and it will be pleased to bless
us this evening as we continue our meditation. In the Sermon
on the Mount, this evening, we'll begin chapter six, and we'll
read the first four verses. That's Matthew's Gospel, chapter
six, and reading the first four verses. 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 thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee,
as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they
may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward. But when thou doest 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. Well, we see the
direction we have here in this few verses and indeed in the
beginning of this chapter. And it really points us to the
need to beware that we are not found acting in a hypocritical
way, because it is a way which sometimes deceives us. We find ourselves perhaps walking
in a way which is not really true, but we're deceived in our
heart and we're acting in a hypocritical way. And so how needful it is,
therefore, that we are blessed with a right spirit. We're always
needful of that. And Lord Jesus here in these
four verses, he takes up the question really of giving. And he speaks of the situation
of alms. And alms really refers to compassionate-ness. compassionate giving, directing
especially to the poor, because we know that they won't be able
to respond. If we were to give to wealthy
people, they might well be able to respond and give back, in
essence, that which we've given. But we are to always consider
the poor and we are therefore instructed to be amongst those
who do give alms to the poor. And the Lord tells us here then
that we are to take heed in this act, how we do it. Take heed
that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them. how simple it is to be taken
up with the pride of our hearts and desire that people may think
well of us. I remember when I was a boy in
London and there was a man that used to come quite regularly
to our chapel and we used to have I think collections fortnightly
in those days and this man used to come and And money, of course,
was not like it is today. And he used to get out his wallet,
everybody could see, and take out a note, which was a lot of
money in those days, and put it on a ledge so that everybody
could see what he was giving. and then put his wallet back
and then carefully pick up this note and the view of everybody
and then put it in the collection box. Well, I remember thinking
when I was a lad, well that's a wonderful man. But thankfully
my parents were able to tell me the truth that the way that
he was doing that was not a godly way. It was an ungodly way because
he was only wanting to be seen of men, to be praised by men. What a wonderful giver he was.
Well, that's the essence of what these words are against. And
so may we take heed to such an example as that and not be left
to ourselves. And so the Lord does say, take
heed. And these things are written
graciously for our instruction and that we may take them to
heart and walk them out. Take heed that you do not draw
arms before men to be seen of men, otherwise you have no reward
of your Father which is in heaven." Because what is happening really,
we're receiving our reward from men. Because they're thinking
well of us and they perhaps congratulate us, they may speak well of us
in the things that we may have done, and of course they may
not have been generous at all. The Lord, you see, knows what
the situation is, and we need to always, in our giving, be
found giving unto the Lord, and leaving then the issue with Him. And praying the Lord will incline
us to give that which we should give, and to be willing to do
that for His namesake. And you see, if we are found
giving alms to the poor people, then we know they can't respond
and can't reciprocate, and that's a very good thing to be able
to do. And so the Lord goes on and says,
therefore, when thou doest thine 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. Well, it's a sad thing
if we organize our giving such that everybody is aware of it
and as it is sounding a trumpet to declare what we're doing and
all then we do is to receive glory of men. Of course we must
recognize that very quickly fades away and passes away. I read
that chapter in the, well that part of that chapter in the 16th
of Luke really to demonstrate how very worthless all the things
of this vain life are. Because that rich man who had
all that he needed in this life, and yet you see when his life,
his breath was taken from him, what happened? He woke up in
hell. You see, everything that we have,
however loud we may blow the trumpet, that people may acclaim
us being good and righteous and everything else, but you see,
it doesn't count with God. We don't want to be found like
that man who deceived himself and if we're left to ourselves
we will deceive ourselves because we have a heart which is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked who can know it. And so the Lord gives us such
words as this to instruct us to do that which is right for
his honour and for his glory because what it means is doing
it rightly is to give and expect nothing in return. And again
if we realise that we're only giving in any event what God
has given to us. We always want to remember everything
you and I have God has given to us. We've obtained it because
of God's goodness and grace toward us. We can never claim any ability
ourselves because God has given us the ability. So let us therefore
always be willing and generous in our giving and to be found
giving unto the Lord. And so the Lord goes on and tells
