege we have to even pray.
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And that's as J .C. Rowell said that's like a newborn baby being born. If you want your born again
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Paul the apostle says they said of him behold he prays. It's like the cry of a newborn baby.
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He prays. There's a difference of just saying prayers and praying.
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Do you see? Praying is with urgency and fervency and desperation as you pour your heart out to God our father in prayer.
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Now the first three petitions here are consumed with the father's name.
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The father's kingdom and his will. In his commentary
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Steve Cole says this concerning this text and I love it. Often we enter he says prayer as though the priority is our name and our kingdom and our will.
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It is not. In fact when we pray properly prayer conforms our desires to the father's desires.
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He goes on to say therefore prayer is a tremendous part of our sanctification process.
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I love that. Can we get an amen there? The reason I say that is because every time we pray it's part of our sanctification.
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It's sanctification means we're set apart to the glory of God to his service to our calling.
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That is the will of God. Even your sanctification. Paul says that in Thessalonians.
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So he says this it's part of our sanctification. For this reason those who spend little time in prayer he says often care little about the things of God.
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They typically are very consumed with self and anything that negatively affects them instead of with God and others.
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True prayer he says delivers us from our natural selfishness.
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I love that. I don't believe he can nail it any better than that.
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Because when we truly pray on interceding and taking our cares and our burdens to God and we're speaking to God about those who may trouble us and those we cannot do nothing about and those that are lost and dying and going to hell we take it to God in prayer because God can do something about it.
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Aren't you glad? We can rejoice in that folks. It's a joyful thing.
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The third petition delivers us, by the way from most of the rule of self.
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Because it says thy will be done. God's will be done not our will.
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And as we pray this petition we humbly bend our desires to that of our Heavenly Father.
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And it is here we choose to trust in God. It is here even when the circumstances are very difficult in our lives we throw everything on God.
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You know that's what D .L. Moody said what faith does. He says faith is just not mental assent to God.
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It is what? It is actually trusting God. It is leaning on God with all of my weight.
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All of my weight. And those things that don't make sense in our lives we give it to God in prayer.
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So my question is this. What does it mean to pray thy will be done? What does it mean?
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Here's another question. What are some applications of this prayer? I pray during this time these questions will be answered.
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What is Christ referring to with the petition thy will be done? And what are different aspects concerning the will of God?
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There's so much that can be said about this and we can take a long serious about it. I'd just like for us to focus on something.
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And I'd like just for us to look at some of those aspects here. But actually
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I want to look at the will of God in the life of Jesus. And yes
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I'd like to make some applications and I pray that this message today will be helpful to you and the will of God in your life as well.
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So we don't want to make it complicated but it seems that the will of God is complicated to so many people.
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It's really practical and it's very simple. It's very obvious.
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So many people has come to me and I used to think the same thing. Somehow I used to think well if I'm in this location, that location am
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I in the will of God? But notice this what I'm saying. Somehow I thought it was about me but it's not about me.
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It's about Thee. It's about what God is doing in my own heart. Is He sanctifying you?
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Is He sanctifying me? Do you have a thankful heart? Because the scripture says it is the will of God that we give thanks and everything.
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Everything folks. Notice what it says. Not for everything
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I think that wouldn't be wrong but it says in everything give thanks.
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Always. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
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And we know that your sanctification, our sanctification is part of God's will.
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It is God's will and God's desire to sanctify you holy and me holy. It is the will of God that God desires you to be thankful.
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Do you see where I'm going with this? It's not necessarily my location, my house, this and that and the other which so many of us gets caught up in our own life.
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But Christianity is not about us. It's about denying ourself and that's why
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Jesus says you pray thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
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Notice what he says. God's will is always being done in heaven. Always. But is it always being done here on this earth?
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No it's not. But as Christ taught them about thy kingdom come by the way if you notice in that verse 10 thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
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That is one scripture. The kingdom of God and the will of God is almost connected together.
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So what is God's will? How can one find it? Well the only place to find out what
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God's will really is, God's desire is, is in the word of God. Amen.
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If we desire to know God's will, desire to know God's word. And if you don't have desire for it you might want to get on your face and ask for mercy that you may be born again because when you have a new heart you delight to do
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God's will. You delight God's word. And you desire what God desires because it's no longer your desires, it's
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His desires. What gets me what is being called
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Christianity in evangelical circles today is appalling folks. And it's all humanistic.
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It's all about them and it's all about man and it's man centered but I'm telling you Christianity and true
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Christianity is about God. It's about the Father, the Son and the Spirit. And it's about His glory.
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God's revealed will is found only in the word of God. Pastor John McArthur has got a wonderful sermon on this today.
