Please keep your Psalter Hymnals out this morning, and I have you turn in the back to page 60, as we will be considering the Heidelberg Catechism from Lord's Day 47, page 60 in the back of the Psalter Hymnal. And then in your Bibles, please open them to the prophecy of Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 36. The text I'll be preaching from this morning is actually from Matthew 9, but you know that by heart. And I'll be referring to Ezekiel 36 a few times, so you will want to keep this place open in your Bibles. Hear now the word of God from Ezekiel chapter 36. beginning in verse 16. Again, the word of the Lord came to me, Son of man, when the people of Israel were living in their own land, they defiled it by their conduct and their actions. Their conduct was like a woman's monthly uncleanness in my sight, so I poured out my wrath on them because they had shed blood in the land and because they had defiled it with their idols. I dispersed them among the nations, And they were scattered through the countries. I judged them according to their conduct and their actions. And wherever they went among the nations, they profaned my holy name. For it was said of them, these are the Lord's people. And yet they had to leave his land. I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel profaned among the nations where they had gone. Therefore say to the house of Israel, this is what the sovereign Lord says. It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Sovereign Lord, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes. For I will take you out of the nations. I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I give your forefathers. You will be my people, and I will be your God. I will save you from all your uncleanness. And turning to Matthew chapter 6, where the Lord teaches us to pray, beginning in verse 9, he says, this then is how you should pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Here ends the reading of God's word. I'd ask you to turn to the Heidelberg now as we consider our confession of what it means to hallow God's name. Answering responsibly, what does the first request mean? Hallowed be thy name means help us to really know you, to bless, worship, and praise you for all your works and for all that shines forth from them, your almighty power, wisdom, kindness, justice, mercy, and truth. And it means help us to direct all our living, what we think, say, and do, so that your name will never be blasphemed because of us, but always honored and praised. Well, people of God, last time when we considered the Lord's Prayer, Jesus had us pause and consider how it is we are to approach our Father who is in heaven. And He now proceeds to teach us what we are to ask Him for. And He does so in six petitions, imploring God to take action. And the first three petitions direct our attention away from ourselves to our Father's name and to His kingdom and to His will. Before the last three turn our attention back to ourselves where we ask for what we need, our bread, forgiveness, and deliverance. And this order anticipates the priorities that Jesus would announce at the end of chapter 6 when he said, Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things that you need will be added unto you. And at the head of these six, in position as well as in priority, is the petition, Hallowed be your name. Before we can pray this petition, we at least have to understand the vocabulary. I suspect that the only time most of us ever use the word hallowed is when we say the Lord's Prayer. We've said it countless times. But what does it mean? Well, translated it with more familiar words can help us move in the right direction, perhaps. Holy, be your name. Sanctified, be your name. And I trust there's no question of whose name we desire to make holy. To be holy. And that's our Father's name. God's name. Holy, be God's name. God's name, be sanctified. And in order to pray this petition aright, we also must have the right perspective on what it's doing and what it's for. As early as the 3rd century, Cyprian corrected the misconception that this petition is just about getting words of praise on our tongue at the beginning of our prayer. To make sure that we take time for adoration before we ask God for anything. He rightly pointed out that this petition concerns much more than our prayers. It concerns the entirety of our lives. It concerns what the Westminster Catechism identifies as the chief end of man, man's ultimate goal, his first priority, and that is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. With this opening petition, Jesus points us to our first priority, to our ultimate goal in life. And he teaches us that we may only aspire to it if we ask God for it. And to the degree we keep our eyes fixed on this ultimate goal and we are here taught to pray that we do, it will motivate Christian living, define our godly choices and sustain us as we wait for the holiness of God to be fully revealed at the return of Christ. In this petition that God's name be sanctified, we pray that it would be sanctified by God himself in his people before all peoples. Now the English translation