couple of announcements. Remember,
Brother Baker, his asthma has been really, really bad and he
was up most of the night with that, so please remember him.
Also, there will be no services here Wednesday night. For you
who come on Wednesday night, we'll celebrate Thanksgiving
and most of you will be with your family and I hope you have
a Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving for your family. We're coming
into my two holidays. Of all the holidays of the year,
I like Thanksgiving and I love Christmas. I think one of the
reasons I do is just the families get together. You know, you pay
more attention sometimes to others than you do yourselves. And just
a wonderful time of the year for me. I hope it is for you
too. In Matthew's Gospel, chapter
6, our Lord Jesus Christ came down from heaven, and among all
the other wonderful things that He was and did, He was the Prince
of Preachers. And He preached this message
to us and the many, many practical things. But what I want us to
see today is that these practical things in our life are very,
very serious. What we do and how we live our
life is very, very serious. And while you turn in there to
chapter 6, let me read one verse to you that I thought about over
in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. But you
turn over there to my text and I'll read this to us. Whether therefore you eat or
drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. And as I was studying the sixth
chapter of Matthew, I thought, that's what the sixth chapter
of Matthew is all about. It's doing all that we do as
believers for the glory of God. Now, I want to read some of these
practical things. Look in verses 1 through verse
4. The Lord Jesus is speaking here
of what He calls alms, which is charitable deeds, just doing
good to help others. Seeing other people's needs,
no matter if it's physical, no matter if it's spiritual, emotional,
or whatever it is, it's just reaching out and helping others. And here's what He says about
it. Take heed that you do not your alms, your charitable deeds,
before men, just to be seen of them. Otherwise you 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
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 alms, let
not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine
alms may be in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret
himself shall reward thee openly. And then beginning in verse 5
through verse 15, he speaks to us about prayer. Look at this.
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 reward. But thou, when thou prayest,
enter unto 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. But when ye pray, use not vain
repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall
be heard, for they are much speaking. Be not ye therefore lacking to
them, for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before
ye ask him. After this manner, therefore,
pray ye, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the
kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. For if you
forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also
forgive you. But if you forgive not their
trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses. And then verses 16 through verse
18, he tells us about fasting, missing a meal because we are
humbling ourselves before the Lord and seeking a need from
Him. Moreover, when you fast, be 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. But thou, when thou fastest,
anoint thine head, wash thy face, that thou appear not unto men
to fast, but unto thy Father, which is in secret. And the Father
which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. And then, verses
19 through 21, laying up treasures for ourselves. as opposed to
laying up treasures in heaven. Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves
break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also. And then in verses 22 and
23, he speaks here of singleness of purpose in serving God in
Jesus Christ. Verse 22, The light of the body, the lamp
of the body, is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single,
thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be
evil, Thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore
the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness."
And then in verse 24, he deals with this, the impossibility
of a divided heart. No man can serve two masters,
for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he
will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God
and mammon. And then in verses 25 and through
verse 34, this is so important. We all suffer with this. He speaks
here of a deliverance from anxiety, from worry, and worrying about
securing ourselves from financial ruin, safety, health. Deliverance from anxiety and
worry, and look here how he says it in verse 25, Therefore I say
unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat,
what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body what ye shall put
on. Is not the life more than meat, food, and the body more
than raiment? Behold the fowls of the earth,
for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather unto barns. Yet your heavenly Father feedeth
them. Are you not much better than
they? Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit unto
his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment,
for clothing? Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow. They toil not, neither do they
spin. And yet I say unto you, that
even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which
to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much
more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Wherefore, take no thought,
no anxious thought, saying, What shall we eat? What shall we drink? Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
For after all these things do the Gentiles seek, and your Heavenly
Father knoweth that you have need of these things. But seek
ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all
these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought
for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things
of itself. Sufficient unto the day are the
evil, the troubles thereof." These are practical things, but
they are all so important We face these things in our everyday
life. We do these things in our everyday
life. But the Lord Jesus begins by
telling us how important these practical things are. He begins
here in verse 1 with this. Take heed. Take heed that you
do not your alms before men. We could apply that to these
first three things here we're going to look at. Take heed that
you don't do your alms just to be seen of men. Take heed that
you don't pray just to be heard of men. Take heed that you don't
fast just to be seen of men. All goes back to motives, doesn't
it? Boy, motives mean everything. Why we do what we do. It's something that afflicts
every one of us because we love to please men. We love to get people's attention. We like for people to brag on
us. And this afflicts us so bad sometimes that it causes this
awful warfare within us. But the Lord Jesus says here,
take heed when you do your good deeds, don't do them just to
be seen of men. Boy, how that crosses our natures.
