The Christian's Life in Secret - When You Pray

In Matthew chapter 6 now, moving through Matthew 5, 6, and 7, what is commonly referred to as the Sermon on the Mount, we find ourselves this afternoon in Matthew chapter 6 verses 5 through 8. Matthew 6 verses 5 through 8, before I read this let's pray again. Father we trust that you have given gifts to men and you've indicated that those gifts are supposed to be used for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry and I pray that that would indeed happen here, that the reasons that you've given to your church for the word being preached to them on a regular basis, those early churches they gave themselves to the Apostles doctrine and we desire to give ourselves to the same thing and here we're going to go into your word and I pray Lord that there would indeed be truly supernatural fruit from our time spent in this word and I pray this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. Matthew chapter 6 verse 5 and when you pray you must not be like the hypocrites for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others. Truly I say to you they have received their reward. Now look with us I don't think, I mean you could correct me, I don't think that we are driven by the desire to stand out somewhere in a public, go up in front of everybody else and pray. I don't know if that drives us. The Pharisees that was that was kind of interwoven into who they were but that doesn't mean that the hypocrisy of the Pharisees doesn't still persist. We can want, I mean look when we're in a prayer meeting together we ought to be sensitive to the fact that other people are listening but if you find yourself praying in a prayer meeting thinking about what other people are thinking about your praying and that is motivating what you say or how you say it or you're kind of paralyzed. Maybe as much as anything we could see this kind of thing in fear. You know what if you fear too much to pray in public it's got to do with the fear of man and it's got to do with what other people think. You see these guys were concerned with what other people think and if you just try to put it in in certain experiences that we all are familiar with where this kind of thing can be seen. Look is there a desire among us to have a reputation. We all have identity and you know this is one of the things about lost people. Lost people pride themselves in their identities. It may be the group of friends you have, it's often the amount of money you have, it's the job you have, it's the success you have. This is one of the difficulties in the church when it comes to women who were used to working out there and now they're trying to imbibe this biblical mentality to actually be a keeper at home and to raise their children and a lot of the difficulty here has to do with identity. It has to do with what people want to be seen as and that's what these guys were taken up with. How other people perceive them. We want to have a certain identity. We want to come off and you know what in the church you probably don't want to be known as ungodly. I mean I hope there's a good element to that but you know what if somebody said if you heard somebody whispering and they didn't know you were listening and afterwards they were behind the door over here and you were lending an ear and they didn't know you were out there but they said you know sister so-and-so she's really a sister of prayer and you heard that. You see this is the kind of thing that would happen to these Pharisees. They would hear that. That would go in their ear. It would go down into their heart and they just they savored that. That really drove them what men think and you know we all live in the sight of one another and you know who has a reputation here of being evangelistic or who has a reputation here of being a man or a woman of prayer. Who has a reputation of being merciful. The person that's always going to be helping. Who has a reputation of having a gift of giving and you know those reputations they make their way around the church and we're aware of that and so there is as much as we may not be out on the street corner praying or we might not pray in certain ways like these Pharisees did yet this is something hypocrisy can creep in and the thing is you can have great motives and yet the hypocrisy creeps in. The Pharisees they were sold out to this. That's what we want to be beware of. The people that are sold out to being men pleasers. People that are sold out to this. How much do you think about what other people think? I mean we really have to watch that. That's where he's coming from in all this. When you pray go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret and you see your father who sees in secret will reward you. When it comes to our identity who are we? I mean what are we known as? What he's saying here is what's really important is that you want your identity and your reputation to primarily be about your heavenly father. That's what you really want to be driven by. Does heaven count you as a prayerful person? Does heaven count you? Does God see you? Now listen if you are this it's by the grace of God you are this and so it's not just that he sees that you're that. Well he actually gave you the grace to be that. But you know what's very interesting? You can have people that have the gift but they need to stir it up like Timothy. You can actually have where the grace of God has been given. You can have somebody that has a gift of mercy but they're not exactly showing that gift at a certain point in time. Brethren what we really want to interest ourself in is what does our