Amen. Right, so Matthew chapter six, we're basically in the middle of the Sermon on the
Mount as it's known as. And just to remind you that he speaks to what was described as
both the multitudes and his disciples. So I believe when you look at it that basically
that the multitudes are being described as his disciples here. Matthew 4.23 said, And
Jesus went about all Galilee teaching their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the
kingdom and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
And there followed him, it says then if you jump to verse 25, and there followed him great
multitudes of people from Galilee and from Decapolis and from Jerusalem and from Judea
and from beyond Jordan. Then in Matthew 5.1 it said, And seeing the multitudes, he went
up into a mountain. And when he was set, his disciples came unto him. The multitudes are
his disciples, I believe. Matthew 7.28, if you jump forward, it says, And it came to
pass when Jesus had ended these sayings that people, the people, plural, were astonished
at his doctrine. In Matthew 8.1, when he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes
followed him. So for me, these multitudes are saved, they're believers, they're what
we'd call disciples. If ye continue my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. They're looking
to continue in his word, they're trying to continue in his word. And this is what his
word's saying. So basically he's preaching to believers here. And that's what we're going
to see here as we go through these verses, and as we've already seen in chapter 5 as
well. So the teachers of the saved multitudes, last week in chapter 5, we saw how Jesus was
correcting the false work salvation preached by the scribes and Pharisees. He was showing
how you would have to be perfect if you were going on basically on their teachings, on
their work salvation. And with that in mind, let's see what Jesus is teaching us as disciples,
how we should behave then. Okay, so what's he telling us how we as believers, we're disciples,
I hope everyone here calls themselves a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, they want to follow
the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, what's he telling us to do? Well, Matthew 6, verse number 1,
and he says here, take heed that ye do not your arms before men to be seen of them, otherwise
ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore, when thou doest sign
arms, 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 arms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth,
that thine arms may be in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall
reward thee openly. I'd also like to pray quickly before we continue. So Father, I thank
you for this great chapter of the Bible. Help me to just preach it accurately now. Help
me to preach it clearly and boldly and help those to just have attentive ears now. Fill
me with your Spirit, Lord, please, and just help me to preach these passages as you'd
want them preached. In Jesus' name, pray all this. Amen. Now, just to say as well, I think
we're just going to do half the chapter here. We'll probably get up to verse 15. Okay, so
he's talking about arms here. He said that arms may be in secret. Arms are what we would
now basically call charity, you know, works of righteousness, good deeds, something like
that, yeah? Verse 1, he said, Take heed that ye do not your arms before men to be seen
of them, otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. So he's saying
to be careful, watch out, that you're not doing charitable things in front of people
on purpose. Okay, sometimes you're going to do charitable things in front of people
but he's saying to be seen of men. Okay, what's your goal? Why are you doing it in public?
Why are you doing your things in front of people? Why? Why is he saying that? Because
if you do, there's no reward of God, otherwise you have no reward of your Father which is
in heaven. Now, this public charitable acts is pretty popular in the world right now,
isn't it? Which means it's going to affect us, yeah? And it is popular in the world.
We see it everywhere, don't we? From celebrities, I remember this sickening thing a while back
I saw come up, I think it might have been on YouTube and it was, I think it was Anthony
Joshua, the heavyweight boxer, and he's got this film crew following him while he goes
to his old coach from wherever it was to give him the keys to this brand new whatever card.
You know, it was like a PR exercise, people go, what a kind guy. It's like, you know,
it would have been much better had he just not told anyone, wouldn't it? Had he not had
this whole film crew to then publicise it to everyone else. And that's just, you know,
to be honest, that's minor compared with most, isn't it? Most, it's just a massive big deal
what you do for other people, you know, it's all plastered all over the place. How many
politicians? You know, the cheesy grin while they're over the bed of some poor cancer riddled
child or something else and it's sickening, isn't it? It really is sickening and we know
that that politician doesn't give a damn about that child. It's all public relations and
this stuff is everywhere, isn't it? And it's not just the people in the public eye but
we see that a lot. We see celebrities, sportsmen constantly trying to show everyone how charitable
they are. But obviously that then, you have the knock-on effect where you see it with
people everywhere, don't you? I remember when I used to go on Facebook regularly and you'd
see it constantly. People I used to know when I used to kind of have an account with old
friends and it'd be, you know, the latest single and some of them would be cleverer
than others. Some would just be like, I gave charity today to someone, you know, I did
this, I gave money to a home. Now other people, they would try this, what they thought would
be clever. They'd say, it really sickens me, you know, when people don't stop to let old
ladies cross the road. I had to stop today. And it's, you know, they think they're being
clever, really they're having a rant but really they're just trying to tell everyone they
let that old lady across the road, you know, or when I stopped to give someone cash, you
know, when I stopped to give this homeless person money and people were just walking
by, you know, and really, let's be honest, all they wanted to do was tell everyone that
they stopped to give homeless people money. And the sad thing is, is that people always
think they're cleverer than they are, don't they? Yeah. And we, everyone can do this,
can't they? Where they want people to see something, they want something to notice something
so they try and be a bit clever and a bit manipulative. It's a bit deceitful really,
isn't it? To try and make a point of what they're doing or what they've done and try
and slip it into conversation or slip it onto social media or whatever it is. And again,
this stuff is everywhere. Now, what was the more recent one that we saw was the vaccine
certificates. Yeah, everyone remember that one that was going around? People were having
pictures of themselves with their vaccine certificate, look what I'm doing for my fellow
man. And I mean, it was, again, sickening, isn't it? Sickening because it's so against
the teachings of God to be going around trying to show off and show everyone what, how charitable
and everything else you are. And again, you know, it's quite clever by, you know, whoever
started pushing that one because you probably had, I don't know how many thousands, millions
vaccines sold to people who probably might, maybe would have been on the fence and thought,
yeah, but now I can get this certificate and if I don't, I'm going to be the one that doesn't
have the certificate. So you see how this stuff works, but how it works. Now, Christians
will do the same though. So yeah, we could sit there and we can mock the world and it
is laughable, isn't it? And when you look at the world, it is laughable, but we can
all fall into the same traps, do the same stuff. We all have the same flesh as the people
in the world and Christians do the same, don't they? Now, it's not just Christians. It's
not just the liberal worldly Christian and the liberal worldly church that just does
all the same stuff. It even has the vaccine certificate. I got my COVID vax or whatever
it is on Facebook, on whatever social media is popular nowadays. It's not just them because
even the NIFB Christian, even the New Independent Fundamental Baptist Christian can still do
this, do that, thine arms to be seen of men. And it says here, take heed that you do not
your arms before men to be seen of them. Who's he talking to? He's talking to New Independent
Fundamental Baptists, isn't he? He's talking to people that want to hear the word of God.
