I invite you to turn tonight to Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 7, verses 7 through 11, and that will be our reading, and then tonight as we are continuing our study in prayer and come to the fourth request we'll say that together on page 62 that's the fourth request on page 62 for now we're going to read Matthew chapter 7 in the Sermon on the Mount and this brief section here where Jesus encourages us of the father's disposition and help he desires to give us who are in need so this is Matthew 7 beginning at verse 7 where we hear ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and it will be open to you for everyone who asks receives and the one who seeks finds and to the one who knocks it will be open or which one of you if his son asks him for bread will give him a stone or if he asks for a fish will give him a serpent if you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him and there ends the reading of god's word and one question and answer tonight on page 62 lord's day 50 what does the fourth request mean give us this day our daily bread means do take care of all our physical needs so that we come to know that you are the only source of everything good and that neither our work or worry nor your gifts can do us any good without your blessing and so help us to give up our trust in creatures and to put our trust in you alone well the more that i study the scriptures and i remember rc sprawl saying years ago that we study the old testament particularly because one of the reasons is because we learn about the goodness of of god the goodness of the lord we learn his character and that is true that that what we see and the more that I study the scriptures, I see that God cares deeply to provide for us and to supply all of our needs, to care for even the daily needs of his people. That's a marvel to us, that God watches over each of us, knows us by name, knows the hairs of our head, and cares each day about the daily needs that we have. It came right out of our Lord, as we heard tonight, how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him he desires to care and provide for us and he's desires that we come and ask him for that care ask him for that shepherding care that love that provision the daily help that we need it's all over our heidelberg when it says things like that we should come in true faith with childlike trust that he will provide everything that we need for body and soul and that we believe that God will, we trust Him so much that we do not doubt that He will provide whatever we need for body and soul and turn to our good whatever adversity He sends to us in this sad world. That's how involved, that's how caring He is for us, that's how much He watches over you. That's a hard thing for us sometimes to understand and accept, especially because of sin. We struggle with His fatherly care and we struggle with the question of whether God is for us many of us struggle with that question we sin and the immediate thing that we do to him is begin to think that God is against us and this is a peculiar benefit that we have then as we come to this particular petition which is training us to always remember that God is for us that God desires to help us that God desires to provide for us and that it's God's purpose in life that we don't live in fear and anxiety. Did you hear me? That you don't live in fear and anxiety. That's his purpose. That's his will. He's told us that. If we are honest, fear and anxiety in life, the stresses that come about often have to do with the question of worry of whether God is really caring for us and worry because circumstances have changed things have happened that call into question god's goodness whether god is going to care for us and all the stresses and anxieties that then follow are because we struggle with this basic area in life of god's care and provision well in this single petition tonight the fourth petition we're asking god something very specific we're asking him something very appointed. We're asking God to care for all of the needs that we have in human life so that our lives would be preserved for his glory. That's a good way of looking at this particular petition tonight. We're asking that God would provide food for us. Yeah, it's that simple. That God would feed us. That God would watch over our physical lives. That God would care for us on all the needs that we have. That's what this fourth petition is meant to do. This is what Jesus told us to pray. With this prayer, I think tonight it's important to say one of the goals that I have particularly for this sermon is to help us understand that it's easy to say this tonight and I'll go through some of the challenges that we have because of this since our shelves are full and we are a blessed people. One of the basic reasons for praying this prayer is because it is an exercise in trust. You have to understand that. This is an exercise in trust. When we're coming to the Lord, we're training our minds in prayer to learn to depend upon Him, to learn to trust Him. This is a recognition of that. This is why the Lord wants us to come daily before the throne praying this particular petition because it's training our minds to realize we are dependents. We fight our whole lives trying to become independents, don't we? You know how quickly I wanted to become an independent? And that was rather stupid. I had a lot of benefits in my parents' house, didn't I? We want to be independent. But the Christian faith says you're never an independent. You're dependent. You're dependent upon him for everything. That little ticker in your chest tonight that's beating, he's upholding. The breaths that you're taking right now, he's giving to you. The sight you have to look at the pastor right now, he gives you. The ears, the mind, all of that, he is upholding in his providential care so that you can hear this tonight. It's a marvel life. Problem is we go through life not recognizing it. Well, Jesus told us to pray tonight to the Father that the Father would provide all of our needs, for all of our needs in this life. And that's the first thing I want to look at, that the Lord wants us to understand that He is good to us this way. He will provide for us this way. And that then requires, which is a basic breakdown here that the heidelberg gives in this question and answer it's really helpful to say then we are called