Matthew chapter 6. And we're
going to look at the first 18 verses. I know this is quite
a few verses to look at, but we'll just kind of sum them up
together. I'm going to use for the title
for the message about what the Lord is teaching us here in these
first 18 verses of Matthew chapter 6. And here's what it is. It's
sincerity of heart before God. He keeps saying over and over,
do what you do not to be seen of men. Do what you do not to
be seen of men. Don't be like the hypocrite. They do what they do for the
glory of the flesh, for the glory of men. But do what you do out
of the sincerity of your heart. What is your motive for doing
what you do? What is your motive? for honoring
the Lord. Is it truly to honor Him? Or
is it to pump up, prop up the flesh? Our Lord says in John
chapter 4, The hour cometh, and now is, when true worshipers
shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Well, I want to
do that, don't you? to worship in spirit and in truth.
For the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is spirit, and
they that worship Him must, must now worship Him in spirit and
in truth. Now, I'm not real smart, but
I know this. There is no real worship apart
from truth, is there? There's no true worship apart
from the truth of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Insincere
worship is false worship. Insincere worship is hypocrisy. The word hypocrisy means play-acting. Insincere worship is nothing
but hypocrisy before God. The Lord says at least three
times in these verses, be not as a hypocrite. Be not as a hypocrite. They do what they do to be seen
of men. Only, the Lord had very sharp, critical words for the
self-righteous Jews, didn't He? For the Pharisees and the scribes.
We're going to see that. Turn over to chapter 23. Matthew chapter 23. You remember
He said to those Pharisees, you or they would justify yourselves
before men, but that which is highly esteemed before Men is
an abomination in the sight of God. Look over at Matthew 23.
We're going to see this later on when we get to this chapter
and maybe a year or two. But look at verse 25. He says, Matthew 23 verse 25, Woe unto
you, scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites, for you make clean
the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within are full
of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse
first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside
of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed
appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead man's
bones and all uncleanness. Even so, outwardly you appear
righteous unto man, but within you're full of hypocrisy and
full of iniquity. So, the Lord gives us a warning
about insincere worship and insincerity when we come before God. The
Lord Jesus Christ is teaching us here the importance of true
worship in the absolute necessity of doing what we do, not to impress
men or God, but rather out of love and gratitude in our heart,
out of thanksgiving unto the Lord. He is worthy of all our
honor, worship, and glory, is He not? As David said in that
Psalm 103 that I love so much, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me, bless His holy name. who forgives all
my iniquities, given all my iniquities, as we studied in the Revelation,
worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive all honor, glory,
blessings, and power, both now and forever. Our Lord in these
verses calls our attention to three areas of religious activity
that are easily perverted by sinners in the name of God. Easily
perverted. In verse 1 down through verse
4, he talks about our giving. Our giving or our doing, our
alms. But he says, not to be seen of
men, but as unto the Lord. The second thing he talks about
in verse 5 down through verse 15 is praying. Praying not to
be seen of men, but as unto the Lord. The Lord knoweth the things
you need of. We're going to see that in our
study. And then verse 16, 17, and 18, he talks about fasting. Fasting. Not to be seen of men,
but as unto the Lord. As unto the Lord. Now, let's
look at the first part of this about giving alms. Take heed,
verse 1, that you do not your alms or your good deeds, or as
a marginal reference says there, righteousness before men. Talking
about your moral, outward goodness to be seen of men, otherwise
you have no reward of your Father, which is in heaven. Therefore,
when thou doest thine alms, do not sound the trumpet, before
thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets,
that they may have the glory of men. Truly, verily, which
means truly I say unto you, they have their reward. But when you
do your alms, don't let your left hand know what your right
hand's doing. that thine alms may be in secret, and thy father
which seeth in secret himself, he'll reward you openly. So do
what you do, not for the applause of men, but to the glory of God. Almsgiving, or doing good deeds
toward others, giving of your time, your talent, your financial
support, for the cause of God in the gospel, the gospel truth
to the furtherance of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, doing
those things solely and only to the glory of God, never to
be seen or recognized of men or to seek the approval of men.
