Let us turn to the chapter where
we read in Matthew chapter 6 and turning to read again at verses
5 and 6 Matthew chapter 6 and verses 5 and 6 and 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
that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have
their rewards. But thou, when thou prayest,
enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray
to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in
secret shall reward thee openly." And in particular the sixth verse, that's 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. Many ways we have
to recognize that the chief part of all real religion is prayer. We've been asked on occasions
as a minister what is the most difficult part of conducting
a service of public worship and in many respects one has to acknowledge
that the most difficult part of all is when one has to speak
in prayer and as it were be the mouthpiece for the congregation. It's interesting how that the
godly are very much marked by prayer. If we go back to the
beginning of scripture in Genesis chapter 4 where we read of the
birth of Seth, there at the end of that fourth chapter in Genesis,
remember how previously we have the sad accounts of the brothers Cain and Abel and how
Cain slew his brother because his brother's offering was accepted
whereas Cain's was rejected. There is the destruction as it
were of the godless seed which was the seed of Abel. And then
we read here at the end of the chapter Adam knew his wife again,
and she bare a son, and called his name Seth. For God, said
she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain
slew. And to Seth, to him also there
was born a son, and he called his name Enos. Then began men
to call upon the name of the Lord. and the very name Enos
means to call. But here it is, you see, men
once again calling upon the name of the Lord, the godly seed that
would worship God. And how do they worship God?
They worship God by calling upon his name, by praying to him. And here in the context, of course,
the Lord Jesus is giving much instruction with regards to prayer. We have that pattern prayer,
the Lord's Prayer, we call it, recorded here in verses 9 through
to 13, and the pattern prayer is repeated on another occasion
in the opening verses of Luke chapter 11. And I was struck
some years ago really in reading one of the letters of Bernard
Gilpin in which he spoke of his great desire. And this is what
he said, I had a sweet feeling of the blessedness of sitting
down in a quiet and humble residence and there praying the Lord's
Prayer all our lifetime. Oh, what a substance, adoption,
adoration, submission, daily bread, mutual love, love even
to our enemies, forgiveness of sins, deliverance from temptations
and from all evil. If a man is following after these
things by faith, he has great gain both here and hereafter. Are we those who really value
this high, this holy privilege of prayer? Well, as I look to
myself, I have to confess with shame that how slow, alas, many
a time, how slow I am to pray. How we need that God himself
would grant to us that ministry of the Holy Ghost as the spirit
of grace and of supplications. Well I want us as I say in particular
tonight to look at what the Lord says here in verse 6 concerning
prayer and he's speaking not of prayer in the public place
but he is speaking of that life of prayer that is to be the mark
of those who are his true followers, that really distinguishes them
from the hypocrites, those enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ, those
scribes and those Pharisees. The Lord says to his disciples,
it is the disciples of course who are now very much gathered
around him, as we see at the beginning of the sermon in chapter
5, seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and
when he was set, his disciples came unto him, and he opened
his mouth and taught them. These are the ones then that
he is speaking to in particular when he says, But thou, But thou,
when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast
shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father
which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." The theme then
that I really want to seek to address is that of what we might
term hidden religion. Hidden religion, the life of
prayer. But first of all to say how this
is contrasted with hypocritical religion. In the previous verse
we read of the hypocrites. When they pray us they shall
not be as the hypocrites are. Now, the Lord doesn't name who
these hypocrites are here on this occasion. but remember what
he says on other occasions in this gospel in particular if
we turned over to chapter 23 we have that fearful chapter
that pronounces many woes upon the hypocrites and the Lord speaks
of them as the scribes and the pharisees. Woe unto you scribes
and pharisees hypocrites. In fact the Lord on another occasion
speaks of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. What a terrible thing hypocrisy
is. The word simply means pretence,
putting on a show. It's an act, it's a performance,
it's not real. And how the Lord warns against
those who simply want to put on, as it were, a show that they
might be seen of other men. The chapter opens with those
two words, take heed. How we need to look to ourselves
and examine ourselves. Are we those who bear the marks
hypocrites, take heed that ye do not your arms before men,
to be seen of men, otherwise ye have no reward of your Father
which is in heaven. He goes on at verse 4, that thine
arms may be in secret. We're not even to let the left
hand know what the right hand is doing. These things are not
to be done openly. We're not to make a performance,
a show, of doing good deeds towards others. And then he speaks also,
as we see in verse 5, of prayer. We're not to make a show of prayer.
