Let's open our Bibles now to
Matthew 6, Matthew chapter 6. We're continuing this series
of messages from what they call our Lord's Sermon on the Mount. Tonight, Matthew chapter 6. The
Lord says in verse 1, take heed or beware. That you do not your alms before
men to be seen of them. This is the warning. That you
do not your alms before men to be seen of them. What are alms?
A-L-M-S, alms. They're good deeds. Good deeds
of kindness. Done by us for someone else.
It may be for relief of any kind, physical relief, emotional relief,
financial relief, but they're good deeds done by us out of
kindness to others. Paul called them, in 1 Thessalonians,
you don't need to turn to this, I'll read it to you, Paul called
them works of faith. labors of love. He said, I give
thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in
our prayers, remembering without ceasing your works of faith,
your labors of love. Now, the Lord says, take heed
that you do not these acts of kindness before men, to the sin
of them. In most cases, works of kindness,
labor, love is done before men and generally known by somebody. For example, any good deed which
you do is going to be known by the person to whom you do it,
by whom you do it. Generally, it's going to be known
by his family or her family or by the church family. So it's
almost impossible to do good works and good deeds without
somebody knowing about it. And then also, good deeds and
alms may be done before men, too, as an example. Paul writing
to the church at Thessalonica talked about their good deeds,
works of faith, and labor of love, and said you were examples
to others. We parents want to teach our
children to be generous. And the only way they're going
to learn to be generous is watching us, our generosity. We want to
teach our children to share. And one of the best ways to teach
them is to share before them. So you do it before them to teach
them, set an example. Also to encourage others to follow
your example and to encourage them, teach them. So things are
done before means, as an example. And then thirdly, it is not wrong
to expect people to be grateful and to be thankful for kindness
as shown. You don't do kind works and good
deeds to be thanked. But it's very discouraging when
you do them and you're not thanked. I try to set that example in
our television ministry. Many people all over the country
send donations to this church. And I've made it a practice.
The church secretary, tape director, his wife, and myself. Everybody,
no matter who it is, that sends a contribution to this church
gets a personal letter saying thank you. It doesn't matter
who it is. But they all get a thank you. And thank you is not out
of style. In fact, it's one of, two of
the sweetest words that can be spoken, thank you. So, good deeds,
our Lord's not saying, take heed that you do not your own before
me. Because it's impossible not to
do it before me. It can be a good example, it
can teach children, it can stir up others, by your example. Here's
the key. He says, take heed that you do
not your good deeds and ours before men to be seen of them. There's the problem. To be seen
of them. The Savior's warning unto us
is our acts of mercy and kindness and charity are never to be done
to be seen of men. To be applauded by men. to be
praised by men for our kindnesses, or to obtain a good name, or
a pious name before men. And here's the danger. He says,
otherwise, you have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. When our self, and not the glory
of Christ, is the motive for any good work, It can't be a
good work. Let me say that again. When a person's self seeking
praise, seeking men's applause, seeking your own glory, when
we do something for that reason, it's not a good work. It's not
a good work at all. A good work, a good work springs
from a principle of love. A good work is done motivated
by love, love to Christ and love to people. A good work is based
on God's promises to provide. We know He will provide. A good
work is done that God may be glorified. And God will reward,
that's what our Christ, our Lord is saying here, God will reward
no action, no matter what it is, how good it might seem to
us, if His glory It's not the goal or the end. Now let me show
you that. If you turn to Matthew 7, just
one page over, I said this, when a person's self is the motive,
when we seek and praise or gain or personal glory in doing our
good works, then they're not good works. Matthew 7, 22, the
Lord said this. 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 done many wonderful
works. They called them wonderful works.
They were doing it for their own gain. Acceptance with God. They were basing their hope for
eternity on these works. Then will I profess unto them,
I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work What'd he call
them? They called them wonderful works.
He called them works of iniquity. So any work that's done, motivated,
self-praise, self-glory, self-gain, the applause of men, to be seen
of them, to be patted on the back, to be praised, is not a
good work. And God won't bless it. Let me
read a couple of scriptures. Colossians chapter 3. in reference
to this particular point. Colossians chapter 3, verse 17. Colossians 3, 17. And whatsoever
you do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God and the Father by him. That's the motive.
