Well, this evening we come to the end of the Lord's Prayer, and we encounter something that may puzzle you a little bit. Because if you have the ESV open in front of you, and that may be all of you, our Pew Bibles are the ESV, you may be thinking, well, didn't we come to the end of the Lord's Prayer last week? because you look at verse 13 and it says, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And there you have it. But if you will notice after the word evil there in verse 13, there is a small number and that number indicates a footnote. And if you look at the bottom of the page where that footnote tells you to go, you will see these words. Some manuscripts add for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Now those words are what we call the conclusion sometimes referred to as the doxology of the Lord's Prayer. And that is our passage tonight. And so in the ESV, the conclusion to the Lord's Prayer or the doxology to the Lord's Prayer is there in a footnote. Now, in the New American Standard, which was my Bible of choice for some time, you will find this conclusion to the Lord's Prayer, not in a footnote, but actually in the body of the text there in verse 13. But there in the NASB, it will have brackets around it. Now, some of you have Reformation Study Bible, okay? I have one, a very old one. The Reformation Study Bible now, if you buy it, is in the ESV, and there's nothing wrong with that. The ESV is the Bible I preach from. I love the ESV. But when I bought my Reformation Study Bible, which was when it first came out, I think in 1995, was excited, went and got me one. It was not called the Reformation Study Bible back then. It was called the New Geneva Study Bible. So I think I've actually seen at least one person here who has a Reformation Study Bible that old. If you have one of those, it has the conclusion or doxology of the Lord's Prayer in the body of the text because the New Geneva Study Bible back then was not in the ESV. There was no ESV. It was not around yet. It was in the New King James. And as such, it contained these words in verse 13. Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. It's interesting to note that all the Reformation era Bibles, and this would be the Coverdale Bible, the Geneva Bible, the Bishop's Bible, and even the King James Bible, 1611, all had the conclusion to the Lord's Prayer in the body of the text. And so it's no surprise that the Reformed catechisms, like the Heidelberg Catechism and the Shorter Catechism and the Larger Catechism of the Westminster Assembly, when they look at the Lord's Prayer and they teach on the Lord's Prayer, they take up these words, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen, as scripture. as part of the Lord's prayer. So why is there a difference, okay? Why is there a difference? Why is there a difference between the ESV and other modern translations on the one hand and the older translations on the other? Why is it that when you're looking at your ESV that our text tonight is relegated to a footnote? Well, of course, the question really is not to what did the English versions of the Bible say, because the Bible wasn't ultimately written in English, but what does the original Greek say? And therein lies the disagreement, okay? And so simply put, this is why there is a disagreement. The two earliest copies of the Greek New Testament that we know of do not contain the conclusion or doxology of the Lord's Prayer. The two earliest do not, that is a fact. It is also a fact that the vast majority, in fact, you could say the overwhelming majority of the manuscripts that we have do contain the conclusion or doxology to the Lord's Prayer. And so the ESV made the decision to go with those two earliest, and the older Bibles went with the majority. And so that's why if you have a New King James in front of you, it has it in the text. And if you have an ESV, it's relegated to a footnote. Now, I believe that this conclusion is authentic. I believe it was part of the original gospel of Matthew, and therefore I believe it's scripture. And that's why I am preaching it to you this evening. Let me mention just briefly here a few of the reasons, in addition to the fact that the vast majority of the manuscripts have it, that I believe it is authentic. I said that the two earliest copies of the Greek New Testament that we know of don't contain it, but there is a codex, a collection of the gospels, not too long after those two, that do contain it. Okay, it is also the case that the Didache, what is that? What is the Didache? Well, it's the earliest worship manual that we know of in the history of the church, and many would date it to the first century, well before these two earliest Greek New Testaments. When it's talking about the Lord's Prayer, it has this conclusion to the Lord's Prayer. Let me also mention this, that during the time when those two earliest Greek New Testament copies that we have were copied down, John Chrysostom, who was probably the most famous preacher of that day and age, preached through the gospel of Matthew. You can find those sermons in the church library if you wanna go check them out. And when he gets to the Lord's prayer, he preaches on the conclusion of the Lord's prayer as scripture, okay? Because it was in the scripture he was looking at, right? So those are some of the reasons why I believe this is authentically part of the gospel of Matthew. And hence, we're looking at it tonight. But you notice our Old Testament reading tonight. The content that we're going to look at tonight is biblical. OK, even if a brother or sister believes that it was not in the original gospel of Matthew. It is biblical content. So we're going to look at what does it mean to say the words that the kingdom and the power