You'll turn with me now to Matthew
chapter 6. In Matthew 5, the Lord began
His sermon on the mount with a clear definition of the blessing
of being a true believer. He described that work of God
in him and that new character in him. He's a new creation,
a new creation. And he's truly blessed. And he's
a believer by the gift of God's sovereign grace. And he's a believer
in heart and soul, not just in profession. He's a believer.
And he's a believer in heart and soul, and he's a man into
whom the Holy Ghost has taken up his abode. There's a difference
between professing religion and a true believer, and that difference
is that God has come in him. He's moved in Him. He's taken
up His abode in Him. He's taken down the strong man. The strong man is still there.
That old nature is still there, but He doesn't rule anymore.
There's another who rules there. And He's omnipotent. This is
the Holy Spirit. And He's made Him, under deep
conviction, a man poor in spirit. He brought Him that way. He wasn't
born that way. He's proud in spirit. He was
bountiful in spirit. He was rich in his own mind. But the Lord that abides in him
and the spirit that abides in him through the gospel of Christ
has broken him and now he's a man poor in spirit and he mourns
over his sins. You don't ever see a natural
man mourning. Now he'll mourn if he gets caught.
He'll mourn all about that. But he doesn't mourn over who
he is. He doesn't mourn over what he
is. He might do something. He might manifest some gross
sin and be sorry for that the rest of his life. And more than
likely, it's just, like I said, because of what it does to his
life, he doesn't really mourn over it, over the evil of it,
and over those things. But this man of God mourns over
who he is. He mourns over his sins. He mourns
over what he is, what he can't control, what he can't get rid
of. He mourns over that. He awakes and knows that the
day is going to be filled in his own mind with things that
he wants to do but can't. And he mourns over it. He mourns
over it. He looks forward to the day when
that old man will be in the ground. And he's a man that God has made
meek and lowly in heart. And he thirsts after righteousness.
Not something that he can obtain, but that righteousness of Christ.
He sees that. He desires that. He rests in
it now by faith. But he longs to have it for himself.
A righteousness. A perfection. And he's a man
lowly in heart. Thirsts after righteousness.
And he is, as a result of God's working in him, a merciful man. He understands mercy, John. He
understands it. And that's why he can show it.
You can't show mercy until you understand what it is. Natural
man just can't be merciful. He just can't. He can mock it
in a self-righteous manner, but he can't be merciful. He just
can't show mercy. But this man of God can. He's
a merciful man and he's pure in heart. That is, he's no hypocrite. He's no hypocrite. What's in
him is real. His experiences are real. It's
not something he mocked in religion. It's not something he took up
and remembered like you remember a poem and quote it to somebody,
but it's real. It's the real experience of his
heart. He's no hypocrite. And he desires and preaches peace. He lives his life in a way that
tells folks that he desires peace. He's a peaceful man. He don't
want to argue. He don't want to be at odds.
And if there's any way he can keep from it, he won't be at
odds. And God has by an act of His
sovereign grace made the true believer, Christ said, the salt
of the earth. He's the very salt of the earth
And He's the light of this world. And then our Lord goes on in
chapter 5 to teach us the truth, both of the true spiritual nature
of the law, and of the subtle deception of false religion which
teaches things they don't know. He tells you what these elders
in Israel said that the law said. That's what religion does. It
tells you what's wrong. It tells you, here's what the
law says, they say, and then they tell you. And the Lord said,
here's what those who tell you those things say, and here's
what the law really says. And He shows us the difference.
He shows us the difference in the very heart and nucleus and
foundation of false religion as it is compared to the truth
and compared to the truth. Man looks on the outward countenance,
but God looks on the heart. And three or four times in chapter
5, he tells us what these false teachers have taught concerning
the law and what the law truly says. And then again, he reminds
us of the true attitude and spirit of those he called out of darkness.
And while the religion of this world is good at avoiding the
outward deeds like those of criminals and wickedness They understand
and manifest no understanding of sin and no heart understanding
of what it means to serve God. If you look at their life, if
you look at that outward countenance, if you look at their outward
forms of religion, they are clean as a hamster. They all go to
church just like you do. They all come in here and sing
hymns just like you do. They all pray just like you do.