Look at verse 23. He tells about wives obeying
their husbands, husbands loving their wives, children obeying
their parents, fathers provoking not their children, servants
obeying their masters. And then verse 23. Whatsoever
you do, do it heartily as to the Lord, not unto me. Knowing
that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of inheritance, for
you serve the Lord Christ. Whatever you do in word or deed,
do it, Paul said to the Corinthians, for the glory of God. Is that
clear? So, take heed that you do not
your good works and good deeds and alms and kindnesses before
me, comma, to be seen of them. That's the wrong note, to be
seen of them. That's where the problem is,
there's the danger. All good works have to be done before
somebody. But otherwise, you have no reward of your father.
It becomes a bad work instead of a good work. It's a selfish
work. All right, verse 2. Therefore, when you do good deeds,
don't sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in
the synagogue and in the streets, that they may have the glory
of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. Who are
the hypocrites here? Well, they're religious people.
We've been talking about this. He's been talking about this
throughout this sermon on the mount. The persons our Lord refers
to here are the scribes and the Pharisees. Because they put on
the appearance of religion. Outward holiness, good works,
but inwardly they were greedy, covetous men. They were evil
men. But let me show you how he described
them over in Matthew 23. This is a very interesting scripture
here. In Matthew 23, I'll have you
underline 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 things about these men. They do their
works to be seen of men. They're very religious. They're
very moral. They're the straightest sect of the Jews, the Pharisees
and the scribes. Matthew 23, verse 1. Then spake Jesus to the multitude
and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and Pharisees sit
in Moses' seat. They were rulers of the Jews.
All therefore whatsoever they did ye observe, that observe
and do. They teach the Scripture, so
listen to the Scripture. But do not ye after their works
underscore this. They say, but do not. That is the first mark of the
hypocrite. He says, but he doesn't do. Verse
5, here's the second thing. All their works they do are to
be seen of men. That's why they do it. They want
you to see what they're doing. They want to gain your admiration
or respect or whatever. They do it to be seen of men.
All that down here at verse 14. Worshippers, scribes, Pharisees,
hypocrites, you devour widows' houses. There here, underscore
this. For a pretense, you make long
prayers. Pretense. Play-like. Playin' games. Actin' religion. Make long prayers. Verse 23,
underscore this. Under your scribes, Pharisees,
hypocrites, you pay tithes. You're very careful to pay your
tithes. And you pay it delicately. Of
mint, anise, cumin, even the herbs in your homes. One-tenth
of everything. But here's the bad thing. You've
omitted the weightier matters of the law. Judgment, mercy,
and faith. You're so careful about the form. the tradition, the outward ceremony,
and the neglect. Faith, mercy, judgment, righteousness,
honesty. Look at verse 25. Underscore
this. He says in verse 25, Warn of
you, scribes and Pharisees, ye make clean the outside of the
cup and platter. Why do they make clean the outside?
That's what people see. That's all that people can see. People can't see anything but
the outside. But within, that's where the problem is. You're
full of extortion and excess. He said like a tombstone. It
appears beautiful on the outside, polished, and inside full of
dead men's bones. like this mausoleum out here,
on the outside they keep it so pretty and polished, but every
one of those mausoleums have dead men's bones, inside, inside
not beautiful. And then the last thing he says
about them, verse 29, they brag on dead preachers and kill living
preachers. Would you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, because, underline this, you build the tombs of
the You take flowers and decorate and garnish the sepulchres of
the righteous. You brag on Moses, brag on Abraham,
brag on those men, and kill the prophets that are preaching today.
And that's what people do today. They brag on Luther and Calvin
and Spurgeon. Everybody loves Spurgeon. Not
when he was alive they didn't. But now that he's dead they do.