father think of us? What does he think of our prayer life? Verse 7 when you pray do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do. Now what Gentiles can you think of that have this they basically have some sort of practice in their religion where they're trying to just multiply prayers repetitiously, perpetually. Yeah you basically have how would they do that in Islam? Just basically the five times a prayer a day? In Catholicism you basically have this have you ever been to like a funeral where they do their Hail Marys? You ever been in one of those Thomas? Yeah it's just it's vainly repetitious. Has anybody ever been to a Buddhist country? You know we go yeah they basically spin their little deals or they spin their prayer wheels. I'll tell you there's it when I was in a Buddhist town and they had prayer wheels in the in the town center the demonic presence and that that's no laughing matter and then they hang up their prayer flags and you know what their prayer flags they have a prayer written on the flag and they basically believe that every time the wind blows the flag the prayer goes up and so what they're doing trying to do is just multiply this prayer and you see that's the idea they have of God. It's like a God who has to be coerced to give. Like you have to just bang bang bang bang bang bang you have to hit them so many times with the same prayer and you're more inclined to get it from him. But it says they think they'll be heard for all their many words. Do not be like them for your father knows what you need before you ask him. So here's the thing the title of this is the Christians life in secret part 2 when you pray. Last week part 1 it had to do with giving this week part 2 it has to do with when you pray and where do I get that when you see that three times here look at verse 5 when you pray verse 6 but when you pray verse 7 and when you pray there it is pray prosukamai this is basically a word that has to do with communicating with a God because you know people pray to false gods people pray in false religions and we call it prayer we don't call it something different in Christianity than what we call it when you see like the Muslims bowing down and praying to Allah. We call it praying. Praying is to a God. It's communicating for the Christian the essence of our prayers found right there in verse 6 when you pray Christian when you pray go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret. You know what occurs to me when I read that? I love that. Pray to your father. Jesus could have said pray to my father. There were times when he was speaking to his disciples and he would speak of my father. He might have said go into your room and pray to God. People talk like that all the time. I pray to God. Pray to God. Let me ask you this question. This is a serious question. Do you pray to God or do you pray to your heavenly father? You say is there a difference? There is a difference. Brethren I can tell you this. There's an individual that I know that for the life of me I cannot figure out. As long as I've known this guy when he prays in a prayer meeting he prays he constantly is saying God and I've often thought why does he never call God his father? You know what? We had a girl in the church years ago that would only say him and he. You remember that? Brethren do you pray to your heavenly father? I'm personally struck by how the Lord doesn't want us to escape this. I don't know if you've ever noticed this about this portion of the 545. Let me look back just a few verses. 545 that you may be sons and daughters as included of your father who is in heaven. Verse 48 you must be perfect as your heavenly father. And notice the your. Jesus keeps saying this and he doesn't say my. He keeps saying your. Disciples of mine this is your father. Look at 6.4 your father who sees in secret. 6.8 your father knows what you need before you ask. 6.14 if you forgive others their trespasses your heavenly father will also forgive you. 6.18 your father who is in secret and again your father who sees in secret. Look at 6.26 look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 6.32 the Gentiles seek after these things and your heavenly father knows that you need them all. And then 7.11 how much more will your heavenly father or your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him. Listen brethren this is not random. Jesus said my teaching is not my own. You heard him say that. You've read that. My teaching is not my own but his who sent me. You know what that tells me? That our father our heavenly father is specifically prompting his son our Lord Jesus Christ and telling him look I want you to take my teaching and I want you to impart it to these people and here's what I want you to do. I want you to tell them repeatedly that I am their heavenly father. Tell them that and go on telling them that. That's what you find here. He obviously wants to convince his children that his relationship with us is real and it's personal and it's close. For those trusting Christ the truth is God is no longer a distant God. He was one time but that's not the case anymore. Not for those who come by the blood. It's no longer. Pray to your father. This is what he says. Pray to your father in secret. Going into a room and closing the door. Think about that. That's what a husband and wife do. This is intimacy. This is at the heart of Christianity. I feel sorry for people who have a form of Christianity that is all duty. It's all dry. It's all cold. It's all orthodoxy. But you don't have this. This is the heart and the soul. Do you recognize the secret place is an intimate place. It's