Prayer is as natural for man as anything can be. Prayer is universal because man
is universal. There's a natural man's attitude
toward prayer and there's a new man's attitude toward prayer. Every man has that desire to
pray. Two men went into the temple
to pray. That's what scripture says. One
was a Pharisee and one was a publican. And the Lord in this passage
of scripture tonight deals with that very subject. As the Lord continues in the
Sermon on the Mount, and this passage of scripture, well, there's
three chapters, especially needful that we hear. The Lord is preaching. That's what he's doing. He's
preaching a message. And as he preaches, he's preaching
truly for the encouragement of his people. Now I don't doubt
for a second that there were many people around. But he's
speaking to his people. And he says in Matthew 6, 5,
And when thou prayest, it's a given. that believers pray. It's just the new heart speaking with that desire unto
the Lord for the Lord's glory. And God's people call unto the
Lord because they desire to draw near to Him, to speak to Him.
to the one that's everlastingly loved, cares for. And in our calling unto the Lord,
the Lord admonishes us here. And when thou prayest, thou shalt
not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing
in the synagogues in the corners of the streets that they may
be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have
their reward. Now, whenever a believer prays,
the Spirit of God must prompt him to pray. That's just not
a natural... We're led by the Spirit of God,
not only in our actual walk, but inside, in our heart. The Spirit of God directs, and
as the Spirit of God directs a believer, praise magnifying
the Lord. He wants to seek the Lord. He wants to express his heart
unto the Lord. But when a hypocrite prays, a
pretender, that's what it means, pretender. When a pretender prays,
like the Pharisee, The Lord said they love to pray standing in
the synagogues in the corners of the streets for this reason. This is why they're doing it.
This is why they're there. This is why they pick a place
where attention will be drawn to them because they want to
be seen of men. They want to be heard of men.
That's why they do it. That's the Lord's revelation
on the desire of an unbeliever. He wants people to notice. He wants them to know what He's
doing. He wants them to acknowledge. I've heard people say, I'm telling
you, I used to listen to so and so, and he just prayed. the most
eloquent and beautiful prayers you ever heard. He probably knew
it. That's why men desire the attention. That's what they want. That's
all they want. And so the Lord said, verily
I say unto you, these pretenders, these hypocrites, When they're
out somewhere to be seen to men. When we go to a restaurant. Now,
here's what we don't do. We don't hold hands in a big
circle and everybody bow their heads, close their eyes and someone
just verbalizes, prays out loud. Do you know that you can thank
the Lord for your food and never have anybody hear what you said?
Do you know why people do that in public? To be seen to men. I probably told you this. Somebody
asked Brother Henry one time. They said, well, don't you think
we ought to be a good witness? Henry said, you want to be a
good witness? Leave a big tip. Thank the Lord, though, in your
heart. Don't do what you do in public to be seen of men because
you have your reward. You have all that you'll ever
get. But having warned his people against that natural man's inclination
to draw attention to himself, the Lord declares in verse 6,
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 the Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. Every week we'll have, in all
the churches, we'll have someone come up and read God's Word. This is what we're doing. We're
here to read the Word of God. We want to hear what God has
to say. and then they'll lead us in prayer. It's not that public
prayer is being forbidden. I mean, it's not that. But it's, I've told you before,
it is the hardest thing in the world, because let me tell you
what the Lord just said in verse 6. When the hypocrites, they love
to stand in the street, But when we have a group of people here,
we've met together. This is a family right here.
This is a church family. We're brethren. And God has ordained
that we're here. And the Lord himself comes. And
we know, we believe he's here. He said two or three gathered
together in my name. I'm in the midst of you. And
when we pray, we pray aware that he's here. But when anyone leads
in public prayer, we would read verse 6 and we think, well, that's
just when I'm at home by myself. No. This is also public prayer. Here's the way the Lord has commanded
us to pray. You men leading prayer openly,
here's the Lord's word on it. And when thou prayest, don't
be as the hypocrites are and stand in the street and pray
to be seen of men. But when you pray, enter into
thy closet, right there while you're leading in prayer. Enter
in to that private place that nobody
else... You see why it's so hard? Because
people are listening. They're listening. But it doesn't
eliminate the exhortation of the Lord, when you pray, don't
be as they're doing, standing out there and be seeing the men,
but when you do it, you enter into your closet, in your heart,
and when you shut the door, as if no one else is hearing,
and you know they are, this is why it's so difficult. Public
prayer is difficult. Enter into thy closet, shut the
door, and pray to thy Father, which is in secret. He's hidden. And the Father which seeth in
secret shall reward thee openly. He will. You enter into your closet. Public
prayer, private prayer. We're praying unto the Lord.
We're not here. Now there's an old man that's
with us. I'll tell you what he wants.