secondly to trust him in everything that's the hard part and the third aspect then is to give up our trust in anything else to trust him to give up our trust in anything else so so he's telling us up front he's going to care for us trust me stop trusting others that's the simple breakdown of this particular section tonight and what we're considering in this fourth petition of the Lord's Prayer. What I particularly love about the petition tonight is that it provides for us the resources for everything else he's told us to pray for already. Think about it. The glory of his name, the advancement of his kingdom, the doing of his will would be impossible if he doesn't provide the resources for us to be able to do those things. So you see how important this is. You see how the prayer is carefully constructed. The Lord Jesus is telling us there's a logical way of prayer and there's a logical way to look at things in life and that everything that he's told us to do in the glorifying of his name, in seeking for the coming of his kingdom, to perform his will requires that he gives us the resources to do that. And without that, He couldn't tell us to pray those other things. So, in a sense, the Lord already knows we need them. He's told us that elsewhere. But He's telling us now to recognize that we need them and that He's going to supply them. If our physical needs aren't provided for, what would become of the church? I think you see, we have lots of blessings that have been provided for us. Even a church building going up. There's lots happening. the Lord has supplied many things to help us. He knows we need these things. And in his wisdom and providence, he orders all these things to help us and to build his kingdom and to advance the truth of the gospel and to provide the most basic needs that we have as human beings created in the image of God. Well, this is the peculiar aspect of Christian faith and who we are is to recognize these things. But the Lord told us all throughout the Scriptures that His goodness can be seen falling on everyone. He sends His rain on the just and the unjust. Psalms say the Lord is good to all. The question is, is oh that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness. Who recognizes it? Who sees it? Who acknowledges Him? Who acknowledges His blessing? Who depends upon Him? There's a fundamental difference between the believer and the unbeliever in this basic truth that the believer recognizes his need and the Lord's provisions and the unbeliever does not. He's satisfied in himself. He's independent. So think of the basic way the Lord told us to pray this petition in confidence tonight. Give us this day our daily bread. It's really remarkable, isn't it? He wants you to be able to come with that kind of confidence to Him. Give us this day, O Lord, our daily bread. For any of the Jewish disciples standing there, hearing that, that would have been a loaded phrase. There are a lot of history to that they had. There was a long history to bread in Israel, wasn't there? The Lord had always told Israel He would provide for them. The Lord had always assured Israel He would care for them in the wilderness. Remember when we studied the tabernacle that he even set up the structure of the Lord's presence and you have the most holy place and the holy place and he put a little table in there. He commanded with bread on that table and remember that the priest would come in and there would have to be freshly baked bread there all the time. Why? Did God need bread? Every week, 12 loaves of bread were baked the day before the sabbath to represent the 12 tribes of israel and they would replace them and then the priests would eat the bread the old loaves and replace the new brand new freshly baked bread it was a command of the lord fresh baked showbread always there always there never not on that table if you looked at every pagan religion even the buddhists they're always presenting food to their gods this was the reverse god doesn't need your food but you need his you need his care and the lord was training israel to realize that god would constantly care for them in the wilderness remember um this issue came up with jesus and the pharisees and the pharisees had begun to think it was their offering to god and jesus said you forget that david was hungry interesting that david had a need you're forgetting the purpose of this that's what the bread symbolized that's what the bread declared the bread was given not as something that uh that we offered to god but god was teaching israel he would constantly provide for them constantly they're in the wilderness they had no jobs now think of that it really does make it shameful when we're running around worrying and stressed out in life isn't it they had no jobs they got into the wilderness they're going to mull around there for many years aren't they to learn this they had no social security you know you're you're kind of worried about that aren't you a little maybe the government of egypt's not caring for them right they have no social programs they can't collect unemployment they have no retirement you didn't retire in those days you have no way of knowing how tomorrow's food is going to come they're out in the wilderness they are completely dependent on him for everything every day how are they going to be fed how are they going to be cared for you imagine living like that you can't we've never known it the lord rained down bread from heaven on their doorsteps every week when that bread was replaced with fresh new bread he was always telling him he would sustain them and the psalms would constantly remind israel of this throughout as they would sing this is one of the constant things when they came to worship they would sing about think about this yet he commanded the clouds above and he opened the doors of heaven he rained down manna on them to eat and given them the of the bread of heaven men ate angels food he sent them food to the full he caused an east wind to blow in the heavens and by his power he brought in the south wind he rained meat on them like dust feathered foul like the sand of the seas and he let them fall in the midst of their camp all around their dwellings so they ate and were filled and god gave them their own desire what a god he didn't mind giving them a good steak did he he's made his wonderful works to be remembered the lord is gracious and full of