Okay, we're continuing this evening with the book of Matthew. We're in chapter number six and tonight
We're continuing with the Sermon on the Mount and Sermon on the Mount is a sermon that Jesus preached and it covers chapters five
six and seven and
Over the last couple of or actually two weeks ago or so when we started chapter five
And when we concluded chapter five, we see that a lot of it
Regarding the Sermon on the Mount. It's just a lot of practical teaching, right?
Just a lot of practical teaching a lot of pragmatic principles for Christians to apply
He basically covers what it means to be blessed of God what it means to be persecuted
He covers the fact that where the light of the world assault of the earth
He covers the subjects of making oaths and divorce and he also covers
The subject of just loving your enemies right and not just loving your neighbors
But also loving your enemies doing good to them that hate you and despitefully use you
So a lot of great practical teaching but one of my one of the reasons that this particular sermon is one of my favorites
Did Jesus preach it's because of the fact that it does have a lot of practical teaching in it regarding just simple fundamental
Christian virtues that we're to practice in our day-to-day lives
But as he's giving these principles he uses bad examples to tell you how not to do it
Okay, and the reason I like that is because sometimes when I preach
About a particular subject, you know, I'll often call out particular people, you know in this world
Whether it's pastors or false prophets to kind of give an example of how not to do it
Right and people will often have a problem with that. They don't like that
They you know, they they're kind of softies about that and a little sensitive and they're just kind of like, you know
Oh, you have to copy Wow when you preach or whatever
But here we see that Jesus even teaching the most fundamentally just sound
Virtues of the Christian faith is still using bad people to show you what not to do
because even in this particular chapter in chapter 6 he says don't do as the hypocrites, right and
So he's given the bad example of the hypocrites which we know to be the Pharisees Sadducees and the stripes
Now what's also interesting about this sermon is that he progressively begins to expose the Pharisees little by little
Because in chapter 5 you don't really hear anything about them until the latter end
You know
We can surmise that he might be talking about the Pharisees because he talks about you have heard that has been said by them of
Old and when you compare that with some of the deeds that the Pharisees did it's like, okay
Maybe he's talking about the Pharisees, but then in chapter 6, he's like the hypocrites, right? And
The reason we know that he's talking about the Pharisees right here is because in chapter 23
When he's rebuking the scribes in the Pharisees, he says won't you scribes and Pharisees?
Hypocrites he says it eight times. Okay, and when we look at chapter 6, you know
Obviously it's referring to the Pharisees because they're the ones in the synagogues. They're the ones who?
Exert these hyper spiritual attributes, etc
And so he's obviously referring to them and then this sermon culminates to chapter 7 talking about false prophets
So he's just like he kind of talks about them indirectly
He just hits on them a little bit and then I'm pretty sure by chapter 7 whoever is in the crowd
Obviously already knows. Okay, he's talking about the religious leaders of our day. He's obviously addressing the Pharisees here
And so it's a great sermon. I love it
And I'm sure a lot of people got offended by it, but you know, who cares and so tonight
We're gonna cover a couple things
We're gonna cover alms giving prayer fasting and maybe get into some of the treasures
This might be a two-part, but we shall see look at verse number one here
It says take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them
Otherwise you have no reward of your father which is in heaven
Therefore when thou doest thine alms
Do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may have glory of men
Verily I say unto you they have their reward
But when thou doest alms
Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth that thine alms may be in secret and thy father which seeth in secret
Himself shall reward thee openly. So let me say a couple things about alms giving
Now one of the the primary things about this particular sermon is that he hits a lot on rewards
We see that in chapter 5
But he also talks about the importance of doing things in secret so that God can reward you openly and he starts off with talking
About alms now, what are alms? Well, we don't really use that term or that word today
We would more readily use charity
Right when you think about being charitable to someone giving someone of your resources
Money food things of that nature someone who's less fortunate than you
We would say you're being charitable with someone and that actually fits the context because previous to this
He says love your enemies do good to them that hate you and despitefully use you
Well another word for love in the Bible is what charity right? So he's saying there, you know give alms
But make sure you're careful that you don't do it before men to be seen of them. Okay, and
Then he says if you're seen of them
Obviously you're not going to get a reward in heaven because of it look at verse 2
He says therefore when thou doest thine alms do not sound a trumpet
Before the as the hypocrites do in the synagogues in the street. So what is this referring to?
Well, actually before I get into that, let me just say this is the alms in the Bible as I mentioned is charity
Don't mistake it with the tie
Okay
A lot of times people will mistake this just because it's it's hitting on the subject of giving or resources and so automatically people
Associate alms with tithing but tithing is something completely different
Okay, tithing is something that's it's it's it's referring to the 10% of your gross income
It's a system that God instituted in the Old Testament
to keep the operation of the house of God going and
It's not something that's been repealed in the New Testament, by the way, because a lot of people will tell you
Oh, that's Old Testament. We're not supposed to give tithes anymore. That's all Old Testament. You know, it's funny
I can't find a verse in the New Testament that says hey no more offerings. No more tides
Okay, you know we see meats drinks diverse washings cardinal ordinances that includes the tithe as well
But here's the thing folks is the tithe in the Old Testament doesn't foreshadow anything
The things that were done away with in the New Testament are things that Jesus Christ are essentially foreshadowed Jesus Christ
You understand and so the reason we don't do those things anymore is because Jesus Christ is the culmination of those ordinances
In the New Testament when he was crucified on the cross
He became the the the completion of those symbolic representations of the Old Testament
Tithing is not one of them. You know, I mean, it's just like well Jesus is like 10% or you know
It's like he gave his hundred percent or something. You know, you can't make it fit. Okay
Don't try to overly spiritualize tithing tithing was simply a system that God
instituted to keep the house of God going in the Old Testament and the house of God going in the New Testament because the priest and
Levites in the Old Testament, you know, they needed to make a salary in order to keep this operation going, right?