And they brag on the dead and kill the living. And that's these
people he's talking about in verse 2. When you do your alms,
go back to the text. Don't be like these men. Sound
the trumpet before them in the synagogues and the streets. Have
the glory of men. They choose public places to
do their works. Like I was reading one old Jewish
writer, a friend of his, and This poor man was standing there,
a lot of people around him. He went up and handed him a good
sum of money to the poor man. And everybody smiled, and the
poor man thanked him. He's grateful for the gift, for
the pocket. And when they all walked away,
this Jewish writer, this intelligent man called him over
and said, I appreciated you helping the man. but it would have meant
a whole lot more for your sake if you'd have done it privately
instead of in front of those people. And that's what he said,
privately. Well, he said, our Lord says,
they do it to be, they do it that they may have glory of men,
glory of men. Now, now watch this in the last
part of verse 2. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward. It's a poor reward. A poor reward
it is, but they're rewarded. When he handed that man the money
in front of all those people, evidently, obviously to be seen
of men, they were all impressed. But that's his reward. It's a
poor reward, but it's their reward. The applause of men, it's what
they seek. It's what they seek. That's why they do it. When they
do it and where they do it. They seek the applause of men
And that's what they seek, that's what they deserve, that's what
they have. But you might as well reward
the praise of men. Verse 3 and 4. But when you do
your alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand
doeth. What does that mean? Don't broadcast it even to your
closest friend. Do it in secret. If they hear
about your kindnesses, don't let them hear it from you, let
them hear it from somebody else. Let another man praise thee,
and not thine own mouth, the scriptures say. Verse 4, that
thine arms, thy good works may be in secret, and thy Father
which seeth in secret. Our Lord sees in secret. He beholds
all secret work, he beholds all work, but he beholds with with
gladness, secret work, and deeds done for his glory. Nothing escapes
his knowledge. He fully knows every deed and
every motive, every sacrifice, all generosity. He knows it. He takes note of it. Your deeds
may be done in secret, and your Father which sees in secret,
and knows the your ability, because he gave
you the ability, knows your motive, knows why we do what we do. Why
we do what we do is of greater importance than what we do. And
he says, and he'll reward you openly. What does that mean? The father that seeth in secret
himself, God himself, will reward you openly. I'll tell you what
it means. Now we know he's going to bless
us in heaven before the angels and before the energy blessed
in the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the
world. But I'm saying according to the scripture God will bless
and reward you now. Right now. Openly. When you do what you do for his
glory. With that chief supreme motive
for his glory, he'll bless you and prosper you and reward you
right now. He will. Let me show you some
scripture now. Let's turn to these. 2 Corinthians 9. 2 Corinthians chapter 9. But the motive is the key. Not
the amount. It's not, has anything to do
with it. Has anything to do with it. It's for his glory. He will Do it secretly as unto
the Lord, and he'll reward you openly. 2 Corinthians 9 verse
6. This I say, he that soweth sparingly
shall reap also sparingly. But he that soweth bountifully
shall reap also bountifully. Every man, as he purposes in
his heart, that's where it's a heart work, so let him give. We're talking about giving any time
to anybody. out of kindness, not grudgingly, not of necessity. God loveth a cheerful giver.
Now watch this. And God is able to make all grace
abound toward you, that you always, having all sufficiency in all
things, may abound, having all sufficiency in all things, may
abound to every good one. In other words, if I'm a giver,
if I'm one who shares, God will be sure I have something to share.
He'll be sure that I have something to give. He'll reward us openly. Openly. Psalm 41. Turn over there. Let me show
you this. Psalm 41. If I want to be a giver, if I want to be
a person that has alms and good works and kindnesses, He'll be
sure that I have something with which to do it. Psalm 41, verse
1. Blessed is he that considers
the poor. The Lord will deliver him in
time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him, keep
him alive. He shall be blessed upon the
earth. Thou wilt deliver him, thou wilt not deliver him unto
the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him
upon the day of the languishing. I shall make all his bed in sickness."