and the glory are God's. We're going to look at that tonight. And I would say we're going to look at that tonight as a wrap up, a bookend, a conclusion to this model prayer, this Lord's prayer that we have been considering. So let me read the Lord's Prayer, let me read our scripture passage for tonight, and we'll read, this will be the last night we do it, as after tonight we'll move on from the Lord's Prayer. Let me read the entirety of the Lord's Prayer to you, beginning in verse 9. After this manner, therefore, pray ye, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we know that your word says, the grass withers and the flower fades, but your word endures forever. These are the very words of life. And so we ask your blessing upon this time. May you give us ears to hear what you would have to say through the Holy Spirit to your church this evening through your word. Pray that you would help us to receive it as we should, to submit to it, to be shaped and transformed by its content. Open our eyes to behold wonderful things in your word. And we pray all of this in the precious name of our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. Now, when we come to this conclusion of the Lord's Prayer, these words, for thine, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen, we are coming to doxology. What is doxology? We use that word every Lord's Day morning in worship when we say, stand, as we sing the doxology, we associate that word with that song But the word doxology simply means a word of praise, right? It is a word of praise that the Bible calls you and I to offer praise to God. And doxology has come to mean a kind of condensed version of praise. praise wrapped up in a few lines, and we see that in many instances in the Bible. We see doxologies. We see these condensed forms of praise. One of them, and you heard it already, 1 Chronicles 29. Let me read verse 11 again, which is a doxology there in 1 Chronicles 29. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all." In that passage, 1 Chronicles 29, David is praying and he utters words of praise under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit about the temple. But unknown to David, David's son and Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, would utter similar words of doxology many years later to wrap up this model prayer. And what we're being told here in this model prayer is that often petition You know, request. That's what we've been looking at in the bulk of the Lord's Prayer. You have these requests, six of them that in the Christian life, petition and praise go together. Petition and praise. go together. You think about this, that as we bring our requests to the Lord, right? As we think about our weakness and our frailty, our dependence upon the Lord, we bring our requests to him. And then what do we see? We see that the Lord answers those requests. He gives us strength. He sustains us. And what does this cause us to do or what should it cause us to do? It should cause us to break out into doxology, to break out into praise of the Lord. And then as we praise the Lord and as we magnify his name, as we think about his greatness, this in turn should cause us to go back to our knees and offer up our requests to God as we think about how great and majestic He is, that He is the one upon whom we depend. There is this rhythm in the Christian life, petition and praise, back to petition and back to praise. And this is what we're being taught as this model prayer wraps up with this conclusion, this word of praise and doxology. There's an interesting passage in 2 Timothy chapter four, 2 Timothy 4, 18. And 2 Timothy is the last letter, the last epistle that the apostle Paul wrote, okay, in the New Testament. And there in 2 Timothy 4, verse 18, we see Paul uttering words of praise, words of doxology. And there are many who believe that Paul had this conclusion to the Lord's prayer in mind. when he penned these words. Now, let me read these to you. The verse says, the Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom to him be the glory forever and ever, amen. Now, some translations word it this way. The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed. And some think, and I would be in agreement here, that Paul very likely has in view that last petition of the Lord's prayer. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And where does the Apostle Paul go after he mentions this? He goes to doxology. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Now, one of the interesting things about petition and praise and we see it in this 1 Chronicles 29 passage, we see it in this 2 Timothy 4 passage, is that very often praise grows out of us understanding our weakness, right? Paul in 2 Timothy, I mentioned this was at the end of his life. And if you look in 2 Timothy, you see that Paul says, everybody has deserted me. Everybody's left, okay? Many of the people that had stood by Paul, when the going got tough, they fled. And Paul is very honest about this. In verse 17, which is obviously the verse prior to the one I just read, this is what we read. But the Lord stood by me. and strengthened me, but the Lord stood by me and strengthened me. Paul was very much aware of his frailty and his weakness and the fact that he had been betrayed by many. He had been left, but the Lord stood by him and the Lord strengthened him. And Paul said the Lord would deliver him. And then he breaks out into praise as he thought about his own weakness and dependence upon the Lord. In that 1 Chronicles 29 passage, it's the same dynamic. There in David's prayer and praise, as he started out with doxology, he then moved to think about his own weakness. Because he says there in verse 14 of 1 Chronicles 29, but who am I and what is my people that we should be able thus to offer willingly? You see, in this model prayer, the Lord has taken us to requests. He started out with these big requests where we begin to feel small as we think about the glory of God. As we think about the kingdom of God and the will of God, we're reminded that we are small, that we depend upon the Lord. And then our Lord takes us in this prayer to those requests of dependence. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts. Lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from evil. We're reminded that we are weak. just as Paul was reminded, just as David was reminded. And how fitting for the Lord Jesus then to take us to doxology as the end of this prayer, where we think about praising the Lord after we have considered our dependence on the Lord for our provision and our pardon and our protection, we break out in to praise. It is in this doxology, this conclusion of the Lord's prayer, that we find really the basis for prayer, for all prayer, the basis for prayer, and also motivation to pray. As we consider this doxology, it should comfort us. It should move us to pray more. These parting words, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen. They get our thoughts back off of ourselves. You know, in that flow of the prayer, we move from our father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your will be done, your kingdom come, the emphasis on your, we move to us. We get our focus on ourselves, and at the end of this prayer, Christ gets our minds off of ourselves and back on those big things as we ascribe praise to God for His kingdom and His power and His glory. This makes a very fitting bookend, we might say, to this model prayer. So what I want to do briefly tonight, and this, some of you may be disappointed, some of you may not be disappointed, will probably be our shortest sermon in this series, but I want us to briefly consider these things. Kingdom, power, glory. As the last request ended on the note of being delivered from evil, that sixth request, it is a great comfort to end this prayer, not with the word evil, or as some would even render it, evil one, but to have our minds directed to these bigger things, and the first thing is the kingdom of God. the kingdom of God. You know, we've said in that first Chronicles passage that David said, yours is the kingdom. Not just that the kingdom is a reality, but that the kingdom belongs to the Lord, our God. Now, how does this comfort us? How does this encourage us and motivate us to pray? When we pray that yours is the kingdom, father, we are being reminded that our father in heaven has a claim a legitimate claim on everything. This reference to the kingdom points us to the authority of God. All belongs to God because he made it. All belongs to God because he made it. And we see this often in the Psalms, appeals made in prayer to things known about God. And specifically, we often see appeals made to the authority of God. One well-known verse is Psalm 124 and verse eight. This was part of regular worship in Geneva back in Calvin's day, but the verse says, our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. Our help is in the name of the Lord. Why should we look to the Lord for help? Because he made heaven and earth. What does that have to do with anything? Well, because he made heaven and earth, he is sovereign over heaven and earth. He has authority over heaven and earth. His kingly rule extends over all heaven and earth. And so he can help us and we can go to him confidently. It is as though Christ in this model prayer is telling us that evil will not have the final word. We will be delivered from evil, and why will we be delivered from evil and the evil one? Because to our Heavenly Father belongs the kingdom. Our Heavenly Father has all sovereign rule and authority. He has never once not been in control. His purposes will stand. I mentioned John Chrysostom, early preacher in church history. This is what he says about this conclusion to the Lord's Prayer. He says this, he, that is the Lord Jesus, again encourages and raises our spirits by bringing to our remembrance the king under whom we are arrayed and signifying him to be more powerful than all. For thine, said he, is the kingdom and the power and the glory. One of the things that we're being taught here, I believe, in this ending to the Lord's prayer, is that as we go to the Lord in prayer, we ought to plead these things with the Lord, that we see these great truths in the Bible. And it's not as though we're reminding God of these things, as though God has forgotten them or even could forget them. Maybe we're reminding ourselves of these things, but we are saying these things to God because God wants us to say these things back to Him. That we're saying, Father, Yours is the kingdom and I praise You for this. And this motivates me to come to You and pray more often because You have all authority over everything. You know, we live in turbulent times. Crazy stuff seems to be happening. Not things unique in the history of the world, but maybe unique in our lives. And if you're a worrier, you got ample resources, lots of things if you want to worry. But these words, yours is the kingdom, reminds us that the kingdom does not belong to man. It does not belong to sinful fallen humanity. Sinful man is not on the throne. We're reminded of those tender words of Christ in Luke 12 32, fear not little flock for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom and the father can do that because the kingdom is his to give. And Christ said those words in Luke chapter 12 in the midst of a discussion about anxiety and worry. And here at the end of this prayer, he reminds us that the kingdom belongs to our father, and therefore the citizens of that