They all go out. They live their lives. They witness
to folks. They do all of those things in
an outward sense. But they have no inward sense
of sin. And when they come in, they sit
and sing and listen to preachers talk and all these things, and
they never enter into true worship because you can't worship Him,
you don't know. They don't worship the true and
living God. They worship an idol. They worship
the image of their imagination. Religion is meticulous about
outward forms of worship because they're seen and applauded by
men. That's what the Lord said. Here's
why there's such carefulness there because they're after the
applause of men. They wouldn't pray at all except
they had to pray to be seen of men. They had to win that applause
of men to justify their office and justify their person. They
look to that applause of men. And the whole of their religion
is no more than a show. A man without the presence and
power of God in him cannot manifest anything except what's born in
him. That's all that can ever come
out of him. That's all. That's all. Salvation is an act of God in
the heart. It's a divine work that manifests
a divine power. It's a new creation. It's not
something you can do. It's something God must do in
you. Something God must do for you. Something God must do through
you. And this flesh cannot perform even the most basic and fundamental
character of the true sons of God. This flesh can't produce
it. The heathen, he said, can love
those that love him, but he can't love his enemies. If you come
up to him, and you're nice to him, and you come over and mow
his lawn, and loan him money when he needs it, and you're
friendly to him, he'll be friendly to you. But he can't be friendly
to that other neighbor, because that other neighbor cusses him
all the time. That other neighbor won't let him come in his yard.
He can't pray for him. He can't love him. He can be
good to those who are good to Him, but He cannot do good to
those who despitefully use Him. He can't even pray for them.
And then believers worship God. They worship Him at church, and
they worship Him at home, and they worship Him when things
are good, and they worship Him when things are bad. They worship
Him when they're in perfect health, and they worship Him when they're
on their deathbed. They worship Him. Like Job of
old, who lost everything, lost his children, and lost his income,
and lost everything that he had attained all of his life, and
lost his health, and he was sitting there covered from head to toe
in balls. And his wife said, won't you
just curse God and die? You know what old Job said? He
said, the Lord giveth. And the Lord taketh away. Blessed
be the name of the Lord. Believers can say that. Ain't
nobody else on this earth can say that. You can't muster it
up. Believers pray. They see one
at the right hand of God willing and able to grant their request. One who's able to be touched
by their infirmities. One who loves them and cares
for them and has their good in mind. And they call on Him. They call on Him. And they love
Him. They love Him because He first
loved them. They love Him because He gave
them a heart to love Him. They love Him because His love
made provision for them. His love gave them His name and
made them one with Him. My people, He said, which are
called by My name. And they believe on Him. He's
their Savior. He's their King. He's their Lord. He's their Teacher. He's their
Husband, their Intercessor and High Priest. And they believe
even though it's contrary to the multitudes, they believe
even though it goes cross-grain to their family, they believe
even though it goes against that family grain, and they believe
even though it's contrary to traditional religion and the
multitudes that surround them in this world. They believe.
Like Paul, they said, let God be true in every man a liar,
whether he wears a robe or he don't. They believe because God has
revealed Him in them and not just to them. And we know the
truth, and the truth has set us free. It's free. We're free. We're not bound,
Winston, by the traditions of this world. I'm not bound by
its religious effects and all of those things that they do
to intimidate men. I'm not bound by those things.
I'm not bound by an old nature. He's raised us up out of darkness,
quickened us together with Him. And He's taught us the truth. And the truth is set us free.
Now, I've got a lot of negative things to say about the religion
of this world because I know it's dangerous. I know what it
is. It's just a poison that infects
your soul. That's all it is. And I warn
you of it. I warn you of it. And Scriptures
warn you of it. full of warnings about it. And
here's what I want you to see, and this is what the Lord's teaching
them here, and we pass over it so often, but the Scriptures
is full of it. It wasn't so much the extreme
cults that he dealt with. That's not who he dealt with. Now, on occasion, he may. But
for the most part in the scripture, he's not dealing with these extreme
cults like Jim Jones and Father Divine and all them types. And it's not the occasional misfits,
but almost always against the most accepted, practiced, and
traditionally accepted religion of the time, the Jews. The Jews. The whole world saw the Jews
as the children of God, just like they do right now. And the Pharisees of his day
would have been equal to the Billy Grahams of our day. That's
how prominent these men were. Even under Roman rule, these
men were given special offices and special respect. They were the Billy Grahams.
