Hopefully you all have your handouts, make it easier for you to follow along. I also made available again the handout for part one of this series on the Lord's Prayer, because in that handout I have the overall outline that I'm following. And so if some of you have lost that one, there's an extra one out there on the table if you wanted to get the big picture and keep it in mind as we move along. But we're already in part five. We're going to be considering the third petition of the Lord's Prayer, which focuses on the accomplishment of the will of God in the world. And as we read the prayer again, I want us to remember that it was designed to provide a pattern for daily prayer. And of course, we're going through each one of these petitions and taking time to thinking about them. in a more, let's say, a broader biblical sense, so that when we pray this prayer, when we follow this outline in our praying, we'll know what we're praying about. We'll know what we mean. We'll know what God has in mind for us when we pray these things. Beginning in verse nine, we read, in this manner, therefore, pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And that cues us into this notion that this is a daily prayer, right? And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. That's a bigger speech for our sins, right? 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. Amen. Let's take a moment to pray. before we try to understand this fifth petition of Jesus' model prayer. Holy Father, I do thank you for this prayer. I thank you that you gave your son Jesus to be our savior, that he was born of the Virgin Mary according to your wise plan, that he lived a perfectly sinless life as one who was both fully God and fully man in one person, that he died on the cross for our sins, bore the wrath for our sins in our place, that He rose from the dead and conquered death on our behalf, that He rose and ascended to your right hand, where He rules over the universe as sovereign Lord, and He lives forever to intercede for all of us who have called upon Him as our Savior, as our great High Priest. We thank you, Lord, for these wonderful blessings in Christ. We thank you for the salvation that we have through Christ, for the forgiveness of our sins, for the free gift of everlasting life. And Lord, we know that this all came about because of the working of your spirit in our hearts, enabling us to see Jesus for who he really is and to trust in him, to turn from our sins, bow the knee to him as our Lord and Savior. We pray, Lord, that through the power of your Holy Spirit, you will continue to work in our hearts today and give us understanding of what it is that our Lord Jesus wants to think about as we pray this petition of the prayer that he gave us as a model for our daily praying. Fill us with your spirit to that end, I pray, and with understanding. And as always, we will give you all the glory for what you do as a result of this prayer and as a result of your word in our hearts and lives today. We pray all these things in the name of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. A fellow named George W. Truitt once taught that, quote, to know the will of God is the greatest knowledge. To do the will of God is the greatest achievement. And I would add, I think, to Truitt's observation The notion that to pray the will of God is perhaps the greatest prayer that anyone can pray. To pray for his will to be done. Remember that we've seen in our previous study of this prayer that one cannot pray, hallowed be your name, without also praying your kingdom come. Because God's name is hallowed where he is honored as king. But neither can one pray your kingdom come without also praying your will be done. because God has not honored his king where he has not obeyed. And it is this third petition of the prayer, your will be done, that's gonna be our focus of our attention this morning. It's a very simple and direct petition in the second part of verse 10, where Jesus says, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And when we pray this prayer, We're basically asking for two things, as I see it. First, we're asking that God's will will be done on earth. And secondly, we're asking that God's will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And so I wanna break it down that way as we cover it. And our first main point then is going to be this. We are asking that God's will be done on earth. Of course, we don't need to ask that it'll be done in heaven, right? There's no possibility that it isn't done in heaven. We're asking that it be done on earth because this is the place where it so seldom is done from our point of view by sinful people. In earlier messages we've seen that praying hallowed be your name and your kingdom come is praying both for the whole world and for ourselves at the same time. And I think that's true of praying the prayer, your will be done as well. I think first of all, we're praying for God's will to be done in the whole world when we're praying your will be done on earth. Not just in the lives of believers on the earth, but on all the earth, right? In the whole world. Now this prayer will ultimately be answered with the coming of God's kingdom in the future. but it is also answered as others come to know Christ and submit to Him as their Lord, and as they enter the kingdom and begin to obey Him. This is the purpose behind the Great Commission, as a matter of fact, in Matthew 28, verses 18 through 20, where we're told that Jesus came and spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth, which is where we're praying that His will will be done. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. As people come to faith in Christ, then, they become obedient members of our Lord Jesus' kingdom on earth. In fact, the Apostle Paul described the purpose of his ministry in such terms when he said in Romans 1.5, through him, that is Jesus, we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name. So the point of the Great Commission is to pursue the goal of God's will being done on earth. As people come to know Christ as their Savior and Lord, As the ESV translates this verse, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith, right? For the sake of his name among all the nations. They take Paul's verse that way. It's because it's through faith that we obey, right? People that don't trust in the Lord as their savior, they don't have faith in him, are not going to obey him as their Lord and savior. They're not even going to be saved. So when we pray for God's will to be done on earth, one thing we're praying for is that people will obey him through acceptance of the gospel of Jesus Christ and submission to him as their Lord and savior. The one who taught us to pray your will be done on earth said he has all the authority in heaven and on earth. And in that authority, we go and make disciples. And Paul also describes the ultimate submission of all things to our Lord Jesus as the ultimate goal of salvation history. That's what everything is about in the end. Remember what he wrote to the Corinthian believers in this regard when he described events that will occur when our Lord Jesus returns. This is in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verses 24 through 28, where Paul says, then comes the end, when he, speaking of our Lord Jesus, delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and all power, for he must reign, which he's doing now, till he has put all his enemies under his feet. The nations won't be raging anymore, as we read about in Psalm 2 earlier this morning. Then he says, the last enemy that will be destroyed is death, for he was put all things under his feet, or for he has rather put all things under his feet, and then that would include death, right, if it's all things. But Paul says, but when he says all things are put under him, it is evident that he who put all things under him is accepted. Now when all things are made subject to him, then the son himself, will also be subject to him who put all things under him, that God may be all in all. So we're looking for a time when Jesus will ultimately be seen to be the ruler of everything, by everyone, everywhere. And everything will finally be completely under his authority. in the sense of obedient to Him, or in the case of those who aren't obedient, in judgment, ultimately. But at any rate, when we pray for God's will to be done on earth, we're praying for the ultimate victory of our Lord Jesus over all His enemies. Because that's the plan. That's God's will. We're longing for the day when all is clearly seem to be subject to our Lord Jesus' rule. In the same vein, Paul wrote to the Philippian believers about the ultimate submission of all things to Jesus in Philippians 2, verses 9 through 11, after having described Jesus taking on the form of a human being and becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Our Lord Jesus, of course, was raised from the dead. And he tells us in Philippians 2.9, therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. So when we pray for God's will to be done on earth, we are praying for the day when all will bow the knee to Jesus and acknowledge him as Lord. And of course, in doing so, we're praying for the glory of God as our ultimate goal, right? Now, these are just highlights of what we're praying for when we pray your will be done on earth. There's all kinds of things that we know about God's will for us as believers. for our sanctification, our ultimate glorification, our learning perseverance, our manifesting the fruit of the Spirit. All these things are subsumed under praying that God's will would be done on earth because that's how His will is worked out in our lives on a daily basis as we're sanctified and we grow in Christ and we witness for Him. But the ultimate goal that all of this points to is the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But that leads me to this notion that we cannot desire that all things be submitted to Jesus as Lord without wanting to submit to him ourselves, right? This brings us to the second thing we're asking for when we pray that God's will should be done on earth. We're praying that God's will would be done in our own lives. Our Lord Jesus is, of course, the greatest example of this. As the apostle John records for us in his gospel in John 434, and this is the account of the woman at the well, and Jesus hadn't had anything to eat, and his apostles, his disciples wanted him to eat because Jesus was too busy sharing the gospel to think about eating. And they cared about him, you know, There are times in our lives where people come along and say, you're pushing yourself too hard, you need to slow down, you need to take time to eat and take care of yourself. And so they probably were coming from a good place, right? But Jesus said to them in John 4 34, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. So what about you and me? Can each of us honestly say that just as our bodies crave food, even so we crave the will of God? For example, is the desire that God's will be done one of the first things in our thoughts, in our prayers each day, or do we think about breakfast first, right? If we can't even manage to get up and think about the will of God before we think of breakfast, we're a long way off from Jesus' example, right? My food, rather, is to do the will of my Father. But when we pray, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, I think we're trying to align our hearts to Jesus' heart on that, aren't we? Our Lord Jesus demonstrated the truth of his claim that the Father's will was of utmost importance to him when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane as he anticipated his coming death on the cross. In Matthew 26, verses 36 through 39, we're told that Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane and he said to the disciples, sit here while I go and pray over there. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, that would be James and his brother John, And he began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. And then he said to them, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death. Stay here and watch with me. And he went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed, saying, oh my father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Now what's the cup that he has in mind here? Well, if you know your Old Testament background, there's an image of the cup of God's wrath being poured out in judgment. Well, Jesus was about to have that cup of wrath poured out on him on the cross for us to take the wrath of God for our sins. Jesus didn't pray this just because he was gonna die an excruciating physical death and physical agony on the cross. Far more than that. The wrath of God was going to be poured out on him. The cup of God's wrath was going to be emptied on him. Notice what he says. Oh, my father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. Many of us have learned to pray such prayers following in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus, haven't we? When terrible things have come our way, We've learned to pray with him. Lord, please take this from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done. Had to pray that quite often, battling cancer, right? Lord, I'd like it if you'd take this away. Nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done. Many of you have prayed the same kind of prayer, right? Well, if you have, you've begun, right? You've begun to learn what it means to pray, Lord, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It doesn't matter to me, Lord, in the end of the day, if the will is what I think it ought to be, it's what you think it should be, that it really matters. And I need to have my heart aligned with that. Jesus wants us to line our hearts up this way every single day when we pray. And He modeled it for us. There may be many times when praying for God's will to be done, that means we're gonna have to suffer. Because that may be His will for us. So what kind of difficulties are you facing right now in your own life? You know, can you pray after asking for God to take those difficulties away? He doesn't mind us asking that, right? He doesn't call us to enjoy hurting, to want to hurt, to not want pain to be taken away. He just demands that if he chooses to keep it in our life for some purpose, we accept his will. And we do so joyfully. So whatever your situation is, can you honestly and sincerely pray, nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will? If not, then I submit to you that you haven't yet learned to pray your will be done as Jesus would have you pray it. And if I can't pray that, I haven't learned to pray right either, right? The author of Hebrews also spoke of Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. when he wrote this in Hebrews chapter five. And it's clear to me anyway that he has the Garden of Gethsemane in mind when he says these things. In Hebrews five, beginning in verse five, he writes, so also Christ did that glorify himself to become high priest. But it was he who said to him, you are my son today, I have begotten you. As he also says in another place, you are priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. who in the days of his flesh, when he offered up prayers and supplications, now speaking of Jesus, with vehement cries and tears to him was able to save him from death, and was heard because of his godly fear, though he was a son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. He calls upon the example of Jesus. The Hebrew believers are being persecuted and they're suffering, and they want it to go away. Well, it might not go away anytime soon. What do they do then? They follow the example of their Lord, Jesus, who cried out to God in the garden. And I think he must have that in mind because where else did Jesus cry out in such a fashion, right? To be delivered from a particular death, it was in the Garden of Gethsemane. So we need to ask ourselves, are we servants greater than our master? If he was perfect, learned obedience to the will of God by the things which he suffered, how can we possibly think it should be any different for us? Sadly, we may often plead with God for what we want, first of all, is if we can somehow conform his will to our own. A lot of Christian prayers are like that. They're really not, Lord, I want your will first. They're, I've got an idea of what should happen, and I'm gonna pray over and over again for that, and it's never gonna cross my mind whether or not it's your will. Because I want it to be your will. Lots of Christians pray that way, professing Christians. Not realizing that's not really a Christian prayer. It's not a Christ-like prayer, that's for sure. Praying only for what we think is best, without any concern for what God knows is best for us, is not praying your will be done. Of course, we pray like that to avoid suffering. But instead of avoiding suffering, we may sometimes only delay it or make things even worse for ourselves by refusing to accept His will. A Christian that refuses to accept the will of God for his or her suffering, guess what will happen to them? They will not have the joy and peace of God in their suffering that they ought to have, and the suffering will be many times worse than it needs to be. And they'll never learn what it is to have the peace that passes understanding that Paul talks about to the Philippians, because they never give themselves a chance to learn it. They don't really wanna learn it, it's too hard. And they forget that even our Lord Jesus learned obedience through the things which he suffered. I'm just gonna put this out there to you. If you want God's will first, you're gonna have to count on some suffering. It's not a bug in God's plan, it's a feature of it. If you take seriously at all what the New Testament tells you about trials and sufferings, or the whole scriptures for that matter, tell you about trials and sufferings, you know that it is our lot. Now sometimes God graciously answers and brings miracles and heals and takes away pain and suffering for which we are grateful. But there's new pain and suffering coming down the