may mislead us to think that this petition expresses a vague desire that somehow, some way, God's name would be sanctified. It's a good thing to wish for. It's a good thing to hope for. But the prayer request that Jesus puts on our lips here is much more specific and much more direct. Asking God that his name would be sanctified by God himself. That he would do the work. So what does this mean? Well, to be sanctified, to be holy, is to be set apart in purity. separated from what's common, from what's ordinary, from what's impure. The prophet Samuel declared that there's no one holy like the Lord, no one more uncommon, no one more extraordinary, no one more pure than God. And he created all things. And therefore he stands apart from all things. He stands as entirely other than all that he has made. A divide that we cannot cross and a divide made worse by our sin. God is the definition of holy. And all holiness has reference to him. And all things associated with him are holy. All his attributes are holy, including his power and his wisdom. His justice and His mercy. All His works are holy, including His law and His gospel, His judgment and His redemption. And all His names are holy. They express who He is as a person. In fact, we can say that God is who His name is. Because He does what His name says. So who he is includes Almighty God, Creator, Redeemer, Shepherd, Rock, and most notably the Holy One. But above all these names, there's one name that stands apart. It's the name he revealed to Moses, the name he revealed to his covenant people, The name Yahweh, or Jehovah, or the great I Am, translated in your English Bibles as Lord in all capital letters. And by it, God reveals that He is who He is, and He will be who He will be. The only self-existent, self-sufficient, self-sustaining God. This is the name that sums up everything God is. Everything God has revealed about Himself. It stands for all His divine attributes. It comprehends the fullness of His works and it represents the entirety of His reputation. This is the name He commanded Israel to sanctify. In Deuteronomy 28, verse 58, Revere this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God. And it is the name that Israel profaned among the nations in their exile as we read in Ezekiel chapter 36. With this petition, hallowed be your name, we are not simply asserting that God's name is holy. Nor are we asking him to somehow become more holy than he already is. He's the epitome of holiness. He's majestic in holiness. What then are we asking? When we ask, how would be your name? We're asking God to sanctify his name, to sanctify himself, to recognize and to acknowledge the holiness that he already is. And then the question comes, why would we ask such a thing? Why would we ask such a thing? Is this not our responsibility? Is this not something that we are called to do, as Isaiah said? revere this glory and awesome name, the Lord your God? He also said in chapter 8, verse 13 of his prophecy, the Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy. So why do we call upon God to sanctify his name? It seems a good objection, don't you think? That since we ought to sanctify and hallow the name of God, We ought not desire that God would hallow his own name. Those who have argued this in the day of the catechism said it's a lot like asking a student who's been directed by his teacher to do work hard on his homework for the student to turn and ask his teacher to do it for him. Outlandish. Your students might like that, but it doesn't seem right, does it? But is it right? Versinus answered that we should not desire another to do what is given us to do. We ought to take the work that we're given to do and do it. Provided, provided we have the ability of ourselves to do it. But what we are unable of ourselves to perform, that we properly desire God to grant us the ability to do. What Versinus is saying is if we have the ability, it certainly is our responsibility. But if we don't have the ability, we certainly ought to be asking God to give us the ability. His argument presses a question upon us. Do men have the ability to sanctify the name of God? To recognize and acknowledge His holiness. Do men have the ability? Well, in the judgment of God, according to Romans chapter 3, everyone's born under sin. Therefore, there's no unrighteous, not even one. There's no one who understands, no one who seeks God. And I think it's a fair conclusion that, therefore, there is no one who has the ability to sanctify God. No one can sanctify the name of God unless God first sanctifies him. Which God has done. God has accomplished such sanctification through Jesus Christ. The Holy One of God who came in the flesh to fulfill our first priority. To achieve our ultimate goal. To sanctify the name of God, His Father, perfectly in the flesh. When He predicted His death in John chapter 12, Jesus said, Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name. Indeed, Jesus' death on the cross glorified. It hallowed. It sanctified God's name. In Christ's life and death, God glorified and sanctified himself through the only man ever to sanctify his name in and of himself. So