Psalm 112, turn over here to this scripture, Psalm 112. The
Lord will reward thee openly, that's what I'm saying that Christ
is declaring here. If we do our works and deeds
secretly as unto the Lord for his glory, he'll bless. In Psalm
112 verse 5, the righteous shall be in everlasting
remembrance. He shall not be afraid of evil
tidings. His heart is fixed, trusting
in the Lord. His heart is established. He
shall not be afraid until he sees his desire upon his enemies. He hath dispersed, he hath given
to the poor. His righteousness endureth forever,
and his horn shall be exalted with honor." God will bless his
people. who are generous and gracious
and good for his glory. All right, verse 5. And when
thou prayest, so we didn't talk about doing good works and alms
there now, now he says when you pray, don't be like the hypocrites,
don't be, you shall not be as the hypocrites are. They love
to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets.
And here it is again, that they may be seen of men, that they
may be seen of men, that they may have men's applause and admiration. I say unto you, they have their
reward. It's a poor reward, but that's what they seek, that's
what they desire, that's what they'll have, that's all they
have. Now there's nothing wrong with
praying standing. He said, when thou prayest, thou
shalt not be As the hypocrite, they love to pray standing. Well,
that's not the point. Standing actually was the usual
custom among the Jews. They stood. Let me show you that. If you don't care to turn to
all these, I'll try and just read them. Mark chapter 11. Standing
was the usual custom in prayer. Standing. Oh, at Mark 11, our
Lord says in verse 25, and when you stand, pray. Forgive, if
you have ought against any, that your Father which is in heaven
may forgive you your trespasses, when you stand and pray." And
then over in Luke 18, remember when the Pharisee and the publican
came to the temple? How did they pray? Both of them
were standing. In Luke 18, verse 11, the Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself. He didn't pray at all, but he
was standing. But down in verse 13, and the publican standing. The pharaoh would not lift up
so much of his eyes to heaven, but his prayer was heard. They're
both standing. So standing is not the problem. But here's the problem. These
men stood praying in order to be more conspicuous. They stood
in the synagogue and stood on the street corners and stood
wherever they were up so they could be conspicuous. that they
were praying, they were talking to God, they were special men.
Most of them had special clothing on, uniforms, something to identify
them as a special religious person. And there's nothing wrong with
standing and praying, there's nothing wrong with praying in
the synagogue, in the temple, in the church. But to wait till
I get there to pray, that's a problem. To wait till I get there in order
to be seen, in order to find a more holy place, and to be
seen praying. That's the hypocrisy. And there's
nothing wrong with praying on the streets. But these pharisees, according
to the writings of the Jewish commentators, they would find
where two or three streets came together, the corners of the
streets were busy, busy places. They picked the busiest places.
They picked corners of the street where 2 or 3 street busiest fairfares
came together so that more people would observe their piety and
their religion and their prayer. To be seen of men. To be seen of men. When you pray,
don't be like the hypocrites are. They love to pray standing
in the synagogue. where the busy affairs come together
and that they may be seen of men. I say unto you, when men
see them and praise them, they have their reward. They have their reward. Our Lord
does not exclude nor condemn public prayer. Now, our Lord
approves of public prayer. He approves of it. Let me show
you some scripture. Public prayer is vital, it's
important. We're blessed when our elders
and men lead us in prayer publicly. In the classrooms, in the auditorium,
in the study, wherever public prayer is offered, when it's
before God, under God, in the name of Christ from the heart,
it's a blessing. Matthew 18, listen to this. Our
Lord commends public prayer. Matthew 18 verse 19, and I say
unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything
that you shall ask, that you shall pray for. Now here are
two, or three, or four, or whatever. You agree, this is the will of
God, this is what we're going to, it'll be done. So then with
my Father which is in heaven, for where two or three are gathered
together, for what? For prayer, for praise, for worship,
in my name. I'm in the midst of them. Oh,
don't undervalue public prayer. Please don't. That would be so
wrong to do that. But it's to be seen of men. That's
where the... Turn to Acts 1. Listen here,
this is important here. Acts chapter 1. When our Lord
had ascended to heaven and left the apostles, first thing they
did, gather together for prayer. in Acts chapter 1, verse 13,
verse 12. Then they returned to Jerusalem
from the Mount of Olives, where he ascended, which is from Jerusalem,
a Sabbath-day journey, a very short journey. When they would
come in, they went into an upper room, and there abode Peter,
James, John, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Baphalonius, Matthew,
James the son of Alphaeus, Simon as the low priest, Judas the
brother of James, And they all continued with one accord in
prayer, supplication, with the women, Mary, the mother of Jesus,
and with his brothers. Public prayer. When our Lord does, he condemns
the using of arms, good deeds, and prayer, or any exercise in
religion. Singing a special. whatever,
to call attention to ourselves, to our piety, to our devotion,
to our knowledge, to our morality, or to gain the praise of men,
or the applause of others. He said they have their reward.