He's talking to people that want to hear the unadulterated word of God. They're actually
sitting there at the feet of Jesus Christ, listening to what he's got to say. They want
to hear what the word of God says. And I'm sure they want to do what the word of God
says as well. And he's warning them, isn't he? He's saying, take heed. Because look,
we can all fall into this. What's one of the biggest arms that we all do? Soul winning.
Yeah? One of the biggest arms that we do is soul winning. And how many soul winners can
still fall into this of wanting to show off about their soul winning? Wanting to talk
about their soul winning to other people and, you know, we could tell ourselves, well, it's
to encourage, but is it really to encourage? Or is it just to let people know just to show,
oh, by the way, just going off soul, just did a bit more soul winning, everyone, just
in case I didn't mention it to you. It happens, doesn't it? Happens in churches. It happens
amongst Christians. Good Christians that want to go out and preach the gospel can fall into
that trap of then wanting to show everyone else, tell everyone else. And what happens?
What happens? Do you think, oh, brother Ian, I hope you're not getting at me. Well, look,
at the end of the day, you're going to lose your reward in heaven if you're doing that.
Okay. It says here, otherwise you have no reward of your father, which is heaven. What
a shame. Imagine you've been pounding the streets, 40 degrees. Yeah. Maybe someone went
out Tuesday evening. Yeah. They were pounding the streets, 40 degrees in the UK. And then
they just had to just, just be making a big point of it to other people, telling everyone
all about it in their mind. They wanted to be seen in men. What a shame. You just lost
out on some awards there, buddy. And you could have got some good one. I bet like that 40
degrees somebody gets better rewards than 20 degrees soul winning. Yeah, I'm sure it
does. Yeah. But look, you're going to lose out on that. So we, we, we have to take heed
that we're not sounding that trumpet. We're not doing the before we go soul winning. And,
and before we do anything like that, before we do it, and we can all fall into it in many
different ways before we, I dunno, I'm going to do something kind. I'm going to have someone
who comes from a father's day at my home, but I'm going to tell everyone about it, or
I'm going to invite someone around, but I'm going to make that big point of it. I'm whatever
it is, whatever it is, we have to be careful. Now, look, if it happens to come in conversation
and you've got a pure heart, good luck to you. You ain't losing no rewards. It's not
that everything has to be a secret. It's not that your soul winning has to be secret soul
winning. Okay. But, but what's your motivation? What's your motivation when that trumpet's
blown? And that's the key thing. Only you know your heart, don't you? Only you know
your heart. So look, clearly the issue is no rewards. Verse two says, therefore when
thou doest sign arms, do not sound a trumpet before 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. So this is, you know, obviously it's an amusing picture, isn't it? Of a sort
of, you know, the town crier, just to let you know, I'm just going to help out this
hobo, you know, which by the way, you're not really helping them out when you're flying
cash at drug addicts and drunkards. Okay. Whatever the world says. But you can imagine it, can't
you? And, but did you know that the trumpet blowing can be subtle? Did you know that?
You're thinking, what are you talking about by the way? And trumpet blowing, trumpet blowing
can be subtle because some people, some people can blow a trumpet so subtly that people are
wondering if it was a trumpet or actually a trombone or was it actually a horn? Yeah.
Cause they're not quite sure. What's the equal of that? Because we could be subtle about
trumpet blowing, can't we? Yeah. Everyone has, has the ability to be subtle about their
trumpet blowing. So just because you're not obvious about it, just because you're not
literally blowing a trumpet and announcing to everyone, whatever it is that you think
you're doing that's such a righteous deed. Yeah. It doesn't mean that you're still not
blowing your trumpet. Okay. So just make sure that you just got to, and look, you know,
when that comes into your mind and you've got to cut that out, you've got to think about
these verses. You've got to think, think about those for what? Oh, by the way, I don't do
things for rewards. Yeah, you do, you liar. Yeah, you do. Look, the word of God's constantly
telling us about rewards because it's a good incentive, isn't it? Yeah. Rewards are a good
incentive because we all have the carnal flesh. Yeah. Okay. So look, look, I'm not saying
everything you do is for rewards. I'm not saying every time you want to be kind to someone
you're thinking, rewards, rewards, but sometimes you do and at the end of the day, what a shame
to lose out on them. If you even, if you didn't think about them at all, maybe those rewards
be even better. I don't know. I tell you what, what a shame to lose out on them if what you're
thinking deep down is, but how am I going to impress so and so? Look, someone's going
to hear this or I'm going to look like the top, whatever it is, the best at this, the
top at that. So we don't want to do that, do we? Now, who does it affect then? Who does
it affect when we do that? Us. Yeah. It affects you, yourself. You're doing that. You're blowing
the trumpet. You're doing it to be seen in a minute. It affects you, but it also affects
those around you as well. So we've got to watch this as well because if you're a trumpet
blower, yeah, sometimes people end up thinking, oh, the trumpet's being blown. I better get
out my trumpet as well. It's trumpet time. Yeah. Because a lot of the time when you see
trumpets, it's not always on their own. Sometimes there's a little, at least there's a little
sort of, you know, horn section of the band. Yeah. It might be only, you know, one or two
trumpets. Maybe there's, like I said, a trombone or something. But it's not usually on its
own. It's not usually a solo. And you've got to be careful that when you're blowing your
trumpet, not only are you losing your awards, but you're encouraging someone else to blow
their trumpet as well because it is contagious and a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
Okay. So what we don't want to do is see some trumpet blowing and think, oh, well that's
all right then. I might as well carry on blowing my trumpet. Yeah. So look, we want to be careful
with this. Okay. This is something that we want to make sure we cut out, not just for
us, but for those around us. Verse three says, but when thou doest arms, let not thy left
hand know what thy right hand doeth. So on one hand, like this, yeah, this is a pun.
You could, you don't all have to laugh at once. On one hand, you could say that it's
a sort of extreme picture here, isn't it? He says, but when thou doest arms, let not
thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, of it being so secret that even your other
hand doesn't know. Okay. So it's this, this extreme picture there as well. But on the
other hand, because you don't want to, you don't want to, you know, basically you don't
want to ruin your, your rewards. Yeah. Okay. You don't want to ruin your rewards. Maybe
you could also apply it to the fact that we together make up the body of Christ, don't
we? Yeah. So we together make up the body of Christ. You don't want your left hand,
the right hand, that's like, again, a picture of the body of Christ to know what you, so
you don't have to tell everyone about all the good things you do basically. Okay. But
obviously you could as well see it as an extreme picture of, you know, one hand should even
know what the other hand's doing as well. Okay. Because basically you, you, you don't,
you don't want to arm your rewards, do you? Okay. So verse four says that thy arms may
be in secret and thy father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. Okay.