God has solved the problem by sending Jesus Christ. So, what about us? We who trust in Christ for our salvation. Peter says that we are God's chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God that we may declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. Do we have the ability to sanctify God? well, all who trust in Christ as Savior are justified by His resurrection from the dead. We're made right with God. We're declared innocent of all our sins just as if we'd never sinned nor been a sinner. Just as if we'd always been perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for us. And joined in Christ through faith, we've also been sanctified in status. We've been set apart for purity to pursue God's holy purposes. We've been freed from the power of sin and death. Is this enough to make us able? Well, the answer depends on the nature of the freedom that we enjoy in Christ. To answer the question, we must understand that we have not been freed to live in our own power before the face of God. We've not been taken back to the garden. So that each of us has this free choice. That's not what it means to be free in Christ. We have, however, been freed to live in the strength of the Holy Spirit. Who gives us the willingness and the ability to pursue our first priority. To chase after our ultimate goal. To glorify God and to sanctify His name. It's more than interesting that Jesus reminds us in Luke chapter 11, verse 13, after teaching again the Lord's Prayer, that if earthly fathers know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more will our Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? So the question remains, do we have the ability to sanctify the name of God? And with her sinus, we must conclude that we cannot of ourselves, we cannot of ourselves sanctify and hallow the name of God. And until we understand this, people of God, we will not know the need to pray, hallowed be your name. We'll deceive ourselves to think that we're able. That we're doing just fine. But in ourselves, we're not able. Therefore, we must pray to God to grant us the strength. To grant us the Holy Spirit. By which we may hallow the name of God. Yes, he concludes that God himself would hallow his name in us. Therefore, when we look at question 122 of the Heidelberg, we ask, what does the first request mean? And we answer, hallowed be thy name means, help us. Help us with what we need to sanctify God's name. Which introduces us to our second point, that when we request that God's name be sanctified by God himself, we're asking him to accomplish this in his people. We make this request of God, Cyprian said, so that his name might be hallowed in us. Speaking of the saints. And when reading Ezekiel 36, we heard the Lord promise to do this very thing, apart from the prayers of Israel, evidently. But in verses 22 to 23, we're going to focus on those verses a couple times this morning. They say so much. There we read in part, this is what the Sovereign Lord says, It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name. I will show the holiness of my great name when I show myself holy through you. And then in verses 24 through 29, the Lord outlines what he will do for them. That he will do in them to show his holiness. I will gather you, and I'll bring you back. I will cleanse you from all your impurities. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. You will be my people, and I will be your God, and I will save you from all your uncleanness. The Lord would not only act for his people to save them, he would also act powerfully in his people to sanctify them. And we read in verse 27, I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. God would sanctify his name in his people by sanctifying his people. This is a beautiful and prophetic picture of the saving work the Lord would do for his people in Jesus Christ as well as what he will do in his people by his Holy Spirit. In the first petition of the Lord's Prayer, we are requesting the ongoing and progressive work of the Holy Spirit in us. To move us, to motivate us, to enable us to sanctify God's name. Hallowed be your name. See, God sanctifies us by His Spirit through His Word to make us holy. We sanctify Him not by making Him holy, but by acknowledging and praising His holiness and applying the truth that we know of Him from His word and from creation to ourselves in pursuit of truth and goodness and holiness. Sanctity. In answer 122, we confess that when we pray, Hallowed be thy name, we are asking God to help us, or as the old edition says, to grant us, to give us. What we need. Two things. The first is in the first paragraph. Grant us to really know you, to rightly know you, and to bless, worship, and praise you for all your works and for all that shine forth from them. Your mighty power, wisdom, kindness, justice, mercy, and truth. And the second thing we request is in the second paragraph. It's for the Father to direct all our living. What we think and say and do. That he would grant us to really and rightly know him. And praise him for what we know. And that he would direct all of our lives. The whole of our lives. All that we