That's it. That's it. They have their reward. That's all. Men see them, praise
them, acknowledge their religion. Now verse 6 of Matthew 6, don't
be like that, we're not going to God willing, but when you
pray, enter your closet, when you shut the door, pray to your
father which is in secret, and your father will see it in secret
will reward you. Now God, as I said to you a moment
ago, God has ordained public worship like we're doing tonight.
This is just so refreshing. This is like an oasis in the
desert. This is something we look forward to two or three
days ahead of time. Public worship, public praise,
all singing together, public prayer, giving an offering. We come together on Sunday. have the plates that we get,
all give, we all give. Let every one of you lay by and
store in God's prosperity. Everybody's praying, everybody
out there right now has got a Bible open. Everybody's studying the
Word of God. Everybody's trying to go with
singing, praising God together. None of us are ashamed. We're
praising God, we're praying, we're reading the word, we're
giving. But now in your private relationship
with God, in your private alms and good
deeds, in your love and fellowship with Christ, I'm his and he's
mine. That's what you were saying. In your personal communion with
him, in your status, meditation and devotion, Let it be practiced. Let it be practiced. Let it be
in secret. People look on the form and the
ceremony. God looks on the heart. I'll give you some examples of
this showmanship that I've seen different places. Out there on the job, you men
work at Ashland Oil, Armco, Railroad, other places, businesses. Everyone's working. On the job. People mall walks a lot, they're
working. Here's a religious fella. He gets a few moments free, he
whips out his Bible. And he sits over there and reads
his Bible. Nobody else reading the Bible. What's his motive? He may be
sincere, I know, but it may be to be seen of men. Flips out his Bible. He had lunch
hour. All the men take a break from
work. They're tired and sweaty and grab their lunch kits and
going to eat their lunch and they're going to talk a little
bit about the job and all. Here's a real religious fella,
gets out his Bible and starts preaching to them. What's his
motive? You reckon that's to be seen
of men? You reckon so? I tell you this, what our Lord's
saying here, it better not be to be seen of men. If you can,
if you can, in those circumstances, if you can, under those conditions,
if you can, Only for the glory of God. Never to be seen of men
or praised as to hang your religion out on the clotheslines of everybody.
You can do it to be seen only of God. More power to you, but
I doubt it very much. When you're in a restaurant,
the jukebox is playing, all the people around, the waitresses
running here and there and they're serving clanging dishes and serving
everybody. People are talking in fellowship.
You pick that time to have a prayer. Well that's fine. But it better
not be to be seen of men. It better not be to show religion. It better be solely and wholly
and completely in secret to God. What I'm talking about is that's
very difficult to do under those circumstances. Isn't that what
Christ is talking about? It's good to consider what would
Jesus do. I wouldn't condemn that or say
anything just one bit in this way, that's fine. But for me
to put on a bracelet and wear it around with WWJD, what would
Jesus do? Why am I wearing that? If it's written on my heart what
would Jesus do, why do I need a bracelet? I'll tell you why
I need it so you can see it. Come on, is that the truth or
is that not the truth? I believe that Jesus is Lord,
but if I print me a t-shirt and wear it down to walk around the
park, if it's written on my heart, I don't need it on a t-shirt. Folks are going to see it in
my life, in my attitude, in my walk, in all ways. When I do it out here, I'm doing
it to be seen as man. And I'm saying this as solemnly
and strongly as I can. When you pray, when I pray, when
you pray, enter your closet. When you've got sweet communion
with your Lord, when you inhale that sweet affection, that intimate
love, first love, don't do it to show off in front of people.
