(3.) By a child-like reverence and dread of God, when we are afraid to offend God : Jer. xxxv. .5, 6. The sons of Rechab, their father had commanded them that they should drink no wine ; now saith God by the prophet, ' Set pots full of wine, and cups, and say unto them,
54 AN EXPOSITION OF [MaT. VI. 9.
Drink ye wine ;' that is, present the temptation. No, they would not: ' Our fathers have forbidden us.' So when a child of Grod is put upon temptation, his heart recoils, and reasons thus : ' How can I do this wickedness, and sin against God ? ' I dare not, my Father hath for- bidden me. There is an awe of his heavenly Father upon him: 1 Pet. i. 17, ' If you call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.'
We now come to speak of the possessive particle — Our Fatlier. The word is used for a double reason: — ■
1. To comfort us in the sense of our interest in God.
2. To mind us of the common interest of all the saints in the same God. It is not my or thy Father only, but our Father.
First, Observe the great condescension of Christ, that poor creatures are allowed to claim an interest in God. If Christ had not put these words in our mouths, we never had had boldness to have gone to God, and said, ' Doubtless thou art our Father.' But he which was in the bosom of God, and knew his secrets, hath told us it is very pleasing to God we should use this compellation to him. This is a privilege which cannot be sufficiently valued ; if we consider : —
[1.] The unworthiness of the persons which enjoy it: poor dust and ashes, sinful creatures, that were children of the devil, that we should lay claim and title to God for our Father. And,
[2.] If we consider the greatness of the privilege itself : ' Oh, behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called his children ! ' 1 John iii. 1. We think it much when we can say, This field, this house is mine ; but sm'ely this is more, to say. This God is mine.
Again, observe here that interest is a ground of audience. So Christ would have us begin our prayers, ' Our Father.' God's interest in us, and our interest in God. God's interest in us : wdien Christ mediates for his disciples, he saith, John xvii. 6, ' Thine they were, and thou gavest them me.' And David : Ps.cxix. 94, ' I am thine, save me.' That is his argument : the reason is, because God, by taking them for his own, binds himself to preserve and keep them. Everybody is bound to look to his own : ' He that provides not for his own is worse than an infidel.' Now what a sweet thing is it when we can go to God and say. We are thine ! So it is the same, as to our interest in God. It is an excellent encouragement: Ps. xlii. 11, 'Hope thou in God,' saith David to his soul. Why ? For he is my God. And elsewhere, reasoning with himself: Ps. xxiii. 1, 'The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.' First, his covenant-interest is built, and then conclusions of hope. So 2 Sam. xxx. 6, ' David encouraged him- self in the Lord liis God.' It is sweet when we can go to God as our God. Luther was wont to say, God was known better by the predic- ament of relation than by his natural properties. Why is interest such a sweet thing ? Because by this relation to God we have a claim to God, and to all that he can and will do. God hath made over himself, quantus quantus est, as great as great he is, for his use and comfort. Therefore the psalmist saith, Ps. xvi. 5, ' The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, and of my cup.' A believer hath as sure
Mat. VI. [}.] THE lord's prayefx. 55
a right and title to Grod, as a man hath to his patrimony to which he is born, or as any IsraeUte had to that share which came to him by lot ; so he may lay claim to God, and live upon his jiower and good- ness, as a man doth upon his estate.
Well, then, labour to see God is yours, if you would find acceptance with him. It is not enough to know the goodness and power of God in general, but we must discern our interest in him, that we may not only say Father, but Our Father. It is the nature of faith thus to appropriate and apply : John xx. 28, ' My Lord and my God.' How is God made ours ? How shall we know it, that we may come and lay our claim to him ? Behold, Christ teacheth us here to say, Our Father, by taking hold of his covenant ; and this is God's covenant notion, ' I will be your God, and you shall be my people.' When we give up ourselves to be God's, then he is ours. Eesignation and appro- priation go together. * I am my beloved's ; ' there is the resignation of obedience : ' And he is mine ; ' there is the appropriation of faith. A believer cannot always say God is his, but, I am thine ; however it be with him, he would be no other's but the Lord's. If he cannot say he is God's by an especial interest, yet he will be God's by the resignation of his own vows. He knows God hath a better right and title to him than he hath to himself.