We can't hardly have it, can we? The Bible says, every man
walketh in a vain show. But Christ says here, be very
careful not to do anything just to be seen of men. And He gives an example here
in verse 2. Look here in verse 2. Therefore,
when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee,
as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets. Verily I
say unto you, they have their reward. Can you get a picture
of this? Here's the Pharisee is, and he's got a bag of money,
and he goes and hires this man who can play the trumpet. And
he walks behind the trumpet player, and the man is sounding the trumpet,
getting all this attention, and he points to the Pharisee behind
him. He's making an offering in the
temple. It's disgusting to think about,
isn't it? And yet you and I are so susceptible
to do things like this. Now, we'd never do this, but
what is it we're tempted to do just to get man's attention,
just to have man to look at us? I'm sure these Pharisees would
never admit, I'm doing this just to get attention. They'd never
admit that. They would say, I'm doing this
because I want to be a good example to believers. I'm doing this
so people can see how faithful I am and being an example to
them. But the Lord Jesus knew their
hearts, didn't He? He said, No, no, no. I know why
you're doing this. You're doing this wholly just
to be seen of man. A man told me one time that he
always prayed in a restaurant over his food. He said he never
did eat his food anywhere, no matter where he was, without
bowing his head and praying over his food. And let me say, brothers
and sisters, I've got no problem with that. Not at all. In everything, give thanks. This is the will of God, isn't
it? It's Christ Jesus. But I asked that man, I said,
why? I asked him first, do you have
any difficulty in praying in public? And I said, why do you
do that in public? And here was his answer. He said,
I want people to see that I'm thankful to God. Well, there's
his motives. He gave thanks unto God, but
his motives was that people may see him give thanks unto God. That's what the Lord Jesus said,
avoid. Take heed that you do nothing
just to be seen, of men. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
when a man does that, he has his reward. That man better hope
that people in that restaurant is watching him, because that
is his reward. That is all the reward that he
will get. Look in verse 3 of our text in
Matthew chapter 6. But thou, when thou doest alms,
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
shall reward thee openly." Boy, that's pretty secretive, isn't
it? When your left hand doesn't know what your right hand is
doing. Now what does the Lord mean here?
Does He mean here that every good deed you do, make sure nobody
sees it? That's not what He means. There
are things that we do that can't be hid. I mean, we have a box
back there to put money in it. How are you going to go back
and put money in that box without somebody seeing you? But what
it is here, the Lord's meaning is this. When you do anything,
don't do it with the intention of being seen of men. Do it with
a full intention of God alone knowing what you did. Do it for
God's glory. That's the passage I read to
you, isn't it? We can learn some things here
from verse 4. Verse 4 said that, Thine arms
may be in secret, and the Father which seeth in secret may reward
thee openly. A believer is someone who does
good. Did you notice that? When? You do your alms when you do
good deeds. Brothers and sisters, works has
never saved any man. And works can never save any
man and works can never keep any man. But when the Lord saves
us, you'll work for his glory. We're created in Christ Jesus
unto good works. The Lord doesn't save us and
send us to a convent. or a monastery, or He doesn't
send us off to join a cult and go into some isolated place. He sends us back in society. He unites us to a local church,
and in that church we love one another. We help one another. We support one another. When
you do your good alms, your good deeds. Secondly, notice what
the Lord Jesus said here. The Heavenly Father sees. He sees what man cannot see. He sees your good deeds which
are done in secret and done for His glory. Remember the time
the Lord Jesus was in the temple, and He heard those trumpets sounding,
and He watched those rich Pharisees come and throw in their bags
of money? He was doing that one day, and He was watching them
over against the treasure, and there was this poor widow All
she had was two little mites. Maybe all she had was two dollars. And she came and she put that
in, and the Lord Jesus said, that woman hath put in more than
all of these men who brought their riches. All she had was
two dollars. And she put that two dollars
into the offering, and she did it for the glory of God. And God sees it! He sees it! Man, he sees the amount that
we give. But God sees when we give from
the heart, no matter how small the amount is, or how little
the deed may be valued before men. He sees in secret. That's one of the reasons we
should never do anything just to be seen of men. Do it for
God's glory because it's Him that sees it. Boy, He sees that
help in a hand, doesn't He? You help some weak brother or
sister in Christ, He sees that. He sees that smile you have for
a discouraged saint. He hears that phone call. He
sees that visit. He sees that open wallet. He sees as man could never see. God sees every little thing you
do for His glory. And notice what else this verse
teaches us. The Father Himself shall reward
thee openly. Now, the Lord Jesus doesn't say
how the Father rewards His people. He doesn't say when He rewards
His people. I don't know anything much about
that, to be honest with you. But I know this. He shall reward
His people. There's nothing that's done for
God's glory that He will remember it and reward His child for doing
it. And brothers and sisters, why
wouldn't He do that? If you do anything for God's
glory because you love Him and you do it by faith in Jesus Christ,
why wouldn't God do it since that's His work to begin with? No man ever did anything for
God's glory, but God put it in his heart to do it. You have
a desire to help people, God put that desire there. You have
the means to help people, He gave you the means. You have
opportunity to help people, He gave you that opportunity. Why
wouldn't He therefore turn right around and reward that work? It's of Him that it's done. And if He don't begin it and
He don't put it there, it won't amount to anything, will it?
