Episode Nine: On the Lord’s Prayer, Pt. 4

Episode Nine: The Lord’s Prayer, Pt.4

Andrewes on seeking God’s grace to do no evil

nor befall it and giving God the glory as the

only One Who can give such grace.

January 23, 2021

 

Sermons 16 - 19 of Lancelot Andrewes’

Nineteen Sermons upon Prayer in General,

and The Lord’s Prayer in Particular.

 

Copies can be found in Lancelot Andrewes Works,

Sermons, Volume Five,

or on The Project Canterbury Website.

Summary:

      With the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th sermons of this 13-sermon collection on the Lord’s Prayer, Andrewes teaches on the often over-looked, or unconsidered, realties contained in the intentional wording of the Lord’s Prayer’s “Lead Us Not into Temptation” “But Deliver Us from Evil,” “For Thine is the Kingdom, Power, and Glory, for Ever and Ever” and finally “Amen.”

1. Introductory Summary and Overview of the Lord’s Prayer
   1. Jesus opens up to us a relationship with the Divine Creator as
      1. Our good, merciful and willing Father
      2. Our powerful and able King
   2. Where we can discover how our lives were always meant to be
      1. Keeping God as number One in our lives
      2. Making sure our lives (careers, possessions, families, etc.) are part of God’s rule on earth
      3. Making sure our wills and wants are in line with God’s
      4. Learning to participate and progress in being made fit for heaven
   3. Where we can find everything necessary for such a life
      1. The necessities for both our physical bodies and spiritual souls
      2. Removal of everything that creates a barrier between us and God
      3. Removal of everything that creates a barrier between us and neighbors
   4. Where we can actually come to live this kind of life on earth
      1. Increasingly learning to no longer commit evil (acts contrary to God’s ways)
      2. Trusting God to protect us from any evil befalling us
      3. Giving God the glory always
      4. Living in the Amen.
2. “Lead Us Not Into Temptation” (That We May Not Commit Any Evil)
   1. Forgiveness is in vain without repentance
      1. Parts of Repentance
         1. Sorrow for past sins
         2. Care to avoid sin to come
      2. This Petition demonstrates our allegiance against Satan
   2. The Nature of Temptation
      1. God’s Trials
         1. They are for our ultimate good
         2. God allows them to try/prove/purge/strengthen our faith
      2. Satan’s Trials
         1. Not for our ultimate good (only temporal, immediate good)
         2. For quenching our faith and dashing our patience
      3. Inner, Human Temptations
         1. Proceed from within us
         2. Come from the flesh/mortality
      4. Outer Temptations
         1. Proceed from the world outside us
         2. Proceed from the works of the Devil
      5. God Delivers from Temptation
         1. From Inner Temptations
            1. Delivers us to know true pleasure
            2. Delivers us to know what should truly be feared
         2. From Outer Temptations
            1. Grants confidence that God can indeed deliver
            2. Since He has overcome, He can deliver us
            3. By keeping Satan chained/bound limiting his influence
   3. The Nature of Being Led
      1. God knows and will protect our weaknesses
         1. We can’t truly love another without knowing their weakness
         2. He became our weakness so to love us in our weakness and to protect it from Satan
      2. In taking the lead, God prevents us from...
         1. Becoming a son of perdition by being led by a “lying Spirit” (1Kngs.22:19-23; similar to the testing Job faced in Job1:6; 2:1)
         2. Becoming a participant in Satan’s temptation willingly, wittingly, or even delightingly
      3. If God allows us to be led into the wilderness for tempting, then we can count Him to lead us out
   4. Our Duty concerning this petition
      1. We must not set ourselves up for temptation
         1. We must remove known stumbling blocks
         2. We must restrain our eyes and mouths from evil
      2. We must let God lead us; He will not God force Himself upon us
      3. We must pray specifically for key areas of temptation
3. “But Deliver Us from Evil” (That We May Not Suffer Any Evil)
   1. Praying for the removal of things laborious and troublesome
   2. Things to be aware of concerning this petition
      1. Temptation & Evil are two different things
      2. Unlike the heathen, we have one God to give us what is good and to deliver us from evil