I don't even listen to these clowns anymore. I don't even
know their names anymore, but Billy Graham was one in my day. They would have been the cardinals
and the rabbis and the priests and the bishops. Educated, trained,
highly recommended men. Dedicated, accepted. Men of reputation
and dignity. And of these kinds of men, the
Lord tells the multitude that they're hypocrites. You see,
these weren't the cults that He was talking to. These were
the men that the whole world gave respect to. And he called
them hypocrites. Don't do what the hypocrites
do. He called them hypocrites. Void
of any real knowledge of grace, void of any real knowledge of
God, void of any real understanding of the gospel, and void of any
semblance of a heart work. And he exposes their hypocrisy
in religion in three vital areas here in Matthew chapter 6. And these three areas are common
to the believers of that day and are common to the believers
of our day. He exposes their false religion and that false
character of Antichrist in them in the giving of alms and in
prayer and in fasting. Now these are three areas in
our day that men must manifest to make this world accept them
as spiritual leaders. That's how the world justifies
you and calls you a man of God, by these three things. This is
kind of the litmus test. Now, there's other things, but
he picked these three out because these are the three most prominent
areas that people look at, in general. They look to see if
he's generous, if he's a giving man. They look to see if he's
a praying man. Does he pray? Does he sincerely
pray? And they look at him to see if
he fasts. All men, I believe, associate
these things with true religion. Now, the difference that the
Lord points out is how these things are practiced. It's not
the things in themselves, but it's how they're practiced. It's
how they're done. And the giving of alms to the
poor and needy is indeed a good work. And that's a true evidence
of grace in the heart. You know, when Peter, over in
the book of Acts, when he began to describe to those people who
the Lord was, here's what he said, he went about everywhere
doing good. Ain't that what he said? Doing
good. He gave alms. He gave himself. He was the chief alms. And he
healed the sick, and he fed the poor, and he taught the ignorant.
And it's the very nature of a regenerated man to relieve the suffering
of others. James said if you can do that,
if you can look at a man and see him hurting, see him in need
and not give to him, you don't know God. That's basically what
he said. You don't have true faith. You don't have a heart of grace.
If you can see another sufferer and ignore him totally, where
is that love of God in your heart? Where's it at? You've got no
compassion on Him. How can you talk about receiving
compassion from God, who didn't deserve it? A sinner in need
of grace and mercy, and yet here's a man in need of all of them
things, and you won't give him anything. He said, here's what the religious
man does. James said, he just tells him,
well, I hope things work out. And he goes on his way. Goes
on his way. The differences in how these
things are practiced. Now the Lord said, when you do
these things, don't do them as the hypocrites do. When you do your alms, don't
do your alms like they do. Observe them. Look at them. See
how they do it. See what they do. See why they
do it. And don't do it that way. Don't
do it that way. Take heed, he said, that you
do not your alms before men to be seen of them. When thou doest
thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites
do in the synagogues and in the streets. They give you something
and then they go tell everybody in the country they gave it to
you. Or they wait till everybody in the country is gathered together
to see them, and then they give it to you. Either way, they do
it to be seen of men. That's why they do it. And most
of what's done in false religion is done in such a way as to be
seen of all. And it's as the Lord says down
there in verse 2, that they may have glory of men. That's why they do it. Now, the
hope of the hypocrite is the adoration and acknowledgment
of this world. That's his hope. And somehow
in his twisted mind, if he can win the approval of men, he has
assurance that he's OK before God. You ever notice that? That's what they desire. It's
what they need. That's what they long for. It's what they want.
They want that hand on the back. They need that. But the Lord said, you cannot
serve two masters. You either hate the one and love
the other, or else you'll hold to the one and despise the other.
And He said unto them, unto these Pharisees, He said, ye are they
which justify yourselves before men. That's how you justify your
preaching, and that's how you justify your giving, and that's
how you justify your prayers, and that's how you justify everything
you do. That's how you justify your hope
before God. You justify yourselves before
men. But God knows your hearts. For
that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the
sight of God. I guarantee you, if I wanted
friends, I wouldn't preach what I preach. If I wanted friends
in this world. What they told Barnard, said
it'd be a lot better. He said, you'd catch a lot more
flies with honey than you can with vinegar. He said, I ain't
trying to catch flies. He said, I'm trying to kill sinners.
There's a difference. There's a difference. And then
not just alms, but also prayer. And here's another area that's
In the right way, a true evidence of the believer, but in a wrong
way, it's hypocrisy, and it's evidence of no faith at all.
Matthew 6, verse 5. 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. Now, I'm going to make a statement. I hope I don't have to eat it.
But all public prayer except for hospitals and funerals is
hypocritical prayer. Hypocritical prayer. There's only one reason to pray
out loud in a restaurant. Just one reason so that everybody
in that restaurant can hear you pray. That's the only reason.