I mean they had a lot of responsibilities a lot of work to do and
And so people needed to tithe God commanded his people to tithe in order to sustain those laborers in the Old Testament
Well now in the New Testament, we don't have a temple that we meet in
Although some churches for some reason are called Baptist temples
I don't know why they do that
You know, we meet in a church a local New Testament Church and the Bible says that this is the house of God the pillar
And ground of truth and it calls it the church
so now the house of God is a local New Testament Church made up of
Baptized believers and lo and behold we still need tides. Amen
Why is that well because of the fact that a church is run by a pastor bishop elder
It has employees such as an evangelist a deacon
Things of that nature and a church has bills to pay, you know
We got a we got to have a place to meet got to keep the lights on
When it's 90 degrees in the summer, it's nice to have AC
Amen, nice to have seats and hymns and we need to pay for printed material
We need to pay for soul winning trips and missions trips
Activities things of that nature that all requires resources that is collected by the tides of the members
Understand so don't buy into this house church mentality
It says well, we're all pastors. We're all equal here and we should in tide
Everyone should just do it out of the goodness of their hearts, okay?
Why don't you go to your secular job and do that job out of the goodness of your heart and see how that works for?
you
Right because the pastor is as much a job as anything else. Okay, and
Something needs to keep this operation going and luckily God instituted the system of tides in order to keep that going
That's not what this is referring to alms is something you give out of charity to someone who's less fortunate than you
You know a poor individual who is not able to provide for himself because they're handicapped for whatever reason, you know
They're just incapable
That's referring to an arm. So this is out of the goodness of your heart. You see someone in need
You see someone who has a need for whatever reason you want to be a blessing to someone that would be considered an arm
Okay, when you give that that particular thing to that person whether it's money food raiment things of that nature and
So here he says, okay. So when you give alms though
don't sound a trumpet and
He uses the example of the hypocrites in the synagogue and obviously we know that he's he's using hyperbole
right, like the Pharisees are not in like the in the synagogue with the literal trumpet like
As they're giving or something
What he's basically trying to get across here is that the Pharisees are obviously calling attention to themselves as they're giving their alms
They're trying to get people to see and watch them do the spiritual act of giving alms
Because they want the glory of men. They want the recognition of
people
Because they're just that proud and arrogant and hyper spiritual and wicked. Okay
So
The reason he's giving this admonition here is because Christians can often fall into that trap as well
In other words desiring the praise of men the recognition of men to admiration of men
Because of some work some alms that you do some D that you do and so he's saying look
When you give alms when you are a blessing to someone don't sound a trumpet don't sound a horn
Don't sound any type of instrument. Don't call attention to yourself as you're doing it. Okay, so
Because of the fact that if you do that, then I'm not going to reward you is what he's saying
Okay
When you give an alms to someone when you give to someone who's less fortunate to you or you're just a blessing to someone
You actually get yourself a reward by God whether in the immediate future or in the resurrection
Because the Bible says when you give to someone who cannot recompense you back you will be recompensed in the regeneration referring to the resurrection
Okay, so God blesses you for that particular alms that you gave that charity that you gave
To that particular person. However, if you're doing it with the motive to be seen of men though
You know, you kind of look left and you're like, all right, everyone's looking now's the time, you know
You just and you do that then it's like, okay
Well, you already got your reward because what you really wanted was for people to look at you do that
You wanted the glory of men?
You know you understand you wanted people to recognize you and see how spiritual you are
See what a great Christian you are that is what you desire and so that's that's what you're gonna get
But you're not gonna get anything from God in case what he's saying
now
What this particular passage is teaching is discretion
When you do the service of God learn discretion, don't sound a trumpet
Okay, if you run a true reward be discreet about it. Okay. Now when I look at this particular passage here, I think of one person
Specifically, okay, and I'm thinking of a famous youtuber actually whose name is mr. Beast
You guys know what I'm talking about this guy's a really popular youtuber who is sent
I mean everyone knows even though the child knows who mr. Beast is, you know, but mr. Beast is a famous youtuber
He has about 150 million
subscribers, okay, and he's essentially responsible for creating this genre of
Videos where he does these really expensive stunts and
challenges, but he's very much known for his just
Extravagant donations that he gives because he gives away a lot of money and this guy obviously, he's really rich
Okay, obviously, he's very wealthy
He has a lot of money and a lot of his videos are based upon him giving away a lot of this money. Okay, and
You said what's wrong with that?
He's giving away money because you give away a lot of money like hundreds of thousands of dollars
Okay, I mean if you look at his videos
He's just like hundred deaf people here for the first time and you know
It's referring to the fact that he's providing hearing aids for the deaf
Okay, like hunter blind people see for the first time and he's providing something for them so they can see
you know, it's it's a lot of those types of videos and
he even has I think a particular video where you know, he goes to a restaurant or something and
He the waitress comes and he tips the waitress a brand new car. I
Mean this girl is probably ecstatic about that right like who would not want a car as a tip
You said how do you know all these things Oh because he sounds a trumpet
So when he uploads that video it gets millions of views
So that everyone can see his philanthropy, right?