That is a wonderful scripture and doctrine the Lord Jesus teaches
us. And in the light of all of this,
you and I who are born of God should never grow discouraged
in doing good. Be not weary in well-doing, for
in due season you shall reap If you think not, as we have
therefore opportunity, let us do good. We can do good no matter
how small it seems to man. We can do good knowing that God
has put it there. He has given us an opportunity
to do it and He will reward it in His own time and in His own
way. That is the practical aspect
of giving. Look here now. Beginning in verse
5, when you pray, when you pray, the Lord always
give the negative your first, and it's so profitable. He said,
when you pray, don't be like those hypocrites. They love to
pray standing in the synagogues in the corners of the street.
The Lord Jesus is not saying they love to pray. Prayer is
hard work sometimes, isn't it? That's why the Bible calls prayer
to labor in prayer. It's difficult to pray sometimes.
It's difficult to continue in prayer. These Pharisees weren't
praying because they loved to pray. They were praying because
they loved to be seen of men. That's why they went to the synagogue,
and when the benches were full, they asked the ruler of the synagogue,
he said, all right, if I pray. And they'd get up and pray, and
they'd pray, and they'd pray. And then on their way home, they'd
find a busy street, and they would stop in the busy street
and they would pray. But it was all just to be heard
of men. And Christ said, they have their
reward. Let men pat them on the back and say, that's the prettiest
prayer I've ever heard. Let men pat them on the back
and say, you're so faithful. You're a man of God. You're a
praying person. That's all the glory they'll
get if that's the only reason. They're doing it to be heard
of men. Brothers and sisters, it's difficult. It's difficult to pray publicly.
Do you know that? I know some of you, bless your
hearts, I wish you weren't like this. I wish you weren't so intimidated
by public prayer. I wish you'd be more willing
to come up here and read the Scriptures and pray for us. But
I understand why you don't want to. It's difficult because you
know prayer is from the heart. Prayer is a secret communion
between us and our Father in heaven. But yet when we come
up here to pray, we're aware that men are listening. And that
bothers us, doesn't it? But I tell you this about prayer.
Public prayer is not the rule. That's the exception. The rule
of prayer is always private. And how private is it? Well,
look what the Lord Jesus said here in verse 6. Look in verse
6 how He says this. But thou, when thou prayest,
enter unto thy closet. But that's not enough, is it?
Prayer is even more secretive than that. When you have shut the door.