kingdom belong to him as well. You know, this prayer started out with that language, our father, that tender, comforting language, and we see that as the prayer wraps up. What about the power, the kingdom, the power, The reason that we should be encouraged is not only that the kingdom and all authority belongs to our heavenly father, but also the power belongs to him. He has power over all. We think of the words of Christ, right? When he is there with Pilate, John chapter 19 and verse 11, Jesus answered him. You, that is Pilate, speaking to Pilate, you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. All power exercised by man, either individually or collectively, either by some person who nobody knows or by a powerful person, all power exercised exercised by man is derived from God. Only God has the power in and of himself. And this ending to the Lord's prayer reminds us that yours is the power. The power belongs to our heavenly father. And we must keep this in mind. And not only as we praise the Lord and offer him doxology and exalt him and lift up his name, but this also is another source to drive us back to prayer. We consider that as we face the enemies that we've talked about when we looked at that last request, as we face the world and the flesh and the devil, We remember that the power is with our father, for yours is the power. This conclusion helps us to have the proper perspective. As we wrap up our prayers, as we go out into the world, we enter a world that is hostile to the Christian faith, that pushes back on mention of the gospel, that pushes back on the freedom that the church desires to have. Lord Jesus said that he sends us out as sheep among wolves. We should expect a certain level of hostility and pushback. But as we leave off our prayers, Christ is saying we do so in a way that reminds us that the kingdom belongs to our father. It does not belong to this sinful world and the power belongs to him. And this should transform the way that we think about this world. And it should drive us back to our knees over and over again, being reminded that our Heavenly Father may allow, as we looked at last time, temptation to come. He may allow turbulence in this world, and there may be seasons when it looks like the church is going to topple, but that will not happen. because the kingdom and the power belong to our father. He has power and he gives us power to help us in any and all circumstances. Think about how this power shows up in Ephesians 3, verse 20. Let me read this verse to you, Ephesians 3, 20. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, According to what? According to the power, there's that divine power, but then look at what Paul does. At work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever, amen. In that verse, we see mention of the power of God. And God, as a result of this power, is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask. See, Paul hits that note of prayer, of request, of asking, and all that we might think. But that divine power that belongs to the Father, Paul says right there in Ephesians 3 20, that if you are a Christian, if you're trusting in Christ, that same power is at work in you. It is at work in me. And what does Paul do when he thinks about this power? He breaks out in doxology. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen. Too often we place limits on the power of our Father in heaven. We may not realize that's what we're doing. We definitely don't say that's what we're doing, but it shows up in the way that we pray. And Christ here is reminding us that as we wrap up our requests, prayer is to be accompanied with praise. And as we praise our great father in heaven, we need to be reminded of his power. And as we think about, as we meditate upon the power that he has, this should change the way we ask things. It should drive us back to those big requests at the front of the Lord's prayer. Those requests that in and of ourselves, we tend to not think of. Those things like, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done. Yours is the kingdom, yours is the power, and yours is the glory. There's a sense in which we could say in this conclusion to the Lord's prayer that the first two things form the basis of our prayers, that we should draw near in prayer because the kingdom is the Father's, that he has all authority. that we should draw near in prayer because He has all power. They form the basis of our prayers. And this last thing that's mentioned here in this conclusion to the Lord's Prayer is we might say the end, the goal of our prayers, and that is the glory of God. You know, the Lord's Prayer began with that note, hallowed be your name. glory. And it ends with this recognition, this meditation on glory, the glory of God. Herman Vitzius, old Reformed writer, said this in his commentary on the Lord's Prayer. We must begin with the glory of God. We must end with the glory of God. And that's what we see here in the Lord's Prayer. We begin with the glory of God and we end with the glory of God, the purpose of our lives, the purpose of our prayers, is the glory of God. And this thought of the glory of God should, as the Holy Spirit works in us, day in and day out, begin more and more to capture us. That as we think about our good days and our bad days, the thought that should slowly, through the course of our lives, rise to the top, is that, you know what? I was made and I was redeemed for the glory of God. And in this conclusion to the Lord's prayer, we are reminded that this glory belongs to the father, just as the kingdom does, just as the power does. The glory is his and he will not share it with another. Another doxology that we see in scripture is in Revelation chapter 5 and 13. These condensed forms of praise are