They can see his generosity, you know from a world's perspective. It's just like well, there's nothing wrong
You know, he's giving away a lot of money. He doesn't seem like an immoral person. He doesn't seem like a wicked person
He's not doing anything immoral per se he's doing the world of service by giving away all that money
What's the problem with that?
well
the problem with that is is that he's created a
Generation of young people who are only willing to be generous as long as people are watching
who are only willing to be a blessing to someone and feed the poor and give away money as
Long as it can go on their Instagram on their social media platform and millions of people can see it
So it's not necessary out of a motive because they want to help people
It's not because they want to be a blessing to someone it's not because they truly want to help the less fortunate
It's because it gets them views because they want the glory of man is what it is. Okay
And here's the thing like obviously mr. Beast probably not even safe, right?
I mean, I never had a personal conversation with him, but
I'm just gonna guess he's probably not saved. Okay. He's calling himself. Mr. Beast
You know, that's not necessarily a good name for a Christian if he is one and I don't think he's even claiming to be a Christian
But let's just pretend for a minute that he is a Christian, you know, he's not gonna get any rewards from God
All right, he's not gonna get anything from God. I mean imagine think about all the millions and millions of dollars
He's invested by giving to people and all the vehicles and just millions of dollars that he's invested
It's all down the toilet cuz it's not gonna count for anything in the eyes of God because he got his reward
You said what's his reward the views?
The million views is the reward
Which end up making makes him more money and then he's giving away more money, but in the eternal it does nothing
Okay
Does nothing at all and so it's creating a generation of young people who are essentially, you know, yeah, they're being generous
Yeah, they're giving away a lot of money. Yeah, they're you know
doubling and pass it to
Double it and give it to the next person
Would you take this or give it to someone else double it and give it to the next person is just like oh man
So many generous people but folks millions of people are watching this so it's not really for that
Is it because if it was really for the motive of being a blessing to others you wouldn't have to film and upload it
So you can get a bunch of views
Etc. Okay, and
so
He's not gonna get any rewards for that. He has his reward which is the glory of men now don't mistake this when it says
To be seen of men because obviously people in general
Will probably see your works and in fact in chapter 5 if you remember what does it say?
Let your life so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven
So, how do we reconcile this?
Well, the way you reconcile is this when we do our good works we should do with the motive of people glorifying God
Whereas this person who's doing the works to be seen of men wants to be glorified by men
They want they want to be glorified. I don't care about God getting the glory and
So obviously he's not saying that when you do a deed
And alms deed when you're a blessing to someone else you give away
Resources you have to be so secretive about it
No one's gonna see you and if anyone even peeks at what you're doing you just lost your reward
He's obviously referring to his motive of the heart. Right? Why are you doing this?
Are you doing this because you genuinely love that person?
You want to be a blessing to that person or is it because you're hoping to gain an audience?
So that people can see how spiritual you are. Okay
that's obviously a wicked thing to do and
You know, it kind of shows you that there's people in this world that do a lot of good things for the wrong reasons
You know, there's a lot of Christians out there
There's a lot of fake Christians out there, you know, for example the Pentecostal movement, for example
I mean their services are just filled
With people who are doing these outward spiritual actions, but they're only doing it to be seen of men
Okay, it's not because they love the Lord and it's not because they're demon-possessed either. It's just
You know, they're just trying to show off or something. They're hyper spiritual and
So
Obviously in this particular room, I don't think that we have any mr. Beast
I don't think anybody's that rich to give away that much money or give away all those cars or anything
But you know, this is a temptation that Christians can fall into
Where they do particular services or deeds or in order to be seen of others
Okay, and we need to be aware of that type of mentality that we don't fall into that trap that we become these
Christians who are eager to be seen of men and therefore that's why we do those deeds
Our motive should be because we love the Lord we love others and because we want a reward, right?
Not because we want the praise of man more than the praise of God or something and I'll give you an example
You know because this goes into the realm of just being like a hyper spiritual person. Okay?
I'll give you an example of this, you know
Years ago. I won't say about four or five years ago. I went on a missions trip to Mexico with
my at that time my boss pastor Anderson and
We went to this particular place and there was it was a big soul-winning trip a mission trip to Mexico and
It was a lot of fun. I mean we saw a lot of people saved
It was very receptive, but I remember like the first couple hours pastor Anderson and I were we're coupled together
We're teamed up to go sowing and we got like no one saved like no one got saved
okay, so like the pastor Anderson the one who actually put the trip together got no one saved and then his evangelist is working from
The evangelist gets no one saved. Okay, so just like, you know, this is how bad it was
Okay
So we come back and we meet with everyone and everyone's like we got ten got five
We got this many and it's just like awesome
You know, we're rejoicing and there's one particular person who came up and was just like yeah
I got like 15 or something, you know some ridiculous number and
Then and then that person looked at us is like how many did you guys get we like we got zero?
And he's like, oh
What's the problem?
Why they're like because I don't know we just got no one saved I mean we can't force anybody to get saved
We're gonna do you want us to lie or something? And it's just like what's wrong? Why didn't you get anybody saved?
I mean it's I mean this person wanted to say like aren't you guys like, you know, the leaders here kind of thing
And I remember pastor Anderson saying well, we're on the same team. So what's the big deal?
I mean, this is a team effort with my soul in here, right?
And previous to this he had told beam that he had warned the group basically like hey no hyper spiritual people
Hyper-spiritual attitudes on the mission strip
You know, none of this attitude because people have a tendency to get that attitude
Especially when it comes to soul when he for some reason, okay, they get this Pharisaical
hyper-spiritual attitude and
And lo and behold someone end up being that way, right?