us, I say unto you, they have their reward. Their reward is
only a temporal thing. It's only an earthly thing. It's
only a fleshly thing. a heavenly thing, it's not a
spiritual blessing, it's that which is just of the earth, which
will fade away, pass away, and in any event, we'll all have
to leave everything when we come to the day of our death. So, let us remember the gracious
words of the Saviour, and then he says, but when thou doest
arms, now he gives us instruction, as it were to those who are the
children of God, and that we do it in a right way. And he
tells us this, when thou doest on arms, let not thy left hand
know what thy right hand doeth. Well, that really means to be
careful not to vaunt our giving and not to sound a trumpet, to
keep it as quiet as we can, because if that is so, then you see,
we won't receive the acclamation of men. And the trouble is, our
hearts are such that we're quite pleased sometimes to receive
the acclamation of men. But how deceiving that is, and
how wrong it is. We only need to do that which
is right in the sight of God, believing that he will indeed
honour us in our giving and in our doing. And so the Lord then
enhances his statement by telling us that thine arms, that means
our giving, may be in secret. And thy father which seeth in
secret himself shall reward thee openly. And that's a wonderful
favour and blessing, isn't it? So that as we don't blow the
trumpet, as we do things as secretly as we can, It's not always possible
to be completely secret, but again, the Lord looks in our
heart and he sees our heart's desires, whether we do desire
to do things rightly and perhaps secretly and not vaunting ourself
before men. And as the Lord looks in our
heart and observes these things, we can believe that we do things
in the fear of the Lord, indeed for his honour and for his glory,
because how very pleasing it is to hear when people perhaps
receive gifts which are so needful how very thankful they are to
the Lord. And they don't know where these
things have come from, or how people have been moved to perhaps
arrange for such funds to be provided. You see, when they're
given to a godly person, we should be thankful to hear they praise
God and not man. But we also must not forget that
we are to do good unto all men, and especially to the household
of faith. And as we commented recently,
we should therefore not be backward in giving to people that need
it, even if they are unbelievers. It's easy, isn't it, to pass
by on the other side. Well, the whole gospel really
teaches us a very different attitude. And it teaches us the attitude
that we should be willing to give that which God has given
to us. And we see here then what the
Lord says, and it's a wonderful statement, isn't it? That thine
arms may be in secret, and thy father which seeth in secret
himself shall reward thee openly. And we should not do it, of course,
with the objective of, as it were, gaining points or desiring,
therefore, if we do this, the Lord will do something for us,
but I believe When the Lord gives us a right spirit, we are willing
to do it willingly, because they are the words of God speaking
to our heart, and we don't look for a reward. But it's wonderful
the Lord does say such words as this, that thy father, which
saith in secret himself, shall reward thee openly. And sometimes
that's in a very, very different way to what you and I might expect. The Lord knows how to bless his
people. The Lord knows how to reward
them. And it's wonderful, therefore,
to just hear God's Word and to obey God's Word and to follow
God's Word and to not seek for any reward ourselves. And if
we have a right spirit, perhaps we won't be looking for it and
then it may be some time later the Lord comes and graciously
rewards us, perhaps in a very different way and a wonderful
way and we then bow down and worship the Lord in thankfulness
to him and perhaps there can be no greater blessing can there
if we therefore give as it were our temporal things in this world
the Lord then comes up and blesses us with spiritual things and
of course those spiritual blessings are centered in the Lord Jesus
Christ and it's a great favor when he comes and then reveals
himself unto us as he does not unto the world. And remember,
we're not doing these things for any monetary reward or any
reward at all, but to think the Lord does come and bless our
souls. What a favour that is. And I'm
sure we would feel guilty if we, as it were, passed by on
the other side. And if, on the other hand, if
we wanted to show what a wonderful giver we are, so that everybody
can see. And there's no reward at all
in that, in actual fact it falls to the ground and we find ourselves
feeling uncomfortable about it. We don't want to feel uncomfortable,
we want to feel comfortable in the sight of God. We want to
feel that we are doing the Lord's will and serving the Lord in
the way that he would have us to go, and then to think that
he rewards us in our soul by giving us those heavenly blessings,
those gifts which only he can give, which man cannot give.
And so we see what a reward the Lord does give. And may we therefore
then be able to come and truly thank God for his great love
toward us, realizing that we've only given that which he's given
to us. And then over and above these
things, He gives to us and rewards us and blesses our soul with
grace and love and mercy, which must then call forth from our
hearts praise to our God. Well, may we heed these words
and be concerned that we are not found hypocritical in our
almsgiving. Amen.