That came to my mind while I
was listening to that song is kept. Kept. The Lord keeps his people. Kept
by the power of God through faith into salvation. I made the statement
this morning. That. In. Preaching and so on,
looking at this church, there's been more people who have left. than people who have stayed.
And Isaac came up to me and I love this statement. I've been thinking
about it all day. He said, you know, it's not at all amazing
that people have left. It's amazing that people have
stayed. Amen. The Lord says in verse two, when
you do your alms now he's speaking to believers
and it is a given that you do and then he says in verse 5 when
thou prayest it is a given that you do if you're a believer when
thou prayest and he said in verse 16 Moreover, when you fast, he
didn't say if you fast, he said when you do. Once again, this
was viewed as a given that you do. Alms. Alms has to do with my
view and how I am toward others. Prayer. has to do with how I
am toward God. And fasting has to do with how
I am toward myself. Fasting represents self-denial. Alms, prayer, and fasting. The Lord says in verse two, therefore,
when thou doest thine alms. Now that word alms is derived
from the word merciful. Merciful. Blessed are the merciful
for they shall obtain mercy. God is merciful. He delights in mercy. Now, have you experienced salvation
through the mercy of God? I mean, you know that if you're
saved by the grace of God, it's been a sheer work of his mercy
and his mercy gets all the glory and all the credit in your salvation.
And you know that if you're saved, don't you love salvation by the
mercy of God and not by works? I love that. I love that passage
of scripture in Micah chapter six, beginning in verse six,
where it says, what does God require of thee? Here it is.
To do justly. Now, you know, that used to terrify
me until I understood what it meant. When Christ did justly,
I did justly. My life is his life. I don't
have to be afraid of that. I did justly. Got nothing to
be ashamed of. The second thing he said is to
love mercy. And I know this, I love salvation
by the free and sovereign mercy of God. I love electing mercy. I love redeeming mercy. I love
regenerating mercy. I love salvation by the mercy
of God. And I love to be merciful. When I see his mercy toward me,
it makes me want to be merciful. Give alms. That's what that means
to give alms, to be merciful. Now, if I've experienced mercy,
I will be merciful. The Lord said, blessed are the
merciful for they shall obtain mercy. I'll demonstrate the family
likeness. The Lord said, be ye therefore
merciful, even as your father, which is in heaven, is merciful. Merciful to men's souls in telling
them how you obtain mercy. Now I'm going to be merciful
to you right now in telling you how God saved me. He did it all. He chose me before time began. He died for me. He put away my sin. He gave me
a new heart. He gave me life from the dead.
And He's kept me up to this point. And the only way I'll enter glory
is by the saving, keeping mercy of God. And believing that, I want to
be merciful toward you. You know what? I want you to
be merciful toward me. We love mercy, don't we? That's
what alms is. It's being merciful, merciful
to men's souls, merciful to men's bodies, merciful to men's needs. When you give alms, and I believe
the parable of the good Samaritan demonstrates what the giving
of alms or acts of mercy is. Would you turn over to Luke chapter
10 for a moment? In verse 36, before we look at
the whole parable, this is the way it ends up. The Lord says,
now, which of these three thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that
fell among the thieves? Verse 37, and he said, he that
showed mercy on him. And the Lord said, go and do
thou likewise. Now, back, back to verse 25. And behold a certain lawyer,
an expert in the law, so he thought, stood up and tempted him. You know, when I see these fellows
tempting the Lord Jesus Christ, I mean, they're coming before
omniscience and trying to tempt him, trying to set him up, trying
to catch him in his words. It's amusing, isn't it? How tempting. And he said, Master, What shall
I do to inherit eternal life? Now, right here, he mixes up
works of grace, doesn't he? That's what everybody does. What
do you do to inherit something? Well, you don't inherit something
by what you do. You inherit something because of who you are. That's
why you inherit. How many times have you known
a people who were worthless people, and yet they inherited something
anyway? Isn't that the inheritance of
grace? But this man said, what can I do? Salvation by works is do and
live. You're rewarded for what you
do. Salvation by grace is live and do. Really, it's that simple. Do and live, live and do. What shall I do to inherit eternal
life? He said unto him, What is written
in the law? How readest thou? And he answering
said, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and
with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy
mind and thy neighbor as thyself. Now I can almost feel a certain
smugness in this guy. I gave the right answer. He felt
good about himself and he did give a good answer. And I love
the Lord's answered to him. Verse 28. And he said unto him,
thou hast answered right. This do and thou shalt live. He met him on the ground. He
came. You want to come on the ground of what do you do? Do
it this. You've answered right, but what
good does that do you? It's not enough to answer right. Do, do,
just do, and thou shalt live. Verse 29, but he willing to justify
himself. Now here is every man willing
to justify himself. I try to put myself, I always
want vindicated. I always want justified. I always want to be
proven right. You're not such an ugly character.