He wants to be seen to men. And there's the battle that's
going on. It's a real battle. But when
we're praying, we're not talking to everybody else. We're talking
to the Lord. And we're asking the Lord. And
even with the thought of trying to pray out loud, we ask the
Spirit of God, help us. Lord, help me to Let me speak
aright. Enter into your closet, pray
unto Him who is in secret. He who hears in secret. He'll
reward thee openly. In this life? Yes. And in the
day of the Lord? According to His good pleasure
in that day? Yes. Will He divide the sheep from
the goats? How will He reward His people? In the way that He's
pleased. He'll reward them, not, as I
said, as a believer it's forbidden to pray in public, but when he
does, still, seek to enter into your closet and shut the door. And pray, but I'm gonna deal
with something, I started to say something else I was gonna
say just, you know, long, long, long, but I'll deal with that
in just a minute. Just pray to the Father, which here's the
secret. Verse seven, but when you pray, and here again, he's talking
it, and we do pray privately. I know every believer does. There's
no doubt about it. No believer, there's no believer
that doesn't pray. It's just the expression. It
would be like me saying, now when you breathe, I think I could truthfully say
every human being that's alive breathes. That's a given. And when you eat, you know, when
you think, when you pray, private prayer, but public prayers, really what he's
talking about, when you pray, use not vain repetitions as the
heathen do. They think that they shall be
heard for their much speaking, When you pray, don't be as the
pretenders are. Struggling, struggling, struggling
to sound as religious as you possibly can and make it as flowery
as you possibly can. Use a lot of religious words. I mean, just try to make it,
you know, make it sound good. The Lord said, don't do that.
Don't do that. Oh, I'm telling you, read some
of the most blessed prayers that are recorded in the scriptures.
They're so short. Peter said, Lord, save me. Save me. That thief on the cross,
Lord, when you enter into your kingdom, would you remember me? Hold your place right here. Turn
to 1 Kings 18. 1 Kings. 1 Kings 18. Whenever Elijah, the prophet,
he challenged the 450 prophets of Baal. And the challenge was
to them. We're going to find out today. We're going to find out today
who's God. We're going to offer sacrifices. Two sacrifices are going to be
offered. Y'all pick you out a sacrifice. You take that sacrifice and you
prepare it. 1 Kings 18 verse 26 to 35, the
scripture says after they'd made got the altar ready and they
got their sacrifice ready and they put it. Now here's, they're
going to pray. They're going to pray to Baal.
And here's what they did. 26, 1 Kings 18, they took the bullet
which was given them and they dressed it, called on the name
of Baal from morning even till noon saying, O Baal, hear us. There was no voice or any of
that answered. And he leaped upon the altar
which was made, and it came to pass at noon, Elijah mocked him,
said, cry aloud, for he's a god. Either he's talking, maybe he's
talking to somebody. Pursuing a journey. Maybe he's busy, or he's just
taking a little journey. Maybe he's gone some way, walked
off, or perhaps he's sleeping. Must be awake. and cried aloud
and cut themselves after the manor with knives and lancets
till the blood gushed out upon them and came to pass. When midday
was passed, they prophesied till the time of the offering of the
evening sacrifice. There was neither voice nor any
to answer nor any that regarded. And Elijah said to all the people,
come near to me. And all the people came near
unto him. He repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down.
Elijah took 12 stones According to the number of the tribes,
the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying,
Israel shall be thy name. And with the stones he built
an altar in the name of the Lord. He made a trench about the altar,
as great as it would contain two measures of seed. He put
the wood in order, cut the bullock in pieces, laid him on the wood,
and said, fill four barrels with water. poured on the burnt sacrifice
on the wood. He said, do it a second time.
They did it a second time. He said, do it a third time.
They did it a third time. The water ran round about the
altar. He filled the trench also with
water. And then he's getting ready to
pray. These 450 prophets of Baal, they
prayed all day long, jumped up on that altar and cut themselves.
You know, cried and cried and cried, not a word, not a word.
All day, 450 of them, all day long. And Elijah, now he's repaired
the altar of the Lord. And Elijah prayed a 63 word prayer. I counted the words, 63 words. Verse 36, it came to pass at
the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah
the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, Israel,
let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel and that
I am thy servant and that I have done all these things at thy
word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me. that this people may know that
thou art the Lord God and that thou has turned their heart back
again. That's all he said. And the fire
of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice wood, stones,
dust, licked up the water that was in the trench. So we're admonished
when you pray Don't ramble, babble, talk foolishly,
or lengthy, or monotonously. Don't do that. When you pray,
don't be as the heathens. They think they're going to be
heard for their much speaking, like they can just throw word
after word and the Lord will hear them because of all their
speaking. He says, don't do that. Be not,
verse 8, ye therefore liken to them. For your Father knoweth
what things you have need of, before you ask Him. The omniscience
of God, He who knows, He knows the needs of His people. And
that's a great encouragement and comfort to God's people.