Now later on we ended up getting people saved
But I that stuck with me because I was the first time I actually encountered someone like that and this person
Down the road became a really wicked person by the way, they were not even saved
Okay, they ended up going apostate and believing you could lose your salvation
You know, it kind of shows you that people who are hyper spiritual
They're either babes in Christ or they're just really wicked people
Okay, and this person ended up being just a really wicked individual who taught false doctrine and and just went off the deep end
But you know it kind of showed me that and by the way this person on the trip was boasting of their
Salvations and how long they go so winning and all these things
However, I do remember one particular time because he he had instructed the team and he said we're gonna go so winning for this
Amount of time. Okay, and he specifically told people if you want to go longer than that. That's true. That's perfectly fine
But don't peer pressure people into going with you if they don't want to go
Don't make people feel bad don't guilt-trip people and don't even do it indirectly either
Okay. Now what do you mean by that? Well, you know people are just like oh you want to go so long?
Oh, no, I got something to do. Oh
That's weird
All right Wow
But make people feel uncomfortable right that's a hyper spiritual attitude
And
He said, you know if you want to go that's perfectly fine, but don't make people feel bad if they don't go with you
Okay
so I remember the you know, the day was over and we're kind of all fellowshipping and it's nighttime and
There's a couple people missing because they have gone a little extra and I remember this group came back, right?
But they came back very humble. They're just kind of
Snuck in and I remember seeing them and thinking all these guys went longer
But you know, they didn't come in like oh man, what a day
My god is just from so much region is just like look how worn out my Bible is. Oh, man
You know, it's just kind of like
These dogs are barking, you know, just like
They're actually just very just quiet. They snuck in and we're all fellowshipping and they just join the conversation
We just act like nothing happened and I remember my admiration for those guys went really high because I thought to myself these guys
are really humble because I know they got more people saved and
I know this guy could preach the gospel and
He could preach the gospel so well, he doesn't need to tell people he can preach the gospel
We could just see it you would cause me to do cause me to glorify God on his behalf
I thought to myself this guy's really humble, you know
Whereas the ones who are typically boasting they're the ones that's sounding the trumpet
Okay, those are these are the hyper spiritual people that God is warning us to stay away from and not to be as well
Okay, so we got to be aware that when we do
Any type of deed of course, this is referring to alms that we're not sounding a trouble. We're not calling attention to ourselves
We're not trying to put people down
Right or make people feel bad or guilt trip people if they don't if they're not doing as much as you okay
Now obviously from the pulpit I have to challenge God's people to step it up to do at least the bare minimum, right?
Well, you know if people are doing the bare minimum
We don't have to guilt trip people into doing more if they don't want to do more
Or if they're not doing as much as you are, okay
Now, you know, obviously people aren't gonna go out of their way to guilt trip you but they can do it indirectly
And so we need to be aware of those indirect comments that people make and check people on that
Okay, you know, we want to make sure that we normalize calling out hyper spirituality in our church
That if someone starts displaying hyper spiritual attributes, we check that person and say hey, you're acting kind of hyper spiritual there
You know, I thought pastor preached on Matthew 6 recently. They didn't mention some of these things
and
So don't do your alms before men to be seen of them. Don't sound a trumpet and
You say well, you know don't like pastors upload their Sherman's though, isn't that like the same thing?
No, because in Matthew chapter 10
Jesus specifically says what I tell you in darkness that speak ye in the light
What I tell you in the ear that shall ye upon the housetops
So he says when you hear the Word of God when you get the Word of God shout it from the house thoughts
Put it on YouTube
Instagram
Spotify put it everywhere. Why because we want the Word of God to get out
Okay, and I have no problem putting all my sermons out there
No matter what consequences there are no matter who comes at us because that's what God wants
He wants us to get the Word of God out there and not try to
Censor it right just because the message is offensive
we wanted to get out there because you know what some people are gonna get offended but some people are gonna like it and
Some people are gonna be won over by it. And so when it comes to God's Word, that's not something you want to do in secret
Okay, and sometimes people get that mixed up they like do that in secret, you know, they're preach really hard sermons
But then it's just like they put it on private or something like that because they don't want you know, they don't want the persecution
but here's the thing folks when you get persecuted you get rewarded and
So just just allow it to come so he says in verse number three
But when thou doest alms let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth again
Using a little bit of hyperbole here obviously, whatever your left hand does your right hand is gonna know right? I mean you're
They belong to you. Okay
What is it about my just talk about discretion here?
Okay
you should be as try to be as discreet as you possibly can when you do these deeds and
Not try to just sound a trumpet a horn of some sort now
Let me give you an example of someone who did this in my personal life. Okay years ago
I think I already shared this story, but it's pretty funny as we're sharing again
Years ago when I was in Bible college, and I was a dorm supervisor
I remember talking to someone and I had mentioned to this person like just in passing like man
I really want to get an mp3 player you guys remember like the mp3 do we still are they still mp3 players around a little?
There isn't yeah, see the older folks are like, yes, the younger folks are like, you know
It's this little thing, you know where there's music and you put stuff and I remember saying like so I can listen to preaching
I can listen to music and
I just said it in passing but there's a guy in the dorms who had heard that and
He was kind of a he was a generous person and one day I came home from work
I think it was from work and I had my own room. I did
I think I did share probably with brother Marcus or something
I don't remember exactly and so I unlocked the door and I and I come in and on my bed is
A package on the pillow, right?
I'm like someone came in my room
But the window the screen was like broken like someone broke in
to my room
They broke into my room right and the sheets were all dirty and stuff
Like someone stepped in there and I'm just like what in the world?
I mean, those are the kind of thieves you like right the ones that bring stuff not take stuff, right?
So I go in there and I open it up and it's an mp3 player
With sermons and and Christian music already in there
I'm like, whoa, and so and there's a card in there. I pull out the card and and this is what it said it said
Bruce
This is for you to listen to
Bible preaching and godly music sign God
Now I'm not for people speaking on God's behalf in that manner like as if God actually wrote it
I understand the intention of the person though, right?