It's not enough just to get in the closet. Prayer is so secret,
shut the door. Shut everybody else out and isolate
yourself. Get along with your heavenly
Father. Now let's look at this, maybe
it's mean in two ways. First of all, let's look at it
literally. Don't you and I literally need
a quiet place to get along? Look at the noise that we're
surrounded with. Look at the voices. Look at the
racket. Look at the people coming and
going in our lives. We literally need a place that
we can get alone with our Heavenly Father and shut out the noise
of this world and all the cares of this life. Sometimes when
the Lord Jesus prayed, He got up before daylight. He got away
from His disciples and He went to a mountain. Or he went to
a grove or he went to a garden. Why did he do that? The quietness. You've got a room. Get in your
room. You've got a car. Get in your
car. I've went sometimes when I couldn't
pray at the house or we had a lot of company, I've literally got
in my car and went down and parked in the park here somewhere just
to get along and have a place to shut everything out that I
could pray to my Father. We need that literally, don't
we? We need our closets to get along
with our Father. But when He talks to you about
the secret of prayer, He's speaking here really and honestly about
prayer being a matter of the heart. Boy, that's the secret
places of our souls. When you seek Me, With all your
heart, you will find Me." Prayer comes from the secret chambers
of the heart, and nobody sees it, and nobody hears it but your
Father in Heaven. He sees those secret desires. He sees those secret longings. He hears those groanings and
those sighings. He knows your need even before
you ask Him. Prayer is done in secret. And I want you to notice this
about this. The Lord Jesus said this about the Father. Well,
that's what we love, these practical things. He teaches us deep truths
even in these practical doctrines. He says here, but when you pray,
enter into your closet, when you shut the door, pray to your
Father which is in secret. You know why the world don't
know God savingly? You don't know why the world
don't know God savingly? He's hid. He's hid. We can look around us and see
God the Creator, and we can know there's a Creator. That leaves
everybody without excuse. But to know God savingly, He
must be revealed to our hearts. He's hid. If our gospel be hid,
and it is, isn't it? Jesus crossed His head in the
bosom of the Father, and the only way any man can know Him
is by revelation. Look over here in the 11th chapter
of the book of Matthew, in verse 25. This is the very thing that
our Lord Jesus is speaking about. Chapter 11 and look in verse
25 of the book of Matthew. Chapter 11 and verse 25. At that
time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father,
for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered
unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son, but the
Father. Neither north any man the Father
except the Son, and whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." I cannot
reveal the Father to you. There is only one who can, and
that is the Lord Jesus Christ. And how does this happen? When
do we know God as our Heavenly Father? When Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, sends forth the Spirit unto our hearts. And what does
He cry? Father, Father. There was a time
that all of us lived without a true saving knowledge of God
as our Father. We may have called Him our Father.
Most people do, don't they? But to know Him as our Father,
He has to be revealed. And we know Him when Jesus Christ
sends forth the Spirit of promise unto our hearts, crying, Father,
Father. Let me show you another passage.
Look over in Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. And look in
verse 14. Romans 8, 14. Look how the apostle says this,
Romans chapter 8 and verse 14. For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For you have not received
the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the
spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Father, Father. The Spirit
itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children
of God. The Spirit of Jesus Christ comes
into our hearts and He reveals to us that God is our Father. And then for the first time in
our lives we begin to say, Father, Father, we know Him as our Father. He is hid from the natural man. He is hid from this world. I want you to notice this. The
Lord Jesus said, the Father is in secret. He is hid. He reveals
Himself. And we know Him by His Spirit. And then, when we know Him, what
do we do? We start living for His glory. We start living seeking His honor
and His praise. Before, we may have lived to
the praise of men and court their favor. But now, when the Father's
revealed to us, that changes everything, doesn't it? Some
of you right here have quit large churches. Some of you mega churches. And you come to this little place.
You go past all these big churches and you have your friends and
they ask you, what changed you? What changed your opinion? What
changed your understanding? Why are you different now? And
what answer do you have? God has been revealed to my heart. God is now my Father in Jesus
Christ. I am not separate under that
free will gospel anymore. I am not doing what I do for
the praise of men anymore. I know God as my Father. The Spirit bears witness that
I am His Son. I think this is the secret to
understanding Matthew chapter 6, when you and I know God is
our Father. And when we live with a consciousness
that the true and living God is indeed our Father, and the
Spirit bears witness to that, we will loathe ourselves to even
think that we would do anything just to be seen of man. And we seek and we want and we
pray to do everything for the glory of our heavenly Father. I think that's the secret to
understanding these verses. Whether you eat or drink or whatever
you do, do all to the glory of God. And quickly look at this
in verses 16 and verse 18. Look what the Lord says here.