You can pray without standing up and bowing your head in the
middle of a multitude of people in downtown Texarkana And there's
only one reason why you wouldn't do that, because you want everybody
to see you pray. That's the only reason. I remember
one time a fellow told Henry, he said, well, if we don't stand
up and pray, how are they going to know we're believers? He said,
I think they'll figure it out when they get to tip. When you don't leave one, they'll
know exactly what's going on. There's only one reason for a
man to do that, and that's to be seen of men. All true believers pray. They
all pray. Matthew Henry called it the breath
of the believer. They all pray. They pray with
thanksgiving for the grace and mercy of God in their lives.
They pray and give thanks to God. They pray for the daily
provisions He gives to sustain them. And they pray for and acknowledge
His hand in all God's providential acts in their lives. And they
pray, asking for daily cleansing from their sins. And they pray
and ask for guidance and direction, for understanding and enlightenment.
And they pray for God's hand of preservation on them. Oh,
God, don't turn me over to myself. Don't turn me over to myself.
Don't leave me alone. They pray for God's hand of preservation. And they pray for God's grace
to intervene in their lives and in the lives of their children.
They pray. They pray. You know why they
pray? They pray because nobody else
can do those things but Him. Nobody else. And believers all
pray, but they pray hoping to be heard of God, not men. That
man who truly prays, prays to God. He don't care if you see
Him or you don't see Him. He don't care if you acknowledge
Him or you don't acknowledge Him. They threw Paul and Silas
in prison and at midnight when nobody was praying, they were
praying down in the prison. And you know what? God heard
them. God heard them. They are not hypocritical in
their prayers. They are sincere. And the heart
of the believer has within it the Spirit of God. And he tells
us in Romans 8 that That like creation that groans and travails
in pain, waiting upon that adoption to wit, the adoption of our bodies,
the full redemption of Christ manifests. All creation waits
on that and suffers and groans and moans. And He said, even
you, He said, you don't know what to pray for. And when you
don't, when these times of confusion and ignorance and all those things
fall upon you, you've got one in you. who makes intercession
for you with groanings that cannot be uttered, with desires and
longings and those things which are true and sincere, He makes
intercession for you. And you pray in a way that you
don't even know before God. And He said in verse 5, 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 might be seen of men, and they have
their reward. But thou, when thou prayest,
enter into thy closet, and when thou shut the door, pray to the
Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret
shall reward thee openly. But when you pray, use not vain
repetitions as the heathen do. for they think that they should
be heard for their much speaking." Don had a lot to say on this,
and it's just too much to get into a 30-minute lesson. I'm about out of time now. But
he talked about these prayer walls that religion have and
these prayer lines that they have. And somebody came to him
and wanted him or emailed him or something, wanted him to put
them on their prayer list. He said, I don't have a prayer list.
He said, I pray as God moves me to pray. You want me to pray
for you? Call me and tell me you want me. But he said, there's
no power in a list. There's no power in a wall. There's
no power in these lines. And there's no power in vain
repetitions. That's how the hypocrites, that's
how the heathen pray. Be not therefore like unto them.
For your Father knoweth what things you have need of before
you ask. I tell you, oftentimes, oftentimes, I sit at my desk
and I'll begin to pray for things that I know I ought to be praying
for. And it just overwhelms me that he already knows what I
need more than I do and before I do. And he's already made provision
for me, John. But in that prayer, you acknowledge
that, don't you? You acknowledge that. Now having
said these things, the Lord gives us a model outline for prayer. This prayer was never given for
you to memorize and stand up before men and pray these words.
This was an outline of prayer. This was to teach them how to
pray. And this is not the Lord's prayer.
I don't care how many of them idiots stand up and tell you
it is. It's not the Lord's prayer. It's the disciples' prayer and
the Lord's telling them how to pray. And here's the outline. Pray with a true and believing
heart, Our Father, which art in heaven. Do you believe that? Then pray
that way. Pray that way. Secondly, it is
an acknowledgment of God's holy name from our hearts. We have
an understanding of His name. We are going to get into that
this morning. We have an understanding of His name. We know His name. And it's an acknowledgement of
His holy name from our hearts. And then thirdly, it's a statement
of submission and understanding and desire for the will and purpose
of God to come to pass. We pray Thy kingdom come. Let whatever be, will be. Let
Thy kingdom come. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven. I know what I want, I know what
I feel in my heart, but I don't always know the will of God in
it. So I pray thy will be done. And then fourthly, we pray for
daily sustenance. Give us this day our daily bread. And we pray for forgiveness.
Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And we pray for
preservation. Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. And we give Him the glory for
whatever He gives or don't give. We give Him all the glory for
it. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. And having prayed this outline
in prayer and poured our hearts out to God, we say, Amen. So
be it. So be it. I'm going to stop right
there. Maybe we'll take up this thing
of fasting next week.