Matthew 16:18 “Upon this rock I will build My church”

A Community Of Reformed Believers

Sunday, March 18, 2007

I. INTRODUCTIONA. WHAT IS PRAYER?B. WHAT ACTIVITIES TAKE PLACE IN PRAYER?C. WHAT ARE THE MEANINGS OF THE FOLLOWING DIMENSIONS OF PRAYER

II. HOW OFTEN SHOULD WE PRAY?A. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?B. WITH PRESSING SCHEDULES AND SEVERE RESPONSIBILITIES, HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?

III. IF GOD IS SOVEREIGN, WHY SHOULD WE PRAY?A. It IS A COMMANDB. GOD ALREADY KNOWS ALL THE ANSWERS WE NEEDC. WHAT DOES MT 6:10 MEAN?

IV. WHAT IS THE MEANING OF PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT?

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE PRAYERA. A REVELATION OF GROSS AND GRIEVOUS SIN.B. A RESPONSE TO GODLY REBUKE.

PRINCIPLES: C.H. Spurgeon: True penitence realizes that pardon of sin is an act of pure mercy. The awakened sinner flies to that attribute of God.

Awareness of sin in our lives should cause to suffer pain and should drive us to the feet of God.

II. THE INTENSITY OF THE PRAYER. 1A, BA. THE PERIOD OF PAINB. THE PLEA FOR PARDONC. THE PRIORITY OF GODD. THE CHARACTER OF GOD.

Today: III. THE SPECIFIC REQUESTS 1C-2, 7

III. THE RADICAL OBLITERATION OF SIN THAT IS REQUESTED 1C-2, 7

Principle: Sin is a capital offense to our holy God and must not be treated lightly. Do not spare any harshness in describing and confessing our sins to Him. Even the thought of foolishness is sin.

Pro 24:9 The devising of folly is sin, and the scoffer is an abomination to mankind.

A. REMOVE MY TRANSGRESSIONS FROM YOUR MEMORY 1Cblot out my transgressions

y['(v'p. hxeäm.TWOT:

hxm verb qal imperative masculine singular homonym 1

1178.0 hx'm' (m¹µâ) I, wipe, wipe out.

Almost all of the thirty-three occurrences of this verb are theologically significant. It is first found in the flood narrative. Every living thing on the face of the earth that breathed was blotted out

Gen 6:7 So the LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them."

~d"Üa'h'-ta, h“x,m.a, hw"©hy> rm,aYOæw: WTT Genesis 6:7

Gen 7:22-24 22 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.including all human beings, except eight.m¹µâ figures prominently in the prayer in which Moses begged God to forgive the sin Israel incurred when they worshipped the golden calf. "If not, blot me out of your book," prays Moses

Ex 32:32-33 32 But now, if you will forgive their sin--but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written." 33 But the LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. It had been God's intention to blot out Israel's name from under heaven Dt 9:14 Let me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.'as repeated in

Dt 29:20 The LORD will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the LORD and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under heaven.Cf.

Isa 43:25 "I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

`rKo)z>a, al{ï ^yt,ÞaJox;w> ynI+[]m;l. ^y[,Þv'p. hx,îmo aWh± ykiînOa' y“kinOa'

Similar Nuances Contained In: Mic 7:19 He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

Jer 31:34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

Col 2:14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

Note that erasures in ancient leather scrolls were made by washing or sponging off the ink rather than blotting. "Wipe out" is therefore more accurate for the idea of expunge… delete

B. RID ME THE STAIN OF MY PERVERSION 2AIniquity=perversion, twisting of moral standards. Also, a natural inclination or bend as in a bow. See v. 5.

Wash=pounding, stamping, vigorous rubbing to remove dirt. Remove the filthy stain of my sin. It’s like a crimson mass all over me. A hideous and haunting thought to his mind!!! A specific term.Picture of forcibly removing deep stain running through my life.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

ynI+wO[]me ynIsEåB.K; Îbr<h,âÐ ¿hBer>h;À

TWOT:sbk verb piel imperative masculine singular suffix 1st person common singular

0946.0 sb;K' (k¹bas) wash, be washed, perform the work of a fuller.