Moreover, when you fast, we've looked at doing our deeds towards
others, and we've looked at prayer. And here He says in verse 16,
when you fast, don't be as the hypocrites that they may see
in a man. But when you fast, anoint your
head that you may appear to your Father to fast. Your Father shall
reward you openly. This fasting, this whole business
of fasting, that's such a private thing. And when you look at it
in the Scripture, you don't find any rules to do it. It don't
tell you when to fast, how long to fast, who's to fast. It's
left up to each individual believer's discretion. But it's missing
a meal to humble yourself because you have this need before the
Lord. Remember when they were going
to put Daniel in the den of lions? You know what he did? He fasted
and opened his window towards Jerusalem and sought the Lord. Esther, when she was going to
have to go in to King Ahasuas to plead for the Jewish people,
she fasted and sought the Lord for direction. David, when his
child was dying, he fasted and sought the Lord. Paul and Barnabas,
when they were ready to lay hands on the elders and ordain them,
they fasted and sought the Lord. Fasting just simply means we
deny ourselves of this meal or whatever, and we do it to humble
ourselves and seek a need that we have from the Lord. And there
are no rules but one. When you do it, And if you do
it, don't do it to be seen and recognized of anybody. Do it
before your Father in Heaven. As a matter of fact, be so discreet
about it that you anoint your face and you appear delighted
and happy and not sad and disfigured in your countenance. You could
always tell when a Pharisee was fasting. I mean, he looked miserable. He would twist his face all up.
I wonder sometimes if He didn't use some kind of makeup to make
Him look pale. He just wanted people's attention.
At first, He's fasting again. Boy, He's a holy man. Man, how
holy He is. He fasts twice a week. And He
lets us know that. The Lord Jesus said, Don't you
dare do that. They have their reward. When
you fast, and if you fast, You seek your Heavenly Father and
do it that nobody knows it but Him. Here in verse 19 and verse 21,
I'm coming back to this in just a minute. Matthew chapter 6 and
verse 19 to 21. When we carry this over here
in this laying up treasure, I think we can see why the Lord Jesus
tells us to do this in private. Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, thieves break through
and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither
moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through
and steal. How do we lay up treasures in
heaven? Look at this a couple of ways
here. How do we lay up treasures in heaven? The only way I know, brothers
and sisters, and this is again a subject that I know very little
about, but here's the only way I know, and that's to keep this
in its context. When you do anything for anyone
else, no matter what it is to help someone else, do it for
the glory of God alone, and that's laying up treasures in heaven.
When you pray, don't pray to be heard of men, Don't speak
to men who are upon this earth, but you speak in private to your
Father which is in heaven. That's laying up treasure. When
you fast because you have some need and you seek the Lord, you
do it in private before your Father, and that's laying up
treasure in heaven. Anything we do for His glory,
it's laid up in heaven. You'll never forget about it.
And the Bible says here, the Lord Jesus Christ said, He shall
reward you. And I think there's a fine line
here in doing it for His glory and doing it for some kind of
reward. We don't do it to get stars in our crown. We don't
do it so God will bless us and give us more. We do it for His
glory. And we leave the consequences
and the reward to our Heavenly Father. God is not unrighteous
to forget your work of faith and labor of love which you've
shown towards His name. He'll never forget it. Because
you minister to His children, and you do minister. Brothers
and sisters, when we stand before Him on that day, He'll say to
you, what you've done to my children, you did to me. You visited my
children. You visited me in them. You gave
to them. You gave to me in them. And He'll
never forget it, will He? He'll never forget it. But secondly,
We should ask ourselves this question as we read this. Where
your heart is, there will your treasure be also. And where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also. Where is our treasure? That's a good question. What
is your treasure? Who is your treasure? Is your
treasure in heaven? Is your Father your treasure?
Is Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior? Is that what you value? Is that who you value? Is the
Spirit of promise your treasure? Is the grace of God your riches? Is the mercy and love of God
your riches? You look around you and say,
what are these things? What's all this stuff that I
got? That means nothing. I mustn't set my heart upon that. My treasure is in heaven. Where's your treasure? What do you love? What do you
meditate upon? What do you think about? And
who do you think about? He is the only true and lasting
treasure. Where's your treasure? Boy, that's
a searching question our Master asks, isn't it? Where is our
treasure? Then in verses 22 and 23, the
singleness of our purpose in serving the Lord Jesus Christ. The light of the body is the
eye. If your eye be single, the whole body is full of light.
But if the light that is in you be darkness, the whole body is
full of darkness. The best way I can understand
this and explain this is this. Our purpose should be to serve
our Lord with singleness of heart. To have the purpose in our heart
that we're going to be saved by Jesus Christ. And that's what
we give our life to. We're going to serve God in Christ,
and that's what we give our life to. Other things come in and
hinder us, I know that. But we get back focused on this
chief purpose. It's to serve Him, to know Him,
and worship Him, and finally to be with Him. And the best
way I can understand this, I was raised on the mountains in Tennessee.