a sacred place. When you pray, verse 6, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you. Go. Now that is an imperative. But you would think an invitation. I mean it's an imperative. Go. Can you imagine having to be commanded to do this? You would think that an invitation would be enough. Like you see that room over there? If you go in there and you shut the door, your heavenly father with all of himself and the rewards that come with that, he's in there in secret. Can you imagine having to be commanded? How backward are we that that would have to be the case? This is a promise that the father awaits us in that place. He holds out that reward. He bids us to enter. This is no small thing. Do you recognize this? Most people in the world don't have this invitation. Most people in the world. Do you know there's a verse, this is ESV, the ESV and the NAS basically say this in very similar ways. Jeremiah 30:21, who would dare of himself to approach me declares the Lord. There was a time when God would have said to us, who would dare come in that room and close that door and think that they are going to approach me. But as you see the thing is we no longer go alone. The Lord has said I won't forsake you. And he has laid down his life for his sheep. We don't go alone. The crucified one goes at our side. Once, you know what the truth is? Once when we tried to go into that secret place, you know what was emblazoned across our head? Those who don't believe are condemned already. Those who don't obey, the wrath of God abides upon them. Children of wrath like the rest of mankind. You know what, that's what was on our forehead. Oh, we went in there. You remember what it was like lost? You just go before God. No big deal. You think anybody and everybody can just waltz in front of God. He is like some celestial Santa Claus. We want this and we want that. Lord give me, give me, give me. You know what? David says in Psalm 21:12, you will aim at their faces with your bows. God's weapons of wrath, he shoves right in the face. We had no idea. When we went around lost, well, you know how it is. You just, you stand still. I don't hear anything. I might hear the wind blowing. I might hear a bird chirping. I might hear cars off in the distance. There's a game tonight. It may rain. It may not rain. I'm going to eat in a little while. I hear the birds singing and we had no idea. God had that bow drawn and he had that arrow right in our face. That's how David describes this thing. Oh, and we just waltzed in. We thought we could just go. You know what we thought? We thought we did God a favor by going to Him. Like now He owes me something because I went and prayed or I went and did my little thing there. We were so lost. And you know what? Our eyes get opened that we need to flee from the wrath to come. But I'll tell you this, as much as salvation is about fleeing from the wrath to come and it's escaping hell, brethren, what you don't want to miss is the sweet part. Oh, it's a sweet thing to escape hell. But I'm talking about the sweet part like this. Hosea 2:14, Therefore, behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness. There's the secret place. And speak tenderly to her. This is what God says. Or He says this, Isaiah 30, Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you. Or Isaiah 40, Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. You see, now I can go into that room and I can shut the door. I'm no longer a sinner in the hands of an angry God. I'm a son and He's a father. And there's reward. The reward so much has to do with Him. He's bidding us come. I can talk to my Father who's in heaven. I can draw near to Him. I can draw near to Him. His promise is that He will draw, as I seek to draw near to Him, He will draw near to me. And brethren, I'll tell you this. You don't want to just measure this thing by what you feel in the first minute. You know many of the men of God, the women of God, who have really known what it is to find God in the secret place. You have to tarry in the secret place. This idea, I'm going to run in there. I've got to go to work. Listen, if you've got to go to work and you've only got three minutes to pray, then take the three minutes and pray. But that should not be what you're like. When Jesus talks about going into the inner room and shutting the door, you do recognize what He's talking about. I mean, again, I will just say, husbands and wives go into rooms in secret and shut the door. Do they just pop out five minutes later? Brethren, what we have to recognize is God saves us to have a closeness and an intimacy. Your prayer life should not be cultivated in these sporadic three minute, five minute deals. And if you do that, don't be surprised that you're not finding the sweetness in this place. Brethren, you've got to tarry there. And you've got to pour yourself out. And you've got to express your affections. And you've got to take your anxieties. And it's very good to start just by recounting your sins to the Lord. And feeling the shame of that to some degree. And seeing the beauty of the cross all over again. And putting yourself in the place of appreciating the blood that was shed and that death that was had on your part. Brethren, this is a place you can lift up your thoughts. You can take it all. You can confess. You can pour it out. And you go in there and what? There's an invisible Father. There's that invisible God that dwells in this unapproachable light. The truth is you know this. You don't see Him. But I'll tell you this, as you begin to pray, that something happens. Something happens in that place. And it's very real. And Jesus