Now we see this all the time in religious circles, don't we? And then really in the business
community as well. They brag about what they've
done for God rather than what God has done for them. They brag
about what they have done. They call a news conference when
they're going to contribute some money or give some money to a
charity. They call a news conference and
the radio station shows up and the newspaper shows up and they
have a picture with a big check. And we're going to get $5,000
here or $5,000 there. They do those things to be seen
of men. It reminds me of this verse.
Turn one page to Matthew chapter 7. Look at verse 21. Not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he
that doeth the will of my father, which is in heaven, many will
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils, and in thy name have done many wonderful works. Well,
it sounds good, doesn't it? That word wonderful there can
be rendered powerful works. And then he said, I will profess
unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you that work
iniquity. What were they doing? They were
doing what they were doing to gain God's favor or to remove
his wrath. We should never give thinking
that we gain God's favor or give thinking that our giving would
remove his wrath by some good deed. We're saved by grace alone,
right? By grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. It's by His mercy that He saved
us, not by our works, not by our deeds. God's people give. They do give generously. They
give of themselves, their time, their talent, their energy. God's
people do give generously because they have been blessed abundantly
in the Lord Jesus Christ. They've been blessed abundantly
with all spiritual blessing. We give as unto the Lord. We
give out of love, gratitude, and thanksgiving, don't we? We
don't give because we have to. We give because we want to. And
then the Lord said, don't sound a trumpet to receive the glory
from men, but rather secretly as unto the Lord. He will bless
in due time openly and reward you eternally in Christ because
He is our reward. Now, turn with me and let's read
this together. Turn over to the book of Colossians.
The book of Colossians chapter 3. And this is always good to
keep in mind right here. And I'm not opposed to good deeds
and good works and doing those things with the right motive,
with the right motive, to the honor and glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Colossians chapter three, look
at verse 23. Whatsoever you do, do it heartily
as unto the Lord, not unto men. Now that's the key. Knowing that
of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance,
for you serve the Lord Christ. Now let me show you another verse
on that subject as well about giving. Turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 13. It all boils down to motive,
cause and reason. In 1 Corinthians 13, this is
all about the love of God. Remember this whole chapter here.
1 Corinthians 13 verse 1, Though I speak with a tongue of men
and of angels, and have not love, have not Christ, I become a sounding
brass or a tinkling cymbal. Though I have the gift of prophecy,
and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and know I
have all faith, so as to remove mountains, and have not love,
have not Christ, I am nothing. Though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,
and have not love, motive, it profit me nothing. Love suffereth
long, and is kind. Envy is not puffed up. It doesn't behave itself unseemly. But love beareth all things,
believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Love, verse 8, never fails. So, do what you do out of love,
thanksgiving, gratitude to the glory of God alone. That's a
good thing to work on. Do what you do to the glory of
God alone. What you give and to whom you
give and how much you give and when you give is none of my business. That's between you and the Lord. That's between you and the Lord.
As the Lord has purposed, as the Lord has purposed in your
heart, as you have purposed in your heart, give as God has prospered
you. Give as unto the Lord. God loveth
a cheerful giver. A cheerful giver. We don't put
a tithe on people's income. I'm not going to call you into
my office and look at your tax return and then see how much
you've given. I don't know who gives what here,
and I don't want to know, because it's not my business. That's
between you and the Lord. You give as unto the Lord, and
He knows your heart, He knows your motive, He knows these things. So the second thing He mentions
here, and this is such an important thing about praying, praying
unto the Lord, verse 5, and when you pray, Thou shalt not be as
a hypocrite, for they love to pray, as that Pharisee did, standing
in the temple, in the synagogue, in the corners of the street,
that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have
the reward. But thou, when you pray, enter
into your closet, and when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy
father in secret, and thy father which seeth thee in secret shall
reward thee openly." You know, you can You can pray unto the