And I've got back in those hills and back in those woods and those
forests, and I have been lost so many times. And one of the
things that my dad told me, and I've noticed this, he said, I
come home and dad, lost again today. Three hours I was lost
in those big woods. And he said, I'll tell you why
you got lost. You were looking down and you were looking around.
I said, yeah, that's the only place I could look. And you'd
start here at this point, and about 30 minutes later, you'd
be right back at that same point again. And he said, when you're
lost, Find an object out in front of you, a way out there, that
you can fix your eye upon and go to that object. Don't never
get that object out of your eyes. If you do, you'll start going
around in circles. I found that to be true. I'd be out and I'd
see this mountain. I'd see this high hill. I'd keep
my eyes on that hill. And when I kept my eyes on that
hill, that's where I would go. If I saw a light at night and
I was lost, I'd keep my eyes on that light. You've probably
done that too, Nanny Ron. You keep your eyes on the light
and you go to that light. And I'm saying this, and this
is what our Lord is telling us. If you can see, if you've been
given spiritual eyes, don't try to look around you. Look outside
of yourself to Jesus Christ. Keep Him as the object of your
eyesight. And just keep looking to Him
and looking to Him, and you know what? You'll wind up with Him.
Do you know how to get to heaven? Think of one way to get to heaven,
and that's to set Him forth in the sight of your spiritual eyes.
You keep looking to Him and walking towards Him, and someday you'll
be with Him. Let us lay aside every weight
and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with
patience the race set before us." And how do we keep from
getting lost in that race? How do we keep from getting off
the road and off track? Looking unto Jesus. That single eye towards Him. And if you've got a healthy eye
and you can see, you can look to Christ. But boy, if you can't
see, If you can't get your eye upon Him, you're going to wander
and you're going to get lost. And you ain't going to make it.
A singleness of eye. Everything you do, do it with
an eye for His glory. And keep your eyes upon Him. Look at this quickly because
I want to go on. I've got just a little bit more. Look at this. He said in verse 24, this is
a tremendous statement. We cannot serve two masters. Now, you and I can serve many.
I serve you, and you serve me, and I serve all of you. But here's
what he's saying. You cannot serve two masters. You can't serve Jesus Christ
and man. If we serve the living God, then
we must seek His glory, or we cannot serve Him. Well, that's a tough Scripture,
isn't it? And you and I are in this world and in this body of
flesh, and we're always struggling to keep these other things from
becoming our master, don't we? You can't serve self and serve
God. You just can't do it. You can't serve yourself and
serve some lust. You can't do it. And boy, we struggle with
that. That's what keeps us on our knees seeking for grace.
Let us go on quickly. I want to finish some of this.
Be patient with me. In this chapter 6 of Matthew,
our Lord Jesus endears the Father to our hearts. In this chapter
alone, our Lord Jesus not only mentions the Father 12 times,
But He mentions Him every time like this, Your Father. He is
Thy Father. He endears the Father to our
hearts. He exalts His Father. He esteems His Father in our
hearts. Look how He does it in verse
9. This is so important when we pray and as we think of who
God is. After this manner, therefore,
pray ye, Our Father, which art in Heaven. Where is our Father? He's in Heaven. What does that
mean? That means He's so high above
us. He's so over us, we can't comprehend Him. There's a bunch
of things beyond the stars, but you and I can't see them. They're
too high for us. And God is beyond the stars.
He's beyond everything. And He's seated there on His
throne in heaven. And He's high, isn't He? He's
gloriously high. He's our Father in heaven. That
means He's on His throne. That means He rules everything
in heaven. Our Father in heaven. And the
earth is His footstool, and that simply means He rules everything
in this world. It is all under His control. This is our Father. When Christ
was praying to His Father, He addressed Him this way, I thank
Thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. Who is our Father,
brothers and sisters? He is Lord. Do you know what
that word means? That means supreme. He's the
controller. He's the master. Who is your
Father? Oh, your Father's in heaven.
He's the Lord over all. Here's the way the Father addressed
Himself. Come out from among them, saith
the Lord. And be ye separate, touch not
the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and I will be a
father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith
the Almighty." And that word there means the absolute and
universal sovereign God, the Almighty. is our Father. If you're born to Him, if you
have the Spirit of His Son into your heart, the One who is the
universal and absolute Sovereign is your Father. Boy, every time, whether it's
done here behind this pulpit or whether it's done in your
closet, when we go to prayer, we should still our hearts. Just
stop and think a minute. Who are we about to pray to? Who are we about to address?