He knows, He knows what we need. He knows the needs of our heart,
and so He knows before we ask. That's what He said. He knows.
He's providentially sent the need. He sent the trial, and
therefore is a very present help in the time of trouble. Prayer
is not meant to give God information. It's not that we're instructing
Him, but we cry unto the Lord according to His will that He
might be honored, that we might as needy vessels bear our hearts
unto Him. And then our Lord is going to
give us a pattern. Now this is not a prayer. People
say this is the Lord's prayer. It's not the Lord's prayer. This
was a pattern. Pray after this manner. We don't
repeat this. repetition, just pray like in
this spirit. The Lord's prayer is recorded
in John 17, if you'd like to read it. It's the high priestly
prayer of the Lord. But he said, when you pray, look
at verse 9. After this manner, therefore
pray ye. Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. when you pray. Pray in the spirit of adoption. When you pray, you say, Our Father. We pray unto Him who is our Father
in adopting grace, in electing grace. We pray unto Him In this
manner, when you pray, pray unto Him who has revealed to us, His
people, that He is our Father in covenant mercy. He's our Father,
predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. When one
of my children ask me something. Do you realize how much more
weight that carries than if it's someone that's not my child?
One of my kids calls me up and says, Dad, can you help me? Dad, can you, you know, what
do you need? That's my child. So when you
pray, you pray unto Him, and you realize I'm praying to my
Father. I'm His child. He adopted me. He chose me. He placed me in
Christ because He loves me and cares for me. He said, you cast
all your cares upon Him. He careth for you. When that prodigal said in Luke
15, 18, I will arise and go to my Father, I'm going to tell
you something. He was going to the one that
loved him and cared for him and was looking for him. That's where
I'm going. I'm going to my Father. So the
prayer of a child of God is unto the Lord from a child that is
beloved in Christ. A child that has been redeemed. by the blood of the Lamb, and
robed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, and regenerated
by God's Spirit. One who is an heir of God. All
that God shall give, He's going to give to all of His elect in
Christ. Because they're joint heirs with
Him. Heirs of God. So when we pray,
we pray to the Father. We pray with a realization that
we're coming in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is such a joy to me. I think about that, the scriptures
that set forth the Spirit of God. We don't know what to pray
for. We don't. But as we pray in our
Private prayers, especially I'm speaking of now. But when we
pray, things are prompted that come to our minds. Have you ever
noticed that? I mean, things come to you, my
people come to your minds. And why did you think of that? Well, we don't know what to pray
for. And as we're praying, we're seeking, asking the Lord, the
Spirit of God, Lord, direct me. Prayers that we don't realize
truly that they're prayers, just a groaning as something crosses
my mind. I think of someone that's going
through a tremendous trial right now. And I think, oh, Lord have mercy. The Spirit of God, you know,
intercedes. With groanings, Tom Harding told
me one time, he said, you know Marvin, I don't know a lot about
this, but he said, I truly believe that there's times even the burdens
of our heart that we don't even express truly prayer. Prayer with groanings that cannot
be uttered. But whenever we pray, I do know
this, that it's the Lord Jesus Christ the great high priest
who offers the prayers of the saints. Now this is recorded
in Revelation. Offers the prayers of the saints
in his merit unto the Father. And those things that we don't
even know how to say, he takes as the high priest who's heard
of the Father and presents them to the Father in his own merit. And they're heard. The prayers
of the saints are heard. So when we pray, we pray to the
Father as His children, realizing that it is in the name and the
merit and the honor of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because I can tell
you this, based on the Lord's Word, He said, I'm the way, the
truth, and the light. No man cometh unto the Father
but by Me. I know that's a fact. So I'm
telling you, when we pray unto the Father, We're praying unto
the Father in the merit of Christ, who presents those prayers. And
we address Him with devotion. This is the thing. When we pray,
we address Him in the character that is truly His character. Hallowed be Thy Name. Sacred, sacred Holy Father. In the year that King Uzziah
died, Isaiah said, I saw also the Lord. High and lifted up. Seraphims above the throne. Six
wings. Two feet. Two of them, they flew. And here's what they cried. Holy,
holy Father. Holy, holy Son. Holy, holy Spirit. Never ceasing. Never ceasing. Our Father, which art in heaven.
You're in heaven, we're on earth. You're exalted, we're abased.
Our Father, which art in heaven, sacred, holy, hallowed is Thy
name. We admit our frailty and our
inability to know the depth of His holiness, but we Acknowledge,
Lord you are. You're holy. Look at verse 10.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as
it is in heaven. I know this. The Lord has a kingdom.
I know He does. It's the kingdom of His people.