Lord and not say a word outwardly, because it's in your heart, in
your mind. But when you pray, don't use
vain repetition, as the heathen do, for they think they shall
be heard for their much speaking. Verse 8, Be not ye therefore
like unto them, for your Father knoweth what things you have
need of before you ask. But he says, make your request
known unto God after this manner, verse 9. Therefore pray ye, our
Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom
come, thy will be done, as it is in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts. as we forgive our debtors. Lead
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the
kingdom, Thine is the power, Thine is the glory forever and
ever. Amen. Amen. Vital instruction about praying. In Luke 11, when the Lord gives
this, the disciples asked the Lord, they said, Lord, teach
us to pray. Teach us to pray. Again, we don't
pray. for the purpose of showing publicly
how religious we are. We do not pray to be seen of
men. That is nothing but hypocrisy
before God. Now we have what they call a
national day of prayer. And a lot of times they'll rally
at the courthouse around the flagpole and they'll all hold
hands. I'll never show up to one of those rallies. I'm not
interested in praying before men to be seen of men. That's
what the Pharisee did. True sincere prayer is like doing
your alms, it's solely as unto the Lord. It is a heart cry unto
our great God who hears the cry of his people, blesses them openly
with spiritual blessings in Christ. Real sincere prayer is not speaking
a multitude of words, or repeating vain religious slogans of your
creed or your religious institution. Many prayers that are recorded
in Scripture, and I love reading those prayers in Scripture, we
have many of them, and I love reading those prayers, but oftentimes,
and many times, they're very short prayers. You remember Elijah,
the prophet of God, when he faced down 850 prophets of Baal? And they had that contest as
to who the God who answers by fire upon that sacrifice will
be indeed God. And he prayed 63 words. Lord,
let it be known this day that thou art God. And fire fell from
heaven. The publican, we read in Luke
18, prayed seven words. Seven words. God, be merciful
to me, thee, sinner. That's my prayer. Seven words. And the Lord said, that man went
down to his house justified. He prayed for mercy and God showed
him mercy. The Lord heard that prayer of
that mercy beggar and the Lord saved him by his grace. Now the
Lord in verse nine down through verse 13 gives us this model
prayer. And it's often called the Lord's
Prayer. You've heard it called that,
right? It's not the Lord's Prayer. This is the Disciples' Prayer.
The Lord's Prayer is found in John Chapter 17. This is the
Disciples' Prayer. This is the Lord teaching us
how to pray and what to pray about. People often say, and
you've heard this saying, prayer changes things. No, it's the Almighty God we
pray unto that changes things. Prayer doesn't change anything.
It's God in His sovereign purpose who works all things after the
counsel of His own will. We don't change anything in the
good providence of God. He works all things after the
counsel of His own will. Prayer has something to do to
finding out what the will of God is and then bowing to it.
But he says in verse 9, our Father. After this manner, he said, you
pray this way. Our Father which art in heaven.
Acknowledging that God is God. Acknowledging that God is holy. Our Father which art in heaven.
We address Him as our Father. Regarding Him as holy in all
of His attributes and all of His acts. Shall not the judge
of all the earth do right? Certainly he will. Holy and Reverend
is his name. We don't call any person Reverend
Jones or Reverend Smith because Holy and Reverend is his name.
Now look at verse 10. We pray unto the Father, God
our Father, who is holy, sovereign, eternal, and we pray thy kingdom
come. Thy will be done in earth as
it is in heaven. The believer's heart desire is
the Lord's will to be done and accomplished that he should rule
supremely in all things in which he does. Our prayer is to submit
to His will, not my will, but Thy will be done. He is working all things after
the counsel of His own will. The Apostle writes this in 1
Thessalonians chapter 5. He said, Rejoice evermore, pray
without ceasing, and in everything give thanks, for this is the
will of God, concerning you. In everything give thanks. For
this is God's will concerning you. So we pray for His will
to be done. Whatever that will is, we know
this, it will be done. Because He does not change. Look
what He says next there, verse 11. Give us this day our daily
need. Give us this day our daily need.
We look to our God to supply our every need according to His
riches in glory, and this includes physical things. We all have
physical needs, don't we? But most especially, our spiritual
need. Give us this day our daily bread. Christ is our bread. Christ is the bread of life.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the water of life. Bread and water,
that's all we need. Because Christ is everything.
He's all of our bread. He's all of our nourishment.