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I encourage you to listen to it. You can find it on YouTube and he talks about God's will.
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How to know God's will. That's the name of it. And he summarizes it like this.
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It is God's will for you to be saved, to be filled with the Spirit, to be sanctified.
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Notice the S's. Good way to memorize it. And easy to memorize. To be submissive, to suffer, and to serve.
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A wonderful summary and outline of what God's will is. I encourage you to listen to it. Well, from the
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Scriptures, this is what we get. Because of time today, we're only going to focus on a great central truth and again
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I will say this. It's God's will in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. His perfect obedience, His active obedience,
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His passive obedience, and we cannot actually go into full detail of this, but I want us to focus on His perfect obedience in one aspect.
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Of His, the holy will of the Father. And He perfectly obeyed and He gave
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Himself up as a perfect sacrifice unto the Father. So, let me ask the question again.
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Again, what does it mean to pray, Thy will be done? As the Puritan Matthew Henry said, the best commentary on the
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Scripture is Scripture itself. I love that. So, if we truly desire to know what the will of God is and Thy will be done, how it looks like, or what it means, we need to go to the
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Word of God for that answer. And actually, we need to go to God's Word for everything that we do and everything that concerns us, because I can promise you, the
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Word of God gives us the answer. It may not be the answer that you want, it may not be the answer that I want and desire, but it's the answer that God gives.
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Let's keep in mind, it's about God, right? And it's about His glory. And I like what
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Paul Washer says, the hero of the church is not you or me or no one else, there's only one hero in this story and that's
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Jesus Christ. In fact, there is a place where we read these exact words,
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Thy will be done, in the Gospel of Matthew, in chapter 26. So, we see the
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Lord and Master, the Son of Man, the Son of God, praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. So, go with me to Matthew, chapter 26.
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This is the place of prayer where Jesus had gone to pray before His arrest and crucifixion.
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Matthew, chapter 26. So, let's go there before we take communion today and this is the reason
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I've chosen this to tie in to John 4, 34. Jesus says, my food is to do the will of Him who sent me.
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Now, chapter 26, let me say a little bit here about this. It's very comprehensive and it's full.
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Much happens in this chapter, folks. Let me give you a quick summary. From verse 1 to verse 13, we see the plot to kill and crucify
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Jesus. From verse 14 to verse 16, we see Judas agrees to betray
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Jesus. In verse 17 to verse 25, we see Jesus celebrates the Passover with His disciples.
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In verse 26 to verse 30, we see Jesus institutes the Lord's Supper. In verse 31 to verse 35, we see
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Jesus predicts Peter's denial. Verse 36 to verse 46, we see
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Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Verse 47 to verse 56, we see
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Jesus betrayed and arrested in Gethsemane. Verse 57 to verse 68, we see
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Jesus faces the Sanhedrin. And last, in verse 69 to verse 75, we see
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Peter denies Jesus and weeps bitterly. So, as we see this, there's a lot here.
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Now, Jesus institutes the Lord's Supper and then
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He prays in the Garden of Gethsemane. We need to see the picture of what
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God's will looks like in the life of Jesus. Let me begin with verse 26 because we're talking about the
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Lord's Supper here and we're going to be partaking of the Lord's Supper and having communion today. So, this is where Jesus institutes it.
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Verse 26, as they were eating, Jesus took bread. He blessed and broke it.
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He gave it to the disciples and said, Take, eat, this is my body. Then He took the cup and gave thanks.
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And He gave it to them saying, Drink from it, all of you. For this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
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But I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until that day when
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I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. So, it was not only present, but it was also speaking of future.
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And then verse 30, and when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. That's so rich, folks.
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The institution of how our Lord Jesus institutes the supper. And then knowing that what was before Him, He sings a hymn, and they all sung a hymn from the
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Psalms, the Hallel. And Jesus had a song in His heart as He goes in that direction to face the most awful death.
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And then verse 31 to verse 34, there's the prediction of Peter's denial.
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Notice this, we can learn something from here, folks, because so many times we think we really got things together.
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And we think we really know, but Peter didn't know. Notice verse 31, then
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Jesus said to him, all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night, for it is written,
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I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I have been raised,
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I will go before you to Galilee. And Jesus answered and said to him, even,
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I'm sorry, Peter answered and said to him, Peter did, even if all are made to stumble because of you,
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I will never be made to stumble. If only
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Peter knew. But Jesus knew. Verse 34,
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Jesus said to him, assuredly, verily, verily, I say to you, that this night before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.
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Peter said to him, even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you. And so said all the disciples.
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It's interesting, Jesus did not say anything to them after that. Jesus already told Peter. He did not want to have an argument going here.