knows it's real. As I said last week, there's an awareness of God. Look, the Spirit of God gives us an awareness of God. Here's the question to you. Do you pray to your Father in secret? Now here's a question. With as much as Jesus stresses to us to go into the secret place and pray to our Father, is it appropriate to, if you go into the secret place, shut the door, is it appropriate to pray to the Lord Jesus Christ? Instead of praying to the Father. Listen to this. To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours. Do you think the Bible teaches that it's okay to call upon the Lord? Jesus Christ. Yes. It does. And think about this. People in every place. Now I love that. See, people in every place call upon His name. What I love about that is how the deity of Christ is expressed in that. Because if we're calling on Him here, and they're calling on Him over in San Antonio right now, and some folks down in Australia, and you've got Sister Rebecca over there, and she's calling on the Lord, and we've got people up in Scotland calling on the Lord, and people in every place. And you know what He said? Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. What? He's here and He's there? Well, that's exactly right. That's exactly what Scripture teaches. But here's the thing. Is it true that the Bible stresses primarily prayer to the Father? Yes. As far as Jesus teaching us in the Gospels about prayer, He teaches us to go to our Father. Now listen. Even when that's the case, we need to recognize all prayer. I mean, when you're determined to go into that secret place and pray to your Heavenly Father, all prayer is expressly triune. See, what do you mean? I mean just this. Listen to how Scripture speaks. I love this verse. Ephesians 2:18, for through Christ, you, and here's what you want to catch, it says we, we both, that's Jew and Gentile, for through Christ we have access in one Spirit to the Father. Now hear how that, through Christ we have access in one Spirit to the Father. See, what does that mean? I'll tell you what it means, at least, is this, that Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God are involved when we access the Father. You never forget that. You say, how are they involved? Well, in numerous ways. But listen to this, Ephesians 3:12, in Christ we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him. And you know Jesus said this, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes unto the Father except through me. You see, going to the Father, we do that through Christ in one Spirit. And where does the Spirit fit in? I mean, see, the access is granted us by this death of Christ. But where does the Spirit come in? Well, think of Romans 8. Romans 8 is so rich in the theology of the Spirit. Just think about this, likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness for we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And then there's this, you did not receive the Spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. You've received the Spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry. Abba, Father. Christian, do you feel that? That's what happens when a person gets born again. They have a Spirit wrought cry that comes out. Abba, Father. I mean, just as you get a little child, you know Levi, Levi is going to run to mom or dad. You see that with little people. And it's the same thing when we get born into the kingdom. There is this Abba, this Father that comes forth from us. True prayer, you want to remember this, true prayer is altogether triune. The intimacy of it all depends on all three divine persons in the Godhead acting and aiding and helping. So, here we have the text. We've got three categories in verses five through eight. There's three categories. Right off you see the hypocrite there in verse five. You've got the Gentile in verse seven. What's the third category here? So you've got the Gentile, you've got the hypocrite. What else do you have? What was that? Who's the third person or the third category besides the hypocrite and besides the Gentile? What would the third category be? The righteous. I mean basically the person who avoids hypocrisy and Gentile superstition and goes into the secret place acceptably and finds their Father in there. The Father who knows what they need before they ask and he communes with his Father in there. That would be it. Now you, you is repeatedly a pronoun used here, but see it doesn't really guarantee us where you are. It's not saying you are definitely the person pleasing to God. It doesn't say you are definitely a hypocrite or a Gentile, but what it's clear is that you basically have a triangle. You can imagine it. You've got the hypocrite down here. You've got the Gentile over here. You've got the person pleasing to the Lord up here. Where you are is somewhat uncertain in the passage. What is certain is Jesus is calling you away from this position, away from that one and to this one. Where you actually are is not certain, but you know where he's calling us. That is certain. So we've got three, three positions here. Now think with me here. What makes prayer acceptable to God? See here's the thing. I know that the Bible tells us a lot about the hypocrite and it tells us a lot about Gentiles and it tells us a lot about what is pleasing to the Lord. Not just in this section, not just in these four verses, but all through our Bibles. All around the New Testament you can go and you can find the hypocrite. We've seen the hypocrite all over in this sermon. Jesus is dealing with the scribes and the Pharisees all the time. And Gentiles, they come in too. Jesus is dealing with