Biblical Prayer: The Doxology

Reformed Rookie

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:06

Continuing in our subject of biblical prayer and today we come to the doxology of the

00:16

Lord's Prayer and this will bring our study of the in the

00:25

Lord's Prayer to a close but we're going to continue on the subject of prayer for some time because we there are many other texts and obviously this prayer alone is not everything that the word says about it so so just a little bit of review we've seen the prayer in Matthew 5

00:43

Matthew 6 5 to 13 that it's a model prayer not so much that you have to say those words exactly but it is a model prayer so tonight we're going to examine the doxology of Matthew 6 13 for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever amen now a little interesting there's a question about the doxology since it's not in some of the early manuscripts so some of your translations might not even have it in there and most of them it's bracketed all right with a margin note all right so then why are we doing this because the doxology is so theologically correct that it's fitting it's a fitting close to the prayer whether or not

01:33

Jesus included it here everything that's in the doxology is elsewhere in the scriptures so we just lump it together here and I'm going to treat it as though it was written here in the earliest manuscripts so in a real sense the doxology gives the reason or an explanation for praying in the manner that Jesus taught and I'll show you what

02:00

I mean by that the doxology tells us that our prayers are not in vain and here's how it does that well first the review let's this is we're going to do a little review then we'll get to the doxology verse 9 we open the prayer with our

02:20

Father who art in heaven remember we spent the whole a whole Wednesday evening just on that then we went through each petition one by one first petition hallowed be thy name second petition thy kingdom come and the third petition thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven now if you remember we see that there is somewhat of a priority here the very first thing we're doing we're addressing the prayer to our

02:47

Father who's in heaven and what's our first petition that his name would be hallowed that his name would be made holy and then we're praying that his kingdom would come and that his will would be done those are the that's the priority of our prayer and this gets back a little bit to what

03:03

I was talking about on Sunday about having there is a priority in prayer and we need to be praising and thanksgiving as part of our prayer life and that's clearly indicated in these petitions then we come on to give us this day our daily bread forgive us our debts as we also have been forgiven our debts our debtors rather then do not lead us into temptation and we saw what that meant remember not that God would ever lead us into temptation all right and but deliver us from evil and that's where we left off so what is the doxology first and foremost it's an expression of praise and thanksgiving and praise are essential elements of biblical prayers

04:02

Philippians 4 6 be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God notice there always needs to be this attitude of praise and thanksgiving in our prayers

04:21

Colossians 4 2 devote yourself to prayer keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving so what we're saying is that biblical praying begins in the heart it has to be a hard attitude okay and biblical praying is not merely following a pattern even this pattern it's much more than that remember this pattern is like like a superstructure of a of a sky of a skyscraper it's there it's necessary but you have to add everything else on to it for it to be to be useful so biblical praying comes from a heart of thanksgiving and praise

05:08

Psalm 67 5 let the people praise thee Oh God let let all the peoples praise thee so we're that's what we're saying is that the doxology itself is an expression of praise and the doxology gives us specific reasons to praise him here's the first part of the doxology for thine is the kingdom all right now just follow me as we go through here

05:41

Arthur Pink commenting on these verses said in this pattern prayer

05:48

God has made both the Alpha and the Omega it opens by addressing him as our

05:53

Father in heaven it ends by lauding him as the glorious king of the universe the doxology reminds us that God is the supreme sovereign one for thine is the kingdom and then it gives us some specific reasons to praise him

06:16

Psalm 115 3 but our God is in heavens he does whatever he pleases tells you who he is he answers to no one because there is none greater than him and we see that in Hebrews 6 verses 13 and 14 for when

06:33

God made the promise to Abraham since he could swear by no one greater he swore by himself saying

06:39

I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you the doxology gives us specific reasons to praise him for thine is the power not only has the authority the kingdom would give him the authority but the fact that he has the power gives him the ability to carry out his will on earth same concept but just a little bit different so we come to our

07:12

Lord and praise and thanksgiving because he has the power to accomplish all that we pray for nothing is impossible for him is that a question or just just stretching stretching all right how many people here have read

07:32

Jerry Bridges book trusting God right just just a couple

07:38

I I would strongly encourage you to read that book especially if you have a life that's not perfect if you if you if you have any kind of struggles in the

07:52

Christian life that book is extremely helpful it's one of the books I give out frequently the title of the book is trusting