Now I knew the dorm guys very well
I knew their writings because they had to like sign in and sign out and I'm like, I know who this is
the ugliest writing here
This guy I know this is very distinct writing here and it just so happened that he was in the other room. Okay
So I walk in there and I was like and there's a couple guys and I was like
Did you give me this and he and he was like offended?
She's like no
I'm like, are you sure cuz this looks like you're right. He's like I said no like
And I at that point I realized okay. He doesn't want people knowing that he gave this to me
So I just kind of let it go
And you know, obviously he's not the most discreet person. Okay
You know his his finger forensic files would have arrested him like really quick
I mean like his fingerprints would have been all over this guy
But I'm thankful for it
But it showed me and he did this multiple times to multiple people in his mind
It was very discreet but not very discreet obviously, but you know in his mind
He's like I don't want people knowing that I gave these things and here's the thing people who have the spiritual gift of giving
Obviously we all we're all supposed to be generous
We're all supposed to practice that virtue of being generous certain people who just have that in them where they like to do that
You know
They a lot of times givers don't want people knowing that they're giving
They do not they would like to be as anonymous as they possibly can
When it comes to that and so that's how he was and I think that's a great attribute
I think that's a great characteristic to possess
to essentially be so discreet that you give with the intent of being a blessing to someone and they love the fact that they
Can bless someone and make someone's day better or help someone or whatever and and not be recognized for it
Okay, and that is something that we myself included we need to learn that right make sure that our left hand doesn't know
What our right hand is doing he says in verse number four that thine alms may be in secret and thy father would seeth in
Secret himself shall reward thee openly
Now this doesn't negate the reward the eternal reward, right?
In the resurrection this implies that you might get a reward even sooner than that
says he rewards you openly and when you study the subject of rewards in the Bible you see that
One deed or one action or one work that you do can actually produce a lot of work
A lot of rewards, okay
Rewards in the resurrection rewards in the regeneration but also just the immediate rewards that you get
For doing those things and so that is the subject of alms there now look at verse number five
We're gonna talk about prayer here all the way up until fasting now, I really wish
The Catholics would read this part. Okay, and it's so funny that cults will often just
Capitalize and they'll teach certain things that are just blatantly taught against in the Bible
You know, I mean, it's just like the Mormons
They got Moroni who's an angel who gave you the revelation to Joseph Smith?
Even though the Bible says in Galatians if we are an angel from heaven preaching to the gospel that we have preached unto you
Let him be accursed. It's like the devil looking at just like just give that one to the Mormons
Okay, it's like the devil's looking at all these like, okay
This one's Catholics. This is for Mormons because all cults will do things like this
Where it's just something that's blatantly obvious in the Bible. They're just like say less
We'll just do the exact opposite. Okay, and here's a perfect example. Okay, look at verse number five
He says when thou prayest thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are
For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets why that they may be seen of men
Verily I say to you they have their reward
But one but that one thou prayest enter into thy closet and when thou shut the door pray to thy father
Which is in secret and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly
But when you pray use not vain repetitions as the heathen do for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking
Be not ye therefore like unto them for your father knoweth what things ye have need of before you ask him
Okay, so what is he talking about here? Well again, he uses a bad example, right?
Apparently the Pharisees and the Sadducees
Love standing in the corners of the streets and the synagogues
Praying out loud. Just kind of showing themselves to be really spiritual
Lord, I am NOT as other men are right or
Even as this publican or something. They love doing that because they want people to see. Oh, they're so
Godly they're so devoted. Look how they pray and
You know, this is a very vain thing to do here and he's saying there in verse number six that when we pray
It's not the fact that you're being extravagant in prayer. That's the bad thing. Okay
It's good to be passionate in prayer
Okay
The bad thing is like where you're doing it at, right?
Here it says, you know, you should do it in your closet. Okay, and that's not to say we shouldn't pray in public per se
but what it is saying is that the
Extravagance of that prayer the passion of the prayer should be done somewhere else in private where only God can see you. Okay?
Now let me say this is that you know, I've had people comment on on our videos my videos
Our services and I've even heard people say like criticize the way we pray here
They're like, why do you guys pray so irreverently you guys keep it so short there's no passion or whatever
you know, it's just like well because of the fact that you know, we're not trying to show off here and
The main purpose of us meeting together is to preach God's Word
Okay, and here's the thing. Is that the passionate prayer is done before all this
You don't see when we're praying in our closet crying out to God for our needs for our hurts
Our pains and the pains of others and you're never gonna see that
Why because that's designated to be in private with the Lord so he can see the contents of our heart
We're not looking to be seen of men. Look. There's a lot of services out there like oh god
you're just
Come down
Revival
By the way that first part is for the Pentecostals
Before we get into the Catholics the Pentecostals are guilty of this
Where these Pentecostal services these charismatic services, you know
They're just going buck wild or whatever in their services and holla shalabala in a six-pack dolla
How about a nice and I should about a Honda and they're all about dancing and waving their hands around why because they want to be
Seen of men. That's why
It's not for anything spiritual
Like well, I'm spiritual yeah, but you know, so are demons be more specific
You
Know that passionate prayer and look that's not to say that when we pray here if I pray here if I preach a particular
Sherman, you know, I might be drawn to tears
Right depending on the topic that I'm talking about, but that's not gonna be every single prayer now is it?
You know people someone was just like, you know these prayers beforehand, you know, you guys should spend a little more time in prayer
Why I?
Mean, you don't you don't think like this prayer can be answered
So if I just got up here and I said Lord bless the service
Bless the sermon and the singing in Jesus name. Amen. You don't think that's gonna get answered. I
Mean that's gonna get answered. Sorry if I don't have a charismatic spirit like you do
But you know what? We're just giving a basic petition for God to bless the service. It doesn't need to be extravagant my friends
The extravagant prayer should be in private
Where you're weeping you're crying out to God
You're asking God to deliver you to help you you're praying for others
You know all that stuff should be done in private
But you know people don't like to do that in private because it doesn't gain them the audience that they would like
Because people like people to see them be spiritual
But the truth is when it comes to prayer life, you know, your private prayer life should be filled with that. Okay, and
So
Pentecostals stop doing that
You know stop being such a hyper spiritual person and you know
Just going all wild in the services or whatever and thinking that that's godly
There's nothing godly about that. That's confusion is what it is. And God is not the author of confusion and
By the way, you know, God is not an author of speaking in tongues either. He's author of speaking with tongues, but not in tongues
Tongues is just simply a language, okay
So he says go in your closet
Shut the door pray to your father which is in secret and your father would seeth in secret shall reward the openly
Don't do it openly and think that God's gonna reward you in secret. It's the other way around
Now verse 7 is for the Catholics. So let me correct myself verse 5 and 6 are for the Charismatics
Verse number 7 is for the Catholics. He says when you pray listen to this use not vain repetitions as
The Catholics do or sorry the heathen
For they think they shall be heard for their much speaking. Now. What is this talking about? It says vain repetition
Vain means empty. Okay, and repetition is just something that's done repeatedly, right and
I mean, it's pretty self-explanatory there and
He says as the heathen do okay now
This is a great way to describe this because of the fact that if you if you study or if you've looked into for example
Eastern mystics the gurus and the ashrams they will repeat some mantra over and over again
That's what heathens do in order to put themselves in an altered state of consciousness
And you know, that's how they end up getting possessed or whatever
That's what heathens do but you know a lot of Christians
Or just people who claim the name of Christ have adopted those practices into their own
Catholics right and they'll often what they'll do is, you know, they'll pray a certain amount of Hail Mary's
Right our fathers or Hail Mary's and listen to this, you know, they think listen to this that the quantity of that prayer
Will earn them grace with God
So they'll pray those Hail Mary's like 20 times because they think they shall be heard for their much speaking
So they think well in order for me to get this prayer this desire that I want
I got to pray this Hail Mary like 50 times or something and they even have like a what is that like the beads?
The rosary we got a former Catholic over here
I got a rosary right and the rosary is
Literally meant
So you can keep track of
How many times you said that prayer the bead there's beads on that necklace or whatever that is
You know and they hold the bead they say a Hail Mary and look folks
Let me just say this is that no one has a monopoly on those prayers like Mexicans do
If you ever seen a Mexican pray the Hail Mary in Spanish you would think you're listening to like a rap song
It's just like a like an ak-47 it's just like
And they're like in unison, you know what I mean?
How many know what I'm talking about?
Okay
How are the how do you white people know what we're talking about? That's crazy
But you know that I've been to like, you know before I got say when I was a kid to you know
I forgot to call like vigils and they'll they'll pray like 50 Hail Mary's
because they think that the soul is in purgatory or something and it'll help them get out of purgatory and
And they'll be in unison. It's kind of creepy actually, but they've adopted that from the heathens
Okay, so they think that the quantity of prayers will gain them like a platform with the Lord favor with God grace with God
But they're not gonna be heard for their much speaking. Okay
Don't mistake much speaking with like an elongated prayer much speaking is referring to that vain repetition
Okay, where they're just vainly repeating a specific prayer or specific mantra specific passage or some of some
Sort but there's no heart involved
You see if you're just repeating words, but there's no heart to it doesn't really mean anything to God
Okay, you know God is not some computer that you're you know, putting in data
Understand just put it put it in data. You know, God is someone who actually is a person
who actually wants to hear you speak to him and
So when we pray unto the Lord when we go into, you know, our private in private our closet wherever it is you pray
We need to make sure that we have heartfelt prayers. Okay, we're speaking into God like, you know, like he actually exists
okay, and speak to them and reverence him and
Again, it's not talking about the the length of prayer. It's referring to the much speaking because of the vain repetition
Okay, and by the way all heathens do this and all false religions do this the Jews do this
When they're in front of the wailing wall
gesticulating
They're like repeating a mantra or they repeat a specific psalm because they think they shall be heard for their much speaking
We know they're not being heard at all because they don't have the Sun
If they don't have the Sun they don't have the Father doesn't matter what people say
and
So, you know really practical stuff here, you know
Like teach me teach us to pray is that all right for sure just don't do it like these heathens do or
These hypocrites do because in order for us to learn how to do something, right? It helps to know how not to do it
Right. It's just like cuz if not you can you know air in that area and and possibly practice something that's not right
He says a verse number eight
Be not you therefore like unto them for your father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask him
Now don't get this mistaken into thinking that this means that you shouldn't pray at all because God already knows what you need
No, God wants us to bring our petitions before him, even though he's omniscient and he does know our needs
He still wants us to bring those needs before him in prayer
It's like when you know, he said to Adam where art thou you think God didn't know where Adam was
What did he want from him? He wanted a confession
He wanted him to speak to him and in like manner God knows our needs
But he's commanded us to bring those needs before him as well. Why cuz prayer isn't at the faith as well
Because when we pray into God, we're showing God we believe that you are and you're a ward of them that diligently seek you
And therefore I'm gonna pray unto you
Expecting to see these results that you've promised to give
okay, and so, you know, it's important for us as God's people to be a people of prayer and
And obviously when we meet together
You know as Christians at church the main purpose is for the preaching of God's Word
Like what that the Bible says that my house shall be called a house of prayer
Yeah, we are a house of prayer because we pray here. We pray when we go home. We pray on our drive home
We pray when we're just living our day-to-day lives. We are a people of prayer doesn't mean you have to pray in one specific location
It just means we're supposed to be a people who are communion with God. We're praying unto the Lord
We're asking God for these things. Okay
He says in verse number nine after this manner therefore pray him so he gets into the model prayer now
Here's the funny thing. Okay, cuz I you know, I'll correct Catholics on this and I'll say hey, that's a vain repetition
God says don't do that. Oh
Yeah
Well, you missed a couple verses after that
You know, he says right there to pray this specific prayer
So they pray this our Father which are in heaven prayer
And just completely ignore the previous verse that says don't use vain repetition
So it says don't use vain repetition and they're like got it. We'll repeat this over and over again
It's like you're not gonna be hurt for your much speaking got it not 10 but 20
So
Let's just completely ignore what Jesus says here and
Just do it. Anyways, right
Now let's read through this actually before we read through them. Let me explain a couple things here. Okay?