This root occurs fifty-one times, all in verbal forms. Of these, all but nine appear in the Pentateuch, thirty-one in Lev alone, and twenty-one in Lev 13-15

hbr verb hiphil imperative masculine singular homonym 1 qere

2103.0 hb'r' (r¹bâ) I, be(come) great, many, much, numerous.

The initial occurrence of the root isGen 1:22“ Multiply"is read by all of the versions, but in subsequent usages a variety of translations appear, "increase" Gen 7:17-18

"be many"1 Chr 23:17

"so much" Gen 43:34In single instances a great many more meanings are in evidence. In the Hiphil stem the standard and most common meaning is "multiply, " but a variety of other translations are also given:

"ask much" Gen 34:12

"gather much" Ex 16:18

"yield much" Neh 9:17

"give more" Num 26:54

"to heap"Eze 24:10.

So, Lit. multiply to wash me (Calvin)Calvin: The sense, on that supposition, would indeed remain the same, That God would wash him abundantly, and with multiplied washing; but I prefer that form of expression which agrees best with the Hebrew idiom. This, at least, is certain from the expression which he employs, that he felt

the stain of his sin to be deep, and to require multiplied washings. Not as if God could experience any difficulty in cleansing the worst sinner, but the more aggravated a man’s sin is, the more earnest naturally are his desires to be delivered from the terrors of conscience.Calvin, John. Calvin's Commentaries: Psalms. electronic ed. Logos Library System; Calvin's Commentaries, Ps 51:1. Albany, OR: Ages Software, 1998.

C. CLEANSING FROM SIN 2C

And cleanse me from my sin.

`ynIrE)h]j; ytiîaJ'x;meW*TWOT: The root occurs about 580 times in the Old Testament and is thus its principle word for sin. The basic meaning of the root is to miss a mark or a way. It is used two or three times in Ugaritic to mean "sin" (UT 19:no. 952, Ais WUS 1019).

The verbal forms occur in enough secular contexts to provide a basic picture of the word's meaning. In Jud 20:16 the left-handed slingers of Benjamin are said to have the skill to throw stones at targets and "not miss." In a different context, Prov 19:2 speaks of a man in a hurry who "misses his way" (RSV, NEB, KJV has "sinneth"). A similar idea of not finding a goal appears in Prov 8:36; the concept of failure is implied.

A. THE FORCE OF SIN.Shown by the strong terms both for the sins and for their removal. The intentional and deliberate use of harsh and forceful terms points out the severity of the crime. Also, by the different pictures used.

3. Purify Me Thoroughly From My Filth.2b and cleanse me from my sin!7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Cleanse= purify by water or by fire, e.g. (physically) dross from metals, altar; (ceremonially) people by sprinkling of blood. A general term. Sin=missing God’s mark,

not meeting His holy standards. Purge=to purify. Jews familiar with use of hyssop in cleansing.....Lev. 14:1ff for cleansing of lepers and Num 19:18 Then a clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the furnishings and on the persons who were there and on whoever touched the bone, or the slain or the dead or the grave.

for cleansing of man who had defiled himself by touching a dead body. In v. 7, note emphasis on cleanliness by terms such as purge, wash, clean, white.Prayer is Humbling. Self-abasing and self-denying. Self-emptying. Thoughtful. Emotional, etc.

Is this how we pray?

B. THE FACT OF SIN.Ps 51:3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

`dymi(t' yDIåg>n< ytiÞaJ'x;w> [d"+ae ynIåa] y[;v'p.â-yKi( Psalm 51:5

Principle: True confession requires a full and free admission of our sins. It does not tone down, reduce or limit the severity of sin. Confession means to say the same as God says about sin, etc.