Our Father in Heaven! And who is He? The Absolute and
Universal Sovereign! My goodness, isn't that wonderful? That's amazing! And that's what
the Lord Jesus tells us here. And that's why we have to do
all things for His glory. Can you imagine feeling this
way about God and knowing this about Him? And turning around
and seeking glory from man when you pray? You can't do it, can
you? You don't want to do it. When
we seek the approval of man above God's approval, when we seek
to honor man above God, when we fear man's frowns more than
we fear God, And when we're intimidated by men to compromise, then it's
because we've forgotten who our God and our Father is. Who is
your Father? Who is He? He's the absolute
sovereign over everything. And when you and I live by the
faith and reality of God being our Father, look how it affects
our prayers. Our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name." This is our first request, but may your
name be exalted. May your name be magnified and
separate from all other names. His name alone is reverend. His name is holy. His name is
distinct. His name is full of majesty and
worth. Oh, Lord, our Lord, how excellent
is thy name in all the earth. You have set your glory above
the heavens. What's our desire as we live
our lives in this world? What's our desire as a body in
Christ? Is it not that our God's name
be exalted and known? Well, of course it is. And he
says in verse 10, here's the effect of knowing this. Thy kingdom
come. Thy kingdom come. Well, that's
our priority. It's above everything else, Lord.
Your kingdom come. May it come to our hearts. May
the kingdom of God be set up in our souls. The kingdom of
God is in you. Draw people into your kingdom. Deliver them from the power of
darkness and translate them into the kingdom of your dear Son.
It's all about His kingdom. Come, Lord Jesus, the King, come
and raise the dead and give your saints new bodies, likened to
your body, and subdue all of these kingdoms of men and reign
yourself in your glorious and everlasting kingdom. Thy kingdom
come. Thy will be done. Well, I tell
you what, sometimes this conflicts with our will, does it not? Do
you ever have God to cross your will? And you wanted something
and He said, that's not my will. You wanted Him to do something.
He said, that's not my will. And where do we finally come
to? We finally brought to the place where we say, not my will,
but your will be done. Just like our master in the garden.
Not my will, but yours be done. It's difficult when you lose
a spouse, and buddy, you're hurting, and you're lonely, and you're
heavy, and you have to struggle sometimes to almost believe.
To say to the Lord, not my will, but Yours be done. I wouldn't
have it, Lord, any other way. You're my Father in Heaven. You're
the Sovereign over all things. You're wise. Your will is good. Your will is the best. Bring
my will to submit to Your will. Father, Your will be done. And here in this prayer, we humbly
Acknowledge our utterly dependence upon Him even for our daily food. Give us this day our daily bread. We are utterly dependent upon
Him to forgive our sins. Forgive us our debts as we forgive
our debtors. We are utterly dependent upon
Him for leadership. Lead us not into temptation.
Deliver us from evil. The Christian life, brothers
and sisters, is to be brought to this point. God is our Father. The universal Sovereign is our
Father. And when we remember that and
live in the faith and reality of that, we come to depend upon
Him for everything. That's where the Lord Jesus brought
us to in this text. There's another way, and I'll
close with this, that the Lord Jesus endears the Father to our
hearts, and that's this, the Father's care for us as His children. We'd never know these things
if God had not sent His Son down from heaven to reveal the heart
of God to us. And it's just like the Father
was in heaven and speaking to His Son, and He said, My Son,
My people don't even know Me. And they mistrust me. They don't
know how much I love them. They don't know how much I care
for them. They don't know how much I'm willing to provide for
them. I want you to go tell them that you know my heart towards
them and you go tell them how I feel towards them. That I care
for them. And that's what he's doing here
in these verses. You and I live such short lives.
We're just here for a few days, aren't we? James said our lives
are like a vapor, just a little while. Why ain't it just a few
days ago? You're just a little kid running
around. Our lives are like a vapor. And
yet we live as though we needed enough to last us 10,000 lifetimes. Do we not? I've got to have this. I've got to have that. I've got
to hoard this up. I've got to secure my financial future. I've got
to secure my retirement. I've got to secure my health
care. I've got to secure my safety. I've got to secure all of this.