He's all of our, He is the water of life. And then look at verse
12. Forgive us. Forgive us. Why would we pray forgive us?
because we have sins that need to be forgiven. Lord, forgive
us our debts. Forgive us our sins. Who have
we sinned against? Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of thy tender
mercies. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. You remember who said
that? David. We openly confess our
sins before the Lord, not before men. We pray unto God, forgive
us for Christ's sake, don't we? We don't go into a little booth
and confess our sins and then ask some man in a silly dressed
up uniform to forgive us of our sins. We have a great high priest
in Christ, we go to him. And he forgives us on the basis
of his full atonement for our sins. It's the blood of Christ
that cleanses us from all our sin. We only realize we have
total forgiveness of all our sins as we find salvation in
our substitute who paid all our sin debt. Lord, thank you. And we can pray this way. Lord,
thank you for sins forgiven. He's forgiven all of our sin,
past, present, future. Original sin, actual sin, all
sin he's forgiven us by his blood atonement. That's why he came
and that's why he died. He appeared once in the end of
the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. God made
him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. Forgive us our sins. Now watch
this, as we forgive others. I'm gonna come back to that in
just a minute. Forgive us our sins as we forgive our debtors. Verse 14 said, if you forgive
men their trespasses, your heavenly father will forgive you, also
forgive you. But if you forgive not men their
trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. Now I'll come back to that in
just a minute. But look back to verse 13. Lead us not into
temptation, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
evil. Deliver us from the evil one.
And he's done that. Turn over here, if you will,
to Hebrews, the book of Hebrews. Hold your place there and find
Hebrews chapter 2. Deliver us from the evil one.
And that's what he has done at Calvary. Over here in Hebrews
2, look at verse 14. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
had power of death, the devil, that is the devil, and deliver
them. So he destroyed him, the devil,
and delivered them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage. For barely he took not on him
the nature of angels, But he took on him the seed of Abraham,
wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his
brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation, atonement for the sins of the
people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he
is able to succor or save you, who are going through temptation. We have such a great high priest
in the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray, Lord, lead us, lead
us, and guide us, and then deliver us. Lead us, guide us, and deliver
us, and he has in Christ. We are constantly aware of our
weakness and our inability. And we're made aware of the victory
that we have in our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look
at the last part of verse 13. Matthew 6, verse 13. For thine is the kingdom, for
thine is the power, and thine is the glory forever. Now I like that doxology, don't
you? The doxology of praise to our
God. Thee, of thee, is the kingdom
of God. Turn back to Matthew chapter
4. Matthew chapter 4, look at verse 23. And Jesus went about,
all Galilee, teaching in their synagogue, preaching the gospel
of the kingdom, healing all manner of sicknesses and all manner
of diseases among the people. Thine is the kingdom, saying
that salvation is of the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ has the
right to rule in this kingdom. Thine is the kingdom. Look what
it says. Secondly, thine is the power.
He has all power in heaven and earth. All power is given into
his hands. In Matthew 28, when the Lord,
risen Lord, ascended to glory, he told them, disciples, go and
preach the gospel, knowing this, I have all power in heaven and
earth. God has given him all power over
all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as God
has given unto him. Thine is the kingdom. He's the
king of kings in the kingdom, isn't he? Thine is the power. And then thirdly, he said, thine
is the glory. All honor and glory is due unto
His glorious, glorious name. Thine is the power. Thine is
the glory, both now and forever. If you'll notice a reference
there on the word, for thine is the kingdom, notice a reference
there, 1 Chronicles 29 11. You see that? Let me read it
to you. And this is David's prayer when
he's about to in his reign as king and passed the reign down
to his son Solomon. And David prayed this, Thine,
O Lord, is the greatness and power, the glory, the victory
and majesty for all that is in heaven and earth. Thine is the
kingdom, O Lord. Thou art exalted above all. All
riches, both riches and honor, come of Thee. Thou reignest over
all. In Thy hand is power and might.
In Thy hand is to make great and to give strength. We give
Thee thanks and glorify Thy name forever and ever. That's all
about His glory, isn't it? Thine is the power. Thine is
the kingdom. Thine is the glory. But of Him
are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, redemption, that as it is written,
He that would glory, let him glory only in the Lord. Only
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thine is the kingdom, thine is
the power, and thine is the glory. Now what do you say to that?
