I invite you to turn with me to Romans chapter 8, a chapter that we know very well, especially the last portion of it. We'll read together verses 12 through 17. Before this, Paul has been talking about life through the Spirit and being controlled not by the sinful nature, but by the Spirit. We pick up a reading at verse 12 through 17 as we give our attention to the reading of God's Word. Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation, but it is not to the sinful nature to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of Sonship. And by Him we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings, in order that we may also share in His glory. And also if you would turn in the back of this altar hymnal to page 59. Page 59, we find Lord's Day 46. Lord's Day 46, we've already considered the introduction of prayer in Lord's Day 45 and this starts our consideration of the Lord's Prayer proper as we confess together the answers to questions 120 and 121, page 59. Question 120 asks, Why did Christ command us to call God our Father? At the very beginning of our prayer, Christ wants to kindle in us what is basic to our prayer, the childlike awe and trust that God, through Christ, has become our Father. Our fathers do not refuse us the things of this life. God, our Father, will even less refuse to give us what we ask in faith. Why the words, who art in heaven? These words teach us not to think of God's heavenly majesty as something earthly and to expect everything for body and soul from His almighty power. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the normal part of our conversations or our communication with each other is that we address each other. Boys and girls, when you want to get someone's attention, You have to do that in some way so you address them. Most often we do that on a first name basis, if we know them well especially. Or we might use various titles like Mr. or Mrs. or Reverend or Pastor or Doctor or Professor. We know, of course, that in the military and in other branches of service, there are different titles that are used, such as Admiral, Captain, Sergeant, Major, General, Corporal, Private, and even a number of others. Very simply, among men and women, among human beings, it's polite to use a form of address. We don't just say, hey, you over there, I'd like to talk to you for a minute. Can you come here for a second? Hey, you, what about you? It's not very personal to say the least. And when an address to another person is used properly, you see, it does two things. First of all, it establishes, or we could say it sets the tone for the relationship between you and the one you are addressing. And the second thing it does, it shows honor and respect for the one being addressed or spoken to. Well, prayer that pleases God, as we have considered a few weeks ago, prayer that God will listen to, also includes the proper address. When Jesus taught His disciples the Lord's Prayer, He taught them the proper way to address God in prayer, and with this proper address, God's people do those two things we just mentioned. First of all, we establish, or again it would probably be more accurate to say, we acknowledge the proper relationship with God. And then secondly, we give to God the honor and the respect that He deserves. Jesus said, pray then in this way, our Father who art in heaven. It's a simple address, yet it's a comprehensive address. It's only a few words, yet again it says so much. And boys and girls, you too must understand how rich and how important this address is. It says more than what it seems on the surface, more than simply who He is and where God is. And of course, by giving us this address, it does not mean that we are forbidden to address God in other ways. For example, praising and extolling Him for His attributes, saying, Merciful and gracious, God and Father. But the address that our Lord taught us is indeed the highest address that God's children could give to their Heavenly Father. And in reality, the name Father is like an umbrella over all of the other names and all of the other designations that we could use for Him, including His attributes. All of God's attributes are included in this address. But the truth is, congregation, the one who cannot address God as their Father who is in Heaven cannot come to Him at all because this privilege is reserved only for His children. The Word of God teaches of grateful living demonstrated through the proper address to God in prayer. First of all, addressing the One who will hear us. And secondly, addressing the One who is able to answer us. Now when we begin our prayer by saying, Our Father, we are reminded immediately of a relationship. the most beautiful relationship that exists between parent and child. And as the Catechism rightly says, that relationship as it flows from the child, as it issues forth from the child to the parent, is to be characterized by awe and trust. That's how children are to see their parents, in the eyes of awe and trust, or as the older version of the Catechism says, reverence and trust. And boys and girls, notice the connection here with the fifth commandment in which children are commanded to honor your father and mother. To be in awe or to reverence deals with respect. It demonstrates the one to whom awe or reverence is to be shown is in a position of authority. The children are not to question the authority of their parents, of their father and mother. But children, you must recognize the authority of your parents. You must recognize your parents' superiority over you. And you must recognize your dependence upon your parents. And therefore, children are not to come to their parents with their hands out, demanding from them, give me, give me, give me. That's not how children are to come to their parents. Instead, they are to come in trust, knowing that because