And that's what this fellow, I want to be proven. He willing
to justify himself said unto Jesus, and I can hear him say
it in kind of a smart aleck tone, and who's my neighbor? And Jesus answering said, now
every believer can see the gospel here. A certain man, went down
from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped
him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him
half dead, helpless. There's me. And by chance there
came down a certain priest that way, And when he saw him, he
passed by on the other side. He saw him, but he didn't do
anything for him. You see, the law can't do anything for you.
Just gonna pass by and leave you where you're at. And likewise,
a Levite, when he was at that place, came and looked on him
and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he
journeyed, came where he was. Now here's the gospel. It's Jesus
Christ the Lord coming to me where I am. I can't get to Him.
But thank God, He came to me where I was. In my deadness,
in my helpless, in my inability. Aren't you thankful? He came
to me where I was. He's the only one who could do
that. He came to me where I was. And when he saw him, he had compassion
on him. The Levite didn't. The priest
didn't. But he did. And went to him,
and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him
on his own beast, and brought him to an end. and took care
of him. And on the morrow when he departed,
he took out two pimps and gave them to the host and said unto
him, take care of him and whatsoever thou spendest more when I come
again, I'll repay thee. Now that's our savior. He came
to me where I was. He bound me up. He did something
for me and he took care of everything. Don't you love the Lord Jesus
Christ? We love him who's loved our soul. We love him. Now, verse
36, which now these three thinkest thou was his neighbor unto him
that fell among the thieves. And he said, he that showed mercy
on him. What that man did was he showed
mercy. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
did. And then said, Jesus unto him, you go and do likewise. Now turn to Matthew, back to
Matthew chapter six. That's the giving of alms. Our
Lord did it and we're called upon to do it. Therefore, when
thou doest thine alms, thine acts of mercy, 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. Look what I'm doing. Look at these gracious acts of
mercy I'm performing. The Lord says, verily I say unto
you, they have their reward. That's why I'm doing this, to
be seen of men. I've got my reward. They've seen
me. and a miserable reward it is. Verse three, but when thou doest
alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth. Now
what that means is, is when you give your alms, don't say, nobody
sees this, but God does. This is, I'm doing what's right. That's sounding a trumpet to
yourself. Don't even let yourself know what you're doing. But verse four, that thine alms
may be in secret and thy father which seeth in secret himself
shall reward thee openly. The promise from the father when
you do your alms. May God make us true alms doers. Mercy, having experienced the
mercy of God, the saving mercy of God. Like that, like the good
Samaritan, the Lord came to me where I was and did everything
for me. He did it all. Not one thing
this fella did, he did it all. He says, you go and do likewise. In verse five, now that's our,
That's to be the rule of the believer's life. Mercy, alms
deeds. When you do your alms. Now in verse five, here is how
we are toward the Lord. Verse five, when thou prayest. Now, prayer is something that
all of God's children do, and it demonstrates a relationship
with God. It demonstrates what we believe
concerning him and our utter and complete dependence upon
him. I love to think about the independence
of the Lord, don't you? He's independent. He has no needs. I love that passage of scripture
where he says, if I was hungry, I wouldn't tell you. The cattle
on a thousand hills are mine. He's independent and you and
I are completely dependent. And we demonstrate that in prayer. Now, the Lord says in verse five,
when you pray, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are. For
they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corner
of the streets that they may be seen of men. You want to be
known as a man of prayer? Well, you'll be known that way.
