Tony Evans - Unleashing the Power of Provision, Pardon, and Protection
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Summary
In this sermon on the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew 6, the preacher emphasizes that God is our loving heavenly Father who provides daily, forgives willingly, and protects us from overwhelming temptation. He stresses the importance of recognizing God as our true source, practicing forgiveness to maintain fellowship with Him, and ending prayer with heartfelt praise. Ultimately, prayer should lead us to a doxology of worship, celebrating God’s kingdom, power, and glory forever because He is the greatest King worthy of all praise.
I Got a Daddy Up There
I got a daddy. My daddy up there has got a program he’s bringing down here. He has a way of accomplishing it through his designed will, and my daddy up there is my provider down here on a day-by-day basis. I got a daddy up there who doesn’t mind forgiving me. When I’m facing trouble, I got a daddy up there who walks beside me in the trouble and protects me against the attacks.
The Story of Solomon the Dog
I told y’all about my dog Solomon, for those that’s been a while ago. So when the kids were young, we had a dog named Solomon. We put water in his bowl and food in his bowl every day. Solomon was living in my kingdom, my house. Solomon had it good because it was warm in the winter and air-conditioned in the summer.
So Solomon was living large. Solomon was living the good life. One day, I put water in Solomon’s bowl and put food in Solomon’s bowl, and something was spilling out. Solomon was there getting ready to eat, and something was spilling out. I was reaching down to take care of it, and Solomon growled at me. Alright, Solomon settled and growled at me. I’m reaching now, trying to help a brother out, and Simon—oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Solomon was threatening to bite the hand that feeds him.
Don’t Growl at Your Provider
See, in dog thought, Solomon didn’t understand that the only reason he has water and the only reason he has food is that I am his supplier. Without me, there’s no water, there’s no food, and there is no kingdom. Well, what a lot of people don’t know is they growl at God because they forget that without Him, there is no life, there’s no oxygen, there’s no provision. We live in a world that growls at God because we don’t recognize He is your source on a daily basis. So even if you can afford to pay for it for a week, the only reason you can afford that is because He provided you the mechanism to get up and go to work every day.
That’s why people who have trouble with giving and trouble with tithing don’t understand their source. Your job is not your source. Your bank is not your source. They’re merely earthly resources. He moves from your provision to your pardon. Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors. This is the only part of the prayer that He does an expositional in verse 14: For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.
The Importance of Forgiveness
He deals with the importance of forgiveness, pardoning. Forgiveness is the decision to release a debt from an infraction without a view of revenge. Forgiveness is not first a feeling; it is a decision that I’m not going to seek personal revenge for an infraction. There are two kinds of forgiveness: unilateral forgiveness and transactional forgiveness. Unilateral forgiveness is I forgive for my benefit, whether the person apologizes or repents or not. Some years ago, somebody hit my car and drove off, so I am evangelically ticked off. One, because they hit me; and two, because they ran. I’m driving around with a dent in my car without a repentance from my abuser.
There was no «sorry,» he drove off, but I’m living with a dent. I don’t know how many months I drove around with that dent in my car, mad at somebody I would never ever hear from again. A lot of us are living our lives with dents in our souls because somebody did something to us, and we can’t let that thing go. We live with that dent even though they died or disappeared, but your soul is still dented. So, unless you release that thing unilaterally, without an apology, without repentance, you will stay dented in your life or in your mind.
Transactional Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Then there is transactional forgiveness. Now transactional forgiveness is where there is repentance and a transaction where forgiveness leads to reconciliation. See, forgiveness doesn’t automatically give you reconciliation because that depends on what the other person does. But transactional forgiveness can lead to reconciliation, assuming there is repentance and the fruits thereof. But you need to be a forgiver for your own benefit, and the biggest benefit is if you are a refuser to forgive, your heavenly Father won’t forgive you.
He’s not talking about going to heaven; he’s talking to his disciples about losing fellowship with God on Earth, so your prayers don’t get answered. Forgiveness is a key to answered prayer, and so He deals with the pardon. Don’t be like a rattlesnake. I don’t know if you know this, but a rattlesnake can get so mad it will bite itself. Many of us are poisoning ourselves with unforgiveness. Praise God for Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, who saw the power of forgiveness change the laws of a nation steeped in racial animus.
Protection from Evil
Then there is the protection. He says, «Do not lead me into temptation, but deliver us.» Deliver us from evil. Protection, protection from sin, from Satan, from situations I can’t handle. Don’t put me into anything that’s going to destroy me. In other words, help me to perceive where I am so that I know I can handle anything I face. That’s where wisdom is needed, and direction is needed. Satan knows our game film. He knows our weaknesses; he knows our propensities; he knows what draws us in.
So, Lord, put me in a situation. I know I’m going to have trials; I know I’m going to have temptations. But when I face these scenarios that you allow me to face, don’t put me into anyone that I won’t be able to handle, so that 1 Corinthians 10:13 becomes my experience: with the temptation, you will give me a way of escape. Thank you.
The Doxology: Eruption of Praise
He concludes with the purpose of prayer: «For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.» That’s called the doxology. A doxology is an eruption of praise.
A doxology is when there is a touchdown at the end of the game, when the clock runs out, and people stand up in praise. A doxology is where, at the bottom of the ninth with two outs and a 3-2 count, the batter hits the ball out of the park for the winning home run, and the crowd erupts in praise. A doxology is when the clock is running out and that’s the three-point shot that hits net only, and the crowd erupts in praise.
A doxology is not merely emotionalism because emotionalism gets hyped when nothing has happened. A doxology is the recognition: I got a daddy up there! It recognizes that my daddy up there has got a program he’s bringing down here. It recognizes my daddy up there has a way of accomplishing it through his designed will as I cooperate with it. And my daddy up there is my provider down here on a day-by-day basis. I got a daddy up there who doesn’t mind forgiving me when I come to him and ask him for relief from my infractions against his will.
And when I’m facing trouble, I got a daddy up there who walks beside me in the trouble and protects me against the attacks. And when I think about that, I have a daddy like that, he says all I can do is get into a doxology, a doxology of praise. I’m going to praise him because my daddy is a goat. He’s the greatest of all times. I’m going to praise him because my daddy was great.
When the King Comes
Some years ago, the president of the United States, George Bush, came to Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, and when he came, they told us that the king was coming. He disrupted our whole operation. They sent people in front to organize things. We couldn’t stand here; we couldn’t meet there. All we said was «yes sir» or «yes ma’am» because the king was coming. The president of the United States was disrupting parking; he was disrupting how people came into the auditorium because the king had arrived.
We didn’t argue and fight because we knew his position in Washington overrode our program in Dallas. You know a king in heaven, and he may disrupt your program on Earth. But the end of the doxology says, «Amen.» Amen means «so be it.» Amen means «I heard that.» Amen means «that’s the way it is.» Amen gives recognition that he has the final say-so. In football, whenever a player on defense sacks the quarterback, you’ll see him often stand up and go like that. What they’re telling the folks is «Give it up!» Give up the praise and adoration. Did you see what I just did?
When you see what God has done, is doing, and will do, somebody ought to give it up, and don’t be afraid to praise him, to give him glory, to adore him, to represent him, to celebrate him. Don’t be too cute to give it up and to give him the praise due his name, even when he disrupts your life because he’s the king, he’s in charge, and he’s worthy of your praise.