of their special relationship that they enjoy with their parents, their parents will give to them all that they need. The parent-child relationship is indeed a beautiful relationship that consists of awe or reverence demonstrated by knowing and understanding the proper roles of parent and child. But it is also a relationship of intimacy and fellowship wrapped in the garment of trust. The Catechism says that we are to address God as our Father. Answer 120 begins answering the question, why? At the very beginning of our prayer, Christ wants to kindle in us what is basic to our prayer, the childlike awe and trust that God through Christ has become our Father. In other words, when we pray to God, we must be conscious of our sonship. before the Father. And we are to come before Him with that attitude of awe and trust. We know that He is God. We know that we are not equal to Him. He is the Creator. We are the creature. He is holy. Apart from Christ, we are unholy. He is independent and does not depend on anything or anyone for anything. But we are totally dependent upon Him for our very existence. Of course, the list could be endless. We come before Him knowing how undeserving we are that He should hear us. Yet, we come in confidence. Trusting that we address the One who will hear us because He is our Father. And we enjoy that wonderful relationship with our Father. He is the One who has brought us into that relationship of fellowship and intimacy and love with Himself. And therefore, listen to how Scripture describes His Father love. As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him? In the Bible, in Isaiah chapter 49, verse 15, even describes God, some of His characteristics, as a mother in this sense. Can a woman forget her nursing child? and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Generally, we would say no. It says, surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. Notice, beloved, that awe and trust are basic to our prayers, the Catechism says. That is, that awe and trust are the ground of our coming before God in prayer. But this awe and trust are not the ground of His hearing our prayer and answering our prayer. The ground for that is found elsewhere as we'll see in a few moments. But the only proper way, the only way and the only proper way of coming for God is with awe and trust. With awe or reverence again, we recognize that the infinite, glorious, sovereign God who is perfect, holy and righteous, who is light and in Him there is no darkness at all and who made us and redeemed us, This One, this very One described in this way is our Father with Him. We enjoy that living bond of fellowship so that we can know Him and trust Him and believe that He will give to us all that we need. And as His children, we walk before Him in humble trust and obedience as those who have been given the rights of children. Children, young people, did you know that you have rights in the family? Did you know that you have rights? Of course, the rights that I'm thinking of are probably not the same as the rights that you might be thinking of at this moment. But children have a right to be cared for by their parents. They have the right to be clothed and fed by their parents. the right to be nurtured and nourished and especially taught in the Christian faith by their parents. They have the rights to these things. The right as well to have the parents' name. Having new clothes every week or going out for dinner every night or having a late curfew. Now, those are not rights. Those are privileges which may or may not be taken away, but they are not rights. And as God's children, we have rights. We have the right to be called by His name, the name Christian. We have the right to claim His care over us and the right to dwell forever in His house and the right to the eternal inheritance laid aside for His people that Peter speaks of. And as His children, we may have the confidence and trust that as our Father, God will claim us as His children and that we may approach Him. We may come into His very presence. That too is our right. But of course, claiming all of these things as our rights is kind of a bold thing to do, isn't it? And therefore, we would be dishonest to Scripture and to ourselves if we fail to consider why we have these rights that we have listed. The right to be called children of God. The right to claim Him as our Father. The catechism rightly says that God, through Christ, has become our Father. By nature, in sin, we are children of wrath, as Paul says in Ephesians 2. By nature, our Father is the devil, as Jesus says in John 8, verse 44, where He is speaking to those who refuse to believe in Him. And by nature, because of the fall and disobedience of Adam, We lost the rights and privileges of sons of God and became aliens and strangers of God instead. But in Jesus Christ, on the basis of His perfect righteousness and His saving work through which we have the forgiveness of sins and we have been given the righteousness in the sight of God, we are brought into the family of God and we are adopted as His children with all that that means. But then who are the we that we have been talking about. We here are those purchased by and washed in the blood of Jesus. Those elect by God from before the foundation of the world and who are brought into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ through regeneration by the Holy Spirit. In other words, God's children are those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and only those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Contrary to what some teach, God is not the Father of all mankind. He is in the creative sense, He's the Father of creation. But He is not the Father of all mankind in the redemptive sense, because not all are redeemed. Jesus taught us to pray, our Father. The our meaning that we