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Our Lord was not like that. He spoke the truth and the truth stood. Let God be true and every man found liar.
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And that's exactly what happened. We know the story. Peter ultimately denies him three times, but notice in verse 35, the transition goes to verse 36, then
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Jesus came with them in a place called Gethsemane. Gethsemane.
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And he said to the disciples, sit here while I go and pray over there. After our
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Lord enters Gethsemane, meaning the olive press, Jesus told eight of the eleven disciples with him to sit and wait, then took
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Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, which was James and John, the inner circle, so to speak.
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They were the ones that were closest to the Lord, deeper into the garden. So they went with them a little bit deeper into the garden while the others were a little further away.
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And in parentheses here, let me say something. Might this suggest to us that different disciples have different capacities for empathizing with our
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Savior's agony? Well, as he took them, he took with him
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Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.
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You know, we cannot do justice to this text. I want to say this before we go any further.
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And I can honestly say this, that no one, I don't care how good the preacher is, can do justice to this account without realizing that he is walking on holy ground.
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Anyone who attempts to commit on it feels a tremendous sense of awe and reverence and right now there's a heavy burden on my shoulder right now as we approach these
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Scriptures in Gethsemane. Folks, this is holy ground. I had the opportunity to go to the
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Shepherds Conference back in 2005 and at the close of the Shepherds Conference, Pastor MacArthur in California preached on this text.
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I never will forget it. It grabbed me like I've never been grabbed before from a text of Scripture.
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Not because of Pastor MacArthur, it's the Spirit of the Living God that was just grabbing a hold of me and my soul, but afterwards
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I went up to him and I just thanked him and I was amazed that I got to him because so many pastors were there.
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It was like 6 ,000 pastors. Some of them was already gone. And I stayed for the Sunday worship. Went straight up to him and I thanked him.
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Thank you so much, Pastor, for preaching this text. It was just absolutely incredible how it blessed my soul.
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It fed me, it nourished me and he just said, well, praise God. That's the right response.
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But you know what he said to me? This is a veteran pastor and as you well know, he's still preaching the gospel strongly in community church in California today and he's in his mid -80s.
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And this is exactly what he said to me. He said,
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David, I cannot do justice to this text. That was his reply and I thought, wow.
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Such a humble attitude. How we need to thank
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God for humility, true humility in a man's attitude of fears that fears the
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Lord and has a heart to reverence God's word and a sense of awe and fear towards God.
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And that's contagious. That's rare and it's contagious and I thought, wow, this is a veteran pastor and the way he approached that text was just all inspiring.
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All I could see was Christ. I couldn't see MacArthur. But I just wanted to thank him being a faithful servant of the
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Lord. And he says, I can't do justice to it. Commentator Guy King said this, this particular verse we're about to look at, the supernal character of the event causes one to fear, at least one should in any way spoil it by touching it.
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You see what he's saying? It's almost like when Uzzah touched the ark, he was smote down and dead.
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And R .C. Sproul says the reason why is because God needed no help from the dirt.
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God is an all sufficient God and he is so holy and I really believe we don't understand the holiness of God.
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God help us to just, as I bring out the words from this text, that to be in awe and the reverence of God's splendor and glory in his holiness.
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Jesus began to be sorrowful. And the text says, deeply distressed.
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He tells Peter, James and John that his soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death.
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Could you imagine the Lord Jesus Christ sharing this with you? This was doubtless the unspeakable revulsion, the weight that was upon our
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Lord's soul, his holy soul, as he anticipated as he would become a sin offering for us.
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Folks, can we really understand this? I don't think we can. And that's why there's going to be an eternity for us to worship him.
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He was the Lamb of God that was slain before the foundation of the world. We who are sinful cannot even conceive what it meant to him, the sinless, most holy, son of God, son of man, to be made sin for us.
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And I'm paraphrasing this but I remember Martin MacArthur mentioning this in his message that day. He says,
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Jesus would become sin for us and keep in mind that sin was foreign to him.
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And because he was perfect in perfect holiness and holiness is foreign to us because we're sinful.
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And folks, can I tell you this? Even as a believer, being redeemed by the blood of Christ and the
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Spirit of God within us, we still cannot understand this. Verse 39.
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Notice what he says. He went a little further. I love this. And the text says, and he fell on his face and prayed, saying,
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O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.
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Nevertheless, not as I will but as you will. O my
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Father, if it is possible. Now, at least we think here, this prayer is expressed by a reluctance or a desire to turn back.
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That Jesus will turn back. God forbid. That's not the case here. By the way,
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Jesus went to the cross willingly and charged it with passion.