      3. If the Devil can’t get us by temptation, he will try to brake us by torment
      4. We are promised aid in both temptation and evil
         1. We pray that temptation/evil will not come our way or we to it
         2. Even if we do fall into temptation/evil, we can be delivered
   3. The Nature of the Evil from which we desire to be delivered
      1. The Church Fathers’ Help in describing it
         1. Chrysostom said the Devil was the greatest evil
         2. Augustine added us to the list
         3. Cyprian added all manner of calamity and trouble
      2. Deliverance from Satan
         1. From his jaws in the Second Death
         2. From his claws in the First Death
      3. Deliverance from both poverty and plenty
         1. From loss of goods which would prevent our service to God
         2. From plenty of good which would cause us to forget our service to God
   4. What we are asking for in being delivered
      1. We acknowledge our inability to deliver ourselves
      2. We desire to be freed from the Devil’s bondage and captivity
      3. We desire the freedom which only Christ can offer
         1. By receiving the Wisdom of God
         2. By receiving the Power of God
      4. We are to understand that “all” evil will not be removed from our lives (such as everyday persecutions)
      5. We are not only talking about deliverance from future evil, but also from past ones
         1. We can ask God to take it away completely
         2. We can ask God to lighten the burden of it
         3. We can ask God to grant us patience and strength to endure our affliction
         4. We can ask God to show us the good, which will result from the evil we face
            1. We can rejoice in it because being chastened by evil means is often part of God’s means for discipling His children
            2. We can rejoice because for the believer a cross in this life leads to a crown in the next
            3. God does not waste our pain
         5. We must trust God to deliver us in the way He sees is best
            1. If God wills that we suffer a cross we pray to be enabled to do it like Jesus
            2. If God wills that we suffer a cross we pray to be able to use it to show repentance and remorse like the good thief.
      6. Why we can trust God to Deliver us
         1. We are His servants; thus, He will free us from servitude to Satan
         2. We are His children, whom He has taught to call Him Father; thus, He will not abandon us to be children of the Devil (cf.Jhn.8:44)
         3. We are His workmanship; He will not despise the work of His hands (Ps.138:8)
         4. We are His image
         5. We have been bought by the Son’s blood
         6. We are vessels that bear His Name; to abandon us would give Him a bad name
         7. We are parts of the Body of Jesus, the Head in heaven; He will not abandon the Son
         8. We have a mutual enemy: the Evil One
      7. We have a duty to pray for the others of “us” to be delivered because we will all need deliverance unto the last enemy – Death – is destroyed.
4. “For Thine Is The Kingdom, Power, and Glory, For Ever and Ever”
   1. An “Orderly” Conclusion to the Prayer
      1. We do not just make a list of petitions and then abruptly end our prayers
      2. We are to conclude our prayers by given God the glory after our confessions of need
         1. We confess our weakness, wanting, needs, and inability to do anything that pleases God apart from His intervention
         2. Thus, we end by glorifying Him for the riches, power, and goodness with which He intervenes as our willing Father and able King
            1. God’s Triune Power: the Father’s as King of Kings; the Son’s as Conqueror of death; and the Spirit’s as the Inscriber of hearts.
            2. Those who are in the process of glorification ought to learn to glorify God like the fully glorified angels.
         3. After “taking” by petition; we “give” back by glorifying
         4. It is our duty to humble ourselves before and to ascribe glory to God
            1. Prayers are answered for the glory and honor of God’s Name
            2. We acknowledge that He alone has what is necessary to amend our condition
   2. Lessons we Learn from the Prayer
      1. If we do not humble ourselves by the petitions of this prayer, we should not expect grace to be given
      2. We are to seek God’s glory and pleasure more than our own comfort and wants thus the prayer ends with praise