Congratulations. You've got your reward. And what a reward is that? To
be seen of men. The Lord says they have their
reward. But thou, he's speaking to the believer. 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. Now, entering your
closet. You know, not one time in my
life, up to this point, have I gotten a closet to pray. I've
known people who've done it. They actually think maybe prayer's
better if you actually go in the closet, where it's dark,
nobody knows, shut the door, you got the clothes around you
and everything, and pray. Entering your closet. You can
do that if you want. That's not what the Lord's talking
about. He's not talking about literally entering into a closet. He's talking about shutting out
men. You need the Lord to hear you.
You must have the Lord hear your prayer. And this has absolutely
nothing to do with what men see. You know, even when we pray publicly,
we try to shut men out, don't we? I mean, we're playing publicly. I don't want to pray to, I want
you to join in with me and pray with me. But when we pray publicly,
I'm trying to shut men out and pray to the Lord. Public prayer's
so hard. But I want to shut men out and I want to pray to the
Lord. So that's what he means when
he says, enter your clubs, shut men out. The Lord's the only
one who can do anything for you. He really is. He's the only one
who can do anything about anything. I think it's interesting that
people look at prayer time as a last resort. No, it's the first
resort. And it's the only resort. The Lord's, the King's heart
is in the hand of the Lord, has the rivers of water, he can turn
them whether so ever he will. Everybody's in the Lord's hand.
I'm in his hand, you're in his hand. He's the only one who can
do anything for me. He's the only one who can do
anything for you. And we shut men out. God hears prayer. And verse seven. But when you
pray, he says that again, when you pray, it's a given that you
do if you're a believer. Now, a believer prays to his father.
When you pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think
that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Prayer has
nothing to do with words used or the length of the prayer.
That's superficial and that's mechanical. We know prayer is
not heard because of our much speaking. We know there's only
one reason our prayers are heard. Now this comes from an understanding
of the gospel. I understand that the only reason my prayers are
heard are for Christ's sake. For the Lord to bring my prayer
before the Father. The intercession of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We understand that, don't we?
We know that the only reason, the only way we come into the
presence of the Father is through Christ. You can't pray and not
know the gospel. Every time you truly pray, it's
a preaching of the gospel to yourself. The only way I can
come into God's presence is through Christ. And the only way my prayer
can be heard is by Him presenting my prayer before the Father,
and it becomes acceptable through His intercession. I'm not heard
because of my much speaking. You know, many years ago, I read
a book called The Power of Prayer by, I think a guy by the name
of Ian Bounds. It's cursed me ever since. If
you ever have a book on prayer, burn it. Read the Bible, see
what the Bible says, and pray to God. All these helps are just
no good. Well, I can tell a lot about
that book, but truly we pray in his name. Now,
verse eight, the Lord says, be not therefore likened to them.
For your father knoweth what things you have need of before
you ask him." Isn't that comforting? Your father. Your father. And not everybody has him as
their father. Remember the Lord said to the
Pharisees, you're of your father, the devil. And the lust of your
father you'll do. Only the believer has him as
father. He's my father. I'm his son. And I'm giving this assurance,
my Father knows exactly what I need. Now, there's all kinds
of things I think I need. There's all kinds of things I
pray about. There's all kinds of things I ask the Lord for
all the time. But even when I'm asking for
these things, I know He knows what I need. And He's going to
give me what I need. And aren't you thankful for the
things the Lord doesn't give you? I am. I'm thankful for the things
the Lord hasn't given me that I've asked for. It's best. it's best. Oh, our father. Now he says, verse nine, after
this manner, therefore pray. This is what is known as the
Lord's prayer. I believe it should be called
the disciples prayer. He says, when we pray, say our
father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Now here's the manner and spirit
of true prayer. Our father. You see, as a believer, I'm not independent
of you. I don't say my father, although
he is my father, but he teaches us to pray our father. He's the father of the Lord,
Jesus Christ, God, the father, and he's the father of every
believer. Our father, which art in heaven,
the living God, not the man upstairs, but the
one who dwells in light. Our Father, which art in heaven. And I love what he says. You
see, you can't do this unless you know God. He said, hallowed
be thy name. This is the way we're to pray.
Hallowed, holy, and reverend is thy name. Now, his name is
his attributes. When we come into his presence
in prayer, we're confessing the God we worship and we adore.