compassion he has given food psalm 111 to those who fear him he will be ever mindful of his covenant that's our god that is what he's like to us the hard part is to learn to trust him in every circumstance give us this day our daily bread worry and running around frantic and panicked is such an affront and so rejecting of his care for you that he's already proven that he's already shown remember what um jesus said which obviously meant a lot to him because he talked a lot about it therefore i say to you do not worry about your life what you will eat or what you will drink or about your body what you will put on is not life more than food and the body more than clothing look at the birds of the air for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns that your heavenly father feeds them are you not more value than they which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature so why do you worry for don't worry what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear for all these things the gentiles seek your father knows you need all these things kind of father is one that if his son asks for bread he gives him a stone god's never been like that to you ever now i don't think it's hard to understand the basic meaning of this this petition tonight um the lord is telling you he's gonna he's going to provide and that he desires to provide that he's proved it but i want you to think tonight a little bit tonight about and I think Heidelberg captures it so helpfully when it says a few different things here about this. But listen to the language. Do take care of our physical needs so that we come to know something. So there's a recognition as he has provided for us that we are going to come to learn something. We are going to learn something. We're going to be taught something. We're going to understand something. And what we're going to understand is twofold. Listen to this, that you are the only source of everything good and that neither our work and worry nor your gifts can do us any good without your blessing. I think that is just fabulous and helpful tonight to understand how the Lord cares for us. The reason we are praying this, understanding God is in control of everything, is because first and foremost we are learning to express childlike dependency childlike dependency for everything now this is the most challenging aspect of the petition why because most of us here and i don't want to speak across the board maybe there are some who have suffered poverty but most of us here looking at other third world countries we live like kings and queens i don't know that there's ever been in the history of all the nations even with rome that people have lived as well as us really we are so accustomed so accustomed to having whatever we want that we can hardly imagine going without you have at your disposal every single luxury under the sun that you can you can get look at it every possible enjoyment is at your fingertips every pot i mean look look at all the advancement look at all the toys look at look at what we're constantly holding in our hands phones look at all this The challenge is, is that we become numb to the fact that we even have a heavenly Father who provides for us daily. Isn't it interesting? Jesus said, he didn't say, give us our daily bread. He was teaching us to pray, give us daily. Well, come on, right? When have you gone without? To make our complacency all the worse, society has set it up that if for some reason, you can't have what you want now, charge it. Go get it. There's no stopping you to get what you want right now. There's always immediate gratification in our society. You can have it and pay the consequences later. The point is, is what does the request give us this day our daily bread mean to us anymore? You see the challenge of this? Do we really live from day to day even realizing that we need daily bread do we think like that oh i know we have the practice and boys and girls this is why we gather around the table and and we we say lord thank you for this but but we often go through this as if it's a mere routine a heartless approach to prayer just to get through it to then chow right there have um been societies and cultures and times where people knew this prayer and knew why they needed to pray it. There have been different nations and times where people really struggled every day. Give us this day, Lord. I have no idea where it's going to come from, but I trust you. I trust you. Did he let him down? Did he fail him? Well, you could ask him in heaven, where he's still providing for them. What does it mean to a people who aren't pressed and scrambling to find daily provisions and foods and necessities of life? And this is where I think we have to think a little bit about the discipline of it and what it's training our minds for. There are, as I see, three reasons this petition is important with a basic goal here that it's training our minds to learn dependency and trust. Here's the first. Catechism says, and it's right, that it trains us to see God's goodness in everything. That is so important. I've always been moved when the Apostle Paul was out in Acts and he was evangelizing and he came upon a city and they began to worship Paul and Barnabas as Zeus and Hermes. What he said? You know what he said to them? stop and then he made an appeal to the god of heaven and earth here's what he said he did not leave himself without witness for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons satisfying your hearts with food and gladness he just said that to pagans god is doing that for the world right now who acknowledges it look at your food look at our restaurants who acknowledges it i'm convinced that one of the most important characteristics of christians and growth in the faith is a growth in a simple perceiving of all of life as god's goodness to you think about it seeing it we're just so unaware we're just so we just don't look up we're narcissists you hear psalm 23 tonight surely Surely, goodness, and mercy. We talk about mercy, but goodness he mentions first. Surely, goodness shall follow me all the days of my life. And I'm going to get to dwell in the house of the Lord forever. What a dog we've been to him. I use Calvin now and call us vermin. You guys ever read Calvin calling himself a vermin? You're going to lay your heads down tonight in a home that is well beyond what you need, that