      3. They prayer teaches us to live from our true selves (poor & needy) before the true God (willing and able)
         1. To the Father we are His workmanship for His glory
         2. To the Son we are His purchased kingdom; and
         3. To the Spirit we are His vessels to fill with power
      4. God’s Kingdom is one of both Power (to protect) and Glory (to bless)
         1. The Duties of the King are to protect His subjects from injury and wrong and provide for their wellbeing and fruitfulness
         2. The Duties of the Subjects are to
            1. Yield service to the King
            2. Respect and honor His office bearers
            3. Be faithful stewards of the power and strength the King give to them
            4. Acknowledge all glory and credit is owed to the King; their labors are for His glory
      5. While God’s Kingdom is similar to earthly kingdoms in regard to power and glory, His is the only one that lasts “for ever and ever.” His Kingdom is Eternal.
      6. Moreover, God’s Kingdom is “The Kingdom”
         1. In Generality it contains all the Earth
         2. In Superiority it contains all Kings and Nations
5. “Amen”
   1. The word “Amen” as a seal to or prayers
      1. Jerome says it’s a “seal of faith” showing our the desire of our will for what we have asked and petitioned for
      2. Cyprian says it’s a “seal of love” showing the desire of our heart in both wanting the lessons of this prayer to happen in our lives and petitions to be obtained.
   2. Commands to use, and benefits of keeping, the word “Amen”
      1. In the Old Testament (1Chron.16:36; Ps.106:48)
      2. In the New Testament (1Cor.14:16)
      3. Use in both assists in maintaining One mystical body of Christ where people of all ages, races, and languages can share the same seal of faith and heart.
   3. The Lord’s Prayer brings all ages and races into line with what the Jewish side of the Body had already been taught to pray:
      1. Ps. 57 taught them “Hallowing God’s Name
      2. Ps. 106:5 taught them to seek “Thy Kingdom Come”
      3. Ps. 143:10 (Hymn Version) taught them to seek God’s “Will Be Done”
      4. Ps. 145:15-21 taught Who provided “Daily Bread”
      5. Ps. 65:3 taught them to seek the “Forgiveness of Sins”
      6. Ps. 7 taught that their prayer would be heard based upon the treatment of others
      7. Ps. 119:37 and 141:3 taught them to pray for God to lead them toward righteousness
      8. Ps. 25:22 taught them to pray for God to deliver them from Evil
   4. Uses of the word “Amen” before and after statements
      1. Before a statement expresses the truth of what is about to be spoken
      2. After a statement reinforces the desire and consent to what has just be spoken
   5. Reasons for the “Amen” at the end of the Lord’s Prayer
      1. Our faith, trust, and confidence in God’s truth
      2. Our faith, trust, and confidence in God’s faithfulness
   6. How to be able to say the “Amen” rightly
      1. It must be prayed from the heart with earnest desire
      2. It must be prayed in Spirit (sincerity/feelings) and Truth (intelligence/understanding)
      3. It must be prayed with an intention to see it become a reality
      4. It must be prayed with confidence in God to answer our petitions
         1. Limitations to God’s answering our petitions
            1. God will answer only if it is expedient (the right timing) for us
            2. God will give us the better reality we were not aware of when praying
      5. It must be prayed indivisibly in that we desire each petition to be answered
         1. Daily Bread comes with doing God’s Will/Commands
         2. Deliverance from evil requires the fleeing of temptation
         3. Personal forgiveness isn’t granted without forgiveness of others
         4. Hallowing God name in this life is required for the glorious kingdom come in the next
      6. It must be prayed according to the purpose for which Jesus gave the prayer
         1. To have thanksgiving and praise toward God for his provisions and deliverances
         2. Our Hallelujah must be as loud as our Hosanna

 

 

Music & Sound Attributions:

Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions “Lost Shoe” (www.sessions.blue). Sounds used are as follows: “Beer Can Opening” recorded by Mike Koening found at (http://soundbible.com/216-Beer-Can-Opening.html) and “Pouring Drink” recorded by Mike Koenig found at (http://soundbible.com/2115-Pouring-Drink.html).