Hallowed, holy is thy name. Holy is your sovereignty. Holy
is your justice. Holy is your mercy. Holy is your
grace. Holy is your immutability. Everything about you is holy.
Holy is your name. You see, we know the living God
that we're praying to. We know him. We know his name.
You can't pray to him if you don't know his name. Holy is
thy name. Sanctified is thy great and glorious
and holy. Every attribute. Holy is your
wisdom. Whatever attribute you want to
name, holy is your name. And here's the very desire of
our heart in prayer in verse 10. Thy kingdom come. Don't you want the kingdom of
the Lord Jesus Christ to come here on earth? That's what we
want. That's what we desire. And that's
what we ask him for. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done right
here just like it is in heaven. How's his will done in heaven?
Cheerfully, willingly, immediately. Let it be that way right here. Thy will be done. Now this is
the prayer of my heart. Lord, thy will be done. rip out my will and cause it
to be thy will only. Thy will be done. Do you pray
that? Lord, thy will be done. That's the very desire of my
heart. And then he says in verse 11,
and we're encouraged to pray about all of our physical needs. It's encompassed by this statement,
give us this day our daily bread. Any need you have, sickness,
ask the Lord about it. Need materially, ask the Lord
about it. Trouble, trouble with people,
ask the Lord about it. Whatever need we have, ask the
Lord. And give us this day, we're not
asking for riches, we're not asking for ease, We're asking
for him to give us what we need for this day. And then he speaks of our spiritual
need. The physical need is encompassed
by give us this day, our daily bread. The spiritual need is
all summarized by this statement. Forgive us of our debts. Forgive
us of our sins. You know, People say, well, if
you've already been forgiven, why do you need to confess sin
and ask for forgiveness again? I don't know, but you do. You
do. I know that there's never a time
when it's appropriate for me to come into the presence of
God without saying, Lord, forgive me of my sins. My sins are ever
before me. Forgive me of my debt. Sin is
a debt because it's against God. Forgive me of my sins. Don't
hide them. Confess them and ask for forgiveness.
Lord, forgive me of my sins. And notice how I said this. Forgive
us of our debts as we forgive our debtors. Now, I'm not forgiven
because I forgive. I forgive because I'm forgiven. And if I were, as a matter of
fact, I think it's interesting. This is the only part of the prayer
the Lord commented on afterwards. Look what he said in verse 14. For if you forgive men their
trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you. What makes
me zealous to forgive, doesn't it you? But if you forgive not
men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your
trespasses. All of our spiritual needs are
found in this, forgive us of our debts as we forgive our debtors. And then there's confession,
verse 13. A confession of our weakness,
lead us not into temptation. You know, when I pray this, I'm
saying, Lord, if I'm tempted, I know me, I'll fall. Don't let
me be tempted. Put a hedge around me to where
I can't be tempted. Because I know myself well enough,
Lord, I'm so weak. If I'm tempted, I know the direction
I'll go. Let me not even be tempted. Lead
us not into temptation. And then, our need of deliverance
from evil. He says in verse 13, but deliver
us from evil. Deliver us from the evil one. Deliver me from Satan. Deliver
me from the evil of this world that would swallow me up and
deliver me from myself. Deliver me from myself. Deliver
us from evil. Keep us from evil. Deliver us
from evil. We pray that. This has to do
with our relationship with the living God through the gospel,
deliver us from evil. And then here's the confession
of our heart in verse 13. This is what we really believe
for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. We really believe that
don't we? We believe power belongs to the Lord. We don't have any
power. and he has all power. We don't get any glory, and he
gets all of the glory. You see, this is with the gospel.
This is what comes from an understanding of the gospel, just even in this
way of praying. How many times did, I remember
when I was in junior high school, before every game, everybody
would take a knee, and we would pray the Lord's Prayer. I remember
I was always embarrassed, because I never knew the words. Everybody
else did, but me. I never knew the words. I thought, man. But that being said, those fellows
knew the words, but they had no idea what they were talking
about. How many people just go through this form of prayer and
have no understanding of it? Oh, may God give me an understanding
of this. Thine is the kingdom. Thine is the power. All power
belongs to you. I need your strength. Thine is
the glory. He gets all the glory. Now listen to this statement.