He's given you. I don't know anyone here starving tonight. Has He not fed you all the days of your life? Has He? Look at your spouse tonight. What husband would not look at his wife and say, she's way better than I deserve? You all know it. I know what I've been like to my wife. She's a source of goodness that fills that home. Oh, we moan about our children, right? And maybe we get tired of singing the psalm, the one psalm, you know, joyful children, happy they will be in our homes and little olive plants running around. They are. What a blessing children are from the Lord. Can you imagine a life without that? And if some of you have not been blessed by the Lord to have children, then I trust He has satisfied you with other blessings and filled your life with gladness. And then He gives you a church family, right? We don't even have to go through this alone. And He gives you a Savior. And He constantly tells you of His love. Never left you alone. Never abandoned you. May I just, yeah, let's read verse 3 of what you sung out tonight to the lord listen to this listen to this food he daily gives the hungry sets the mourning prisoner free any of you mourning he sets you free raises those bowed down with anguish makes the sightless eye to see well jehovah loves the righteous the stranger he befriends and if you're lonely if you feel like outcalf he's your friend helps the fatherless and widow judgment on the wicked sins you know i i constantly ask my mother i said how are you doing mom how you doing and she wells up with tears and she um she's struggling bad right now two and a half months later and she has some for somehow cling to this particular promise of this song every time i fall apart i pray and i remember this promise of the lord uh he helps the fatherless and the widow he's sustaining her doesn't mean it's not hard of course it's hard this this is your god this is what he's he's been like to you if i could make a continuation of this morning deuteronomy 6 and when the lord your god brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers to Abraham, Isaac, and to Jacob to give you with great and good cities that you did not build and houses full of all good things that you did not fill and cisterns that you did not dig and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant. And when you eat and are full, uh-oh, here it comes, then take care lest you forget the Lord. Well, now you understand the reason to pray it. You need to pray it in your plenty more than anyone else because you'll forget Him. You'll forget Him. Take care lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You see what prayer is doing? Do you see the benefit of this? It's preventing that. It's preventing going through life, enjoying all of this and living as if God doesn't exist, realizing you've done it. Thank you, Lord, for all these blessings. and continue, I recognize you are the one that provides all this. Let me use it for your glory. Heidelberg says you're not only the source of everything good, but I love this. When we run around in all of our worry and work, listen to this statement. Nothing in life does any good without your blessing. This is so important to the petition tonight. I think most of us here would say, if I look over the course of life, what has been the story of life? Let's rehearse it just for a minute. The story of our lives has been one of what? Success and happiness. And I'm not a health and wealth preacher, but that's been your story, hasn't it? Or has it been, the whole course of life, has it been sadness and misery or success and happiness? You know. and he proclaims it to you every week. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who, number one, forgives all your iniquity. Number two, heals your diseases. That belongs to this petition. I've said how many times from this pulpit that the Lord has healed people we've prayed for. Does he not? Who redeems your life from the pit? Who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy? Who satisfies you with good? There it is again. With good so that your youth is renewed light. He's constantly doing this for you. I'm not denying there's much sadness and misery. But what has been your story? What has been the whole course of life? Has the Lord made you happy in the work of your hands? Has anything that you've ever enjoyed in life that's gone well, have you realized that that is daily because of His blessing? You haven't done it. He's just decided to bless you. The good purposes of His will. And a love that He gave you before time began. Grace. When things go wrong, if we're honest, not always, but they're often by the stupid mistakes we make in squandering His gifts. Isn't that true? Of course it's true. But here tonight is why the petition is really important to daily pray because things are not always going to go well in life. And we're programmed to think that when all of a sudden something goes bad, that God is then against us and that we blame Him and fall apart and we worry and we fall into fear and fret. And I believe this is important to pray this. We pray in a day of plenty, in a day of happiness, in a day of enjoyment, recognizing when our shelves are not full when that day comes or when dark providence comes as it's called or when your health is assaulted as it's called your minds have already been trained to trust him you see you've trained your mind to trust him we go through life never praying this because you have everything and life's gone so well and you haven't recognized the blessing and you've not recognized the goodness, well, when that day changes, when job is lost, when health is attacked, you can really fall. And even then, when you call up to the Lord, He'll pick you right back up. It is true that if it's good for you today, you should pray this all the more because it's training your lives in dependency no matter the circumstance. Isn't this what Paul said? I hate to use these phrases because they sound so goofy, but this is the key to the Christian life. Key. Not that I'm speaking of being in need, for I've learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I've learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger. abundance, and need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Now that's not boys and girls meaning you're going to go kick the goal every time it's soccer. What it means is he learned something in