all over the Bible. To him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. We can think of the words that are on the front of our bulletin every Lord's Day morning. Psalm 115 verse one, not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name, give glory for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness. Yours is the glory. Now, brothers and sisters, we should be comforted by these realities that to our Father belongs the kingdom and the power and the glory because they are, as this conclusion says, forever. They are forever. They belong to our Father in heaven forever. No one can alter this fact. No one can change this. And there's a sense in which this conclusion applies to all the petitions mentioned in this prayer. It forms the motivation to pray all these requests and the basis for all of them. Why do we pray, hallowed be your name? Because yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Why do we pray, give us this day our daily bread or deliver us from evil? Because yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Now, it wraps up with this word, amen. We say that word all the time, right? What does that word mean? It has significance. It has meaning. Basically, it means truly or let it be so. That when we say amen or amen, what we're saying is I agree with what's been said. I agree with what has been said. One of the things that we've lost in the corporate worship of the church is the corporate amen, that a time in the service where everyone collectively says amen. It's a good reminder that we are affirming what has been said. And the Lord Jesus, at the end of this prayer, is saying that we should say this word, not out of some kind of rote practice where we're mindless about it, and it's not to say that if you forget it, your prayer didn't count or it was an invalid prayer, but it is to be a reminder that we have confidence. And it's appropriate, I think, that this word follows this conclusion, because this conclusion roots our confidence in prayer because the kingdom and power and glory belong to our father. And then we are saying, yes, I believe this. Let it be so, may it be so. The amen expresses confidence in all the requests that we offer. And the conclusion we might say gives the ground for that confidence. Now, let me end with this this evening. It's easy to forget, because we've been in the Lord's Prayer for a while, and we've been in the Sermon on the Mount for even longer, that the section that we are in, which began chapter six, verse one, it began with Christ contrasting the piety of the disciple over against the piety of the Pharisee. The piety of the disciple over against the piety, the religious life of the Pharisee. Now, let me read a verse to you that we've already looked at. It's Matthew 6 and verse 5. Jesus says there, when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. And those would be the Pharisees. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners. Why? That they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. Jesus was saying the way the Pharisees pray is they are saying, mine is the glory. Mine is the glory. And I am praying in such a way so that I will get the glory." That's the way the Pharisees prayed. That's the way the hypocrites prayed. And as the Lord Jesus ends this model prayer, it is fitting that He end it on this note of glory and that glory does not belong to man. but that glory belongs to God alone. Yours is the glory. His is the glory. And what He is saying is that His work in our lives should spill over into doxology and praise. His work in our lives is not gonna move us in a direction where we want people to look at us and praise us. No, His work in our lives is gonna move us and direct us to where we will desire to praise Him, where we will desire to praise Him. Let me close with this quote from John Calvin regarding this conclusion of the Lord's Prayer. This is a firm and tranquil, peaceful repose for our faith. For if our prayers were to be commended to God by our worth, who would dare even mutter in his presence? Now, however devoid of all commendation, We will yet never lack a reason to pray, never be shorn of assurance since his kingdom, power, and glory can never be snatched away from our father. May these words, read, taught, and prayed by the church in her history, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen, be an encouragement to us tonight. The world seeks to build its own kingdom by its own power for its own glory. But we know that the kingdom and the power and the glory belong to our Father in heaven forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we do thank you for these words that both encourage and comfort us, drive us to pray more and more, remembering who you are in your majesty, that the kingdom is yours and the power is yours and the glory is yours. And therefore we should run to you in prayer. And so help us to praise you, help us to love doxology, help us to get our minds off of ourselves ultimately, and to think about your glory for that is the end goal, not only of our prayers, but of everything that we do. We can only appreciate, love, cherish, feed upon these words by your grace. Help us to be a praying people and help us to remember that we are your children, your sons and daughters. To go back to the beginning of this wonderful prayer that that is if we know the Lord Jesus. So may it be true. that we know the Son, that we have the Son, that we know the Spirit, that we have the Spirit, so that we can truly and sincerely pray our Father who art in heaven and the rest of this beautiful prayer that has been given to us. We pray all of this in the name of our Savior. Amen. I invite you to stand now as we sing our closing hymn. Hymn number 307, Nothing But The Blood.