08:02

God and the subtitle of even when life hurts and what he does in the book he gives three he says three things are necessary for for us to be able to trust

08:18

God first is that God is omnipotent he has the power to do whatever he desires to do second thing is he is all wise that means that he knows exactly the right thing to do in every circumstance you ever come across circumstance of life and you said

08:41

I just don't know what to do I can do this or I can do this and I don't know which one is right God always knows what's right so you have he has the ability he knows what is best he has the power to to accomplish that and then what do you think the third leg of the stool is that's necessary to trust

09:03

God he has all power he has all wisdom no that's that would kind of be included in what we've talked about already love why is that important because he desires to do what is best for he's told us that he will always do what is best for us so because of his love his power and his wisdom we can not trust him absolutely there's nothing there's nothing that escapes him and that's kind of included in the in the doxology here as well nothing is impossible for him and he has all the ability to carry it out

09:50

Matthew 1926 and looking upon them Jesus said to them with men this is impossible but with God all things are possible that's why we can trust him and then of course this should be no you should be no stranger to this verse spoken by King Nebuchadnezzar of all people and all the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing but he does according to his will in the host of the heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and no one can ward off his hand or say to him what has thou done what an amazing what an amazing confession of faith and then we come to the last part of the doxology for thine is the glory and this is just a little background on it the

10:45

Greek word for glory is doxa so doxa literally means glorious words it's from doxa and logos so doxology that's so when you sing the doxology and in church frequently we understand that's what we're singing glorious words and that is a glorious song isn't it so what what it means is we come before God in praise and thanksgiving for what purpose to glorify his name and we get a glimpse of the glory of God in several places in the scriptures one of note is found in Revelation 5 and we'll read just a few verses and I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders and the number of them was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing and every created thing which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all things in them

12:07

I heard saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever and the four living creatures kept saying amen and the elders fell down and worshipped that gave you a little glimpse of the glory of God the reminiscent of another portion of scripture was a reminder of Philippians 2 nobody else oh come on I'm not going any further until how about Isaiah 6 where Isaiah is given a glimpse of the throne and he sees the seraphim and covering their faces with their wings and covering their feet with another set of wings and saying holy holy holy you know

13:08

I heard a different take on on that we always think of holy holy holy you know one for each member of the

13:15

Trinity and all but E .V. Hill he was a great preacher from South Central LA down in the

13:22

Watts section and he was at a pastor's conference and he's and he was talking about Isaiah 6 and he says what what what's going on there he says

13:33

God does one that God does something wonderful something majestic and all the angels bow before him and go holy he says and then they get up and by the time they lifted up their eyes he's done something else that's magnificent and they go holy he's and then they pick their eyes back up and he's done something else and they're going holy and that's what they're doing they're preoccupied just saying how holy the

13:55

Lord is good God rest he's with the

14:02

Lord now yes he is so praise is a measure of spiritual maturity the heart that recognizes what

14:17

God has done responds in praise and thanksgiving do you see why I said that first praise is a measure of spiritual maturity it's amazing how many people don't praise

14:31

God in their worship I touched upon this a little bit on Sunday morning and here we're making the statement that praise is actually a measure of maturity the more mature you are the closer you draw it to God the more you will be praising him and giving him

14:47

Thanksgiving prayers that please God are

14:52

God -centered prayers and how you can your prayer be God -centered by praising him by thanking him remember the difference between praise and Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is thanking him for something he's done praising him is just for who he is

15:10

God loves to hear the praise of his people he said to inhabit the praise of his people and this leads to the second function the first function is that the doxology is an expression of praise the second function of the doxology is this it's a plea to enforce the petitions

15:31

I'll show you what I mean notice the connecting word for for thine is the kingdom it begins for acts as a conjunction in this particular grammatical construction and has the meaning of because or on account of so in other words we pray these petitions the seven petitions that we've been studying we pray for them why because the kingdom is his what does that mean because he has the authority to bring about the petitions he has the authority to answer you can bring all your petitions to me if you'd like you're just not going to get answers to them you see the point but see so that's why it says for thine is the kingdom why pray this why pray for thy kingdom to come thy will be done why pray for give us this day our daily bread because the kingdom belongs to Christ and we something that we want to keep in mind too don't forget them when we bring these petitions we're not informing him of anything new verse 8 for your father knows what you need before you ask him and the same is true for the second part of the doxology for thine is the power we're reminded that God is the only one with the power to answer all our prayers you can so you can see how the doxology is referring back to the petitions that's why