So those rewards, those rewards can be both in heaven, I believe, and, and on earth. Okay.
And we can get blessings in life and we can get that, the Lord's face shining upon us.
But obviously there's a lot in the Bible and we're not going to go there right now. We've
gone through this before, but there's a lot in the Bible about rewards waiting for us
in heaven. Okay. And you don't want to affect that guys. Okay. So he goes on with this.
Verse five says, and when thou prayest thou shalt not be as a hypocrite, so for they love
to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be
seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. Now it's the same with praying.
And I've been around some terrible hypocritical prayers over the years. Okay. And, and look,
you get these, I've been in bad churches with this, with people that just love those long
winded, they're just try, you can just, cause you know the person as well and you know,
you could just see it and okay, we don't know everyone's heart, but you know where
there's just people that they're just trying their best to just sound like the best, most
structured most, you know, whatever prayer it is. And, and, you know, that's, there is
that risk, isn't there? When you put out open prayer in a church, when you say, brother,
whoever can you pray? I've been, I was at a church where they literally just took it.
I mean, women as well, just, you know, fair game, just go around and let you pray, you
know, on the prayer night. And it was pretty wicked and everyone was just praying for the
same stuff, just in a different way and trying to put in as much scripture as they can and
sound as spiritual as they can. And it's pretty bad because really, look, it's hypocritical.
They're not praying. They're not praying to pray to the Lord, which is what a prayer is.
It's all about how they're seen. And it's all about that they may be seen of men. Okay.
Now, it's a fine balance sometimes, isn't it? So, for example, when going for a meal,
what about when going for a meal? Because on one hand, we're all going out for a meal.
We're not ashamed to pray to God, are we? But on the other hand, we don't want to turn
that, well, I'm not ashamed into a five minute prayer. Yeah. Where it's, there's no need
for that, is there? And again, that then just crosses over to that. So look, for me, when
I go out for a meal, that's not really the time I don't feel to be, you know, praying
about all the many things that, you know, that I need to petition God for and all the
many thanks I need to thank God for. That's a bit weird at meal time in front of other
people, isn't it? Yeah. Look, I keep that for my private prayer or maybe my family prayer
time, you know? Yeah. So if we're out for a meal, I would consider that weird if it's
like pray for the meal. Yeah. Pray for the food. Give thanks for the food. Yeah. Maybe
thanks for the soul winning if we've been soul winning. When it goes into like the two
minute mark, for me, that's starting to get a bit weird. And it's uncomfortable, isn't
it? And it's not because you're embarrassed of that. It's more for the person. It's just
like, come on, man, what are you doing? And people can do that, can't they? But like I
said, churches where everyone's praying. And look, there could be the other one. I remember
one of the first churches I was at for a while. And okay, it wasn't, the prayer wasn't out
there open, yeah, to be heard. But what it was, was before the service, there was a lot
of people like this, praying and praying and praying and praying and something. You know,
and it's like, come on, yeah? Why don't you just, if you, look, if you really feel that,
but is that really why is it because they're looking at other people praying? And they're
like, now I'm going to have to look holy and spiritual as well. So suddenly you got half
the church that apparently the big prayer time is before church, when normal people
would just be fellowshipping, wouldn't they? Normal people would be shaking hands. In our
church, most people would be down in coffees and you know, and everything else. But no,
instead it's, it's, you know, people, and again, you know the heart, yeah? Look, you
know your own heart, yeah? Look, maybe it's got nothing to do with, maybe you just really
felt that need to, maybe you felt spiritual, you're in church, that's a good time. But
a lot of the time, let's be honest, it's to be seen of men, okay? It's to be seen of men.
And again, we just, we just need to cut that out and it's going to creep up. With some
people it's going to be more of a thing than others. We need to make sure we cut that out.
But notice again how there are rewards for praying. Did you know that? Rewards for praying.
Says here, and when thou prayest thou shalt not be as a hypocrite, sir, for they love
to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be
seen of men, verily I say unto you, they have their reward. And it says in verse six, but
thou when thou prayest enter into thy closet, and when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy
Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
So there are rewards for prayers. And I hope just if you take nothing else away from this
sermon tonight, just take away that you get rewarded for prayer. Because look, everyone
says it. It might be a cliché, but it's true. Almost every Christian probably feels that
their prayer life is something they could work upon at the least. If not, they feel
like they're failing with it. And if you just remind yourself that you actually receive
rewards for your prayers, that could be a good motivation, couldn't it? Yeah, good motivation.
Quite sure you're praying. But look, here he says when thou prayest enter into thy closet.
Now that's not saying that you can't pray in the open. We see examples of people praying
in the open in the Word of God, and they're not being rebuked for it. We see the Lord
Jesus Christ praying in front of people as well, but the majority of our prayer should
be in the closet, shouldn't it? And by that I mean should be private. It should be secret.
It should be something that we do. There should be a personal private prayer time between
yourself and God. Because look, that's your Heavenly Father. You want to have time with
your Father on your own, don't you? And he's willing to give you that time. He's saying,
look, pray to me, I'll hear you. And how many of us, it might be a quick prayer at dinner
time, if you remember, once you've chewed it a bit and you've suddenly forgot, and is
it much more? Or maybe a prayer at church. Look, take the time out. Take that time out.
And again, for me, morning time is a great time. Get up, get on your knees, pray to the
Lord. Have that time alone with the Lord. Pray to the Lord. And that should be what
the majority of our prayer life should be. And here's an interesting thing. Even when
you're in the closet in your bedroom, God sees and hears you. There's nowhere private
from God. In case you think, well, I'm not at church. God sees you. So make sure that
you're not embarrassing yourself either. OK, so verse 7 says, but when you pray, use
not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their
much speaking. OK, and that's basically the Catholic Church, isn't it? Yeah. Think about
their Hail Mary, full of grace or whatever it is. And they literally just drum it out,
don't they? Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat. Just vain repetition, chanting. And it's
eerie. Anyone here notice a difference between being in a church like that? And when I say
a church like that, there's other, you know, C of E, the Anglican Church, there's hardly
any difference, is it? I don't think a lot of more, you know, modern, sort of, even the
Presbyterians, all these churches, they all seem to merge, like the Orthodox Church are
like this. Anyone been in one pre and post salvation and notice a big difference? How
it feels? You've got, it's eerie, isn't it? And it feels like you're, it's like some sort
of just weird chanting. It's just, it's dark as anything. It's weird. And look, it's bizarre,
you know. I remember going into a church for a funeral and just hearing them chanting the
Lord's Prayer, chanting this, chanting that. It's absolutely bizarre. And you look around,
it just looks like a bunch of zombies chanting. And it's ridiculous, really, isn't it? It's
ridiculous because the thing that they probably chant the most, which they call the Lord's
Prayer, which is a ridiculous kind of thing to call it anyway, because the Lord was just
saying, when you pray, if anything, it's a disciples prayer, but regardless, the thing
that they pray the most is the thing which follows them saying, use, Jesus Christ saying,
use not vain repetitions. So, but when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen
do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Now, that, like I
said, that's from Catholics to Islam. How about Islam? We talked about that when I was
preaching on Islam the other week. It's all just repetitive, 30 odd times a day they'll
say certain ridiculous prayers. And what does it say, as a heathen do? Because they're a
bunch of heathens. Yeah, because it doesn't matter whether they, you know, oh, well, it's
the Abrahamic God. No, they're heathens. Yeah, the Word of God says they're heathens. Yeah,
what is a heathen? Well, Webster's 1828 says a pagan, a Gentile, one who worships idols,
yep, or is unacquainted with the true God, yep. In the Scriptures, the Word seems to comprehend
all nations except the Jews or Israelites as they were all strangers to the true religion
and all addicted to idolatry. And that's a pretty fair description for heathen, isn't it?