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Keep in mind John chapter 12 verse 27 -28 says this.
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Jesus says once again, Now my soul is troubled and what shall I say? But for this purpose
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I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name. And the Father spoke from heaven there and says,
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I have glorified it and I will glorify it again. Therefore, in praying that that cup, that cup that had all of our sin in it, he would drink it.
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Might pass from him. He was not asking to be delivered from it going to the cross, but that was the very purpose of his coming into the world.
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And the prayer was with rhetoric.
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It was rhetorical. That is, it was not intended for an answer but to teach us a great important lesson.
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What lesson is it? Jesus was saying, in effect, my Father, if there is any way by which ungodly sinners,
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I want you to listen very closely now, if there is any other way that ungodly sinners can be saved than by my going to the cross, reveal that reveal that to me now.
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But in all of this, I want to know that I desire nothing contrary to your holy will. And that was all that Jesus desired to do was the will of the
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Father. That and by the way, guess what the answer was? It was silence.
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What does that mean? If the heavens are silent and Jesus is praying this and if there's a holy hush and there's a holy silence we know that there was no other way for God the
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Father the Holy God to send
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Jesus His Son to the cross. To justify the guilty, depraved sinners than for Christ, the sinless
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Savior to die as the Lamb of God as our substitute for our redemption. Hallelujah.
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What a Savior. It's awesome.
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Can we not forget what the Apostle Paul says in which
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I've already repeated this a few times in chapter 5 of 2nd
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Corinthians that for He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
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Double imputation His robes for mine the great exchange but get this it's not our righteousness is it?
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Our righteousness is filthy rags. It's the righteousness of Christ that He gives to us it's another righteousness.
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And that's what real Christianity is. It's not our righteousness. Our own righteousness is filth before God.
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Even though He desires us to be righteous but how can we even be desire us to be righteous unless we have the righteousness of Christ to dress us with?
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That's our righteousness. Folks, can I tell you this? That is the only means and merits that's going to get us into heaven.
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To stand before a holy God that He would not turn us away into hell forever.
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When He looks upon us He doesn't see us He sees Christ in His righteousness. His Son's righteousness.
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The righteousness that pleased Him. And by the way can I say this? It is the only righteousness that pleased
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God the Father. We need to understand that.
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That is the gospel folks. We are doomed without Jesus Christ and that's the gospel that is the message we must take to this lost and dying world.
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Jesus or it's hell repent or perish. And we say it in love, we say it in tears we say it with grief but that is the truth.
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And that is our only hope folks. Well I must conclude this.
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I'm going to give me just a few minutes to bring this plane down. That's about as far as I can go in Matthew 26 folks.
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It's such holy ground. It's deep. How about God's will for us?
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Is everything in your life consumed with the will of God? In other words is
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God Himself your all passion? Is He everything? Is God's will your holy desire?
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Is it everything to you? To be set apart to be cleansed as the bride of Christ purchased by the blood of Christ.
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To be holy to be set apart, to be spotless to be clean. As Christ would come back one day and He would have a holy bride.
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Lord cleanse us and wash us from our sins because He's coming back for a holy bride.
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Is the will of God your delight today? And if you don't know the will of God oh be consumed with the word of God.
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That a clear up matters all the way. Let me give you a few verses that encourages you to this end.
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And doing the will of God from the hearts and knowing the will of God. And again it's not all about us.
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It's about God. Isn't it? And it's for God to make you like Christ. That's why it is the will of God for you to give thanks in everything.
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It is the will of God even your sanctification. It's everything.
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You know you see this again in Matthew and Jesus takes it all the way to the end.
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Verse 24 in chapter 7 of Matthew. Therefore whoever hears these sayings, and what he's talking about is his entire sermon.
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These sayings of mine and does them, in other words he obeys me. I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock.
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And the rain descended. Notice what he gives a picture. And back in that part of the world there's a desert and rain didn't come very much but when it did come it came in torrents.
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But the rain descended the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house and it did not fall and it was founded on the rock.
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On the rock. And this is right after Jesus just spoke about not everyone who says to me
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Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he who does the what? The will of my
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Father in heaven. And then he says many will say to me in that day.
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And he's talking about the day of judgment. Many will say to me in that day Lord, Lord have we not prophesied in your name.
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In other words they preached your word. Cast out demons in your name and done many wonders in your name.
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And Jesus says this is the most terrifying words I believe in scripture. And then I will declare to them
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I never knew you. Depart from me you who practice lawlessness.
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This is why it's so important. Not that just we just know God but that God knows you. Then he talks about the metaphor, the analogy of building your house on the rock.