17:09

I think it is a fitting end to the to the prayer even though it may not be in some of all the manuscripts

17:15

God is pleased when we acknowledge his power and these petitions acknowledge our utter dependence upon God for all things material and spiritual and the same is true for the third part of the doxology for thine is the glory when we pray like this according to the pattern that Christ has laid down for us

17:42

God will rightly receive the glory and not ourselves when a when a craftsman

17:52

I know a lot of people here work with their hands they build things and stuff or people write there's all different kinds of things we do what do we do when you build something and there it is and it comes out and it's beautiful it's perfect we say look what my hands have done when we say thank you

18:11

Lord this is this is a gift from you when

18:19

God answers these prayers he will receive the glory and he says in Isaiah 48 11 for my own sake for my own sake he repeats it

18:29

I will act how can my name be profaned and my glory

18:36

I will not give to another God will not share his glory we're reminded just the other couple of weeks ago what happened to King Herod when they said he's the voice of a

18:49

God the people said and he accepted that and what happened God struck him you will not give his glory to another and then the next thing is that it's a confirmation this doxology is a confirmation that prayers will be heard it confirms that our prayers will be fruitful we don't come before God like the pagans who never know if anyone hears their pleas that's why they pray with vain repetitions because they have no guarantee that anybody's gonna hear they're praying to wood stone and precious metals and we also don't need a secret formula for our prayers to be heard now this

19:38

I want to pause on just for a minute because this is a especially especially prevalent in the

19:50

Christian Church in the evangelical church periodically you will hear somebody come up with if you want your prayers to be answered you have to pray like this and they're not looking at Matthew 6 a number of years ago anybody remember the prayer of J Bez all of a sudden everybody's praying his prayer of J Bez from the

20:10

Old Testament that God will expand your borders as though that was the the model prayer and and they actually published books and everything else and it was coming forth from the pulpits if you want your prayers answered pray like this and my response was wait a minute it's not what

20:30

Jesus said he just said pray like this and after that there was another one said oh yeah if you if you want to your prayers to be answered not only do you have to say in Jesus name but you have to pray according to his blood and the wording is extremely precise that's not what the

20:54

Bible teaches we don't need a secret formula for our prayers to be heard

20:59

God hears our prayers the answered prayer is the one that comes from a heart that loves

21:08

God has been broken before him and pleads with God for his prayers to be answered for Christ's sake that's not there's not one of us here that deserves our prayers to be answered except because of what

21:24

Christ has done in us for us and through us what happens if you don't know the words to say and this is what really blows away this the prayers of J Bez and this meticulous wording of the prayers

21:40

Romans 8 26 and 27 and in the same way the spirit also helps our weakness but we do not know how to pray as we should that's the

21:52

Apostle Paul talking he says we do not know how to pray as we should if you think you finally got your pretty you you know how to pray you don't but the

22:03

Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words and that's not speaking in tongues people this is the

22:12

Holy Spirit taking our meager words and bringing them to the throne of God and bringing them perfectly that's why our prayers will be answered and he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the

22:23

Spirit is because he intercedes for the Saints according to the will of God you know the purpose for that have you ever been in circumstances where you're overwhelmed with grief and you just didn't know how to pray

22:40

I don't even know what to say you don't have don't worry about it you don't have to wax eloquent the

22:47

Holy Spirit is there at that moment and he'll take the thoughts of your heart and bring them before the throne of God God never leaves you alone he never leaves you nor forsakes you we do not know how to pray as we should the doxology is also an encouragement we can pray deliver us from evil because God never sleeps on the job someone 21 verse 3 he will not allow your foot to slip he who keeps you will not slumber behold he who keeps

23:26

Israel will neither slumber nor sleep the Lord is your keeper the Lord is your shade on your right hand that's comforting to know that he doesn't sleep he's always there we can pray that kingdom come because God has promised that it will come

23:48

Matthew 16 18 and I say to you that you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it his kingdom will come in full majesty and glory by the time we're ready to go beat him in the air and then the doctor doxology is also a comfort

24:10

God answers prayers in a way that we wouldn't even think of Ephesians 3 20 now to him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think for the kingdom is an everlasting kingdom it's an unchanging kingdom and that too is a comfort for us and then the prayer ends with that little word amen so be it or it shall be so I like it shall be so and we see that's biblical to use that psalm 72 blessed be the