recognize that we are a part of a larger group. God's family. And the word our here is both exclusive and inclusive. It excludes anyone and everyone who does not believe in Him. But it includes everyone, absolutely everyone who does believe. Therefore, when we pray, our Father, we pray as a part of the whole family of God and we pray on behalf of the whole family of God. See, if we are not a part of God's family, then He is not our Father. He is only our Father as we are connected to His family. And Jesus Christ alone determines who can pray our Father. Through Him, we've been brought into that legal relationship with God as adopted sons and daughters. Again, with the rights of children of God. Those of you here who may have adopted children, you have the papers, the legal papers, in which you promise that the children that you adopt Indeed, we'll have all the rights of natural children. In Galatians 4, it says, But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And then again, Romans 8, 15-17, For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear. For you received the spirit of sonship, and by Him we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now, if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory. Beloved, ours is a sonship of grace. We are sons and daughters of God through the saving sacrifice of Christ in whom we have the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and again the adoption unto children of God. And in Christ's resurrection, we have God's very own signature and seal on the certificate, if you will, of our adoption. And God makes His adoption real and He makes it realized in our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 8.14 says, Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. The Holy Spirit of God gives His children new hearts that enjoy new life in Him. And we are called out of darkness and brought into His marvelous light. We are restored more and more after the image of God in true knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. And through faith, the righteousness of Christ becomes ours and we have the assurance, the assurance of our adoption as children of God. Beloved, what joy. If that does not fill you with joy, then I don't think anything else can or will but to be children of God. And then our comfort too is that through faith, as the catechism says, the second paragraph of that answer 120, says our fathers do not refuse us the things of this life. God our Father will even less refuse to give us what we ask in faith. Now please understand, God will deny us certain things. Being a good parent doesn't mean giving your child, your children, absolutely anything and everything that they want. Boys and girls, you might disagree with me on that, but it's true. And boys and girls, it must be your desire, it must be your desire that your parents only give to you that which you need. You see, God will deny us those things that would not work together for our good toward our salvation. He will deny us those things that are not asked for in true faith. And we must remember that true faith only asks for and desires those things that are necessary for body and soul. True faith understands, as Jesus says in Matthew 6, verse 8, that our Father already knows what we need even before we ask Him. Beloved, the Lord's prayer, like all true prayer, is the believer's prayer. Only those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, even though infants in the faith, and even though they may not even understand it yet, the Holy Spirit has just begun that work. But only those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ by the gracious power of the Holy Spirit can call God Father. And when you address Him as Father in truth, then yours is the comfort of that intimate relationship of fellowship with the One who indeed hears prayer without fail. And yours is the comfort, as the Bible says, that when you call upon Him in the day of trouble, He will deliver you. How then can we be so certain of this? Because the proper address Jesus taught is also an address to the one who is able to answer prayer. Our Father who art in heaven. Again, the term Father already calls for reverence because it is a position of authority. Yet there is a broad and a wide difference between earthly fathers and our Heavenly Father. We have a little calendar in our bathroom with a daily verse on it and a proverb, not a proverb out of the Bible, but a proverb to go with that verse. And the other day it said that the greatest legacy a father can leave to his children is to show him the Heavenly Father. Of course, fathers, we know that we fail miserably in that. It may be our prayer and our desire that we would, by God's grace, show our children a glimpse of the Heavenly Father. His fatherhood is perfect because of who He is. Again, He is God. The Sovereign, Almighty, All-Powerful, All-Knowing One. And with this address, our Father who art in Heaven, there's a combination of nearness and transcendence. He is over all things. Of condescension that God comes to us. But also majesty. As a Father, He is near to. And He condescends to His people. Yet we may not mistake Him for anything earthly. As the Catechism says, number 121, Why the words who art in heaven? These words teach us not to think of God's heavenly majesty as something earthly. And, if I may add, to think or to expect everything for body and soul from His almighty power. We know, as Scripture makes clear, that God is not limited to the space that we call heaven, the place that we call heaven. He is what we call omnipresent. As the Lord says in Jeremiah 23, verse 24, He asks, Do I not fill heaven and earth? Yet, beloved, His home is in the heaven of glory where He reveals Himself in all the beauty of His majesty where the seraphim sing, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. And