What does it say there? Amen. Amen. You know, that's
another name for the Lord Jesus Christ. He is called the Amen
in the Revelation study, remember? Amen and Amen, first and the
last, Alpha and Omega. A note here on verse 14 and verse
15. For if you forgive men their
trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if
you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive
you your trespasses. This is not teaching us that
our forgiveness of sin is based upon how we forgive others. That
would be just salvation by works, wouldn't it? Not grace. But what
this is teaching, what the Lord is teaching us here, those who
have been freely forgiven by the blood atonement of the Lord
Jesus Christ are ready and willing to forgive others. We love one
another, we're told to love one another and forgive one another
even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven us. Those who have
received mercy want to show mercy. Those who have received grace
want to be gracious to others. Those who have been freely forgiven,
what should we do? We should forgive others based
upon what he has done for us. Now the last thing that he mentions
here is fasting, verse 16. He said, moreover, when you fast,
don't be as the hypocrites. They have a sad face, sad countenance. They disfigure their faces that
they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, well,
they have their reward, don't they? But thou, when you fast,
anoint thy head, wash your face, that thou appear not unto men
to fast, but unto thy father, which is in secret. And thy father,
which seeth in secret, he'll reward you openly." So we do
what we do, our alms unto the Lord. We pray as we pray unto
the Lord, and as we fast, and self-sacrifice and self-denial
is unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this is just not limited
to skipping a meal sometimes, but rather an ardent desire,
a fervent desire to fervently seek the will of the Lord, the
Lord God putting all things aside to totally focus on the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what it is. It's just
not skipping a meal. In the religious organization
where I grew up, they had designated one Sunday a month was called
Fast and Testimony Meeting. And you could not eat a meal
that morning. And when you met that afternoon,
You're supposed to stand up and give your testimony about how
you think about this, and how you think about the church, and
how you think about the prophet, and so on and so forth. But that's
just pure hypocrisy. I didn't see that at the time,
but I see it now. I see it now so clearly. They
did what they did to be seen of men, and they said what they
said to be seen of men, like the hypocrites in the temple
in the Lord's day. So this thing of fasting is putting
aside all things to focus totally on the Lord Jesus Christ for
all the salvation. How often should you fast? Scriptures
don't tell us. As often as you do, do it as
unto the Lord. Again, the Lord warns us not
to do this to be seen of men, but rather as unto the Lord,
who will reward you richly and openly, making salvation known
unto you. We're not going to set aside
this day. We're going to have a fast and
testimony meeting. We're not going to do that here. You seek the Lord as He burdens
your heart. And it's just not skipping a
meal. It's a denial of self. It's seeking, setting aside a
time to seek the Lord fervently in your heart. Now, closing comments. Let me give you this. I'll let
you go. The Lord is not interested in how much money we give. He
doesn't need our money. Our Lord said in Psalm 50, every
beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand
hills. The Lord is not interested in how long we pray. We're not
heard for our much speaking in prayer. The Lord looks on the
heart. He looks on the heart. The Lord
is not interested in how often we fast. He's not impressed with
our self-righteousness. He fasted twice in the week. And the Lord said of him, he
went to his house unjustified. So, God the Father is only interested
in one thing. Are we trusting the Lord Jesus
Christ for all of our salvation? And here's the question. It's
not how much you give. It's not how long you pray. It's
not how often you fast. The question is, what think ye
of Christ? That's what the Lord's interested
in. What think you of Christ? The Lord looked on the heart.
Does he find faith, love, and hope in the Lord Jesus Christ?
All else is meaningless to him. Those that honor the Son, God
will honor. Those who do not honor the Son,
God will not honor. We read over here, turn one page.
In Matthew chapter 6 verse 33, seek ye first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness, and everything else take care of
itself. Seek ye first. First things first. Seek ye first
the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things be added
unto you. Now let me close by reading this. In 1 John 5, 11
and following, he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness
in himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave
of his Son. And this is the record that God
hath given to us, eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
the Lord Jesus. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things I've
written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God,
that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may
believe on His name, who He is, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now let me quit with this. I'm
going to quit with this. I wrote this down. I wrote the
reference down, but didn't write the Scripture. And we know that
the Son of God has come, and He's given us an understanding
that we may know Him that is true, and we're in Him that is
true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is a true God, and this
is eternal life. What think ye of Christ? Is He
all your salvation and all your hope? Yes. Amen. According to His will and purpose
and glory.