Thou shalt not be as a hypocrite. 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. He speaks of doing good deeds,
the giving of alms, helping others, he speaks of prayer, and then
he goes on also to speak of fasting, verse 16. Moreover, when ye fast,
be ye not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance. For they disfigure
their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say
unto you, they have their reward. No, says the Lord, don't appear
to men to be one who is fasting. In fact, seek to hide that fact,
to conceal that fact from others. Or take heed, the Lord says.
We have to look to ourselves, examine yourselves, and prove
yourselves, and know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you,
except ye be reprobate. Well, if Jesus Christ is that
one who is in us, surely we will desire to take heed of the teaching
and the instruction that the Lord himself is giving in this particular chapter. There
is that place for us to take heed and to examine self and
how often we need to come with that prayer of David at the end
of the 139th Psalm search me oh God he says and know my heart
try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way
in me and lead me in the way everlasting how we have to look
to the Lord to deliver us from all that is false and all that
is hypocritical well as let us as we look at the fifth verse
here observe certain marks concerning the hypocrite first of all there
is the place where he wants to be seen to be religious he wants
to be in public view as the Lord says how they love to be seen of men. That's what
it says in the middle of the verse, they love to pray standing
in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that in
order that they may be seen of men. The synagogue or the temple
was of course the place of public prayer. the place where the people
were together for the proper worship of God. But the place
for public worship is not the place for private devotions. It's interesting, maybe some
of you have done this, but if you if you consult the Westminster
directory for public worship those documents associated with
the Great Westminster Confession of Faith that wonderful, I know
it's a Presbyterian document, but it's a remarkable set of
documents that we have in the Westminster standards. But there
is also there a directory with regards to how we are to worship
God in the public place. And it says quite clearly there
that there's no place at all for private devotion when we
come into the public place. I know people who want to come
into chapel and to bow their heads and to pray, but the Puritans
would frown upon that. They would say that you do your
preparation in the private place. You prepare yourself in your
own homes. You enter into your closet. and
you make your confessions, you acknowledge God, and you ask
God's blessing upon the service that you're about to attend.
And should you enter in late, you should never be late really,
obviously occasion, circumstances might be such that it's unavoidable,
but should you come in late, you don't then come in and sit
in the pew and engage in private devotion but if the congregation
is in the act of singing you simply come in and turn to the
hymn and begin to join in the public worship of God. There
was, amongst the Puritans then, a clear distinction made between
that that is private worship and that that is public worship.
and there's not to be any display of private devotion before men. This is the religion of the hypocrites. Where do they love to pray? Standing in the synagogues, where
the people have gathered for worship, or in the corners of
the streets. And the word they choose there
has the idea of broad streets, the place where there's a great
concourse of people. All of this, you see, is done
that men and women might observe them to be religious people.
But there's not only the place, it's not only the matter of them
wanting to be in public view, there's also the posture. What does it say? They love to
pray standing. Standing in the synagogues and
in the corners of the streets that they may be seen. Now, There's
nothing wrong with standing for prayer. In fact, standing is
far better than slouching. We tend to sit for prayer. Now, I don't believe there's
anything wrong with us sitting for prayer. Back in 1 Chronicles
17 and verse 16, we read how David sat before the Lord when
he prayed. but there is a danger with sitting
you see that we can if we're not careful begin to slouch maybe
we should be those who would rather kneel in prayer or even
stand in prayer but the standing that we have here is that standing
that is associated with self-confidence they stand because they're full
of themselves And they stand because they want to be seen.
They want others to take notice of them. Remember what the Lord
says concerning the Pharisee who together with the publican,
the tax gatherer, goes to the temple at the hour of prayer. In Luke 18 verse 11 we're told
the Pharisee stood and prayed. the Pharisee, the hypocrite he
stands, but not out of a sense of reverence, not because he
is awed at the thought of the presence of God, but rather is
this man full of self-confidence, always full of himself. He's
a religious man and people ought to take account of him. And what
is the outcome of all of this? Well here it is, it's all to
this end that they might be seeing. that they may be seen of men."
Literally, in order that they may be seen of men, the one aim,
the one object is that people will notice them. And so the
Lord adds, verily I say unto you they have their reward. They are seen of men. All God's preservers from that
religion that is all outward show, and nothing but outward
show. That religion that is all activity, and there's much of
it. There are those places where it seems that their religious
life is just a round of activities, a multitude of meetings, things
to be done. Well, there is much to be done.