And that then is heathen Catholics, heathen Anglicans, heathen Islam, in fact, heathen
everyone. They're all a bunch of heathens because they don't know the true God. And
they all do heathen practices like the vain repetition. Yeah, I can still remember it from
when I was at school, you know, and it was some false Bible version, Our Father which art in
heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come. I could repeat it now in a false Bible version,
sadly, as well. And it's wicked, isn't it? It's wicked because it's, and it's a funny thing,
the versions are different in Matthew and Luke, just he uses different words because it was never
meant to be repeated en masse, because it was never meant to be this ridiculous
vainly repeated, just when you don't even think about it, no one thinks about it. They're all
just repeating it like some sort of, well, like the heathens that they are. Like I said,
it's ironic, isn't it, that these heathen fake Christians vainly repeat a so-called prayer
that comes after this verse. And like I said, they don't even know what they're praying for.
Verse 8 says, Be not ye therefore like unto them, for your father knoweth what things ye have need
of before ye ask him. It's not that he doesn't want us to ask, it's the empty, pointless
repetition that we're to avoid. And look, again, we, I don't think anyone here, hopefully,
will start chanting the Lord's Prayer. I was at an evangelical church, saved, and they, you know,
they were off on loads of points and everything else. But I remember this, they had a visiting
preacher come in, and then suddenly he just announced, you know, we need to get back to
the Lord's Prayer. Come on, let's everyone chant the Lord's Prayer. And I was, you know,
I'd been saved a year or so. I was kind of looking around thinking, what on earth? And a lot of
people were really uncomfortable because there were some, there were some saved people there,
and they're just like, what on earth? This guy's now trying to get everyone to chant the Lord's
Prayer. And he claimed to be some sort of evangelical preacher, but he said, be not ye
therefore like unto them. But, but we, look, we have to be careful that we don't do that, you know.
And look, okay, the food thing could be one, you can have your little ditty that you say,
yeah, we can all do it. Maybe we have our own little repetition thing we say when we eat our
meals. I hope you do pray for your food because you should pray for your food, should give thanks
for your food, should ask for God to bless your food. But maybe it's that, maybe we just have the
same thing we're doing. Look, we can fall into repetition. I'll start praying the same similar
things that I'm praying for. Maybe that's, yeah, I do try and think about what I want people to
pray for when I'm behind here. We have to be careful we don't go into vain repetition as
well, don't we? Because it's very easy to do that, to just start saying the same sort of prayers.
Okay, but we have to think about it, don't we? We have to think about what we're praying.
So, verse nine says, after this manner therefore pray ye our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. So this is a famous passage, isn't it? And like I said in Luke 11,
it's known as the Lord's Prayer. The key is here in Matthew's account, this beginning of this verse,
after this manner. That means in this way. It doesn't mean vainly repeat word for word these
words. After this manner, in the same sort of way as this, yeah? This is a good way of praying,
he's saying. He's saying, look at this, yeah? Like, because they're saying, you know,
we see in Luke, they ask him to teach them how to pray. So, like I said, he's just finished
saying use not vain repetitions. For your Father knoweth what things you have need of before you
ask him, therefore pray like this instead. Okay, now let's have a look at this. So it starts
with reverence of God. After this manner therefore pray you our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. What does hallowed mean? Consecrated to a sacred use or to religious
exercises, treated as sacred, reverenced, yeah? Now it doesn't seem like our world believes that,
does it? Yeah, hallowed be thy name. What a difference that is to how our world uses the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Like some sort of swear word, like some sort of filler, like some
sort of just empty, at the least empty vain word, if not like a cuss word, yeah? How wicked is it?
Isn't it wicked? And it's hard when you hear that, isn't it? But from the Lord Jesus Christ to God,
you know, all the many different ways, and I was talking about this, if there are people that do
their best to avoid this, but a lot of the time we were saying it's going to be something which
is like a replacement almost, isn't it? So something that begins with a j or a g sound,
you know, from g's or, you know, or goodness or gracious or good grief, it's all just a replacement
for God, isn't it? Now don't get me wrong, it's better that we were talking about this the other
day, it's much better than using the Lord's name in vain, it's much better than using the Lord's
name as some sort of swear word, yeah? But look, still we don't really want to use empty words
anyway, do we? So we want to try and just steer away, especially things which are just a replacement,
which sound like it, but hallowed, hallowed is the Lord's name, wholly consecrated, yeah? And again,
like all these, we just talked about all these heathens, they're all at it, aren't they? You knock
on a door or talk to someone who was, you know, it's all this old my God stuff, how wicked is that?
In the 10 commandments, isn't it? It's clear as day, yeah? Just cut it out. And when you say it,
look, you know, don't you? And some people will have had bad habits, yeah? They got saved,
they used to talk like that, they get saved, and then you realise pretty quick, don't you?
And then you kind of, you correct, you should be asking forgiveness and help with that sort of
thing, but all that sort of thing, that really winds me up, doesn't it? Especially with people
who claim to be saved and stuff, and they're still coming out with that stuff, that hallowed, hallowed
be his name, okay? We need to treat it like that, don't we? Verse 10 says, thy kingdom come,
thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. So he's telling us to pray for God's kingdom to come,
and that's something that we should all be praying for, yeah? Thy kingdom come.
Turn to 1 John 2, and while you turn, I'm going to read Revelation 22 20, where John says of Jesus
Christ, he which testifieth thee, sings saith, surely I come quickly, Amen, even so come Lord Jesus.