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And then in verse 26. But then he knows he says this. But everyone who hears these sayings.
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He's talking about his teachings on the sermon on the mount. Sayings of mine and does not do them.
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In other words he does not obey. Will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
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And the rain descended the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house and it fell and great was the fall of it.
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And the scripture just says and so it was when Jesus had ended these sayings that the people were astonished at his teaching.
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For he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. Beloved do you delight to do
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God's will? It's everything. Psalm 37 .4.
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Delight yourself also in the Lord. And he shall give you the desires of your heart.
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Does that mean that the desires of your heart is to want a house and want a car and want this and that? God forbid.
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Actually what happens when we delight ourselves in the Lord. His desires become our desires.
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In other words what does God desire? He desires men to repent.
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He desires holiness. He desires sanctification. He desires you to be changed in the image of Jesus.
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And by the way he will go lengths even for you to suffer to be like that folks. And count that as a grace.
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Delight yourself in the Lord. And he shall give you the desires of your heart.
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Psalm 40 verse 8. I delight to do your will. Oh my
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God and your law is within my heart. Psalm 119 97.
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Oh how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day.
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Is God's word your love that you meditate on it all the day? As the
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Psalmist said, David said in Psalm 1 1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly nor stands in the paths of sinners nor sits in the seat of the scornful.
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But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law he meditates day and night.
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How's that person going to look like? He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit.
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Good fruit. You get that. See it produces good fruit in its season whose leaf also shall not wither and whatever he does shall prosper.
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The ungodly are not so. But they are like the shaft which the wind drives away.
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Eventually it's going to happen. The ungodly will be blown away like the shaft into the wind. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous for the
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Lord knows the way of the righteous but the way of the ungodly shall perish. That says a lot doesn't it?
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How about you beloved? Do you delight in the Lord? Do you delight in God's word?
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Do you delight in God's will? Do you love God's word today?
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If the answer is no, you need to be born again. I say that lovingly but only the spirit of God can change your heart, take out a heart of stone put in a heart of flesh and make you into a new creation.
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Old things are passed away behold all things become new. And a lot of people say how can
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I become born again? It's the sovereign act of God. You can't make it happen. That's what
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I'm saying. You better cry out to God and ask for mercy because only mercy can bring you in.
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Do you love God? Do you love His will? Do you love His word? John 5
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I'm going to give you some closing verses here before we have communion. John 5 30 Jesus says
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I can to myself do nothing. As I hear I judge my judgment is righteous because I do not seek my own will but the will of the
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Father who sent me. John 6 38 39 for I have come down from heaven to do not to do my own will but the will of Him who sent me.
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This is the will of the Father who sent me that all He has given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up at the last day.
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John 7 16 17 Jesus answered them and said my doctrine is not mine.
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Doctrine matters doesn't it? What about Jesus' teaching? But His who sent me if anyone wills to do
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His will he shall know concerning the doctrine whether it is from God or whether I speak on my own authority.
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And beloved if we are committed to doing God's will we'll be guided by Him in the affirmation of that truth.
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God's word, God's will, God's blessed Holy Spirit and if it's of the
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Spirit of God it always lines up with the word of God. One more verse
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Romans 12 1 and 2 this comes right down to us.
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Romans chapter 1 all the way to Romans chapter 11 there is so much theology it's packed in and then
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Paul begins to transition on chapter 12 and he says here is your practical application right here.
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Therefore I beseech you brethren by the mercies of God.
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You know what that means? By God's compassions. He says I beseech you, I urge you, I beg you by God's compassions that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy set apart acceptable to God not man, which is your reasonable service another translation says your reasonable act of worship.
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So in other words the way you live is the way you worship. The way you worship will be your life. You don't just turn it on and off.
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It is the way you live as a child of God. Verse 2 how does that look like?
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This is how it looks like and do not be conformed to this world but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind renew your mind with the word of God.
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Hide it in your heart that you may not sin against God that you may prove that which is that good and acceptable perfect will of God Amen Let's pray
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Our Father in heaven we thank you so much Lord for your blessed
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Holy Spirit that helps us in these matters. It's a matter of life and death such urgency oh
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God is to do thy will Lord your son's will was to go to a cross and die for our salvation for redemption but ultimately to your glory for the praise of your glory for the praise of your glory it's ultimately praising you and all that he did in his perfect acts and his perfect righteousness
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Lord may we now behold the Lamb of God as we partake in this communion and remember the one that came the
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Lord Jesus Christ remember his sufferings and to give thanks from the heart of his body that was broken and that of the cup after supper and the cup is the new covenant of his blood and every time we drink it we need to remember him and how he poured out and shed his blood for our salvation