think, say and do. Hallowed be your name. It's the petition by which we ask God to more and more enlighten us with the knowledge of His holiness and of His holy name, of His attributes and of His works as we see it not only in creation but in His Word. That by His Spirit He would give us eyes to see Him in what He's done. And that He would enable us to answer the call of the psalmist from Psalm 46 verse 8 to come, behold what the Lord has done. And when we pray, hallowed be your name, we are asking God to work in us by his Spirit so that as we enter each new day, we less and less take for granted and we more and more acknowledge his provision in all of life, that we recognize that it comes from his hand and that we look at it to see and we exert ourselves to see what does it show us about our God. The day that He has made, this day, that shows us His holiness and His mercy to us to have us gather together today to worship Him. The health we enjoy to be here. That he sustained us this very hour. It's an act of goodness on his part. The work that we do. How often do you thank God for the work that you do? Gives you the means to earn your daily bread. That's from his hand. And any little delight you get in it is from him as well. Do you praise God for that? When we pray, hallowed be thy name, we're asking God to work that in us. That when we consider his work, that we consider it as from his hand and we reflect back to him the praise that's due his name for what he shows us there. And when we pray, hallowed be your name, we're asking God to work in us by his spirit the desire to more and more know and understand what he's revealed in his word. To give us a hunger for the word of God that like newborn babies craving pure spiritual milk by it we would grow up in our salvation and become mature that we have tasted the Lord is good we would want more and as we read his word we look for him to recognize who he is and what he's done and to praise him particularly we sing hallelujah hallelujah praise the Lord lots of phrases when we pray hallowed be your name we're asking God to give us eyes to see the particulars and to praise his name particularly for the things he has done for the things he's promised to do in this way we sanctify his name when we pray hallowed be your name we're also asking God to more and more conform our minds to the mind of Christ that we find in His Word. We're asking Him to give us ever greater delight in and assurance of the promises of the Gospel and to stir up in us an increasing motivation for and success in living lives that conform to His law. Hallowed be Your name in us. When we pray this prayer, we're asking God to answer in us the apostolic prayer from Colossians chapter 1 that's echoed in Ephesians chapter 4 where Paul says, We have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way. We're asking God to direct our lives so that in all things, We will more and more glorify, exalt, praise, in words, sanctify His name in our hearts. Calling upon them to praise the Lord, O my soul, all that's in me, praise His holy name. And with our mouths, speaking of the glorious splendor of His majesty. And meditating on His wonderful works. And with our deeds, bearing much fruit. Showing ourselves to be Jesus' disciples to the glory of His Father. Hallowed be your name in us. And we make this request knowing that when God sanctifies His name in His people, He does so before all peoples. He doesn't do this in a corner. He doesn't take us out back. It's where we are right now every day. In the events of Ezekiel 36, the Lord repeatedly expressed his concern for the sanctity of his name. And that among all the peoples. You listen again to verses 22 and 23. This is what the Sovereign Lord says, It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name. I will show the holiness of my great name. then the nations will know that I am the Lord when I show myself holy through you before their eyes. But they might see. God is jealous for the sanctity of his name. Israel in general was not. And according to Ezekiel 36, they defiled the land by their conduct and their actions so that God finally judged them and dispersed them among the nations and he scattered them throughout the countries. And wherever they went among the nations, they profaned his holy name. How? Were they cursing God? I don't think so. It was said of them, the scriptures say, that these are the Lord's people. And yet they had to leave his land. By claiming the name of the Lord and living like children of the devil, Israel tarnished the Lord's reputation. They profaned His name in the presence of others. By claiming to belong to God and living like He belonged to the devil, profanes the name of the Lord. And when we pray, Hallowed be Your name, we are praying that God will not let this be true of us. When we ask him to direct all our living, we go on to say in the answer 122 that he would do so in such a way that his name will never be blasphemed because of us, but only honored and praised. That he who is able would guard us. We see a foreshadowing of lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. When we ask God to hallow his name, we're asking him to guard our lives. That we would live in such a way that His name is honored. We would never be the occasion to profane His name. When we pray this petition, we hear the words of Jesus echoing in our souls. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Hallowed be your name. The Apostle Peter has a lot to say about living a life that sanctifies the name of the Lord in the context of the unbelieving world against opposition. And as he speaks of it, he does so knowing that it will draw the scrutiny of others that people will look at us and measure us and see if what we say and what we do comports. He urges in chapter 2 of 1 Peter live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong they may see your good deeds and glorify God in the day he visits us. Live such good lives among the pagans is that what they see in you overrules any rumor, any reputation, any stereotype they may have heard. That your life is above reproach, that it glorifies God in their presence, that they indeed one day would glorify God when he returns. And Peter asks in chapter 3, who is going to harm you if you're eager to do good? The answer should be no one. but in the fallen world, that's not always so. So he continues in chapter 3, he says, But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not be frightened, but in your hearts set apart, sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. So even if you should suffer for doing what's right, Don't fear. Remember who you serve. And be always prepared to give your answer for the reason, for the hope that you have. Now sometimes, and we like to think this is always the case, such questions will come because people are attracted to our God-sanctifying lifestyle. That they'll see in us something that's appealing and they'll ask us how it is. Praise God for that. That's the Spirit of God at work. But Peter seems to warn that such questions will come also from those who despise a God-sanctivine life. Who look at you as a goody-two-shoes. Holier than thou. And they're going to come at you trying to provoke you into responding like the devil while you claim the name of the Lord. Therefore he continues, but do this, give your answer with gentleness and respect keeping a clear conscience don't give in to the temptation to respond to evil with evil but respond with good so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ will be ashamed of their slander hallowed be your name God's name be sanctified with this first petition Jesus points us to our first priority our ultimate goal in life which Jesus Christ alone is fulfilled and all who trust in Christ alone for salvation are to ask God for the strength of his spirit so that we may aspire to walk as Jesus walked and to sanctify the name of our God. You might think of this petition as your spiritual GPS. That's not global positioning system. That's your goal priority system. Anytime, anywhere you pray that God's name be sanctified by God himself in his people, meaning in you, you're asking God to orient you and direct you by His Holy Spirit to walk in a way that pleases Him before a watching world. Don't leave home without it. Let's pray. Our Father in Heaven, we thank You for Your Word and we thank You for the instruction that we find therein and particularly for this instruction from our Lord Jesus Christ and how it is we are to pray. And we thank you, Father, that he has shown us how we are to pray to sanctify your name. That these aren't just merely words of adoration and praise, Lord, but that we are asking you to act. And we are asking you to act mightily in a way that we are unable to do in our own strength. We pray, Father, that by Your Spirit You would work in us to see and to know You truly from Your Word and from creation, Lord, to recognize Your attributes, Your names, Your holiness. All that You reveal there, Lord, and that we would look with careful eyes and listen with attentive ears. Lord, that we might speak to You with knowledge and with conviction to thank you and to praise you for your work and for who you are. And Lord, we pray that by your Spirit you would more and more stir up in us the desire to chase after this knowledge in your Word. That you would more and more stir up in us the motivation and the drive, Lord, to practice what we see and hear there. That we might put it into practice in a way that brings glory to your name, Lord, that you would be sanctified in us. And that we might more and more praise you for the work of your Spirit to accomplish this in us, this marvelous thing that we ask for. And we pray, Lord, that we would do so mindful that as we do, we will be visible lights in this world. That we'll be attractive to some and repulsive to others, Lord. And we pray that in our living we would never be the occasion for the blasphemy of your name. But by your grace and in the power of your Spirit, Lord, we would live lives that bring glory to your name. We thank you for the provision of your Holy Spirit. And we thank you for this petition that reminds us where to go for that which you call us to be and do. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.