Because their argument is you criticize us for praying the model prayer, but Jesus said to pray it so what now
You
Catholic something like why would you criticize us for praying that if it's right there, right?
So their justification for repeating this prayer is that Jesus said to pray it but you know, it's kind of funny
You know because we have so many examples after this of people praying and none of them are praying the model prayer
There's so many examples of people praying in the New Testament and this is never found coming out of anyone's mouth
Hereafter
and by the way
Jesus prayed after this and
He still didn't repeat it prayed in John chapter 17 when he's praying for his disciples
He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane and he never repeated this prayer ever again
Like nope, nope, we gotta repeat it gotta be how if when we look at the example of the New Testament
You don't see anybody else praying this
Nobody else is saying our father which are in heaven hallowed be thy name, you know
Cuz they always like do that Latin little vocalization in the masses or whatever and no matter the party who speaks on tools
You said what is this for them
Well, it's often referred to as the model prayer because what it is
It's a model prayer to kind of give you the main essentials of prayer
Okay, basically saying this this is what should be included when you pray unto the Lord
Okay, the bare basics and this is a good prayer to give to someone
Who's a brand-new Christians who may not know how to pray they read this and say, okay
These are the essential elements to prayer when I go to God the Father in prayer. This is what I should include
He says in verse number eight, or I'm sorry verse number nine
After this man to therefore pray ye our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name
So when you pray address God the Father
When it says hallowed be thy name recognize that he's God show reverence show fear because his name is holy
He says our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in
Heaven, so when we go to God in prayer
We should not only address God the Father in a reverential way, but we should come to him wanting to do his will not ours
Thy will be done
So we go to God even though we come with a desire a petition of our home at the end of the day
We relinquish the outcome to God, right? It's like your will Lord not mine
Your kingdom not mine. This is the mentality of people are to have
He says in verse 11 give us this day our daily bread
So what's that showing us showing us that we should come to God for our basic necessities of life
Lord provide for my meals provide for our sustenance or rent our mortgage
Provide for our health give us this day our daily bread why cuz God wants you to pray for those basic necessities
He wants you to pray for the big problems
But he also wants you to pray for the small ones as well the day-to-day things that you need. Okay?
Give us this day our daily bread
He says it forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors. So what's another thing that God wants you to do in prayer?
He wants you to confess your sins before him and ask him to forgive you because the Bible says if we confess our sins
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness
So God wants us to come before him continuously on a day-to-day basis
Recognizing our trespasses against him and by the way, it says as we forget our debtors
Right. So it's like I want you to forgive me because I forgiven other people too because guess what?
That is the stipulation to be forgiven of God not talk about salvation here, by the way
Because he said if you skip down to verse 14 it says and if you forgive men their trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you
but
If you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your father forgive your trespasses. This is a great
incentive to forgive people around you
Because God is saying I don't care how great the offense was if you don't forgive them. I'm not gonna forgive you
I'm not even gonna listen to you and the Bible speaks of prayers becoming or excuse me, the heavens becoming as brass
If you're not willing to forgive someone
God says then don't bother praying
What does it mean when it says the heavens will become as brass in other words you pray and it just like hits the ceiling
Doesn't get it doesn't even leave the atmosphere
Doesn't leave the stratosphere
Doesn't just go it doesn't just doesn't go anywhere. It doesn't go to heaven
It's like, you know you you mail out a package and it just comes back to you
Your words just like you got the wrong address or something like that
I mean, you know what I'm talking about
You mailed something out and then you get it back and it has like another sticker on there or something
It's just like man. I thought they got this or something. Well, you know you wrap up this package of prayer
You're like Lord. I need this. I need you to provide for this
I need you forgive me for this and you send it off and then God just like sends it right back
He's just like address not found
You got the wrong address or something
And he's just like what happened? I'll tell you what happened. Uh, you haven't opened up the package of
The person who's asking you to forgive them
All right, and don't take this lightly either you're like well fine, I just won't be forgiven of God
Okay, but here's the thing when you're not forgiven of God
Number one you suffer the consequences of your own actions
But number two you suffer God's chastisement
Number two is
scary and
Here's the thing don't be the kind of Christian that says well
I've already kind of thought out how I'll be punished by God
And I've kind of already made peace with that doesn't work that way
God's like a surgeon when it comes to that stuff. I
Mean he will hit you where it hurts and sometimes he doesn't hit you
Maybe he'll hit you in another area whether that be your health your job your kids
he'll hit you in an area where you're like, oh, I didn't see that one coming and
Then you're gonna do you're like, oh, yeah
Let me let me open up that package that that person sent me because I need to send this package because I'm suffering here
you don't want to get to that point and
So part of praying is asking God to forgive you but also recognizing I need to make sure I forgive my brethren
Forgive my wife forgive my husband forgive my children forgive my boss
Forgive my pastor or whatever if I have offended you or something, you know
forgive whoever
forgive them and then you know, the package goes straight through like the
Brass is removed and then when you mail that package of petitions, you know
It actually reaches his destination and then you know, you you get a you get a gift card
It reaches the destination, you know, no illustration is perfect, okay
So he says forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and then he says lead us not into temptation but deliver us from
Evil, so he's saying, you know Lord guide me, right?