line. None of us are gonna get out of this world, out of this life without suffering. The question is, are we gonna suffer like he wants us to? Are we gonna become more like Christ through it? Are we gonna learn the things he wants us to learn through it? Or because we consistently resist his will, are we just gonna make ourselves more and more miserable? and miss all the love he wants to show us in a deeper way through our trials and sufferings. We never see God more clearly than when we come to the end of ourselves. And that only happens through difficulties, through trials, through sufferings, and that's why It's so clear in the New Testament that that's part of God's plan to grow each one of us. Read Romans 5, read James 1, if you want to go get a rehearsal of that. More all too often, like the baby in a story related by William Moses Tidwell, who wrote this, there was a carriage being driven along the road, and the mother sat on the front seat, and the maid, caring for their spoiled baby, sat on the back seat. The child began screaming for something, and the mother impatiently said, Why don't you just let him have what he wants? The nurse let him have it. What he was crying for was a wasp on the window. Then he screamed vociferously when he felt the terrible sting of the wasp, and the mother called out to ask, what is the matter with him now? And the maid quietly replied, he got what he wanted. How often have we seen this in our own lives? We think we know what's best, and we end up getting stung, because we don't want God's discipline or his will. On the other hand, we could learn the lesson of Jesus' life, as the missionary David Livingston seems to have done. And this story is again related by Tidwell. He writes that David Livingston tells how he was chased up a small tree and besieged by lions. Remember, he was a missionary in Africa. He said the tree was so small that he was barely out of reach of the lions. He said they would stand on their back feet and roar and shake the little tree, and that he could feel the hot breath of the lions as they sought to kill him. But, he states, I had a good night and felt happier and safer in that little tree besieged by lions in the jungles of Africa, in the will of God, than I would have been out of the will of God in England. See, it's all a matter of perspective, isn't it? I submit to you that that's the kind of attitude Jesus wants us to have when we pray to our Heavenly Father. Your will be done. It's hard to pray that and mean it, isn't it? But that's what he's calling us to do. This attitude shows in yet another thing we're asking for when we pray this prayer, and that's the second major heading here. We're asking that God's will be done as it is in heaven. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Here we must think about how God's will is actually done in heaven. David gives us some insight on the manner in a similar prayer in Psalm 103, verses 19 through 22, which we read in Sunday school this morning. The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. Bless the Lord, you his angels, who excel in strength, who do his word, heeding the voice of his word. Bless the Lord, all you his hosts, you ministers of his, still thinking of the angels, who do his pleasure, Bless the Lord all his works and all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul. David wanted everywhere in all places, or everyone rather, in all places of God's dominion to praise him and obey him, even as the angels in heaven do. Notice that he described them as those who do his word, heeding the voice of his word. The angels obey God completely, doing all that he says. Well, that's the example for us, to obey his word, to do his word, to do all his pleasure, not our own. The angels aren't thinking about what they want ever, they're thinking only of what God wants. What more can we say about how the angels in heaven obey God? Perhaps one other scriptural example will suffice, and this is from Luke chapter two, verses 8 through 14, where we read about some angels on a very special mission. We'll be reading about them again in December. Beginning in Luke 2, verse 8, now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. and they were greatly afraid. And then the angel said to them, do not be afraid for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be assigned to you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts, A whole bunch more angels praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. These angels were clearly carrying out what was commanded to them by God. They had a message from God, a very happy message, and they were incredibly joyful about being able to deliver it. They couldn't help but praise God when carrying out his commands. In fact, they were filled with joy at the unfolding of his plans as they saw his will being accomplished. So when we're praying that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven, what are we praying for? That he be obeyed here as instantly and as joyfully as the angels obey him in heaven. That we would obey him that way. that we would, everything he says in his word, we would want to do, and we would praise him as we do it, and we'd be filled with joy as we do it, and as we see his purposes in the world coming to fruition more and more through the spread of the gospel, we will take great joy in that. That's how you obey the will of God and pray for the will of God as it is done in heaven, right? So here we have the angels are an example for us. Have you ever read in the Bible of a single one of God's holy angels in heaven disobeying Him? We're not thinking about Satan and his fall here, right? We're thinking of the holy angels. Can you imagine Michael, the archangel, saying, no, I don't think so. Or, well, maybe tomorrow. Or, well, that's just too hard. Of course not. Have you ever read about any of these angels complaining about the will of God? Gabriel, I gotta talk to Joseph again? Come on. It's ridiculous to even think something like that, right? Well, if we're praying that God's will will be