The highest activity that we can engage in here on earth is
prayer. The disciples said, teach us
to pray. They never said, teach us to
preach. They never said, teach us to witness. You know, this
whole idea of churches training people to witness, you know,
that's corrupt at the very, you're training somebody to be a witness?
I mean, you're a witness if you've seen something. If you gotta
train somebody to be a witness, there's just something corrupt
about that, isn't there? I mean, training somebody to
be a liar is what you're doing. That's what it is, no? Well,
I don't know where that came from, but it did. The highest activity we can engage
in is prayer. And look what the Lord says in
verse 16. Moreover, when you fast. It's a given that we do. When
you Fasting is abstinence from food. It's clear that the saints
in the Old Testament and the New Testament practiced fasting. The Lord Jesus practiced fasting. He did. He went 40 days and 40
nights fasting. There's no formula for how long
or what is to be given up. When I fast, I say to the Lord,
this is more important to me than food, life itself. Now, what fasting represents
is self-denial. If people, you know, fast for
any other, fasting is self-denial. Now, what's the point? What's
the greatest problem I have? Now, remember, alms has to do
with others. Prayer has to do with God. Fasting
has to do with self. What's the biggest problem that
I have? And I want to answer this honestly.
Self. Myself. Self-righteousness. Self-centeredness. Self-seeking. self-love, self-promoting,
self-pleasure, self-vindication, self-justification, and the call
of Christ is to deny ourself. Deny ourself. Biggest problem
I have is here, self. And the call of the gospel is
to deny yourself, to take up your cross daily, And that's
talking about the confession of the gospel, the confession
of Christ and him crucified and the problems it'll create with
you doing it. Yet you willingly take it up. Deny yourself, take
up your cross and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Lose your
life that you might find it. Turn to Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. I love this passage
of scripture. Now fasting is not mentioned
in this passage of scripture, but this is true fasting. And from Miletus, he sent to
Ephesus and called the elders of the church. And when they
were come to him, he said unto them, you know, from the first
day that I came into Asia, after what manner I've been with you
at all seasons, serving the Lord. And the only way you can serve
him is with all humility of mind. You can't serve the Lord and
have a high thought about yourself. You can't be in his presence
and have high thoughts about yourself. And you can serve yourself
and have high thoughts about yourself, but you can't serve
the Lord and have high thoughts about yourself. Like I said in
Bible study this morning, Paul the apostle, What did he say
about himself? He said, I didn't say I used
to be the chief of sinners. He said, I am. He didn't say,
oh, wretched man that I was. He said, oh, wretched man that
I am. You serve the Lord with all humility. With many tears, tears of pain, tears of sorrow,
tears of joy, tears of frustration, tears of elation, tears of happiness,
many tears, and temptations which befell me by the lying weight
of the Jews. You see, if you serve the Lord,
you're going to have the religious as your enemies. Now, if you
don't have the religious as your enemies, we're not serving the
Lord. He said, with temptations which befell me by the lying
weight of the Jews. And he said in verse 20, how
I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have
showed you and have taught you publicly and from house to house. What I said in the pulpit and
what I said in your living room was the same thing, testifying
both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward
God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold,
I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things
that shall befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesses
in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. They're
waiting on me. I know that when I go, I'm gonna
be imprisoned, I'm gonna be beat, but none of these things move
me. Now here is self-denial. Neither
count I my life dear unto myself. So that I might finish my course
with joy and the ministry which I've received of the Lord Jesus
to testify the gospel of the grace of God. You know, the only
way you'll finish and I'll finish my course with joy. If I don't
count my life dear to myself. Now as long as I'm counting my
life dear to myself, I'm going to be miserable. Things aren't
going to go my way. But if I don't count my life
dear to myself, I'll finish my course with joy. And the ministry
which I've received of the Lord Jesus, and this is my reason,
this is your reason for being here, to testify the gospel of
the grace of God. Now that is self May the Lord cause us to be people
who give alms, people who truly pray, and people who deny ourselves. Isn't that beautiful? What the Lord does, everything
He says is just so beautiful, it's so glorious, it's so perfect.
It's obviously so heavenly, holy. It's the Word of God. Let's pray.