God hates it. He despises hypocrisy with a
passion. That's just it. Pray to your Father who's invisible.
People are visible. He's invisible. Pray to your
Father who's to be approached with a true heart, with a sincere
heart, through His Son. Void totally of pretense. Void
totally of form. Void totally of play-acting,
or to impress men. He sees secret things of the
mind and of the heart which people do not see and which they don't
need to see. This is the very heart of true
worship. This is the very heart of true
prayer. This is the very heart of intimate affections with the
living God. Be sure it's not for show. Isn't that what he's saying here?
Just be sure it's not for show. Otherwise, you have no reward
of your father which is in heaven. In verse 7, and when
you pray, don't use vain repetitions. What is vain repetitions? Saying
the same thing over and over and over and over again. It's
like you were reading a while ago from 1 Kings 18, those fellas
prayed from sun up to sun down. Those prophets of Baal, sun up
to sun down. over and over, they'll hear us,
they'll hear us, they'll hear us, they'll hear us. Elijah said,
maybe he's deaf, I'll allow it, maybe he's gone on a trip, maybe
he's asleep, you have to wake him, keep following him. No,
Elijah stood to pray. After he dug a trench around
the altar and poured water on it, water on it, water on it,
water on it, he prayed a prayer Thirty-eight words. Say, well,
thirty-eight words. Lord, let it be known this day that you're
God. Let it be known this day that I'm your servant. Let it be known this day I've
done these things according to your will and for your glory. Let it be known that
I'm your servant. Let it be known this day I've done these things according to
your will and for your glory. Let it be known that I'm your
servant. Let it be known this day I've done these things according to your will and for your glory.
Let it be known that I'm your servant. Let it be known this day I've done these things
according to your will and for your glory. Let it be known that
I'm your servant. Let it be known this day I've done these things according to your
will and for your glory. Let it be known that I'm your servant. Let it be known
that I'm your servant. Let it be known this day I've
done these things according to your will and for your glory. Let it be known that Don't use
these vain repetitions. Our Lord, when he was facing
the cross, he took those disciples and went to the mountain, he
prayed about this horrible cook three times, and then he quit.
That's it. Briefly. We're not heard as the heathen
does. They think they're going to be
heard for their much speaking. The Lord is not deaf, nor is
he forgetful. Verse 8, Be ye not, be not ye
like unto them. Your Father knows, listen, He
knows what things you have made up, even before you ask Him. Therefore there is no need to
make use of many words. There's no need to make use of
eloquent language. There's no need to engage in
these long, long, tedious prayers. Now I know our Lord spent the
whole night in prayer. But the whole night wasn't spent
saying the same thing over and over again. It was in communion
with the Father. That's commendable. That's what
we ought to do. But when you pray, don't use
the repetitious, repetitious praises. God's not deaf. He hears
it the first time. Nor have we heard far much speaking,
but He knows already. The Lord knows us and what we
need. Now let me take a moment with
a model prayer, and I'll close. After this manner, therefore,
pray ye. after this manner, not always
with these words. Now listen, not always, now he
didn't say after these words pray ye. I think we make a mistake
in these churches where they say the Lord's Prayer, they call
it the Lord's Prayer every Sunday, verbatim. He didn't say pray
with these words. He said pray in this spirit,
in this sense, after this manner. What manner? Humility, is what
he's just been talking about. Now I've heard men divide this
prayer into salutation and praise and petition and all these things,
and it's never motivated me or encouraged me like I think we
ought to be motivated and encouraged. So I'm going to take a different
look at this prayer and call it my motive to pray. And you
can jot these things down if you want to. There are eight
of them. Our Lord said after this manner
therefore pray ye. Here's the first one. Our Father. We're his children. That's the
first. We're his children. That's my motive to pray. I'm
his child. I'm his child by choice. I'm
his child by adoption. And he's my Father. And if you
being evil know how to give good things to your children, how
much more will your father give good things to his children when
they ask you? So that's our father. We're his
children. Secondly, our father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. We're worshippers. We're his
children and we're worshippers. Our God's in the heaven. And
true worshippers, here's what our Lord said to the woman at
the well, true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit
and truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. I'm a child,
I'm a worshipper. I worship God. True worshippers
worship God in spirit and truth. That's the motive to pray, to
worship God. Thirdly, thy kingdom come. I'm a subject, he's the king,
king of kings and lord of lords, and I'm a grateful subject. His
kingdom is not meat and drink, his kingdom is righteousness,
peace and joy, what a kingdom, and I'm a subject of the king. And I'll be satisfied when I
awaken his kingdom with his likeness, so I'm going to keep praying,
I'm a subject, he's my king. I'm a child of his, he's my father,
I'm a worshipper, he's my God, he's my king, I'm a subject.