I don't deny that for a moment. But surely there is a place also
for the recognition that real religion is that that is inward
in the heart of a man. What does the wise man say in
the book of Proverbs? Keep thy hearts with all diligence
for out of it are the issues of life. But where we have those
religious people who are always doing something always performing
their activities. You look at the notice board
on so many evangelical circles, evangelical churches, and you
see that every day there's activity, activity, activity, things to
be done. They seem to have no time at
all to look to themselves, or to examine themselves. They're
so busy doing, and yet the Lord himself tells us, Behold, the
kingdom of God is within you. We have to keep our hearts. It's
from the heart that come the various issues of life. Here
we see then the great danger of the religion of the hypocrite. And he doesn't only want to impress
others, but the hypocrite impresses himself. the words of the Lord
concerning that Pharisee that we referred to just now in Luke
18 Christ said the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself
now maybe he was praying inwardly when he prayed with himself he
didn't utter words he was there to be seen And he was in that public place. He was in
the temple. He prayed with himself, but surely
there's that sense in which also his prayer goes no further than
himself, because all his religion centers in himself. His religion
doesn't reach unto God. His whole religion really is
summed up in pride. and that pride would manifest
itself even when it came before God. It is a terrible sin, but
how often are we guilty of it? I think those lines in the hymn
of Joseph Hart on pride, 287, are very searching words. He says there, concerning pride,
against its influence, pray, It mingles with the prayer. Against
it, preach. It prompts the speech. Be silent. Still it's there. How often do
we like to congratulate ourselves on what we've done? What sort
of religious performance we've managed to accomplish? We think
we prayed a fine prayer. I remember reading somewhere
concerning dear old John Bunyan when he had preached on one occasion,
and he was a mighty preacher. John Owen, for all his great
learning, used to say that he would forgo all that learning
if he could only preach like the man John Bunyan, the Tinker
of Bedford. He was a great preacher, Bunyan.
And he said there was an occasion when he had preached and someone
came up to him and began to thank him for that wonderful discourse,
all that he'd said, and he turned and he said, yes, he says, you
know, before ever you spoke to me, the devil himself whispered
those words in my very ear. He knew he performed well, and
he was proud of it. And this is the religion of the
hypocrite, is it not? He wants to congratulate himself.
He wants to think that he's performed his religious duties well. Be it his praying in the public
place, be it his preaching. Or it is pride. And a cursed
thing that we called pride. how it keeps us from the Lord
himself. It's there, as we've said so
many times, in the fall, the fall of our first parents in
Genesis 3. It's unbelief, but it's unbelief.
Bound up with pride, centering in themselves, ye shall be as
gods. Oh, we want to be in the place of God. And this is what
the hypocrite does, really. He doesn't worship God, he worships
himself. How we need to be kept. and kept
even when we come to worship God publicly. You know the language
of the preacher in Ecclesiastes chapter 5, Keep thy foot when
thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear than
to give the sacrifice of fools, for they consider not what they
do. Be not rash with thy mouth, he says. Nor let thy heart be
hasty to utter anything before God, for God is in heaven and
thou upon earth. Therefore, Let thy words be few. God grant us grace then to discern
what religion is to be avoided, the hypocrite's religion, which
is just performance. But let us turn to the sixth
verse, and that that we might call real religion, and it's
that religion that is hidden, but there. When thou prayest, enter into
thy closet, And when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father
which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward
thee openly. Observe two things with regards
to the nature of the religion that's spoken of in this particular
verse. First of all, there is a separation
here. There's a separation. Enter into
thy closet. And when thou hast shut thy door,
everything else is shut out, and you're alone. When thou hast shut thy door,
pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which
seeth thee in secret. There's no one else there, it's
a secret place. God, He says, shall reward thee
openly. And doesn't God, when he comes
to deal with his children, deal with them in this fashion? He
takes his children apart. He takes his children apart.
He separates them. And then, as he has separated
them, so he begins to teach them. Now, this was the case with Abraham. And Abraham is the father of
all that believe. What do we read in Genesis? There in Genesis chapter 12 and
verse 1, the Lord said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country,
and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land
that I shall shelter. The Lord God separates Abram.
from all that he had ever known from his own country from his
own family God takes him away and God says that he will then
teach him and instruct him and instruct him the Lord makes a
separation and we see the same in the godly line we see it with
Jacob in Genesis chapter 28 when his father Isaac sends him
away remember we were looking at it just a week ago Jacob when
he comes to the place that he calls Bethel but how the Lord
had told him and told him as it were through his father Isaac
Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said
unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.