done on earth as it is in heaven, well, we want to obey and we want people to obey and his will to be done just like it is by angels like Michael, right, and Gabriel. We want it to be done immediately and with great joy, because you get to be a part of God's plan. You get to obey Him. There's a wondrous plan He has, and you get to be part of it in obedience to Him. That's the attitude of the angels, right? That's how God's will is done in heaven. That should be our perspective. I think Jesus is giving us an analogy here to think about, and so I've tried to lead you through thinking about it a little bit. I think Wayne Grudem highlights this same point very well in his systematic theology text. When he's talking about this prayer, he says, in both their obedience and their worship, angels provide helpful examples for us to imitate. Jesus teaches us to pray, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In heaven, God's will is done by angels immediately, joyfully, and without question. We are to pray daily that our obedience and the obedience of others would be like that of the angels in heaven. Their delight is to be God's humble servants, each faithfully and joyfully performing their assigned tasks, whether great or small. Not every angel gets to be a Michael the archangel, right? Our desire in prayer should be that we ourselves and all others on earth would do the same. Yeah. Jesus wants us to pray daily that God's will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. He knows that we need to align our wills with the Father's will every single day. And he knows we can best do this through prayer. So what about each one of us? Can we honestly say that we so desire, so earnestly desire that God's will be done that it takes precedence in our prayers even over our own needs? Remember, we haven't gotten yet to give us this day our daily bread. That's a fourth petition. That's halfway through the prayer. Can we say that such a desire, we have a desire to make us willing, even if the suffering might be part of that will, as it was for our Lord Jesus, who said to us, take up your cross and follow me. The cross isn't a picture of a, you know, some kind of happy picnic or some party. So for some of us, we might have to first pray, Lord, help me to want to pray your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In the meantime, I'm going to pray it anyway, because I know I should. And I'm just hoping that you'll correct my will, correct my feelings, line me up like I should be. And he will. He will. He'll answer that prayer. Lastly, does our desire that God's will be done show in our own lives, in our own obedience, in our own joyful obedience? Is it as hard, if you think about your life, or if others were to think about your life, would it be as hard for them to think of you what I said before of Gabriel? Can you imagine Gabriel saying, no, I don't think so. I don't even like Joseph. and complain. Instead, he just joyfully, immediately, gets to be a part of God's plan. Grooves on it. It's what angels live for, right? And that should be true of us. When people think of us, that's the way they should view us. When God calls that person to something, he or she does that immediately and joyfully, and it doesn't matter what kind of suffering it involves, they trust the Lord, and they joyfully submit to whatever his will is. It's hard to do, I would argue. In the flesh, it's impossible to do. But we're not alone. We have the Holy Spirit. With him, all things are possible. We can sincerely pray this prayer. We can sincerely live this way. And as I close, I would just like to say, I'm pretty impressed that this congregation does a pretty good job of that already. When I think of Emmanuel, I don't think of a church, a complaining church, who can't stand God's will even if it means suffering, quite the opposite. But if you're like me, you needed this reminder today. In fact, Jesus thinks you need it every day. He thinks I need it every day because he knows no matter how much we've grown in the faith, we're still gonna be tempted to want what we want instead of what God wants first. So he's building in protection every day into our prayer life. to ward off those temptations. What a gracious Savior we have. He thinks of everything. What else would he do? He's God. Let's pray. Holy Father, I thank you so much. I hope I've been a helpful encouragement to this body of believers today. Many people in this room are suffering and going through difficulties and have prayed perhaps many times Lord, take this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. And some days that's easier to pray than others. Some days we find it easy to pray your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And other days we struggle to pray it because we're tired of hurting or struggling and we're growing weary and well-doing. but we need to pray it every day anyway so that we can overcome those difficulties, those temptations. And so help us to keep persevering by the power of your spirit, I pray, Lord. Fill us with the energy that we need, the stamina that we need, the endurance and patience that we need to live faithfully for you and to want your will first in all things. And if in any way we fail, forgive us, I pray. And wherever we are today, help us to just say, Lord, I'm sorry, please forgive me for my selfishness. And help me to resolve anew today to say your will be done no matter what the cost to me. Because you matter and I don't in the end. Lord, I just pray that you'll give us that kind of selflessness that our Lord Jesus modeled. And if there's anyone here today who hasn't come to know Christ as hers or her Savior, it's my prayer that today he or she will submit to you as Lord and just say, please save me, Lord Jesus. Please forgive me and accept the free gift of everlasting life, the free gift of salvation, of forgiveness of sins from your gracious hands. We ask all these things for your glory, and in the name of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. Thank you all for your kind attention once again.