Now, no pre-tribbers, this isn't praying to suddenly vanish, yeah? That's not what he's
praying for. It's basically such a desire for God's righteous rule that we'd even be happy
to go through the tribulation, isn't it? It's such a desire for God's righteous rule that you're
saying, even so come Lord Jesus, because we should, look, I'm not saying we should want to go through
the great tribulation, but isn't there a hope, I hope there's just a yearning to just want to just
be with the Lord, yeah? To be under the Lord, for his kingdom to come, for his righteous
rule for the millennial reign, for the new heaven and new earth after that. Isn't that something
that we all want, we all crave, don't we? Because it's painful here, and that's even so come Lord
Jesus. It's not even so just vanish, I just want to vanish, I want to vanish. No, it's basically
saying that I'm willing to even go through that so we can just get on with a righteous world. We
could just get on with the Lord ruling with a rod of iron, yeah? And that's what, I hope that's what
we all want, but it should help, I believe, that sort of praying, thy kingdom come, gets our minds
right to prevent a love of the world too, doesn't it? You turn to 1 John chapter 2, look at verse 15,
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of
the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away,
and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. And it's the will of him
that sent me, yeah, that everyone that seeth the Son and believeth in him may have everlasting life,
yeah? That's a will. But praying, praying thy kingdom come is getting your heart right, I believe,
yeah? Praying thy kingdom come is saying I'm not loving the world, I don't want to love the world,
yeah? I want your kingdom to come. I don't want, because there are many Christians that maybe just
enjoy those things of the world a little too much, eh? Just enjoy that sin, that have that
pleasure of sin for a season a little bit too much, eh? And maybe they wouldn't really want
the Lord's kingdom to come yet, because they're just enjoying that little toe dipping into sin,
or maybe it's the full swimming sin, you know? Whatever it is, they're just enjoying it too much
to just be saying thy kingdom come. And I think that's a good just leveller for us, isn't it? Thy
kingdom come, get your heart set on wanting the things of God and wanting that righteous kingdom,
that righteous world. And it goes hand in hand with the next verse, which is teach us to pray
for God's will. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Sorry, back to Matthew 6 there.
So is God's will automatically done in earth? Is it? Sovereign God, you know, you hear these
Calvinist types say, no it is in heaven, but it isn't here, is it? God's will is done in heaven,
but God's will isn't automatically done in earth, otherwise everyone would be saved.
Because God's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, right?
So it's not, it's not, it's not being done. Look, we want it to be done, we pray for it to be done,
we should be praying for it to be done in our lives, but it's not being done. That's why there's
vile, wicked, disgusting things going on in this world. How many people you knock on the door and
they use that as their excuse? Well, they always come out of this notes, they go, I don't believe
in God. And you go, okay, you know, any reason, you know, well, if there was a God, he wouldn't
let blah, blah, blah happen. And that's, that's their answer, isn't it? Or if they're, you know,
well, I don't believe in God because he took blah, blah away from me or because this happened to me.
You don't believe it. So they all know deep down, don't they? They're basically either hate God
or they're just saying, well, what sort of God would let this happen? Well, the sort of God that
gives you free will. Yeah. The sort of God that allows free will in life and allows,
allows people to live their life. Yeah. And there's a lot of wickedness in the world. Right.
But we should be praying for God's will in our lives. We should be praying for God's will in,
in the world as well. Yeah. And God does answer prayers. Yeah. So the one, the one time that he
will sway free will, et cetera, is in response to prayer. Right. And we can get him to intervene and
do things and change things and make things happen and even change the heart of people in rule.
But it's as a response to prayer, isn't it? And that's something that we should, we should be
praying for things. We should be praying for the Lord to intervene. We should be praying for things
to happen, but we should be getting our hearts right of wanting the Lord's will to be done. We
should be wanting his will to be done in earth as it is in heaven. And that's in all things,
isn't it? And I hope that that's something, it's not just a little add on at the end of a prayer.
I hope that you're, you really, when you pray, you're saying like, I just want your will, Lord.
Yeah. Thy will not mine be done. And that's, that's the key, isn't it? That's the key in life.
Look, you're going to get things wrong. You're going to sin, but do you really want God's will?
And that's something we should do. Well, not in this area, because that would be a bit awkward.
That would be a bit, well, yeah, I want God's will in sort of this and that, but maybe not here
because I want to have a bit more fun in that part of my life. But look, it's never fun in the long
term, is it? Yeah, all that sin, it's always, always just ends badly. He then says in verse 11,
give us this day our daily bread. Okay, that's our provision. And if we pray for it,
we're right with God, then we don't have to worry, we can expect it, right? Verse 33,
if you just jump down, it says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all
these things shall be added unto you. Talking about wherewithal shall we be clothed and,
you know, and what shall we eat, etc. So look, part of that though, part of that's praying. So
seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness, part of that is a prayer life, isn't it? Yeah,
we're told to pray. That's seeking the Lord, being, being in his word, being, being,
being in communication with him, praying to him. That's all part of that. And if we're doing that,
we should, we should be able to expect our daily bread, but you know, we should just pray for
provision. Now notice there, it's, it said, it said, give us this day our daily bread.
He didn't say give us this day the finest food man has ever seen, did he? He didn't say give us this
day the slap up meals or even the junk food. Yeah, it's just your day, it's what you need,
what you require. And again, and, and having food of raiment led us there with be content.
That's how we should be. Now look, a lot of us fail with that, don't we? But we should be,
we should be content with what we need, with what we need to survive. And that's what we're praying
for. Look, God might bless you with some nice food. Yeah, I'm not saying there's anything wrong
with that. It's not sinful to eat nice stuff. It's not sinful to eat good food. But what we
should be praying for is, is, is nourishment. We're praying for what we need, aren't we? Our daily
bread. Okay. And, and you could say that goes across to everything. You could even say that
applies to the word of God as well too, doesn't it? Yeah, we should be praying for the daily
needs, our spiritual needs as well. We should be praying for, for all, all our needs, but what we
require, our needs, we don't, you know, and again, there's nothing wrong with asking for gifts. Yeah,
ask God for gifts, but here he's making that point of what your requirements are. That's the important
thing, isn't it? Okay. Then verse 12, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Now turn
to Matthew chapter 18. We spoke about this briefly last week, about reconciling with our brother
before offering our gift. What are our gifts? Sorry, what are our debts? Luke 11 4 says,
the parallel passage says, and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us.