The rise go to Pada and Aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's
father, and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters
of Laban thy mother's brother. And God Almighty blessed thee. And he is obedient. He is obedient
to the command of his father. As we see at verse 7, Jacob obeyed
his father and his mother and was gone. And as he goes, he
comes out from Beersheba, going towards Haran, lights on a certain
spot. And here he has that remarkable
dream. And he has that vision of the
ladder set up upon the earth and its top reaches to heaven
and the Lord comes and appears to him and begins to instruct
him. How the Lord has brought him
out. How the Lord has separated him. And it was the same, was
it not, also with his son Joseph. Joseph asked to leave his father's
house. It was terrible, his experience,
how his brothers treated him. How they sold him into slavery
into Egypt. and then made out to their father
that some wild animal had come and slain him, when they present
to poor Jacob that coat of many colors besmirched with the blood. And here is Joseph, now he's
taken into Egypt, and there in Egypt eventually he finds himself
put into the prison. And it's all part and parcel
of the Lord's dealings with him. Genesis 49, 26 This is how Joseph
is spoken of at the end of that chapter, verse 26, in Genesis
49. Him that was separate from his
brethren. Him that was separate from his
brethren. It was the Lord's doing. When
the Lord comes and deals with us, He separates us in order
to teach us. It's the same with Moses, is
it not? You know only too well the story
of Moses and the Lord's dealings with him. And we have it there
in that third chapter of the book of Exodus where he is keeping
the flock of his father-in-law. Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro,
his father-in-law, the priest of Midian And he led the flock
to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God,
even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared
unto him in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a bush. And
he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush
was not consumed. It is the Lord who is in all
these things, even his flight from Egypt, and is years there
caring for the sheep of his father-in-law. He was 40 years old when he left.
He was 40 years there with Jethro. And now the Lord brings him to
the backside of the desert and appears to him in that bush that
burns and yet that bush is not consumed. It's the Lord. These
are examples that we find in the Old Testament scriptures
in Abram, in Jacob, in Joseph, in Moses, we can multiply these
things. But coming to the New Testament,
when we come to the Apostle of the Gentiles, when we come to
consider Paul and his experience. And remember we have those various
passages in his epistles when he is moved by the Spirit as
he writes to relate something of the Lord's dealings. And Galatians
1, of course, is such a passage. It tells us, and we often refer
to these words, verse 15 but when he pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal
his son in me that I might preach him among the heathen we often
finish there we say oh he had this inward revelation but he
continues here he is the Lord who has called him by his grace
and granted him this inward revelation of his son, because he's to preach
Christ to the Gentiles, and Paul continues immediately, I conferred
not with flesh and blood. I conferred not with flesh and
blood, he says. Neither went I up to Jerusalem
to them which were apostles before me, but I went into Arabia. How the man is separated! He
is not made an apostle of men, or it's the Lord who is dealing
with him and he's separated and the Lord teaches him he's not
exercising some second-hand ministry as it were he has received his
call, his commission from God himself his gospel that has been
given to him that's what he says in the opening verses of that
opening chapter in the epistle to the Galatians it was God who
revealed these things And the Lord Jesus Christ himself, we
know, was one who was many times alone with his God. How the Lord
Jesus, who is so engaged in ministering to the multitudes, at times we
find him alone. Here in chapter 14 and verse
22, straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship
and to go before Him onto the other side while He sent the
multitudes away. And when He had sent the multitudes
away, He went up into a mountain apart to pray. And when the evening
was come, He was there alone, even the Lord Jesus. He knew
the importance of that place, that secret place. how God separates. He separated even the Lord Jesus
as Christ is engaging in His blessed ministry. And those words
at the end of Zechariah chapter 12, The land shall mourn, it
says, every family apart. The family of the house of David
apart and their wives apart. The family of the house of Nathan
apart and their wives apart. The family of the house of Levi
apart and their wives apart. the family of the house of Shimei
apart, and their wives apart, every family apart. Oh, this
is how God is personal, you see. It's God's personal dealings
with us. He has to deal with us individually. That's not to
say that the corporate aspect of our religious life is unimportant. It's vitally important. God sets
the solitary in families. But He deals with us in a solitary
way also. The psalmist says, I watch and
there was a sparrow alone upon the housetop. How sometimes we
have to feel as if we're speckled birds, we're so different. Is
there really anybody quite like I am? And yet we discover that