And we worry ourselves sick about it all, don't we? And the more we try to hoard
up and the more we try to worry and fret over securing ourselves,
the more miserable we become. There used to be a radio station
in Annapolis. I know this because I used to
listen to it. They had preaching on Sunday
morning. And they had some pretty good
singing on Sunday morning. They don't put preaching on anymore.
They don't even sing religious songs. They've got money managers
on there now. They tell you how to secure your
finances. That's what the world is wanting
right now. And the more we learn about that,
the more miserable we are. If you want to be happy, you
want to be joyful, get your mind off of self-security and bring
your heart to utterly depend upon your Father, which is in
heaven. I love you and you'll have to
go read this because I'm getting embarrassed I've kept you so
long. I've kept you an hour. No wonder some of you are looking
like you're getting upset and sleepy. I see your faces. You can't hide it. You can't
untell me. You sit back there and you say,
I don't want the pastor to know I'm getting tossed. But I can
see it. You don't have to tell me or
not tell me. I can see it. So go home and you read these
verses. The Father raises up these little
plants. And He clothes these lilies.
Are you not much better? He that feeds the birds, will
He not feed you? He that clothes the lilies, will
He not clothe you? Why are you worrying and fretting?
Your Father cares for you. I have read stories and testimonies
about saints, the saints of God. Here's my notes. Ain't that a
mess? I can't even read them myself. I've seen dear saints, read testimonies
of dear saints. And they were trying their best
to secure themselves. And there is a sense in which,
don't be unwise. I'm not talking about going and
wasting stuff and being careless. You know me better. I'm not talking
about that. And the Lord's not talking about that. But I've
read testimonies of saints that they give themselves over to
securing what they thought they needed to live in this lifetime.
And nothing was enough. They just kept adding, kept adding,
and then they started worrying about it. And then they got to
where they couldn't enjoy their heavenly Father, neither could
they enjoy what He had given them. And this was their testimony.
Everything was taken from them. I mean everything. They lost
their houses. They lost their bank account.
They lost their health. And this is what they said, I
was left with nothing and nobody to provide for me but my father
in heaven. And you know what they said?
I've never been happier. I have never been happier. If we could live our lives, brothers
and sisters, like tomorrow we were going to leave this world,
how would we trust our Father then? The Lord appeared to Abraham
and He said, Abraham, come out from your father's house. Leave
all of that and come out into the land that I'm going to show
you. And Abraham began to think, OK, this is what I'm going to
do. I'm going to work some overtime
and I'm going to start saving. And I'm going to get a lot of
money in my bank account. Then I'm going to store up some
food. I'm going to get some extra wagons. And I'm going to get
all of this thing ready. And then I'll come out. And somebody
would have said, Boy, Abraham was wise. Boy, Abraham was a
very prudent man. He makes preparation. That wasn't
what God told him to do, was it? He said, You come out. And by faith, Abraham, he came
out. Not even knowing where He was
going. Not knowing what He might need.
What did He do? He trusted the provisions of
His heavenly Father. What would you do if He came
to you today and said, give it all up, or I'm taking it all?
How would you feel? That would scare me to death. But if He brings us there, and
He's going to bring us there someday, that we've got nothing
but Him to provide for us. Adonai Judson. I think that's
the way he pronounces his first name. Adonaium and Ann Judson. They were born around the same
time our country was founded in the 1770s or so. He had some
money and he married Ann Judson. Very interesting story. The pamphlet's
back there on the track table. And he felt like the Lord was
calling him to go to India to be a missionary. He was America's
first missionary to India and maybe America's first missionary
after America was finally settled. And you know what that man did?
He gave away everything he had. All but this. He gave away half
of his wealth and all of his possessions. He put the other
half in Anne's name in the bank. And Anne found out about it,
and Anne said, how dare you? Why would you put all of your
half and give it away, and you save my half? He said, I wanted
to secure you. She said, who are you trusting?
He said, I'm trusting my father. And you don't want me to? And
boy, she skinned him alive. So she turned around and gave
me everything she had away. And they said, we cannot go dependent
upon our own provisions. It's too risky. If God wants
us there, then he must provide us being there. So they gave
it all away. And buddy, it was rough. It was
rough. But they did it for God's glory. That's a good lesson, isn't it?
Practical things, but boy, are they ever important. It exposes
the hypocrite and reveals the saints to be true saints. Let's
pray.