them and of course they get dealt with. You've got barbarians and you've got Scythians and you've got people coming from the Greeks and you've got people coming from all over. You've got Gentiles showing up, Samaritans. I mean they're showing up. We know these people. We know what they do. We know how the Old Testament's got this in it too. But here's the thing. What is involved in acceptable prayer? One of the things is righteousness. Can anybody think of anywhere where you know that righteousness comes in? Yeah, the effectual fervent prayers. That's the KJV. The effectual fervent prayers of a righteous man avail much. One of my favorite verses concerning this is found in 1 John 3:22. Now listen to this. Whatever we ask, we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and do what pleases Him. Now brethren, I'm going to tell you this. If you've got that kind of Christianity that basically views that real Christianity is constantly defeated and constantly sinful and constantly defeated, this defeatist mentality, constantly failing, constantly... I mean there's a lot of people that just talk that way. It's just constant. You would think that they were one of the worst wretches upon the face of the earth. Listen, when you're born again, you become a new creation in Christ. We need to have that theology down right. Look, we still have sins to confess. But you've got to remember this. Little children, I write to you that you sin not. If you sin, we have an advocate with the Father. But, why did John write to us? So that we sin not. Is he implying there that we can escape sin that we otherwise might fall into? Do you not read somewhere that sin will no longer have dominion over you? That's what Romans 6 says. Now listen, you don't want to say, well, this is just theoretical. This is impossible. No brethren, whatever we ask we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and do what pleases Him. Is it possible for genuinely saved Christians to keep the commandments of Christ? Jesus said earlier in John, look if you say you know me and you don't keep my commandments, you're a liar and the truth isn't in you. So let's do away with that once and forever. Here's the thing. If we are striving to keep His commandments and do what pleases to Him, you know what? It's like you have warrant to ask what you want and you can be certain you'll receive it. Oh, we've got this in the Psalms. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and His ears toward the cry. But here's the thing. Immediately, the Gentile, he fails. Does he keep the commandments of God? He doesn't care about the commandments of God. Most of the Gentiles did not have the word of God. They didn't even know what the commandments were. They didn't even claim to keep them. And then you've got the hypocrite. Does the hypocrite keep the commandments? Only in his imagination. He's just a pretender. He's acting. It's all a sham. But who is fulfilling the righteous requirement of the law? Who is it that actually is? I mean Jesus said, you're my disciples if my word abides in you. You don't want to be hearers of the word only deceiving your own selves. Listen brethren, one of the greatest realities about salvation is it changes us into people who actually do good. Good people. They bring forth good from a heart that's good. Evil people, listen, you know them by their fruits. Isn't that what Bob told us on Tuesday a couple of weeks back? I mean that's the reality. And so, the hypocrite and the Gentile don't make it when it comes to righteous. They don't have that which is pleasing. What other is a critical element of prayer when you go into that secret place besides righteousness? Well, that's on the same, that's basically the same. It's righteousness. But aside from righteousness, what does God really require? I mean what do a lot of verses say that you have to have if you want to get answers to your prayer? Christ, yes. That's my third one. But faith, doesn't it say? Faith. I mean basically whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive if you have faith. What does faith mean? Faith means I trust the God of Scripture. You can boil faith down to that. You've got this trust element there. The hypocrite, what does he trust? I fast twice a week and I tithe and what does he trust? He trusts in the fact that he prays. He trusts himself. He trusts what he does. He trusts in his works. What about the Gentile? What does he trust? He multiplies words. He counts the beads. He puts the prayer wheels up. He puts the flags up. What does he trust? He trusts in how he prays. He trusts in the superstition. He trusts in the fact of this repetitious. You see, where does the hypocrite have his eyes? The hypocrite has his eyes on the fact that he prays. The Gentile has his eyes on how he prays. Where does the Christian have his eyes? He's got his eyes past the door and into that secret place and at his father in there who Jesus says he knows what you need before you ask. And you just think about the implications of that. That certainly doesn't mean that you shouldn't ask. Because he teaches us in another place, namely Luke 11, that you should be persistent in asking. It's vain repetition. Listen, repetition by itself is not vain. There is vain repetition when you're just, it's almost like babbling. You're just trying to do it as fast as possible. You know what vain praying is? It's me as a kid sat down at the dinner table. God is great. God is good. Let us thank you for our food by his hands. We all are fed. He gives us an out of daily bread. Amen! Let's eat! And we had that down to where my brother and I could say that