So according to Luke 4, the debts he's talking about here are our sins. Yeah. Okay. You're in,
you're, they're debts. They're things that, that, look, if, if you're not right or you don't get them
forgiven, then God's going to punish you for. He's still, he's still well within his rights
to chastise you in this life, even if you're saved there, but Matthew 18 from verse 21, I believe,
just paints this picture so well. Okay. And it's, it's a bit of a longer passage. I'm just going to
read through it. I'll pause a couple of times, but verse 21, it says, then came Peter to him and said,
Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him till seven times. Now it sounds like
Peter is trying to sound all holy here and you get these people, don't you? They come up to you,
like they'll, they'll try and like ask you a question, but really they're just trying to
project their own holiness. And Peter, you know, he has a lot to learn. He does, he does, you know,
don't get me wrong. Peter's a great guy, isn't he? But he obviously has some cardinal parts to him
and he's like, so look, you can imagine him, like, how oft should I forgive my brother? You know,
till seven times, like, look how holy I am, Jesus. And Jesus just kind of crushes it straight away,
doesn't he? He says to him, Jesus said unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times,
until seventy times seven. You can imagine him feeling, you know, like I was thinking about,
this, when you, I was doing this recently, when we were getting, I got charged whatever,
some ridiculous bill for, for something with the council here. Yeah. And I, and I asked someone,
I said, how much do you think I got charged? And does it just ruin it when they go, like,
they kind of hit it or it go even higher? And they're like, it was like 900 quid and they're
like a thousand pounds. And you get this annoying, isn't it? When people do that,
if someone does that, just go low. Yeah. Give them a little bit for, just let them make their
point. You know, when they go high, just ruin it. Jesus Christ has done this. He's like, what about,
he's like, I say seventy times, oh man, he's just ruined it, didn't he? Yeah. Well, in a different
way, but yeah. So, so Pete is trying to sound holy. Jesus said unto him, I say not unto thee
until seven times, but until seventy times seven. Okay, that's 490 times. You might think,
well, that's not, you know, infinity. Well, that's, that's a lot of times to forgive someone,
isn't it? 490 times, yeah. And, and obviously he's just saying, look, you know, just, you just
got to keep forgiving. So verse 23, therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king,
which would take account of his servants. So this is what he's explaining to him here. And when he
had begun to reckon, one was bought unto him, which owed him 10,000 talents. But for as much
as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold and his wife and children all that he had
and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down and worshipped him saying, Lord,
have patience with me and I will pay thee all. Then the Lord of that servant was moved, moved
with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt. Okay, so this is a picture of the debt that
we've been forgiven by the death of Jesus Christ, okay. It's a picture though, okay. Just bear that
in mind, it's a picture. But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants,
which owed him 100 pence and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat saying,
pay me that thou orest. And his fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him saying,
have patience with me and I will pay thee all. So he's been forgiven and he goes out and starts
roughing up the guy that owes him, okay. Now 100 pence though is no like small amount. This is
basically about 10,000 pounds in today's money. If a penny is a day's wage, you're talking 100
times that, say about 100 pounds, you know, for a labourer's day's wage, about 10 grand approximately.
So it's no small debt, is it? Yeah, in our eyes, someone owed me 10 grand today,
yeah, I wouldn't consider that, it's just 10 grand, you know. Just a mere little,
little, look, that's a big debt, right. Okay, the fellow servant does want to pay though,
doesn't he? Okay, he wants to pay, he asks for giving that time and he would not, but went and
cast him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servant saw what was done,
they were very sorry and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord after that,
he had called him, said unto him, oh thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt because
thou desirets me, shouldest not thou also have had compassion on my fellow servant, even as I
have pity on thee. And his lord was wroth and delivered him to the tormentors till he should
pay all that was due unto him. Now that's chastisement, not eternal hell fire, because
there's no until with eternal hell fire, okay, it's eternal, hence the word eternal, right. Okay, so
here he's saying until, that's until he should pay all that was due unto him. So it's talking about
the chastisement of physical punishment in life. So likewise shall my heavenly father do also
unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone, his brother, their trespasses.
It's not just saying I forgive, it's from your heart, you know. Okay, but okay, before you know
everyone gets, jumps on this too much, there is a key point here. In verse 29, the fellow servant
fell down at his feet and besought him, didn't he? Yeah, the fellow servant was, was, was asking
for forgiveness, he was, he besought him, he was admitting fault basically, and falling down to ask
him if he would, basically if he could repay him. Now turn to Luke 17, where there's a condition to
the automatic forgiveness. Luke 17 and from verse 3, Luke 17 3 says, take heed to yourselves,
Luke 17 3, if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him,
and if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee,
saying I repent, thou shalt forgive him. So first off, it's, if it's important enough to bear a
grudge, then it's important enough to rebuke, isn't it? Yeah, so look, if, if you're bearing
a grudge with someone and you can't even go and reprove or even rebuke them, then I don't think
it was worth it, yeah, it's not worth the grudge in the first place. So don't be going and bearing
grudges with people, but not actually telling them what the problem is in the first place,
but, but if you, if it's important enough to rebuke, yeah, then, then,
look, if it's not, then move on, but if it is, if you rebuke and they repent, they have a change
of heart, they're admitting being wrong, then you're to forgive them, okay? Now, because there
are those that, look, you, you, someone can do you some pretty bad wrongs and you go up and you say
to them, look, you make it clear, you've done, you've done something wrong here, that was out
of line, that was out of order, and they don't repent, then you're not automatically obliged
to forgive. Now, I think you should, I think you should try and find it in your heart to do so,
we're forgiven a lot, but there's, like, Luke 17 is clearly saying there, if he repent,
if he repent, forgive him, because again, people like to add, like, extra rules to Christianity,
don't they? Well, aren't you a Christian? Aren't you meant to just forgive someone that did some
vile act to your family or something else that did this, or you should just forgive them,
shouldn't you? Well, are they even repenting? Are they even repenting? And look, and there's fake
repentance as well, isn't there? Okay, if he repent, it says here, forgive him, and again,
if you turn again to the, even if it's seven times in saying I repent, thou shalt forgive him, okay?
But they've got to, they've got to seek that forgiveness, right? Now, it's great if you can
anyhow, yeah, but those are the rules there for forgiveness, and it's the same with God.
If you're not even admitting fault, yeah, is he just going to forgive you, let you off the
physical chastisement? So, and again, we're modelling ourselves and God here, and okay,
I'm not saying you have to chastise each other, but does God just turn around and go, yeah,
whatever, yeah, yeah, well, don't worry. Look, when it, look, when it came to the Lord Jesus Christ,
ultimately, yeah, look, I'm not saying you had to say I need forgiveness, but when you were,
when you put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, it was for forgiveness of your sins, right?