So our prayer should be filled with Lord direct me Lord guide me and help me
Not to be visited with evil leaving not into temptation deliver me for the from these things help me to be spirit-led
Okay
So again, this is a model prayer because of the fact that it possesses the elements that are necessary for a successful prayer life
It's not saying you're supposed to repeat this because of the fact that we see no example people repeating this prayer at all in the New
Testament
and of course we went over verses 14 and
15 let me finish up with verse 16 here
Moreover when you fast be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance for they disfigure their faces that they may appear into men to
Fast verily I say unto you they have their reward, but thou will now fastest
Anointing thine head wash thy face that thou appeared not into men to fast but unto thy father which is in secret
And thy father which seeth in secret shall reward the openly fast things referring to going without food for a particular purpose
And by the way, let me just say this is that fasting is not commanded of God
Okay, it's not something that God commands you to do
It's an accessory spiritual discipline that you can supplement with your prayer life to get a prayer answer. Okay, and
You know
You don't have to fast for a week or three days or a month or anything like that
The the example that we see in the Bible and fasting is like a 24-hour period or even just like a meal
Okay, and the reason people fast and they couple that with prayer
It's because they're essentially using the time that they would typically eat to pray
Understand so at lunchtime you typically eat at 12
It's like well, I'm gonna fast this meal and I'm gonna pray I'm gonna give myself over to prayer
I'm gonna flick my body by not eating and then give myself to prayer and he's saying here don't be like the Pharisees that when
They fast they're just kind of like, you know, what's wrong? Nothing, you know, I just haven't I can't say, you know
It's like they want to tell you that they're they want you to know that they're fasting
Which by the way this also applies to the Catholics
because during
Lent for example, you know the beginning of Lent when they fast
You know some fast food, but other fat they fast, you know, like movies or something. They always some stupid, right?
But we know all of us know
when Catholics observe Lent
Who doesn't know
You say well how because you go to the grocery store to go to the coffee shop
You see a bunch of people with dirt on their face
you see there's just this blotch of ashes on their forehead and
They're just walking around, you know, just kind of showing everyone
There's all these guys Catholic
This guy, you know, but but again
They always do the the exact opposite what the Bible says not to do because the Bible says when you fast
Anoint your head and wash your face
But thou appear not unto men to fast
Catholics is like nope
And they keep it on there for a couple days or something, you know
and and Jesus is just like
You guys don't get it
It literally says when you fast, you know wash yourself up
anoint your head
Don't have a long face
Make sure you don't disfigure your face to make it look like which by the way putting ashes on your forehead
It's like disfiguring your face because you're calling attention to yourself
Mark Wahlberg
You know and then you got Christians like backing him up and praising him for standing for his faith
There's no faith there putting the faith in the Catholic Church that's gonna take him to hell when he dies
Mark Wahlberg is gonna split hell wide open
The Catholic Church is not Christianity my friends. The Pope is the vicar of hell
Catholicism is a false religion
That is teaches a works-based salvation
It's wicked and it's taken millions and millions of people to hell because they have a false gospel
You know, they're in their faggoty priesthood
Molesting children and hiding all that stuff and putting it under the rug and stuff. You know that that religion is whack
and
They're all about the glitz and glamour. They want people to see you know, they're they're how how pious they are
How devoted they are putting ashes on their forehead or whatever. That's not from the Bible. Jesus said himself don't do that
And
So, you know fasting is obviously not commanded of God
It's just an accessory discipline that God encourages you to do if you need a specific need to be met
greatly these things come down out by by a prayer and fasting right and
so
Again, he says I will reward you openly if you do it that way
So we'll stop right there because I'm gonna finish the second half next week
But great practical pragmatic teaching there right on prayer on almsgiving on fasting
And you know, the Lord is the one who's providing this this template of preaching to where he's like
This is the way you do it. And let me just call out the people who are doing it wrong
So you don't do it like them. Okay, you know and by the way, that's how we want to be when I'm preaching
I'm telling you don't be like the Catholics and
So preachers can't be like well don't be like, you know that one church not gonna say who but you know, though
You know
You know the beads and stuff. I don't want anybody or whatever
Say it's the Catholics
We're fundamental baptism in and so great chapter here. We'll finish up next week. Let's pray father
We thank you so much help us as your people not to be as the hypocrites Lord because we know that
Unsafe people are definitely like this especially in religious circles
But there's also temptation for even safe people to fall into this trap
I pray that you'd help us as your people not to be that way Lord and
To be as discreet as we possibly can when we give alms
To not have vain repetition when we pray but that we may come before you with heartfelt prayer Lord and
Weep in secret Lords that you may reward us openly and I pray to you bless our church Lord bless those in our church
And help us Lord as your people to live a life that's pleasing unto you
Help us to increase and in godliness Lord and put these principles into practice. We love you. We thank you
Pray these things in Jesus name. Amen