in like three seconds flat. Bang! And oh, if we said it too fast, my mom was like, stop! You know, you say that slower. Well, I mean was our heart any different whether we said it fast or whether we said it slow? It was vain repetition. We said the same thing every single night. It was vain repetition. There wasn't faith. And then Christ. Listen, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. In my name. Here's the thing, to ask in Christ's name certainly means at least this, we're mindful of Christ. In his name, I mean we're mindful of what it is he demands of us as Lord. We're mindful of what access he's accomplished for us. We are mindful of him. The hypocrite isn't concerned about coming to the Father in Christ's name. You know what he's concerned about? Whether you're watching me. That's what he's concerned about. But the Gentile is hardly concerned about Jesus Christ when he comes to pray to his God. His gods don't require that. His gods are demons. They may require some kind of blood sacrifice, even human sacrifice possibly, but nothing to do with Christ. It's the Christian who counts the name of Christ absolutely precious. The name of the one who passed through the heavens into the holy place in the presence of God on our behalf. So, here's the question. Do you pray to your Father in secret? That's the thing. I mean, when you boil down everything in your life, now think with me here. Think. You know what an onion is. We all know what the onions are. You ever grown an onion? Okay, well you got an onion. What happens when you take an onion and you peel the outer, you know, it's typically brown on the outside. Okay, you peel it off. What do you got next? White. Okay, can you peel another layer there? And okay, you take that off. What do you got next? Another layer. You peel that off. You keep peeling and when do you run out of layers? Well, when you run out of onion. There's no fruit inside. There's nothing sweet in there. There's no treasure in there. Here's the thing. We don't want to be spiritual onions. And here's the question to you. When you peel off all that's public, you know what I mean? Take your giving. Peel that off. Take your giving off. What do you have left? You got a lot of things. Peel the singing off. What do you got? Peel the fellowship off. What's left? Keep peeling. Christian music. You got a Christian song that's on Spotify. You got old Christian CDs. Keep peeling that off. You've gone to a Christian concert. Peel that off. You've gone to a men's retreat. Peel that off. Public prayer. Peel that off. Go to the prayer meeting. Take that off. Keep taking all this off. And what do you have left? And you just keep peeling the public stuff off and then it's gone and you have nothing left. I'll tell you what, when you do that to the life of Jesus Christ, you know what you have left? After he dismissed the crowds. When you peel all the layers away and everything that's public, all the Bible studies, all the missionary reports you might read, all the evangelism you've been involved with, Jesus went about doing good. He was healing people. He was laying his hands on lepers. You take all that away and you know what we find is left? After he dismissed the crowds he went up on a mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone. That's Matthew 14. Luke 6. In those days, it was in the days that he chose the apostles, the twelve, he went out to the mountain to pray and all night he continued in prayer. And you know what our Lord? He knew what it was to go in that secret place and close the door. His was out there in the wilderness or on a mountain somewhere, all alone, sometimes for whole nights. Do you think about this? He's the Son of God. He's God incarnate. What does he have to pray about all night long? Rising very early in the morning while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place and there he prayed. That was Mark 1. Luke 5. He would withdraw to desolate places and pray. Hebrews 5:7. In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears. Do you know Jesus didn't go out there alone with his Father and just give these monotone prayers, unfeeling, unaffecting. He cried, he supplicated, he pleaded. In the days of his flesh, and I've argued this before, I'll continue to argue this, this is not talking about the Garden of Gethsemane. This is talking about his life, his prayer life. In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death and he was heard because of his reverence. Do you recognize one of the things? He's out there pleading with his Father to not allow him to fail, to not allow him to perish. He's pleading with him and he was heard in the days of his flesh. Jesus prayed, he got what he prayed for in the days of his flesh and he would pray all night. Now brethren, I just ask you this, if Jesus found it necessary to have to go out in the wilderness or up on that mountaintop to pray all night long, to get up early before, and brethren I have to ask myself this, am I really good? Should I really be satisfied with the amount of time that I get alone with the Lord when I see that the Lord did it all night long and he rose up early before the sun even rose and he's out? What would he say to his Father all night long? Can you imagine if you're out there in the dark under the stars and you're walking the mountainsides and suddenly off in the distance you can hear somebody, they are crying out, they are pleading, they're wailing, they're crying, they're talking and sometimes it's higher and sometimes it goes low and you just hear all this affection, all this emotion. What is this? This is our Lord Jesus Christ and he's in the secret place and he's praying and he's pleading. I think we would be absolutely shocked if we actually heard what Jesus prayed for because I think it would just destroy our idea of the fact that he's God. He is God but listen, he so absolutely became a man dependent on his Father. I want us to take a peek into this. Now Jesus was praying in a certain place and when he finished one of his disciples said to him, Lord teach us to pray. See, these guys don't have to imagine wandering around on the mountains and all of a sudden coming upon the Lord praying. They saw it and you know what they recognized? We've never been around anybody like him that prays like he does. That's why they went to him, teach us to pray. Jesus, this is sacred but so sacred that it's not just a prayer. Scripture allows us to get a peek into this intercourse between Father and Son because we've got some of these. Listen, Father the hour has come. Glorify your Son. That's key because what he's saying is, Father please allow this thing to work out so that I get glory so that I get honored and that I might glorify you. In other words, I need your help here. Lord, I need you to guide this. I need you to give the help. I need you to give the grace. I need you to give the providence. Then he prays this, now Father glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. Or this, Holy Father, keep them, he's talking about his people, keep them in your name which you've given me that they may be one even as we are one. He didn't just say, I'll keep them. He was so dependent on his Father. Do you know what he said to his disciples? He said, can't I call upon my Father right now and have 12 legions of angels? But have you ever noticed he doesn't say, I can snap my fingers and get 12 legions of angels here. He said, I could call upon my Father. You see, Jesus came dependent. Jesus needed his Father. And if he needed him how much more? Look what we're made of. The truth is, he has no sin. The truth is his mind wasn't clouded by sinful thoughts or backwardness like we are. And we can see him praying all night long. Here's the question, when you peel it all away, is there anything like this that's left over? Do you pray to your Father in the secret place? Do you go in there? Do you go there because you feel your need like he felt his need? And you know what? There were times he broke out in praise. Father, I thank you that you've revealed this to babes. There were times he broke out in thanksgiving. You can see that. Brethren, listen to this. When Jesus points us to the secret place and he tells us to go in there, do you want to know the Father that waits you in there? Listen to what he says. If you've never noticed this verse before, it is well worth noticing. He says, I've said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech. But I'm going to tell you plainly about the Father. Well, here it is. He tells us. And I'm here to tell you. I want to tell you plainly about the Father. No symbolism. No obscurities. Here it is. In that day, you will ask in my name. And I do not say to you that I, this is Jesus speaking, I don't say to you that I'm going to ask the Father on your behalf. For the Father himself loves you. Have you ever come across that? Have you ever? Jesus says to his disciples, I'm not going to ask the Father on your behalf. You know why? Because you don't want to picture this. Like I'm this mediator and you've got an angry father over here. And I've got good will towards you. And I love you. But he's angry and he's got to be placated. He says, I don't need to do that. Because the Father has such love for you, it doesn't require me to do this. It's not like I have to coerce him to love you. Your Father inside that secret place loves you. He knows what you need before you ask. And I'll tell you this, even though he knows what you need before you ask, he doesn't tell you not to ask. In fact, he tells you if you don't ask, you don't receive. You just don't have to be vain. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't go in there often and plead and cry out. The Father loves you. He bids you to come, not to inform him. He knows already. He knows. Brethren, do you realize that there was a day? If you were a Jew, all you could do is come up to the tabernacle, or you could come up to the temple, and you could only get so close. And there was a veil in there. You had no access. Do you know what was written across the top of that veil? At least in our imaginations, the way is barred. No entry. You can't come here. And for a Gentile, we had to stay back even further. But do you see what Jesus is saying? That now because of the cross, the way is open. Do you know what that inner room is? Do you know what the Holy of Holies was? It's the place where you know? You've got access where God is. And He's in that inner place. Go in there. Go in there and pray to your Father in secret, who sees in secret. And there's great reward. Go. The secret place. That's the Holy of Holies now, for us. And you've got access. You not only have access, you're commanded to go in there. I still am astounded. It seems like an invitation would be sufficient. But we've got to be commanded to go in there. It's like we've got to be commanded to receive mercy, and grace, and God's love, and God's goodness. That's amazing to me. Here's the question. When it's all said and done, and you take away all the external wrappings of religion, is this left? Do you pray to God in the secret place? Father, I pray that you would stir these folks. I pray it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. You're dismissed.