Okay, now, here, when it comes to, to when people are trespassing against you,
with God, well, go back to Matthew 6, with God, it's, it, there's an if there, isn't there? There's
an if, because, well, again, you don't have to turn there, but I've got it in my notes here
somewhere. 1 John 1-8, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves in the truth and not
in us. If we confess our sins, his faith will just forgive us our sins, because he's a small
unrighteousness, right? If, yeah, if, if we confess our sins, and look, again, if you can forgive
someone, great, because ultimately, look, what does, what does a lack of forgiveness do? What
does bitterness do? It only affects you, really, so that, well, I'm going to really punish them now,
yeah, because I'm not going to talk to them. Does that really punish them? No,
but you still don't have to. You're not obliged to in your heart when someone isn't even,
even repenting of it, okay? Again, that's, that's a choice you can make there. Now, go back to
Matthew 6, verse 13 says, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine
is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Okay, so the trials are going to come, so,
so why pray not to be led into them? Ever wondered that? So we get, we have trials, why pray? Now, I
believe, and, and again, I might, you know, just something I feel here, that this is directly linked
to the previous verse. I might be wrong there, so just something I was thinking while I was looking
at this, where he said in, he said in verse 12, he said, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our
debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Okay, and we're just looking
at this part for a second here, because when we don't forgive, the chastisement comes, which
often is a form of trial, God, God leading us into temptation. Okay, I'm not saying he's tempting us
with sin, it, the temptation being trials, yeah? Okay, God leads us sometimes into trials in life.
Sometimes those trials are chastisement, aren't they? Sometimes we go into trials in life as a
correction, as, as a way to getting us right. A lot of the time it's a way to getting us to seek
God again, and the main theme of the prayer here is to forgive. Okay, the main prayer,
the main theme is for us to be forgiven as we forgive others, and not lead us into temptation,
but instead deliver us from evil. In fact, he then confirms, doesn't he, in the following two verses.
Verse 14 and 15 says, for 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.
Now, he didn't put that in after verse, what is it, after verse 12. He put that in at the end
after verse 13, didn't he? So he's, he's talked about in verse 12, forgive us our debts as we
forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is a
kingdom, and a pound of glory for ever our men, for if you forgive not men your trespasses. That's kind
of like the theme of the prayer, really, I believe. That's kind of the main takeout from the prayer. He's
teaching them, he's giving them an example of how to pray, and the key take-home point is, if you
forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you, but if you forgive not men
their trespasses, neither will your, will your father forgive your trespasses. Okay, that's, that's,
that for me is the theme, forgive people and our father will forgive us. Okay, not talking obviously
about salvation, he's talking to the saved. Verse 13 said, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver
us from evil for thine is a kingdom, and a pound of glory for ever our men. Because also though, temptation
isn't pleasant, is it? So even if you're going, well, that's, you know, you know, I don't think that that's
linked. Well, either way, do you want to be led into temptation? Do you, look, as much as we get
strengthened sometimes by trials in life, yeah, we, we, we can, you know, we can get some, get some good
bonuses from that, we can get rewards in heaven, it's not pleasant, and, and it's not always chastisement,
temptations aren't, but either way it's not pleasant, and obviously it does strengthen us too.
But Matthew, you don't have to turn to Matthew 26 41 says, watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation,
the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Okay, so we don't really want to get in there,
because as much as our spirit might be willing to go through these things, our flesh is weak, isn't it?
Our flesh is weak, and temptation, a lot of the time, even though we might not be tempted above
that which we are able to bear, but a lot of the time we will just fail anyway, won't we, because our
flesh is weak. So, don't seek it, avoid it, and one of those ways I believe is by forgiving others,
that's one way that we can avoid certain trials in life. The prayer was also deliver us from evil
though, wasn't it? So, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, to be protected, safe from
evil, and I hope everyone here, you know, I'm sure everyone here wants to be protected and safe from evil.
Turn to Psalm 46, because whether it is chastisement or the trials and tribulations of life,
there's only one deliverer, isn't there? There's only one deliverer.
While you turn around, I'm going to read Psalm 18 2, where David said,
the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust,
my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my high tower.
That's a pretty good description, isn't it there? My rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my
strength, in whom I will trust, my buckler and the horn of my salvation, my high tower. And Psalm 46
just says that in a kind of longer way, where it's to the chief musician for the sons of Korah,
a song among, upon Alamoath, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
So he's there, he's there, whether it's, whether it's like we spoke about in Jonah chapter two,
whether it's because you're being afflicted by God or whether it's not, it's just the trials and
tribulations of life, or whether it's something you've brought upon yourself,
he's there, he's a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be
removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof
roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof, Salah,
there is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the
tabernacles of the most high. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved, God shall help her,
and that right early, talk about his people there, the heathen raged, the kingdoms were
moved, he uttered his voice, the earth melted, the Lord, so look, this is, look, our God's powerful
isn't he, you think he can't deliver you from your trouble, you think he can't help you, he can help
you, the Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge, Salah, come behold the works
of the Lord, what desolations he has made in the earth, he maketh walls to cease unto the end of
the earth, he breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder, he burneth the chariot in the
fire, be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in
the earth, it's basically saying be patient, the Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our
refuge, Salah, and look the first thing to do in any trouble is to pray to God isn't it, the first
thing we should do and how often do we not do that, so often when we're going through trouble,
we're going through hard times or something that is our first reaction, right pray to God,
sometimes it's the last reaction sadly, sometimes it's the last thing we do, it should be the first
thing we do shouldn't it, first thing you should do in any trouble, any problem, any issue is pray
to God, straight away pray to God and look you can pray in your head, you can pray out loud,
whatever the situation calls for, pray to God, that's the first thing we should do because he is
a very present help isn't he, he's a presence all the time and he's ready to help us, he's our
shield and our buckler, he's our high tower and if you go back to Matthew chapter
6 there, it talks about delivering us from evil and look, Lord is the deliverer of our soul
but he's also the deliverer of us physically as well, he is our help, he is that present
help in trouble and well then it says, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil
for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen. So Jesus said after this
man therefore pray ye and there it's just gone back to reverence, it's gone back to reminder
of the truth that God's a boss, giving him the glory and it started with that as well didn't it,
so basically when we're praying, the example is give reverence to God in his name,
he then showed to pray for his kingdom to come, get right, want the things of God, want God's
kingdom to come for his will, pray for his will to be done in everything, thy will to be done in
earth as it is in heaven, he prayed for daily provision, we should pray for our daily provision
for forgiveness of daily sins but that's in line with how forgiving we are, to then be kept from
temptation to be saved from evil, he then ended acknowledging God's power and giving him the glory
and we should always give him the glory shouldn't we and that's a good thing to do, to remind
yourself at the end of prayer, you know for when you're asking for things it's to thine be the
kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen. The glory goes back to him, you pray for things,