life. I know how to be a base. And I know how to live in abundance. In any and all circumstances of life, I know the secret to be filled or satisfied and to be hungry both having abundance and going without what he's saying here is in all of these circumstances here's what i've learned it this is what the prayer trains you as the heidelberg to see i've learned to learn to be content who's mastered that that's that is sanctification at its best. Paul could say this when he said, I was in prisons more frequently and death often from the Jews five times. I received 40 stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I've been in the deep and journeys often in perils of the waters and perils of robbers and perils of my own countrymen and perils of the Gentiles and perils in the city and perils in the wilderness and perils in the sea and perils among false brethren and weariness and toil and sleeplessness often in hunger and in thirst in fastings often and in cold and nakedness, which I don't think any of us have come close to touching that list. I've learned contentment. When I'm full, and Paul had times where he was plentiful, and when I've suffered great loss, this is what I've learned. And this petition helps us to train our minds in contentment. Help us, Lord. He had to learn that. This is sanctification. you have to learn this i don't have this mastered i'm far from this it's hard to preach a standard especially when your wife knows you don't meet it right you can laugh it's okay i want to close with this thought it means then finally we're going to give up trusting anything else we're asking the lord that then he spoke a parable to them saying the ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully and he thought within himself saying what shall i do since i have no more room to store my crops so he said i will do this i will pull down my barns and build greater ones there i'll store all my crops and my goods and i will say to the soul soul you have many goods laid up for many years take your ease eat drink and be marry but god said to him fool this night your soul will be required of you then whose will those things be which you've provided so he who lays up treasure for himself so is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward god see the spirit there i'm working building i'm doing i'm storing so that i can live a life of ease that is not the christian life you hear the spirit of trusting in that the bigger the accounts the more i have gives you the greater amount of ease because then you don't have to really pray this right jesus said no no you could die tonight you could die tonight there's a danger in having that we trust in it there's a danger in the blessing that it becomes the source of our trust i heard a puritan once say some of god's greatest enemies are as good gifts because we then take them and trust in them whether that's true or not or you have qualms with that i don't know but the point is right my aunt i remember was a multi-millionaire and wouldn't even spring to spend on a light bulb i always thought she was a dear christian but she struggled with that she struggled with that putting her trust in her money i think for too long we've trusted in the united states for way too long we've trusted in the united states that the united states has provided us the good life we enjoy no it has not whatever good you've had is from the lord patriotism can be confused with just achieving the american dream lord let me be your trust i mean let you be my trust is the prayer let me trust you and not trust anything else you see how important that is it's not anyone else my instructors my teachers my yoga instructor my guns whatever none of it it's you it promotes a relationship with our father as one of trust between a father and a son isn't it wonderful he's wanting us to pray this that we be trained this way i've always been overwhelmed by philippians 2 let this mind be in you mind among yourselves which is yours in christ jesus who listen to this this mind be in you which was in christ jesus who though he was in the form of god did not count equality with god a thing to be grasped but emptied himself taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men being found in human form humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even to a death on a cross you know why he did that he did that because he being rich became poor for your sakes that you might become rich in christ and exhibited for us a kind of trust that we should have that the heavenly father is going to care for all of your needs the father loves you remember jesus said that because you love me and nothing can separate you from that love you've got access you get to go to the throne of grace in your homes to ask for your most basic needs to be met you're not always get your ones but he wants you to have so much confidence that he cares for you He wants you to pray daily. Give us this day our daily bread. Remember Luther's statement when I close with this? No one can give an excuse not to pray. You don't know what to say, you can pray this, the Lord's Prayer. You never have an excuse not to pray. You can pray the Lord's Prayer, and it's sufficient. And that's why we study it, so you know what you mean when you say it. Give us this day our daily bread. What a blessing the Lord cares for us in this way. I'm going to pray and let's close with the Lord's prayer tonight. Gracious Heavenly Father, thank You for providing all of our needs. You know what we are. You know we are ungrateful and have not thanked You for all Your kind provisions. Forgive us, Lord, for forgetting the Lord our God who brought us out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Forgive our sins and let our lives trust You for everything. We realize there's a petition coming forgive us our debts and we need to pray that don't pull our sins out and expose us cover us lord you are our hiding place and yet tonight we pray with all confidence that you would give us this day our daily bread supply our needs let us realize you're good let us trust you and everything and let us give up trusting in anything and everyone else thank you for being a good father to us so tonight we pray in that kind the confidence as your son taught us to pray saying our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on 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.