God does bring us into fellowship with those whom we can relate
to. But there is that separation,
it's part and parcel of that real religion that is marked
by prayer, the seeking of God's face in that secret place. But thou, when thou prayest enter
into thy closet, when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father
which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward
thee openly. But I said two things, there's
not only this separating there's also a real dependence a real
dependence and that dependence of course is very much expressed
in prayer isn't that what prayer is really? we come before God
because we feel a very real need of him we see it many many times
in the Psalms I have called upon thee says the Psalmist, for thou
wilt hear me, O God. Incline thine ear unto me, and
hear my speech. We want God to hear us. My cry came before him, even
into his ears. What a blessing it is when we
do feel that we have something of accents, when we can enter
into his presence, when our petitions enter into the ears of him who
is the Lord God of Sabaoth, the Lord God of Hosts. Oh, it's that
sense of our dependence. We need God. I need Thee, says
the hymn writer. Every hour I need Thee. Who are
we, those who feel that need? How the Pharisee is satisfied
with himself. He stood, remember, and he prayed
thus with himself. It's all about himself. or it's to be seen of other men,
as we have it here in verse 5. But here is the difference, you
see, with the godly. His dealings are with God. This is the one thing that is
needful above all, that God hears his prayer. Pray, says the Lord
Jesus. When thou hast shut thy door,
pray. Don't pray to yourself, Don't pray as a performance before
others, pray to thy Father which is in secret, that thy Father
which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. I like the thought
that some suggest that it's the Lord Jesus Christ himself here
who is the closet. It's been said when poor and
wretched sinners in our feelings, we must enter into Him. Or when
we feel so wretched and so poor, and when words utterly fail us,
where do we go? We have to enter into the closet. We have to enter into the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself. He says, at that day ye shall
know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. All are blessed words. The Lord
Jesus has now finished all the work that the Father gave Him
to do. He's accomplished that great work of redemption. He
has entered into heaven itself. And He says, at that day ye shall
know that I am in my Father. But then He continues, and ye
in me, and I in you." Well, it's all through Him. It's through
the Lord Jesus Christ that we have access by one Spirit unto
the Father. He is that One that we have to
enter into. Enter into thy closet. The language of the Prophet Isaiah
26 and there at the end of that chapter in verse 20 Isaiah 26 verse 20 I just want to get the
words right come my people enter thou into thy chambers, and shut
thy doors about thee, hide thyself, as it were, for a little moment,
until the indignation be overpassed." Ought to be those who would be
entering into the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. That is our place
of safety. That is the place where we can
enjoy the blessing of accessing our prayers. It's only as we
come in His name Any prayer that does not invoke the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ cannot be a real prayer. We must always come by
Him. He's the only mediator. He is
the way, the truth and the life. He says, No man cometh unto the
Father but by me. But again the language of the
psalm, Psalm 91, He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most
High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. All to know
that secret place of the Most High. To know that hidden religion,
that real religion that the Lord is speaking of and that He so
carefully distinguishes from and contrasts to that hypocritical
religion. observe the opening words of
the sixth verse how these little words are so important but he's
spoken of the hypocrite you're not to be as the hypocrite he
makes a performance before many he wants to be seen of many stands
all his religion is just pretense and show and display but here's
the contrast Thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet.
When thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father, which seeth
in secret. And thy Father, which seeth in
secret, shall reward thee openly. All God blesses His people openly. He hears their prayers, He answers
their prayers. They see the evidence of the
answers. Are we those who, when we pray, expect God to not only
hear us, What's the point of praying if we don't believe that
God hears our prayers? But God doesn't just hear prayer,
God answers prayer. And He is that One who is able
to do exceeding abundantly, above all that we ask or think. Oh,
let us be those then who bear the mark of the Gospel. Remember
where we began, we went back to the beginning of Scripture
there at the end of Genesis 4, when Seth was born, and then
Enos born to Seth and men, began to call upon the name of the
Lord or that we are those who do truly both in the private
place and also rightly in the public place call upon the name
of the Lord. May the Lord bless His word to
us. Now let us conclude our worship
today as we sing the hymn 727 to the tune Kensington 166 727, O that I knew the secret place
where I might find my God, I'd spread my wounds before his face
and pour my woes abroad. 727.