when our Lord added, Who art in heaven? This was to remind us and keep before us, especially in our prayers, that we indeed come before none other than Almighty God. And therefore, we may not reduce Him to something of our own earthly imaginations. He's not our buddy. He's not our pal. He's not our next door neighbor. He's not just a kindly old grandfather who winks at sin and turns his head, chuckles a little bit. We must not limit our God and strip Him of His rightful being. You see, beloved, again, as our Lord makes clear in Matthew 6, God's sovereignty includes His reward. It includes His ability to see in secret. It includes His knowledge of our needs. we have an earnest and an urgent need to know God as He truly is because only then will we understand what a precious privilege is ours to call Him our Father. And because of who He is, we may expect that as our Father, He will indeed, as the Catechism says, give us all things necessary for body and soul. Unlike earthly fathers, Again, fathers, there are times when we might be willing to give to our children, but we're not able to. And other times when we're able to give to our children, but we're not willing to. Unlike that, our God is always willing as our Father and always able as God to give us what we need. And we are to be humble, to bow down before our Heavenly Father, because as James says, quoting from Proverbs 3, verse 34, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. This address brings us as God's children before His grace. Because those in whom the Spirit makes able to cry, Abba, Father, those whom the Spirit makes able to cry, Abba, Father, are only those who are redeemed by the Savior. And those who are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb are reminded at the very beginning of our prayer that we stand in a most blessed relationship with God as His adopted children. And therefore, beloved, this truth, this reality as well is to guide our lives. Very much guide our lives and our living. Being conscious of our sonship then, we are to demonstrate the fruit of our sonship throughout our lives. And this includes demonstrating another important truth found in this very address that this world is not our home. Our Father is in heaven. That's His home. That's the rightful home of His children. His home is our inheritance. That's where our citizenship is. That's our destination. And therefore, beloved, don't dig your heels too firmly in this life. Because all that surrounds you down here is temporary. It will fade away. But the Heavenly Father's inheritance is eternal. Now, beloved, it's interesting that in a noisy place with many different sounds and voices, a mother and father can always, most always recognize the cry of their baby or the voice of their child. Many of you know what I mean. I used to kind of make a game of it at basketball games back in northwest Iowa where the gymnasium was packed with 2,000 people and tried to get my dad's attention for a little spending money. He'd say, Dad, Dad. Others might look, but most would not. All of a sudden, his head would turn. He knew right away. Our Heavenly Father unmistakably hears the voices of His children. In fact, He only hears their voices. Those who are not His, those who do not believe in Him, He will not hear. As well, those who are not His children cannot stand the sight of His heavenly glory and His majesty because He is God. As the Bible says, when our Lord Jesus Christ returns in all of His glory, some will cry out for the mountains and the hills to cover them. But His children, they will not flee from His heavenly glory and majesty because in Christ Jesus, they have the boldness to stand in His presence because He is their Father. And then, beloved, this proper address to God prepares God's people for the rest of the prayer Christ taught us as we hope to consider in the weeks ahead. It prepares us to come confidently to Him who is willing to hear us because He is our Father and to Him who is able to answer us because He is God in heaven. May we confidently come before Him with the assurance that He will hear us because He is that which we acknowledge Him to be in this address, namely, God. And what confidence this is to give us for life that Him who is the highest source in heaven or on earth is our Father. And He is the one then we ultimately answer to for our work, for our relationships, for our families, for our thoughts, our words and actions. Beloved, who is your Father? Who is your Father? If you don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, then your Father is none other than the Father of lies, the devil. He will not give you. In fact, He doesn't want to give you and me what we truly need. He would rather see you and me get what we deserve apart from Christ Jesus, namely the death and destruction for eternity. But those who were brought near to God through our Lord Jesus Christ and repented of their sins, clinging to Him alone for salvation, upon their lips the most precious words are placed, Abba, Father. There's no greater comfort, no greater blessing, than to be adopted into the family of God and adoption of grace. Prayer is God's blessed gift to His children whom He will hear for Jesus' sake. And therefore, beloved, may we take advantage of that gift and take time to be holy and speak oft with our Father who art in heaven. Shall we pray? Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Father, may it be our desire that your kingdom come, that your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, not only in the lives of our lives or the lives of your people, but throughout this whole earth. Father, we do pray that you would give us this day our daily bread, that you would forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is a kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.