It's the kingdom of the church. It's an elect kingdom. Kingdom
that He everlastingly loved and chose in Christ. And when we
pray, we pray in a manner that is consistent with the will of
God. Now this is what He's saying. When you pray, acknowledge unto
the Lord. Is He going to call all of His
people out of darkness? Is all that the Father has given
me, are they gonna come to Christ? Yes. Yes. And the Lord said,
you pray for it. You pray for it. There's not
a believer in here that doesn't desire the kingdom of God to
be brought to Christ. Thy kingdom come. That's what
we want. I want the Lord to save His people.
I don't know who they are. But every believer wants every
other vessel of God's mercy to come to him. That's what we want.
Lord, we want your will to be done. That's what we desire. And then
what is the Father's will? Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done in earth as it is in heaven. John 6, 39. This is the Father's
will, which is sent me. that of all which he hath given
me, I should lose nothing, but you raise it up again at the
last day. And that's how we pray. Lord, save your people. Call
your people. Draw your people together. Knit
our hearts together in love. Knit us, make us one. Lord, make
us, you know, as your sheep, sheep of your fold. Bring us,
you know, so when we pray, we pray in the spirit of dependence. upon Him, praying. Listen to
this. Give us this day our daily bread. Do you think the Lord
knows we need to eat? Sure He does. He knows that we
have that need, but we ask. We thank the Lord for our food
when we eat. The Lord, when He ate, He had
five loaves and two fish. What did He do? He lifted up
his eyes and blessed it. Asked God's blessing upon it.
The Lord blessed it and he fed 5,000 men plus the women and
children. Give us this day, but I'll tell
you this, there's a far greater need that we also pray. Hold
your place and turn to John 6. John chapter 6, verse 48. Give us this day our daily bread.
6 verse 48, I am that bread of
life. Your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh
down from heaven. that a man may eat thereof and
not die. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Do you think it's the Lord's
will that we feast upon Him every day? Do you think that's His
will? He that cometh unto me, I will
in no wise cast out. Lord, give us today. Didn't we feast upon the Lord
last Sunday? Didn't we do that? Yes, but let
me ask you this. Do we need to feast upon the
Lord right now? Do we need to feast upon the Lord? Sure, yes
we do. And forgive us our debts as we
forgive our debtors. When we pray, in a manner that
acknowledges what we are. We're sinners, saved by the grace
of God, and forgive us our debts. We ask the Lord, Lord, forgive
me. Lord, help me. But while we're asking the Lord
to forgive us, we also have a desire to forgive others. Sinners depended
upon the Lord, praying unto Him alone who can forgive sin. No
believer wants to hold a grudge. I don't want to hold a grudge
against you. Why? Why? Isn't that silly? What if the
Lord held a grudge against me? You think about that. I mean,
you know, you got a grudge against somebody? Go talk to them. Get it over with. You got something,
you got a burr under your saddle? Go talk, get it over with. For
what? For what, Lord? Forgive us our
debts as we forgive our debtors. There shouldn't be one ounce
of resentment in this congregation, not one, if there is something
wrong. And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and
the power and the glory forever. Amen. Lead us not into temptation.
We are to pray for his preventing grace. Lord, keep us in the midst
of our temptations. That's what he's saying. Let
not our temptations and our trials overpower us. The sinner, one
redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ, regenerated by God's Spirit,
is anxious not to offend God. He's anxious. And when he realizes
what he's done, there's just the realization,
I'm going to close this out, but turn over to Psalm 51. the
realization of having offended the Lord. Having done that, oh,
a believer just eats him up. It eats a believer up. Psalm
51, 1-4, have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy loving
kindness, according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies,
blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have
I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest
be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest."
Sin is a grievous thing to a believer. He sees it in himself. He acknowledges,
as Paul said, O wretched man that I am. He knows that the
Lord is going to keep him. He knows that. Keep him to the
end. Keep him from falling. And all the while, he prays,
Lord, keep me from the evil one. Keep me from being overcome by
the one that goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Keep me from him. Keep me from
Him overpowering me. And then finally, the believer
prays, acknowledging the Lord's dominion over creation, providence,
salvation. And the foundation of his praise
is this, for Thine is the kingdom. Thine is the power. Thine is
the glory forever. And then he ends his prayer according
to the name of the Lord. I'll just turn to Revelation
last verse, Revelation chapter three, verse 14. When we end our prayers in amen,
why do we do that? Well, we're saying for the Lord's
glory, amen. Revelation 3.14. Under the angel
of the church of the Laodiceans, write these things, saith thee,
Amen. The faithful and true witness,
the beginning of the creation of God. We ask all these things
in the name of the Lord. Yours is the kingdom, the power,
and the glory forever. When we pray, may the Lord teach
us and help us to enter into our closet, shut the door, and
pray to our Father in secret. And he that seeth in secret shall
reward us openly for the sake of Christ and for our good. Amen.