And what's this? Thy will be done on earth as
it is in heaven. I'm a servant. I'm God's servant. This is easy to pray and ought
to be prayed, a bond slave of Jesus Christ. Lord, thy will
be done. Thy will is best. Thy will is
for my good and your glory. I'm a servant and servants want
the will of the master done. That's the motive to pray. What
is your will? Thy will be done. Fifthly, give
us this day our daily bread. I'm a beggar. A beggar is not
bisexual by asking. I'm hungry. Give me this day my daily bread.
I make no apologies for that time. We're beggars. We're mercy
beggars, Brother Cecil said. Totally dependent on him for
everything I have. A man can receive nothing except
to be given him from above. That's a motive. What better
motive do you need to pray? I'm a beggar. I'm his child. He's my God. He's my King. I'm a subject of his kingdom,
I'm his servant, I got to find out his will. I want it done.
And then, I'm a beggar. A man can receive
nothing except it be given him from above. That's a motive to
Christ. I tell you, if a man's hungry
enough, you don't have to tell him what to say. That's right, if he's hungry
enough and thirsty enough and thirsty hurtin' enough, he'll
pay, he'll, he'll pray, he'll pray. And then next, and forgive
us our debts, our sins, is what the scripture calls it in other
places, forgive us our sins, we're sinners! By born a sinner, sinner by nature,
even redeemed I'm a sinner, I need constant forgiveness, I need,
I'm sorry, Father, forgive me. Forgive me. Is it hard to ask
to be forgiven? What's the rest of it? As we
forgive others. Why should I expect forgiveness
if I don't forgive others? It's not hard for a child to
talk to his father if he loves him. Or a worshiper to worship God. Or a subject to honor his king.
or a servant to honor his master, or a beggar to seek bread, or
a sinner to seek forgiveness. And then he says, don't lead
us into temptation. I'm a dependent. I read this
one time. In this world of principalities
and powers and rulers of darkness and spiritual wickedness in high
places, This little fella is like a leaf before the wind. How can I keep from asking for
help? How can I keep from asking for
help? I'm scared. I need help. I'm a dependent. Lord deliver us, lead us not
to temptation, deliver us from the evil one. That's what he's
talking about, deliver us from the principalities and powers
and rulers of darkness. Don't turn me over to Satan.
Don't let him get the advantage. Man, that'll motivate prayer. That'll motivate prayer. Don't
you think that's right? We're children, we're worshipers,
we're subjects of the king, we're servants of our master, we're
beggars. Hungry beggars, we're sinners.
We're dependent for every breath we draw, and every step we take,
and every bite of food we eat. We're dependent and deliverance
from the evil one who lurks all about us. And then, hey, thine
is the kingdom. Thine is the power. Thine is
the glory. What are we? We're glorifiers.
glorifiers of God. A glorifier, a glorifier of God
is one who gives God all the glory. It's not difficult for
him to do it either. It just comes naturally. He gets
the glory. Let not the wise man glory in
his wisdom. Let not the strong man glory
in his strength. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches. Let him glory. He that glories, let him glory
in this. He knows me. We know him. I hope this hasn't been offensive
to anyone, but I do know this, it's essential. It's essential,
especially when we are living surrounded by such pretense,
and hypocrisy, and parasitism, and outward form and ceremony
that calls itself religion. Don't succumb to it. Don't be
swept away with it. Don't give in to it. Glorify him, to God be the glory. Let's sing that song, 449, Mike,
to God be the glory. Let's sing that.