you don't give God the glory, do you think you're going to get those those prayers answered so
quickly next time? I don't think so, yeah God doesn't want you puff yourself up because
you've been, oh look how blessed I am, look all glory goes to God right. Okay so but then like
I said verse 14, then I think the key point of the prayer 4, 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, that's the highlight point. Okay the asking for forgiveness
based on forgiveness and I think a lot of people, I would say from this from these
verses here that a lot of people lack in their Christian life, they lack in their responses
from God, they get probably more chastisement from God although most people
don't like to admit they're being chastised because they don't forgive others, because they're
constantly full of pent-up lack of forgiveness for other people and so many people have that don't
they, so many people don't and look I'm not talking about fake forgiveness, I'm not talking
about people that say all the right words and sound all holy and you know sound the part but
deep down they're just full of all sorts of anger and bitterness and nastiness towards people but
they put on a face, I'm talking about from the heart, from the heart forgiving men their
trespasses against you and again I'm not talking about reprobates here either okay, there's that
look you should be hating reprobates, we're not oh just got to forgive you know that that queer
abuser next door or down the street that one who's in prison just got to forgive him, no I'm not
talking about that, that's not what the bible is talking about here, it's talking about your
brother, it's talking about your brothers and sisters in Christ, it's talking about forgiving
each other because that's how then the Lord will forgive you and we have a lot of trespasses every
day every single person hears trespassing against the Lord okay, every day people are indebted to
the Lord, praise God we're not going to pay for them eternally but you don't want to get chastised
do you, okay so it comes down to forgiveness and like I said you know well turn to 1st John,
turn to 1st John chapter one let's just look at that verse one those couple of verses one more
time and while you're turning there is another question for you all that you can ask yourselves
how often are you asking for forgiveness when you pray, how often when you get down and you
kneel down to the Lord are you asking for forgiveness, are you even remembering the
sins that you committed that day or are you just is it just Walter off a duck's back,
are you getting down and just saying Lord please forgive me for whatever it is I've done because
that's what we're meant to be doing aren't we, is it oh just forgive me for all the list,
look he wants us to actually acknowledge and to come to him and go I'm sorry and you know what's
even better is to pray the second you do it but but nothing wrong with a night time just prayer
on things but I would say when you when you sin when you know you're sinful when whatever that
sin is that that's the time to be praying to God isn't it yeah that's the time to be asking
for forgiveness to be praying and and how often are people asking for forgiveness they I bet I
bet look we can all do it I bet we can get down and ask for the things we want I bet we can get
down and pray for all our needs and everything else but how often are we just saying Lord forgive
me Lord forgive me for for this sin for that sin because we're told to do that aren't we
first John 1 8 says if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves the truth is not in us
if you're sitting here thinking I don't have anything to ask for forgiveness for
well the word of God says you ain't saved yeah the truth's not in you if you're sitting there
going on I'm all right no I'm not really a sinner well good luck with that because you're you're
making him a lie and you're and the word's not in you and and you know I think it's rare that
you get people that say that now and again you do you get them now and again I've had
them on the door now anyone had them on the door before I've known I don't sin yeah yeah I don't
lie that's just so ridiculous isn't it who's that guy that uh what's his name the one that tried to
debate with Pastor Addison before hasn't it am I right that he's been hasn't he been exposed
recently as what is it sort of like yeah hilarious is it well kind of isn't it ironic so he sat down
this debate and was basically saying he doesn't sin yeah I'm not a sinner and he was trying to
get Pastor Anderson to name what sins that he does and he just started going through my sin
but of course like we all sin yeah so they've had this they've had this debate and then recently it's
turned out that he's a flaming sodomite yeah what a surprise yeah this guy a so-called bible teacher
and you know and he had all these followers online and everything else he was just a flaming
reprobate vile sodomite and so many of these guys you know all these like these holier than
now's and everything else it all comes out in the end doesn't it all comes out these people
they're just so wicked aren't they but he was sitting there saying I don't sin well
anyway I'm sure he probably had this we'll be talking about this with Matthew seven
but I think these guys convince themselves though don't they so that guy I bet he still sits there
and says yeah but I'm not really a sinner and he'll somehow justify it and they justify
everything and they justify the lot and they justify everything they do and because I'm not
going to jump ahead it's just something I've been thinking about a bit recently because I don't I
think a lot of I think in our mind we think like these people they know and they just know they're
doing this and doing that and they know they're trying to poison and trying to do this to to God's
people but I think deep down they convince themselves they're in the right and they convince
themselves they're okay because and we're going to see that in Matthew seven he's talking to
workers of iniquity and what do they said they said Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name
and in thy name of course that devil's in thy name we've done many wonderful works
yeah but they're works of iniquity they're reprobates but they're saying in that day
look at what we've done look at what we've done because they don't accept it do they
why don't admit it anyway that's a little sneak preview for for chapter seven beer for chapter
seven it's gonna be good okay so uh where do we get to first john 1 8 verse 9 if we confess our
sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness
there's an if there isn't it if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins to cleanse us from all our righteousness that's not talking about salvation that's talking
about your walk with the Lord Jesus Christ that's talking about making sure that you don't get that
chastisement that we should get for our sins we if we confess our sins he is faithful and just
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all our righteousness okay so we have to confess them
don't we and in the same way it works it works with ourselves as well it works with us when we're
dealing with other people look great if you can forgive people anyway because it only affects you
but it's not just a given is it and and it comes from people confessing their sins and it comes
with us with the Lord of confessing our sins okay if we say that we have not sinned we make him a
lie and his word is not in us and that's a good good telltale those people those holier than
now's oh they're on thin ice aren't they okay and um we're going to stop there and we'll do the
other half next week there's a lot there to get through otherwise in an hour but um on that let's
pray father i thank you for your um for for your word and for this great great chapter of the
bible and thank you for for giving us that example of of you know things that we can pray for and
ways we can pray and and not obviously a carbon copy prayer to chant like morons like the heathen
do um and obviously we you know we're not going to start chanting the Lord's prayer in a church like
this but help us not to not to partake either when we're you know you told us you commanded us
to use not vain repetition so in those times when we do have to be present at some sort of
function or do or whatever it is when someone or school or something else and people start chanting
the Lord's prayer there's nothing there's nothing spiritual about chanting the Lord's prayer please
help us not to do that help us not to partake in and in the same when we pray ourselves not to just
use vain repetition to actually think about what we're praying to think about the words we're
saying to you to to be reverend in our in our prayers to you as well and and and to just follow
that you know that the the other important points that you that you've made in that in in that
passage of scripture and especially that that are forgiveness for others before we're coming to ask
you for forgiveness and Lord we we pray that you help us all to to take these these things to heart
help us to all you know live live in this way to want to apply it to our lives not just to listen
and go on on our way and and go back to how how we we already behave but try and constantly improve
constantly just improve as as as your children and help us do all these things in Jesus Christ's holy
name amen